Not sure what to think of Chiarelli. Coming into the season I was a fan of his. I think its hard and its a bit unfair to judge especially from hindsight when things arent going well.
You look at the team now and theres certainly holes in it. I still think the team is better than the record indicates.
Hes won some trades, hes lost some trades. I like Larsson better than Hall but whether he could of gotten more, I dunno. The Strome for Eberle trade doesnt really bother me because I think Eberle needed to move on and I dont think he is or was going to be effective here and I dont think he has/had much trade value. The Reinhart trade was completely awful and is his worst trade to date imo. But he made some good trades for Talbot, Maroon etc so I dont really have any ill feelings towards him regarding trades. He should avoid Garth Snow and just work on smaller value trades.
Free Agents, I think hasnt been kind to him. The Lucic deal is simply too long, but I have no doubt that the Oilers will get out of it somehow when they need to. Teams do this all the time. I sort of understand the Russell signing, he was playing top 4 minutes and they paid him to play top 4 minutes. Personally think the contract is too long but I think they will be able to get out of it when they want. Sekera is a good defenseman but think his contract is too long, but they desperately needed defense when they signed him so I am not going to complain too much. I think hes been pretty good regarding college FA's, so I will give him kudos there. But he has not been able to get any cheap veterans on good contracts, which hurts this team.
I think his drafting has been pretty good, much better than his predecessors but its really too early to know.
Looking at the team now, theres obviously some holes. They arent fast enough on the wings. He thought that Cagguila, Slepshev, Khaira, Jokinen, etc would be good enough and they simply havent been. Chiarelli should be blamed for not having more depth in place but I dont think he forsaw the team struggling this much. He thought that the team would be playing well, and that he would be able to assess the team and then bring in some talent/depth to make the team stronger around the deadline. I think this is pretty reasonable logic, so I find it hard to fault him too much. Also the Oilers not having a strong prospect system to bring in players hurts this team. They have no Guentzels or Shearys that were drafted several years ago to plug into the lineup. But thats not really on him, thats on the previous managements drafting system. Though I do think he made a mistake by not bringing in someone short term to replace Sekera. That was a big loss from the beginning and everyone knew it. This team needs more shooters, there are too many pass mentality players and this is another issue which Chiarelli did not address.
I know some people disagree but I think Chiarelli has given the coach enough pieces for the team to be better than it is. The team may not be a contender like the media predicted but it is a playoff team in my opinion. I do think that some of he problems on this team come are more from the way the players are playing and the coaching is coaching. The special teams are awful, and I pin that more on the coaching staff, I do not believe that the PK is where it is because they no longer have Pouillot and Hendricks. The are too many players, who are playing with little to no intensity. I dont like some of the line adjustments TM has or hasnt made.
But I am not sure what Chiarelli should do next. Something needs to change for this team. And based on their current record, no ones going to help him out. This sucks.