Struggling Edmonton Oilers fire GM Peter Chiarelli

Edmonton fired Peter Chiarelli on Wednesday in an indictment of his roster moves in three-plus years as general manager, with the Oilers in striking distance of a playoff spot during another losing season.

The team announced Chiarelli's abrupt dismissal in the aftermath of its third consecutive loss. Edmonton has lost 12 of its past 16 games going into the All-Star Break. The Oilers are 14-14-2 since firing coach Todd McLellan and replacing him with Ken Hitchcock.

CEO Bob Nicholson will oversee hockey operations and the search for Chiarelli's replacement. Nicholson said at a news conference in Edmonton that Keith Gretzky will assume GM responsibilities for the time being, including the point role ahead of the Feb. 25 trade deadline.

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2015, file photo, Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli gives an update on injured Oilers hockey player Connor McDavid in Edmonton, Alberta. The Edmonton Oilers have fired president of hockey operations and general manager Peter Chiarelli amid another season that has failed to live up to expectations. The team announced Chiarelli's abrupt dismissal Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, in the aftermath of its third consecutive loss. (Amber BrackenThe Canadian Press via AP, File)

Nicholson said the Oilers, who are three points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, still believe they can make the playoffs but won't sacrifice the future to try to make quick fixes. He said the organizational decision was made this week to fire Chiarelli, who was told at the second intermission of a loss Tuesday night to Detroit so he could quietly leave the arena.

Nothing else about Chiarelli's tenure in Edmonton was quiet. He was hired in 2015 after the Oilers won the draft lottery and selected star Connor McDavid. He was heralded as the right executive to get the Oilers back to respectability.

They've made the playoffs just once in McDavid's three seasons despite him putting up 329 points in 258 games, leading the league in scoring twice and winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.

"There's something in the water here in Edmonton that we don't have right," Nicholson said at the news conference. "And we got to get that figured out."

Chiarelli is the second GM to be fired this season. The Philadelphia Flyers dismissed Ron Hextall in November and named Chuck Fletcher his replacement.

Nicholson said Hitchcock will remain coach for the rest of the season as Edmonton tries to close the gap and qualify for the postseason with 32 games left.

Moves made by Chiarelli along the way contributed to the Oilers struggling for much of the first four seasons of McDavid's career. Chiarelli traded 2010 top pick Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils one-for-one for defenseman Adam Larsson. Hall won the Hart last season and led the Devils to the playoffs.

He signed Milan Lucic to a $42 million, six-year contract that now appears to be unmovable. The big winger has 96 points in 214 games with the Oilers, including just five goals this season.

And he traded 2008 first-round pick Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders for Ryan Strome, who he sent to the New York Rangers earlier this season for Ryan Spooner. The Oilers put Spooner on waivers Monday.

Chiarelli was expected to give the woebegone Oilers steady leadership with McDavid. He won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011 but made similar personnel mistakes in Boston, most notably a failed trade of Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars that contributed to losing his job.

Edmonton had missed the playoffs in nine consecutive seasons before replacing Craig MacTavish with Chiarelli. A trip to the second round of the playoffs in 2017 looked like the start of success, but the Oilers finished 17 points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference despite McDavid putting up an NHL-best 108 points to win the Art Ross Trophy.

Last summer, Chiarelli did little to improve the roster around McDavid.

The result was 11 losses in their first 20 games that led to the firing of McLellan and later a series of reactionary moves. Beyond the Strome for Spooner deal, Chiarelli sent 24-year-old forward Drake Caggiula to Chicago for bottom-pairing defenseman Brandon Manning. This week, he signed goaltender Mikko Koskinen to a three-year contract extension worth $4.5 million a season.

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Get ready for the 2026 Australian Open with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season on TV, who the defending champions are, what the schedule is and more:

Singles play begins next Sunday at 11 a.m. local time (7 p.m. Saturday EST) around the grounds, with the first match in Rod Laver Arena scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. Saturday EST).

— In the U.S.: ESPN and Tennis Channel

— Other countries are listed here

Madison Keys of the United States and Jannick Sinner of Italy won the 2025 singles trophies. Keys beat the No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 for her first Grand Slam trophy. Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to successfully defend his title at Melbourne Park.

Sabalenka will be the top-seeded woman and Carlos Alcaraz the top-seeded man. They currently are ranked No. 1, and the tournament seedings usually follow the WTA and ATP rankings.

The Australian Open is played outdoors on hard courts at Melbourne Park, located along the Yarra River near downtown Melbourne. There are retractable roofs at Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena. Women play best-of-three-set matches with a first-to-10 tiebreaker at 6-all in the third; men play best-of-five with a tiebreaker at 6-all in the fifth. Like at the U.S. Open and French Open, there are night sessions. The tournament is staged each year around the last two weeks of January, during the school summer holidays Down Under.

The Australian Open is introducing “opening week” where the Melbourne Park precinct will be open to the public from the start of the qualifying tournament, and live music will be staged every night at Grand Slam Oval. Fans can watch open practice sesions in Rod Laver Arena to see some of the sport's biggest names preparing for the first major of the year. Organizers are also expanding the so-called 1 Point Slam in opening week, where 22 professional players and 10 amateurs get the chance to play for 1 million Australian dollars in prize money.

First round of qualifying for the men's and women's singles.

— Jan. 18-19-20: First Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 21-22: Second Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 23-24: Third Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 25-26: Fourth Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 27-28: Quarterfinals (Women and Men)

— Jan. 29: Women’s Semifinals

— Jan. 30: Men’s Semifinals

— Jan. 31: Women’s Final

— Feb. 1: Men’s Final

— Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka describes the season schedule as “insane.”

— Coco Gauff adds some context on the “worst” fans

— Novak Djokovic is cutting ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association

— Venus Williams gets a wildcard entry for the Australian Open, at age 45

— Carlos Alcaraz ends his 7-year partnership with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero

— The ATP is adding a heat rule like the one the women have had for 30 years

— Nick Kyrgios will do doubles time, but won't play singles at the Australian Open

Australian Open prize money has increased by 16% on last year to a record total in local currency of 111.5 million Australian dollars (US$75 million). That was up from 96.5 million Australian dollars in 2025. The women’s and men’s singles champions will win 4.15 million Australian dollars ($2.8 million), a 19% increase on last year.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus waves to the crowd after winning the women's final match against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3, at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)