Organizational Ineptitude - it ain't just Chiarelli

[Lay Z Boy GM]

It’d be interesting to be friends with Katz and get some insight into wtf he’s been thinking the last decade, especially since we got McDavid. He can’t possibly be happy, like what is going through his mind? He wouldn’t allow this level of ineptitude in his business outside of hockey. Does he not care? Is he supremely patient? Just wtf man.

 

[DaGap]

Meh the whole fan base was stroking out when they Found out we got Todd and Chia....

THe rest of us cried because we saw this trainwreck happening .

The only thing to do is try to hire a good gm and a good coach and see where they can take us

 

[DaGap]

It’d be interesting to be friends with Katz and get some insight into wtf he’s been thinking the last decade, especially since we got McDavid. He can’t possibly be happy, like what is going through his mind? He wouldn’t allow this level of ineptitude in his business outside of hockey. Does he not care? Is he supremely patient? Just wtf man.

When Katz bought the Oilers he had limited Hockey connections, so like in business he went to those who he knew. Those people were OBC. He then ran the oilers like everyone of his businesses by being hands off. He then waited a while and went to another Hockey person he knew (Bob) and Gave him the position to right the track that the Oilers were on. Well we're here now.

His next move will be like any bisuness move. He will Hire someone else to try to get things right from the top down (Bob is likely leaving for the IIHF)

His personal view is he hates this more than most people.
His Business view is he hates this because he pissing away money and not getting a good return

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Meh the whole fan base was stroking out when they Found out we got Todd and Chia....

THe rest of us cried because we saw this trainwreck happening .

The only thing to do is try to hire a good gm and a good coach and see where they can take us

lol

the next smart move this organization does will be the first

 

[belair]

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.

It's almost as if whomever was going to be put in charge of that mess was subject to the various hurdles that roster was ultimately going to be subject to. Strange. Whoever took that post was going to eat a shit sandwich finding a way to identify a new 'core' and make it sustainable before actually building themselves a contender--regardless of their previous accomplishments.

That franchise had a poorly built, capped out roster with no NHL-calibre prospects in its system. It was subject to one of professional sports' worst post-season slumps to date, resulting in a team that had gotten used to losing. Its most valuable trade commodities were high-priced, one-dimensional scoring wingers in an era of the NHL where wingers are the most abundant and least-valued positional players on the trade market.

I can't even buy into 'organization ineptitude' bit entirely, because the majority of moves an NHL team should make is pretty black and white.

If you want to pin Chiarelli on his weaknesses, it has always been his failure to supply his teams with effective, cheap depth. He routinely ends up tying up his payroll with inflated contracts tied to players who fail to continue producing at the levels expected of them. The people who think he's a risk of trading a team's best players for the sake of doing so aren't identifying why those individual deals were made. This is why I couldn't care less if he keeps his post in the instance we do make the post-season. This roster is currently trending in a direction where cap space will open up in the near future and we're likely to see some cheap internally developed depth step in for the first time in an eternity.

Seriously, this whole 'ineptitude' thing is a known fact at this point. The OBC still wields a significant amount of power in Edmonton. Oh well.

 

[MaxR11]

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.

absolutely the ineptitude stretches well beyond chia. i'm sorry. love what gretz did for the team in the 80s but i have a feeling the obc in exec positions here do not work very hard compared to many other successful organizations. i see them being a bit self satisfied and less hungry... living off their past glories... not putting in the extra hours to get things done right. i see them disjointed. i don't know how much say gretz or lowe has in hockey related stuff but i doubt someone like gretz is around all the time to discuss hockey matters. but at the same time i bet you they want their say in the matter.

i just don't see a consistent, coherent plan in place. it really is organizational incompetence. connor's not stupid... eventually he will just say f*** this... get me outta here.

 

[DaGap]

lol

the next smart move this organization does will be the first

Yeah but who knows

 

[Cloned]

Merry Chiamas

 

[DaGap]

How about a Benn for Lucic swap lol

 

[Soundwave]

Bruins Fans in 2015:

Chiarelli is going to trade away your talented forwards for mediocre returns and fill the roster up with grinder role players while capping your team out. Good luck Oiler fans.

