Tuesday, January 16, 2007

 

Calling All Logicians

Or, maybe English majors: can someone rationalize these two sentences? One:
Tempting as it is for Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe to do something, anything, with his team languishing in Western Conference standings going into tonight's tilt with the Minnesota Wild, he won't rush into any deal.

Two:
"I don't think much has changed with the assessment and what we figure are the needs and what we're trying to do," said Lowe.

Right, you wouldn't want to rush into addressing something you've known about for months.

Comments:

How much of the future is Lowe supposed to throw away to potentialy save a mediocre at best present?

The Pronger trade, which was out of Lowe's hands, was the catalyst of pretty much all the Oilers' current problems, so I just find it a little hard to lash out at him.
 


Finally the English degree pays off.
The key to rationalizing the two sentences is to focus on the “what we’re trying to do” bit. I think many assumed that the Oil was trying to compete for the Cup this year, when the truth is that it is a rebuilding year. Moving Pronger to a conference rival while not taking anything important off their roster was a pretty good sign that Lowe did not see this year as a go for it year.
While a playoff berth would be nice (financially and mood wise) I don’t get the sense that Lowe views it as a necessity: 4 rookie defensemen, please. Adding one decent young vet would not make this team a realistic threat to win it all. If Visnovsky or Pitkanen showed up tomorrow for a bag of pucks, this roster would still have at least three question marks on defence, no fourth line, and distressing sense of softness about it.
In fact, I can’t help but think the Oilers have a number of primetime players that would fetch some interesting prospects. Smyth, Moreau, Sykora, Roli, Smith could all appeal to different suitors.

Great Site by the way!
Cowtown oilfan
 


You sign a 37 year old goaltender for 3 years in a re-building year?

If Lowe "knew" that this was going to be a re-build, then he went about it in the most bi-polar way possible.
 


A veteran goalie is good for the kids--you want to put them in a position to succeed, and a goalie who can cover up some of their mistakes helps with that. You also want to make it look like your trying to stay competitive.
 


Jay, I agree the goalie thing seems strange, but we had no viable options in the system, and I doubt Lowe wanted to admit defeat so obviously. Also, not entirely crazy money or term, and the Oil are no where near the cap.
Cowtown Oilfan
 


In the Saturday night game thread, SweatyO was using the analogy of the oil light in your car. What do you do when it turns on?

OK, so you don't squeal the brakes and call for a $200 tow when you're 70 miles from nowhere, but surely you start making plans to get to a fucking service station.

Or, if you're Kevin Lowe, you just keep an eye on that light for the next few months ("Yep, still on!") and watch for white smoke from under the hood.
 

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