from Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald,

Anyone who is in the running to become just the eighth general manager in the history of the Bruins would be wise to contemplate the peculiar circumstances under which Peter Chiarelli yesterday was fired.

What did Chiarelli do to earn his pink slip? Well, in the past eight seasons, his B’s teams have averaged 103 points (including a projected total for the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season). Twice they went to the Stanley Cup finals. They won it all in 2010-11.

In 2013-14, Chiarelli and Co. made a calculated decision to try and win another Cup. In doing so, the B’s were left with severe salary-cap problems that led to a non-playoff performance this season.

The B’s had 96 points, the most ever for a team that missed the postseason. They still were in the running for a playoff spot in the final hours of the regular season. They missed out only because the Ottawa Senators engineered an utterly improbable 23-4-4 record in their final 31 games.

Chiarelli went for it all in 2013-14, which any Bruins fan would have wanted him to do, and it ends up costing him his job.

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