Drafts are a difficult thing to gauge a GM's ability on.
For instance, did Darryl Sutter really suck at drafting? Probably at first, but there was barely any scouts employed by Calgary when he took over. Being a rookie GM made it even more difficult, as he probably didn't which scouts he could count on - who to fire and which scouts available to bring in. You make a change, and you might not know what effect that change has had until years down the road.
Sutter deserves credit for having identified a few traits of what to look for in prospects (IQ, Character) and for growing the drafting and development side of the organization.
Feaster deserves credit for realizing he isn't a good talent evaluator, and deferring to Todd Button, who continued to rely on 'IQ and Character'. Feaster also added additional scouts to the fold.
I have no idea if Burke and/or Treliving touched upon anything. There was a mandate for the Flames to 'find guys in the later rounds who could play' - but they go and draft guys like Mangiapane and Phillips.
I really believe that as fans, we don't really have any idea if a GM deserves any credit for any particular draft, except for longer-term GMs in the league who have built their scouting departments and are reaping the rewards. GMs that are around for 5 years or less, it becomes really tough to give them credit for anything. Did Feaster deserve a lot of credit for the drafts that happened under him, or were they just carry-over from the Sutter years as things became more defined and the scouts built a better reputation that GMs could more readily trust? I actually have on idea.
What I like to see is when drafting has sucked for years, I like to see a GM make major changes. When the drafting has been good for years, and the scouting staff have been in place for years, I like a GM that doesn't make changes other than some tinkering for continual improvement. Both cases deserve credit for just seeing that changes need to be made, or no major changes need to be made simply because a new GM might want to have 'his guys' on board.
I don't know who Feaster let go, and who he hired, and what the new hires he brought on pushed for at each draft. No idea if it was good or bad, or if it was just Todd Button running a tight ship.
We also like to think that picking Bennett and Tkachuk were 'easy picks', but we also don't know what the conversations were with trading that pick as teams offered, or what the conversations were with trying to move up the draft. Another GM may have bit on a trade proposal (moving up or down) and could have done better or worse at that draft.
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