No matter whatever perceived mandate Feaster may have, the roster Feaster's built in the past couple years are, as I said before, almost anti-Sutter. Almost as if it is to show everyone how he can change things completely from the bad taste that he perceives people seem to have about the D. Sutter era....big=bad...small and skilled=good.
He's focused on smaller, skilled guys, which are fine for the top 4 or 5 to go with Iginla. A top #1 centre which has been needed for the past decade to assist the pure goal scorer Iginla is still waiting to be seen from Feaster's promises. Jokinen was as close as they got. Also bigger power skilled forward would be nice too, but that's asking a lot for the top 6.
The big issue for me is the 3rd line. Feaster's got a more skilled rather than an big, cycling energy line which it should be to dominate. Games last night show how Sutters Big=Good mentality across the bottom 2.5 lines makes such a difference in puck possession and in game momentum. Feaster wanted the third line guy Comeau for 2 years, as an example of this thinking.
4th line is actually ok, if the third line was more physical and dominating. Having the 4th line try to be the energy/spark line is just not going to work, as those guys can't take the ice time or have the skills to do that job properly.
Not getting a solid physical defenseman for the top 4...love Sarich and he was an ironman until the Keenan days, and is a physical defenseman. But Feaster took a risk on, as his injury issue last year was basically the end, but Feaster went an re-signed him anyways. Its clear he's basically done with that hip issue that doesn't sound like its going to get better. Whether Gio thinks he has to be that physical guy (which he's not), but he's struggling and has since Sutter left to be honest to find any sort of niche with this team.
Toss in Kirpusoff's injury, and is taking a bit longer to get up to speed in the short offseason and then the rush to get back in the lineup, certainly doesn't help the way the things are going in the result column.
Bottom line, win now mandate or not, this roster is built too small. The effort has been there most if not all nights, even last night when down by 3 or 4, and as a positive, Hartley's new offensive style for the top 2 lines (and a guy like Boumeester) is working...but the fact that the Flames are not more physically built on the third line, and on the top 4 defenseman, has them pushed around most nights and not being able to establish that momentum that teams needs from such shifts, and I believe that's a philosophical error that Feaster has made in building this roster.
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