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This offer makes a whole lot more sense than the Vanek offer

1. The terms are far more reasonable. Penner is a big player, and can only be expected to improve further as he grows into the NHL. It makes one wonder why the Ducks spent so much $$ on Bertuzzi. Penner is similar in style, but without the baggage and mental issues.

2. The Ducks are a conference rival, and screwing them up financially would be a good move, as supposed to the Sabres, who the Oilers don't compete with.

3. Lowe has to get SOME payback for being absolutely ripped off in the Pronger deal.

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Why in the world would Brian Burke (heralded as the smartest GM in the game by some) sign washed-up Todd Bertuzzi for $4 million while leaving out a tempting RFA like Penner.

Kudos to Lowe and Edmonton for putting the 'free' in restricted free agency. It's driving up the market a lot, but these old boys gotta learn that you can't sign UFAs to dumb contracts and handcuff yourself while leaving your own prize young players on the market.

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Lowe is desperate to make a move. The Oilers have been kicked around and left behind in player trades and free agency. Lowe is like a little rat, scurrying around, desperate to find some tid-bit he can hang his hat on as a positive move.

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I'm a little antsy about giving up the first, given how bad the Oilers still might be, but at this point, you have to look hard at this roster and wonder: if healthy, will it really be bad enough to qualify for the lottery? I have my doubts. The way I look at it, if you're not gonna make the playoffs, you'd better suck ass in style and get into the bottom five so you can get something worthwhile (they almost did it last year). But suppose they finish 10th or 11th in the conference. No way they make the lottery because they'll have at least seven or eight teams beneath them, so is the pick worth as much? No, I'd say not.

On the other hand, rebuilding through RFA poaching, as opposed to finding The Missing Link or simply reloading after a bad year, isn't exactly the best course of action, and does speak to a bit of desperation on the part of Kevin Lowe. Like with Vanek, and probably even more so, there are certainly questions as to whether Penner can replicate his results from last year at all, and in particular under less favourable conditions (likely tougher minutes and less capable linemates). If he scores 30, obviously, it's all good. If not, well, we've got five years to make it work, whether we like it or not.

And finally, I do wish GMs and fans would stop taking this offer-sheet stuff so damned personally. I mean, shit guys, it's right in the damned CBA. If you didn't want this to happen, you should've taken action sooner, either by signing your guys during the season, or taking them to arbitration if you're that far apart in order to force a deal and cover your ass until next season. Would I be upset if someone tossed $5M at Jarret Stoll next year? A little. Would I start calling people "classless" or "douchebags"? Probably not. It's nice to get your RFAs below market value, but if you can't, well, guess you'll just have to make sure you've got some useful kids to exploit in the system, right? We're still learning this system, but I have a feeling it's not going to be too long before RFAs are compensated almost as well as UFAs, which will force GMs more than ever to think about what they're doing in both the short and long term, and will reward the shrewd ones who consistently find the good deals over Good Old Boys who consistently appear to have no real strategy or, even worse, appear to be attempting two mutually exclusive strategies at the same time.

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kevin lowe is just that(low down rotten scoundrel)and no matter what he thinks hes accomplishing its not working,the only thing hes doing is driving the price of decient players salaries throught the roof,to the level of proven players who are urfa's and deserve this type of offer sheets.i think the offer sheets should coinceide with what the players are worth,not what the offer sheets are stating,its in the same scenario of arbitration,which is another system which really isnt a fair process,just because alot of players see they are about to hit the urfa market they work much hareder to drive up their value,which in turn raises the ticket prices as well as anything else involved in the sport.next thing you know teams are going to struggle and the league will suffer from these types of tactics if not remedied now,before it gets worse than it is.
as for lowe,he should be knocked out of hockey.i see this as a continuing trend from other teams who have alot of cap space,next thing you know it will be just like horse racing,only the very wwealthy will be able to afford to go see the product in person,also it will drive up the costs for people who watch at home,just because tv revenue will have to come from subscribers and cable companies who pay to televise it.thats my take on this crap lowe has started.and yes im glad the sabres matched vaneks offer sheet,i think hes worth it,but penner?im hoping burke gets the league to jump on lowe and fast before this becomes common practice

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