Lowe: Sabres being 'juvenile'
Oilers GM Kevin Lowe shouldn't expect a Christmas card from Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn this winter.
After the Oilers' unsuccessful bid to snag winger Thomas Vanek with a seven-year, $50 million offer sheet days after the wounded Sabres lost co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, Quinn was livid that Lowe drove up the price on the team's top goal scorer.
"We always had an attitude here that we don't do these things," Quinn said at this afternoon's news conference in HSBC Arena. "When it comes to the Edmonton Oilers, if there's an opportunity to put an offer sheet on a player as long as we're alive, we'll be comfortable doing that. They can expect it if it's in our best interest."
Lowe wasn't impressed.
"It's quite a bold statement by that organization," the seven-time NHL All-Star said. "I think it's rather juvenile on their part.
"Fellas, it's a business. Take the personal out of it. It was the right offer for the Oilers, and apparently it was right for the Sabres."
Lowe has a point. He's doing whatever it takes to make the Oilers a better club and clearly Vanek was worth the price or else the Sabres wouldn't have matched.
I wonder how the fans in Edmonton respond to such swashbuckling moves. Can Buffalo fans even fathom such a thing?
---Tim Graham
