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.
Feaster and co. hit the jackpot in 2011 by drafting Baertschi, Gaudreau, Wotherspoon, Granlund and Broissot. All players that either already have or likely by seasons end will have already turned pro and all show strong promise.
In 2012 Jankowski, Sieloff and Gillies were picked with our top 3 selections. Any arguments on those picks now?
We all know how well we did in the last draft so no need to mention it in great detail.
Feasters first 3 drafts here have stocked our cupboards with promising prospects. He also made some savvy trades of 4ths and 5ths for Russell, Galiardi, Knight and Colborne that will also contribute to the future.
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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I love posts like this. That the Flames started a clandestine rebuild is one of the most persistent but absurd myths that gets tossed around here.
What Feaster did when he was first installed wasn't a rebuild. He returned the Flames to the mean level of organizational competence by investing in statistics and video, by carving off unproductive and expensive contracts, and by trying to get some youth in the lineup. What he implemented is what most teams had already been doing for years. If anything your post is just a damnation of the Sutter years and the gross incompetence that defined it.
If we were truly rebuilding before even the middle of the last season would we have been offering essentially Monahan for O'Reilly? Would we have traded a 2nd rounder for Paul Byron? Would we have traded Bourque for Cammalleri? Would we have sat on Jackman's one statistically anamalous season to make a push for the playoffs? Would we have had one draft with more than 7 picks or a drafts with no 1st rounder or 2nd rounders?
I give Feaster alot of credit for trying to rebuild the organization after the walls burned down around Sutter but to say we were rebuilding is just not at all consistent with reality. We were in "go for it and to hell with the future" up until midway to last season and to almost disastrous effect.
With that in mind, and getting back on topic, there's little role for a UFA Cammalleri on a rebuilding team. The Flames shouldn't be in the business of rewarding old veterans with offers to re-sign them. We need a cold-eyed and ruthless commitment to acquire highly skilled youth on this squad. When that happens we can support them with some veteran scoring down the road. But until then there are still major pieces missing to get this team back to a contender. That's the priority and that's accomplished by having more "bullets in the chamber" as one poster put it at the draft.