Message sent to Season Ticket Holders from Kevin Lowe

[The Rage]

Hmm - so far this season - he's traded MAB, Smyth, and Pronger.

Pronger demanded out.

MAB played his way out.

Smyth could have stayed, if he wanted to. He wanted the money.

Sounds like the problem is with the players, not the GM.

Yeah, there's always a reason. Always a reason why Lowe couldn't get more for Pronger, couldn't sign Smyth, couldn't spend the money. Lowe just has so much bad luck, doesn't he? Bottom line, the team sucks, even after years of building. The man who built the team has to be held responsible.

Sorry - are you telling me that Smyth is worth more than 27 over 5 in a capped environment?

http://vhockey.blogspot.com/2007/03/at-what-price-ryan-smyth.html

The only "stars" Lowe has traded away have been Weight, Pronger, and Smyth.

- Weight demanded a trade.
- Pronger demanded a trade.
- Smyth refused to sign a 27m5yr deal before he would be a UFA, where Edmonton would lose him with nothing in return.

Poor Lowe. I actually defended him on the Weight trade, but in hindsight, he messed that up too. I was one of the apologists who engaged in long discussions with Mizral about how Weight screwed us by only wanting to go to St.Louis or Detroit. I've done enough apologizing.

The members of the EIG that I know are in this for the long haul. The only goal is winning a cup - and Lowe got them to within a game of it last year. They will continue to sacrifice short term gains (single playoff gates) for building a real contender.

Yeah, they have been sacrificng short term gains for a while now, although their wallets seem to have gained plenty. Heck, even last year we almost missed the playoffs. At some point, all this mediocrity is not good enough, regardless of whatever vague and supposedly bright future is always just over the horizon.

 

[shawnmullin]

So if the team is committed to winning a Stanley cub why did they trade Pronger for scrubs? Why not trade him for Luongo, Hossa, Heatly, or even for Havlat in a three way? Why did the Pronger trade have to be a salary dump? And if you were going to do a salary dump, why did you not spend some of the surplus on Eaton or Markov? There were a million opitions. What we have is a failure of a desire to spend to compete, and that's not even mentioning Smyth...

Come on you know better than to assume those guys were absolutely available.

Luongo especially, he was one year from free agency for god's sake.

 

[TrevorJ]

So if the team is committed to winning a Stanley cub why did they trade Pronger for scrubs? Why not trade him for Luongo, Hossa, Heatly, or even for Havlat in a three way? Why did the Pronger trade have to be a salary dump? And if you were going to do a salary dump, why did you not spend some of the surplus on Eaton or Markov? There were a million opitions. What we have is a failure of a desire to spend to compete, and that's not even mentioning Smyth...

Because that was the best deal available, Lowe was dealing from a position of weakness with Pronger not wanting to be here. GET OVER IT!

While I do have a concern with how the Pronger deal was handled it is because I wish they had let him sit for a season so other teams knew we were serious about getting a legit star in return.

 

[The Rage]

Come on you know better than to assume those guys were absolutely available.

I never said they were all available. I was saying that out of all those types of players, one had to be available considering how valuable Pronger is. Tanguay, Luongo, and Havlat were all traded for less than Pronger. There must have been other players available, as well, considering how few commodities are better than Pronger signed for cheap long term.

 

[Soundwave]

Yeah that's essentially what pisses me off. Luongo was the best player available on the market, a true superstar talent.

So how is it, that we missed out on the Luongo sweepstakes when we had by far the most attractive trade asset to be had?

By the time we traded Pronger a lot of teams already made their big move and were standing pat. We actually waited too long on Pronger and missed out on the better deals.

And what exactly was Lowe hoping to do there? I mean it seemed like we got caught with our pants down when Pronger's agent leaked the trade demands ... but what exactly were we hoping for? A deal in mid-summer? We were hoping to get a better deal *after* everyone spent all their UFA money? C'mon. I get the feeling Lowe was still banking on Pronger coming around and changing his mind on the trade thing and we paid the price for it dearly.

Lowe needed to be aggressively shopping Pronger *before* draft day. If he changes his mind, fine, but we should have had deals already lined up and ready to go right away if worse came to worse (which it did).

