I wrote the following July 1, 2015:
Peter Chiarelli owes it to Todd McLellan. The Oilers owe it to their fans. The organization owes it to Connor McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers have to turn north, next season. The new GM has added a goaltender, two defensemen, a speedy checker and Connor McDavid, but he needs to add more. There’s talk of tweaking, but beginning today Chiarelli will need to search the market for a top defender—and then pay the price when the opportunity arises. In his first full season as Boston Bruins’ GM, Chiarelli added Andrew Ference, Aaron Ward and Dennis Wideman via trade. Later, the club acquired Johnny Boychuk and Dennis Seidenberg. That’s a lot of defensive talent and of course they drafted Dougie Hamilton, signed Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug as free agents during Chiarelli’s time in Beantown. He’ll need to accomplish similar to make the Oilers hum and he’ll need to add something significant as soon as the market allows. That’s my opinion.
CHIARELLI’S LIST
Draft McDavid (Done)
Find a quality goalie option (Cam Talbot)
Acquire a legit top pairing blue (Sekera, Franson, Ehrhoff, Green)
Sign a two-way F (Lauri Korpikoski)
Ignore MacT re: Marincin (Or trade Marincin for real value) Eric Gryba
ADD: Veteran two-way center
So, that’s the list and we’ll see how it rolls. Chiarelli has a player not on my list (quality D prospect in Griffin Reinhart) but I think that had more to do with getting another blue who was older than McDavid (while still being under control for years) and that’s a very good idea. Remember last night when I mentioned the idea that Chiarelli would stand pat on D was ridiculous? Well, he’s going to be aggressive:
I like the list, although Green’s price scares the hell out of me. He would qualify as a Chiarelli target under the ‘Chara plan’ but they are not similar talents (Chara had more to give defensively, by some margin). Sekera is the best target in my opinion, let’s see how this works out and I wouldn’t discount a trade either (Burns, Shattenkirk, et cetera).
POSSIBLE TARGETS 2015 (BLUE)
- D Andrej Sekera (The best available)
- D Cody Franson (His numbers suggest this could be a brilliant buy)
- D Christian Ehrhoff (Concussions a worry, I like him enough to take the risk)
- D Mike Green (So very expensive, so very famous)
- D Paul Martin (He would be a solid transitional defenseman)
- D Zbynek Michalek (Strong defenseman, would be a find addition)
- D Johnny Oduya (I like him, he was a mess for a stretch last season)
- D John Moore (I’d add him along with someone else on this list)
- D Barrett Jackman (I’ll bet money they’re all over him)
POSSIBLE TARGETS 2015 (CENTER)
- C Eric Fehr (Clicks off all the boxes: C, size, offensive ability. A nice option)
- C Mike Santorelli (I like him as a plug and play, short term option)
- C Riley Nash (He’s good in the FO circle, has some offense, good size. Nice option)
- C Mark Arcobello (Go to hell, he’s a good hockey player)
- C Kyle Brodziak (A reasonable depth option)
- C Shawn Horcoff (His wheels won’t turn, but I’ll gladly go down with the ship)
SO FAR
- Cam Talbot (Starting goalie)
- Griffin Reinhart (NHL-ready blue)
- Eric Gryba (Third-pairing defender)
- Lauri Korpikoski (Two-way winger)
- Connor McDavid (Generational talent)
That was 10 years ago. This team is in a very different place today, owing (at least some) to Peter Chiarelli’s moves in the early hours of his time as general manager. If Daryl Katz had it to over again, would he have hired Chiarelli?
I wrote about Matt Savoie today, he has some impressive comps. Article is here.
On the Lowdown today, we’ll be joined by Steve Lansky for the entire hour 1-2pm, and we’ll have Tyler Yaremchuk and Declanations, too. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440.
Matt Savoie comps:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6500955/2025/07/18/matt-savoie-oilers-stats-rookie/
——————————
The above is true but, at the same time, i wonder if the acquisition of Issac Howard has perhaps muddied the waters a bit there?
I understand one is a LW (Howard) and one is a RW (Savoie) but I keep going back to Knob’s media avail last week where he consistently spoke of Howard as an offensive player that should get PP time and spoke of Matt Savoie as a 2-way player that should get PK time.
