As per Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada, Kevin Lowe offered to take a sabbatical from the Edmonton Oilers organization in wake of those calling for his head (and the 8 years of failure on the ice) but Katz refused any such leave from his President of Hockey Operations.
Kevin Lowe is synonymous with the Oilers and Edmonton. He was the team's 1st ever Draft Pick, won 5 Cups here, returned to Coach the team, replaced Slats as the GM, and currently holds the title of President of Hockey Operations for the team. Outside of hockey he has been an excellent citizen of the city and his contributions to the community have never been questioned.
Despite all of that he has been the man in charge of a process to bring Edmonton back to the playoff picture. That process was not supposed to last longer than the 07-08 season. He (supposedly) stepped back from direct control of the club when Tambellini was hired but no move could be made without his approval during that time. As such he was complicit in bankrupting the Blueline of players like Visnovsky, Souray, and Gilbert, replacing them with this sad sack group of misfits from the Island of Unwanted Toys.
Under his watch the Oilers fell so far from grace that they became the laughing stock of the NHL, a perennial basement dweller so far behind in the race that they thought they were ahead. Under his guidance the club fired coach after coach believing that one after the other was responsible for the failures of teams loaded with the Patrick O'Sullivans of the world. With his expert leadership the team, THIS year, with THIS Defense believed they could compete for a playoff spot.
Sometimes the right decisions want to make themselves and you have to try to make the wrong one. I think Darryl Katz just went out of his way to prevent the right thing from happening.
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