Monday, February 19, 2007
Thank-You, Dan Barnes
Finally. I don't agree with all the points in this article, but at least it's asking the questions.
The Oilers thought so highly of Grebeshkov five years ago that they drafted Finnish toothpick Jesse Niinimaki three places ahead of him.
It looks far more like Stage 1 of a complete and unequivocal surrender on behalf of management. Lowe, who did not return Journal phone calls Sunday, argued that point to a Canadian Press reporter who was on the same plane from Toronto to Naples, Fla., where NHL general managers are meeting today.
We think we know. We think the fire sale is underway. While it may well be realistic and pro-active given their diminutive point total, expanding injury list and burgeoning manifest of passengers topped by the invisible Joffrey Lupul, that strategy and this town will not enjoy a satisfying union.
All emphasis mine.
All emphasis mine.
# posted by andy grabia @ 4:00 am 
Comments:
4am, man!
Up at the crack of crow's piss, as my wife would say (that's an Islander expression) - good man.
Apparently the Russian is signed.
Next ten days and then the reaction should be interesting. The tipping point will be Smyth. If they let him go and then he signs for affordable coin elsewhere there will be some serious fallout.
I don't see how this is in anyway relevant. Who gives a lick what they thought about him five years ago, are you not allowed to revaluate the abilities of a player? Aren’t people always complaining about how hard it is to evaluate the potential of 17 and 18 year olds? Could it not be possible that Grebeshkov ended up being a different player than the Oilers predicted he would be…..FIVE YEARS AGO?
The Oilers thought so highly of Grebeshkov five years ago that they drafted Finnish toothpick Jesse Niinimaki three places ahead of him.
And I was referring to this...my bad.
I have to agree with mcLea there. I actually like the deal.
I also like that Barnes is squawking a little bit - about time someone, anyone, took management to task for blowing the season.
Too bad, Barnes proceeds to fall in his sword (err, pen?) at the end:
"But this becomes Bergeron for Daniel Tjarnqvist, who is ready to return from the injured list, and that is obviously not an upgrade."
I think that's totally false. Tjarnqvist is a clear upgrade on Bergeron everywhere except maybe the PP. For those counting, that would mean that Tjarnqvist is better than MAB 86.9% of the time.
I like MAB and I liked the article until that bit.
Oh, well except for the Blake stuff. That's just dumb too.
I like MAB and I liked the article until that bit.
Oh, well except for the Blake stuff. That's just dumb too.
Yup. That's where he lost me, too.
So, Barnes knows that K-Lowe is currently in the middle of flying around the continent doing stuff and still gets in a little shot about his not having time to sit down with a reporter over the phone and talk about his blockbuster of trading a bottom-pairing defenseman for a prospect.
Just for good measure, he tosses in a "ha-ha, Niinimaki is a bust!" line (shucks, Dan, yeh don't say?) and then implicitly criticises low for doing something that's very smart but not very good public relations.
I guess what I'm saying is, while it's nice to see some non-Pravda-style reporting on the Oilers, it would be better if it were less ridiculous.
So, Barnes knows that K-Lowe is currently in the middle of flying around the continent doing stuff and still gets in a little shot about his not having time to sit down with a reporter over the phone and talk about his blockbuster of trading a bottom-pairing defenseman for a prospect.
Yes, it's really difficult to have a phone conversation while sitting on the horse-cart. The tin cans rattle too much to hear much of anything.
Reading the coverage this year, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Lowe's non-availability has become a regular occurrance. As such, I have no problem with the line.
While Barnes’s general point seems about right ( the Oil are once again looking back to the future) the article is snide, borderline cowardly, and misinformed. Barnes spends the first two paragraphs hinting at the fact that the Oil history with European first rounders is suspect. I think he has a point—but go ahead and make it: do some analysis, make a metric, measure it against some mean, name names (scouts), find out budgets—you know, do some reporting.
That kind of reporting might force Lowe to take your calls.
Criticism of Lupul is overdue, but Barnes’s is so weak that it hardly raises above a towel snap. I keep waiting for a reporter to contact the Anaheim media or Duck’s staff to find out their opinion of the guy. How upset were they when he left town? How good did they see him becoming. Is he dogging it, out of his depth, in a slump, never that good?
His defence of MAB seems to reflect the fact that everyone seems to have liked the guy on a personal level, but stating that Tjardquist is not an upgrade is foolish on what limited evidence is available. He looks to be a considerably more reliable player who offers very little offensively—but still an upgrade.
He implies that the players are hoping for a major upgrade on the blueline, but can’t be bothered to get a quotation, even an off the record slam.
The bit about Blake is just the cherry on another Edmonton media crap sundae
A day late and a dollar short.
Barnes talks about letting down the Oilers' fanbase with this trade, but whatever: we saw the writing on the wall after the second loss to Vancouver. I don't see much enthusiasm around the Oilogosphere for Lowe to acquire a batch of rentals to make a dicey playoff push. But maybe I'm just not looking too hard.
An article blasting Lowe for not acquiring a playoff qualifying team is, what? 1, 2, 3 months too late by now? How about blasting Lowe for other things: like sniffing around Darcy Tucker's crotch while leaving Ryan Heart in F'n Soul Smyth unsigned?
There's a fat list of things I'd rather see the Oilers management taken to woodshed for before a lacklustre MAB trade.
Yes, it's really difficult to have a phone conversation while sitting on the horse-cart. The tin cans rattle too much to hear much of anything.
Since K-Lowe was flying to a GM meeting and clearly in a trading mood, I don't find it hard to believe that he'd have better things to do or people to phone than indulge the Edmonton Journal. That's all I'm saying.
An article blasting Lowe for not acquiring a playoff qualifying team is, what? 1, 2, 3 months too late by now? How about blasting Lowe for other things: like sniffing around Darcy Tucker's crotch while leaving Ryan Heart in F'n Soul Smyth unsigned?
