At the very top, you have an old-boy's club who happened to be on a dynasty team that had the top two point getters in the history of the NHL and scored their way to several championships trying to replicate that same success by relying on scoring to fix all their woes.
You have several star players who were hyped due to their first overall status that are treated as celebrities in that backwards and inbred town and therefore are looking out only for themselves.
Then you have a coach who doesn't seem to get any respect from either the veterans or the kids, and can't install a decent defensive system to help out their abysmal ECHL-quality blueline.
I don't see them getting any better any time soon and if they somehow have a miracle season where everyone plays above their heads, they'll still only be a lower seeded team in a tough conference. The whole team is dysfunctional to the core and only a top-down cleaning of management, coaches and players will wipe away the trailer-park-like stank of absolute incompetence at the top and complete abject indifference from most of the players at ice level.
If I were owner here are the steps I'd take to correct the situation:
Fire Lowe. There are a lot of stories from former players about him being a completely classless individual who treats players like crap. Even if half of them weren't true, players will listen to other players. This single step would go a long way to alleviate some of the problems attracting free agent they've had and continue to have. Yeah, there's still the Edmonton thing about being the Siberia of the NHL, but not having Lowe in charge would at least get rid of one worry among players.
Bring in an experienced manager with a good track record on trades and free agent signings. They need someone who is part of the inner circle of NHL GMs who are the movers and shakers of the league. I think the Lowe/Burke feud really put the Edmonton organization on the outside of this circle, and as a result, Lowe is left out of a lot of the talks that other GMs are involved with, besides maybe Team Canada. If such a GM doesn't exist, hire one as a temp until the one you want becomes available, then pounce on them.
Bring in a veteran coach whom the players respect, and give the coach free reign as to who plays and who doesn't regardless of who was a first round pick and who wasn't. After a time of evaluation, get rid of ALL the players who aren't buying into the system and trade them for competent blueliners. No one should be safe.
A complete overhaul of team scouting and trying to figure out why none of their prospects outside the first rounds ever pan out. A complete top-down redressing of the farm team management might also be in order.
Build from the defense and goaltending on out first. Resign to the fact that the team will continue to suck for a few more years but still get to pick pretty high. But at least when the new picks come in, they'll at least be put into a team that has a decent defensive mindset and hopefully decent goaltending. The offense will come eventually, but defense and goaltending win championships, and the Oilers have been building @$$-backwards for more than half a decade.
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