The Oilers (36-40-6) finished sixth in the Pacific Division, 17 points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. In 2017, Edmonton advanced to the Western Conference Second Round, where it lost to the Anaheim Ducks in seven games. It's the only appearance by the Oilers in the playoffs since 2006, when they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final.
"We had a down year, but when I talk to Peter I really believe that he has a plan to get us back into the playoffs," Nicholson said.
Chiarelli, who was hired by the Oilers on April 24, 2015, and won the Stanley Cup as GM of the Boston Bruins in 2011, said Wednesday there was no guarantee that McLellan and his staff would be back next season. The Oilers are 114-109-23 in McLellan's three seasons as coach.
Nicholson also did not offer guarantees or timelines.
"It's all being evaluated at this time," Nicholson said of McLellan's status. "I think we want to do an evaluation and make the decisions that we feel are right. We want to make sure that we take the appropriate time to make those decisions, and that's what is going on right now.
"We'll announce when we're ready and do all our homework. I'm not going to put a timeline for that. Certainly we're on it now, and when we're ready to make those decisions we'll announce those to everybody."
