Organizational Ineptitude - it ain't just Chiarelli

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

The Fire Chia crowd is dead wrong. Not that Chia should be fired, his record now clearly indicates he should. However the architects of being the league doormat for 13 of 15 years are still viably employed in positions that were newly created just for them when Chiarelli was hired. They still wield an incredible amount of influence and with Katz surrounding himself with even more of his childhood heroes, they probably wield far more influence than others who have similar positions in other clubs.

You build teams through the draft and development. The Oilers have the worst record in the league in this regard. I do not believe this has changed much under the Chiarelli regime despite Kieth Gretzky's "excellent drafting record" which is far and away still pie in the sky stuff.

Oilers crap drafting record over 15 years.

2003 - 1st Pouliot - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / Brodziak, Fail w Oilers, pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2004 - 1st Dubnyk - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / Schremp - Fail w Oilers, fail w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2005 - 1st Cogliano - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2006 - 2nd Petry - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2007 - 1st Gagner - Pass w Oilers, Fail w other team / Riley Nash - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / Plante - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2008 - 1st Eberle - Pass w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2009 - 1st Paajarvi - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / rest of draft = garbage (yes that includes Anton Lander)
2010 - 1st Hall - Pass w Oilers, MVP w other team / Pitlick - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2011 - 1st RNH, Klefbom - Pass w Oilers, HOLY SHIT BOTH STILL WITH TEAM! / Reider - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2012 - 1st Yakupov - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / Khaira - Pass w Oilers / Gustaffson - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2013 - 1st Nurse - Pass w Oilers / rest of draft = garbage
2014 - 1st Draisatl - Pass w Oilers / rest of draft = garbage
2015 - 1st McDavid - Pass w Oilers / Jones, Bear - trending to success w Oilers
2016 - 1st - Puljujarvi - Fail w Oilers (probably heading towards pass w other team) / Benson - maybe 3rd line LW but could have had the obvious choice in Debrincat / rest of draft = garbage
2016 - 1st Yamamoto - cant score 5v5 in Bako. Skinner a maybe. Maksimov maybe a 3rd winger / rest of draft = garbage
2017 - Bouchard - everyone falling all over themselves but he has skating issues / McLoed - some hope for depth scoring / Rodrigue - goalie coaches son who will probably not want to play for the Oilers when his dad gets fired at some point in the future / Kesselring might be a sleeper - only had 1 other pick as we traded our 3 for a 2, our 4, and 5.

15 Year Summary
1st Round Fail w Oilers - Fail w other teams - Pouliot, Schremp, Plante, Paajarvi, Yakupov
1st Round Fail w Oilers - Pass w other team - Brodziak, Dubnyk, Cogliano, Petry (2nd), Nash, Pitlick, Reider, Gustaffson
1st Round Pass w Oilers - Fail w other team - Gagner
1st Round Pass w Oilers - Pass w other team - Eberle, Hall
1st Round Pass w Oilers HOLY SHIT STILL HERE - RNH, Klefbom, Nurse, Draisatl, McDavid (also our only 5 decent players)
1st Round Fail w Oilers - still here - Puljujarvi
Other Round Successes - Khaira
Jury Out but no clear home runs - Benson, Yamamoto, Skinner, Rodrigue, McLoed, Maksimov, Bear
Jury Out maybe a winner - Bouchard, Jones
Rest of Draft = Garbage - 93 players.

Draft Winners - 6 - 4.8% (I would hazard a guess this is the worst record in the NHL)
1st Draft Losers - 6 - 4.8% (we draft as many losers as winners in the 1st round)
Draft Winners who were traded - 11 - 9% ( we trade away twice as many winners who were losers with us, as we draft winners)
Draftees w/ Limited Potential in system currently - 9 - 7% (of which history tells us 6 will be traded to other teams for garbage)
Garbage - 93 out of 125 - 75% (3 out of 4 players we draft we shouldn't even bother going up to the podium for.
ZERO mid to late round hits for Oilers other than Khaira and he isn't really a "hit" yet)

Now take a look at this bloated front office, Lowe, MacTavish, Green, Scott and Howson all with positions that were specially created just so they could remain at the Old Boys Club table instead of being fired for providing Edmonton fans with the worst hockey in league history.

