Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
Iginla would have had that #1C if Button had not thrown him away because a terrible coach didn't like him.
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It was never going to work with Marc in Calgary, there was no future there. He quit on the team, publically demanded a trade and was a ######bag in general, poisoning any chance at reconciliation. Can't fault that part on Button, but you can fault him for how protracted the dispute became, how he chose to back Gilbert instead of firing him before he fired him anyway, and how he helped nuke his own player's value through his bungling of said situation. Marc had to grow up and mature, it's too bad he couldn't have done it somewhere else before coming here in a trade for our 27th ranked prospect, but that's how it goes sometimes.
The big miss was not pursuing Thornton more aggressively when he was available. Not sure if the rumored package of Regehr/Yelle/Kobesew was legit or not, but you have to think Sutter could've topped SJ's meager offering if he really wanted to. Personally I think sacrificing RR would've been well worth it to acquire a top 5 center, however I believe Sutter was still too enamored with certain players following the run in 04, but we'll never know the full story.