Scott Howson played just 18 NHL games but was a pretty good junior. His teammates in Kingston included Bernie Nicholls, Kirk Muller, Craig Muni, Tim Kerr, Scott Hartnell and Jay Wells. That's an amazing variety of talent.Howson appears to be a rising star in the management ranks of the NHL. Already given much credit for the Oilers performance under the cap (05-06), Howson is on his way to Columbus for another interview with the Blue Jackets. He could be their General Manager by draft day.
I'm wondering, with Kevin Lowe having been on the job since summer 2000 and having hinted that he may not be around for a long time moving forward, would this be a good time to bump him up to a presidency?
Or fire him?
The Oilers are either in rebuild mode or are hiding several NHL calibre players no one is aware of so if this is going to be a two-year project why not get started with Scott Howson now?
I've heard nothing, this is just speculation. However, I do recall this monster item (courtesy the Journal) from Cal Nichols:
Nichols says he wouldn’t have traded Pronger so quickly. “To a hockey person, their first mindset is: ‘I’ve been dealt this blow, I’ve got to get the best possible assets in return, to try to keep being competitive and entertaining.’ The business side of me says, ‘Balderdash! As a matter of principle, we had a deal in good faith.’ “I would have said, ‘Ah, sorry, we got a contractual arrangement. Go sit in the corner.’ ” But Nichols says he never told Lowe how to handle the Pronger situation. It’s not his job to assemble the team, he says, it’s Lowe’s job. “This was only in my mind. I didn’t say a word. I trust Kevin Lowe.”
Man that's a kick in the junk. Could the man who said that be contemplating a change at the top tonight?
It's possible.
I bloody well hope so.
ReplyDeleteBeginning in the summer of '05, Lowe just had a dream season. He somehow got the jump on the Pronger sweepstakes and then he had lots of room set aside to take on the bad contract of Peca. That move didn't look great early on but by the end you could see it had some merit. He gave up basically fuckall for Sammy and once again got the jump in the Spacek auction. Tarnstrom was a good idea and fuck, even the moves that didn't pan out because of the lateness, ie Winchester/Deano, you could see the Oilers certainly had the right idea.
But all that good work went to shit with the way he handled the Pronger and Smyth deals
I'm wondering where the "business side" of Nichols was when they decided to let Scott Howson interview for the Columbus position. Isn't he under contract too? Didn't they have to request permission?
ReplyDeleteOr is this also Kevin Lowe's fault?
My impression is that Nichols is an idiot - and that Kevin Lowe has had a run of bad luck (with a few errors thrown in).
Hey, if Lowe gets canned, it's not like he'll be unemployed long.
ReplyDeleteBrian Burke owes him a favor.
My impression is that Nichols is an idiot - and that Kevin Lowe has had a run of bad luck (with a few errors thrown in).
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't know that that's accurate. In fact, I'd say that it's almost certainly not. Whatever I think about Cal Nichols, the guy is a multi-millionaire who made his own money. He's almost certainly been involved with more than doubling (tripling?) the Oilers revenues despite the team not really doing anything special on the ice, outside of 2005-06.
Lowe on the other hand...I'm just not as sure as everyone else that the current scouting is much better than it used to be, the place seems to be run on a "We'll overpay up to $4MM, at which point we demand outrageous ROI" policy, his successes in pro scouting (notably Staios) are kind of getting obscured by his failures (Lupul, Sykora)...there's a lot not to like about Kevin Lowe as a GM. It's debateable, at best. I don't think Nichols being anything but a sharp fucking guy is really tenable.
There seems to be a dichotomy between the coaching staff and upper management.
ReplyDeleteThe coaching staff occasionally has trouble if they have too much time to think.
Meanwhile, management appears to need a good long time to figure out a strategy.
It's all anecdotal of course, but I think there may be a trend there
Since Lowe took a mental vacation in 06/07, hopefully he spent that time cooking up a new approach for this year a la Pronger and Peca.
I'm not gonna hold my breath.
Ya know Riv I completely agree with this - Lowe seems to have had a massive hangover from the cup run and then failed massively when he had to move quickly in the summer of 06. Same with the lack of any other movement at the trade deadline when he was tied up with Smyth. But when he has time (and plenty of it) he seems to do OK. Gives us some hope for this summer??????
