I am about to offend some of you...
Jay Feaster attended a top-14 law school in the US. This means that he is likely in the top 2% of the population when it comes to intelligence. It is a fact that he is significantly smarter than the VAST majority on this message board. To think that he somehow made a mistake and simply did not understand the market, a market that he has spent his career in, is a very unreasonable position to take here.
The market is what it is. To think that Feaster just simply did not explore his options is just ridiculous.
The fact of the matter is that this is likely the highest pick we could possibly have hoped to receive for any player. Bottom teams are not willing to move their top 15 picks for mature players. It has of course been argued that the pick may not be this year. This is a risk that we have taken. However if the pick turns out to be in 2014, there is also a chance the Blues tank and we end up with a top 10 pick next year. The prospects are bonus here and someone in the organization sees value in them.
Do I think Feaster is a fantastic GM? Hell no. But, the arguments being slung here that he didn't get proper value for Bouwmeester are just plain ignorant.
The honest flames fan understands that this team is at least 3 years away from playing any meaningful hockey. By meaningful I mean icing a team that has a realistic chance at contending for the cup. Jay Bouwmeester is not the player that will be on this hypothetical team. Neither is Iginla. We have to move forward from this position and these moves have been made so that we have a chance at developing the next batch of Flames stars.
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