I couldn't agree more. The season officially ended when Stoll's fragile brain got cracked a second time. Now is the time to assure the continued presence of Ryan Smyth for next season.
Post a Comment
<< Home
4am, man!
Up at the crack of crow's piss, as my wife would say (that's an Islander expression) - good man.
Apparently the Russian is signed.
Next ten days and then the reaction should be interesting. The tipping point will be Smyth. If they let him go and then he signs for affordable coin elsewhere there will be some serious fallout.
I don't see how this is in anyway relevant. Who gives a lick what they thought about him five years ago, are you not allowed to revaluate the abilities of a player? Aren’t people always complaining about how hard it is to evaluate the potential of 17 and 18 year olds? Could it not be possible that Grebeshkov ended up being a different player than the Oilers predicted he would be…..FIVE YEARS AGO?
The Oilers thought so highly of Grebeshkov five years ago that they drafted Finnish toothpick Jesse Niinimaki three places ahead of him.
And I was referring to this...my bad.
I have to agree with mcLea there. I actually like the deal.
I also like that Barnes is squawking a little bit - about time someone, anyone, took management to task for blowing the season.
Too bad, Barnes proceeds to fall in his sword (err, pen?) at the end:
"But this becomes Bergeron for Daniel Tjarnqvist, who is ready to return from the injured list, and that is obviously not an upgrade."
I think that's totally false. Tjarnqvist is a clear upgrade on Bergeron everywhere except maybe the PP. For those counting, that would mean that Tjarnqvist is better than MAB 86.9% of the time.
I like MAB and I liked the article until that bit.
Oh, well except for the Blake stuff. That's just dumb too.
I like MAB and I liked the article until that bit.
Oh, well except for the Blake stuff. That's just dumb too.
Yup. That's where he lost me, too.
So, Barnes knows that K-Lowe is currently in the middle of flying around the continent doing stuff and still gets in a little shot about his not having time to sit down with a reporter over the phone and talk about his blockbuster of trading a bottom-pairing defenseman for a prospect.
Just for good measure, he tosses in a "ha-ha, Niinimaki is a bust!" line (shucks, Dan, yeh don't say?) and then implicitly criticises low for doing something that's very smart but not very good public relations.
I guess what I'm saying is, while it's nice to see some non-Pravda-style reporting on the Oilers, it would be better if it were less ridiculous.
# posted by 
: February 19, 2007 12:54 pm
: February 19, 2007 12:54 pm So, Barnes knows that K-Lowe is currently in the middle of flying around the continent doing stuff and still gets in a little shot about his not having time to sit down with a reporter over the phone and talk about his blockbuster of trading a bottom-pairing defenseman for a prospect.
Yes, it's really difficult to have a phone conversation while sitting on the horse-cart. The tin cans rattle too much to hear much of anything.
Reading the coverage this year, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Lowe's non-availability has become a regular occurrance. As such, I have no problem with the line.
While Barnes’s general point seems about right ( the Oil are once again looking back to the future) the article is snide, borderline cowardly, and misinformed. Barnes spends the first two paragraphs hinting at the fact that the Oil history with European first rounders is suspect. I think he has a point—but go ahead and make it: do some analysis, make a metric, measure it against some mean, name names (scouts), find out budgets—you know, do some reporting.
That kind of reporting might force Lowe to take your calls.
Criticism of Lupul is overdue, but Barnes’s is so weak that it hardly raises above a towel snap. I keep waiting for a reporter to contact the Anaheim media or Duck’s staff to find out their opinion of the guy. How upset were they when he left town? How good did they see him becoming. Is he dogging it, out of his depth, in a slump, never that good?
His defence of MAB seems to reflect the fact that everyone seems to have liked the guy on a personal level, but stating that Tjardquist is not an upgrade is foolish on what limited evidence is available. He looks to be a considerably more reliable player who offers very little offensively—but still an upgrade.
He implies that the players are hoping for a major upgrade on the blueline, but can’t be bothered to get a quotation, even an off the record slam.
The bit about Blake is just the cherry on another Edmonton media crap sundae
# posted by : February 19, 2007 1:48 pm
: February 19, 2007 1:48 pm A day late and a dollar short.
Barnes talks about letting down the Oilers' fanbase with this trade, but whatever: we saw the writing on the wall after the second loss to Vancouver. I don't see much enthusiasm around the Oilogosphere for Lowe to acquire a batch of rentals to make a dicey playoff push. But maybe I'm just not looking too hard.
An article blasting Lowe for not acquiring a playoff qualifying team is, what? 1, 2, 3 months too late by now? How about blasting Lowe for other things: like sniffing around Darcy Tucker's crotch while leaving Ryan Heart in F'n Soul Smyth unsigned?
There's a fat list of things I'd rather see the Oilers management taken to woodshed for before a lacklustre MAB trade.
Yes, it's really difficult to have a phone conversation while sitting on the horse-cart. The tin cans rattle too much to hear much of anything.
Since K-Lowe was flying to a GM meeting and clearly in a trading mood, I don't find it hard to believe that he'd have better things to do or people to phone than indulge the Edmonton Journal. That's all I'm saying.
# posted by : February 19, 2007 2:23 pm
: February 19, 2007 2:23 pm An article blasting Lowe for not acquiring a playoff qualifying team is, what? 1, 2, 3 months too late by now? How about blasting Lowe for other things: like sniffing around Darcy Tucker's crotch while leaving Ryan Heart in F'n Soul Smyth unsigned?
I couldn't agree more. The season officially ended when Stoll's fragile brain got cracked a second time. Now is the time to assure the continued presence of Ryan Smyth for next season.
Post a Comment
<< Home
