Where do I sign?...

Does anyone out there have Kevin Lowe's phone number? Maybe his email address?

I want to get him to sign me to an offer sheet.

I'll even go cheap. I'll settle for $1.5 - $2 Million per season. I won't get too greedy.

In all seriousness, I don't know how good of a deal the Oilers are getting here with Dustin Penner. He's obviously a player that they think very highly of, but I am not convinced that he will turn into an 80 point per season player. Of course, I live in the eastern conference and didn't get to see much of his play this year aside from in the finals against my Senators (though I'll bet I saw him more that the majority of the people out here since I had the NHL Center Ice package and usually watched two games a day). He went through the draft not being selected by any team before he signed as a free agent with the Ducks. That means he was passed over 210 times. True, he did have 84 points in 57 games two years ago in the AHL, but that is only the AHL.

As for his production this year, he scored 45 points while playing all 82 games on a very good team (the eventual Stanly Cup champions as it were, and yes I am still bitter about that). I think that if he manages to get 40 points this season, he'll be doing good. Of course, the pressure that will be put on him now that he is making so much money, not to mention playing in a hockey-mad market, could really weigh him down ala Joffrey Lupul last season.


The real winner in this deal, aside from Penner getting all that cash, could easily end up being Brian Burke and the Ducks. For all Burke's griping about the offer sheet, he does get Edmonton's first, second, and third round picks in next years draft. Edmonton missed the playoffs and just generally had a poor season last year. I don't see any of the moves the Oilers have made this year propelling them back in to playoff contention. If anything, they could be even worse than they were last year. Their big signing of this off-season was of one of the crappiest defenseman in the league defensively and they traded away their captain and only defensive blue-liner for another defenseman that is a liability in his own end. So while they may score a lot of goals and have a deadly powerplay, keeping pucks out of their own net will not be their forte. Dwane Roloson better be ready to see a lot of rubber this year.

If the Oilers do as poorly as I expect, those draft picks could become extremely valuable. If Edmonton finishes as one of the 5 worst teams in the league, that first round pick could be #1 overall, what with the lottery and all. And those picks could be extremely valuable come the trade deadline should Burke want to go shopping for some help for the Cup defense.

I'd like to see this work out for the Oilers, but it seems so unlikely as to be essentially impossible.