[transplant99]

Robert Tychkowski gets it.

He did a woeful job in his three and a half years at the helm of this sinking ship and for that the Edmonton Oilers, in a move straight out of the KHL, fired him during the second intermission of a 3-2 loss to Detroit.

That’s somewhere in between doing it on Skype and letting him pack for a seven day road trip, flying him from Edmonton to San Jose and gunning him Joe Pesci-style in a hotel room.

Regardless of how or when they did it, firing Chiarelli is justified. He’s made a terrible mess of this. His well-documented mistakes did significant damage to the Oilers moving forward.

But, at what point in the last 12 years were the Oilers ever actually moving forward? Sift through the standings since 2007 and give it some thought: 25th, 19th, 21st, 30th, 30th, 29th, 24th, 28th, 28th, 29th, 8th (what!) and 23rd.
They are 23rd again this morning.

This has been an organizational failure of biblical proportions. The only thing missing is an Uber video. Yet, there they are, many of the same people who designed the original road map for this 13-year desert walk, still part of the Oilers think tank.

Why?

That’s the bigger question here. That’s the fruit that is hidden deep inside of owner Daryl Katz’s tree (or tree fort, as it was once referred).

After eight coaches and four general managers in the last 10 years, it’s obvious to everyone that the problems in this franchise runs much deeper than coach and GM. The rot in this structure is down to the foundation.

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/h...d-d8c75079a58f