ReplyDeleteNow, I knew Hartnell got into the league at an early age but he played with Howson!?!? Does a twinkle in an eye count as a player?
ReplyDeleteI've read a lot of "good for him" sentiment on HF and the like and quite frankly I don't like it. If I knew Howson personally then it would be, "Good for you, go reach for those stars, ra ra" or somesuch.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am simply an Oiler fan. I see a man widely considered to be one of the best at what he does with the opportunity to leave Edmonton. I am of the opinion that if you have the best of anything well then you damn well keep it. If the Oiler brass encourages Howson to move on they're being idiots.
Unless Howson promptly trades us Nash for a 7th.
Craig Muni and Phil Bourque too.
ReplyDeleteA close friend of mine grew up in the same town. Howson was seven years older then my buddy and was a hotshot, well known in local circles. Well, as kids are wont to do, my buddy decided that Scott Howson was his local hockey hero and strove to emulate him.
A few years back, my friend is at a cottage with a bunch of people, some who he did not know. Hockey came up and he began to go on and on about how his hero as a boy was Scott Howson.
Who happened to be at the cottage, heard all of this and was pretty weirded out by the whole situation.
I think Lowe has to go. He did excellent during his early years, but following the second Pronger trade, it's been one disaster after another. I suggest he take MacT with him.
ReplyDeletelook what you've done LT.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear Lowe has some things in mind for the off season. His strategy started with sending out all his coaches and scouts to prepare the Oilers for big off season moves. Now he has the chance to make them.
A great post-lockout year and a fairly poor post-cup run year (though we'll see how the players turn out) and now it's time for Lowe to show if he's still go it.
It might be too late, the damage, at least in '08 and maybe even '09, might be irreversable.
ReplyDeleteThe absolute best the Oilers could do is bring in Hartnell in exchange for nothing but money and also trade chips for Redden.
Would those combined moves put us back in the playoffs?
I severely doubt it
I think you are being overly negative Dennis. Bringing in Redden would have a huge ripple effect on the defense and adding a UFA like Tarnstrom or even Hejda would help as well. If we sent Lupul and Torres the other way I'm even happier in an addition through subtraction kinda way.
ReplyDeleteHartnell is EXACTLY what this team needs in the top 6 - and I would add another bigger scoring LW like Kotalik or Fedotenko who is a UFA and free as well. Add a pair of veteran gritty RWs and we are good to go:
Hartnell Horcoff Pisani (tough minutes and strong ES)
Kotalik/Fedotenko Stoll Hemsky (soft minute but still OK @ ES)
Moreau MAP xxx
Nilsson Reasoner/Brodziak xxx/Stortini
Redden Smith
Smid Staios
Hejda/Tarnstrom Greene Gilbert
Roloson/xxx
Get some sandpaper on RW in the bottom 6 and this team is both one hell of a lot tougher at ES and much better on the PP. If an elite forward is available - well you do that and adjust the other trades and acquisitions accordingly. No reason to miss the playoffs next year - zero excuses for failure given the assets and cap space at our disposal.
Does anyone actually know Howson's contract status that justifies the level of vitriol being thrown around?
ReplyDeletePerhaps he is on an option year and this is his right and choice to look somewhere where he might get the top job first?
Maybe its as simple as that.
Or, perhaps, like everything else the EIG/Oilers do it is an elaborate conspiracy axis of evil thing.
If Nichols was going to go through the process of firing Lowe, I would think it would have happened not long after their season ended, rather than a couple of weeks before the draft.
ReplyDeleteIMO Lowe will still have the keys to this franchise to at least the end of this season, whereupon if the EIG deem that he failed to deliver on his mandate, they simply let his contract run out...no muss, no fuss.
This isn't George Burnett or Bugsy Watson we're dealing with here, this is one of the fabled Boys on the Bus. Whether it's deserved or not, an outright firing is not going to happen.
I dunno, AO. Yes Redden will cause a decent ripple down though the D but we really won't know what we have in Hartnell. As for the rest of your moves, I'm just not as convinced as you are that the Oilers are gonna spend that much money.
ReplyDeleteI think we're going on the somewhat cheap until we get a new building and I'm not saying that Torres is more valuable than Redden but if he's part of that deal, then we've taken a step backwards at forwards because while his countning stats were bad this year, he actually did a decent job in his first year playing tough opp.
