Lowe bites back

A year after The Penner Incident, Ducks GM Brian Burke still has a bug in his craw about Oilers GM and ex-friend Kevin Lowe's offer sheet moves last summer. Lowe has been pretty mum to Burke's media attacks...until yesterday in a radio interview with Edmonton's Team 1260:

"This guy is an absolute media junkie and I guess he's achieving what he wants because he gets his name in the headlines. But the reality is, I hate the fact that my name is linked to his. He's an underachieving wanna-be in terms of success in the NHL. He won a Stanley Cup? Great. I've won six Stanley Cups, you want to count rings? Who cares, it's just a little pathetic that he carries on."

- Kevin Lowe on Brian Burke

Meow.

I don't know if Lowe's name is so much synonymous with Burke's as it is with tendering offer sheets to RFAs. And while the Penner offer sheet may have driven up the price for young talent, the past few days have shown us that Lowe isn't alone in making bone-headed offers which skew future salaries. The most obvious example is Jeff Finger's 4 year, $14M contract with Toronto, affectionately know as Leafs Fans Getting the Finger.

But if Lowe is right, and Burke is on his way to destroying the Ducks the way he did the Canucks, then Lowe may have the last laugh in this battle of egos.

Update: How do you prove you're not a media junkie? Don't ask Brian Burke. In response to league commish Gary Bettman telling both he and Lowe to end their stand-off, the Ducks sent out a press release about the feuding GMs' trip to the principal's office. Probably not what Bettman meant by "quit it".