Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
That said it appears that there may have been some back door negotiations with the Rangers and it's kind of disturbing how that Grossman and the Erixon's didn't let this out of the bag until very late in negotiations. No matter how you look at it the Flames got burned by the Rangers, Erixon and PuckAgency.
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I can't agree with this.
This is your first round pick after all. The salary and bonuses are basically established. There is no reason not to sign unless you don't like the organization.
Any sane negotiation needed to set some sort of realistic deadline with the Erixon camp.
ie You are part of our plans and we need to sign you to an entry level contract at the end of the WJC.
Everyone was in Buffalo, Erixon, Feaster and agents.
This was when the Flames likely knew that Erixon wasn't going to sign with them. That was when they decided that they were going to trade his rights.
Feaster was very open about wanting to get the 2nd and 3rd round picks back for the draft. He wasn't going to get them for Sarich, Stajan, Langkow or Hagman.
They would have had eyeballs on Horak while watching Howse.
This wasn't a last minute deal..... it just happened at the last minute.