Kevin Lowe - The Most Inept Executive in NHL History

[Sheikyerbouti]

Katz knows money, not hockey.

Being an Oiler fan sucks

The losing IS financial. It's not like players get paid more in the playoffs, so even two games in the playoffs is worth a lot.

There is no logical argument for Lowe's job security other than:

A. Nepotism or collusion (katz is running the team with his buddies consultation)
B. Legacy (Katz doesn't want to see two once loved Edmontonians legacy destroyed)
C. Lowe somehow facilitated the sale of the team to Katz

IF a division of a company is faltering or under performing, but I've only acquired it because of the guy in charge, it's reasonable to continue under performing if you are breaking evenish - especially if you are looking at the full picture (rexall sports)

Katz is not dumb; he is certainly smarter than the dumb people in charge; and, at least on some level, he follows the team - so there is a logical explanation for this thing that seems so illogical.

 

[Xelebes]

-no division titles

The Oilers have not won the division title after they last won it in 1987. Fun fact.

Since then:

Calgary: 6 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 2006)
Los Angeles: 1 (1991)
Vancouver: 9 (1992, 1993, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Colorado: 8 (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
Minnesota: 1 (2008)
Anaheim: 2 (2013, 2014)

 

[Perfect_Drug]

mike milbury is the most inept of all time

Statistically speaking, Kevin Lowe is far worse.

Milbury can make the playoffs. Lowe can't.

 

[Blue And Orange]

I definitely agree with the notion that if Lowe is fired, it could take 2-3 years for this stench of the Lowe era to truly be eradicated.

It took the Detroit Lions 3 years after the 0-16 season (when Matt Millen got fired) before they started becoming a competitive team.

This organization is such a mess from top to bottom. Not even Scotty Bowman can turn this organization around in less than 2 years. The culture needs to change and I pity anyone with the sole responsibility of changing the culture of that organization.

 

[Blue And Orange]

The Oilers have not won the division title after they last won it in 1987. Fun fact.

Since then:

Calgary: 6 (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 2006)
Los Angeles: 1 (1991)
Vancouver: 9 (1992, 1993, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Colorado: 8 (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
Minnesota: 1 (2008)
Anaheim: 2 (2013, 2014)

For the entire time that the Northwest Division was in existence (1998-2013), the Oilers are the only team to not win a division title.The Flames, Canucks, Wild, and Avalanche all won at least one division title during that span! Pretty fricken sad

Avalanche (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
Canucks (2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Flames (2006)
Wild (2008)
Oilers (none)

 

[azashi]

Statistically speaking, Kevin Lowe is far worse.

Milbury can make the playoffs. Lowe can't.

Lowe made the playoffs as GM. He was GM during the Cup run, too.

 

[beaterson]

I definitely agree with the notion that if Lowe is fired, it could take 2-3 years for this stench of the Lowe era to truly be eradicated.

It took the Detroit Lions 3 years after the 0-16 season (when Matt Millen got fired) before they started becoming a competitive team.

This organization is such a mess from top to bottom. Not even Scotty Bowman can turn this organization around in less than 2 years. The culture needs to change and I pity anyone with the sole responsibility of changing the culture of that organization.

I dunno, mark messier's a pretty mentally tough individual.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Lowe made the playoffs as GM. He was GM during the Cup run, too.

Missing the playoffs for 9 consecutive years as an executive IS the record of futility by a pretty significant margin.

All signs point to this team not making the playoffs for the foreseeable future.

 

[Wheathead]

Those teams that made the playoffs are SUCKERS.

Don't they know that they're missing out on an exciting draft lottery? Ha.

Jokes on them!

 

[Gone]

Since only Jersey from 77-78 to 87-88 and Florida from 99-00 to 11-12 have had as bad or worse droughts as our current one, we can take a quick look to see if they allowed their top management guy to keep his job through all the losing.


New Jersey highest level managers (GMs) through their drought:

Ray Miron 1976-1981
Bill MacMillan 1981-1983
Max McNab 1983-1987
Lou Lamoriello 1987-Present

That's 3 management changes in their top spot (no made up POHO-like position was created so their top management guy could hide behind the scenes).


Florida Panther's highest level managers (GMs) during their drought:

Bryan Murray 1994-2000
Bill Torrey 2000-2001
Chuck Fletcher 2001-2002
Rick Dudley 2002-2004
Mike Keenan 2004-2006
Jacques Martin 2006-2009
Randy Sexton 2009-2010
Dale Tallon 2010-Present

Long list No made up position for them either for one of these guys to try to hide and still keep their job as top manager.


Oilers highest level manager through our playoff drought:

Kevin Lowe 2000-Whenever he feels like stepping down


Looks like it's not even close, no one has kept their job as top manager of an NHL team through as much losing as Kevin Lowe has lead us to. Congrats to Lowe, the ultimate survivor.

Thanks for this.

It truly shows how little Katz really cares about the product.

I found myself cheering for the Flames tonight, Lowe is forcing those In Edmonton who love hockey away from the Oilers.

 

[Gone]

Statistically speaking, Kevin Lowe is far worse.

Milbury can make the playoffs. Lowe can't.

