Enemy of the State

After being named GM of the Year in his first season as Islanders GM, Garth Snow has received some pretty harsh feedback in his first full offseason. However, all of us Islander fans should be grateful that while our GM has slowly taken his time in making roster decisions for the upcoming season, at least he is acting calmly and rationally. This is not the case for a fellow GM currently employed in the NHL.

When the salary cap was installed following the strike season, its main purpose was to allow smaller market teams to stay competitive with the wealthier large market clubs. The Edmonton Oilers are the epitome of this type of small market team. So while the addition of the salary cap attempted to stabilize the market, one particular GM has oddly disregarded common sense in redeveloping his team this summer.

Since the trading deadline, Oiler's GM Kevin Lowe has made some of the strangest moves, some even, dare I say, as krazy as some of the moves Milbury has made. It began with the trading of Ryan Smyth based on a minimal difference in asking price ($5.25 mil was offered, Smyth wanted $5.5). Oilers fans must be flabbergasted as to why such a small difference between the team's fiscal plans and its heart and soul player's demands could not be worked out. Furthermore, once you look at the moves that have transpired during the course of this summer, the decision to not resign Smyth becomes even more astounding.

The Oilers decided to hit the trade waters this summer and completed a deal that sent defenseman veteran Jason Smith and young forward Joffrey Lupul to the Flyers for defenseman Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson and a 3rd round pick. This deal on the surface seems to benefit the Oilers as they got a good young defenseman in Pitkanen, an experienced forward in Sanderson and a draft pick for an aging defensemen and a forward who had run himself out of favor with management. The only negative in this deal is that Jason Smith was probably the last real leader the Oilers had left after trading Smyth.

Then Krazy Kevin really got down to business. Lowe signed free agent defenseman Sheldon Souray to a five year $27 million contract ($5.4/yr). While the presence of Souray will surely help the Oilers powerplay, is Sheldon Souray really worth 5.4 million a year for 5 years? Is Sheldon Souray (a slow-footed defenseman with a booming slap shot who is prone to constant turnovers) worth more than Captain Canada? Um, No. **(Here on the Island we have a similar player in Marc-Andre Bergeron, but while MAB also has defensive lapses, his contract is nowhere nearly as high as Souray's and MAB is much quicker on his skates).**

Now that's right up there with some of Milbury's past blunders. Krazy Kevin Lowe replaced the heart and soul of Edmonton with a cement footed offensive defenseman who racked up a horrible plus/minus last season. Smyth ended up getting $6.3 million from Colorado for 5 years, but if the Oilers did not trade him to the Isles at the deadline, Smyth most certainly would have accepted a similar contract to the one that the Oilers had offered Souray.

To top this off, Krazy Kevin Lowe decided he would start throwing money around at restricted free agents. By sending offer sheets to Thomas Vanek (which was matched by Buffalo), and then to the Duck's Dustin Penner (not matched), Lowe has been artificially increasing the market value of not only these players, but the system as a whole. In addition, Krazy Kev sacrificed more than the outrageous money he must now pay Penner--he sacrificed Edmonton's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks in next year's draft. If we look at this deal as if it were a trade, which essentially it was, would you ever give up a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick for a young player who has had 1 OK season (29 goals) and earned only the league minimum last year? If our GM did this we would be in uproar that we gave up way too many draft picks in an upcoming draft which is supposed to be one of the deepest in years. I have read from many sources that Edmonton is overpaying Penner approximately $2 million more than his market value. While Penner might continue to grow as a player, it's very likely that the Oilers will regret this move in a few years. So after Lowe himself complained about how big market teams would increase player salaries by overpaying them and effectively causing the strike and the loss of an entire season of hockey, Lowe himself is acting like a big market team and overpaying and increasing salary thresholds for players who should be signed to smaller salary contracts.

So while we may be angry that Snow is taking his time in making moves, at least we know he is making moves after thinking them through completely, as opposed to the headline grabbing moves we became accustomed to under the reign of Milbury and the Kraziness currently followed by Kevin Lowe this summer.

Remember, patience is a virtue. All you have to do is look at our own team's history to realize this.

P.S. - Once any word on the Hunter case comes out, we will be all over it.