Bob Nicholson - CEO Oilers and Vice Chair (OEG)
Wayne Gretzky - Vice Chair (OEG)
Kevin Lowe - Vice Chair (OEG), Alternate Governor Oilers
Peter Chiarelli - POHO & GM (hired his brother to be amateur scout)
Craig MacTavish - Senior VP, Hockey Ops
Duane Sutter - VP, Player Personnel
Kieth Gretzky - Assistant GM
Bill Scott - Director Salary Cap, Assistant POHO
Scott Howson - VP Player Development, Pro Scout
Bob Green - Director Player Personnel
Paul Coffey - Skills Coach
We have only 2 Pro Scouts, Chris Cichoki and Paul Messier

Katz doubled down on the OBC by bringing in Gretzky as an owner and Vice Chair, his brother as assistant GM, and Coffey as a skills coach. 6 of the 12 here under Nicholson are OBC or are their brother with another brother, Chiarelli's, working as a pro scout.

Our Pro Scouts are the ones feeding our GM and his massive crew of hirelings the information that players Zykov, Wideman, Garrison, Spooner, Brodziak, Reider and Strome were worth signing, claiming or trading for. They cant even take credit for Chiasson as that was Gulatzan and Koskinen was Kurri to Gretzky. The only hit they can claim is Gravel and he is a 7/8 D playing as a 4/5 now due to injuries and ineptitude.

Nicholson has proved to be just another talking head who is using his IIHF connections to get Edmonton events like the Hlinka and World Juniors and plugs his wife's book, How Great The Oilers Used To Be. (A sequel is going to be printed, How Useless The Oilers Are Today Under My Husbands Tutelage). They trot him out to speak to the media twice a year to speak of some sort of "plan" and to keep the media heat off of Chiarelli, who like Spector says, is a ghost in this town.

With this bloated front office, all we have to show for it over 4 years is Caggiula, a marginal player who goes on 1 hot streak a year at the best of times, usually injured or playing 4th line at the worst of times, had zero time to develop after college, Brodziak, an over the hill veteran whose best days were over half a decade ago, Kassian who had a good 1/2 year and 1 playoff round and signed to deal 3 times higher than what a 4th line banger should get, Puljujarvi who cant get out of his own way, Rattie, who was supposed to be the answer on McDavids RW, Reider who can skate but cant shoot, Spooner who can skate but cant shoot, Zykov who cant do much of anything, Lucic who had 1 good season and then it appears the leagues speed caught him and he is now the worst contract in the league on a capped out team, Benning who is a 7/8 D playing as a 4/5 due to lack of depth, Garrison who should be in a retirement home, Gravel who is a 7/8 but playing as a 4/5 due to lack of depth, Sekera who has been injured for 2 years with a NMC, and Jones who should be developing in the AHL but is playing as a 4/5/6 and 2nd PP due to lack of depth.

If this does not scream "Organizational Ineptitude" I do not know what does.
You can continue to waste digital ink screaming for Chia's head but none of it matters unless the front office is purged and purged hard, along with our entire pro scouting staffs.

Every one of these men should be sent packing other than W Gretzky who as an owner cant be sent packing.

But I cant wait for the Oilers next "We Used To Be Great" celebrations at Rogers. Tickets for $20 each.

Click to read more...

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

So you want to fire Katz then? I mean I always suggest you could try an pull imminent domain on the Oilers to take the franchise away from him, might be something worth bringing up with City Council

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Just fire everyone and start anew. But Chiarelli should be the first to go.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

So you want to fire Katz then? I mean I always suggest you could try an pull imminent domain on the Oilers to take the franchise away from him, might be something worth bringing up with City Council

Katz inability to build a proper management team without nepotism and narcissism is baffling. The guy who built a pharm empire cant get out of his own way with his hockey team toy. Cant fire the owner, as I said with W Gretzky, but Chiarelli clearly is not the problem here.

