Oilers try to make foundation for biger moves with deadline deals
In making two trades Saturday, Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli didn’t just deal away two assets. He tried to lay groundwork for more moves in the summer.
Speaking with media after the Oilers dealt forward Teddy Purcell to the Florida Panthers and Justin Schultz to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chiarelli intimated the goal for this deadline was to trade those two players. Unless something major happens between now and Monday’s deadline, the big trades may come in the offseason.
“My thoughts remain the same from before. One of the things that goes on at these deadlines and the time leading up to the deadline is there’s a lot of discussions that take place not necessarily for the deadline. It’s for the summer or the fall,” Chiarelli said. “But you really have to exchange ideas, exchange thoughts on where your team is going, talk about certain scenarios, I feel we’ve accomplished quite a lot of that.”
Last week Chiarelli vowed “bigger decisions” in the NHL’s offseason per ESPN.com.
Added Chiarelli, “I’m not happy. There will be changes.”
Chiarelli said he started the day with a bunch of ideas on white board.
“I wiped off four or five of them,” he said.
Both Schultz and Purcell were the most obvious trade targets for Chiarelli before Monday’s deadline. The 25-year-old Schultz had one year left on a contract that owes him $3.9 million. He was slated to become a restricted free agent. The 30-year-old Purcell was in the final season of a deal that pays him $4.5 million per-year. He was slated to hit the unrestricted free agent market this summer.
This is Chiarelli’s first year with the Oilers, coming over from the ‘win-now’ Bruins, where he was the GM from 2006-07 through 2014-15.
“It’s the first time in 10 years I’ve been a seller,” Chiarelli said. “It’s a little disappointing that way, but we had some housekeeping items to do.”
Chiarelli added he’d like to see the team’s forward group at full health before making any bold decisions. Throughout the year, centers Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have both missed time with injuries. Nugent-Hopkins is still out with a hand injury. Winger Jordan Eberle missed the start of the season with a shoulder injury.
“I really would like to see the whole team together, like I’d like to see the three centers (McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl), because it really opens up the wingers,” Chiarelli said. “Then you can see the wings, because you have three talented centermen, you can see how the wings can flourish.”
Chiarelli added that the Oilers defense, was and still as a “work in progress.”
As for Schultz, Chiarelli had trouble with the young blueliner’s defense. Schultz was known as a big offensive player in college, and showed some potential in the NHL. But he struggled with the defensive side of his game.
After he used a loophole to leave the Anaheim Ducks organization Schultz was a prized college free agent when the Oilers signed him in the summer of 2012. Schultz is a minus-78 in 248 career NHL games.
“I know defending in college wasn’t as important generally speaking. Players learn things and maybe he got a little bit too much too soon here and the defending side of it didn’t come,” Chiarelli said.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
