[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by New Era

@powederjunkie

Well, we did have the two GMs in the deal basically say the same thing about how the deal went down, and they were consistent in their takes, so maybe it is you that is just refusing to accept what went down? I don't think there is much speculation left here. Iginla provided the Flames a list, per his agent, and then reneged at the last second. I think fans may have been okay with that had Iginla not signed with the Bruins a few months later. Spin it all you want but Iginla ####ed the Flames on his way out the door.

Their stories may be consistent, and in the end they just demonstrate that Iginla acted in his own self-interest with the leverage he had available to him. If he verbally told Feaster the Bruins trade was good to go and then changed his mind before putting pen to paper that would be one thing, but the only goof here is Feaster telling Chiarelli it was a done deal, when it obviously wasn't.

Various Feaster quotes:

"I approached Jarome and had a number of conversations with him about where we are and where we want to go moving forward," said Feaster, describing the process that ended with a "yea" or "nay" from Iginla. "In the final analysis we had offers from three different clubs. The player in this particular case has a no-trade/no-move clause, so the player was also a part of the process. We worked with the player, and we concluded a deal this evening with the Pittsburgh Penguins."


"I had a number of conversations with Jarome and asked him to submit a list of teams. He provided a list of teams." We had offers from 3 different clubs. In this case (Jarome) had a NMC and we worked with the player. (Jarome)." ~ Jay Feaster

In terms of the actual trade itself… we were talking to the teams (Jarome) put on his list and then once we had offers, and we had multiple offers, then we went about the process of working with (Jarome)… ~ Jay Feaster


We had multiple offers and again at the end of the day it is a process of working with (Jarome) and he has a role to play… and ultimately (Jarome) has a role to play in where he waives too… ~ Jay Feaster


“We were talking to the teams the player had put on his list. Once we had offers from teams – and we had multiple offers – we then went about the process of working with the player. The player still has to agree to waive the no-trade, no-move.

“So ultimately it all came together in the game tonight … In this instance, the deal we consummated, this is where the player was prepared to waive for.”

Sureloss paraphrase:

Feaster says on TSN he thought there was 4 destinations for Iginla.

Feaster says Iginla rejected Boston.

Iginla's agent told Feaster you may have a deal with Boston but you don't have a deal with us.

King (paraphrase post on CP)

King also made the comment to McCowan on primetime sports that if he could have done it again, he would make Iginla sign a waiver. This was a few days after the trade.

Chiarelli:

“We relied on the fact that we had a deal,” Chiarelli told reporters, according to the Boston Globe. “Now, these things happen all the time, more than you know, about deals going south for whatever reason. We believed we had a deal. We operated on the premise that we had a deal. When things were silent, in my experience, when things go silent, things are usually going screwy from your end. And it was.”

Iginla:

“I talked to Jay and wanted it to be a mutual thing that they were happy with the deal they got,” Iginla explained. “If I was going to leave here, I wanted the best opportunity to try to win.

We don't know the initial conversation when getting Iginla's list of teams. Obviously that list was in pencil, and Iginla was going to have the final say at the end of the day. Could the Flames have been more aggressive up front with Iginla and removed any future uncertainty? Of course, though Iginla would still have been within his rights to refuse to waive his airtight NTC without having final say. The Flames could have made the final year of his contract a limited NTC clause when they signed it, but they didn't.

Iginla acted in his own self-interest. If you think that is screwing the Flames, then fair enough. The closest to screwing the Flames Iginla could have come is going the Mats Sundin route, and even then I wouldn't fault him one bit (I might question his desire to win a cup vs. his dedication to his family, but even then I wouldn't question his integrity as a person whichever side he came down on).

Iginla didn't owe the Flames anything more, and the Flames didn't owe him anything more. Both parties fulfilled the contracts they signed. Would it have been nice if Iginla wasn't a part of the country club culture that developed? Of course. That would be my only gripe with Iginla, IMO it is ridiculous to be upset with him regarding the trade.