Proposal: Bring Back Kevin Lowe

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Someone had to make this thread.

He was the last general manager we had who seemed genuinely invested in this team's direction and wellbeing unlike the donkeys that came after who were either stealing paychecks or outright trying to sabotage the team's future. He didn't always make the right moves but every year you could tell he had a plan/vision for the team, identified the players to execute that vision, then went out and did what it took to get them. Yeah he sometimes overpaid for a Souray or Penner, but other times he stole players like Pronger peanuts and just overall was better at acquiring actual good hockey players.

Notable players brought in by Lowe who made noticeable positive impact on the copper and blue at some point in time:
-C: Horcoff, Reasoner, York, Stoll, Brodziak, Nedved, Peca, Cogliano, Sykora, Gagner
-W: Carter, Hemsky, Dvorak, Torres, Stortini, Samsonov, Penner, Glencross, Eberle
-D: Brewer, Ferguson, MAB, Staios, Greene, Gilbert, Pronger, Tarnstrom, Spacek, Petry, Smid, Tjarnqvist, Hejda, Grebeshkov, Pitkanen, Souray, Visnovsky
-G: Conklin, Dubnyk, Roloson, Garon

The gap between him and the 4 mongrels who came after him is bigger than the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda.

This was the last GM you could tell actually cared about being an Oiler and wanted the team to succeed. We shouldn't have memed him for 6 Rings. I'll take 6 Rings over the likes of Tambo/Chia/Holland every day.

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[syz]

The game has probably passed him by just like it has for Chiarelli and Holland.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

will he trade Connor and Leon for magic beans like he did Pronger and Smyth?

no thanks, we don't need the guy they started the Decade of Darkess

 

[SnipeShowJB11]

I have no ill feelings towards Lowe. I still laugh at the Oil Change Doc when Lowe tells Tambo in LA at that big dinner "Now clean up the mess" loll

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

will he trade Connor and Leon for magic beans like he did Pronger and Smyth?

no thanks, we don't need the guy they started the Decade of Darkess

He got Pronger for magic beans in the first place.

 

[SnipeShowJB11]

He got Pronger for magic beans in the first place.

Still remember being in bed around 11PM

Jhon Short says get ready for some big news. Bob Stauffer posts on Hfboards to get ready lol

Then the trade comes in *goosebumps*

 

[RandomGuy79]

He was gold.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

He got Pronger for magic beans in the first place.

lucky trade when you look at it...dismantled a good Sather-built team year by year until he bailed in 2008

never forget Comrie wanted out under his watch and refused a trade involving Corey Perry

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

lucky trade when you look at it...dismantled a good Sather-built team year by year until he bailed in 2008

never forget Comrie wanted out under his watch and refused a trade involving Corey Perry

Where's our lucky trade since then? Last time I remember a clean undebatable trade win was Paajarvi+2nd for Perron.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Where's our lucky trade since then? Last time I remember a clean undebatable trade win was Paajarvi+2nd for Perron.

I mean, getting Evander Kane was "lucky"

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

I mean, getting Evander Kane was "lucky"

Fair enough. It seems luck is the only time this team gets any good players for the past 12 years.

 

[Roof Daddy]

lucky trade when you look at it...dismantled a good Sather-built team year by year until he bailed in 2008

never forget Comrie wanted out under his watch and refused a trade involving Corey Perry

It would be forgivable if that Comrie trade didn’t go down based on improper prospect evaluation (Perry), but Lowe actually preferred the deal but traded him to Philly out of spite because he wanted Comrie to pay back part of his signing bonus to facilitate the trade to Anaheim (preferred destination due to location/proximity to his dad).

This is a man who lets emotion fog his decision making time and time again.

No thanks. Don’t need a redux on that.

 

[Gordievsky]

You guys are all talking about his GM moves... which is fair I guess, since the thread is about bringing him back.

I just thought he was an arrogant ass. Born on third base, thinks he hit a triple.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Someone had to make this thread.