 

[yababy]

This is a very long rant just to say the problem starts at the top.

 

[Beerfish]

So you want to fire Katz then? I mean I always suggest you could try an pull imminent domain on the Oilers to take the franchise away from him, might be something worth bringing up with City Council

Oh to wish, seeing as he is the worst owner in the league including the Ottawa owner.

Chiarelli is awful but his biggest fail is to listen to his moro0nic pro scouts telling him how good these players are he trades for. the same moronic group behind the team for the last 12 years or so.

I also am not sold on all the talk about Gretzky having great drafts. As usual all of our best prospects are in junior or in the ahl, wake me when these guys start producing in the NHL on a team with an awful supporting cast.

 

[CupofOil]

Katz inability to build a proper management team without nepotism and narcissism is baffling. The guy who built a pharm empire cant get out of his own way with his hockey team toy. Cant fire the owner, as I said with W Gretzky, but Chiarelli clearly is not the problem here.

He is not THE problem but he is a problem.

The OBC didn't deal 2 high draft picks, Hall, Eberle and Strome for Reinhart, Larsson and Spooner. The OBC didn't sign Lucic to a massive contract, fail to find any PMD in 3+ years or any scoring wingers worth s damn and put a mediocre team with no depth in cap hell for the foreseeable future.

We know that Katz and his Country Club are the root of the problem but what's the point of complaining about something that's never going to change? Chia is the reason for the current mess and there is something that can be done about that so he needs to go and soon before he makes another dumb trade out of desperation.

 

[Drivesaitl]

When I critiqued Nicholsons results and performance in that thread last season the Op went at me swearing a blue streak. With many of his posts requiring deletion and some still standing. Interesting that now the poster recognizes the problems.

I specifically also cited performance failures of Nicholson. Particularly loss of the CFR. Which he undervalued and went with Professional Bull Riders circuit instead which was a massive fail here averaging 5K in attendance. Massive drops in Polstar concert numbers in comparison with Rexall Place that had much better rankings in ticket sales. Polstar numbers have dropped right off the top arenas since Nicholson took over and in the new Rogers Arena. Usually new arenas do extremely well in ticket sales.

Add that the club has had no playoff revenue for 2/3 seasons under Nicholson as CEO and with his hires responsible for that.

What Nicholson brought you as well is simply higher priced fare. 20buck Nicholson burgers is almost a perfect unintended blueblood tie in to what the new arena marketing is all about. if you have to ask prices get out of the lineup, go home. Drink your 12 buck awful beer and like it. Don't think about the mark up..​

Nicholson, even as a money man (and he is one) is mostly a failure. His connections bring in such things as the poorly attended Hlinka cup, the World Juniors, but are these worth numbers deficits elsewhere? In the mths of May, June, July, there were only a handful of bookings at brand new Rogers Place. A disgusting lack of use and lack of revenue in those mths.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Katz inability to build a proper management team without nepotism and narcissism is baffling. The guy who built a pharm empire cant get out of his own way with his hockey team toy. Cant fire the owner, as I said with W Gretzky, but Chiarelli clearly is not the problem here.

Again, get City Council on board.

Eminent domain - Wikipedia

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Oh to wish, seeing as he is the worst owner in the league including the Ottawa owner.

Chiarelli is awful but his biggest fail is to listen to his moro0nic pro scouts telling him how good these players are he trades for. the same moronic group behind the team for the last 12 years or so.

I also am not sold on all the talk about Gretzky having great drafts. As usual all of our best prospects are in junior or in the ahl, wake me when these guys start producing in the NHL on a team with an awful supporting cast.

Yeah, Chiarelli is awful and needs to be fired, like today, but the larger point of this thread isn't that.

