Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Should Feaster get fired over the O'Reilly offersheet fiasco

sureLoss · 03-02-2013, 02:52 PM

After digesting this for a while and reading the last 10 or so pages of this thread, this is my opinion.

First of all, the intricacies of the CBA or the MOU is immaterial to me. I am not qualified nor do I have experience to draw on to make judgements on what the document supports.

What does interest me is Feaster's "state of mind" or thought process through preparing the offer sheet. There seems to be possible 2 scenarios that may have happened.

Scenario 1: Feaster knew the NHL would put O'Reilly on waivers and planned to challenge it

This scenario is inexcusable for me. I don't care how solid a case Feaster would have presented. There is no way he can guarantee that a judge/mediator would agree with his position . Feaster would be gambling the 1st and 3rd rounders on the chance he could convince the league or get a ruling that O'Reilly would not have to clear waivers to play for the Flames. For a team like the Flames to lose a 1st and 3rd and receive nothing in return would be crippling.

It would be analagous on using the next few years of your mortgage payments to buy lottery tickets in the hopes of winning but ending up homeless. In this case Feaster should be let go.

Scenario 2: Feaster honestly didn't know that O'Reilly would have to pass through waivers

I think this is the more likely of the two scenarios. I do have to question how Feaster came up with his interpretation of 13.23. If a reasonable person with similar experience and education to that of Jay Feaster's can independently come up with the same interpretation as Feaster, then I guess his interpretation of 13.23 is valid as anyone's and he can be justified in not clarifying the rule with the league. This seems to be the case as supported by the reactions of O'Reilly's agent and other GMs. If this is indeed what happened I can't help but support Feaster even if he ended up losing the draft picks cause he did the job to the best of his abilities.

However, there is one caveat to this. I understand the MOU is vague and the GMs had no hand in writing it or the drafts for the final CBA, but as an NHL GM Feaster knows (or at least should know) the reasoning behind 13.23 (i.e. the spirit of why such a rule exists). If his interpretation violates the spirit of 13.23 but not the letter of it, he is naive not to think the league would have a different interpretation and should have called to clarify. In this case he can't objectively read and interpret the CBA and should be fired.

03-02-2013, 02:52 PM	#1310
sureLoss Some kinda newsbreaker! Join Date: May 2004 Location: Learning Phaneufs skating style Exp:	After digesting this for a while and reading the last 10 or so pages of this thread, this is my opinion. First of all, the intricacies of the CBA or the MOU is immaterial to me. I am not qualified nor do I have experience to draw on to make judgements on what the document supports. What does interest me is Feaster's "state of mind" or thought process through preparing the offer sheet. There seems to be possible 2 scenarios that may have happened. Scenario 1: Feaster knew the NHL would put O'Reilly on waivers and planned to challenge it This scenario is inexcusable for me. I don't care how solid a case Feaster would have presented. There is no way he can guarantee that a judge/mediator would agree with his position . Feaster would be gambling the 1st and 3rd rounders on the chance he could convince the league or get a ruling that O'Reilly would not have to clear waivers to play for the Flames. For a team like the Flames to lose a 1st and 3rd and receive nothing in return would be crippling. It would be analagous on using the next few years of your mortgage payments to buy lottery tickets in the hopes of winning but ending up homeless. In this case Feaster should be let go. Scenario 2: Feaster honestly didn't know that O'Reilly would have to pass through waivers I think this is the more likely of the two scenarios. I do have to question how Feaster came up with his interpretation of 13.23. If a reasonable person with similar experience and education to that of Jay Feaster's can independently come up with the same interpretation as Feaster, then I guess his interpretation of 13.23 is valid as anyone's and he can be justified in not clarifying the rule with the league. This seems to be the case as supported by the reactions of O'Reilly's agent and other GMs. If this is indeed what happened I can't help but support Feaster even if he ended up losing the draft picks cause he did the job to the best of his abilities. However, there is one caveat to this. I understand the MOU is vague and the GMs had no hand in writing it or the drafts for the final CBA, but as an NHL GM Feaster knows (or at least should know) the reasoning behind 13.23 (i.e. the spirit of why such a rule exists). If his interpretation violates the spirit of 13.23 but not the letter of it, he is naive not to think the league would have a different interpretation and should have called to clarify. In this case he can't objectively read and interpret the CBA and should be fired.