Message sent to Season Ticket Holders from Kevin Lowe

[Soundwave]

I would have traded Pronger + Markkanen + Winchester for Luongo + Van Ryn. Then let Roloson walk. And signed a cheaper UFA like a Kozlov upfront.

Van Ryn doesn't replace Pronger, but I think he'd definitely replace Spacek and then some.

 

[PuckNut]

I would have traded Pronger + Markkanen + Winchester for Luongo + Van Ryn. Then let Roloson walk. And signed a cheaper UFA like a Kozlov upfront.

Van Ryn doesn't replace Pronger, but I think he'd definitely replace Spacek and then some.

Who would have been out back-up? Neither of the kids looked ready.

 

[Gusher]

In regards to the allstars people expect us to get in every trade

Losing them seems easy enough.
.

Who are the all-stars the Oilers have lost of late? Pronger is the only one I can think of in the past 3-4 years. Smyth doesn't count. He's not an all-star in this League. And if you say "he was an All-star" this year that's crap. Because every team is represented and someone had to go. Yes, Smyth is having a career year in his contract year but he is NOT an all-star in the NHL. Guys like Iginla, Crosby, Ovechkin are.

 

[Replacement*]

I agree it is a gamble to give up your tickets and assume that it sends a message to the Oilers over the Ryan Smyth issue, and lack of Dman aquired for the year ( I think the dman should be the big issue if people had one )

As long as someone is on the list to take any ticket that is not renewed, the only loser is a fan, if the Oilers make a change and suddenly they can't get in to the games when things pick up.

With sports it could be next year that we move up quickly if they get a great dman and make a few changes or it could take a few more years. But to get to the top of a season ticket list, and most importantly to the sections that you want take time.

Its interesting that we are starting to talk about ticket availability in Maple Leafs kinds of terms where theres several thousands wait listed and has been for years.

Sure we have a present wait list.

This is a recent phenomenon here and hasn't been status quo since the 80's.

With Oil Kings in town next year some people may be looking in a different direction. i'm quite sure Oilers didn't want to be sucking this badly leading into dual teams next season. Remember this is the same org that didn't want Roadrunners/oil simultaneously here.

 

[gr8haluschak]

Who would have been out back-up? Neither of the kids looked ready.

as much as that trade is a bunch of smoke, if we did get Luongo I don't think a back up goalie is an issue with him, JDD woul dbe more than able to handle the three games he would get.

 

[Soundwave]

Sign someone else as a backup.

Lalime for instance. It's not that hard to get a back up goalie when he only has to be able to play 10 games a season, if that.

 

[PuckNut]

as much as that trade is a bunch of smoke, if we did get Luongo I don't think a back up goalie is an issue with him, JDD woul dbe more than able to handle the three games he would get.

Last year none of us would have said that though. Even for the three or four games he would have got. I agree, it wouldn't have been a huge concern, but it would have been an issue to address. And there is no point talking about it because, like you said, the trade is a bunch of smoke.

 

[hemmingway]

I would have traded Pronger + Markkanen + Winchester for Luongo + Van Ryn. Then let Roloson walk. And signed a cheaper UFA like a Kozlov upfront.

Van Ryn doesn't replace Pronger, but I think he'd definitely replace Spacek and then some.

And Luongo would have been lit up by our defense. Smith, Hejda, Van Ryn, Staios, Greene, and MAB. Luongo would have killed MAB in the first week - so we would have saved some cap space on that deal

I don't see that team as being significantly better than our current team. Luongo is a great goalie - but is he ten wins better than Roloson at this point?

Edmonton has done something we (on this board at least) have always wanted to see. Bring up the prospects - see if they can play. Some can within their limits (Hejda, Pouliot, Stortini, Thoreson) Some have been thrown to the wolves (Greene, Smid, MAB) Some have been bubble boys (Jacques, Roy, Gilbert, etc.) Given the injuries this season to players like Stoll and Moreau, even with a couple of impact players - Edmonton could still be on the outside looking in. Better to convert some of the prospects and picks to NHL'ers, increasing their asset values.

 

[Nols]

I don't agree with your analysis, but even if it were true, we are worse in our current situation that the one you present.