 

[Drivesaitl]

For convenience these are just some of the posts the OP made defending Nicholson (and attacking me) in one of the past Nicholson threads;

@5 Mins 4 Ftg stated;"Revolution! Hockey for the masses! Free food at all Oiler games! 10 cent tickets for the working man! Equal pay for all! Hang all the fatcat bourgoise executives who exploit the poor!

Here you go again turning your frustration with the teams play into some weird class struggle from 1917 and the Russian revolution.

Here’s an idea. Go to any other pro hockey venue and find a cheap meal. You won’t find one. Expensive concessions are not the exclusive domain of Rogers Place and the Edmonton Oilers.

Premium boxes are in every pro sporting venue on the planet. Don’t take a piss on people or companies that can afford to buy them and certainly don’t take a piss on Oiler execs for using one rather than sitting “with the common man”. A bit of discretion and privacy is needed with team executives, and each teams execs and employees in the league uses them.

Hockey Canada is far more than setting up an Olympic team every 4 years. Nicholson is one of the most respected hockey executives globally. I don’t think you have one grain of a clue what Hockey Canada’s mandate is or what it’s top executives are paid to do. It certainly isn’t picking Olympic hockey teams.

You speak of entitled executives? How about this whiny snivelling snot nosed post that attacks one of the greatest players to ever play the game who is now part of the OEG and one of the most respected hockey executives on the planet.

This post literally defines the entitled spoilt brat hold my breath till I get my way anonymous hide behind my keyboard kowboy fan that has a voice and can spew whatever venom comes to their pea-sized brain because of the wonders of the social media cesspool.

Some here on this forum are reaching to the absolute depths now because their sad poor team is not playing well. However you sir are finding new lows to vent your frustrations and need to go to Central America and find a revolution to participate in.​

5 Mins 4 Ftg, Jan 9, 2018 "

heres another, somewhat less inflammatory;


"So go join Antifa and arrange a protest."



So a year later the same poster is on board on the lot of upper management being a problem including Nicholson, Including OBC, now double downed with Gretzky as another hanger on.

People can look at that thread, its interesting reading in retrospect. I'm not convinced I was wrong on any aspect. Unfortunately.

Bob Nicholson

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

This is a very long rant just to say the problem starts at the top.

The Fire Chia threads stretch to the moon and back. Tired of the Fire Chia crowd thinking anything will change with just firing Chia.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Again, get City Council on board.

Eminent domain - Wikipedia

You completely miss the point. City Council would f*** things up 10 times worse like any government bureacracy.

Katz is the problem. He needs to change his approach to how this team is run or nothing will change. If he wants to surround himself with great former players who have proven they are completely inept at managing a team (and in the case of W Gretzky, coaching a team) and their relatives, then he gets this failure of a hockey team.

edit- I dont expect or ask for Katz to be going anywhere. Just expect he would see the obvious at some point and make the moves to make this team successful as his pharm empire.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

He is not THE problem but he is a problem.

The OBC didn't deal 2 high draft picks, Hall, Eberle and Strome for Reinhart, Larsson and Spooner. The OBC didn't sign Lucic to a massive contract, fail to find any PMD in 3+ years or any scoring wingers worth s damn and put a mediocre team with no depth in cap hell for the foreseeable future.

We know that Katz and his Country Club are the root of the problem but what's the point of complaining about something that's never going to change? Chia is the reason for the current mess and there is something that can be done about that so he needs to go and soon before he makes another dumb trade out of desperation.

The OBC has 6 of the 12 seats at the table. 5 of those positions were newly minted when Chiarelli was hired. You think they didn't have a major hand in all of the above?

 

[smokersarejokers]

I believe the drafting and developing has improved, but I understand that we haven't seen NHL results yet.

I also believe that things won't change unless you cut the head off the snake and clean house completely. I brought it up the other day, but firing Chiarelli will only result in Lowe and Nicholson bringing in the next former Team Canada dinosaur.

I'm also sick of all of the we used to be great celebrations every goddamn year. Give it a rest already.

