I think fanbases credit the GM's with drafting success far too much, Futa might be great in that head scout role and he might even have good insights on which scouts to hire/fire or perhaps even put a system in place to which the organization should adhere for evaluating prospects, but if he is the guy who scouted and was picking out the best talents routinely, that's not something he will have time for in the GM role, most GM's will struggle to find the time to scout all the 1st round talents multiple times, let alone 2nd round guys and beyond. Being a good head scout does not ensure that you'd be a good GM and there is no guarantee that success in drafting will continue when they are kicked higher up the ladder.
Like people want to credit Chia with recent drafting success (I'm dubious of proclaiming any draft success till they are proven NHL players), but when you listen to Chia talk about them on draft day it is very clear, that he has just been briefed on players we selected outside the 1st round and really isn't personally familiar with them.
Interesting conversation I thought I'd chime in as back in the mid 2000's I followed the Oilers and paid close attention to their drafting strategy (Good old coke machine days). GMs don't get too involved in scouting individual players due as you mentioned time constraints. But I think you are downplaying just how important they are in a successful drafting strategy. A GM as head of hockey opps will have final say on the characteristics and parameters of what the scouts are looking for in a player. He will also allocate resources and put in place performance metrics to properly evaluate the scouting staffs performance.
For instance Winnipeg retained and left in charge many of the Atlanta Thrasher scouts who where chronic draft underachievers. Those same scouts are now seen in a much different light. The reason for the turn around isn't due to the talent of the scouts but due to the directive set by management. When Chevy took over he totally revamped the characteristics and player attributes that he wanted his scouts to look for. He also poured substantially more resources into the department that allowed them to increase the number of scouts as well as develop or purchase whatever proprietary software and other tools they use. So while Chevy doesn't select the individual players per say his finger prints are all over the success of the department.
As GM Chirelli will judged by how well his scouts do because it is a department that falls within his sphere of influence. If they aren't meeting expectations then he needs to figure out why (Do they value the right attributes, do they allocate enough resources, are they resources being efficiently used) and then correct the issues.
At the end of the day if the GM tells the scouts to look predominately at size and grit then that is what the scouts will look for. Given that he has come out and pretty much admitted that his team is too slow and that they need to get quicker he probably didn't emphasize those characteristics to his scouts (prof and amateur) until recently. The Yammato pick last year caught my eye as it looked like a clear change in philosophy to me.
Anyhow I do wish you guys luck as a former Oiler fan while the Jets where gone it wasn't fun during the Tanbellini days and now that the Jets are back I would like nothing more then to get back to the 80's heated playoff rivalries albeit with different results this time :p.