Brian Burke

[DeluxeMoustache]

And given Feaster's marching orders, there may not be a job available.

Cap jail to 23M headroom in a season where the cap drops by 6-7M. With 3 first round picks. And a relatively new scouting staff in line with a new philosophical shift and mandate.

Given that the window for significant change is not on the order of months, lets not get our panties in a Nill bunch, ok?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Madrox

Nill is obviously not in the cards, as he's committed to Detroit based on his last contract.

Wrong. Jim Nill's contract does not appear to have much bearing on this decision. Mike Ilitch gave him permission to pursue the Montreal job if he wanted last year, and there is no reason to expect that he will suddenly now insist on Nill's certain long-term commitment now.

Originally Posted by Madrox

The original question was about Fenton, who is someone I don't know much about. Anyone have more info?

Fenton has been the long-term AGM in Nashville, and is generally regarded very highly as instrumental in constructing the Predators' core and prospect base of the past decade.

Edit: And that if he wanted to come to Calgary, the opportunity for him to do so was likely there a couple of years ago.

If memory serves me correctly, Nill has actually interviewed for the Calgary job in the past. So much of this has to do with timing, and just because he was passed over (or passed up?) the opportunity to work in Alberta two years ago, this does not automatically preclude that he will do so again now or in the near future.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

It's the NHL, and there are only 30 top-management positions of this nature in the entire world. Nill is widely regarded as a quality administrator, and is certain to land the GM title at some point in the next four years. The thing is, though, as "unattractive" as the Flames are presently, it is still an opportunity that one would be foolish to pass up, if he truly has aspirations of being an NHL general manager. History shows that would-be GMs most often take the job that is available to them. Yzerman is a great case in point: TB was easily one of the LEAST attractive places to be for an NHL executive at the time, and that was the job he took, because that was the job available.

The comment was about Paul Fenton, the long-time assistant GM of the Predators. He's expected to replace Poile (who's 64) eventually. So Fenton can get that top-management position without relocating his family. The question is how long will Poile stick around. Fenton is already in charge of scouting, drafting, player development, he's director of player personnel, and he's GM of the Pred's farm team. His departure would be a huge blow to the Preds.

Paul Fenton Will Run an NHL Team, the Question is Which One?

[Flash Walken]

Text, there may only be 10 jobs at the top of biblioarcheology, but if your boss is a jerk with a pre-determined outlook on what the research is supposed to show and is seemingly unwilling to let his researchers do the research, I doubt you'd be particularly interested in the job if you could work somewhere a bit more stable that still had exciting work for you to do.

There are only 90 something assistant coaching jobs in the NHL, making NHL assistant coach money. Yet, Dave Lowry chose to walk away from the job.

Why is that?

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Dagger

The Sedins didn't say they were only going to the same team, just that they'd prefer it. Burke did do a good job in getting that done though.

IIRC from Burke interview (so it might be BS, knowing Burke) he basically called up the other teams with early first round picks and told them maybe one of them would get one of the Sedins, but he was the only one who was getting both.

Either way I think he has shown far more good then bad over his career.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Text, there may only be 10 jobs at the top of biblioarcheology, but if your boss is a jerk with a pre-determined outlook on what the research is supposed to show and is seemingly unwilling to let his researchers do the research, I doubt you'd be particularly interested in the job if you could work somewhere a bit more stable that still had exciting work for you to do.

One thing for certain is that I would be foolish to not at least do my due diligence and make sure that I know all that I can about the position and the work environment before dismissing it as a viable prospect on mere hearsay. I don't think your analogy really works in this instance. We have no idea how the Flames ownership group is perceived within the NHL.

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

There are only 90 something assistant coaching jobs in the NHL, making NHL assistant coach money. Yet, Dave Lowry chose to walk away from the job.

Why is that?

I'm sure I don't know. Do you?

[puckluck2]

Wasn't Dave Lowry's contract not renewed? First I've heard that he walked away on his own terms.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Wasn't Dave Lowry's contract not renewed? First I've heard that he walked away on his own terms.

