Lowe: Dangerous Game
Posted 2:49 AM ET | Comments 7
When Vanek was signed by Oilers, I immediately voiced my violent opinions to all Oiler fans i knew well. How on earth could they do this ? It drives the market up, forget that its within the 'rules' but it drives market up, PERIOD. These are the same Oiler fans that I have heard cry, and they cry a LOT, when all these years they have lost their players.
Yes, this is in the CBA. But does "Kev" and the Oilers not see what game he is playing bigger picture. Now he is driving up the salaries of those mid young guys coming off of their first 3 years, or in Penners case, amazingly enough, after his 100th game or so.....
yes, Lowe has his bases covered right now. He signed his RFA's, and he also has his one young stud, yes folks, please note, ONE young stud, Ales HEMSKY to a long term deal. So he is safe there. Think Burke has some pull in the league ? Think the top ranked GM in terms of influence likes what he sees, in kool aid Lou Lamoriello ?
What burns me is that Oiler fans I talk with suggest this is now 'in the rules', and they are 100% correct. But blind faith is scary, and these are the same fans that have cryed foul when the Oilers lost their players. Guess what fella's, that was also in the "rules" then, but that did not matter, at the time it was poor small market team !
Mark this blog, Oiler fans, at some point will be complaining about the new CBA at some point, not only are they small market, but they now have put a bull's eye on their back.
I like Edmonton, I like their team and everything they stand for. I even like them making an impact. I do not want them to leave and hope they never will. But in the next 2-5 years, there will be consequences to driving the market up in this fashion Oiler fans, and Oiler fans will line up and forget about their 'smart remarks' on how this is within the rules.
Maybe thats "balls" on Kevin Lowe's part. But it reminds me a lot of kids playing in the sandbox, playing by sandbox rules, until some kid decides to bring up that there is a sign of rules that the kids are not adhering to, for his own personal gain. The kids are best to manage this, but one kid brings this up. The question is, does the sandbox go away, or is the one kid shunned and loses the trust and respect of the others. I guess Kevin will see if he will still fits in.
Kevin Lowe was already a great manager in my book. Really good. But this does indeed riek of desperateness.
At the end of the day, Oiler fans, non Oiler fans, the ONE part of the CBA that teams could always control is this level of player, before they were UFA's. They will get their dough, all of them, but in this case its drives market up for many other teams, with trelu league wide impact.
Imagine that, the Edmonton Oilers holding the flag for rapidly escalading salaries. What a new CBA we have now !
Yes, this is in the CBA. But does "Kev" and the Oilers not see what game he is playing bigger picture. Now he is driving up the salaries of those mid young guys coming off of their first 3 years, or in Penners case, amazingly enough, after his 100th game or so.....
yes, Lowe has his bases covered right now. He signed his RFA's, and he also has his one young stud, yes folks, please note, ONE young stud, Ales HEMSKY to a long term deal. So he is safe there. Think Burke has some pull in the league ? Think the top ranked GM in terms of influence likes what he sees, in kool aid Lou Lamoriello ?
What burns me is that Oiler fans I talk with suggest this is now 'in the rules', and they are 100% correct. But blind faith is scary, and these are the same fans that have cryed foul when the Oilers lost their players. Guess what fella's, that was also in the "rules" then, but that did not matter, at the time it was poor small market team !
Mark this blog, Oiler fans, at some point will be complaining about the new CBA at some point, not only are they small market, but they now have put a bull's eye on their back.
I like Edmonton, I like their team and everything they stand for. I even like them making an impact. I do not want them to leave and hope they never will. But in the next 2-5 years, there will be consequences to driving the market up in this fashion Oiler fans, and Oiler fans will line up and forget about their 'smart remarks' on how this is within the rules.
Maybe thats "balls" on Kevin Lowe's part. But it reminds me a lot of kids playing in the sandbox, playing by sandbox rules, until some kid decides to bring up that there is a sign of rules that the kids are not adhering to, for his own personal gain. The kids are best to manage this, but one kid brings this up. The question is, does the sandbox go away, or is the one kid shunned and loses the trust and respect of the others. I guess Kevin will see if he will still fits in.
