Kevin Lowe Appreciation Thread

[Arctic Fox]

Is he fired yet? What's taking so long? I can hardly contain my appreciation.

 

[McBaevid]

Nothing to appreciate from this fool anymore, he's tarnished his legacy beyond repair

 

[bombers15]

79th all time in defensive scoring. Real ****ing impressive.

I'll show you impressive. From his awesome profile (probably written by himself) on the Oilers website:

MOST GOALS, ONE GAME: 1; 84 Times

That's the best possible way of writing that you never scored two goals in a game.

 

[Sickbones]

Is he fired yet? What's taking so long? I can hardly contain my appreciation.

LMAO

 

[AVE MAN]

Did a great job assembling the 2006 team. He let his pride & loyalty get in the way of his job. Makes him a great person, not so much a great President of Hockey Operations. Turning down Perry for Comrie just so Comrie didn't go where he wanted to go, was the start of a lot of bad decisions for Klowe.
In saying that...this is an appreciation thread and history will show he bled blue and orange and was a great Oiler, even throughout the bad years.
Let's put it this way, no matter how bad Kevin Lowe was for this organization, i'd still root for him in a barn fight over Burke.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

I'll show you impressive. From his awesome profile (probably written by himself) on the Oilers website:

MOST GOALS, ONE GAME: 1; 84 Times

That's the best possible way of writing that you never scored two goals in a game.

Hahahahaha. What a moron.

 

[Zap Brannigan]

Did a great job assembling the 2006 team. He let his pride & loyalty get in the way of his job. Makes him a great person, not so much a great President of Hockey Operations. Turning down Perry for Comrie just so Comrie didn't go where he wanted to go, was the start of a lot of bad decisions for Klowe.
In saying that...this is an appreciation thread and history will show he bled blue and orange and was a great Oiler, even throughout the bad years.
Let's put it this way, no matter how bad Kevin Lowe was for this organization, i'd still root for him in a barn fight over Burke.

Oh Kevin Lowe would put a straight up beating on Burke. Lowe wasn't nicknamed "Vicious" for nothing

 

[Megamanzero]

Give him a lot of credit as a player. He bled copper/blue for this organization, but he didn't know how to manage an organization.

 

[Gord]

the only thing I'll appreciate is his playing career.

 

[Da McBomb]

Thanks for 2006.

 

[Crabapple]

I mean, I don't think he tried to be as incompetent as he was.

 

[birchy]

Good riddance!

 

[guymez]

I mean, I don't think he tried to be as incompetent as he was.

Nobody tires to be incompetent.

Lowe has an excellent Oiler as a player and he had a small window of success as a GM.

Ultimately it was the very thing that carried his playing career that was his undoing as a GM....passion.
His passion preempted common sense and good judgement as a GM and undid the little success he did have.

All in all Lowe was a failure as a GM and he stayed on much longer than he should have...he burned a lot of good will during the last 7 years.

That said first and foremost i will choose to remember his playing days. I hope other fans do the same.

 

[TheSpecialist]

I respected Kevin Lowe as a player but as Burke predicted, he completely sewered the team to catastrophic levels.

What makes me more upset is media guys like Stauffer sticking up for this clown or not having the balls to flat out criticize management. Stauffer actually said that Kevin Lowe does not make any of the player personnel decisions and I have an extremely hard time believing that. I'll go to lengths to say that he made Tambellini look worse then he actually was because at the end of the day, Lowe had full autonomy on trade proposals, coaching changes and contract signings.

Aside from his 5 cups, thanks for nothing.

 

[Not Robin Brownlee]

worst thread on the internet ever.. Lowe having an appreciation thread is like this thread having an appreciation thread. barf.

 

[Gunnersaurus Rex]

Did you actually watch him?

Absolutely. Slow as molasses, we used to refer to him as Kevin Slow.

