Quote:
Originally Posted by Phanuthier
Yeah I don't think he can justify all this cap-jail stuff when he goes out to try and get Brad Richards / Ryan Smyth with that money, and ended up using it on Alex Tanguay when it all failed. We might have been in "cap jail" but he didn't end up doing much better using that money on Alex Tanguay / David Jones, and Denis Wideman.
As for prospects...... again meh, if he's talking about those 2nd round picks, I thought the 2nd rounders were well used.
I personally don't think he should be very proud of what he did at all.....
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Everyone keeps harping on the same crap. Lets try to look at them objectively.
- He didn't try to get Ryan Smyth, it is all rumours based on Smyth saying he wanted to come back to Alberta. So the press jumps on that Calgary and Edmonton are looking at Smyth which was false and has no basis in facts.
- Trying to sign Brad Richards. A move to finally get someone to play with Iggy and keep him happy. In hindsight it is great it didn't work out but if had shown up and scored 70 points with Iggy the Flames may have snuck into the playoffs and everyone would be bitching about needing a rebuild.
- Getting junk assets for Iginla (in others opinions) could be true, but I wonder if Pittsburgh (Iginla's only choice to move to, which everyone conveniently forgets) would rather have Agostino/Hanowski/Poirier instead of 2 months of Iggy? Every year towards the end of Iggy's time in Calgary he would give the standard answer about wanting to win here. Should they have traded him 2 years earlier, sure, but they couldn't as he held the hammer. As long as the team kept bringing in "his" guys he was happy. When the Flames decided to move on from trying to qualify for the playoffs and told him they were going to rebuild he then relented and agreed to move, TO ONE TEAM ONLY.
_ I didn't like the Bouw trade but that's because I liked the player and didn't want to see him go?
- Regehr had to go and has shown since he was moved that he is now a 6-7 defenceman on both Buffalo and LA. His injuries over time slowed him down too much and he wouldn't have helped the Flames as proven by his previous 2 years in Calgary before he left. We all loved Regehr for years but it was time. The 2 players they got back were serviceable during the start of the rebuild stage.
- Kotalik and a 2nd for a cap dump. Who cares, it was worth it to stop the team from paying him $3M to play in the minors and not have to use a buyout on him.
- ROR "fiasco". As has been stated it was a legal interpretation about the wording of the clause. The league has never outright said that ROR would have to clear waivers because they didn't have to comment on it as the Avs matched. But they did adjust the wording in the final document so the lawyer in Feaster would probably have won if they had to appeal any ruling.
- Kipper retiring. Everyone knew he wasn't playing the last year of his contract. It was a bogus year to drive down the AAV.
- Tanguay and Sarich. Again, if healthy David Jones plays more of the style the Flames want to change to. He is bigger, faster and hits with the ability to score goals. Tanguay - doesn't try if he isn't allowed to play with who he wants. Sarich was a good soldier but remember he was a healthy scratch for years in Calgary. The Flames thought they were getting a rougher guy in SOB but it didn't turn out that way. They sent him to the minors and bought him out so not a big deal, it's not my money.
In all of these instances not one effected the Flames as much as 11 NTC/NMC and being at the cap did. By the Flames trying to squeek into the playoffs to keep Iggy happy they screwed themselves out of the chance to draft a highly rated guy for years and had no prospect base to speak of. Once the ownership and management decided to rebuild a new core of players Feaster did a decent job of getting rid of dollars, which directly meant he had to trade all the older high priced players. Did he get back the best returns, probably not, but he created room for younger players and cap space so they can pursue assets when they begin to develop. I have no problem with the direction they chose to move.