They aren't as bad as this season would have you figure. I won't excuse Chiarelli for his terrible value assessment in the past couple of years, he should be fired for that alone. However:

1. Draisaitl went out early this season with a concussion, and wasn't back to 100% until about a month ago. You can see it in his production.
2. Sekera and Klefbom haven't played near 100% all season. Sekera came back from ACL probably a little prematurely, and won't be back to full health until getting the chance to properly work out this summer. Klefbom's hand is probably busted, and needs to have some time off to come back at 100%.
3. Having Nuge out has dumpstered this team more than most people expected.
4. Larsson hasn't been in the proper headspace to be a top-4 dman this year; it probably has a lot to do with his dad's passing. I figure it may not have been as sudden as the organization let on, and it really took a toll on him.
5. Lucic has been snakebit. He needs an exorcism at this point.

A change in special teams staff / assistant coaches and having McLellan quit gifting Caggiula top-6 minutes when he hasn't warranted them will do this team a lot of good in the next season. Let Talbot and Lucic refocus their games over the summer, let everyone come back healthy. This team could at least contend for a wildcard spot (as is) when running at 100%. Moves made this summer by hopefully a new GM (Julien BrisBois please omg) should address the need even further.

Players always go through ups and downs during a season, I don’t think you can blame some players performance strictly on their injuries. A lot of the players over performed last year. Maybe you could blame Larssons recent play, but the enter season... also what else do you really expect from Larsson? He’s not a top pair guy, not offensive

That's important to remember. He's still a very good shutdown guy. Definitely not worth Hall, but top 4 nonetheless.

Totally agree StammerTime. Every team has injuries, illnesses, family issues. But the true contenders have prospects who can step in. To say the oilers will be 100% healthy all year next year and be the best is ludicrus. They don't have anything in the pipeline besides the first round and can't seem to find a player outside of it.

That's great and all but I don't think you've made one external addition