GGG, there had already been 2 players taken on re-entry waivers due to the same rule that would have applied to O'Reilly.
There was a precedent, and that rule hadn't be changed or negotiated on during the CBA. It's been the same rule since 2005.
All of this is absurd in the face of not calling the league and doing due diligence in a move designed to help 'win now' and keep Iginla on board with the club.
I'm not sure I'd move Monahan right now for O'Reilly, and at the time, Monahan could have been Jones or even Barkov.
There is no excusing it. All defense to the contrary seem to hinge on hoping the NHL wouldn't have have enforced a rule that wasn't up for negotiation at the time and hadn't changed in the previous CBA, in a misguided effort to save the season and keep Iginla in Calgary.
The motivation was bad, the plan was bad, the execution was bad and the resolution was bad.
Ever step of that blunder was in the wrong direction, from initiating the offer sheet in the beginning, to publicly disagreeing with the NHL by asserting their 'interpretation' of a rule that could have been clarified in a 10-20 minute conversation.
It has Ken King's fingerprints all over it in my opinion, but, Feaster was still there doing the paper work.
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