No choice but to be patient and build organizational depth to support the elite talent. I posted this in the TMac thred but it fits better here.
This team was having a near-death experience the summer we won the McDavid lottery. It was an unmitigated disaster with all of 3 real NHL players on the roster (Hal, Ebs, RNH). Look at this team. It has no goaltending or defense. Nothing in the pipeline aside from Nurse and Drai.
Edmonton Oilers 2014 Roster
There is no way to improve that team without taking big risks on trades and UFA. So that's what happened. You gamble on a young defensman (first Hamilton and then GR). You trade your best winger (Hall) for the best RD you can get (Larsson). After 2 years with McDavid and Drai panning out you trade a winger with a big contract (Ebs) for a 3C (Strome) to fight off an offer sheet. You overpay Sekera to try build some depth, sign Russell for more depth, and over-pay Lucic to try replace some of Hall's production and make the team tougher to play against. There is nothing "extra" to trade so fixing one hole simply creates another in a hopefully less important place. There is no magic to this. The only way you get out of this place is to fix the drafting and development system so depth is created internally. That takes time.
Expecting to win a SC during McDavid's ELC starting with the NHL roster as it was in the summer 2015 and the totally abysmal prospect depth is totally unrealistic. Chia made a bunch of risky moves in year 1 and 2 which led to a playoff berth in year 2 when everything went right. Year 3 had a lot of stuff go wrong and without the organizational depth the results are not surprising. I'm not surprised he stood pat last summer and he should not make any big deals this summer either. What he needs to do is continue to draft well and add some smart short-term value signing (top 6 RW, 1B goalie, 4C) and continue to build organizational depth so you can overcome a year like this one where injuries and luck didn't cooperate. Getting a new coach also doesn't cost us assets (this time) and is the most important way we can improve this summer.