Jay Feaster update (Stan Fischler interview)

[edslunch]

Feaster was fired for a reason - it was judged that he didn't perform his job well enough. Having said that, it's too early to judge his legacy - whether he set the franchise back or set it up.

[Lanny_McDonald]

A lot of short sighted thinking about draft picks and rebuild. Complaining that players haven't stepped in yet is just plain stupid, especially for a team rebuilding. Patience is expected. But just so people understand what is happening, look at the drafts in question.

Number of players from the 2011 class who were drafted after Baertschi and have appeared in more than a season's worth of games: 3 (Saad, Shaw and Palat)

Number of players from he 2012 class who were drafted after Jankowski and have played more than 40 games: 1. (Maatta)

Number of players from the 2013 class who were drafted after Poirier who played more than 10 games in the NHL: 0.

Expectations are crazy if you think these kids are going to be stepping in that quickly. Complaining about players not arriving in the NHL yet is just ridiculous. It's called development and prevents a team from going full on Oiler. We should be thankful we aren't rushing these kids. Look up the highway for an example of what that does.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Seriously? Were giving Feaster the credit for the rebuild now? If he was actually a half decent GM the rebuild would have started a year or two before it actually did. I'm not giving him credit because he failed so miserably that the organization was forced into a rebuild.

I think we've always given credit to Feaster for starting the rebuild. Sutter had the opportunity, and people urged him (though most were against it, including me) to rebuild earlier... but Feaster started it.

What, exactly, are you proposing Feaster was to do to prevent a rebuild? Everyone was screaming at him to rebuild at the start of his tenure, and he finally saw the writing on the wall and pulled the plug. And, as I think I've mentioned in this thread before, he did a pretty good job of it. Bouwmeester could have netted more, sure; Iginla is impossible to evaluate; and the drafting has been an incredible shot in the arm to a prospect pool that has been lacking since... ever?

So yes, Feaster started the rebuild. I didn't even know that as in question.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Seriously? Were giving Feaster the credit for the rebuild now? If he was actually a half decent GM the rebuild would have started a year or two before it actually did. I'm not giving him credit because he failed so miserably that the organization was forced into a rebuild.

How exactly does a GM do that when ownership doesn't let it happen? That was a big problem with the club. Iginla was too tight with Edwards and the ownership group never agreed to moving Iginla until the last minute. You can't rebuild if the owners are telling you to keep the star player happy rather than doing what everyone in the league needed to be done. The GM, whether than be Feaster, Sutter, Burke, Treliving or the ghost of Sam Pollack, could have kicked off a rebuild if the owners were refusing to move the assets with the most value.

[Vinny01]

New Era here is the issue. You are pping these prospects up (which is fine) but when someone points out that they have proven nothing it is an invalid arguement?

Yes patience is required and hopefully we can all look back and say Feaster did a good job of drafting while in charge. You can't praise him for it today however as no one outside Monahan has proven anything. Feaster is partially to blame for the extreme overhype of Sven which has put unfair expectations on the kid. Look at how Burke and Treliving have handled the Johnny Hokey hype. Feaster would pay himself on the back and keep the hype train chuggin instead of pumping the brakes which is necessary.

[Hackey]

He was forced to start the rebuild when he should have started it long before. So yes he did start it but by no means does he deserve any type of praise. That is what I am referring to. I'm not going to give a guy credit for screwing up and defaulting into a situation. That's called a bad GM not a good one.

[Vinny01]

Feaster had no choice but to rebuild he ran the organization into the ground. Iggy was leaving and the fanbase was fed up.

I heard Jay say on the radio, TV, and in person he wasn't going to tear it down and stop trying to make the playoffs and if ownership wanted to go that route then find a new GM. If he was anything more than a yes man he would have pushed to trade our aging stars much quicker

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Feaster is a good man but he ran this team into the ground. Outside of Monahan no one he has drafted is a regular NHLer yet and Monahan was the sure pick anyone would have made. There is a lot of promise but really he was below average as a GM. He nearly set the franchise back a few years with the offer sheet and the Iginla trade was a bit of a joke

I'm sorry, but that expectation is ####ing stupid. I mean really fataing stupid. Prospects are lucky to make the NHL 3 years after they are drafted. Are you really this dense?

I can't even address the rest of your post because it is completely abnormal for Monahan to have made it in the NHL his first year after the draft, yet you seem to expect that to be the norm. WTF?