Kevin Lowe was already a great manager in my book. Really good. But this does indeed riek of desperateness.
At the end of the day, Oiler fans, non Oiler fans, the ONE part of the CBA that teams could always control is this level of player, before they were UFA's. They will get their dough, all of them, but in this case its drives market up for many other teams, with trelu league wide impact.
Imagine that, the Edmonton Oilers holding the flag for rapidly escalading salaries. What a new CBA we have now !
The point of the new CBA was to allow "small market" teams to compete financially, not to hold down costs. That's what kills me, all the people screaming that the sky is falling over things like this-the point is to allow small markets to compete, not to keep prices down. That hackneyed "Thank You Fans" painted on the ice was about as sincere as a lounge lizard telling a gal in a bar that he'll respect her in the morning.
Offering a big RFA deal changes the salary structure of the NHL, but does not drive salaries up in the NHL. It drives salaries up for a certain group of players, but in a cap world, this must drive salaries down for another group of players.Lowe's offers might change what piece of the pie teams will be forced to give their young RFA's, but he can't change the size of the pie. This shouldn't be that hard to figure out. LOWE IS NOT DRIVING UP SALARIES! ONLY INCREASED REVENUES CAN DRIVE UP SALARIES!
Potty, Lowe is setting the tone for people that don't deserve that amount yet or even ever. You're right when you say that he's driving up salaries for a group of players... but that group of players keeps getting larger and larger. I understand as new people come in and do very well they deserve it, but not every player he trys to get is worth what he's offering.Just because you have a lot to spend, doesn't mean the one person that is ok for your team now will be worth that in a few years when you possibly could have someone better. It's like being a kid ready to offer his friend whatever it takes to get the last piece of candy he has because he has to have it, he can't wait for the candy store to replenish.My example pretty much means... just because there are RFA's now he can do that to, doesn't mean he has to do it to that one and drive the price up. Being patient or offering a price that is the worth of the player is responsible Just because you have that amount of money doesn't make it right to offer stupid amounts of cash.
Me and my friend had an interesting discussion about this yesterday. In ways this is a double edged sword, but look at this from lowe's point. He's in a situation where his team has so many prospects coming up that their future looks clear, a point where his draft picks to him, are essentially worthless. I would love to have so many prospects, that I could disregard using my picks, I don't care what hockey futures or what not says, edm has prob the best prospects coming up in the league. So he makes offers to RFAS cause he can get great players for picks he doesn't want anyway
Jesus Christ! People really don't understand how a cap works do they? I didn't think it was that hard to understand??? Who cares how much money he offers players? If he offers too much he only really screws himself when he ends up with Cadillac players that he paid Lexus money for. I think K-Lowe is trying to make the other GMs pay some Lexus money out for these players so he can pick up a goddamn Ferrari for a bargain next year because he is going to have a bunch of cap room left that all these other dumbass GMs have spent on all these players that have even a whiff of potential...
"Think Burke has some pull in the league ? Think the top ranked GM in terms of influence likes what he sees, in kool aid Lou Lamoriello ?"A trade is made when both GMs think that they are going to make their team better.... So now you're telling me that GMs are going to pass up the opertunity to make their team better if it means dealing with Lowe? Really? You actually believe this?
You are WAY off base with this blog post... Only an increase in league revenue can drive up salaries. Also, EDM is in great financial shape right now - the team is making money and will continue to do so... Not to mention that Lowe offering RFA's contracts will simply result in other teams not being able to offer ridiculous salaries to UFA players. He is just balancing out the market. The new CBA structure made making a RFA an easier task, and I guarantee you that the league brass DID THAT ON PURPOSE, just so smaller markets GM's would have the ability to attract star players. I would much rather have Vanek than someone like Gomez - do you really think that Gomez is a 10 mil a season player? Lowe's moves this summer will stop GM's from making stupid decisions with UFA players.