I don't fault Iggy much for picking Pittsburgh.
It's another sign of utterly inept management that they didn't bother to get his list confirmed in writing as is the standard operating procedure with NTC/NMC clauses.
Once again, they thought they were smarter than everyone else and after a decade of giving Iginla free reign, their last act of free reign with him cost a significant return and public embarrassment.
Just another in a long list of utter failures from management.
They gave Iginla the keys to the castle and hoped he'd let them in. What a stupid decision, but so utterly unsurprising from this group that it wouldn't shock me to see it happen again with another player that ownership 'likes'.
God help us if Sven or this year's top 10 pick shows signs of being a good player and Murray Edwards takes a shine to him.
I blame Iginla for the kind of player he has become, that's all on him. But if you're too stupid to call the league before an offersheet, or to get your pending free agent's list in writing, well, there's not much that can save you. If you're too stupid not to gauge what a player can do for your team at this stage of their career, or if you're too stupid to see what's obviously coming, well, that's not on your star player who you've bent over backwards to accommodate, that's on your bs management skill. Stupid sucks and can be forgiven. This is hubris, though; Arrogance. Arrogance gets what it deserves.
In hindsight Iginla made a bad choice, but he got what he wanted. Calgary has been facilitating this for years. Iginla wants things a certain why, the franchise does their best to make it happen. This trade, the previous history, Tanguay as a boat anchor right now, all these things aren't an issue if the team takes a pragmatic approach to their superstar and doesn't preoccupy itself with running the team the way the star player wants it run.
Had the Flames made it clear they needed his 4 teams in a binding format, and Iginla baulks, this whole ordeal is different, no spurned lovers, none of that. Instead, they once again acquiesce to this guy, helping him make a bad decision.
It's like not re-signing a hockey genius in Brent Sutter in favour of an 'exciting', 'up-tempo' coach in Hartley only to watch it come crashing down around them. Iginla, left to his own devices, will make bad decisions like this. If you let him, he won't change his game to be more effective, he'll still think he's a goal scorer. It's up to management and coaches to say, somewhere along the line, that you're not bigger than the team. It's necessary tough love.
Had Brent gotten through to Iginla about becoming a reliable defensive player, he could've chosen pittsburgh and been a difference maker instead of a liability. Had the organization been less chummy, Brent's message might have gotten through. Instead, it turned out to be a 'him or me' situation and now the franchise has neither.
It really sucks for me watching this Flames team spiral like this as a result of a decade of poor decision making, planning and execution. All the chickens are coming home to roost, and if you think of Tanguay and his contract, they haven't even all arrived yet.
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