[Eomer]

Ducks getting 1st seed is a fantasy, even for me.

I just meant that as an example. 3rd and 6th would be fine with me, so long as we meet the Ducks in the first round and stomp them. But yeah, that's probably wishful thinking on my part as well. But so was the finals a couple years ago.

Burkie has been going on too long about this, but he does have one valid concern. The offer sheets Lowe was throwing out has jacked up the free agent market.

And that's total bullshit, because there's a cap system in place. One salary or one GM is not going to distort the entire system like they could in the past. And how exactly are the Briere, Drury, or Gomez contracts not inflationary? Are inflationary free agents contracts cool, but inflationary restricted offer sheets not cool? Burke can whine and blubber all he wants, but at the end of the day what Kevin Lowe did is something that's allowed in the CBA. Furthermore, what exactly is the point of making an offer sheet to a restricted free agent that ISN'T above their true value? If it's not, the other team will laugh and match it, and all you've accomplished is pissing the other team off. And last, at least Kevin Lowe made legitimate contract offers with long terms, unlike Bobby Clarke with his weak little one year offer to Kesler last year. He truly wanted those players, and was willing to not only pay them top dollar but also give them long terms.

So yeah, at first it was amusing and good press clippings. But Burke is quickly turning into an embarassment for the league, in my humble opinion. You don't need a GM constantly making incredibly insulting comments about another GM every time someone puts a mike in front of him, it looks fucking bush league to me.

It's really too bad, because prior to this I actually had a lot of respect for Burke, he's a hell of a GM. But the guy's just a flat out egomaniacal asshole. He can blather on and on about "inflationary" contracts all he wants, but it's a total lie for him to say he's not mad about Penner but rather the effect on the league. He's smarter than that. He's probably as mad at himself for putting his team in the position that he'd get an offer sheet they couldn't match.

And no, I don't think Penner is worth 4 million a year right now. Maybe by the end of his contract he will be, who knows. As you said, I just hope he doesn't turn into another dud. To be honest, I didn't really much like what I saw of him last night, he looks lazy and unwilling to hit guys. Although he's definitely impressive when he gets the buck along the boards, kinds of reminds me of how Laraque used to rag the puck. Hopefully he makes less shitty passes up the middle that end up odd man rushes the other way .