 

[McFlash97]

everyone is talking ... but is anyone going to mention Bob Nicholson ? the guy is as clueless as a donkey. Now talks are he's rejoining Team Canada front office. Hey you old goof. How about your f***s ups as President of Hockey Operations for the Oilers.

take your plan of plans and gtfo bud.

 

[oobga]

Why isn't Kevin Lowe at the top of your management list? Alternate Governor is 1 step below Katz, the Governor. Lowe is still king and the top voice in Katz's ear.

Definitely agree that it's not just Chia. I have no doubt the entire room of old farts were cheering to move Hall who they soured on before Chia got here. Was probably exactly like the Boston group in that video where Chia's boss Nealy and everyone else were cheering to remove bad culture guy Seguin. This management group is a disaster and no GM chance will likely be able to fix it.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Why isn't Kevin Lowe at the top of your management list? Alternate Governor is 1 step below Katz, the Governor. Lowe is still king and the top voice in Katz's ear.

Definitely agree that it's not just Chia. I have no doubt the entire room of old farts were cheering to move Hall who they soured on before Chia got here. Was probably exactly like the Boston group in that video where Chia's boss Nealy and everyone else were cheering to remove bad culture guy Seguin. This management group is a disaster and no GM chance will likely be able to fix it.

The management list are not in any particular order, just copied off the Oilers team office and management pages.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

everyone is talking ... but is anyone going to mention Bob Nicholson ? the guy is as clueless as a donkey. Now talks are he's rejoining Team Canada front office. Hey you old goof. How about your ****s ups as President of Hockey Operations for the Oilers.

take your plan of plans and gtfo bud.

From my original post above:
"Nicholson has proved to be just another talking head who is using his IIHF connections to get Edmonton events like the Hlinka and World Juniors and plugs his wife's book, How Great The Oilers Used To Be. (A sequel is going to be printed, How Useless The Oilers Are Today Under My Husbands Tutelage). They trot him out to speak to the media twice a year to speak of some sort of "plan" and to keep the media heat off of Chiarelli, who like Spector says, is a ghost in this town."

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

When you led with “the fire chia crowd is dead wrong but don’t get me wrong he deserves to be fired” I went back to the Wedding Singer which is excellent as usual.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

When you led with “the fire chia crowd is dead wrong but don’t get me wrong he deserves to be fired” I went back to the Wedding Singer which is excellent as usual.

I never did like that movie much. I am not the best wordsmith on the planet but my point is you can Fire Chia all you want. Nothing will change.

 

[Jumptheshark]

If the oilers miss the playoffs there will be a house cleaning at the top on down again

 

[Jumptheshark]

IN the last ten years how many coaches and GMS have we had? how many other teams have gone through so much?

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

He is not THE problem but he is a problem.

The OBC didn't deal 2 high draft picks, Hall, Eberle and Strome for Reinhart, Larsson and Spooner. The OBC didn't sign Lucic to a massive contract, fail to find any PMD in 3+ years or any scoring wingers worth s damn and put a mediocre team with no depth in cap hell for the foreseeable future.

We know that Katz and his Country Club are the root of the problem but what's the point of complaining about something that's never going to change? Chia is the reason for the current mess and there is something that can be done about that so he needs to go and soon before he makes another dumb trade out of desperation.

OK so they fire Chiarelli (which is warranted)

then what?
will they hire someone smart for once? will they continue to stick their noses into affairs like they have in the past with the "Red Wine Summits"?

these people cannot be trusted

they've had 7 coaches in 10 years
4 GMs fail in 18 years

what's the constant here?

(btw, you're fooling yourself if you think Chia was the only one in the organization that wanted to sign Lucic....they've been saying they've wanted to get bigger and nastier to compete in the Pacific since Tambo-days)

 

[Oilers in NS]

The Fire Chia crowd is dead wrong. Not that Chia should be fired, his record now clearly indicates he should. However the architects of being the league doormat for 13 of 15 years are still viably employed in positions that were newly created just for them when Chiarelli was hired. They still wield an incredible amount of influence and with Katz surrounding himself with even more of his childhood heroes, they probably wield far more influence than others who have similar positions in other clubs.

