Peter Chiarelli is out as the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers.

Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson said the decision to fire Chiarelli was made prior to last night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, and the news was delivered to the GM after the second period.

“I thought it was right that Peter would have the chance to leave the building in the way that he saw fit.”

Before the news broke, fans in the stands were chanting for Chiarelli’s dismissal.

 

 

In the end, the Oilers lost 3-2 to the last place Red Wings.

The Oilers are headed into the All-Star break with nine losses in the past 11 home games. They are in position to miss the playoffs for the 12th time in the past 13 years.

Right now they are three points back of the final wild-card spot in the western conference.

“There’s something in the water here in Edmonton, we don’t have it right, and we gotta get that figured out,” Nicholson told the media on Wednesday morning.

“We gotta find a way to make this team better to make the playoffs.” 

Nicholson says Chiarelli was disappointed by the news, but not surprised.

“He felt he let the organization down by not getting the team into the playoffs.”

Nicholson confirmed that assistant GM Keith Gretzky will take over for Chiarelli until a new general manager is hired, while he will handle hockey operations.

Despite the recent firing of Todd McLellan, and now the removal of Chiarelli, Nicholson says the team has the main pieces it needs to succeed.

“Were not into a rebuild,” Nicholson said. “We have the best player in the world; we have other real great players in the dressing room.”

“We’re not going to trade any of our assets away for a quick fix. We’ll make some trades at the deadline if they’re the right trades to get us in the playoffs, but not giving away the future.”

Nicholson says going forward; the team will be looking to develop players more thoroughly in the American Hockey League before bringing them up to the NHL.

“We bring them up a bit too early in hope that they’re going to be ready when they’re really, really close. I think we need to leave them down there until they are overripe.”

Two hours after the press conference, the Oilers announced that Kailer Yamamoto and Ryan Spooner had been assigned to Bakersfield. 

There has also been some speculation that recent trades, including the signing of Mikko Koskinen to a three-year contract extension were factors in the decision to fire Chiarelli. Nicholson said the decision to extend Koskinen’s contract was made by the leadership group as a whole, not just by Chiarelli.

“We looked at the depth of the goalies that would be available next year and we really believe in Mikko,” Nicholson said. “We had to make the decision between Mikko and Cam, and we made the decision to go with Mikko and sign him to a three-year deal.”

Nicholson also said that any speculation that the organization is still being run by the old guard of the glory days is false.

“That’s not true at all. Peter Chiarelli was the president and GM of this hockey team. We gave him the authority to make those decisions; he brought in most of his own staff,” Nicholson said.

“Kevin Lowe is so important to this organization, but Kevin Lowe hasn’t been in hockey operations decisions.”

Nicholson said the changes will not mean any changes for Ken Hitchcock’s role with the team.