 

[The Rage]

Yeah that's essentially what pisses me off. Luongo was the best player available on the market, a true superstar talent.

So how is it, that we missed out on the Luongo sweepstakes when we had by far the most attractive trade asset to be had?

By the time we traded Pronger a lot of teams already made their big move and were standing pat. We actually waited too long on Pronger and missed out on the better deals.

And what exactly was Lowe hoping to do there? I mean it seemed like we got caught with our pants down when Pronger's agent leaked the trade demands ... but what exactly were we hoping for? A deal in mid-summer? We were hoping to get a better deal *after* everyone spent all their UFA money? C'mon. I get the feeling Lowe was still banking on Pronger coming around and changing his mind and we paid the price for it dearly.

Lowe needed to be aggressively shopping Pronger *before* draft day.

Yeah, regardless of when the leak happened in the media, Lowe knew the story for awhile. He may have been hoping Pronger would change his mind, but he should have had a contingency. When Luongo was available, he should have demanded an ultimatum from Pronger. You don't just sit and hope things will turn out alright.

 

[alanschu]

You don't just sit and hope things will turn out alright.

Then why bash Lowe for trading Smyth?

 

[hemmingway]

If we had traded for Luongo and signed say Filip Kuba instead of Petr Sykora, I'd say we're in the playoffs and have a franchise All-Star player for many years to come to boot.

Best case scenario.

Otherwise - we could have traded for Luongo, and had him refuse to sign a contract extension as an RFA - which is exactly why he was traded from Florida.

He signed a huge contract with Vancouver - why? Perhaps he likes living on the coast. Given Edmonton's history of having to overpay to keep players - I'd say that it wouldn't be as cut and dried as it first appears.

Folding up your tent just because you weren't going to get a Pronger level d-man back is kind of a piss poor attitude. No one feels sorry for the Oilers, we don't have the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves.

Hey - this frustrates me as much as anyone else. Outside of an above average goaltending tandem (league wide), this team has holes all over the place. Too many young players in roles above their heads.

Smid and Greene are +17m, and playing on the PK. Any time posters take exception with the Oil's young defenseman, I give my head a shake. Given that they're being force fed the NHL, they're actually doing better than anyone should expect.

What should have happened is EVERY GM should have known that Pronger was available *before* any other trades were made, so we could have at least made offers/pitches for some of the players that went, like a Luongo, Havlat, or even Tanguay. Chalk it up as a learning experience for our front office I guess, but a costly one that could have repurcussions on the team for the next 5-10 years. Kevin needed to be on the ball there, as a GM you can't get caught up in the emotion of what happened in the Cup Finals, we needed someone to already be thinking about the 06-07 season even while the Finals were going on. He knew he had to move Pronger, but did nothing, then we settled on a package from Anaheim once the majority of teams had already spent a big chunk of their UFA money or made their big moves.

When - like during the playoffs? I'm sure that the media circus would have been fun. There is a six day overlap between the cup, and the media getting a hold of it.

That said, I'm not sure that the return would have been much better. Even with an impact player in a Havlat, Heatley, or Hossa, this team would still be likely fighting for a playoff spot.

This team wasn't very good last year, and traded the best defenseman in the league for futures. I b*tched about it then, seeing that they were rebuilding. I couldn't figure out why, until the Smyth press conference. Now I think I know why.

 

[Soundwave]

How many days were there between the end of the Finals and the draft?

How long does it really take to fax every team in the NHL a memo that Chris Pronger is available ahead of the draft and they if they have assets they are looking to trade (cough ... like say ... a team .... like Florida or I dunno, Ottawa, who were doing just that) to at least hold their horses and give us a phone call.

Pronger's agent leaked the trade demand because they knew Lowe was planning on just sitting on the situation. Otherwise Pronger probably would not have been traded until like July or August, which wouldn't have helped us at all because again most teams had already made their big moves by then.

 

[hemmingway]

Yeah, there's always a reason. Always a reason why Lowe couldn't get more for Pronger, couldn't sign Smyth, couldn't spend the money. Lowe just has so much bad luck, doesn't he? Bottom line, the team sucks, even after years of building. The man who built the team has to be held responsible.

