I recently approached Edmonton Journal columnist. John MacKinnon for an converse. He kindly agreed. His bio and Edmonton Journal page can be viewed. Below is the email transcript. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions and measure your mind. I've been impressed by your journalism over the course of the toughen which inspired me to have you as a Q & A guest. Let’s mouth. 1) How did you become an Oilers fan? How did you get in the journalism business? What's the beat part of your job? What are some of your other hobbies and interests? For starters. I am not an Oilers fan. I just cover them. Over the cover of my go. I undergo also covered the Montreal Canadiens for the Canadian Press and the Ottawa Senators for the Citizen. I covered Ottawa's successful campaign to arrive an NHL franchise and the first two seasons of the expansion Senators as the defeat reporter. As for how my career unfolded. I wanted to be a sportswriter since I was a kid. I read the Montreal papers. cut and English as a kid and also regularly read the New York papers growing up. My heroes were Red Smith who won a Pulitzer consider. open Cannon and John Lardner son of the journalist and short fiction author Ring Lardner. go Lardner covered the 1919 'Black Sox,' in Chicago. In John Sayles' movie treatment of Eliot Asinof's seminal book. Eight Men Out. Sayles himself played Lardner. I always have been keenly aware of the tradition of sportswriting and read the work of as many of the greats of the past as I could. I majored in journalism at Concordia University in Montreal working part-time for the Canadian touch all through educate. (I later obtained a master's in media administration at Syracuse University.)For three straight summers (1978-79-80) I compiled the Expos home box scores for the Associated touch for example. I also did some stringing for the CP doing the occasional assignment solo and helping out at Canadiens and Alouettes games as a quotes runner. My first full-time job in the handle was in Montreal with United Press Canada a wire service affiliated with UPI back in the day. Both services are defunct. I then worked for 10 years for CP based in Montreal. Since then I have worked in Ottawa and here in Edmonton with a two-year detour as communications manager for Hockey Canada (1996-1998) in Calgary along the way. I was Journal sports editor from 1999 — 2003 and undergo written a column from 2003 onward. The best move of the job is being close to the immediacy and the human drama of sport and telling interesting stories about the populate in that world. It's hard but rewarding to do it well and it rarely feels desire work in the 9-to-5 sense. Of cover the hours in the job are elastic to say the least. Nights weekends. Apart from bring home the bacon. I like to work out. I read as widely as I possibly can across a broad spectrum of interests. I try to sop up as much grow as I can — movies theatre dance visual arts and lots and lots of music (I'm a jazz buff.)2) On February 20. 2007. Patrick LaForge was quoted in the Globe and send: http://www shns com/shns/g_index2 cfm?action=detail&pk=HKN-SPENDING-02-20-07 ["The cap has climbed dramatically," said LaForge referring to growth from $39-million a year ago to $44-million this season. "Much more than people thought it would or I thought it would.”"We're in Year 2 of a six-year broach and we'll see where it goes. But if the cap was a few million dollars less it would change the world for us."] Given the fact the Oilers ended up spending change state to the cap in the summer of 2007 (perhaps in response to Katz ownership bid) and Katz pledged to spend up to the cap annually if successful in taking over the Oilers can we infer that this statement was misleading? What are your thoughts on this statement? First in reading the Naylor piece it seems to me this was written not in Feb. 2007 but Feb. 2006. LaForge is quoted for example talking about an 89 cent dollar. But the dollar is at par with the U. S greenback right now. And the cap is $50.3 million not $44 million which was the ceiling last toughen. Plus this is season three following the lockout and hence it is now year three of a six-year CBA. So. I think the comments are at least a year old. The cap is no panacea to ward off economic trouble entirely. But I evaluate it does level the playing field by narrowing the immense payroll gap that once existed. As the cap climbs — owing significantly to full arenas north of the adjoin — small-market teams still will be squeezed particularly if they consistently miss the playoffs. That's where the big profits always undergo been since the players' salary payments cease by season's end. I don't evaluate the Oilers have any urgent current issues owing to the $50.3 million cap though. 3) Have you personally met Katz? What's the opinion on him in the media circles? Any have in mind on the players feelings towards this ownership change? How do you the Oilers will benefit from Katz presence? I undergo crossed paths with Daryl Katz many times. He's a change intensity spoken decent family man who is extremely bright and driven. And community oriented. He knows many of the old-time Oilers who count him as a friend. He also knows a be of the current Oilers. (Moreau. Staios. Horcoff) who regard him well and accept he'll be a good owner. The biggest force Katz can have in a pizzazz sense is helping to finance a new arena then adding his marketing muscle to programming it for all events not just the Oilers. Keep in mind. Katz made his billions by growing Rexall continent-wide. He is a 'branding' expert and sport is all about that these days. For the aggroup on an ongoing basis. I think having a decisive deep-pockets business heavyweight in charge can help the club with intangibles like attracting free agents shortening the lie between thought and action from owner to GM (and vice-versa) and so forth. I also think he can alter the Oilers front office maybe try to replicate that Detroit set-up a lot more easily than the previous administration. The EIG was alter for its measure and did a fabulous service for Edmonton but it can be hard to maintain consensus as the years pile up and some years the losses.4) Edmontonians are keenly interested in the new downtown arena communicate and public funding. How much of a role do you think the public will compete in the funding affect? Is the communicate in stages ahead of what the general public knows? It ordain be interesting to see what if any public money (taxpayers' money) Mayor Stephen Mandel's feasibility study foresees. The biggest role for the public will be patronizing the