Speaking of internal January free agent signings.
Let's re-count the tale of Mikko Koskinen. https://twitter.com/RomulusNotNuma/status/1291373666081570818

Chiarelli landed 29 year old Mikko as off-season Euro free agent in May 2018.
He had pretty good numbers in the KHL.
Chia signed him to the ungodly sum of 2.5M on a one year deal.
This was way over market price.
He threw in a No Move Clause for good measure.

Mikko finished the 18-19 season skimming under the replacement level line at .906.
But, well before that season was in the books, the brain trust of the Oilers had seen enough and signed him long term to big money.
Each part of this deal is crazy.
Every single one.
Because Oilers

Let's start small and work out way up the crazy ladder.
1. When signed, Jan 21, 2019, Mikko was splitting the workload with Talbot (literally. they each played 27 games).
Mikko was definitely outplaying Talbot, but was only 27 games in, and wasn't blowing the doors off

Let's keep it simple.
Through Jan 21, 2019, looking just at All Strength SP% (minimum 500 minutes) Mikko is 30th in the league at this point.
He is VERY MUCH not dominating.
He's only played 27 games.
He's 30 years old
So, it's a crazy resume to sign on to
https://www.naturalstattrick.com/playerteams.php?fromseason=20182019&thruseason=20182019&stype=2&sit=all&score=all&stdoi=g&rate=y&team=ALL&pos=G&loc=B&toi=500&gpfilt=gpdate&fd=&td=2019-01-21&tgp=410&lines=single&draftteam=ALL

2. But it's not just that they signed this resume.
They signed him for 3 YEARS based on a middling performance across 27 games.
3. And they gave him a modified No Trade Clause
4. And they gave him a huge raise: 4.5M per!
That's enough crazy for any event.

But Because Oilers the crazy is just getting started.
5. Check out the date of that signing. January 21, 2019.
Despite TSN's best efforts with FREE AGENT FRENZY on July 1st every year... GMs routinely miss the press clippings.
The Oilers rush to sign this guy 6 months early.

Again, you're probably thinking "haha, great job Oilers!" but they are far from done here.
What else was happening in January 2019 for the Oilers, I wonder?
January 23, 2019. Oilers fire their GM.

A natural question emerges... why would you let your GM sign a middling goalie long term, to big $, with a no trade clause, 6 months from free agency?
Because Oilers... only the craziest answer will suffice.

6. In the middle of January, amidst the turmoil of firing their GM, the Oilers headed to Palm Springs and decided as a group (AGAIN IN JANUARY) that they JUST HAD to make a decision between Mikko and Talbot.
https://www.tsn.ca/nicholson-koskinen-extension-was-approved-by-organization-1.1246091

Just criminally stupid.
The dumbest fucking organization ever.
Fucking Christ.
Because Oilers.