For all the abuse Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe took for signing Dustin Penner to a five-year, $25 million offer sheet last summer, the deal isn't looking so bad.

Penner seems to be growing into his role as a first-line winger, while the first-round draft pick Edmonton gave up to get him will only be 12th overall, not a lottery pick, as the Ducks' GM so gleefully predicted.

"It's just so typical of how people jump to conclusions," Lowe told the Edmonton Sun. "There's not much you can say at the time (when everyone was ripping the deal) except, well, let's wait and see. But I don't get any comfort out of this now because the damage is done -- people have had their moment in terms of criticism. But that comes with the territory; you can't do much about it."

Lowe says a deal that looks pretty good right now will only look better as time goes on.

"He's still young enough to keep getting better," Lowe said. "A potential 25-goal scorer for five years was probably worth a 12th pick, given all the young players that we had."

SEASON HIGHLIGHT
The highlight of the season turned out to be the last quarter when the Oilers, in 14th place and left for dead, put together a 13-4-1 run that wiped out a 13-point deficit and pulled them briefly into a share of eighth place. The surge, led mostly by rookies, represented a massive step forward from last season, when the Oilers, in almost exactly the same situation, finished 2-17-1.

TURNING POINT
The season started tailing off early on when the first of the veterans started getting injured. By season's end the Oilers shattered the club record for man games lost to injury, a whopping 346. On the bright side, those injuries opened the door for a crop of rookies who changed the face and the future of the team with their dazzling speed and skill.

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