Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
The Flames did ask for Iginla's input and originally he expressed that he was open to either Boston or Pitt. Then when they brought the options to him - he said Pitt only.
You can say that the failure was perhaps not getting that stuff in writing, but I don't know that it changes the outcome at all.
And the Boston deal ended up being no better.
I've always felt the mistake that deadline was not how they handled Iginla (the mistake there was not trading him at least 1 year prior) but rather getting tunnel vision to trade Bouwmeester who had term remaining. If that deal was the best they could get for Bouw (1st + two very meh prospects) then they should have kept him and tried to get more the next deadline.
|
The Bouwmeester trade is where you see just how bad that management group was. There was no deadline. They chose the prospects they wanted, and a 1st. It was just bad management.
At the same time, ripping off the band-aid and going in a new direction is worth something. We ended up drafting Monahan that summer, and who knows...maybe we would have got stuck with Nikita Zadarov, Curtis Lazar, Kerby Rychel, or Hunter Shinkaruk if we had drafted a spot or two worse than 6th where we got Monahan.
That deadline, and the following summer is the only time this organization has ever done anything with an eye on short term pain for long-term gain. That 13/14 season was the only season this team prioritized the following season's draft spot ahead of immediate results.