Lets face it, none of us knows exactly what Howson does on the Oilers. We have no idea whether he would be a loss.
ReplyDeleteHe is certainly not Columbus' first choice.
Lowe is not going anywhere. One of Nichol's strengths is sticking to a plan. He is not going to dump Lowe because the going gets tough. If the Oilers have to rebuild I think Lowe is the guy. He certainly won't have any false expectations of how tough it is to get free agents to come to E town. I expect he learned a whole lot from the Pronger and Smith episodes and will be a better GM for it.
As for the plan this year. I would like to see them try to sign Andy Sutton and Brad Stuart on D. This would give them:
Stuart Smith
Sutton Staios
Greene Smid
Grebs (if he fits on the PP)
I expect he learned a whole lot from the Pronger and Smith episodes and will be a better GM for it.
ReplyDeleteAren't we done with Learning Time for Kevin yet? What could he have learned now that he didn't learn from the Comrie and Weight deals?
Personally, I just think that if his most recent response to a situation worked, he repeats it by rote. If it failed, he does the opposite. That's a form of learning I suppose, but I'd like a guy with a more nuanced evaluation of things.
Personally, I just think that if his most recent response to a situation worked, he repeats it by rote. If it failed, he does the opposite. That's a form of learning I suppose, but I'd like a guy with a more nuanced evaluation of things.
ReplyDeleteThis is a take that I've read a few times recently and have believed for some time now. From "saw-him-good" acquisitions such as Lupul to his vain attempt to repeat his cap + trade strategy over the course of this season to the speed with which he made the Pronger trade to...
Barry said...
ReplyDeleteHe is certainly not Columbus' first choice.
...which suggests he's probably better than their first choice. Seriously.
Asiaoil said...
Hartnell is EXACTLY what this team needs in the top 6...
Ever looked at Hartnell's PP numbers? I would say he's not exactly what they need. Especially when Torres is the same or better for less money and the same age.
As far as firing Lowe goes... What's the cheapest option again?
That would be letting him finish the year and then not re-signing him. Always look for the Oilers to take that route.
Ever looked at Hartnell's PP numbers? I would say he's not exactly what they need. Especially when Torres is the same or better for less money and the same age.
ReplyDeleteYou know what Hartnell is?
A replacement for Lupul.
Deal for Pitkanen with Lupul as part of a package with Grebeshkov, Schremp,and Winchester. Package the 15 and 30th overall picks to try and move up and have say the 6th and 8th overall picks. Walk away from the draft with a two-pack of either Gagne/Ellerby or Alzner/Esposito. Then, go crazy in the UFA market: sign ALL of Smyth, Hartnell, and Andy Sutton.
Smyth Horcoff Hemsky
Torres Stoll Hartnell
Moreau Pouliot Pisani
Nilsson Reasoner Thoresen
EXT: Jacques, Stortini
Staios Pitkanen
Smith Sutton
Greene Gilbert
EXT: Smid
Roloson
Deslauriers
Riv - I didn't say he was the total answer for LW on the top line and first team PP - but the Oilers were very very soft last year and lacked size and toughness throughout the lineup - especially after Moreau went down.
ReplyDeleteHartnell is also 6 years younger than Smyth (he's only 25) which means he is just coming into his prime - I think there is upside in him and he could outperform a longterm $3 million per year deal. He is also a guy who can dish out a lot more punishment than Smyth (who is gritty but generally takes more abuse than he gives out).
Hey I would like to have LW that includes an elite guy like Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Nash or Gagner - and if we can pull that off then great. But if we had to go with Hartnell and Torres in the top 6 on LW, brought in a true top pair dman like Redden, and a couple of big vets on RW - well I think we would be just fine.
Hartnell Horcoff Hemsky
Torres Stoll Pisani
Moreau Pouliot Johnson
Thoresen/Nilsson Reasoner Donovan/Stortini
Redden Smyth
Tarnstrom Staios
Smid Greene Gilbert
That's probably a realistic lineup for the start of next year, very solid at ES, and you look at how the kids like Cogs, Schremp, and Trukhno develop next year. As SweatyO said - send Lupul, one of the young dmen and picks out for a decent top pair dman and we are good to go IMHO.