Lowe is the worst manager in the history of pro-hockey and will eternally be remembered as such.

Lowe in my mind, is now the most hated man in the history of Edmonton, easily surpassing Pocklington. I'm not sure if anyone else would even come close.

 

[Blue And Orange]

Lowe is the worst manager in the history of pro-hockey and will eternally be remembered as such.

Lowe in my mind, is now the most hated man in the history of Edmonton, easily surpassing Pocklington. I'm not sure if anyone else would even come close.

At least Pocklington brought us Gretzky. Without Gretzky, the Oilers might not have existed.

 

[Jumptheshark]

lets see

Getting new arena built--check
First overall picks 3 check
3rd overall picks 2 check
top D prospect check

 

[Wheathead]

The smartest thing that Kevin Lowe has done is to not let his son in the Oilers system.

 

[Del Preston]

The smartest thing that Kevin Lowe has done is to not let his son in the Oilers system.

iirc it was Keegan who requested they not draft him. No doubt in my mind Kevin would have had the Oilers take him with their first 2nd-rounder and then thrown him onto the NHL roster immediately.

 

[guymez]

lets see

Getting new arena built--check
First overall picks 3 check
3rd overall picks 2 check
top D prospect check

Getting to chum around with your glory days hockey buddies...priceless.

 

[I am the Liquor]

At least Pocklington brought us Gretzky. Without Gretzky, the Oilers might not have existed.

 

[oobga]

Thanks for this.

It truly shows how little Katz really cares about the product.

I found myself cheering for the Flames tonight, Lowe is forcing those In Edmonton who love hockey away from the Oilers.

I was thinking today, realistically what would it take for Katz to clean out his management group. A flames cup win came to mind. Sounds horrible, and it is, but that might actually do it. First it would force him to contrast the performance of his guys to Calgary's, but I think it would also turn off Oiler fans so much to NHL hockey that lots of tier 1's would walk away from buying tickets to see this dead end team.

 

[MCDAVIDISH]

I can't stand the people running this team. As long a Lowe is setting an example of failure being rewarded this team will never win. There's got to be accountability and there is absolutely none in this organization, unless of course you're one of Lowes numerous scapegoats along the way.

Kevin Lowe makes me about as mad as this ****ing Yahtzee add on the bottom of my phone.

 

[Up the Irons]

That is not the point though. The fact that it was through a huge set of good luck and players playing out of their minds to go along with barely eeking into the playoffs in the 1st place the rational person would realize that the team was not that close to being a perennial contender. Especially after Pronger said good bye.

Instead the Oilers signed some of the over achievers to too long of a term for too much money. They also convinced themselves (and a lot of fans) that macT was some kind of great coach.

The one cup run in the middle of overall poor management and coaching gave the regime just a ton of undeserved cred going forward.

First they went of the ill fates whale hunts trying to get the Vanek, Hossa, Nylander, Heatley. (and thank god they were crappy at closing the deal on some of those).

Then they went into rebuild mode but had two wait a few years for the bad contracts to go away. Since then it has been one large bag of fail with the latest incarnation being the worst. (That being the MacT era).

Probably the thing I found the most mind boggling of all was the support a good number of fans had for mact when hired and the total lack of diligence of local and national media in questioning the guys total lack of qualifications to be a gm at a critical time in the franchise.

The team has been and will be an utter joke for some time. After about 6 years of utter suckage the gm telling all next year is another 'developmental' year and they are looking for modest improvement is 100% outrageous. And yet the guy is only challenged by a few media types on it.

even these early mistakes, it all goes back to having an idiot steering the ship. Yes, the next guy can't improve things overnight, but the team isn't turning north anytime soon anyway!! The GM admitted next year is a development year and is adament to sticking to the plan.

it is absolutely possible a new POHO could turn things around in less time then staying the course (which is just waiting for Nurse and Hanifin to save the team)

Replace Lowe with a quality person and every follows. He is, and always has been, the problem.

 

[Up the Irons]

I was thinking today, realistically what would it take for Katz to clean out his management group. A flames cup win came to mind. Sounds horrible, and it is, but that might actually do it. First it would force him to contrast the performance of his guys to Calgary's, but I think it would also turn off Oiler fans so much to NHL hockey that lots of tier 1's would walk away from buying tickets to see this dead end team.

\

I think, if Macts coaching decision doesn't work out, and we have another disastrous season, it could be purge time. Certainly, Mact has used up all of his f---up cards. He can't get this one wrong.

 

[Hockey Nightmare]

It occurs to me that the Oilers organization is like Rob Ford.

Rob Ford was likely the worst mayor Toronto ever had. Even if you didn't mind his policies, his personal conduct was so poor that it virtually paralyzed his administration. Most politicians in his position would've had the decency to resign. But Rob Ford isn't like most politicians. Hell, he isn't like most people. He is absolutely shameless and without a shred of honor or proper decorum. The city was basically trapped because there was no recall legislation and he refused to do the right thing and leave office.

