"Am I wrong in thinking that the trade was announced late last night? I don't recall reading anything at all in the paper about the trade this morning. Not to say that they necessarily would have been all over it otherwise, but I think the verdict on access to Lowe's reaction should wait until at least tomorrow, no?"
A fair note from commenter Par last night in response to my complaining about not hearing anything from the Oilers about Calgary's acquisition of Brad Stuart. I was out all day and night Saturday, so I was not in the know about when the deal went down. Sure enough, in today's Edmonton Sun, there is a story. Pretty much the exact same quotes are used in a story by Jim Matheson in the Edmonton Journal, too. Of interest to me is the following:

a) Oilers General Manager Kevin Lowe is not quoted in either story. Nor is Assistant General Manager Scott Howson. It's head coach Craig MacTavish.

b) The first line being thrown around is that it was "too expensive" to acquire Stuart.

c) The second line being thrown around is that Darryl Sutter had an advantage in making the deal because he knew all four of the players involved.

Can we assume, in looking at point A, that the management team is unable to speak to the media, and therefore the public at large, because they are very busy attempting to work out another deal? Or is there another reason why the two gentlemen ultimately responsible for player transactions are so visibly absent from the conversation?

In looking at point B, what exactly does "too expensive" mean? It certainly couldn't be a salary cap issue, unless there is some cost the Oilers are paying that I am completely unaware of. So does that mean that the "too expensive" cost had to do with what was requested in terms of player personnel? I assume it must. But I also find this confusing, if only because I don't think what the Flames gave up--Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ference--is too steep of a price. Were the Bruins demanding Raffi Torres in every scenario? Were there prospects or draft picks so valuable to the organization that they couldn't be flipped? In the end, why couldn't comparables to Kobasew and Ference be found, along with a little sugar to sweeten the pot?

As for point C, I'm stumped. I have no idea what this argument is supposed to articulate. Neither Primeau or Stuart had a no-trade clause, so it wasn't necessary to convince them that playing for another team was a good idea. There was no option for them to say, "yes, I'd love to play for Darryl Sutter" or, "no, that team can't win on the road." And unless things have really fallen by the wayside in Boston--which is not out of the realm of possibility--Sutter negotiated the deal with the Bruins manager, Peter Chiarelli, not the players. So what, exactly, was MacT's point? How, in this situation, did Sutter's knowing give him an advantage over the Oilers?

***Update The Stars have acquired Ladislav Nagy from the Coyotes for Mathias Tjarnqvist and a 1st Round Draft pick in 07. In his post on the Stuart pick up, Mirtle calls it a sellers market, but I remain unconvinced. I don't think the cost in either the Stuart or the Nagy deal was unreasonably high.