[Max Cow Disease]

I don't get the earlier parallels being drawn between the Oilers and Flames with regards to personnel decisions. My impression was always that the Oilers were mocked for an incestuous commitment to hiring and retaining members of the "glory era" for management positions - the idea of shifting Treliving to another position within the organization doesn't resemble that at all.

If Treliving were to become, say, POHO, painting a move like that as "rewarding failure" is an oversimplification if you ask me. There are myriad reasons why an individual may be suited to one role more than another, and if ownership happens to think that Brad's good people who could be well suited to a different job, then simply banishing him from the organization may not be the route to take. Smuggling in this notion of what's "deserved" ("he deserves to be fired altogether for the team's performance") sort of misses that point if you ask me.