More news regarding the increasingly bizarre Nylander contract controversy. It seems to this admittedly untrained eye that the Oilers’ beef, while understandable, has little or no legal footing. I’d bet the farm that Nylander remains a Capital.
Nonetheless, the wounded tone heard from Edmonton makes this Canada.com article a compelling read — it’s not often in sports (particularly in hockey) that one hears management take such a personal affront to the business. Though given last year’s Chris Pronger departure, one can understand the Oil’s management having thinner skin than usual. Here’s an excerpt:
According to Lowe, Gillis said his client was exhausted and asked if he could sign [the contract] in the morning. Lowe agreed but says he never got a signed sheet back from the player. Instead, Nylander signed in Washington Monday afternoon.
Lowe said Nylander called, “with a sombre voice.”
“He said his wife was crying, that they had more friends in the east. I said, ‘Michael, this the first I’ve heard of this.’ I told him, ‘Michael, why don’t you take some time, come to Edmonton — I’m going down the path for a while — but after about 12, 15 minutes of that, I said, ‘Michael, have you agreed to a contract in Washington?’ He said yes. I said, ‘You have no idea the grief you’ve caused.’”
Off Wing Opinion and Japers’ Rink have more information on what’s becoming a mini hockey soap opera (complete with jilted bloggers).
[Update: Lowe now seems to be considering peppering other teams' RFAs with offer sheets. How much of this bitterness is from the Nylander deal, and how much is regret over letting Ryan Smyth get away? After all, what they offered Nylander isn't that much less than they would have needed to keep Oiler heart-and-soul Smyth on the roster last year.]
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From the Edmonton Sun:
In the Off Wing Opinion link, he had this quote:
[quote]Given some of the history between Washington and the league, I can pretty much guess what the reaction would be if they rescinded the deal.[/quote]
What did he mean by this? I’m a fairly new NHL/Capitals fan (year before the lock out), so I don’t know the history of the Capitals as well as most.
While I can’t say exactly what Eric meant, I’d guess he’s referring to the Caps’ long history of getting no respect from the NHL… but I’ll drop him a line to ask for clarification.
I’m referring specifically to the incident with the Penguins when the Caps were forced to give up home ice advantage in a playoff series because of a scheduling conflict with a dance show called, “Burning The Floor”.
As a result, Game One was played in Washington, but Games Two and Three were scheduled for Pittsburgh. Subsequently, the Caps lost Game One at home, eventually dropping the series, 4 games to 2. As for “Burning The Floor,” it was canceled due to poor tickets sales.
Oilers GM Kevin Lowe speaks with Sportsnet’s Gene Principe in a wide-ranging interview. (link to the Edmonton Oilers web site)
All this serves Lowe right, he was a jerk when he was an Oiler and he’s a jerk now…
Someone should tell him to have a Labatt’s and shut it. McPhee caught him napping in a very competitive player market. I certainly won’t be losing any sleep over this “incident”.
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