Tambelinni fired, MacTavish new Oiler GM...Scott Howson new Sr VP

[RedWingsRox 614]

Even the timing of firing their GM indicates their ineptitude ... how is firing Tambellini going to change anything this season?

Edited April 16, 2013 by RedWingsRox

[anthonyn66 89]

Oh my God Scott Howson and Kevin Lowe running the same organization! I can't wait to see this!

[number9 3,297]

See Brad Richards $12 mill this year ... 12!

Yeah that was a big overpayment for a top FA everyone was going for, but that's no dipietro

[Buppy 1,720]

Howson was responsible for bringing in Bobrovsky during the offseason, before he was fired. Actually he was responsible for every major move the team has made since 2007 (except the Gaborik trade) including bringing in Dubinsky, Anisimov, Aucoin, Wisneiwski, Johnson, Prospal, Umberger, Tyutin, Foligno, Nikitin, Letestu, and Erixon.

So pretty much their entire team was acquired by him in one form or fashion, and they're playing well right now, so credit where it's due. ..

Odd that he deserves "credit" for taking over a bad team, and in 5 years they managed to do as well as "mediocre" for one year (thanks mostly to a great rookie season from a goalie he didn't draft) before turning back into a pumpkin for a few more years, and now in the 6th year again reaching mediocre (thanks mostly to a goalie performing better than probably should have been expected).

Meanwhile, you wish you had a time machine so you could kill Kenny's mother before his birth because he doesn't know how to stop players from aging...

[frankgrimes 1,836]

Watched the whole press conference, boy I've seen arrogant idiots giving pressers but Lowe is just in another league, what a SOB. So great you've won a lot of Stanley Cups (bypasser) but that doesn't mean anything in terms of management qualities and therefore they are 0. Hard to believe, their owner hasn't fired him yet and now he is bringing in a guy who has no experience as a GM at any stage and someone who just got fired.

So yes Lowe you may know a lot but not about hockey-management...arrogant bastard slow down

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

By that logic Wayne Gretzky should have been the greatest coach ever.

Wayne Gretzky is the greatest coach (still owned money) ever.

After MacTavish left TSN, he obtained an MBA From Queen's University. This will help him looking for his next job.

I did not know that. Now I know that.

[Dave 324]

Time to pick off all of Edmonton's talent...

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

Watched the whole press conference, boy I've seen arrogant idiots giving pressers but Lowe is just in another league, what a SOB. So great you've won a lot of Stanley Cups (bypasser) but that doesn't mean anything in terms of management qualities and therefore they are 0. Hard to believe, their owner hasn't fired him yet and now he is bringing in a guy who has no experience as a GM at any stage and someone who just got fired.

So yes Lowe you may know a lot but not about hockey-management...arrogant bastard slow down

This pretty much sums up Lowe and McTavish. It's not hard winning Cups with Gretzky, Kurri, Coffey, Fuhr, Messier, Tikkanen, and so on. To be as arrogant as those 2 are is sickening. They're a shining example for guys like Hall and Yakupov who already have some arrogance issues. McTavish was a 3rd liner was he not? Lowe was good, but I thought he was far from elite the times I watched him.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Watched the whole press conference, boy I've seen arrogant idiots giving pressers but Lowe is just in another league, what a SOB. So great you've won a lot of Stanley Cups (bypasser) but that doesn't mean anything in terms of management qualities and therefore they are 0. Hard to believe, their owner hasn't fired him yet and now he is bringing in a guy who has no experience as a GM at any stage and someone who just got fired.

So yes Lowe you may know a lot but not about hockey-management...arrogant bastard slow down

He definitely is. It was surprising to hear how defensive he was.

As if Stanley Cup rings as a player somehow makes him qualified to run hockey operations with edmonton. It was great when someone called him out on his reference to making it to one game away from the Stanley Cup run, pointing out it was 7 years ago.

[kipwinger 8,521]

Odd that he deserves "credit" for taking over a bad team, and in 5 years they managed to do as well as "mediocre" for one year (thanks mostly to a great rookie season from a goalie he didn't draft) before turning back into a pumpkin for a few more years, and now in the 6th year again reaching mediocre (thanks mostly to a goalie performing better than probably should have been expected).

Meanwhile, you wish you had a time machine so you could kill Kenny's mother before his birth because he doesn't know how to stop players from aging...