Why do you need to assign blame to Lowe and the EIG?

I'd agree with you, if this team were a perennial bottom feeder, with no draft picks and prospects. I lived in Calgary during the seven year drought. Trust me - this team isn't as bad as many I saw during that period, and is only one year removed from a western conference championship.

http://vhockey.blogspot.com/2007/03/at-what-price-ryan-smyth.html

I know what he says.

What do you say?

Ryan Smyth at 5.5 million a season (what he wanted) - when he's 36?

Earlier this year - posts were calling for him to get 4, 4.5, 5 at the absolute top. He turned down 5.4yr/5.

Brings tears to my eyes, too.

Yeah, they have been sacrificng short term gains for a while now, although their wallets seem to have gained plenty. Heck, even last year we almost missed the playoffs. At some point, all this mediocrity is not good enough, regardless of whatever vague and supposedly bright future is always just over the horizon.

So - now they're so rich, they can blow millions on lost playoff revenue?

Mediocrity is not acceptable!

Sign Eaton!

 

[The Rage]

Best case scenario.

Otherwise - we could have traded for Luongo, and had him refuse to sign a contract extension as an RFA - which is exactly why he was traded from Florida.

He signed a huge contract with Vancouver - why? Perhaps he likes living on the coast. Given Edmonton's history of having to overpay to keep players - I'd say that it wouldn't be as cut and dried as it first appears.

Yeah, when you look deep enough, there's always a reason why Lowe is simply a victim of circumstance. It amazing how often he gets screwed. The guy needs to start carrying around a horshoe or something, his luck is horrible.

Smid and Greene are +17m, and playing on the PK. Any time posters take exception with the Oil's young defenseman, I give my head a shake. Given that they're being force fed the NHL, they're actually doing better than anyone should expect.

I don't blame them; I blame the people who put them in that situation, where they are doomed to fail.

 

[The Rage]

Why do you need to assign blame to Lowe and the EIG?

I'd agree with you, if this team were a perennial bottom feeder, with no draft picks and prospects. I lived in Calgary during the seven year drought. Trust me - this team isn't as bad as many I saw during that period, and is only one year removed from a western conference championship.

Calgary fired the incompetents who were responsible for that.

I know what he says.

What do you say?

Ryan Smyth at 5.5 million a season (what he wanted) - when he's 36?

Earlier this year - posts were calling for him to get 4, 4.5, 5 at the absolute top. He turned down 5.4yr/5.

Brings tears to my eyes, too.

If you're scared to pay Ryan at 36, then why pay big bucks Rollie at 39?

So - now they're so rich, they can blow millions on lost playoff revenue?

Mediocrity is not acceptable!

Sign Eaton!

Enjoy May and June. You'll have a lot of free time during those months for the next few years. Then maybe we have one good year, then another unfortunate Lowe-getting-screwed-over incident, and we're back to where we are right now.

 

[hemmingway]

How many days were there between the end of the Finals and the draft?

How long does it really take to fax every team in the NHL a memo that Chris Pronger is available ahead of the draft and they if they have assets they are looking to trade (cough ... like say ... a team .... like Florida or I dunno, Ottawa, who were doing just that) to at least hold their horses and give us a phone call.

Hey - it's not like Florida didn't know about it - while Edmonton was trying to get JayBo, Horton, and a 1st for him.

If you believe the rumors - JayBo refused the trade to Edmonton. Too bad - although I don't think that JayBo and Horton would have lead the Oilers to the playoffs.

Ottawa resigned Redden. If they hadn't - they may have been in the market for a d-man. Didn't happen.

If Luongo had come to Edmonton, played his RFA contract out, we may have made the playoffs this year. And Luongo would have moved on at the end of the contract.

Pronger's agent leaked the trade demand because they knew Lowe was planning on just sitting on the situation. Otherwise Pronger probably would not have been traded until like July or August, which wouldn't have helped us at all because again most teams had already made their big moves by then.

I don't know when the optimal time for the trade would have been. No matter what the results of the trade, we would still likely be here b*tching about missing the playoffs.

