GM Peter Chiarelli sacked for failing to get Bruins to playoffs

Ray Slover

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GM Peter Chiarelli sacked for failing to get Bruins to playoffs image

Peter Chiarelli became general manager of the Boston Bruins in 2006 with one mission: win the Stanley Cup. He lost his job Wednesday because of his team's failure to make the playoffs.

But Chiarelli won't be out of work long, because he accomplished his mission: The Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011.


Peter Chiarelli Getty Images

His inability to keep the Bruins a playoff power ultimately cost Chiarelli his job.

MORE: Fatal flaws for all 16 teams in Stanley Cup playoffs

The team called at 3 p.m. ET news conference Wednesday to discuss its decision.

"We are grateful for Peter's service to the Bruins organization over the last nine seasons," team president Cam Neely said in a release. "His efforts undoubtedly helped the team achieve great success during his tenure and he helped restore the proud tradition of Boston Bruins hockey. We ultimately feel that this change is necessary in order to ensure sustainable success for the club both in the short term and the long term. Our search for a new general manager will begin immediately."

Team officials made no immediate announcement on the status of coach Claude Julien. The team is expected to make several player personnel moves in the offseason.

Chiarelli was the seventh general manager in franchise history. His teams went 386-233-85, including 41-27-14 this season. The Bruins qualified for the playoffs from 2008-14 and reached the Stanley Cup finals in 2013 where they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Bruins' 2011 victory ended a 39-year Cup drought.

Chiarelli had three years left on his contract.

Among likely candidates is assistant GM Don Sweeney, according to The Boston Herald.

The Bruins' resurgence under Chiarelli began before he joined the team, when interim GM Jeff Gorton drafted Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand, and traded goalie Andrew Raycroft for Tuukka Rask. Chiarelli added Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard in free agency.

Those moves and Chiarelli's acquisitions, including second-overall draft pick Tyler Seguin, were the foundation for the 2011 cup team.

With the team in transition this season, Chiarelli believed he had a playoff-ready roster. But injuries robbed Julien of key players, and no one could have predicted the meteoric rise of the Ottawa Senators into the Eastern Conference playoff field.

Chiarelli and Julien faced Boston media on Monday for their post-mortem on the season. Both had reason to believe his job was in jeopardy. As The Boston Globe noted, Jacobs made his disappointment in the team's performance crystal clear in January.

"For us to be a team that's out of the playoffs is absolutely unacceptable," Jacobs said three months before the season's end. "Everybody in the executive offices is fully aware of how I feel.

"They feel the same way, which brings us to this evaluation process. It's fluid right now. I can't say that any moment we have a final decision, other than to say it's been an utter disappointment and a failure. A complete failure."

In his postseason report card, CSNNE.com's Joe Haggerty gave Chiarelli a D. His reasoning?

Serious salary cap problems put the whammy on the roster to start the season, and the dressing room chemistry was altered far too much when Shawn Thornton, Johnny Boychuk and Jarome Iginla were ripped off the roster. The trade deadline moves to get Brett Connolly and Max Talbot were both pretty good trades, but the scoring issues, the struggling fourth line and the patchwork defensemen corps all can be attributed to his team-building issues.

In February, Chiarelli said he knew his job was in jeopardy, citing comments from Jacobs and others. According to The Globe:

“We’ve had a lot of success here in my tenure and Claude’s tenure. We’re having a down year. It’s unfortunate that we’re under review for one year. But I understand. We’ve got to make things better.”

Ray Slover