Wow hyperbole much? I used to think you were better than this and genuinely enjoyed reading what you had to say. Now you're spending your time disagreeing with things I've never said, or taking them out of context before disagreeing.

1. I said Howson deserves credit where it's due, and the current incarnation of the Blue Jackets are playing well with a team he almost entirely built. I didn't say he's a super star, but that he put together a solid team while everyone was treating him like a laughing stock.

2. I said specifically to you in another thread that "nobody has Ken Holland's resume" and he is therefore the best GM in hockey based on his career accomplishments, but that he hasn't done anything at all for four years while his team has become less and less competitive. Hard to argue with that.

I don't know where you got your wires crossed, or whether you have some sort of ax to grind, but since joining this forum I've generally believed that if there was one person whom I didn't have to worry about being super reactionary and starting arguments based on conjecture, that that person was you. Hopefully you're back to form before long bud.

[Buppy 1,720]

Wow hyperbole much? I used to think you were better than this and genuinely enjoyed reading what you had to say. Now you're spending your time disagreeing with things I've never said, or taking them out of context before disagreeing.

1. I said Howson deserves credit where it's due, and the current incarnation of the Blue Jackets are playing well with a team he almost entirely built. I didn't say he's a super star, but that he put together a solid team while everyone was treating him like a laughing stock.

2. I said specifically to you in another thread that "nobody has Ken Holland's resume" and he is therefore the best GM in hockey based on his career accomplishments, but that he hasn't done anything at all for four years while his team has become less and less competitive. Hard to argue with that.

I don't know where you got your wires crossed, or whether you have some sort of ax to grind, but since joining this forum I've generally believed that if there was one person whom I didn't have to worry about being super reactionary and starting arguments based on conjecture, that that person was you. Hopefully you're back to form before long bud.

I apologize if that came off more offensive or argumentative than I intended. I was aiming for facetious. Sorry.

But there seems a clear double-standard when it comes to judging Holland and other GMs. We have almost identical records, but for them it's "playing well". Start with a centerpiece like Nash, add 6 years and several high 1st-round picks, and still only be at the, "hey, maybe we'll make the playoffs" stage... It's not good. Maybe he deserves some credit for the slight improvement, but he also deserves a much larger serving of blame for not being even better.

I have a hard time believing that you'd extend the same kindness to Holland if we had missed the playoffs 4 out of 5 years, likely to become 5 in 6.

[kipwinger 8,521]

I apologize if that came off more offensive or argumentative than I intended. I was aiming for facetious. Sorry.

But there seems a clear double-standard when it comes to judging Holland and other GMs. We have almost identical records, but for them it's "playing well". Start with a centerpiece like Nash, add 6 years and several high 1st-round picks, and still only be at the, "hey, maybe we'll make the playoffs" stage... It's not good. Maybe he deserves some credit for the slight improvement, but he also deserves a much larger serving of blame for not being even better.

I have a hard time believing that you'd extend the same kindness to Holland if we had missed the playoffs 4 out of 5 years, likely to become 5 in 6.

That's exactly the point, nobody expects much from the Blue Jackets and/or Scott Howson, so the fact that they put together a solid and very gritty hockey club out of nowhere is reasonably impressive. They don't have any history to bring in talent, there isn't a lot of it homegrown (in Ohio I mean), and once Nash was traded they didn't have any core talent either. So for this season alone they pieced together a quality team in spite of everything.

Of course I'd be mad if Holland missed the playoffs four of five years in a row, because we're "hockeytown" and they're the Columbus Blue Jackets. We've got the history, the organizational prestige, the high end core talent. We've got everything they don't and we can't attract talent and it irritates me to no end, because I expect more out of a class organization with original six credentials than I do out of Columbus or Phoenix.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Speaking of apologies...from Sportsnet:

“Yesterday was a day full of excitement and passion and emotion, and I must admit my emotion ran a little high,” Lowe says on a video recorded Tuesday evening and released via the Oilers website Wednesday morning. “We appreciate and are grateful for every one of our fans who cheer for us, through good times and bad.”

When pushed by reporters on the Oilers woeful record Monday, Lowe said they answer to the fans, adding that there were two types of fans and that they listen to those who buy the tickets.

He seemed to be implying the Oilers listen to those fans because they’re handy to talk to because they’re in the building, but it didn’t come off that way.

“I did not make that clear yesterday,” Lowe says. “And if I offended anyone, I apologize.”

Edited April 17, 2013 by cusimano_brothers