Chiarelli speaks for the first time after tons of criticism from fans.

Oilers GM speaks for the first time this season.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Chiarelli speaks for the first time after tons of criticism from fans.
Sportsnet

Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli has been under fire for his management decisions as a result of what has to be described as a catastrophic start for the Oilers, but the general manager had until now remained silent. 

On Friday Chiarelli finally faced the media to answer some tough questions about the current state of his team, a state that many fans feel Chiarelli is directly responsible for. 

“My general takeaway: general disappointment. There’s your headline,” Chiarelli said as per TSN. “We’re almost at the 20-game mark and it’s obviously disappointing where we are. It’s obviously not satisfactory. 

“But I see the positives. I do believe in the critical mass of the team. I do believe we’re still in it.”

Fans in Edmonton will certainly be able to relate to Chiarelli's disappointment with the start from his team, however it doesn't seem like that will earn him too much favor from a fan base that seems to be slowly turning on him. 

It's hard to blame the fans in that city especially when you consider that a player like Taylor Hall currently has more points than anyone on the Oilers roster not named Connor McDavid. In fact another former Oiler in Jordan Eberle is also outscoring his former teammates although Eberle, who has played in one less game, now has 1 less point than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after he picked one up against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Making things worse for Chiarelli is the performance of the players he brought back in those deals with neither Adam Larsson or Ryan Strome proving to be game breakers for the Oilers, at least not so far. Some have even questioned the moves Chiarelli made in free agency giving both big term and money to players Like Milan Lucic and Kris Russell.

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Despite all the criticism Chiarelli seems to be holding out hope that his team can turn it around.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about the slowness of this team. By no means is it slow,” Chiarelli said. “You end up playing slow. We have been. Having said that, up until [Thursday] night, we haven’t been playing slow the last five or six games. I thought we had a real good road trip [2-1-1 vs. East]. I believe that area is coming around. It’s just consistency and executing right now.” 

Chiarelli needs to hope that fans in Edmonton will have as much faith as he does.

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