Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
It's difficult to compare without knowing the exact situation he was in. One mistake fans often make is that they assume GMs for every team have the exact same roles. It's true that the GM has to "ok" which players are drafted, but not all GMs are explicitly picking those players. The success of these GMs hinges on the people they have on their staff and how much stock they put into them. Feaster seems like this type of GM. It's often been mentioned that Button, Weisbrod and even Conroy are the guys coming up with the selections.
We don't know if Tampa was structured like this or even he was able to hand pick the people he wanted (and the fact Tod Button is still around makes me think he doesn't have 100% control here either, but on the other hand, Tod Button has survived like 4 GMs now, so maybe he deserves it).
On some teams though, the GM exercises 100% control. Sutter was probably more along those lines (at least in the early rounds).
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I understand that Feaster ins't the "hockey" guy and he's admitted as much. I know that he leans on his staff to make recommendations and do as such so it's not like I think he's just asking their opinion for the sake of it and not considering it.
What I do find alarming is his history of being apart of organizations where high risk players are consistently taken and have for all intensive purposes a 100% bust rate. Zainullin, Alexeev, Svitov(and Lecavalier) were his top 35 picks as an AGM, and guys like Egener, Rogers, Mihalik, Helenius(and Stamkos) are his picks inside 35 as a GM in Tampa.
I mean, is it not weird that aside from the two absolutely can't miss guys(both of which were selected with orders from ownership) that he has a history of selecting big guys(smallest was 6'3, tallest 6'7) who "if they grow into their frame" or "are raw but tools and frame are there" "is a few years away" are ALWAYS taken by teams in which Jay Feaster has a high level of say in the process? Sven Baertschi is the ONLY prospect Jay Feaster has taken who doesn't match that description and he's already Feaster's best ever selection for a high pick in which he had a real decision on his hands.
I mean, he's drafted in the top 35 9 times in his career and of those 9, 8 are these hulking prospects who are high risk/high reward and he's whiffed(being polite) on 7 of those(Jankowski still up has time).
He also seems to be involved in picking players that are less well known due to leagues they play in. Helenius was picked because he played well in a u-18 tournament, Svitov played 5 games in his draft year(and had drifted between the Russian Superleague and the Russian 3rd league the years prior), Mihalik out of the Slovakian 2nd division, and Zainullin out of a weak Russian Superleague. And he just nabbed someone from Canadian high school.
Feaster has shown a history of patterns, and he makes it clear he isn't the talent evaluator in the room or anything like that, but in a position of power he always comes home with the same kind of prospect, taken out of leagues that make them look a lot better than they are and has whiffed on every single one of them.
And it's not like he finds late round gems either....I think he's drafted 1 guy who wasn't a plug in all his drafts as GM. Not that he founds those good depth guys either.