Todd Bersnoozi wrote:Hockey Widow wrote:Oilers to announce on Friday the hiring of Chiarelli. Unknown what his capacity is.
Feel a bit for Chiarelli. He listened to Benning, Neely and his other Bruin's staff and traded Seguin. He probably regrets trading a young top 10 player now, a franchise player. They probably make the playoffs with Seguin and Chiareli's job would be safe in Bean town. Oh well, looks like someone will offer him a job anyways.
Actually, from an inside source, that's not true. The video we all saw, similar to the one we saw that was supposedly following Benning and company regarding the Kesler trade, was somewhat scripted.
The real story. Allegedly, was that Benning and a few others were opposed to the Seguin trade. Benning advocated that the Bruins keep Seguin because his skill set was hard to come by and felt he was a great top six fit to the Bruins bruising style. He likened the Seguin situation the the P Kane situation in Chicago early in his career. The way the Hawks managed it was through room assignments on the road, who he sat beside on charter flights. They reached out to some of the older vets to basically babysit him on the road. They believed that he would mature and were prepared to wait it out. There were some in Chicago that advocated he be traded for a big return but calmer heads prevailed. The difference may have been that the Hawks were a team on the way up, Boston was already on top. Chiarelli and Neely were the advocates of the trade, but mostly Chiarelli.
The problem with Seguin was booze and girls. He also had an I don't give a fuck attitude that Chiarelli found disrespectful and the situation was described as a pissing contest. It was Chiarelli that went public criticizing Seguin before the trade. In any event, the proponent of the trade was fully on the GM. That trade and the cap problems he created that resulted in the loss of Boychuck were his downfall, apparently. He was basically green lighted after their cup run and he sank by his decisions. He could have survived the Seguin traded had he not boxed the team into cap hell with little in the pipe line.
I have heard numerous times that the real genius in the organization was Benning, this before we got him. In fact after he left Boston more than one player felt that that was the end of their run. Chiarelli never had the confidence of his players the way Benning did. Yes, some of this comes out of the Lucic camp via back channels. Lucic even revived his dream of playing for the Canucks after his contract is up. My friend asked him if he would re-sign in Boston after Benning left and he was non committal. He believes he may be dealt at the next trade deadline. Like all players he would, in all likelihood, re up in Boston if the money and term are there but he doesn't think it will be there. Too many picks and prospects have been traded away for a quick re-build.
He did say he would relish the idea of playing on a Benning built team. He also said his season sucked and he needed a monster season next year. I have no idea what it all means other than the fact that the players in Boston have a ton of respect for Benning and no love lost with Chiarelli.
