I'm seeing a lot of this "Why did no one think the OBC was interfering last year when the team was successful? Why is it only being brought up now?"
To be honest, it actually makes sense that the OBC would use this as a time to re-exert their influence within the organization. It makes it much harder for Katz to listen to opinions that differ from Chia's and Nicholson's when the team is actually successful, like it was last season. On the other hand, when things become a mess and there's more blame to go around (like this year) it's much easier for the OBC to try to get on Katz's good side again and to try change the direction of the team. Even if they didn't have a lot to do with past decisions, that doesn't mean that there isn't currently a power struggle going on. In fact, the failure of this season is probably the perfect catalyst for something like that to emerge.
This is what happens when there are so many titles and such an unclear organizational hierarchy.
Also, this has little to do with the actual competence of Chia/Nicholson/McLellan, or even just the Paul Coffey hire. This is more about WHO is making the decisions rather than what the actual decisions ARE. Speculation from Oilers media as well as from external media (Friedman), should warrant at least some examination and discussion of these issues.
In any case, let's hope that Chia had and still has full autonomy over the hockey ops of the Oilers. It's far less dangerous than the alternative.
Edit: We have no way of confirming if any of what is being discussed is true, but I would say it's fair to at least bring up given the rumblings in the media.