 

[PuckNut]

If you're scared to pay Ryan at 36, then why pay big bucks Rollie at 39?

$3M is big bucks now? Or is it $3.5M?

 

[The Rage]

$3M is big bucks now? Or is it $3.5M?

For a guy who might be retired by then? Yeah, that is big bucks.

 

[PuckNut]

For a guy who might be retired by then? Yeah, that is big bcks.

You're absolutely right. In fact, I don't think we should sign anyone over 33 to anything longer than a one year contract because they might retire. Same goes with people who have a chance of getting a career ending injury. So, everyone on the team gets one year contracts now. At least then we can be active in the free agent market and sign all of the superstars who want so desperately to come to Edmonton.

 

[The Rage]

You're absolutely right. In fact, I don't think we should sign anyone over 33 to anything longer than a one year contract because they might retire. Same goes with people who have a chance of getting a career ending injury. So, everyone on the team gets one year contracts now. At least then we can be active in the free agent market and sign all of the superstars who want so desperately to come to Edmonton.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I was refering to the contradiction of not wanting to sign Smyth because he might get old, while we signed Roli who is alreay old.

 

[PuckNut]

I have no idea what you're talking about. I was refering to the contradiction of not wanting to sign Smyth because he might get old, while we signed Roli who is alreay old.

And I'm refering to the fact that you've stated repeatedly that the Oiler's should be spending money on top-flight UFA's and that they've shown no commitment to winning. Do you not think it's a commitment to winning to try to avoid repeating the goaltending situation we had last year? Actually, it likely would have been a worse situation if Roli had left. Fact is, when handing out contracts last year, Roli had all of the leverage. He's slightly overpaid due to that, but what do you expect? A one or two year contract with the final year being one or two million?

 

[hemmingway]

Calgary fired the incompetents who were responsible for that.

Yes, and we're no where near that point. Trust me - this team, while not great, is not as bad as their record indicates. Add back a healthy Stoll, Moreau, and Tjarqvist, and this team could compete for the final playoff spot.

If you're scared to pay Ryan at 36, then why pay big bucks Rollie at 39?

I didn't like the Roloson deal (too long) but a three year, 10.2m contract is easier to swallow than a 5y/27.5m contract. Worst case scenario with Roloson is the long term injury, but the Oilers could pull a "Mogilny" on him.

Enjoy May and June. You'll have a lot of free time during those months for the next few years. Then maybe we have one good year, then another unfortunate Lowe-getting-screwed-over incident, and we're back to where we are right now.

Whoever sits in the GM's chair in Edmonton at that point and time, they'll likely find it harder, not easier.

Given the poor climate, long travel, extra connectors, blistering media attention, I can't blame the players for not wanting to play here.

Given that Lowe and his management team are unable to convince elite players to play here, in addition to finding and acquiring the players that are needed to help the team succeed, I can't really blame them.

Given the money the owners committed to keeping the team here, and the fact that the ones I know are true hockey fans, I can't blame them for the Oilers lack of success.


So - who do I blame?

Nobody.

 

[Tricolore#20]

Yeah, when you look deep enough, there's always a reason why Lowe is simply a victim of circumstance. It amazing how often he gets screwed. The guy needs to start carrying around a horshoe or something, his luck is horrible.

It's been an all too frequent trend here in Edmonton, that Oilers' management is always perceived to the victim of some greedy act by a selfish player somewhere. I don't know where that impression comes from, whether it is the soft media, the management itself for creating the impression that Edmonton is small market or the EIG. It just seems like it happens all the time with "star" players, and you really do have to wonder why it is the case.

 

[bucks_oil]

Obviously because Lowe couldn't land such players in the deal he wanted for Pronger. Lowe was looking for a young and promising Defenceman and a goal-scorer. His best return in his mind was what he got in Smid and Lupul.

It's pretty easy to say stuff like "why didn't Lowe get Luongo, Hossa or Heatley for Pronger" or "why didn't Lowe get so-and-so for Smyth." Trades in the NHL are not as easy as you think. Why some of you people think it's so easy to land these all-star NHL players all the time is quite shocking. The Pronger and Smyth trades are all part of Lowe's plan apparently. Let's hope it works out for the best, soon.