I do agree with his analysis. Very fair imo. And yes we presently are worse in our current situation because we didn't follow the one he presented. Rather, we are building to be a solid team for years to come and not one that is a perrenial 8th place team, even if the cost is a bad season like this one.

 

[Soundwave]

Err ... I'd say that trade has more susbtance to it than about 99.9% of the deals being discussed here currently.

Luongo was actually available we know that for sure. Even if we missed the playoffs this season anyway, you'd still have a superstar in Luongo to retool with ... currently we have no one and we're hoping that Tampa might trade like say Lecavalier (not gonna happen) or Florida might be willing to give up on Jokinen (that's gonna be a tough sell). I fail to see how this is a better situation to be in.

Luongo is an MVP caliber talent for certain.

 

[alanschu]

Were the Edmonton Ice taking away from the Oilers back in the day?

 

[PuckNut]

Err ... I'd say that trade has more susbtance to it than about 99.9% of the deals being discussed here currently.

Luongo was actually available we know that for sure.

As was stated earlier in this thread, Luongo was traded the same day Pronger's demand was leaked.

 

[Soundwave]

As was stated earlier in this thread, Luongo was traded the same day Pronger's demand was leaked.

Yeah ... and? Lowe knew about Pronger's trade demand since January/Feburary, he's said that on record himself.

What's our record against Luongo this year btw? Like 1-5? And that one time we did win against him we got some extremely flukey goals to do it (Horcoff's phantom goal).

 

[razman22]

Every team now has to make hard choices around players and salaries - not just Edmonton. If there was no cap in place - Smyth would still likely be an Oiler. Edmonton ponied up money to a Pronger, Peca (who everyone knew was leaving), and came close to winning it all in a thrilling cinderella run. That said, even with Smyth, Peca, Pronger, Roloson, Samsonov, etc. - Edmonton came in 8th in the west.

Is this cluster of players going to win the cup? Not this year, and not next. I do think that if they continue to draft well (which, they're obviously improving upon) - they'll put themselves in a position to acquire another impact player.

I think that Hemsky is the highest skilled player Edmonton has drafted since 1983. I think that Stoll is the best overall young player the Oilers have had since Weight. And I think that the Edmonton prospect and pick pool is deeper than at any point in the past (hmmm, not drafting from Baja seems to help )

Alot of people are putting their eggs in the Hemsky basket and I just don't get it. 57GP 9G 40A 49P and -7. That's good for 82nd overall in scoring. Sure he's young but at 23, real superstars are already dominating, not just being talked about with their potential. Kovalchuk is the same age and look what he's done so far. Eric Staal is a year younger and has already scored more career points in less games. While he is talented, Hemsky looks like another Kamensky, Kovalev or Samsanov and that's not the elite player a team needs to build a cup winner around.

 

[grego]

Its interesting that we are starting to talk about ticket availability in Maple Leafs kinds of terms where theres several thousands wait listed and has been for years.

Sure we have a present wait list.

This is a recent phenomenon here and hasn't been status quo since the 80's.

With Oil Kings in town next year some people may be looking in a different direction. i'm quite sure Oilers didn't want to be sucking this badly leading into dual teams next season. Remember this is the same org that didn't want Roadrunners/oil simultaneously here.

Really anything is speculation, since we don't know how many people will cancel tickets this year. If we have a few years of mediocrity and missing the playoffs then the situation will escalate.

Many fans will likely have a month or more before they have to decide for sure about the tickets. If the deadline date for Oilers tickets had been the day after Smyth was traded they would have had more not sign up for the year. But suspect that by the time the actual deadline comes around, some of the ones that say they may not renew will put up the cash, or do some mix.

You may see a few that used to buy full season tickets try and get a split set of tickets.




The Oilers shouldn't operate like the Leafs, and I agree just believing fans will come no matter what is not a good thing. But we should also not be like the leafs and do like they did where they signed their dmen for whatever they wanted to lock them up.

Both ways of acting can be dangerous to a franchise and keep them from building a winner

 

[PuckNut]

Yeah ... and? Lowe knew about Pronger's trade demand since January/Feburary, he's said that on record himself.

They weren't going to trade for Luongo based on the fact that Lowe was negotiating with Roloson. He wanted to sign Roli and for the first time in a while, we weren't questioning the goaltending. So I'm sure Lowe figured he would leave the goaltending at a good level and try to pick up some scoring and defense to replace Pronger leaving.

