Proposal: Bring Back Kevin Lowe

[BlackDogg]

Put up a billboard that "we want Kevin Lowe back asap"

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Not saying I want Lowe back but Smyth got the return he deserved. He wanted money more than he wanted to stay an Oiler.

he traded a guy who had 31 goals and 53 points in 53 games for a few busts and futures...the Oilers were re-building at that point

 

[Soundwave]

One thing you can’t say about Lowe is that he wasn’t exhausting virtually every avenue to make the team better. Offer sheets, UFA signings, trades … he wasn’t afraid to try anything at least.

Every Oiler GM since him has basically done the “we’ll just build a team through drafting and do nothing else!” which is basically gambling, you have to have other tools in your toolbox as a GM over just that.

Lowe was the last Oiler GM that wasn’t a slave to thinking 1st round picks equals inevitable success.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Hell must have frozen over.

My guy we just got shut out with 50 shots, 22 HDCF, and 6 xGF. Hell has been a cold, brittle, frigid tundra for over a decade and the name of that tundra is Edmonton Alberta.

Just need a top pairing defenseman somewhere around the league to f*** up bad enough to have his contract voided.

Cale Makar was part of the 2018 World Junior team right?

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Ken holland was supposed to mend the rift between the oilers and the nhl old boys club. It worked in some ways, player agents more willing to come here and the schedule wasnt too bad last year. Those dustin penner and thomas vanek offersheets resetting rfa contract standards(and hall/ebs/nuge) still echo to this day.

Player agents come to him b/c he's the easiest negotiation in the NHL when it comes to maximizing their agent's salary. With some absolute gems like Nurse 8x9.25, Campbell 5x5, and Kassian 4x3.2. Even the actual good players he signs like Nurse and Hyman are mostly either overtermed, oversalaried, or both.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

My guy we just got shut out with 50 shots, 22 HDCF, and 6 xGF. Hell has been a cold, brittle, frigid tundra for over a decade and the name of that tundra is Edmonton Alberta.

I’d argue hell froze over in 1992.

 

[SnipeShowJB11]

To an extent i agree, but other gms/management groups decided it was worth keeping the oilers on the outside when it comes to certain trades/trade values. Shopping a guy and not even bothering to call the oil or asking absurd prices compared to where they get moved. His treatment(not just his, other people were involved too) of souray and pushing him bsck from injury early had an impact on ufas as well. Souray, among others, talked mad **** about edmonton and the oilers and it made it difficult to attract talent.

Gillis gave an offersheet to Backes. Did that stop teams from helping Gillis out? Nope.

How about Joe Sakic signing a massive offersheet with the Rangers in 1997 and COL matching. Didn't stop NY from making moves.

Offersheets do rub GM's the wrong way, but in the end, GM's will always do what will improve their team or they get fired.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

he traded a guy who had 31 goals and 53 points in 53 games for a few busts and futures...the Oilers were re-building at that point

Maybe if the Oilers had decent drafting/scouting it wouldn't have been so bad.

Then again he missed the Kings gravy train, so...

 

[Reasonable Oil Fan]

But
April 1st is months away

 

[Beerfish]

Lowe and MacT for that matter rode one year where they had a norris caliber dman (which they failed to keep) and a journeyman goalie playing out of his mind to get to the cup final. He made as many or more pure terrible moves as good ones that all seemed to happened in one year.

I've seen this nostalgia bit on other sports forums, mangment and coaching so utterly terrible that we pine for guys who were actually bad but had one flicker of fluke success.

 

[Soundwave]

Lowe and MacT for that matter rode one year where they had a norris caliber dman (which they failed to keep) and a journeyman goalie playing out of his mind to get to the cup final. He made as many or more pure terrible moves as good ones that all seemed to happened in one year.

I've seen this nostalgia bit on other sports forums, mangment and coaching so utterly terrible that we pine for guys who were actually bad but had one flicker of fluke success.

Big difference when your "franchise players" are Mike Comrie and Ryan Smyth versus Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and you can't even afford to keep Comrie because your ownership group doesn't have the money.

Chiarelli/Holland were gifted the two best players on the planet, maybe the greatest offensive talent the game has seen since Mario Lemieux and then on top of that a Malkin tier no.2 option, unlimited budget from a billionaire owner ... and they are in a dogfight to even just make the playoffs.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Maybe if the Oilers had decent drafting/scouting it wouldn't have been so bad.

Then again he missed the Kings gravy train, so...