Yeah, this is the first I had heard such a thing as well. After doing some digging, it seems that this was widely speculated with no confirmation on this site, and I suspect that a few posters merely assume that this must be what happened. In actual fact, no explanation was ever offered by the Flames nor anyone else beyond the rather ambiguous note that Lowry was let go.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yeah, this is the first I had heard such a thing as well. After doing some digging, it seems that this was widely speculated with no confirmation on this site, and I suspect that a few posters merely assume that this must be what happened. In actual fact, no explanation was ever offered by the Flames nor anyone else beyond the rather ambiguous note that Lowry was let go.

I heard he tried to sleep with the wife of a certain somebody in the organisation, and ended up getting into a fistfight with Iggy. He was out of the org 48 hours later....

[Table 5]

Not to single you out Backcheck, but if people are going to use the lame green text, can you at least not use the toxic neon green? Can't even read it.

Or better yet, don't use green at all. It ruins the joke before you even tell it.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Who expected Cervenka to be a top 6 centre.

I remember when he was first signed that there was some question whether he played centre or not. I think it was brought up here and further reading seemed to say the same thing, he didn't play centre in the KHL. That they went into the season counting on him to play centre, was poor planning. Of course the whole team construction was poor planning, so I don't trust anyone on this management team to right this ship. With all their mistakes they come across as amateurs.

At least Burke has been around the block a few times and should know what he's doing.

[powerguard18]

personally i like Burke

Chirelli is looking for a new trading partner since Burke got fired

[Red John]

Nill has a non-compete clause in his contract that doesn't expire until some time in 2013-14. There's a reason he hasn't been hired anywhere else to this point.

One name that hasn't been put out there yet is Joe Will. Doug Wilson's right hand man in San Jose, and is a real sabremetric kind of guy - something that hockey is moving further and further towards. He has been in charge of the Sharks draft all these years and uses a unique approach to evaluating prospects via an advanced statistics formula.

The kind of forward thinker that a team like the Flames desperately needs. It seems as if this organization is constantly behind the rest of the league (ie how to handle a NTC, getting the PUCKS system after its already antiquated, starting a rebuild two years after everyone else knew it was time, etc.)

[TnT~55]

How about Hextall as the GM for a rebuild? Him and Lombardi did a pretty good job in LA.

In all honesty I'm not nuts about Burke, but I could live with him.

I also don't see Nill leaving Detroit anytime soon.

[powerguard18]

from what I read and have heard here in the Boston area is that nobody wants the GM job there in Calgary because ownership does not give full control to the GM to make make decisions.
I also heard that Feaster wanted to be a GM so bad he took the job knowing he would be somewhat of a puppet.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by powerguard18

from what I read and have heard here in the Boston area is that nobody wants the GM job there in Calgary because ownership does not give full control to the GM to make make decisions.
I also heard that Feaster wanted to be a GM so bad he took the job knowing he would be somewhat of a puppet.

[$ven27]

Originally Posted by powerguard18

from what I read and have heard here in the Boston area is that nobody wants the GM job there in Calgary because ownership does not give full control to the GM to make make decisions.
I also heard that Feaster wanted to be a GM so bad he took the job knowing he would be somewhat of a puppet.

Woah, news to me.

[powerguard18]

well why would any decent GM want the job is what I am saying.
sure Burke would probably do a good job but not in Calgary.

and by all the sarcasm i guess what we hear on the east coast is true

[Fire]

Originally Posted by powerguard18

from what I read and have heard here in the Boston area is that nobody wants the GM job there in Calgary because ownership does not give full control to the GM to make make decisions.
I also heard that Feaster wanted to be a GM so bad he took the job knowing he would be somewhat of a puppet.

The biggest reason why Burke would never be the GM here. He would never get along with the ownership.

[$ven27]

Originally Posted by powerguard18

well why would any decent GM want the job is what I am saying.
sure Burke would probably do a good job but not in Calgary.

and by all the sarcasm i guess what we hear on the east coast is true

I don't think a well known good GM would come here because of the Ownership meddling issues, if KK moves on like I've heard on this forum (onto overseeing a bunch of other Calgary businesses?) then I could see Burke, or a new guy come in here.
But yes, it's been known for years around here.