Oiler Fans in 2018:

How in the world did we trade away so much talent and why do we have so many crap grinder players and where did all our cap room go? Lets blame Kevin Lowe!

lol, if you had listened 3 1/2 years go to what Bruins fans told you ...

 

[Stoneman89]

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.

Unfortunately, nothing much will happen as long as there are lots of fannies in the seats. All about money and having his heros around him. However, the 3 year lease on most of the upper end ducats is finishing up this season, so will be interesting to see what the renewal rate is. Nonparticipation of season ticket renewal will ultimately get Katz's attention.

 

[Stoneman89]

Bruins Fans in 2015:

Chiarelli is going to trade away your talented forwards for mediocre returns and fill the roster up with grinder role players while capping your team out. Good luck Oiler fans.

Oiler Fans in 2018:

How in the world did we trade away so much talent and why do we have so many crap grinder players and where did all our cap room go? Lets blame Kevin Lowe!

lol, if you had listened 3 1/2 years go to what Bruins fans told you ...

I seem to recall there was a lot of laughter at the Bruins organization when they dumped Chia, and went with Sweeney and Neely running the team. They seem to have done okay since then.

 

[MikeGrier99]

This organization is rotten to the core. It is nothing short of obnoxious that mac t, Lowe and howson continue to have jobs despite overseeing THE WORST DECADE IN NHL HISTORY. They should be utterly ashamed, how they can be convinced they provide any value to the team is beyond me. The oilers are a mickey mouse organization and I hate to say it. I'm considering stepping away from the NHL until they get their shit together, I wsated over a decade following this team with little enjoyment.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

How about a Benn for Lucic swap lol

A Team President and Owner ripping their high priced talent for underperforming. Here we get the semi-annual "process" and "stick to the plan" press conferences and another disappearing act till the next press conference or the next "Look At How Great We Used To Be" Rogers Place Event.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Bruins Fans in 2015:

Chiarelli is going to trade away your talented forwards for mediocre returns and fill the roster up with grinder role players while capping your team out. Good luck Oiler fans.

Oiler Fans in 2018:

How in the world did we trade away so much talent and why do we have so many crap grinder players and where did all our cap room go? Lets blame Kevin Lowe!

lol, if you had listened 3 1/2 years go to what Bruins fans told you ...

Because Kevin Lowe and the other morons did so much in the years preceding Chiarelli, and have little to no say now!
Sorry Soundwave, it is not all on Chia and your hindsight goggles only work when you say they do.

 

[FunkyChicken]

It's hard to walk in a pig pen and tell which pig stinks the worst. All you know is that the whole place stinks.
If you want to get rid of the smell, it is probably best to start by removing the biggest pig (Chiarelli) and then continue removing pigs until the odor is finally gone.

 

[oil4life97]

Aside from a fluke run in 06 this team has been a cluster f*** since the early nineties. Seems ever since sather left we can’t get any real traction going as a respectable franchise. The whole Pronger fiasco has left us reeling and quite frankly cursed.

 

[Soundwave]

Because Kevin Lowe and the other morons did so much in the years preceding Chiarelli, and have little to no say now!
Sorry Soundwave, it is not all on Chia and your hindsight goggles only work when you say they do.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, fact is Bruins fans told Oilers fans this would happen and no one wanted to hear that 3 1/2 years ago. No one's stopping Chia from making smart moves, if he's actually smart he would go out and do something good for the team, but he's a dummy and can't do it.

Blame Lowe all you want though.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Unfortunately, nothing much will happen as long as there are lots of fannies in the seats. All about money and having his heros around him. However, the 3 year lease on most of the upper end ducats is finishing up this season, so will be interesting to see what the renewal rate is. Nonparticipation of season ticket renewal will ultimately get Katz's attention.

I think it will be the lack of playoff revenue combined with a declining interest in season ticket holders, but I dont think that the decline in the 3 year lease plans wont be as drastic as some may think. But yes, revenue - or lack thereof - will be the catalyst, which is in reality the net result of a decade and a half of poor performance on and off the ice.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Aside from a fluke run in 06 this team has been a cluster **** since the early nineties. Seems ever since sather left we can’t get any real traction going as a respectable franchise. The whole Pronger fiasco has left us reeling and quite frankly cursed.

its because the players themselves dont care.

ipso facto john scott, Las Vegas, etc.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Whatever helps you sleep at night, fact is Bruins fans told Oilers fans this would happen and no one wanted to hear that 3 1/2 years ago. No one's stopping Chia from making smart moves, if he's actually smart he would go out and do something good for the team, but he's a dummy and can't do it.

