Thursday, March 02, 2006

 

K-Lowe's Cajones

Kevin Lowe confuses me. At times he seems to have brass balls and is willing to pull the trigger. At other times he seems to be too tentative.

Overall, I like him, and I think he has made some great moves. He got Peca and Pronger. He got Spacek and Tarnstrom for spare parts. He unloaded Niniimaa and Brewer at the right time. He salvaged Staois and Reasoner. He recognized the value of Bergeron and Pisani.

But really, it is the next 7 days that will seal the deal on K-Lowe's abilities. A move needs to be made if the Oilers are going to have success this season. We all know what needs to be done: goaltending, secondary (primary?) scoring. It is a tough market that might require overpaying -- how far is he willing to go for some short-term success? And how long can he string out the idea of preserving a young core to ensure a future success that never seems to materialize?

Comments:

Do you think the delay is K-Lowe himself? Or could it be that the primary teams with which he might make a deal, Toronto (Belfour), and Phoenix (Cujo) are the ones holding up a deal because they want to see how their teams do in the final week before the deadline before deciding what they will want back in return.

You should do a prediction post again, a la pre-olympic Canadian roster. My prediction is the oilers do a blockbuster with Phoenix, they get Cujo and Geoff Sanderson and Tyson Nash, in exchange for M-A Bergeron, Markkanen, and Reasoner.
 


Getting Peca was one of his great moves?
 


Peca hasn't been a bust as much as some people (see: Flames fans) would like to think. Sure he hasn't scored a lot of goals, however the Oilers haven't had problems with scoring this year, like some other teams (See: Flames, Calgary).

Peca was brought in for his grit, his defensive play, his ability to play on the penalty kill and for his leadership. In every one of those categories he has excelled, and when the Oilers make the playoffs, Peca will be worth his weight in gold.

In this case, the "perception" is soo far off from the reality. Anyone who has watched a live Oilers game will know this.
 


Chanandler

I will accept most of your defence of Peca without debate. He hasn't been as bad as some people have suggested.

But I still argue that he hasn't been a great move. He was acquired for Mike York. York is younger and cheaper then Peca. York is not having his best year of his career, but despite that is outscoring Peca 43 to 19 this year.

I call it a bad trade. Not Canucks trading Cam Neely bad, but still one that weakens the Oilers.
 


1) If they trade Bergy, Reasoner and the best of our three terrible goalies for Cujo, Sanderson and Nash, I'm gonna lose it. You can't replace Reasoner, and Bergy is a keeper.

2) Peca was acquired with the expectation that he would score. He hasn't delivered. But I still don't have any problem with the trade. I liked York, but the stats of Naslund, Jarmoe, etc. vs the Oilers are enough for me to accept that the trade was acceptable, if not good.
 


3) If they trade for Belfour I'm setting up a protest blockade on the High Level Bridge.
 


If they trade for Belfour I'll be a few feet away from you, climbing over the railing.
 


Jesus. Here's how crazy it's getting: on Team 1260 Stauffer & Spector just spent five minutes on the possibility that the Oilers would be forced to take Comrie back as part of a Cujo trade.
 


My God. Lowe would be better off just saying, "we aren't going to make the playoffs this year, we aren't trading our future." then cutting off his orbs of power rather than signing either of those guys. Cujo and Belfour are bad mistakes, as is trading Bergeron. I like Reasoner too, but Sac acts like he is Bob Gainey. He clearly isn't. Neither is Peca. The Peca deal was a bad deal, if for no other reason than cost. That is some sizable money not spent on where most people thought it needed to be spent in the off-season(s): goaltending. Does anyone know when Peca's deal ends, and which goalies are available in the off-season? That is what I would like to know, based on the assumption that we won't make a deal before the 9th.
 


It is rather depressing that some many Oiler games seem to look like "but for the lack of a goalie there was a win". Cujo, or Biron would probably be sufficient to to take this team into the second round of the playoffs with the caveat that the Oilers don't seriously overpay and they get healthy and stay that way.

Peca hasn't proven to have the offensive production that was hoped for. In that sense he's a dissapointment. It was hopped that he could put up 20 goals or so and perhaps 40 to 50 points. Well that certainly didn't happen. On the other hand he remains on of the best defensive forwards currently playing the game which has helped the Oilers in a number of games. I don't think that Mike York would have been a boost for the Oilers. York isn't the missing piece of the puzzle the oilers are lacking, unless Mike York is secretly a starting goaltender or has the untapped ability to score 40 goals a season that simply hasn't been displayed. York might have helped a bit offensively, but the Oilers would have lost their ability to shut down some opposing teams' top forwards, thus I tend to concur that its ultimately a wash.

If we have to take back Comrie to get Cujo, can we make the deal conditional on Comrie making a convenant in blood that he won't sleep with Cujo's wife? We really don't need another goalie to lose his mind on us on the playoff stretch...

I'd rather try to swing a deal for Raycroft than trade for Belfour. I don't think Belfour has anything left, and I'll be surprised if this isn't his last season.
 


Richie Rich sleepz with whatev bitch he wants, yo. Homie ain't sign no sex covenant.

Cujo's Sv% has to be something like .880 since New Year's if the overall number is below .900 now. Is there any particular reason people stopped talking about Roloson?
 


Cosh, check mc79hockey.com. Tyler has it that his SV% is 0.869 since his high point (date unknown).
 


I don't think Minnesota would trade Roloson to a team in its own division and with whom its competing for a playoff spot.
 

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