What impact will Brain Burke not matching the Oilers' offer sheet for Dustin Penner have? Well, the only thing we know for sure at this point is that Kevin Lowe isn't going to be on the Anaheim GM's Christmas card list this year.
But other than that...it's all up in the air. Penner will be expected to play on the top line. He will be expected to meet or exceed the 29 goals he had in 06/07. And, most importantly, he'll have to deflect the scrutiny of the Edmonton faithful who may resent the fact that this money should have been directed towards re-signing Ryan Smyth at last season's trade deadline.
The lineup in Anaheim is still a bit uncertain. GM Burke signed Todd Bertuzzi as insurance against Teemu Selanne jumping ship...not against losing Penner. As a result, he's still one forward down. But he can't go out and trade for a big name without knowing whether Scott Niedermayer is going to retire. Add to this the fact that Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (who are RFAs next summer), will be looking for Penner money PLUS, in order to lock them up early.
So out of this what do we see for production:
Penner - even (or maybe a drop)
Hemsky - even (similar to his production when Smyth was in the lineup)
Perry and Getzlaf - improved (doesn't matter who they match with them)
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