 

[LTIR]

Thank you for Hall, Nugent, Yak, Draisaitl, Nurse and McDavid... No one else could've been around for that long to land us that many top prospective.

 

[Game 8]

Anybody who follows me on twitter knows that nobody will be happier than I will if/when he and MacT are no longer calling the shots.

That being said, I'm disappointed to come to this thread (I intended to start one after something was announced - I agree this is premature) and see people still spout vitriol about the man. I don't think anybody could make a convincing argument that there is a person in this world who is as passionate about and loyal to the Oilers as Kevin Lowe. We all know alla about his performance post-Pronger; however, that won't stop me from appreciating one of the greatest players to ever wear the copper and blue, one of the most passionate coaches and GMs, a guy who could have followed Slats to the bright lights of New York, but didn't. That doesn't even touch on all the good that he did in the community (which, alone, should earn him the due respect of every Edmontonian, even if they don't like him as a GM as I don't).

Quite frankly, it took balls to launch the team on the total rebuild path that he did. Had McDavid (should he turn out to be a generational talent) been available first overall in the Hall draft, maybe everything would seem so different. As much as the GMs he's hired failed to improve the team (and the issues with both professional and amateur scouting), a person should never forget the degree to which luck plays a part in these things. We should particularly be mindful of that after winning the lotto.

If I ever come across Kevin Lowe, I'll thank him for his passion and loyalty to the Oilers, and for being a true leader in the community to an extent which is surpassed by precious few (and I'm not limiting that statement to hockey people).

Great synopsis of the man! He did an excellent job, other than the scouting department. You have to give him and Katz credit for having the balls to allow the team bottom finishes which is why we have all of the young talent we will enjoy starting next season.

 

[Tekneek]

If bringing stability to the affiliation arrangements (buying Bakersfield, moving AHL west, etc), spinning up Oil Kings, looking for other hockey related business developments, and so on, were driven by Lowe (as I had been told unofficially by an insider), then Lowe is actually good at some things and Nicholson officially focusing him on those going forward is better for the Oilers and Lowe. Insisting that he be turfed when Bob thinks he has something to offer is ridiculous. People have a lot of hate for Lowe, and it is a deeply held emotional thing, but if Bob thinks he has something to offer then you ought to be ok with it.

 

[McDeepika]

An overrated player who rode the coattails of better players to those 6 Stanley Cups he's so ****ing proud of and a terrible GM, POHO and overall hockey individual.

I hope Lowe is fired and never shows his face in this city again.

I wonder how many people would be left in Edmonton if everybody who wasn't good at their jobs wasn't allowed to show their face anymore. Kevin Lowe was a bad manager. He wasn't some murderer.

Relax

 

[Tekneek]

I wonder how many people would be left in Edmonton if everybody who wasn't good at their jobs wasn't allowed to show their face anymore. Kevin Lowe was a bad manager. He wasn't some murderer.

Relax

There is an emotional hate for the guy that is unwarranted. Being a bad hockey executive is hardly a good enough reason to want him banished from an entire city. While the Oilers have stagnated under him, or even regressed, the entire hockey operation under Katz has improved compared what we had before. The lower levels have never been better and are setup for future success. The Oil Kings are a successful operation. Lowe was involved with all of that and that has been his best (although largely unrecognized) work. Keeping him directed there, if he does stay on, would be smart business.

 

[Nunymare]

Anybody who follows me on twitter knows that nobody will be happier than I will if/when he and MacT are no longer calling the shots.

That being said, I'm disappointed to come to this thread (I intended to start one after something was announced - I agree this is premature) and see people still spout vitriol about the man. I don't think anybody could make a convincing argument that there is a person in this world who is as passionate about and loyal to the Oilers as Kevin Lowe. We all know alla about his performance post-Pronger; however, that won't stop me from appreciating one of the greatest players to ever wear the copper and blue, one of the most passionate coaches and GMs, a guy who could have followed Slats to the bright lights of New York, but didn't. That doesn't even touch on all the good that he did in the community (which, alone, should earn him the due respect of every Edmontonian, even if they don't like him as a GM as I don't).

