Kevin Lowe Fire...Given Contract Extention???

Unreal.

TSN has learned that the Edmonton Oilers have signed Kevin Lowe to a multi-year contract extension.

The team will make the announcement official at a media conference on Saturday morning. (Source)

Reactions:

Black Dog Hates Skunks : Critical Thought
I like Kevin Lowe. I think he has drafted well. Not great but pretty well. I think his track record before the recent fiascos is decent. I also believe that giving him a contract extension makes no sense. Riversq posted over at IOF the other day that the idea of waiting to see how this year plays out before deciding on Lowe drives him crazy. Apparently EIG decided not even to wait on that. Souray could go minus forty. Penner could score five goals. The kids who have everyone excited right now could all be buried in the minors by November. Doesn't matter. Based on '06, I guess, Lowe has gotten his reward. (Source)

Lowetide : What, EXACTLY, Is Up Around the Bend?
Love the town team. Today Kevin Lowe will receive a contract extension. I'm not going to argue with the extension, but the timing really casts a shadow over what the Oilers are trying to do here. Are they really interested in winning? Or is it more important to keep up appearances? I do believe that the EIG would have been better served by waiting out this season to see how things went and then deciding on the future in the spring based on results. (Source)

Battle of Alberta: Conspiracy Theory
Before this morning, I didn't believe whatsoever that there was any kind of wink-wink nudge-nudge to Brian Burke's ranting ...and then picking up the red phone to Lowe's office (. Now? Sorry, but I can just see Cal Nichols reading the newspaper on Thursday morning, saying, "Run this team into the sewer? We'll see about that!""Multi-year it is!"). (Source)


My reaction is that this is pretty unreal. I think Black Dog's post sums up quite nicely why Kevin Lowe doesn't deserve a contract extention, (and why at the very least the EIG should have waited the year out). I (and Lowetide especially) have speculated at what point Kevin Lowe would be fired this season. At one point, Lowetide even questioned whether Lowe would last the summer. The EIG has suprised us all.