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Hackey

He was forced to start the rebuild when he should have started it long before. So yes he did start it but by no means does he deserve any type of praise. That is what I am referring to. I'm not going to give a guy credit for screwing up and defaulting into a situation. That's called a bad GM not a good one.

It's just perspective really, so I guess it's wrong for me to say you're wrong... but I don't share your perspective in how Jay came to the rebuild.

What New Era pointed out is how I see Jay's situation as well. Ownership (most owners in the NHL) don't want to own a rebuilding team. They will encourage their GM to do absolutely everything to make the team relevant and I would love to see the GM that could have taken Calgary's situation and turned them into a winner without breaking apart the assets we had.

Jay took the GM role on May 16th in 2011 and his famous quote to Duthie in September 2011 would demonstrate that his task from ownership was 'make the playoffs'. Jarome was traded March 23rd in 2013 2 1/4 years after he became the GM. Giving the possibility that the minute Jay dropped that quote ownership changed their mind and greenlighted his rebuild, that's still what... 1 3/4 years to rebuild? A) They didn't, it would have come much much later and B) I don't think that's an unreasonable timeframe to start a rebuild even if they did

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Split98

It's just perspective really, so I guess it's wrong for me to say you're wrong... but I don't share your perspective in how Jay came to the rebuild.

What New Era pointed out is how I see Jay's situation as well. Ownership (most owners in the NHL) don't want to own a rebuilding team. They will encourage their GM to do absolutely everything to make the team relevant and I would love to see the GM that could have taken Calgary's situation and turned them into a winner without breaking apart the assets we had.

Jay took the GM role on May 16th in 2011 and his famous quote to Duthie in September 2011 would demonstrate that his task from ownership was 'make the playoffs'. Jarome was traded March 23rd in 2013 2 1/4 years after he became the GM. Giving the possibility that the minute Jay dropped that quote ownership changed their mind and greenlighted his rebuild, that's still what... 1 3/4 years to rebuild? A) They didn't, it would have come much much later and B) I don't think that's an unreasonable timeframe to start a rebuild even if they did

Alright so Jay took over the team and his mandate was to go for it/win now. If he knew better and went along with it then he's not a good GM. If he didn't know better he's a terrible GM. Fact is despite the mandate he did a poor job and that is inevitably what lead to the rebuild. We got progressively worse every year he was here. No matter how you slice it he didn't do a good job. He didn't assess the team or proactively assess our situation. He ran the team into the ground and we had no other option.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

I'm sorry, but that expectation is ####ing stupid. I mean really fataing stupid. Prospects are lucky to make the NHL 3 years after they are drafted. Are you really this dense?

I can't even address the rest of your post because it is completely abnormal for Monahan to have made it in the NHL his first year after the draft, yet you seem to expect that to be the norm. WTF?

It's a completely fair statement. None of his picks have turned into anything yet. People praise him like these picks have all panned out yet none of them have. Obviously it is still to early but if it's to early to write them off then it's to early to pencil them in as well. It has to go both ways.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Alright so Jay took over the team and his mandate was to go for it/win now. If he knew better and went along with it then he's not a good GM. If he didn't know better he's a terrible GM. Fact is despite the mandate he did a poor job and that is inevitably what lead to the rebuild. We got progressively worse every year he was here. No matter how you slice it he didn't do a good job. He didn't assess the team or proactively assess our situation. He ran the team into the ground and we had no other option.

So you're saying that Feaster had 2 options:

1) Tell ownership to shove it
2) Pull off a miracle and make the playoffs

And because he did neither of those things, he was a bad GM.

This team was on the downward spiral, so I won't blame him at all for the team getting worse year by year. All I'm saying, and all I have been trying to say in each and every post I've made in this thread, is that Feaster had done a good job of getting the rebuild on the right track when he was allowed to do so.

[Daradon]

I think Feaster's job was lost on the combination of the ROR debacle, and the pick of Jankowski with the first. And that's not unfair. Jankowski was a head scratcher (even if he does turn out to be a great pick, I still think you can get him later) and what nearly happened to us on the O'Reilly deal would have been grounds for termination all by itself. (losing our picks and not being able to sign the player)

But with everything else I think he did a really good job with the situation he was handed. He looked like a freaking genius with how the Tom Erixon mess ended up, and I think he started to instill a better culture in the team. He picked Hartley didn't he? That's looking smart.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Hackey

It's a completely fair statement. None of his picks have turned into anything yet. People praise him like these picks have all panned out yet none of them have. Obviously it is still to early but if it's to early to write them off then it's to early to pencil them in as well. It has to go both ways.

