because that literally never happens in the NHL, and the next time it does will be the first
You know what else never happened before? A non expansion team getting three FOAs in a row.
Most teams don't trade the FOA because they only get one every ten or fifteen years.
Oilers had the chance to flesh out the roster with something they actually needed. Good defencemen.
Instead they chose to take another small flashy winger. The last thing they needed.
Team definitely should have traded the Yakupov pick. I said so at the time and I stand by it.
The fact that Yak turned into a lazy whining prima donna is beside the point.
question: how many 103+ point teams improved on paper from last year? answer...none
because they are good teams already relying on their core and younger players to improve
You are right that its tough to improve on 103 points. But ...
First, I think the Oilers were lucky to get 103 points last year. They had career years from Maroon, Letestu, Draisaitl and Talbot. Of those the only one I'd put money on repeating is Talbot.
Second, McDavid was also godly. I expect that to continue, but don't kid yourself into thinking he isn't going to have more tough nights this season as teams design game plans to shut him down. Its going to harder for him to carry the team to victory night after night. Witness the posters (not me) already calling him out in GDTs for not shooting enough or letting punks like Dorsett distract and frustrate him.
And third, most 103 point teams have actual 'younger players' that they can reasonably expect to improve. I see Bennings and Caggiulas on the Oilers roster ... and not a whole hell of a lot of help on the farm which is why we are shoving an obviously unready Yamamoto into the lineup.
So yeah, it may be tough to improve on 103 points but the objective of a GM should be to not slide back down the hill to mediocrity.
he's managing the cap situation plain and simple...no way he wastes assets on a top 4 defender that only plays top 4 minutes for 30 games while Sekera heals up
that would be stupid and short-sighted
Why would a top four defender only play until Sekera comes back? You act like the Oilers have top four defenders coming out their ass.
The object is to win, and Chiarelli didn't give the team the best opportunity to do that by 'hoping' that Nurse and Benning would both step up. Or by 'hoping' that Jokinen and Strome were going to replace all the offense generated by Eberle and Pouliot. While simultaneously 'hoping' that Caggiula, Slepyshev and Puljujarvi were all going to grow along a nice even smooth trajectory to reliable, contributing NHLers.
Its too much 'hoping' and not enough covering his ass with contingency plans.
Or a hypocrite apparently. 