You build teams through the draft and development. The Oilers have the worst record in the league in this regard. I do not believe this has changed much under the Chiarelli regime despite Kieth Gretzky's "excellent drafting record" which is far and away still pie in the sky stuff.

Oilers crap drafting record over 15 years.

2003 - 1st Pouliot - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / Brodziak, Fail w Oilers, pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2004 - 1st Dubnyk - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / Schremp - Fail w Oilers, fail w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2005 - 1st Cogliano - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2006 - 2nd Petry - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2007 - 1st Gagner - Pass w Oilers, Fail w other team / Riley Nash - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / Plante - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2008 - 1st Eberle - Pass w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2009 - 1st Paajarvi - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / rest of draft = garbage (yes that includes Anton Lander)
2010 - 1st Hall - Pass w Oilers, MVP w other team / Pitlick - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2011 - 1st RNH, Klefbom - Pass w Oilers, HOLY **** BOTH STILL WITH TEAM! / Reider - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2012 - 1st Yakupov - Fail w Oilers, Fail w other team / Khaira - Pass w Oilers / Gustaffson - Fail w Oilers, Pass w other team / rest of draft = garbage
2013 - 1st Nurse - Pass w Oilers / rest of draft = garbage
2014 - 1st Draisatl - Pass w Oilers / rest of draft = garbage
2015 - 1st McDavid - Pass w Oilers / Jones, Bear - trending to success w Oilers
2016 - 1st - Puljujarvi - Fail w Oilers (probably heading towards pass w other team) / Benson - maybe 3rd line LW but could have had the obvious choice in Debrincat / rest of draft = garbage
2016 - 1st Yamamoto - cant score 5v5 in Bako. Skinner a maybe. Maksimov maybe a 3rd winger / rest of draft = garbage
2017 - Bouchard - everyone falling all over themselves but he has skating issues / McLoed - some hope for depth scoring / Rodrigue - goalie coaches son who will probably not want to play for the Oilers when his dad gets fired at some point in the future / Kesselring might be a sleeper - only had 1 other pick as we traded our 3 for a 2, our 4, and 5.

15 Year Summary
1st Round Fail w Oilers - Fail w other teams - Pouliot, Schremp, Plante, Paajarvi, Yakupov
1st Round Fail w Oilers - Pass w other team - Brodziak, Dubnyk, Cogliano, Petry (2nd), Nash, Pitlick, Reider, Gustaffson
1st Round Pass w Oilers - Fail w other team - Gagner
1st Round Pass w Oilers - Pass w other team - Eberle, Hall
1st Round Pass w Oilers HOLY **** STILL HERE - RNH, Klefbom, Nurse, Draisatl, McDavid (also our only 5 decent players)
1st Round Fail w Oilers - still here - Puljujarvi
Other Round Successes - Khaira
Jury Out but no clear home runs - Benson, Yamamoto, Skinner, Rodrigue, McLoed, Maksimov, Bear
Jury Out maybe a winner - Bouchard, Jones
Rest of Draft = Garbage - 93 players.

Draft Winners - 6 - 4.8% (I would hazard a guess this is the worst record in the NHL)
1st Draft Losers - 6 - 4.8% (we draft as many losers as winners in the 1st round)
Draft Winners who were traded - 11 - 9% ( we trade away twice as many winners who were losers with us, as we draft winners)
Draftees w/ Limited Potential in system currently - 9 - 7% (of which history tells us 6 will be traded to other teams for garbage)
Garbage - 93 out of 125 - 75% (3 out of 4 players we draft we shouldn't even bother going up to the podium for.
ZERO mid to late round hits for Oilers other than Khaira and he isn't really a "hit" yet)

Now take a look at this bloated front office, Lowe, MacTavish, Green, Scott and Howson all with positions that were specially created just so they could remain at the Old Boys Club table instead of being fired for providing Edmonton fans with the worst hockey in league history.

