It’s safe to say Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe won’t be exchanging Christmas cards in the near future.
In a Friday afternoon conference call to discuss the offer sheet from Lowe, the Edmonton Oilers GM, extended to young Anaheim forward Dustin Penner, Ducks GM Burke made it clear he wasn’t happy.
Speaking from Penticton, British Columbia, where he is about to be inducted into the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame, Burke called the timing of Lowe’s offer — in relationship to the Hall of Fame event — “a classless move.� He said it was “gutless� that Lowe hadn’t informed the team of the offer sheet, saying he learned about it when it was faxed to the Ducks’ offices. And he called the offer — for five years and $21.25 million — “a grossly inflated salary� and “a desperate move by a general manager trying to save his job.�
Other than that, Burke was quite cheery.
Some of that anger clearly comes from frustration; with the off-season signings of Todd Bertuzzi and Mathieu Schneider — and with Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne still mulling retirement — Burke has been backed into a corner because of the salary cap, and matching this offer would make that corner very small and very tight.
“I think from a tactical standpoint,� said Burke, “it’s pretty clear, with the steps we’ve taken and the unique circumstances we’re in, with two of our top players uncertain whether they’re coming back, we’ve put ourselves at risk and are acutely aware of that.�
Some, clearly, is at the size of the offer. Penner has played a total of 101 NHL games — last year was his first full season, and he scored 29 goals with 16 assists — and this offer would make him the sixth-highest paid player on the Ducks, just behind Bertuzzi. There are a number of teams where it would make him the second-highest paid player (including the Oilers) And it would set a very high bar for the Ducks in trying to retain Penner’s linemates, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, who become restricted free agents next year.
It is clearly far more than the Ducks were prepared to pay on his own. Burke said the team was in the very early stages of contract negotiations with Penner, a restricted free agent, and was asked if the Ducks’ offer was anything like this one.
“The answer is a clear, unequivocal and instantaneous no,� he said.
Burke called this the second such “grossly overinflated� offer sheet tendered by Lowe — the earlier one was a seven-year, $50 million offer to Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek, subsequently matched by the Sabres — and said the impact of such offers is felt league-wide.

“Whether or not we match it, the offer stands, and it has an impact on all 30 teams,� Burke said, referring to how it could become a benchmark in future negotiations, and make it more difficult to re-sign restricted free agents like Penner.
Burke’s options are to match the offer, and saddle himself a salary he may not be able to afford, or to let Penner go and accept a first-, second- and third-round draft pick as compensation. Unlike the NBA, a sign-and-trade deal is not an option; if the Ducks re-sign him, Penner cannot be traded for a year.
No decision is immediately forthcoming, he said. He’ll be back in Anaheim Monday to discuss the situation with ownership, and has until Thursday to match Penner or let him go.
“I’m not going to rush for anyone’s benefit,� he said, though he also said he wouldn’t take the entire time just “to be spiteful.
“If there’s a decision by ownership on Tuesday, I would announce it on Tuesday.�
In the meantime, anyone running into Burke should not expect him to be in particularly good humor.

LOS ANGELES — A few thoughts while watching Chad Billingsley, the anti-Greg Maddox when it comes to pitch efficiency and pace of game, creep through this afternoon's game with the Phillies:

-- Tuesday's baseball notebook on the problems of Ervin Santana and Bartolo Colon made it just under the wire. After Tuesday's stirring 14-hit outing against Tampa Bay — that's right, Tampa Bay — the Angels demoted Ervin Santana today. Not to the bullpen, but to Salt Lake City. The team filled the roster spot by activating catcher Mike Napoli from the disabled list. We'll have to wait to see how they fill the spot in the rotation, though Joe Saunders is the most logical option.

-- Meanwhile, for the blog-reading AARP demographic, the Dodgers today exchanged a 22-year-old for a 42-year-old, sending down infielder Tony Abreu and purchasing the contract of pitcher Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez has been a part of the game about as long as the rosin bag; he began his professional career in 1986. The Dodgers become his 21st professional team, and 10th in the major leagues, following the White Sox, Giants, Devil Rays, Royals, Braves, Phillies, Mets, Pirates, Mets (again) and Indians.

