Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Yamoto
Oh Please. When Darryl Sutter was named GM the Flames hadn't made the playoffs in 7 seasons and were often playing in front of crowds less than 11,000. Without Sutter coming on board we could possibly be talking about the Portland Flames, and their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Heat.
He saved the franchise.
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Did he save the Oilers and the Senators as well? They were both on the verge of relocating. Or could it be the rise of the Canadian dollar that saved all the small-market Canadian teams?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mister Yamoto
Made them respectable again. Sure he lost his mind for one full calendar year.
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It wasn't one calendar year of madness that drive this team into the ditch. It was years of bad drafting and development, no plan to replace aging core players, and bad cap management.
Fans get too hung up on trades. In my opinion, the main jobs of an NHL GM, in order of importance, are:
- Drafting and development
- Cap management
- Trades
Sutter was terrible at the first two, mixed on the last. And the best GMs make few trades, because they don't have to.
The mess Sutter left the team in - and I said this before he was even fired - would take 5-6 years to clean up. And that's once upper management and ownership got on board with a rebuild. They didn't do that until less than a calendar year ago. We have a long rebuild ahead. We have to draft an entirely new core, because we didn't manage our assets wisely enough to build one any other way.
Feaster took on the GM job for a franchise that was widely regarded as having the worst prospects going forward of any team in the NHL. He was a janitor, brought in to clean up the garbage contracts, move out the veterans, and then get turfed. He was never a long-term solution. But he's also not responsible for the long-term fortunes of the team. That lies with the GM who made no moves with the future in mind, and ownership who let him do it because they were in love with their aging franchise player.