Peter Chiarelli has been on the job for one day, but Don Cherry already has a message for the Edmonton Oilers.
In an appearance on Coach’s Corner with Ron MacLean, Cherry insisted the Oilers need better pieces on the roster to play with future No. 1 overall pick Connor McDavid.
“If you don’t surround him with somebody, shame on you because a guy like him (rarely) comes along,” Cherry said Friday. “He’s like a (Mario) Lemieux or a (Sidney) Crosby. He’s got it. You have to give him something to work. He’s unbelievable.”
McDavid, considered to be a generational talent, is the consensus choice for Edmonton, who owns the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. In that case, the Erie Otters star would play alongside a young core of highly-drafted forwards such as Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov.
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Chiarelli, who was introduced Friday as the club’s new president of hockey operations and general manager, will have to determine which of the young players are worth keeping.
“This team has got a lot of good pieces,” Chiarelli said Friday at his press conference. “The way I handle these things, the way I managed, is nothing flashy. Although in the past I have made some trades and I’m not afraid to do that. It’s about getting to know the people, getting to know the players, really instilling an attitude and a philosophy about winning and making the sacrifices that it takes to win.”
Cherry has repeatedly mentioned that the Oilers need to add tougher veteran players to their team. He singled out Jason Chimera and Dennis Wideman as the kind of players that the Oilers need to target going forward.
The Oilers finished with the third-worst record in the NHL this season.