People are praising him for starting a rebuild with a promising outlook. Pointing out that kids drafted in 2011 haven't made the NHL yet is not a completely fair statement.

Brett Kulak, Jon Gillies, Patrick Sieloff, Mark Jankowski, Morgan Klimchuk, Emile Poirier, Sean Monahan, Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Tyler Wotherspoon, and Johnny Gaudreau is a pretty damn impressive list of players to be excited about. It is most definitely too early to write them off... obviously. But it is definitely not unreasonable to consider the draft itself successful.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Split98

So you're saying that Feaster had 2 options:

1) Tell ownership to shove it
2) Pull off a miracle and make the playoffs

And because he did neither of those things, he was a bad GM.

This team was on the downward spiral, so I won't blame him at all for the team getting worse year by year. All I'm saying, and all I have been trying to say in each and every post I've made in this thread, is that Feaster had done a good job of getting the rebuild on the right track when he was allowed to do so.

Fair enough. I still don't think he deserves credit for it though. It was entirely circumstance not some proactive smart decision. I don't think he really did anything special either. Traded Iginla and Jbo for pretty mediocore returns. Let his scouts make some picks which the jury is still out on. Fired.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Split98

People are praising him for starting a rebuild with a promising outlook. Pointing out that kids drafted in 2011 haven't made the NHL yet is not a completely fair statement.

Brett Kulak, Jon Gillies, Patrick Sieloff, Mark Jankowski, Morgan Klimchuk, Emile Poirier, Sean Monahan, Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Tyler Wotherspoon, and Johnny Gaudreau is a pretty damn impressive list of players to be excited about. It is most definitely too early to write them off... obviously. But it is definitely not unreasonable to consider the draft itself successful.

In my opinion we can't write it off or call it successful yet. We have to let time be the judge.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Daradon

I think Feaster's job was lost on the combination of the ROR debacle, and the pick of Jankowski with the first. And that's not unfair. Jankowski was a head scratcher (even if he does turn out to be a great pick, I still think you can get him later) and what nearly happened to us on the O'Reilly deal would have been grounds for termination all by itself. (losing our picks and not being able to sign the player)

But with everything else I think he did a really good job with the situation he was handed. He looked like a freaking genius with how the Tom Erixon mess ended up, and I think he started to instill a better culture in the team. He picked Hartley didn't he? That's looking smart.

ROR was one of the stupidest things that could have happened in franchise history. Further impacted by the fact that the dude's a freakin' lawyer. I definitely think that was a turning point for ownerships views on him, paired with the availability of Burke, who I would much rather have build this franchise back up.

Jankowski I'm completely torn on still. I'm not sold that he is going to be the impact player they thought he would be, but I appreciate the risk they took to gain that potential. It will be years down the road, and I don't think we can make an evaluation of that decision until the Jankowski story is written. It still could actually turn out to be a ballsy and genius move. I can only imagine the posts written about Jay Feaster 10 years from now if Gaudreau and Jankowski are large parts of a Flames dynasty

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Which players with such an obvious edge in talent did the Flames pass over in favour of size from the 2014 draft?

Brayden Point has an obvious edge in talent over the 2nd rounder we picked this year. I suspect he will have more assists this year than Smith has points.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Fair enough. I still don't think he deserves credit for it though. It was entirely circumstance not some proactive smart decision. I don't think he really did anything special either. Traded Iginla and Jbo for pretty mediocore returns. Let his scouts make some picks which the jury is still out on. Fired.

JBo, I had hoped for more... Iginla though, he was pretty screwed. It's like me and you negotiating a sale for a car that for some reason you legally can only sell to me. And your wife wants to go to Greece to visit her parents. And you need the money from the car for the plane tickets. And their anniversary is next week. I'm going to win that negotiation pretty handily.

But sure, as much as I can see your POV I don't really agree with it one bit. I see him inheriting a rebuilding role from day 1, but not allowed to rebuild it until 2 years into his tenure. If I ask him to make the beds on the Titanic as it sinks, I'm not going to criticize the wrinkles. When he was given the green light, I'm pretty happy when what he did with the pieces he was given.

[Hackey]

Thing is I don't have to tell you that I can only sell to you. IIRC Iginla apparently had 4 teams. Realistically you shouldn't say anything if it's gonna negatively impact your return. Lie if you have to and say he has submitted 6 or 8 teams if your gonna release that kind of information. Also communication was obviously terrible because we had a much better deal from Boston that they thought was done. I admit his hands were tied but he still botched the trade. I also think because of Feasters reputation we were low balled.