A few days after Edmonton Oilers' Kevin Lowe fired back at rival GM Brian Burke, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and executive vice-president Colin Campbell tried to pour water on the feud of the two rival team executives.
Following comments by Burke over the past year and comments Lowe made recently to an Edmonton radio station, Bettman ordered the two to cease and desist in a conference call Monday.
''We felt for a host of reasons it was important to bring the parties together and make it clear to both organizations that public comments disparaging the other were bad for the business and would no longer be tolerated,'' Daly told The Canadian Press.
Burke and Lowe have been at odds since the Oilers put forth a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet to Group II restricted free agent Dustin Penner last summer - a contract that the Ducks did not match and sent Penner to Edmonton.
"If I had run my team into the sewer like that I wouldn't throw a grenade at the other 29 teams and my own indirectly," said Burke before the start of last season. "So I have no intention of speaking to him anytime soon."
Apparently Lowe finally had enough. In a candid interview, the Oilers' GM railed against Burke calling him a 'moron' and a 'media-junkie'.
"Here's a fact - he left (former Canucks GM) Dave Nonis nothing in Vancouver," Lowe added. "Nothing. He destroyed that team. If it wasn't for Nonis' incredible deals - to con Mike Keenan to get (Roberto) Luongo in Vancouver - that team was taking a nose dive two years ago."
"I hate the fact that my name is linked to his. He's an underachieving wanna-be in terms of success in the NHL."
