Lowe, Smyth both in the wrong

Terry Frei, in a column at ESPN.com on the NHL trade deadline, hits the nail on the head in analyzing the Ryan Smyth deal:

Q: What stinks worse than unwashed laundry at the end of a road trip to Prince George, Kamloops, Chilliwack and Kelowna?

A: Ryan Smyth's trade to the Islanders, and not only because 102-year-old Lilian Hosking, whose answered birthday wish when she turned 101 was to run her hand through Smyth's mullet, gave it a thumbs-down to the Edmonton Journal.

There is no crying in hockey, whether it is from a 102-year-old woman or a 31-year-old winger. The Oilers at least, theoretically, still are within striking distance of a playoff spot, but this was a white flag. So, following Mark Messier's night, there's not much use showing up at Rexall Place.

Plus, the two sides -- the Oilers and Smyth, in the person of his agent, Don Meehan -- were very close financially, but couldn't close a multiyear deal. In this new era, with the cap limiting the maximum a player can earn to 20 percent of the available payroll and with absolute individual ruthlessness making it tougher to build a winning cast around the highest-paid players, it's ridiculous that a compromise couldn't be reached. And that's a pox on both houses. GM Kevin Lowe reacted petulantly by trading Smyth.

Furthermore, Smyth's love for Edmonton rings hollow if he couldn't step in and tell Meehan: "OK, you've done a good job getting these numbers on the table, but now let's get it done." The hometown discount, which already had been an issue in previous Smyth contracts, doesn't even have to be a financial concession, but an acknowledgment that satisfaction is priceless.

And if Smyth gets over his disappointment and re-signs with the Oilers this offseason, it will raise the question of whether this was preordained and all this drama was an act. More likely, it was a case of Lowe calling Smyth/Meehan's bluff and putting the onus on them in the offseason ("How bad do you want to come back?").