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Lowe apologizes to any Oilers fans he may have offended

Kevin Lowe

Oilers president of hockey operation Kevin Lowe admits that his emotions “ran a little high” at Monday’s press conference introducing Craig MacTavish as Edmonton’s new general manager.

Tuesday evening, Lowe offered an apology to Oilers fans he may have offended when he seemed to suggest ticket-buyers were more important than those who didn’t contribute as directly to the club’s bottom line.

Per the Edmonton Journal, his exact words on Monday were: “We have two types of fans. We have paying customers, and we have people that watch the game that we still care about. But certainly the people who go to the games and support, we spend a lot of time talking to them, delivering our message.”

Which led to the following clarification, made by video and posted to the club’s website: “We appreciate each and every fan. I did not make that clear yesterday. And if I offended anyone, I apologize.”

Of course, Lowe’s remark about “paying customers” wasn’t even the most memorable sound bite of a very memorable press conference.

That would probably be this: “I’ll say that there’s one other guy in hockey today that is still working in the game that has won more Stanley Cups than me. So I think I know a little bit about winning, if there’s ever a concern.”

The above was made after a reporter noted it’s been seven years since the Oilers made it to the Stanley Cup finals.

That was also the last time the team made the playoffs.