Just like Toronto was trapped, so is Edmonton. Just like Rob Ford couldn't run a city, these guys can't run a hockey team. And like with Rob Ford there is no way to make them resign. There's no way to make Katz fire his pals. The entire fanbase is at the mercy of incompetent, shameless men who don't have the good grace to realize that they are in over their heads. If Kevin Lowe had a shred of honor or shame, he would've resigned already. If Daryl Katz acted like he cared about running a decent hockey club (like most reasonable owners) he would purge it of virtually all the "old boys club" remnants and hire decent people.

But just like Rob Ford, these guys are able to operate above the realm of what is "normal" and get away with it because they have power and influence. And do you know what the result of all this is?

I've realized that I utterly despise this organization. I despise what it's become. The Oilers I cheer for are some past ideal that is no longer reality. It's not so much the team I despise but the organization behind the team. I almost don't want them to succeed now because the people who run this org aren't worthy of such success. I've known people in business who were only in their positions because of nepotism and cronyism. I'm not a fan of such people.

Right now they are basically riding out a 9 year span of suck that must inevitably get better because it's hard to get worse. Think about this: we are at a point where if we just missed the playoffs, MacTavish would likely call it a successful year. To put that in perspective, the stanley cup winning GM of the Boston Bruins just got fired because he missed the playoffs ONCE in eight years. That's how far this team has fallen.

I've joked in the past that I wished they had moved to Seattle (another reason to despise them - that threat of theirs). I joked because I thought it was a feather in our cap to have an NHL hockey team. But now I actually do wish they'd moved because they are a net negative on Edmonton's reputation. They are a stain that no new arena can erase. They are an embarrassment to this city...just like Rob Ford.

 

[Blue And Orange]

Think about it, if it wasn't for Pocklington, Gretzky wouldn't be here. That could mean, no Oilers dynasty. And no Oilers dynasty could've meant the Oilers leaving in the 1990s.

Face it, the Oilers had one foot out the door and were going to follow the footsteps of Winnipeg and Quebec. I have a feeling that the Oilers were spared mostly because the Oilers rich history.

With that said, Pocklington > Lowe.

Kevin Lowe is the biggest villain in Oilers history. Pocklington is Darth Vader and Lowe is Emperor Palpatine.

 

[Up the Irons]

It occurs to me that the Oilers organization is like Rob Ford.

Rob Ford was likely the worst mayor Toronto ever had. Even if you didn't mind his policies, his personal conduct was so poor that it virtually paralyzed his administration. Most politicians in his position would've had the decency to resign. But Rob Ford isn't like most politicians. Hell, he isn't like most people. He is absolutely shameless and without a shred of honor or proper decorum. The city was basically trapped because there was no recall legislation and he refused to do the right thing and leave office.

Just like Toronto was trapped, so is Edmonton. Just like Rob Ford couldn't run a city, these guys can't run a hockey team. And like with Rob Ford there is no way to make them resign. There's no way to make Katz fire his pals. The entire fanbase is at the mercy of incompetent, shameless men who don't have the good grace to realize that they are in over their heads. If Kevin Lowe had a shred of honor or shame, he would've resigned already. If Daryl Katz acted like he cared about running a decent hockey club (like most reasonable owners) he would purge it of virtually all the "old boys club" remnants and hire decent people.

But just like Rob Ford, these guys are able to operate above the realm of what is "normal" and get away with it because they have power and influence. And do you know what the result of all this is?

I've realized that I utterly despise this organization. I despise what it's become. The Oilers I cheer for are some past ideal that is no longer reality. It's not so much the team I despise but the organization behind the team. I almost don't want them to succeed now because the people who run this org aren't worthy of such success. I've known people in business who were only in their positions because of nepotism and cronyism. I'm not a fan of such people.

Right now they are basically riding out a 9 year span of suck that must inevitably get better because it's hard to get worse. Think about this: we are at a point where if we just missed the playoffs, MacTavish would likely call it a successful year. To put that in perspective, the stanley cup winning GM of the Boston Bruins just got fired because he missed the playoffs ONCE in eight years. That's how far this team has fallen.

I've joked in the past that I wished they had moved to Seattle (another reason to despise them - that threat of theirs). I joked because I thought it was a feather in our cap to have an NHL hockey team. But now I actually do wish they'd moved because they are a net negative on Edmonton's reputation. They are a stain that no new arena can erase. They are an embarrassment to this city...just like Rob Ford.

Good one (I have had the same thought about Ford and the Oilers, myself). and you are right, the Oilers have become an embarrassment. Almost like the PC party, we just can't get rid of them.

Makes a person feel as though you understand how it may have felt to live under very bad or weak monarchy. You're just, sadly, stuck with what you've got (unless you're willing to Storm the Bastille!!!)

 

[Blue And Orange]

Good one (I have had the same thought about Ford and the Oilers, myself). and you are right, the Oilers have become an embarrassment. Almost like the PC party, we just can't get rid of them.

Makes a person feel as though you understand how it may have felt to live under very bad or weak monarchy. You're just, sadly, stuck with what you've got (unless you're willing to Storm the Bastille!!!)

I hope the Oilers fans stage a coup d'etat and physically force Lowe out of town. After a decade of ineptitude, I think the fans are justified to stage a city-wide uprising.