WWYDW: Time Travel

Last week after Peter Chiarelli made his way through Edmonton’s media gauntlet to explain what went wrong this season, I asked the Nation what everyone would ask the Oilers’ general manager if they had an opportunity to ask one question. A lot of people wanted to know what the hell he was thinking when he pulled the trigger on some of the moves he’s made over the past couple years.

That brings us to this week’s What Would You Do Wednesday question. Since I know how much everybody loves strapping on their 20/20 hindsight goggles, I want to know, if you had the ability to travel back in time to talk Chiarelli out of making a single decision, what would it be? And how would you do it? (Not the time travel part, the talking him out of it part).

The first ugly move that Chiarelli made was sending a first- and a second-round pick to the New York Islanders for Griffin Reinhart, who, despite having an excellent career with the Edmonton Oil Kings, appears to be on his way to being a bust. The Islanders, of course, ended up with Mat Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier out of that deal. They, along with Jordan Eberle, have formed one of the NHL’s best second lines.

Chiarelli also dealt Eberle in the second of his infamous one-for-one deals. After an ugly playoff showing, Chiarelli dumped Eberle for Ryan Strome, another former top Islanders draft pick. This came roughly a year after he sent Taylor Hall, the face of Oil Change 2.0 and H.O.P.E to New Jersey for Adam Larsson. While Larsson is an excellent defender, Hall is damn near singlehandedly carrying the playoff-bound Devils’ offence right now.

Some other questionable decisions come in the form of Milan Lucic’s seven-year deal and Kris Russell’s four-year deal handed out in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Given the cap bind the Oilers are in with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl costing a combined $21 million against the cap starting next season, Russell and Lucic’s no-movement clauses could result in the Oilers having to dump someone like Oscar Klefbom or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

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