Breaking: Oilers fire Chiarelli in the middle of the night!

It was to be expected and it is now done. Last night, around 2h30AM ET, the Edmonton Oilers fired general manager Peter Chiarelli, hours after the team fell 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings, the 26th club in the league right now. 

TSN's Ryan Rishaug had been watching the situation closely and reported the firing following the Oilers third straight home loss. 

Through 50 games this season, the Oilers have a 23-24-3 record and are currently three points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with three teams in front of them.

Before last night's contest, TSN insider Darren Dreger had revealed that Chiarelli’s future in Edmonton has become a minute-by-minute watch.

“It’s almost a minute-by-minute watch, and I don’t say that in a flip fashion. I mean it’s the reality of the situation,” explained Dreger on Thats’ Hockey. 

It turns out there was no more time on his clock. 

Last spring, after failing to clinch a playoff spot, both Chiarelli and head coach Todd McLellan were retained. However, McLellan was fired by Chiarelli 20 games into this season and replaced by Ken Hitchcock. It seemed like a brilliant move at the time, but the results did not last and no one could come to forget or forgive Chiarelli's trades in attempt to reshape the team. 

While the biggest acquisition of Chiarelli’s tenure was that of now-captain Connor McDavid through the NHL draft lottery, a lot of questionable moves remain tough to swallow for Oilers fans. 

Chiarelli traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils in June of 2016 in return for defenseman Adam Larsson. While Larsson has managed to help the Oilers since his acquisition, Hall has blossomed into a star for the Devils, winning the Hart Trophy last season.

When the GM traded Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders for Ryan Strome, fans were expecting more. However, Eberle is on pace to record his seventh straight season of 20 or more goals this year, while Strome tallied 34 points last season and was traded to the New York Rangers for Ryan Spooner in November. Spooner was waived by the Oilers this past Monday, two months after the trade.

Fans have also questioned his signings, including the lucrative pact he offered veteran forward Milan Lucic. After scoring 23 goals in the first season of a seven-year, $42 million deal, Lucic has not produce enough for the salary he puts in his pockets. 

According to the information provided by Cap Friendly, the Oilers have $31.1 million committed in cap space – 39 per cent of this year’s cap – to McDavid ($12.5 million), Leon Draisaitl ($8.5 million), Lucic ($6 million) and Oscar Klefbom ($4.17 million) through 2022-23, when Lucic and Klefbom’s contracts will come to an end. 

Chiarelli joined the Oilers after eight seasons as the GM of the Boston Bruins, with whom he managed to win a Stanley Cup in 2011, defeating the Vancouver Canucks. 

While a change in the front office could help the Oilers tremendously, former NHLer and TSN analyst Dave Poulin noted last night that the change needs to start with the players, who have to stop depending on McDavid only. A change of culture could be what really brings the Oilers back in contention. 

However, for now, this seems like a good step in the right direction...