Mixed legacy for sure.
On the trade front I think Feaster does deserve credit for turning Erixon into Horak, Granlund and Wotherspoon. Bourque for Cammalleri was also a good deal for us. Bourque was a floater here and he's still a floater in Montreal; Cammalleri has been one of our best forwards since the trade. Russell and Colborne have also been good acquisitions.
His worst trade was probably the Regehr deal. He went for two 2nds at the deadline last year and the Flames should have got more than that for him on his own, considering he was two years younger and not a pending UFA. Instead, they combined him with Kotalik's bad contract in a trade and ended up with two marginal NHLers. That they also gave up a 2nd in the deal only added insult to injury. I know management didn't want to buy out Kotalik or bury him in the minors, but squandering one of your best assets for peanuts was not the way to do it.
Too early to tell with the Bouwmeester trade. Early indications on Poirier are good; Cundari and Berra less so. I have to wonder if they couldn't have gotten more for him had they agreed to pay part of his salary. They have the cap space and the contract's up at the end of this year.
With Iginla, the issue was more timing than the actual return. In hindsight, they should have traded him after the 2011 season. It would have taken a lot of guts, and there aren't many GMs (and ever fewer ownership groups) who would trade their star and the face of their franchise unless forced into it. As it was, the return they got was about the best they could hope for given the circumstances.
Overall, Feaster's free agent signings were not good. Hudler has looked very good, both as a player and a mentor for their young forwards. Wideman, while not a bad player, was signed for too much money for too long a term in my opinion. We can also consider ourselves lucky that Feaster didn't sign Brad Richards or Ryan Smyth to a long term deal. And, of course there was the near debacle of the Ryan O'Reilly offer sheet.
Much has been made of the improved drafting and prospect pool, and while Feaster and co. do deserve some credit, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that both have gone from abysmal to about average in both departments IMO. The prospect pool is decent, but not great. Lots of guys with 2nd-3rd line/2nd or 3rd pairing potential, a few forwards with 1st line potential and no top pairing defense prospects (goalies are always a crap shoot).
As far as drafting, no real issues with the Baertschi or Monahan picks. In perfect 20/20 hindsight, the Flames should have stayed at 14th overall in 2012 and picked Hertl. For me the real test of how good the Flames drafting really was under Feaster is how the later 1st round picks as well as the players drafted in later rounds turn out.
Overall, I think Feaster was put in a difficult situation and had to make a number of trades under less than ideal circumstances. At the same time, he didn't help himself much either.
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