We're already fine at drafting. That's the only thing Chia did well. The guy who runs our amateur scouting is now at the helm so we're good there. It's the trading and FA signing that the new GM needs to be better at. The Chia hate stemmed mostly from losing trade after trade and the Lucic signing, a bright spot was him filling the pipeline with promising talent.

Drafting is almost as bad as the trades he made. The oilers only have 4 guys drafted outside of the the 1st round since 2013(i don't have the stomach to go back further) to even play a game in the NHL and none of those have ever come close to a full season.

This is by far the biggest joke of a management team there ever was and T.Gretzky and his scouting team is a huge reason for such failures. Every single person in that organization needs to go.

Edmonton hasn't seen a player drafted beyond the 1st round make a meaningful impact since Klefbom was drafted in 2011. Edmonton is not fine at drafting, they did well in the last draft but they do not have many high end draft picks knocking on the doors. They have massive holes in their depth and no one to fill them. Hire Hunter and watch him actually draft well.

Chia was only here for 3 years, considering that it's probably a positive that most of the guys he's drafted haven't made the team yet. We've gotta develop those later picks. He picked Jones and Bear in the 4th and 5th rounds. He picked Samorukov in the 3rd rnd of 2017 who was an absolute all star at the WJ's. He picked Ryan Mcleod in the 2nd round last year who is promising. He filled the goalie pipeline with promising talent like Stuart Skinner, Shane Starrett, and Dylan Wells. He picked Safin in the 4th round of 17' who is also a reasonably promising guy for the draft position. Benson seems close based on his play this year. You guys need to check the drafts Chia was actually there for, he did very well. He and Keith Gretzky did a great job drafting in Boston too, picking a star like Pastrnak at 25th, Ryan Donato at 56th, Danton Heinen at 116th and so on. That was just the 2014 draft too! We are great at drafting now, I'd even hire Chia as my head amateur scout. It's the pro scouts who need to be all fired and the new GM needs to list asset management as his main skill.

Klefbom was drafted in the 1st round. And na, the drafts Chia was here for turned out quite well for the Oilers. 2015: McDavid (not giving credit for that one obviously lol), Jones, Bear - 2016: Puljujarvi, Benson, Niemalainen, Wells - 2017: Yamo, Skinner, Samorukov, Safin, Maksimov - 2018: Bouchard, Mcleod, Rodrigue. I only included players who have either played in the NHL, have taken a big step since their draft year (i.e. Maksimov going from 22 points in his draft year to 80 the next), or are simply considered promising prospects by those more familiar with them than I.

Bouchard is the only player listed that is actually a top level prospect. The rest you may get a decent depth player or two. The oilers also have a long track record of doing almost nothing for player development. Draft, don't develop and then have no depth. That is what Edmonton has done.

The Oilers have a long track record, but Chia didn't. The farm system is doing quite well now. And you really think Yamo and Pulju will only amount to depth players? You're being a little bit too cynical my friend. Prospect development, especially for ones taken past the first round, take time. Let them take it. The oldest player that Chia drafted is 22, give it some time. I'd also recommending checking out Chia's college signings, Bakersfield has lots of promising talent. The pipeline is better than it's been in a very long time, you have to give credit where credit is due, Chia is a good drafter even if it's Gretzky doing most of the scouting.

Other franchises have been able to find and develop many players outside of the 1st round. Look at TO's draft record over the past 6 seasons and you'll see 2nd round picks and even 7th round picks playing in the NHL or doing very well in the minors where their farm team is the defending champions. Edmonton does not have that success, and Chiarelli didn't help at all.

Some teams get lucky, anyone in TO, including their management, will tell you that their rebuild happened way faster than they expected. Some prospects transition better to the NHL than others. Sometimes others take longer but are worth the wait. Remember that these kids are 18 and 19, they can be unpredictable as it's hard for even the most mature ones to handle the huge increase in pressure. Some need more time just to learn to play at a faster pace. It's also worth mentioning that guys like Brown in TO, while being a 6th round pick, took 4 years to crack the Leafs roster. Many later Oiler picks appear to be on a similar trajectory. Chia gave the Oilers a plethora of prospects who show a whole lot of promise, some are close and others are further but even having this conversation is a huge positive. The Condors are full of guys who could break out in the NHL, whereas prior to Chia the Condors/Barons were a club of career AHLers. You simply can't judge the long-term success of a GM's drafting after 3 years. It's only now when you'd expect the guys he picked in 2015 to be nearing full time NHL status and they are (Bear and Jones). Don't let his horrendous trade record and terrible asset management blind you from the one bright spot in it all