His fingerprints were all over both rosters, although the Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins are heading in very different directions.
Peter Chiarelli’s past and present collided at Rexall Place on Wednesday when the Bruins pitted their five-game win streak against the 30th-place Oilers.
“I know it’s been a while for this team to turn the corner but he wasn’t able to do it in his first year (in Boston),” said Bruins head coach Claude Julien. “I’m sure with time he’ll make some good decisions. He’s a pretty smart individual.”
Chiarelli was fired by the Bruins after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years. During his tenure, Boston claimed two Eastern Conference titles and won the Stanley Cup in 2011 — the kind of credentials that sold Oilers’ chief executive Bob Nicholson this past off-season.
Don Sweeney, who stepped into Chiarelli’s old role, wasted no time putting his stamp on the Bruins. He moved core players Milan Lucic, Dougie Hamilton and Reilly Smith but retained Julien, who was hired by Chiarelli.
There were reports that the head coach and GM were at odds over the roster in their last year together, but it was nothing that provided Julien with any lingering animosity.
“I think you have to give Peter a lot of credit. He was there a year before I even got there and what he inherited as far as a team was one that wasn’t making the playoffs. Within five years or so he turned it into a Stanley Cup champion,” Julien continued.
“How could you not give credit to a guy who does that with a team? He assembled players. He brought the right players in and we were able, as a group, to work into making it a championship team. A lot of credit goes to him for that.
“As you know in this work environment, things happen and you move on. Right now we have a good GM here who’s done a good job with the players he’s brought in and there’s no doubt in my mind Peter will do a good job (in Edmonton).”
It hasn’t been a seamless transition for the Bruins this season. The club lost its first three games and another three at the start of November, but arrived in Edmonton with a record of 7-2 since Nov. 8.
“It has taken a little bit of time,” Julien said. “I don’t think at the beginning we were where we wanted to be but when you get that many new guys in your lineup it does take a little bit of time to get them to play together and be confident with each other, and trust each other in certain systems.
“I see that coming along. I see us getting better at that. At the same time, I see a group of guys who know we have to be better and get better.”
