On the Edmonton Oilers …
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Oilers CEO and Vice Chair Bob Nicholson said they are evaluating things, but GM Peter Chiarelli will return next season as their GM.
“I am here today to tell you the president and general manager of the Edmonton Oilers, Peter Chiarelli, will be the general manager next year… Peter, when I look at that, I really believe in his plan. Over the last number of months we’ve been meeting with a lot of our season ticket holders. There’s been anger and disappointment in where we ended up. We certainly understand where they are and we will have a plan coming out here in the near future of our how we’re going forward.”
Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal: Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli on the extent of changes to be expected this offseason.
“We’re not going to dismantle this team. We have areas we’ve got to fill, and areas off the ice we’ve got to look after. Not ruling out a trade.”
Chiarelli said the coaching staff is still under evaluation and added that he’s being evaluated as well.
Chiarelli is not ruling out trading their first-round pick depending on where they end up after the lottery. He wouldn’t comment on individual players.
He admitted that not having a replacement for Andrej Sekera at the beginning of the season was an oversight on his part. He expected his younger players to step up more.
Ty Rattie is a pending UFA, they’d like to have him back next season, and there have been some talks.
When asked if he would definitively say that he intends to bring Ryan Nugent-Hopkins back next season as part of their core, Chiarelli said:
“Yeah, I would say that”
Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal: GM Peter Chiarelli said yesterday when meeting with the media was that he’d be looking for a right-handed defenseman that could run the power play. He didn’t rule out the possibility of adding someone on the left side as well.
Potential trade targets include Tyson Barrie (COL), Dougie Hamilton (CGY), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (ARI), Justin Faulk (CAR), Colin Miller (VGK) and Erik Karlsson (OTT).
Potential free agent targets include John Carlson (WSH), Mike Green (DET) and Calvin de Haan (NYI).