Quite frankly, it took balls to launch the team on the total rebuild path that he did. Had McDavid (should he turn out to be a generational talent) been available first overall in the Hall draft, maybe everything would seem so different. As much as the GMs he's hired failed to improve the team (and the issues with both professional and amateur scouting), a person should never forget the degree to which luck plays a part in these things. We should particularly be mindful of that after winning the lotto.

If I ever come across Kevin Lowe, I'll thank him for his passion and loyalty to the Oilers, and for being a true leader in the community to an extent which is surpassed by precious few (and I'm not limiting that statement to hockey people).

I agree with all of this. Good post.

I'm not going to choose to hate/hold a grudge. What matters (if he is gone from hockey ops) is that he has moved on, and all I can really do is thank him for his dedication to the organization and I respect him for that.

He isn't some mass murderer or something that deserves some of the vitriol that I've seen, in my opinion. Let's just move on.

 

[rec28]

Anybody who follows me on twitter knows that nobody will be happier than I will if/when he and MacT are no longer calling the shots.

That being said, I'm disappointed to come to this thread (I intended to start one after something was announced - I agree this is premature) and see people still spout vitriol about the man. I don't think anybody could make a convincing argument that there is a person in this world who is as passionate about and loyal to the Oilers as Kevin Lowe. We all know alla about his performance post-Pronger; however, that won't stop me from appreciating one of the greatest players to ever wear the copper and blue, one of the most passionate coaches and GMs, a guy who could have followed Slats to the bright lights of New York, but didn't. That doesn't even touch on all the good that he did in the community (which, alone, should earn him the due respect of every Edmontonian, even if they don't like him as a GM as I don't).

Quite frankly, it took balls to launch the team on the total rebuild path that he did. Had McDavid (should he turn out to be a generational talent) been available first overall in the Hall draft, maybe everything would seem so different. As much as the GMs he's hired failed to improve the team (and the issues with both professional and amateur scouting), a person should never forget the degree to which luck plays a part in these things. We should particularly be mindful of that after winning the lotto.

If I ever come across Kevin Lowe, I'll thank him for his passion and loyalty to the Oilers, and for being a true leader in the community to an extent which is surpassed by precious few (and I'm not limiting that statement to hockey people).

Excellent post. 100% agree. I'm extraordinarily happy that the back of the OBC appears to be broken and that Lowe is no longer driving the hockey operations bus, but no one was or likely ever will be more dedicated to the Oilers and the community, regardless of results. Professional hockey is pretty ****ing low on the scale of meaningful issues in the world. I hope Oilers fans will recognize that while he presided over a disastrous period in the franchise's history and ruffled more than a few feathers with his lack of PR skills over the years, he is a fundamentally good man and he has contributed enormously to the city of Edmonton over the last 35 years. For those who will always see him as worse than Hitler and will try to vilify him every chance they get, I suggest you try to gain some perspective about what is and is not truly meaningful in this life. If nothing else, try to demonstrate the class and grace that you may feel Lowe lacked and let the guy move on in peace.

 

[The Nuge]

I will say this about Lowe. He's spent 33 years of his life with this organization, and I appreciate all his effort. I'm sure there's nobody in management that wants this team to succeed more than he does, but there comes a point where you have to hand the reigns over to someone more qualified

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

I will say this about Lowe. He's spent 33 years of his life with this organization, and I appreciate all his effort. I'm sure there's nobody in management that wants this team to succeed more than he does, but there comes a point where you have to hand the reigns over to someone more qualified

See, this is polite and it's true.

This guy won five cups with this outfit, and I'm sure as **** he didn't intend to be a failure as a hockey ops guy. Show some ****ing respect instead.

Would I trade my life in hockey for Kevin Lowe's?? You're ****ing right I would and so would any of you.