-- Also, the Braves signed 48-year-old Julio Franco, released last week by the Mets, keeping alive Franco's hopes of playing in the majors until he's 50. It's too bad the Mets let Franco go before this week's series at Dodger Stadium, depriving the fans of a possible Hernandez-vs.-Franco matchup with a combined age of 90.

Here's why the Ducks are Stanley Cup champions, and the best pro sports organization in Southern California.
They don't mess around.
Sunday was the first day for free-agent signings in the NHL, and the Ducks expected to be pretty quiet. The team is in pretty good shape, after all.
Then defenseman Scott Niedermayer called general manager Brian Burke and said he was leaning toward retiring — “strongly leaning,� he said in a later conference call. That meant the team suddenly had a need, and it didn't dither about how to respond.
“We immediately jumped into the game,� said Burke, “and were able to sign Mathieu Schneider.�
Niedermayer called Burke at 8 a.m. The Schneider signing was eported at 11:49 a.m. That's a remarkably quick reaction, particularly taking into account that Schneider will reportedly be paid $11.25 million for two years.
“I called my boss, Mike Schulman,� said Burke, referring to the Ducks' CEO, “and told him we'd be at a salary cap figure we hadn't anticipated. He said, “If that's what you have to do, go ahead and do it. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.'
“Our goal is to repeat, and this was the best move we could make today.�
This is why the Ducks are so good. The organization has an unquestioned commitment to winning, and a general manager bold and decisive enough to turn that commitment into action.
If Niedermayer retires, the Ducks have a replacement in place. If he doesn't, the defense corps is even stronger and deeper than it was this year — and it was already good enough to win a championship.
Meanwhile, at this writing, more than 12 hours after the free-agent signing period began, the Flyers, Rangers and Avalanche have snapped up the four best forwards in the free-agent market, and a number of other teams have made signings of varying degrees of significance.
The Kings' next move will be their first. Has anyone pointed out that they need to do something to get better, and to restore their credibility?
No doubt GM Dean Lombardi has tried to do something. But he hasn't, as of yet, succeeded, which makes the team look even worse, if possible, in comparison to the Ducks.
With every hour that passes, Kings owner AEG reaffirms the belief that it's a conglomerate that happens to own a hockey team, rather than a serious hockey organization that happens to be part of a larger company.

LOS ANGELES - Is selection to the baseball all-star game news?
Apparently not, based on the way Major League Baseball handled the selections Sunday.
Apparently, it's merely another sellable promotional tie-in, another product role-out.
If it was news, media outlets wouldn't be told they couldn't announce it until after a TV show was over, as was the case at Dodger Stadium, and all over baseball. TBS earned exclusive rights to this “news� as part of its rights fee for a new broadcast package including some postseason coverage.
This sort of thing happens - the announcement of the NCAA tournament bracket, which belongs exclusively to CBS, is probably the best example - but the way things progressed Sunday did a nice job of showing just how ridiculous such managed events can be.
Because TBS was carrying its selection show after a Braves game, and that Braves game went extra inning, the scheduled announcement time was pushed back by about two hours.
For the Dodgers, playing a quick game (for once) with San Diego, this meant the selections were not going to be announced before the game ended, denying All-Stars Russell Martin, Brad Penny and Takashi Saito an ovation from the home fans.
So, the Dodgers announced the all-star team anyway, over the public-address system and on the scoreboards.
Media outlets, though, were told this information was for use in the stadium only, and that the selections were still embargoed until after the TV show was over. No writing, blogging, calling, broadcasting, skywriting or any other transmission, etc.
Which meant, for a while there, that any Dodger fan with a cell phone was in a position to “scoop� the news media and spread the information.
Information. Not, apparently, news. News isn't announced according to the need to generate ovations, but because it is, you know, news.
Since I was in the press box, I don't know the answer, but I'm certainly wondering: How did Vin Scully feel about having this information and not being able to tell his audience?
Hopefully, he was as unhappy about the rest of us. Because there's at least a small chance his opinion matters.