Bob Nicholson - CEO Oilers and Vice Chair (OEG)
Wayne Gretzky - Vice Chair (OEG)
Kevin Lowe - Vice Chair (OEG), Alternate Governor Oilers
Peter Chiarelli - POHO & GM (hired his brother to be amateur scout)
Craig MacTavish - Senior VP, Hockey Ops
Duane Sutter - VP, Player Personnel
Kieth Gretzky - Assistant GM
Bill Scott - Director Salary Cap, Assistant POHO
Scott Howson - VP Player Development, Pro Scout
Bob Green - Director Player Personnel
Paul Coffey - Skills Coach
We have only 2 Pro Scouts, Chris Cichoki and Paul Messier

Katz doubled down on the OBC by bringing in Gretzky as an owner and Vice Chair, his brother as assistant GM, and Coffey as a skills coach. 6 of the 12 here under Nicholson are OBC or are their brother with another brother, Chiarelli's, working as a pro scout.

Our Pro Scouts are the ones feeding our GM and his massive crew of hirelings the information that players Zykov, Wideman, Garrison, Spooner, Brodziak, Reider and Strome were worth signing, claiming or trading for. They cant even take credit for Chiasson as that was Gulatzan and Koskinen was Kurri to Gretzky. The only hit they can claim is Gravel and he is a 7/8 D playing as a 4/5 now due to injuries and ineptitude.

Nicholson has proved to be just another talking head who is using his IIHF connections to get Edmonton events like the Hlinka and World Juniors and plugs his wife's book, How Great The Oilers Used To Be. (A sequel is going to be printed, How Useless The Oilers Are Today Under My Husbands Tutelage). They trot him out to speak to the media twice a year to speak of some sort of "plan" and to keep the media heat off of Chiarelli, who like Spector says, is a ghost in this town.

With this bloated front office, all we have to show for it over 4 years is Caggiula, a marginal player who goes on 1 hot streak a year at the best of times, usually injured or playing 4th line at the worst of times, had zero time to develop after college, Brodziak, an over the hill veteran whose best days were over half a decade ago, Kassian who had a good 1/2 year and 1 playoff round and signed to deal 3 times higher than what a 4th line banger should get, Puljujarvi who cant get out of his own way, Rattie, who was supposed to be the answer on McDavids RW, Reider who can skate but cant shoot, Spooner who can skate but cant shoot, Zykov who cant do much of anything, Lucic who had 1 good season and then it appears the leagues speed caught him and he is now the worst contract in the league on a capped out team, Benning who is a 7/8 D playing as a 4/5 due to lack of depth, Garrison who should be in a retirement home, Gravel who is a 7/8 but playing as a 4/5 due to lack of depth, Sekera who has been injured for 2 years with a NMC, and Jones who should be developing in the AHL but is playing as a 4/5/6 and 2nd PP due to lack of depth.

If this does not scream "Organizational Ineptitude" I do not know what does.
You can continue to waste digital ink screaming for Chia's head but none of it matters unless the front office is purged and purged hard, along with our entire pro scouting staffs.

Every one of these men should be sent packing other than W Gretzky who as an owner cant be sent packing.

But I cant wait for the Oilers next "We Used To Be Great" celebrations at Rogers. Tickets for $20 each.

Great post

I wrote about this today in the post game talks. Our drafting is terrible. In 2007 we had three picks in the 1st round . The first 21 picks . The year we drafted Yak, I went to the prospects game in Halifax. Yak wasn’t even in the top 20 that night. Reilly was a beauty. He reminded me of Coffey. The rumour was 11 of 13 Oiler scouts wanted Murray. Upper management intervened on the way to the draft floor and told them to take Yak.
Upper Management needs to go and start over. They have too much influence . Let the scouts do their jobs. The love affair with the Oil Kings set us back as well. There are other leagues out there