A couple things pointed out that I thought were interesting:
The brass in Edmonton did not finally swing the axe on Chiarelli until every single writer in town turned on them. Before that, even as late in the game as a month ago, there were headlines that read something like "Chiarelli looking like a genius again." The water-carrying in that town is every bit as toxic as the culture in the organization itself. Friedman said Vancouver is the toughest town when it comes to media mittenstringing, I say no, Edmonton is. Way worse than Vancouver, and way, WAY worse than Toronto or Montreal.
Friend of mine said on Twitter that he doesn't buy that the Koskinen deal was an "organizational decision." He thinks they let Chiarelli do the deal and were caught completely unprepared for the overwhelming and almost universally negative media and online backlash that ensued, and panicked. So in turn, they panicked on a panicking GM who was making a series of panic moves in a desperate ploy to save his job. I actually think it's a plausible scenario, though I have nothing beyond speculation to make such an assertion.
