This morning, Peter Chiarelli stood in front of the media to answer questions and take his lumps about what is going on with the Edmonton Oilers. Let’s break it down.
Before we get started, one thing I wanted to mention was that the media must have been listening to fan complaints or something because they did not go easy on Chiarelli this morning. The questions they asked were direct, blunt, and to the point. Actually, there was some absolute gas thrown at him today, and despite some of his answers being flimsy at best, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

When asked about how the season is going…

Nothing new here. Moving on. Blah blah blah he’s disappointed. Who isn’t?

When asked about his summer gambles failing…

I have to admit that I was caught off guard when Mark Spector asked how he explains his failed bets from this summer. There was no easing into that questions and I don’t know if Chiarelli was expecting that one as he was noticeably taken aback by it. For me, this was one of the questions I wanted to hear, but the mistake I made was that I was hoping for Chiarelli to take some ownership of it. He did not.

When asked about working the trade market

Oh God no… Please don’t make a panic trade. PLEASE don’t make panic trades. Anyway…
Chiarelli mentioned contracts as a reason he may not look at add impact players. He also preached patience in times like these.
This probably the money quote for me. Does this mean Chiarelli is going to stay patient? I hope so. There’s no bigger opportunity for mistakes than when you try to force a trade through from a position of weakness.
Buckle up, Nation. We could see more moves coming if things don’t improve. The next few months could be scary.

On the team being slow…

One of the things we’ve heard a lot this year is that the Edmonton Oilers are a slow team. Peter Chiarelli doesn’t see it that way.
Anyone else find it odd that Chiarelli flat out denied what so many other people have said? We’ve had media, other players, fans, and everyone in between talking about the Oilers being slow but ol’ Pete doesn’t see it that way.

On Oscar Klefbom’s struggles…

I don’t know what those issues are but the Oilers need to hire a witch doctor or whatever it takes to fix them. They need Klefbom. NEED HIM. Bring in a psychiatrist or whatever he needs. Figure it out.

On the team being inconsistent from game to game…

I get rattled by the idea of multi-millionaire athletes being unable to motivate themselves to play hockey. I know that may be a simple way of looking at things, but it’s the truth. Why does it have to be up to the coach to get hockey players ready to go? Weird.

On the special teams struggles…

Not to blame Talbot, but… *blames Talbot*
If Chiarelli thinks that they’re spending too much time focusing on the special teams then maybe they could spend some time working on passes to the tape? Cool.

When asked about chemistry in the locker room…

We all have heard the rumours circling the team since the first week of the season. I was happy to see that someone (can’t remember who) asked about those rumours without getting salacious. I mean, he flat out denied it but it was interesting to see that he thinks the chemistry is fine. That said, what else is he supposed to say? Then again, he did criticize a few of the players so why avoid others?

THE WRAP

At the end of the day, Peter Chiarelli spent 17 minutes talking about a lot of things without really saying anything. We didn’t really get any information that was new, aside from the fact that this season is caused by “death from 1000 cuts” which was something he repeated several times. From where I blog, I would have liked to see him take a little more ownership of what has gone on here. In the end, a big part of what’s happening here is caused by his roster moves and gambles that young guys would progress in a straight line. That said, it wasn’t exactly surprising that he said a lot of words without a lot of content — that’s kind of Chiarelli’s schtick.
What did you guys think? Do you think Chiarelli covered all of the bases you wanted to be covered? Did he say anything of substance? Do you feel better about anything? What say you, Nation?