Bob Nicholson doesn't mince words when thinking back on the Peter Chiarelli era of the Edmonton Oilers.
"Obviously it's a mistake," Nicholson, CEO of the Oilers' parent company, told CBC Radio's Marc Connolly of the decision to hire Chiarelli as the team's general manager in April 2015.
The Oilers fired Chiarelli late last month after a tumultuous 3.5 seasons during which the team made the playoffs in 2016-17 before missing out on the postseason by 17 points the following year. When Chiarelli's contract was terminated on Jan. 23, the Oilers were below .500 and four spots out of a Western Conference wild card spot.
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Nicholson expressed regret for hiring Chiarelli as quickly as he did. The 65-year-old, who held the CEO post at Hockey Canada for 16 years and was a vice president of the IIHF prior to joining the Oilers' organization in June 2014, said he hired Chiarelli with no wide GM search, as was the norm in Edmonton.
“With the Oilers, you go back all the way to Glen Sather, and how many people has this organization interviewed to name a general manager? Through my research, it’s one person that they looked at," Nicholson said.
There's now a much wider net being cast for Chiarelli's replacement, Nicholson said. In the meantime, he pledged that the team will learn from its past mistakes while placing the blame for the unsuccessful Chiarelli era on himself.
“There’s no question," Nicholson said. "It was my responsibility to hire the general manager and that general manager hired the coach [Todd McLellan, who was fired by Chiarelli 20 games into the current campaign]. I have to take a lot of that responsibility.
"I’m the person who hired Peter Chiarelli. When we hired Peter Chiarelli and when we hired Todd McLellan we thought we were getting a top general manager and a top coach. It didn’t work out in this situation. We’re going to go back. This time, we’re going to interview a lot of people.”