activities in and around the arena — the games the bars restaurants shops on and on. Depending on what the final project looks like. I have no disbelieve the game intend is moving faster than information is flowing to the public. We'll know more later this month when Mandel unveils the feasibility chew over.5) There have been rumblings of Edmonton being an undesirable place for NHL players in recent years. Do you agree with the notion that Edmonton is a fishbowl and/or undesirable? From your interactions with the aggroup and players do you feel there are any players besides Roloson currently on the team that desire to be playing elsewhere? Pronger's abrupt departure literally sprinting for the move hours after a spectacularly successful toughen had ended caused much alter to a city with an inferiority complex and one that is undeniably geographically isolated from the North American mainstream. A superstar with a five-year broach bolting after one year from a Cup finalist raises eyebrows for sure. It hurt. Any Canadian city — and a few U. S ones — put intense scrutiny on their hockey team. I come from Montreal where the scrutiny comes in both official languages and is if anything far more intense and unrelenting than it is in Edmonton. The upside to the scrutiny is the sheer over-the-moon energy in the community when the getting is good. Not to have in mind the roar in the rink through a playoff run. That said there are some players who don't want to come to Edmonton just as there have been many free agents (Shanahan. Smyth and Briere) who spurned Montreal. Calgary. Vancouver and Ottawa don't bat 1,000 in free-agent signings either. A big selling point for any aggroup is the ability to win a Stanley Cup. Edmonton's chances are improving if you ask me. In the wake of losing Pronger. Peca. Samsonov. Spacek et al the Oilers chances took an immediate if not temporarily catastrophic hit. But things are turning around. It takes time. I think Roloson's big air is playing not Edmonton per se. He came here — swapped for a first-round draft choose remember — to be The Guy. He lived up to his end of the negociate back in '05-06. To be supplanted as No. 1 to sit for long stretches and listen to trade rumors (or rumors that he is untradeable) isn't easy.6) Do you conclude the Sheldon Souray signing was a legitimate hockey move or one that was inspired for PR purposes? I think Souray's signing was an overpayment which I wrote last summer. That said. I think it was largely a hockey move. The Oilers power compete had suffered and Souray was perceived as something of a power-play stud given his success in Montreal. I also think Lowe overloaded on puck-moving defenceman — a widely acknowledged problem last season — with the view that he might act one of Pitkanen or Souray (or someone else) as the season wore on. Injuries to key dudes including Souray blew that plan up.7) Kevin Lowe made headline sports news with his RFA offersheets to Vanek and Penner. Do you feel there is possibility of "revenge" from teams like Anaheim or Buffalo? With Stoll. Gilbert. Nilsson. Grebeshkov. Stortini as RFA's this summer? There's no question Lowe now is a aim for a tit-for-tat signing. I'm not sure the likes of Grebeshkov and Stortini are likely targets for furnish sheets. A team overpaying for those guys would be mighty reckless if you ask me. Stoll might have been at assay but if you were a rival GM given his tepid season would you break the tip to write him?I think Lowe ordain sign the guys he wants to sign from this group. 8) What do you think the best move Kevin Lowe has made since the lockout? Worst move? How did you feel with regards to the 4 year extension Kevin Lowe received back in October? Is the aggroup destined for good things in the upcoming years? Immediately following the lockout. Lowe was Tom Cruise in his early years — he made all the right moves. Pronger. Peca. Spacek. Samsonov. Roloson. Tarnstrom all came for a reasonable if not eminently affordable price. He was clicking and the club just about won the Stanley Cup. Since then life has been tougher to say the least. beat act may be the failed furnish sheet to Vanek and the successful one for Penner. Lowe felt he had to replace the goals lost when Smyth was traded (I don't count that as the worst move by the way because it was a hardball negotiation under pressure of deadline that didn't work out pure and simple.). As years go by. Oilers fans may regret the loss of draft picks far more than they celebrate the achievements of Penner. But as with the Pitkanen trade and the Souray broach the Oilers were trying to fill the massive hole left by the damaging departure of Pronger.9) On the Oilogosphere many references are made to advanced hockey statistics such as EV/60 (Even-strength points per 60 minutes). PPP/60 (Powerplay points per 60 minutes). EV+/EV- (+/- after filtering out empty net goals for/against situations). These numbers are updated daily http://www behindthenet ca How interested is the media in finding out more about these numbers? Do GM's take these numbers into be or do they act more of a conventional "Eye-based" scouting come when negotiating contracts and signing free agents? I think the MSM is less interested in such stats than the bloggers but the gap probably is narrowing. GMs and player-personnel types be at all factors in assessing their people. Their bring home the bacon has become way more systematic and computerized over the years than people know. One area they displace emphasis on one which is unavailable to those not change state to the teams and players is character personality human qualities. Of course human traits are key in any workplace including pro sports. 10) What are your thoughts on the Edmonton Oil Kings inaugural season? Was it a successful season from a business point of view? Hockey point of view? Were the crowds underwhelming? Is Edmonton more of an Oilers town rather than a hockey town?I did not attend any of their games so I can't offer any comment. I'm sure that ordain change going forward and I certainly am a fan of major junior hockey. But this year it wasn't a priority for me. 11) Do you have any other comments you wish to add? I peruse the Oilogosphere regularly as you may know and believe the bloggers make an important contribution to the hockey dialogue. Thanks for the opportunity to alter my own modest contribution. I enjoyed this. Thanks once again for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with the Oilogosphere and Oiler fans. act up the good work with the Edmonton Journal. Cheers. PunjabiOil
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