The Edmonton Oilers may have set their sights on adding Peter Chiarelli to their organization, though in what capacity it is not yet known.
According to a report from Eliotte Friedman and Mark Spector of SportsNet.Ca, Chiarelli is meeting with the Oilers brass in Edmonton on Wednesday.
As Friedman notes, the Oilers may look at Chiarelli for their general manager position, but President of Hockey Operations may be a possibility as well.
The Oilers, of course, fired head coach Dallas Eakins in December after the team started the 2014-15 season with a 7-19-5 record, at which point general manager Craig MacTavish took over behind the bench. Todd Nelson eventually took over for MacTavish as bench boss and MacTavish returned to the press box, but the current front office makeup in Edmonton and Nelson's future still seems to be in flux.
Chiarelli, 50, oversaw a strong stretch of success for the Boston Bruins from the 2006-07 season to the end of 2014-15.
During that time, the Bruins reached the postseason seven times, attained Stanley Cup Finals berths twice and emerged as NHL Champions after the 2011-12 season.
Under Chiarelli, the Bruins amassed a 386-233-85 record and won the Presidents' Trophy for the 2013-14 season.
His tenure in Boston was marked by major moves, some of which worked out in the Bruins favor, but many - the Tyler Seguin trade to the Dallas Stars, the Phil Kessel trade to Toronto and the Johnny Boychuk trade to the Isles - which did not and, ultimately, seemed to seal his fate.
Chiarelli was fired by Cam Neely and Charlie Jacobs as the general manager of the Boston Bruins on April 15, 2015.
"I can appreciate the fact that our fans would probably like us to get a little more specific as to why," Neely said in the wake of the move, "but we believe that we made the decision moving forward to help improve the hockey club. I don't want to take away anything that Peter accomplished here. I mean, he's going to go down in history as the GM that brought the Stanley Cup back to Boston, the first time in 39 years, so that says a lot about his abilities as a general manager.
"You know, we just felt, and it's not just this particular year not making the playoffs ... we just felt moving forward was the best thing for us to do. It was not an easy decision to come to. A lot of conversations about it, but we felt it was the best thing to do moving forward."
That "best decision" for the Bruins may turn out to be a favorable windfall for the Oilers.