 

[Gusher]

Yeah ... and? Lowe knew about Pronger's trade demand since January/Feburary, he's said that on record himself.

Yes, but Lowe was hoping Pronger would change his mind after the Cup run. Lowe even talked to Pronger and his agent after the run about possibly changing his mind then came the trade demand. I guess a Cup run didn't do it for the guy.

 

[Replacement*]

Were the Edmonton Ice taking away from the Oilers back in the day?

Smack dab in the middle of a recession and nothing much to take away.

Both clubs were doing badly at the gate at a time not so long ago where paying for groceries was viewed more important than seasons tickets...

 

[Soundwave]

They weren't going to trade for Luongo based on the fact that Lowe was negotiating with Roloson. He wanted to sign Roli and for the first time in a while, we weren't questioning the goaltending. So I'm sure Lowe figured he would leave the goaltending at a good level and try to pick up some scoring and defense to replace Pronger leaving.

Which on paper may have seemed like a decent idea at the time. On ice though, we can see what a disaster that's been.

Never pass up on being able to get a superstar when you have the oppurtunity to do so. The hockey gods don't like it. The Pronger deal completely and utterly screwed us.

This organization has a nasty habit of going for "depth + potential" when trading their superstars rather than just getting proper value back.

 

[Nols]

Yeah ... and? Lowe knew about Pronger's trade demand since January/Feburary, he's said that on record himself.

What's our record against Luongo this year btw? Like 1-5? And that one time we did win against him we got some extremely flukey goals to do it (Horcoff's phantom goal).

How much of a difference would Luongo have made this year? Enough to get us in the playoffs? Roloson was fine imo. With the injuries and the team we had this year Luongo would have missed the playoffs just as he did for years in Florida imo.

The void we had was on the blueline. Get over it.

 

[The Rage]

Luongo was traded on the same day Pronger asked for the trade

The Oilers knew about Pronger's feelings well before that.

and added to that what the hell is the point of trading Luongo if we were in the process of resigning Roli.

Because Luongo is a stud.

What did Edmonton want for Pronger ? GET IT THROUGH YOU _____ HEAD - A GOOD FORWARD AND A GOOD D MAN

So instead we got a 1-dimensional forward, and a prospect d-man. Poor strategy.

hense why they asked for Jbo and Horton from Florida instead of Luongo. I am done with your garbage because no matter what you sit there and talk about trades that never were on the table and ignore facts.

Go back to playing NHL 07

My goodness. If you can't criticise a team after 15 years of mediocrity, during the worst season in 10 years, after the trade of our best and most loved player--when can you criticise the team?

 

[PuckNut]

Which on paper may have seemed like a decent idea at the time. On ice though, we can see what a disaster that's been.

Never pass up on being able to get a superstar when you have the oppurtunity to do so. The hockey gods don't like it. The Pronger deal completely and utterly screwed us.

This organization has a nasty habit of going for "depth + potential" when trading their superstars rather than just getting proper value back.

The disaster hasn't been our goaltending. It's been everywhere else.

 

[The Rage]

You are obviously forgetting the fact that the Oilers traded and signed Pronger 2 years ago at that $6million price tag. The salaries have gone up since then. The most anyone was making at the time of the Pronger trade was $7million. Way to try and use false info.

Chara, Lindstrom, and Richards got their big pay days last offseason. That was the market, and Pronger was far under it. What false info did I provide?

 

[Nols]

The disaster hasn't been our goaltending. It's been everywhere else.

 

[Soundwave]

The disaster is we don't have a franchise/superstar caliber player anymore and those are not easy to obtain, unless you develop them within your system. Which at our present rate will take another 3-4 years.

You also have to factor in if we had Luongo instead of Vancouver having him, we'd probably be in their playoff spot, and they'd be sitting where we are.

Our 1-5 record vs. Luongo compared to what the season series vs. Vancouver was the year prior is basically the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs.

On top of that, I'd rather Pronger rot in Florida and in the East. Instead we traded him to Anaheim and appeased his dead beat wife who's probably sitting on the beach right now, while her hubby is just as happy because he goes to a conference rival Cup favorite.