Ryan Smyth had one of the worst contracts in the NHL and the Kings only were able to win the Cup b/c they were able to dump him to us without giving up a 1st round pick and instead used those draft picks and cap space to pick up 2 vastly superior players in Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. It was basically the 2011 version of the Duncan Keith trade except Smyth was at least our sports icon instead of Chicago's, so it's slightly less cuckhold behaviour. Seriously though, with how much cap dumps get in trade nowadays it's absolutely criminal we didn't get something like 1st+2 2nds for the Smyth cap dump, which converted to modern salary cap would be ~9 million. It's one of the worst trades in NHL history and directly handed a Cup to the Kings on a silver platter.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Ryan Smyth had one of the worst contracts in the NHL and the Kings only were able to win the Cup b/c they were able to dump him to us without giving up a 1st round pick and instead used those draft picks and cap space to pick up 2 vastly superior players in Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. It was basically the 2011 version of the Duncan Keith trade except Smyth was at least our sports icon instead of Chicago's, so it's slightly less cuckhold behaviour. Seriously though, with how much cap dumps get in trade nowadays it's absolutely criminal we didn't get something like 1st+2 2nds for the Smyth cap dump, which converted to modern salary cap would be ~9 million. It's one of the worst trades in NHL history and directly handed a Cup to the Kings on a silver platter.

We just love doing other teams favours that they have no intention of returning.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Big difference when your "franchise players" are Mike Comrie and Ryan Smyth versus Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and you can't even afford to keep Comrie because your ownership group doesn't have the money.

Chiarelli/Holland were gifted the two best players on the planet, maybe the greatest offensive talent the game has seen since Mario Lemieux and then on top of that a Malkin tier no.2 option, unlimited budget from a billionaire owner ... and they are in a dogfight to even just make the playoffs.

lol Lowe inherited a much deeper team from Sather than any of the Oilers teams today:

Smyth
Weight
Guerin
Marchant
Grier
Moreau
Hamrlik
Niniimaa
Jason Smith
Poti
Salo

and was tasked to just not screw it up...he then missed the playoffs in 4 of the 7 years he was GM

 

[Soundwave]

lol Lowe inherited a much deeper team from Sather than any of the Oilers teams today:

Smyth
Weight
Guerin
Marchant
Grier
Moreau
Hamrlik
Niniimaa
Jason Smith
Poti
Salo

and was tasked to just not screw it up...he then missed the playoffs in 4 of the 7 years he was GM

Kind of misleading because everyone their grandma knew the Oilers couldn't afford to keep Guerin and Weight just like they had lost Cujo.

Guerin had to be traded I believe 21 games into Lowe's tenure because EIG couldn't pay him the big dollars he wanted. Weight was on borrowed time too.

 

[Stoneman89]

Someone needs to shut this thread down asap please.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

Although i enjoy all these old goat hall of gamers getting their legacies dashed in short order. (Lamo next?)

It might be a welcome change to have some young cutting edge up and coming gm eat shit for once.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Hell must have frozen over.

"Time is a flat circle"

 

[BardownMagic]

Although i enjoy all these old goat hall of gamers getting their legacies dashed in short order. (Lamo next?)

It might be a welcome change to have some young cutting edge up and coming gm eat shit for once.

I will do it for 800k Actually screw it, I love the Oilers, make it 80k

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

I will do it for 800k Actually screw it, I love the Oilers, make it 80k

Deal

 

[MessierII]

Big difference when your "franchise players" are Mike Comrie and Ryan Smyth versus Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and you can't even afford to keep Comrie because your ownership group doesn't have the money.

Chiarelli/Holland were gifted the two best players on the planet, maybe the greatest offensive talent the game has seen since Mario Lemieux and then on top of that a Malkin tier no.2 option, unlimited budget from a billionaire owner ... and they are in a dogfight to even just make the playoffs.

His franchise player was Chris Pronger

 

[Soundwave]

His franchise player was Chris Pronger

Yes and in one year of having a real franchise player he got the Oilers to game 7 of a Cup Finals.

You can't seriously say in good faith that the Oilers/Lowe got a fair shake there. They did everything right to compete under the new salary cap and what do they get for it? A shitty hockey wife that decides to torpedo a Cup finalist because there's not enough wine and cheese functions in Edmonton, something so far out of the control of a GM it's ridiculous.

 

[MessierII]

Yes and in one year of having a real franchise player he got the Oilers to game 7 of a Cup Finals.

You can't seriously say in good faith that the Oilers/Lowe got a fair shake there. They did everything right to compete under the new salary cap and what do they get for it? A shitty hockey wife that decides to torpedo a Cup finalist because there's not enough wine and cheese functions in Edmonton, something so far out of the control of a GM it's ridiculous.

I mean he could have traded Pronger for another good player. Lowe led us directly into 10 years of being the worst franchise in the league.

 

[Soundwave]

I mean he could have traded Pronger for another good player. Lowe led us directly into 10 years of being the worst franchise in the league.

That’s fair to a degree but we were heavily compromised by the agent leaking the trade request to the media, everyone knew then that we had to move him.

 

[MessierII]

That’s fair to a degree but we were heavily compromised by the agent leaking the trade request to the media, everyone knew then that we had to move him.

So you hold out. No one forced his hand. Lowe himself has since admitted this. Pronger was under contract with the oilers. You’re telling me there weren’t many teams interested in Chris Pronger under contract through 2011?