There is zero reason to fear about Edmonton turning it around now or in the foreseeable future. Why?
They don't have much in the way of assets. Sure, they can trade futures for players 'now', but that is only going to get them so far (not very), and in time, it will come back to bite them again sooner rather than later.
Look at how Calgary was MISERABLE at drafting and developing. It wasn't until Darryl Sutter came in that in 2008 him (with Todd Button) identified what they wanted in prospects, and started expanding the drafting and development departments on the Flames. People will complain that Darryl 'sucked at drafting', but there are still good pieces from his time here on the Flames making huge contributions.
Feaster came in and just allowed the staff to do their jobs. Well, almost. He hired a few other scouts.
I honestly don't know what Treliving has further done under the drafting and development umbrella (I know there has been a few moves, but I can't quite remember everyone). At any rate, it continues to be an area that this organization keeps tinkering with, and it is an area of this organization that I think at this point, few people would argue as being huge for the current success of the Flames.
I don't care who is the GM of the Oilers. It is going to take YEARS to turn that organization around the right way. Their drafting and development is broken. That's been one of the biggest reasons why Calgary pulled itself out of the gutter, as it already had been working on it for so long.
The Oilers don't have much coming up the pipeline. Sure, they have Bouchard (very much a question mark IMO, but at least a guy with a fairly high ceiling if he makes it). Yamamoto? Bear? Jones?
I hope that Puljujarvi gets traded to a team out east somewhere for a vet. I bet that team can still turn him around. Another season or two and he will be Yak'd. Puljujarvi, IMO, was almost a sure thing as far as prospects go. Questionable as to how great he would be, but a team had to be horrible at development to screw this kid up considering his assets at the time. Now he looks confused, and he is constantly second-guessing himself all the time.
Thank goodness that the Flames were not so inept that they hired Hartley and made these kids work and earn their ice time, but maintained a bunch of smart vets to shelter them and teach them how to be pros. Feaster was embarrassing, but he did see the need to remain competitive, and he was damn right. However, he screwed up Baertschi by forcing Hartley to keep him up, and Baertschi started getting that 'Oiler glow' all over him.
The Oilers are between a rock and a hard place. They sold off all their assets. They may have the most toxic culture in the NHL. They are not a FA destination with how cold the city is. They have pissed off 29 other GMs (Vegas is not one of them, since they weren't around then) by 'winning' so many lotteries. Nobody is going to do them any favours. Nobody is wanting to go there and play for them except players that are deciding between continuing their careers in the AHL or Russia.
I don't care who they replace Chiarelli with - or Keith Gretzky - they aren't going anywhere any time soon. They don't just need to get rid of the OBC. They need to get rid of their entire scouting department (again! haha), and also their development personnel it seems. Heck, they need to look at themselves as an expansion team and go from there. That's the state that they are in, IMO.
I think there is at least a 3 year window in which we can see the Oilers trying to win more lotteries. FFS NHL, change the damn lottery rules right now. It would have been awesome to see McDavid ripping it up in the East somewhere with a decent (by now) team. Or Puljujarvi. Or anyone else for that matter. Everyone just sucks in Edmonton.
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