tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786169163374631693.post935071710934272304..comments2023-10-11T03:58:48.429-07:00Comments on Gospel of Hockey: The Acquisition of Joffrey LupulScott Reynoldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05735545121522530577noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786169163374631693.post-19400594890386798702009-05-05T12:28:00.000-07:002009-05-05T12:28:00.000-07:00Yeah the five assets thing came up a while later b...Yeah the five assets thing came up a while later based on something Lowe said to that effect. <br /><br />I think if Lowe had played it smart in terms of building a proper team for that fall then everyone would look at it a lot differently for sure but their failure (refusal?) to put some more veteran salary in there to replace Pronger left them short on the back end.<br /><br />Losing two guys in Pronger and Spacek and then two guys up front who could do some heavy lifting in Dvorak and Peca and then losing Moreau to injury early left them a full five man unit down when it came to guys who could play tough NHL minutes.<br /><br />When the D got thinner still then they decided to throw in the towel completely by moving Smyth.<br /><br />The disappointing thing from a fan's perspective is that it did not have to be that way. Don't know if it was hubris on Lowe's part or just a series of bad bets or just plain bad luck but he dismantled a pretty nice club pretty quickly when it probably was not necessary.Black Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03583346651230552519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786169163374631693.post-10923841603622802112009-05-05T09:32:00.000-07:002009-05-05T09:32:00.000-07:00Yeah Vic, I'm not trying to say that the trade was...Yeah Vic, I'm not trying to say that the trade was a good one and that people need to retract old comments. I'm more frustrated by a couple of narratives that have grown up over time. The idea that "all Lowe wanted was five assets" is a later development I think. Or at least I wasn't able to find anyone commenting on it in the immediate aftermath.<br /><br />The other one is that Lowe asked for the wrong young guys. That complaint wasn't really in the air until after Perry, Getzlaf and now Ryan have became players. People forget that all of these guys were rookies at the time of the trade. Lupul probably looked like the guy most able to pay immediate dividends and only Getzlaf looked like he would be better over the long haul.<br /><br />You guys are both right though that the major problem was that they didn't spend the money and bring in some dmen. Smid in the top four was just terrible, but when you look back at the old quotes, management felt he should make the team from the day he was acquired.Scott Reynoldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05735545121522530577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786169163374631693.post-64306493857029886672009-05-05T08:39:00.000-07:002009-05-05T08:39:00.000-07:00Vic - he also got a rough ride because he was a to...Vic - he also got a rough ride because he was a total pussy - I saw him play in the Pouliot Penalty Shot Game ;) and he was being outmuscled by Jeff O'Neill of all people.<br /><br />Soft soft soft.Black Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03583346651230552519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786169163374631693.post-17534219568048879972009-05-05T08:35:00.000-07:002009-05-05T08:35:00.000-07:00I never said that!
;)
Damn. I said that.
Nice w...I never said that!<br /><br />;)<br /><br />Damn. I said that.<br /><br />Nice work Scott. <br /><br />I remember being decidedly underwhelmed when the trade crossed the ticker but mostly because visions of Bouwmeester etc etc were dancing in my head plus it was pretty clear that Lowe still had some work to do. And I didn't like Lupul personally - I thought he would score some though<br /><br />Work that he never completed - all that summer there was the steady drumbeat - when they get that veteran Dman or two. And he never did. The team was competitive until early December but when Shaggy and Staios went down that was it, Smyth was traded and down down they went.<br /><br />I think that is what burned me that season - they ended up tearing everything down when it was pretty clear that a little money spent on a vet D or two would have meant a reasonably competitive team while they figured shit out.Black Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03583346651230552519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786169163374631693.post-18415222732019382632009-05-05T05:27:00.000-07:002009-05-05T05:27:00.000-07:00Give it enough time and almost every trade of 'now...Give it enough time and almost every trade of 'now' for 'tomorrow' looks good. In twelve months Pronger will be headed to free agency, and he isn't getting any younger either. He probably won't outperform his next contract even if it is in ANA, though STL is probably final stop for him.<br /><br />At that point the Oilers will have Smid, likely a bonafide NHL defender by then. One of Nash or Eberle (those are the picks via the ANA trade, no?) will probably be doing great in their league and looking promising for the future. Lupul begat Pitkanen begat Cole begat O'Sullivan. I think O'Sullivan is going to be a good NHLer player for a long time.<br /><br />Even now, would anyone trade Smid/O'Sullivan/Nash/Eberle for one year of Chris Pronger? It would be insane, methinks.<br /><br />And on Lupul, he took a bit of a rough ride from fans, and especially the Oilogosphere. His nightmarish road plus/minus got trotted out a lot, but really that was mostly just bad luck, I think. His underlying numbers actually weren't that bad. He wasn't driving results, but he wasn't a sinkhole either.<br /><br />Every once in a while I'd start to think about writing something in Lupul's defence, then I'd catch Stauffer on the radio and his Lupul-love, and corresponding MacTavish hate, would grate my tit.<br /><br />The return on Smyth was fine as well.<br /><br />The big problem with the Pronger trade was that the money they saved was never going to be spent elsewhere. The EIG were cutting expenditures and taking profit, and they were quite right to think that they could do this while jacking up ticket prices and selling out the building.<br /><br />And the cuts weren't done there, with the Smyth trade coming. When Lowe says that 'he didn't know the salary cap would be that high' when he traded Smyth, he means the Oiler's salary cap. The league salary cap is projected quarterly and sent to all the teams (more correctly the current HRR projection ... so just add 5% in every year that there hasn't been a global economic crisis).<br /><br />So the Smyth decision was made in the summer, or it's extremely likely that it was.<br /><br />The backlash from the Smyth trade partly, but mostly the Katz interest in the team, the EIG had some fractures at that point. That's when it got hairy.<br /><br />All of a sudden he was trying to spend money in July, with no clear plan, the whole thing was a clutterbuck at that point. Then they had to sell hope, and Gagner and Cogliano were the poster boys. It made sense at almost every level to NOT burn years off of their entry level deals, but any port in a storm.<br /><br />It's a big ball of shit that got rolling down the hill. EIG's greed is to blame, and they're gone. And the big ball of shit hasn't quite stopped rolling yet. Thank goodness they are a cap team now, or it would be much worse.<br /><br />It's not easy being an Oilers fan.Vic Ferrarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16425585921916867277noreply@blogger.com