Lowe's willing to spend the money on the right players.

Exactly... our team was one game and 2 goals away from the Stanley Cup.

We had all the pieces in place, perhaps a year of maturity or slightly different rentals than Spacek & Samsonov, and our team could have been sipping from the cup in 2007.

Lowe's only choice to be status quo in the Pronger deal would be to make a trade for Neidermeyer, Lidstrom or sign and trade for Chara. Do any of you think those were options? (keep in mind that Burke obviously wanted BOTH Neids and Prongs).

If not, what would you do? You know your only hope now is to spend big on a UFA Dman. If you are going to do that, what type of assets would you ask for in return for Pronger? YOUND AND CHEAP so that you can still afford to spend big.

IMO, you can't fault the return... maybe, maybe, you can fault the failure to get the UFA, but seriously. Did ANYBODY on here advocate outbidding Boston for Chara last summer? If so... you have a leg to stand on.

UFA defensemen were VASTLY overpaid last summer. Lowe didn't bite... he felt the price was too high. Maybe he was right... maybe he was wrong. Time will tell.

The fact is he was forced into the corner of rebuilding perhaps in part by the Pronger deal, but a bigger peice of it was the experience he had in UFA market last year and the PERFORMANCE or lack thereof of his team this year.

What I don't get is that the same people who are criticizing him now were the same group (in large part) that were criticizing him after spending a 1st on Roloson.... let the record show that his decision not only worked out, it set the base standard for UFA rentals this year. There is no way Philli or EDM get what they got for their rental players if Lowe's move didn't look so genius last year.

Obviously Lowe was pretty bang on with his hunches about relative worth in this new environment last year. How can we say for sure he isn't ahead of the trend curve again this year? If he does end up spending his money/assets wisely this summer, he's going to look pretty darn good if you ask me.

 

[The Rage]

And I'm refering to the fact that you've stated repeatedly that the Oiler's should be spending money on top-flight UFA's and that they've shown no commitment to winning.

Top flight? How about Eaton? ATLEAST Eaton.

Do you not think it's a commitment to winning to try to avoid repeating the goaltending situation we had last year? Actually, it likely would have been a worse situation if Roli had left. Fact is, when handing out contracts last year, Roli had all of the leverage. He's slightly overpaid due to that, but what do you expect? A one or two year contract with the final year being one or two million?

Yeah, we could have lost Roli and sucked. Now we lost Smyth and we suck.

 

[bucks_oil]

It's been an all too frequent trend here in Edmonton, that Oilers' management is always perceived to the victim of some greedy act by a selfish player somewhere. I don't know where that impression comes from, whether it is the soft media, the management itself for creating the impression that Edmonton is small market or the EIG. It just seems like it happens all the time with "star" players, and you really do have to wonder why it is the case.

Who has been painting lowe as a victim in the Smyth trade? Most have been simply claiming that he was either a) greedy, or b) defiant in his assessment of Smyth's worth.

Saying that he doesn't "think of Ryan as an elite player" is not exactly playing victim... it's saying "I was in control of this situation, I made an assessment, and I am sticking by it."

 

[Soundwave]

Jay Bo can kiss my rear end. Luongo is far more valuable of a player.

Vancouver's record since Christmas is something ridiculous like 22-4-2 ... and their defense is solid, but hardly spectacular (no All-Star caliber D at all), on top of the fact that Naslund is having a poor season.

 

[PuckNut]

Top flight? How about Eaton? ATLEAST Eaton.



Yeah, we could have lost Roli and sucked. Now we lost Smyth and we suck.

Yes, we lost Smyth. It sucks. It hurt the team. But the problem is, it's not entirely the teams fault. It's not entirely Smyth's fault either. You seem to refuse to acknowledge that both parties are at fault here. They both wanted to play hardball, and the team lost. If Lowe had signed him first we wouldn't be in this situation. But if Smyth was willing to budge to the final offer, we wouldn't be in this sitation either. Is $5.2Mor $5M that bad an offer?

And honestly, do you really think Eaton is enough of an improvement to bring the Oiler's up 10 points in the standings?