I would like to wade in on this particular subject. As I recall most people thought that when Jay Feaster took over it would take years to rebuild a team that had uninspired post apex players in the core, that was also full of no movement, no trade clauses, and a prospect system that lacked one thing; prospects, not to mention salary cap issues.
As I recall Jay approached ownership with two plans. Putting two and two together you had to think that one option was a tear down rebuild, he obviously knew the cupboards were bare, anyone with a meddling interest in the team knew that, and I am sure the other was what ownership wanted, ride that horse until it breathes its last.
I personally think that in about 3-5 years the Feaster tenure in Calgary will be looked at very differently when several of his key acquisitions and draft picks become core players, yes including Jankowski.
Feasters trade record is the mainstay of discussion, Iginla, they may have botched the details, but that is all they are, details, Iggy had every card in that particular scenario. Jay, huge cap hit with a player that had underachieved for two years. this one is the one that I think we did not get a decent return on but, not totally out there either, they weren't handing out firsts in that draft, we had three. Regher, If he wasn't playing for Darryl in that style and that team, sorry he wouldn't look so good. Which leads me to Paul Byron; criminally underrated as far as I am concerned around here. As far as my prospect list is concerned, if you want to play in Calgary, Byron, Reinhart, and Ortio are at the top of my draft poll, and if you want to play, you have to play better than them, and when the coach is saying he was the best player in the second half of the year, that says something to me.
Save the best for last; ROR. Feaster is a lawyer, on staff or ownership not sure which, is one of the guys that drafted the new CBA, As far as I am concerned Jay probably had it right, and the league had to go back and cover their collective asses. If someone can prove it for sure before the fiasco started and asses were covered feel free to let me know, but nothing I saw proved Feaster wrong.
Did Feaster do an incredible job, no. Did he do a terrible job as some people claim, sorry but no; at the end of the day you can't polish a turd, and that is what Jay took over, not to mention he was the one that got the first effective coach in quite some time here, and had to deal with ownership that were making decision by the dollar and not what was best for the team.
He was let go because he did what he was supposed to do, take out the garbage. The new G.M can now walk in without the stink of having to do the dirty work, like clean out all of the no trade clauses, trade the face of the franchise who had essentially taken over the team whether he intended it or not, try to restock an almost nonexistent prospect base with a ton of contract issues, to a crowd that has little patience. His track record is not at the top and certainly better than some at the bottom who still have jobs.
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