Bob McKenzie haastatteli eilen Peter Chiarellia tulevasta kaudesta. Tässä joitakin pääpointteja:
“Even when I was in Boston it wasn’t about putting fighters in the lineup, it was about your team approach, your team toughness, your collective mentality. And that can apply to us, also. Having said that, there are teams in our conference and our division that play a certain style. You don’t have to fight fire with fire, but you have to be able to push back.”
Eli Chiarellin tarkoitus ei ole tehdä mitään jääkaappipakastimen kokoista tappeluketjua, vaan ripotella sitä fyysisyyttä ja kokoa pitkin ketjukokoonpanoja. Jos Oilersin pelaajaa taklataan, kuten McDavidia tuossa Canucks-pelissä, kokoonpanossa on oltava kaveri joka käy muistuttamassa taklaajaa.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about stretching it to the third line, we’ve got some interesting matchups. Connor and Taylor had something going on later in the summer at one of those summer camps, so there’s certain things you remember when you’re putting these lines together. Yakupov is a guy who can move up and down depending on how things are doing.”
On siis melkoisen todennäköistä, että Oilersilla on kolme kiekollista ketjua tulevalla kaudella. McDavidia ja Hallia tultaneen peluuttamaan yhdessä. Jakupovin paikka löytynee sekin kahdesta ensimmäisestä ketjusta, riippuen siitä miten Naililla alkaa kulkea.
We have to see how they do. They are two fine prospects, with size and skill you just don’t find anywhere. I still really believe size matters in this league. We’ll see. We’re going to try Leon on the wing and we’re going to try him, he protects the puck so well, we’ll try him at both (wing and center). Darnell is so strong, he defends so well. He’s an energetic player, we have to teach him you don’t have to do six things, if you do three very well, you can do the other three later. He’s got some stuff to learn but there’s a lot to like there.”
Siinähän se virallisestikin tuli, eli Draisaitl siirtyy laitahyökkääjäksi. Mutta tarvittaessa häntä peluutetaan siis myös keskushyökkääjänä. Nurse aloittanee kauden farmissa, jos tuota Chiarellin lausuntoa on uskominen. Kummatkin tietysti saavat harjoitusleirillä mahdollisuuden ottaa paikka NHL-kokoonpanosta. Chiarelli myös totesi Slepyshevin olevan villikortti, jolla on mahdollisuus murtautua avauskokoonpanoon.
“I can tell you I expect (Sekera) to be in our top four, Klefbom will be in our top four, Justin Schultz will be, I would hope he would be in our top four. Nikita Nikitin, who had a disappointing season last year, who was brought in to play in the top four. We’ve got some guys we acquired, Griffin Reinhart who I believe is a terrific player. I think he needs a little time to get up and running before I can anoint him in the top four. We have Eric Gryba who I think is a real strong shutdown D, we can probably shuttle him up at certain points. We’ve got three legitimate, we don’t have a workhorse right now.”
Eli Sekera. Klefbom. Schultz, Nikitin on todennäköisesti ensi kauden top 4. Reinhartista odotetaan top4-puolustajaa, mutta vielä hän ei ole siihen valmis. Grybaa voidaan tarvittaessa peluuttaa kakkosparissa, todennäköisimmin hän on kolmosparin pakki. Lopuista pelipaikoista tappelevat sitten Ference, Fayne ja Nurse
Schultzista Chiarelli totesi näin:
“He’s a player that I don’t have really strong knowledge of. Saw him in college. Saw him in the lockout in the American League. Saw him in bits and pieces with Edmonton, maybe a little more this past year, whether it’s video or otherwise. He’s got a lot of assets, like puck skills, passing, skating. He’s been labelled sometimes as a rover and that’s more negative than positive in my mind, but the fact that he’s up the ice with the forwards is a good thing. That’s something that we would preach here. It’s about defending, about being the proper position and if you’re not strong enough to defend, let’s talk about positional defending, stick defending. He has to get better at that.”
Eli oman alueen sijoittumista, paikkapelaamista ja mailapelaamista Schultzin on parannettava.
Chiarelli MacT:sta: “The relationship is growing, I mean it’s an awkward thing to start. We had a couple of meetings to start at the start of my tenure. I appreciate his feelings, I think what he’s done in the NHL is very good, and is very good experience and experience counts for a a lot in this business. He’s a very good person, from what I’ve known before and gotten to know more. He’s had success here, maybe he’s had some failure but he’s had success here, and knows what it takes to succeed in Edmonton. He has a good hockey mind. So, if we can make it work and we will make it work he’s an asset to the organization. He’s VP of hockey operations, so he’s going to oversee a lot of development in Bakersfield. He’s going to be my No. 2 guy.”
Eli MacT:sta on siis tehty Vice President Of Hockey Operations ja hänen vastuualueenaan on farmiseura Bakersfield Condorsin pelaajatoiminnot.