In my opinion the Flames tried to re-tool under Feaster. They went after Turris, O'Rielly, and constantly tried to get younger while keeping the same core. Feaster inherited a team that could not be re-tooled. A successful re-tool in my opinion is when the Canucks went from the Bertuzzi/NAslund/Morrison/Jovo group to the Sedins/Kesler/Edler group. They had homegrown talent that replaced the old core with only 2 playoff misses to show for it both of those teams were in the mix until late in the season.
Edmonton tried to do it in 07-09 by giving young players a chance and keeping a veteran core. The young lineup of Ganger, Cogliano, O'Sullivan, Brule, Nilsson to go with Horcoff, Hemsky, Penner was supposed to result in a solid playoff team once the young guys matured. The young guys outside of Ganger have not really panned out and they began to bottom out hard in 2010.
The Flames made a similar attempt but it certainly failed worse. Surrounding Iggy with aging players in Jokinen, and Tanguay. Sutter used to say Bourque, and Stajan were going to lead this team to the new era. He could not have been more wrong. Feaster tried to address these younger players by trading for Cammy, Stempniak and signing Hudler, Wideman and bringing in Comeau. To Feaster's credit he also tried for younger guys like Turris and RoR but didn't have the assets to get it done.
The Flames and Oilers HAD to rebuild when they did. The way the Canucks are built now they will also be in a similar territory in a couple years.
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