Nepotistic Failure?

The Oilers have spent the first day of free agency making lower key moves, looking or depth players, and trying to shore up their AHL line up. Or at least it appears that way.

One of the most recent signings for the Oilers is Keegan Lowe. Yes, that Keegan Lowe. The son of former Oilers President of Hockey Operations Kevin Lowe. Yes, the one that said he didn’t want to be drafted by the Oilers. Yes, also the one that has spent the last four years primarily in the AHL and is more well known for his penalty minute totals than his play making ability. So what does this actually buy the Oilers.

Well, they haven’t released the contract details except to say it’s a one year two way deal. Lowe split time between the Charlotte Checkers and the St. John’s Ice Caps of the AHL last season. He had 3 goals and nine assists with 53 penalty minutes in 49 games before being traded in an AHL deal with the Montreal Canadiens. With the Ice Caps Lowe added three more goals, three more assists, and 21 penalty minutes in 22 games. Over the course of his career, Lowe has logged two NHL games and the only notable thing from that was his fight with Vincent Lacalavier.

A lot of the talk around Lowe currently centres on his successful junior career with the Edmonton Oil Kings. Lowe was very successful in the WHL, unfortunately, the Oilers don’t have the best record in developing players from the home town team so to speak. Also, there is very little the Oilers can do that the Hurricanes probably hadn’t attempted in over three years. It looks like Keegan Lowe is a depth defenseman who can play a very limited role in the NHL.

It has to be assumed that the Oilers are looking for Lowe to play a positive role for them in Bakersfield and be more of an emergency call up to the NHL than anything else. It will be difficult to fully asses if this is a success for the Oilers or the next in a long line of Oil Kings related disappointments.