The Boston Bruins fired general manager Peter Chiarelli on Wednesday. The firing comes after the Bruins failed to make the playoffs.
No interim general manager was named. The Bruins will instead look for a full-time replacement. Don Sweeney, who had been apprenticing with Chiarelli, and Ray Shero, who almost got the job when Chiarelli got it, are two possible candidates for the job, according to the Boston Globe. Sweeney and Scott Bradley, who are assistant general managers, will report to Bruins president Cam Neely until a replacement is found.
''I don't want to take away anything that Peter accomplished here,'' Neely said, the Associated Press reports. ''I mean, he's going to go down in history as the GM that brought the Stanley Cup back to Boston, the first time in 39 years, so that says a lot about his abilities as a general manager. We are grateful for Peter’s service to the Bruins organization over the last nine seasons. His efforts undoubtedly helped the team achieve great success during his tenure and he helped restore the proud tradition of Boston Bruins hockey. We just felt moving forward was the best thing for us to do.''
Chiarelli was the assistant general manager for the Ottawa Senators. He was hired by the Bruins to be their general manager in 2006. This season the Bruins were 41-27-14, didn’t make the playoffs and finished in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. Under Chiarelli the Bruins were 386-233-85 and won the Stanley Cup in 2011, according to NHL.com. They also made the Stanley Cup finals in 2013 and won the Presidents’ Trophy for the 2013-14 season.
The new general manager’s first job will be determining coach Claude Julien’s future. Right now there are no changes to the coaching staff.