NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Blackhawks are starting their interviewing process to find their next permanent General Manager, who will serve as the head of Hockey Operations, this weekend during the NHL All-Star break. The Blackhawks are reportedly hoping the process takes less than two to three weeks and can be completed before the NHL Trade Deadline.
Not many names are known as to who is interviewing at this point, but on the most recent Insider Trading segment on TSN, Darren Dreger reported that Peter Chiarelli is a candidate to interview for the open GM position.
Chiarelli, who is currently the VP of Hockey Operations with the St. Louis Blues, was formerly the GM of the Boston Bruins from 2006-2015, and with the Edmonton Oilers from 2015-2019. He’s been a Senior Advisor with the Blues for the past two seasons before being named to his current position.
While he led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup Championship in 2011, Chiarelli is more well-known for his managerial failures than his successes.
• He made the infamous one-for-one Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson trade in the summer of 2016.
• He traded then 21-year-old Tyler Seguin from the Bruins in the summer of 2013 for “not fitting the Bruins culture.”
• He gave a run-down Milan Lucic a seven-year, $42M contract with the Oilers in the summer of 2016.
• The Oilers, with Connor McDavid, made just one postseason appearance in his tenure as GM in Edmonton.
• He traded Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome, then traded Ryan Strome for Ryan Spooner, who was then waived by the Oilers.
To name a few.
The last time Chiarelli was running a truly successful team was the 2013-14 season with Boston, close to ten years ago. This would be, categorically, a terrible decision by the Blackhawks. But after what happened on Wednesday night, finding a good GM candidate might be harder to find.
