from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

The ex-Boston GM made McLellan his coach as one of his initial moves upon being hired, and Chiarelli then went on to make it all the harder for McLellan to win by reshaping a roster that today can’t win on a regular basis with Connor McDavid, one of the game’s top talents, leading its offense.

The very worst of Chiarelli’s moves was dealing Taylor Hall to the Devils for defenseman Adam Larsson after the 2015-16 season. Granted, franchise defensemen are few, and all but impossible to trade for, but Larsson was never on that track.

Meanwhile, the gritty Hall last season, his second in New Jersey, put up a career year (93 points) and captured the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. Hall is a tiny tick behind that scoring pace this season (19 points in 19 games the day McLellan was fired), but he’s a force up front that Larsson never will be in back.

Also pegged high on Chiarelli’s boo-boo list, nearly on par with the Hall gaffe: the summer 2016 free agent signing of ex-Bruins winger/mauler Milan Lucic for a whopping $42 million/seven years. Looch was great for Chiarelli in Boston. The big fella had just turned 23 when the Bruins won the Cup in 2011. He was hockey’s Gronk: big, tough, productive — a unique force, some nights a spectacle.

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