Grading Chiarelli's Off-season

Welp we've reached the worst part of the NHL off-season folks. The "deadzone" as I like to call it. The time between now the and the start of training camp is one of the most boring times for hockey fans, because the madness of the draft, development camp, and free-agency is now over. Sure, there are plenty of free-agents left, but the good times have come to an end, at least until September. So with this "deadzone" now in effect, we hockey fans, bloggers, writers, and insiders have to keep busy somehow.

So today, I'm going to be doing a grading of Peter Chiarelli's off-season so far with Edmonton. An off-season that I feel, has been very profitable for Peter. In this grading, I'm going to be looking at 6 "categories" for the various events Peter has had a hand in. They are, coaching changes, trades, the draft, the re-sign phase, and free agency. Now of course, Chiarelli could still make a signing or a trade. Which is fine. I'm only grading him up until July 5th at 9:43 am ET. I will be giving grades out of 5, because a number grading is easier than doing A+, A, A-, etc. Let's get started.

Coaching Changes:
Grade: 5/5
Reason: Peter's first order of business this off-season was improving the coaching staff behind the Oilers bench. He and most of the fans (myself included), seem to give a vote of confidence to Todd McLellan, but not the assistants that failed miserably with special teams. Jim Johnson was fired, Ian Herbers went back to UoA, and Jay Woodcroft was depromoted (I use this term, because I don't know if going from NHL assistant coach to AHL head coach is a promotion or a demotion) to the head coach of Bakersfield. In their stead, the Oilers hired ex-Flames head coach Glen Gulutzen (recieved with mixed reviews), Manny Viveiros (who coached a good Swift Current Broncos club), and Trent Yawney (who has a track record of running a good PK and developing defencemen). While it is unclear what the actual strategy for these four is (the feeling is that all 4 will work on the special teams equally), this makes up for a strong bench...at least on paper. Hopefully it will lead to NHL sucess.

Trades:
Grade: 5/5
Reason: Peter Chiarelli has made 3 trades since the end of the regular season. On June 8th, Chiarelli sent a conditional 7th round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Nolan Vesey. Nothing more than a depth move really. Then on the 2nd day of the draft, the Oilers moved up in the draft, acquiring the 61st overall pick from Montreal. In exchange, Edmonton sent the Habs the 71st and 133rd picks. They used the 61st pick to select goaltender Olivier Rodrigue. Mere hours later, the Oilers once again made a deal with Montreal, acquiring goalie Hayden Hawkey in exchange for a 5th round pick in the 2019 draft. All three of these trades are small, depth moves that make sense for the organization, the most important being in selecting the #1 ranked goalie in this years draft (Rodrigue).

Draft:
Grade: 5/5
Reason: Really just for the Bouchard pick. While almost all Oilers fan dislike Peter Chiarelli for his trading resume, they don't generally complain about his drafting. That's because, Peter Chiarelli is usually pretty good at a draft table and this year was no exception. Granted there was some tension in Oil Country in regards to the Oilers 10th overall selection, and the fear it might be moved. But Peter waited and waited and waited, and was rewarded with the chance to select one of Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, or Oliver Wahlstrom. While some fans would've liked Edmonton to select Dobson or Wahlstrom, they really can't go wrong with the Bouchard pick. The Oilers would continue their solid draft by selecting Ryan McCleod at 40th and moving up in the draft to select Olivier Rodrigue.

Re-Sign Phase:
Grade: 4/5
Reason: This one is hard for me to do because of my own views on Chiarelli vs the rest of fans views on him. Yes I am aware that Strome and Nurse still need new contracts, but Peter Chiarelli has signed three players. Mikko Koskinen, Drake Caggiula, Matt Benning. The Koskinen signing was met with, understandable, hesitance. Koskinen hasn't played in the NHL, his stats aren't spectacular, and his contract is a bit pricey. It's one of these moves that could either work out and be OK, or burn out and be bad. Only next season will tell. Caggiula was met with A LOT of hate from Oilers twitter. The big problem with this signing was a mix of both the contract value and Caggiula himself. My personally? I like it. Yes Caggiula isn't a top 6 player, but it's not his fault McLellan and Co. kept putting him there. Benning's contract extension was more well received, but there were still some critics. Again, I don't mind this deal. He's still young, he's still developing, plus he'll be seeing more minutes when Bouchard gets sent back to London.

Free-Agency:
Grade: 5/5
Reason: Peter Chiarelli didn't have much money to work with heading into this years free agency. As such, signing a big fish free agent like JVR, Tavares, or Neal was impossible. So instead, Chiarelli focused on players who could help his team. And he struck gold with two former Oilers draft picks, Kyle Brodziak and Tobias Reider. Both players were signed to reasonable, team friendly contracts, both can help the Oilers improve their PK, and both can contribute offensively. Again, smart solid signings.

Summary:
Total Grade:24/25
Reason: Peter Chiarelli had a few goals coming into this off-season, and I think he accomplished them all. He wanted to improve the Oilers special teams and he did that with the assistant coach hires as well as the additions of Brodziak and Reider. He wanted to get a RHD who could quarterback a powerplay, and he did that in nabbing Bouchard at the draft. And he wanted to contribute to the depth scoring of the team as well as bring players back who he thinks can help them. Of course, this is something we as Oilers fans have seen before. They make moves in the off-season, pitch them as smart solid moves, and it generally blows up in their faces come hockey season. This year though, I believe it. The moves that Chiarelli has made are smart, solid moves that can pay dividends (at least on paper).Hopefully these will pay off. Because if they do, Peter might be loved in Oil Country again.