He was the last general manager we had who seemed genuinely invested in this team's direction and wellbeing unlike the donkeys that came after who were either stealing paychecks or outright trying to sabotage the team's future. He didn't always make the right moves but every year you could tell he had a plan/vision for the team, identified the players to execute that vision, then went out and did what it took to get them. Yeah he sometimes overpaid for a Souray or Penner, but other times he stole players like Pronger peanuts and just overall was better at acquiring actual good hockey players.

Notable players brought in by Lowe who made noticeable positive impact on the copper and blue at some point in time:
-C: Horcoff, Reasoner, York, Stoll, Brodziak, Nedved, Peca, Cogliano, Sykora, Gagner
-W: Carter, Hemsky, Dvorak, Torres, Stortini, Samsonov, Penner, Glencross, Eberle
-D: Brewer, Ferguson, MAB, Staios, Greene, Gilbert, Pronger, Tarnstrom, Spacek, Petry, Smid, Tjarnqvist, Hejda, Grebeshkov, Pitkanen, Souray, Visnovsky
-G: Conklin, Dubnyk, Roloson, Garon

The gap between him and the 4 mongrels who came after him is bigger than the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda.

This was the last GM you could tell actually cared about being an Oiler and wanted the team to succeed. We shouldn't have memed him for 6 Rings. I'll take 6 Rings over the likes of Tambo/Chia/Holland every day.

LOL

Sorry--this board made IT Clear that both Mact and Lowe needed to be drawn, quartered and hung and then fed into a wood chipper.

Even when Lowe had no job title with the oilers, people wanted him fired

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Hell must have frozen over.

 

[syz]

Fair enough. It seems luck is the only time this team gets any good players for the past 12 years.

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

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

will he trade Connor and Leon for magic beans like he did Pronger and Smyth?

no thanks, we don't need the guy they started the Decade of Darkess

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

 

[Soundwave]

His drafting actually was not that bad ... what the Oilers have had the last 7 years is bad.

Hemsky, Stoll, Petry, Dubnyk, Cogliano, Eberle were all good picks and all players who were impact level players at the NHL level and the not one of those picks was even a top 12 selection. Sure he missed on some oppurtunities but no one has 100% hit record in drafting.

If we had even a Hemsky level player to show for our last 7 drafts (3 of which have been top 10 picks, lol) we'd be so much further along as a team.

But at this stage, nah, the game has probably passed Lowe by. It's just sad that Chiaraelli and Holland are that much worse than Lowe ever was. At least Lowe was able to win the occasional trade, bring in an occasional impact player like a Glencross from out of nowhere, and draft someone decent occasionally .... Oilers GMs for the McDavid era can't do any of those things.

 

[The Panther]

I don't care for this idea that "the game has passed him by" just because he's old. The GM of the club that just beat Edmonton is 80 years old.

That said, do we want Kevin Lowe running the team today? No, we do not.

 

[BardownMagic]

He was gold.

Whatever your feelings on lowe for architecting the DoD, you gotta respect that he had no qualms about speaking his mind. That damn 6 rings stuff just leaves a sour taste tho

 

[Soundwave]

Penner wasn't a bad get at all to be honest.

We could badly use a 2010-era Dustin Penner right about now.

If McDavid could push Maroon to 27 goals, he could probably get Penner giving us 35 a season.

 

[BardownMagic]

Where's our lucky trade since then? Last time I remember a clean undebatable trade win was Paajarvi+2nd for Perron.

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.

 

[Soundwave]

Ken holland was supposed to mend the ridt 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.

Both the Penner and Vanek offer sheets were fine. If some GMs didn't like it, tough shit. You do what you have to do to get better players on your team.

 

[BardownMagic]

Both the Penner and Vanek offer sheets were fine. If some GMs didn't like it, tough shit. You do what you have to do to get better players on your team.

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.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

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.

He also bent the knee to a Chicago team that was desperate to give Duncan Keith away. He has no creativity and is more worried about making enemies than getting wins.