Don’t get me wrong, from watching apx 50 Condors games last year, Matt Savoie is indeed an advanced 2-way player (at least at the AHL level) who was strong on the PK (played on the PK from game 1 right through the last game).
At the same time, the verbal on Howard is that he is an offensive player, end stop.
A few things:
1) On Howard, from listening to his coach a few times, he has come a long way while at Michigan improving his “away from the puck game”. I think there is an idea that this is a cocky kid that thinks he should be given a role but it seems more like the word is “confident” and, from everything I’ve heard and read, he is a kid that has work ethic and a commitment to improve – he’s not going to rest on a great college season and expect greatness.
2) Savoie is not just a 2-way player, he is a high potential offensive player who, in fact, comes with higher pedigree than Howard (drafted 9th and 31st in the same draft year), crushed major junior in production, had a FANTASTIC rookie pro year in the AHL (PPG for the last 3/5 in a decimated lineup), etc.
Lets not forget Savoie has done something Howard has not – produced at the pro level against men. Of course, the NHL is another step but he’s already crossed one threshold.
Moral of this story is that, while I see the coach starting Howard in the top 6 and Savoie on the 3rd line (and Savoie CAN excel on a 3rd line given a good 2-way game, tenacious energy player, etc.), I do think that Savoie is a great long term fit for Dra and have opined on that for months.
Savoie is a complimentary offensive player, not a driver. He doesn’t carry the puck nor really ever have it on his stick for long. What he does do is excel in “small spaces”, is great in the give and go game, finds soft ice where he can unload a great realese and under-rated shot – he’s solid on the boards, good defensively, etc.
If Savoie got to play on Drai’s wing all year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 20/30 season – now 50 points is NOT the expectation – there will be struggle, he won’t play in the top 6 all season long, etc., etc. but, at the same time, its not fully unreasonable if things did pop right (but at 2RW to start, and it sticks).
Parsing words from the coach in summer just angries up the blood and creates anxiety. Knoblauch, like most coaches, is risk averse. Matt Savoie’s even strength goal share in Bakersfield was 65 percent, and the team was 48.5 percent with him off the ice.
If I was going to make the call, and it’s miles too early, I would suggest it is Howard you should be worried about in terms of Knoblauch.
It will all get sorted out in preseason. My guess Howard will get the spot next to Drai and Savoie will get the 3rd line spot. There is no way they play both rookies in the top 6.
If it was my call I’d start with
Mangiapane Mcdavid Hyman
Howard Drai Frederic
Henrique Nuge Savoie
Podkolzin 4c Kapanen
Ekholm Bouchard
Kulak Walman
Nurse Stetcher/Emberson
I think the coach was mostly repeating the established narrative. He will look for himself.
I think the surprise this camp will be a hungry Max Jones. Jones was drafted 5 spots before Frederic in the same draft year. He can play a power forward game, creating some pressure and chaos. He can skate.
The emergences of 27 y old Max Jones as a reliable power forward to join Trent Frederic would be a wonderful surprise.
When McD was drafted I may have had ELC efficiencies clouding my eyes and dreams, but I really, really wish Oil had taken that as the cue for a slow, steady build to sustain EDM dominance through McDrai’s prime years.
And we didn’t even know about “McDrai” yet. Not really.
Man.
As for Katz and Chiarelli LT… pretty sure you’ve mentioned it previously. McDavid changed everything. No more 1st round picks in the top 10 and expected to win/compete immediately. The organization needed to ‘change’ overnight. I don’t recall the other names for GM that were available then but Chiarelli did have a winning team. Later posters would go on to say he inherited that team and pushed them to cap hell, and possibly his demise in Boston. I felt he was the guy for the job coming in, along with Nuge’s sixth? coach to turn it around. We all know the few good things he did, but hindsight being 20/20 we also now his failures and they were massive. Reinhart and Puljujarvi stand out, many will add the Hall trade. To answer your question, I bet Katz has learned much since that time and would not do that again if given the chance.
Jaxon Pisani, Son of Fernando, is among the 26 WHL invitees (79 total) to Canada’s U-17 Development Camp beginning this weekend.
A 6′, 165 lb. d-man, he appeared in one game with Everett this past season.
I see that Teo Pisani (Teo Pisani – Stats, Contract, Salary & More) is at Nebraska/Omaha for College now too. That’s a decent program. Aubry just left there to become our new goalie coach too.