EDMONTON OILERS MEDIA GUIDE

PRESIDENT OF HOCKEY OPERATIONS/ALTERNATE GOVERNOR
KEVIN
LOWE
After serving as General Manager of the Edmonton
Oilers for eight seasons, Kevin Lowe was promoted
to the position of President of Hockey Operations
on July 31, 2008. Lowe’s promotion was part of
a restructuring of the team’s Hockey Operations
department by Daryl A. Katz, the organization’s owner.
Lowe has been instrumental in the renewed success
of the team both on and off the ice and will continue
to work towards the continued success of the
franchise in his new role. In recent years, Lowe has
been assisting the strategic rebuild of one of the
outstanding franchises in the League and was an integral part of the management and scouting
team that selected Taylor Hall with Edmonton’s first ever number one overall draft pick in 2010, as
well as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in 2011 and Nail Yakupov in 2012.
A new era in Oilers’ history was ushered in when Lowe was named to the position of General Manager
on June 9, 2000. With the announcement, the first-ever draft pick in Oilers’ history replaced Glen
Sather, who held the position since June of 1979. Lowe’s appointment came a year after he was
named head coach of the Oilers on June 18, 1999. Over those years the team’s payroll was annually
near the bottom of the league however the team was a league leader in dollars spent for points
earned in standings including many playoff appearances. As GM, he became one of only 40 general
managers in the history of the NHL to get his team to the Stanley Cup finals in 2006, losing in game
seven to the Carolina Hurricanes.
It took the popular Lowe only three seasons from his retirement from the game as a player to make
his way to the position of General Manager. After a brilliant playing career in the National Hockey
League with the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers, Lowe announced his retirement from the
game on July 30, 1998 and joined the coaching ranks as he served as an assistant coach with Ron
Low’s Edmonton staff in 1998-99.
The 1999-00 season saw Lowe become the seventh head coach in Oilers history. In his lone season
behind the Edmonton bench, Lowe guided the Oilers to a second place finish in the Northwest
Division with a 32-26-16-8 record, only eight points behind the first place Colorado Avalanche, and
a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Lowe’s expertise has also translated into success for Team Canada on the international stage. On
November 8, 2000, Lowe was named as Assistant Executive Director of Canada Olympic Hockey
for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Working with former teammate Wayne
Gretzky, Team Canada’s Executive Director, head coach Pat Quinn and Director of Player Personnel,
Steve Tambellini, Lowe helped put together a team of NHL players that won the Olympic gold medal
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