Blame Lowe all you want though.

Not blaming Lowe, but you take only what you want to suit your narrative that you saw this coming and Chiarelli is 100% to blame.
Sorry but this isn't on Kevin Lowe, or Chiarelli. It is on the nepotistic and narcissistic management structure Katz has built and doubled down on.

6 of the OBC have seats at the table. Chiarelli does not operate in a sensory deprived darkroom nor does he have dictatorial power over the team or management. 5 positions were created - by those above him - specifically to fit the morons who put the teams of the past together and to continue to have a say in the decision making processes of the organization, including cap space.

Blame Chiarelli all you want though.

 

[Soundwave]

Not blaming Lowe, but you take only what you want to suit your narrative that you saw this coming and Chiarelli is 100% to blame.
Sorry but this isn't on Kevin Lowe, or Chiarelli. It is on the nepotistic and narcissistic management structure Katz has built and doubled down on.

6 of the OBC have seats at the table. Chiarelli does not operate in a sensory deprived darkroom nor does he have dictatorial power over the team or management. 5 positions were created - by those above him - specifically to fit the morons who put the teams of the past together and to continue to have a say in the decision making processes of the organization, including cap space.

Blame Chiarelli all you want though.

There is no narrative. His job position is LITERALLY to build this team. That's what he's paid $3 million/season and what we gave up a 2nd round pick for him to do. The results are what they are.

I don't need a narrative, that's his job and these are the results of it.

And quite frankly Bruins fans said straight up 3 1/2 years ago that this would happen, but I'm guessing back then you didn't want to hear it.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

There is no narrative. His job position is LITERALLY to build this team. The results are plain as day.

I don't need a narrative, that's his job and these are the results of it.

And quite frankly Bruins fans said straight up 3 1/2 years ago that this would happen, but I'm guessing back then you didn't want to hear it.

His job position is to build this team with the consult of others. As I said he doesn't operate in a vacuum but you can choose to believe what you want to suit your Bruins Fan narrative.
I have said since Day 1 he was hired that we also had to get rid of the other morons and we did not. Instead we shuffled the deck chairs, brought in more brothers of owners and a brother of the GM, more ex glory days players, and added more management pork positions.

Chiarelli has his share of the blame and will more than likely be fired at seasons end, Bruins fans will get their SoundWave Medal of Honour, and you can get HF Oil Prognosticator Of The Decade award for always being right, nothing changes when Chiarelli and nobody else, gets fired. Nothing.

Im guessing that you are a Kevin Lowe fan.

 

[Soundwave]

His job position is to build this team with the consult of others. As I said he doesn't operate in a vacuum but you can choose to believe what you want to suit your Bruins Fan narrative.
I have said since Day 1 he was hired that we also had to get rid of the other morons and we did not. Instead we shuffled the deck chairs, brought in more brothers of owners and a brother of the GM, more ex glory days players, and added more management pork positions.

Chiarelli has his share of the blame and will more than likely be fired at seasons end, Bruins fans will get their SoundWave Medal of Honour, and you can get HF Oil Prognosticator Of The Decade award for always being right, nothing changes when Chiarelli and nobody else, gets fired. Nothing.

Im guessing that you are a Kevin Lowe fan.

Or this team could just hire a good GM like every other successful team in the league does and not grovel at conspiracy theories.

If this guy is so smart, go ahead Chia. Go make a smart deal. Go do something. Anything. Get a trade win for the team. Is Kevin Lowe or Mac T stopping you? Are they forcing you at gunpoint to make dumb trades? Someone forced poor Peter to sign Lucic for 7 years?

The GM is the main person that builds the team for every franchise. "Consulting" with others doesn't absolve him of the responsibility of making the final call.

 

[TB12]

I’ve said it before on here but I firmly believe the Oilers, as an organization, are the living embodiment of the Peter Principle.