The Edmonton Oilers are in second-last place in the NHL yet again and general manager Peter Chiarelli is none too pleased about how the season has unfolded to date.
Despite the struggles, Chiarelli is in no rush to shake up his roster with a trade.
“The last thing you can do is force a move,” Chiarelli told reporters prior to a 3-2 shootout win over the Penguins Saturday. “I’m not averse to making some, and I’ve had a lot of conversations the last few weeks, but to make a move to shake things up? That’s wrong. I have to take a global perspective.”
He added: “I came into this knowing there would be a lot of heavy lifting and we’re in the midst of it…There are players under-performing and you wouldn’t get proper value [for them in a trade].”
In addition to not rushing to make a trade, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada that the Oilers are in no rush to call up goalie Laurent Brossoit from the AHL. Instead, Chiarelli will continue to let Cam Talbot and Anders Nilsson sort through their struggles. Through 23 games, the Oilers ranked 29th in goals allowed per game.
“I know there was lots of hype over the summer but as you guys recall, I tried to temper that hype. But I expected us to be in a better position than we are now.”
