Thanks FF.
The Smyth situation is hard to judge. There are a lot of different reports on exactly how far apart they were. Smyth said it was more than 200K otherwise he would still be an Oiler. I don't know what the real numbers were and I never will. I just think Smyth never really believed the Oilers would trade him. He probably figured they would need him for a playoff push not really realizing Lowe already knew they were out of it. So it came as a pretty big shock to be leaving his home. He said very early on in the negotiations that there woudl be no home town discount. I don't really understand that...Tucker took one to stay in TO...why couldn't Smitty take on here? Ferraro (on NBC) said today that Smyth tried to bluff with a bad hand in a game of poker and lost. I'm not sure he lost because I think he's going to get a pretty sweetheart contract with a team like Anaheim...but we'll see. A lot of Oiler fans are furious with Lowe while only a few are upset with Smyth. I tend to be in the latter group...I think Lowe did what he had to. Enjoy the Island Ryan...
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