Worst to (nearlyish) first. A phrase that describes the Oilers (with a little editing). Hey, maybe they will win the Cup and I can remove the “nearlyish.” The Edmonton Oilers: Taking the “nearlyish” out of “Worst to (nearlyish) first.” Call the PR department. New slogan. Replace “City of Champions” with that. It’s got a nice ring to it. I thin I’m into something. Okay, jokes aside. The Oilers went from lottery pick(s) to Stanley Cup Playoffs, Only after going from Game 7, Cup finals to bottom feeder, of course. It’s been a long wait for Oilers fans but it’s finally worth it. But us Oilers fans have a question. How did we get here? Sure, Connor McDavid helps, but a single player, even if he’s the best player in the world, can’t turn a team around, So what did? Was it the hiring of Todd McLellan and Peter Chiarelli? Or was it the subsequent changes they made?

In the early off-season of 2015, the Oilers signed both Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan. The two both deserves credit for turning around the Oilers. Peter Chiarelli was willing to do the things Craig MacTavish wasn’t, like parting with some of the Oilers young talent. Without the moves PC made, the Oilers would not be in the playoffs today.

(MAJOR) MOVES MADE BY PC

-Oilers trade D Brandon Davidson to the Canadiens for C David Desharnai

-G Laurent Brossoit was called up to replace G Jonas Gustavsson

-Oilers sign D Kris Russell

-Oilers trade Nail Yakupov to the Blues for a conditional 2017 3rd rounder and Zach Pochiro

-Oilers sign LW Milan Lucic to a 7 year, 42 million dollar contract

-Oilers sign Jonas Gustavsson

-Oilers trade LW Taylor Hall to the Ney Jersey Devils for D Adam Larsson

-LW Patrick Maroon acquired from the Ducks for 4th rounder and Martin Gernat

-Teddy Purcell traded to Panthers for 3rd round pick

-Schultz to Pens for 3rd round pick

-Nilsson to Blues for Niklas Lundstrom and a 5th rounder

-Cam Talbot signs extension

-Scrivens traded for Zack Kassian

-Oilers sign Andrej Sekera

-Oilers sign Mark Letestu

-Oilers acquire Cam Talbot for 7th, 2nd, 7th and 3rd round draft picks

-Oilers acquire Eric Gryba

-Oilers acquire Reinhart for 1st and 2nd round picks

Which moves involve current Oilers?

-Davidson for Desharnais

-Oilers sign Russell

-Oilers sign Lucic

-Oilers trade for Adam Larsson

-Oilers trade for Kassian

-Oilers trade for Maroon

-Oilers sign Sekera

-Oilers sign Letestu

-Oilers acquire Talbot

-Oilers get Gryba

OILERS MOVES WINS

Oilers trade for Gryba- Gryba added some size and grit to the blue line

Oilers acquire Talbot- Without Talbot the Oilers would not be in the playoffs

Oilers sign Letestu- Added some face off skill, Letestu is good on PP

Oilers sign Sekera- Sekera has been solid on the blue line

Maroon trade- Despite his recent struggles, Maroon has been great for the Oilers. Huge win.

Oilers trade for Kassian-more size and grit

Hall for Larsson- Somebody had to go and Hall was the one that made the deal work. Larsson was the player the Oilers needed on D

Oilers sign Russell- James played pretty well, blocked lots of shots

Out of the 10 moves involving current Oilers that PC has made, the Oilers won 8 of them. That’s an 80% trade win percentage which is pretty good. Putting the stats aside, PC was willing to give up players to improve the Oilers which was necessary for the Oilers to improve. Loyalty is one of the worst traits a GM can have, especially during a log rebuild. The hiring of Peter Chiarelli was the main move that improved the Oilers, not the Larsson-Hall trade. He made the moves MacTavish wouldn’t and deserves a lot of credit for the turning of the Oilers.