Oilers' fans are now patiently waiting to see who gets axed after this season (hopefully someone).
I'm probably in the minority, but I sort-of defiantly think the team should stick with coach Todd McLellan. I actually think McLellan knows what he's doing... except for his bizarre attachment to veterans Lucic and Cammalleri. His hands have been tied by poor team-management and the Oilers' abysmal special-teams (which he gets some of the blame for, but I think the special-teams' coaches have got to go). Hard to say, but I do know that every time the team has changed coaches in the past 12 years, it's gone from bad to worse. McLellan has had two good seasons and one bad one, but that's a better batting-average than anybody in 15 years.
The real villains are Daryl Katz and Chiarelli. Since Katz isn't going to sell the team anytime soon, the best-case scenario is for Chiarelli to go.
It's not so much that Chiarelli's ideas have been bad, but his execution of trades and movement of assets has been disastrous.
The idea of getting a rugged, tough winger to ride shotgun with McDavid in 2016 wasn't a bad idea at all -- McDavid possibly needed it, and the team in general had long lacked a bruiser up front. But then Chia dipped into his "old-boy" network to get Lucic, a player too slow to possibly play with McDavid (arguably now too slow to play in the NHL). On top of that, he massively overpaid and over-contracted him, in a way that will now probably cripple the team.
The idea of trading one of the Oilers' soft, skilled forwards to get a rugged, young defenceman wasn't bad at all. But was the best of those soft, skilled forwards (Taylor Hall) really the one to part with? Then, if you were going to trade Hall, you've got to get more than just one defensive defenceman. I personally love Adam Larsson and I'm glad he's on the team, but Chiarelli should have been able to get him plus a first or second-round pick, or him plus another established winger.
What most of us were saying last summer was that the team was looking better, but there were major holes (a) at the wing and (b) with the back-up goaltending. Neither of these issues was addressed whatsoever by Chiarelli, and consequently the wingers haven't been able to score and the goaltending has been abysmal. In fact, the issue at wing was made yet worse by Chiarelli when he traded Patrick Maroon (27 goals last year) for a 22-year-old who hasn't played in the NHL yet and a draft-pick (which, being the Oilers' pick, will undoubtedly amount to nothing).
I mean, I didn't get that last one. Maybe the Maroon-thing was a money-saver, 'rental' kind of trade, but, let's see: The team's #1 problem this season was lack of scoring from the wing. Chiarelli then trades the team's highest-scoring winger last year for a player who isn't good enough for the NHL and a draft pick. Maroon still had better than 1 point every 2 games this year and was a 'plus' player on a terrible team with third-line minutes. And that's the guy he trades?
In short, this fool needs to go.
But, being the NHL, McLellan will probably be the victim.