Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanCharles
The rebuild began, behind the curtains, as soon as Feaster took over the job. The Flames were built improperly and Feaster moved out most of the bad contracts to give us both cap and roster flexibility. In the process he also acquired some useful pieces in Cammalleri, Ramo and Stempniak while swapping out declining players in Bourque, Regher and Langkow.
I think their plan was to always make the playoffs, don't get me wrong, but I think there was always an understanding that the team, as it was built at the time, was on the decline and an organizational shift of focus to the draft and getting younger was needed.
The rebuild may not have officially started until the end of last year but given the amount of work that Feaster and co. have put into redeveloping a younger roster and deeper prospect pool the last few years I think we are further along than most think.
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Fair points, but I think by your line of thinking pretty much any change in team building focus becomes a rebuild. That to me is stretching the term way too far.
I agree it's likely that Feaster was aware from the beginning of his stint (which btw was less than 3 years ago) that he might be leading the team into a rebuild. It was also apparent to a lot of people that our prospect pool was a mess and needed to improve, and getting better at drafting and development was clearly a priority.
However, putting more focus on scouting and prospect development is not a rebuild, nor is preparing for something that might be coming. It's simply smart hockey management that every succesful team needs to do anyway.
In February 2011 Feaster traded a draft pick for Fredrik Modin. Even if it was just a minor trade, it's a clear signal of the mindset of the organization at the time; trade picks for veterans, hope for playoffs. Even as close as 2012, Feaster made zero trades at trade deadline and kept talking about the playoffs. (...and
did people ever hate him back then...)
I recommend going back to Feasters season ending press conference from 2012. If you want me to guess when did Feaster decide that the rebuild is going to happen, I'd point to that spring. I think the disappointment in the old core is pretty clearly there, even though it's slightly between the lines.
http://video.flames.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=171443&catid=11
Since there wasn't much he could actually do before the start of the shortened last season, I think it's perfectly fair to say that the rebuild started March 28th 2013 with the trade of Jarome Iginla. Or slightly before that, if you count the preparation for that trade.
So IMO we're either 7 months into the rebuild, or if we start counting from when Feaster might have decided that it's going to happen, about a year and a half.
(I don't see how bringing in McGrattan is really any sign of a rebuild. Those kinds of trades happen all the time anyway.)
As to Strombads argument that we're into year four, that's just crazy talk. That would put the start of the rebuild somewhere in the middle of the Brent Sutter years.