What is Feaster's (and co.) goal?

[Sakari]

Let's play make believe.

It's 10 games away from the final game of the 2013 NHL regular season. The Calgary Flames sit in the 9th seed in the west, 3 points out of a playoff spot. In these 10 games, the Calgary Flames play .800 hockey, going 8-2-0 in the final stretch of the season. They make the playoffs! They sit in 8th place, 3 points above the Dallas Stars. CP and the city of Calgary go wild! The streets are buzzing.

Let's move forward a bit.

The Flames are playing in the 6th game of their series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The series is 3-2 Blackhawks. It's now or never for the Flames. They play a strong first period, the score sits at 1-1. Chicago comes out of the doors with their game faces on. The period starts. The Blackhawks score 20 seconds into the period. 2-1. They score again. 3-1. By the end of the period, the score is 4-1 Hawks. Crawford stops 15 shots in the 2nd frame. Kiprusoff stops 6. The Flames come out of the gates in the 3rd skating, but end up giving up 3 more goals. The Hawks take the series, 4-2, embarrassing the Flames 7-1 in the final game. This weak, short-lived playoff stint gives the management hope. Iginla re-signs. They make small changes in the off-season. The team comes back, and completely repeats the previous season. This continues for 5 years.

I am all too afraid that this is exactly what will happen to the Flames.

Feaster's goal, in his entire stint with the Flames, has been clear-cut. Make the playoffs. What is every single every other ####ing teams goal? To win the Stanley Cup. Why? Because, for nearly the past century, that has been the most prestigious award you can win in ALL of sport outside of the Olympics, it takes the most work, drive, and passion to win. The Flames lack all 3 of those qualities, which is why our goal is to make the playoffs, not win the Cup.

Why is this Feaster's goal? Does he honestly believe that this tiny, heartless team can drive right into the heart of the playoffs? He must. After much consideration, I'm pretty much 100 percent against Feaster. Cleaning out the coaching staff wasn't the problem. King, Feaster, and everyone around them needs to go. We need a fresh start, we need a 1-2 year rebuild. I sound like a broken record, all of this has been said. But when the managements goal is essentially to break the hearts of the most important part of their team, the fans, there's a huge problem. And that is exactly what this team has been doing since the 1990 season.

The goal needs to be to build a Stanley Cup roster worthy of contention, not a roster that will, without a doubt, lose in the first rounds of the playoffs year after year, and that is final.

And Feaster certainly won't give us that.

[trackercowe]

It honestly appears that their only goal is to make sure 19,289 butts are in the seat for every game; not sure they care as much if the fans go home happy with a Flames victory.

[VladtheImpaler]

To hold on to his last NHL job as long as possible before resuming his career as a blogger for THN.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

To hold on to his last NHL job as long as possible before resuming his career as a blogger for THN.

Ruthless, but fair. This was his last kick at the can and he knows it, and he blew it.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by Sakari

Feaster's goal, in his entire stint with the Flames, has been clear-cut. Make the playoffs. What is every single every other ####ing teams goal? To win the Stanley Cup.

I don't think that's true at all. There are maybe a half dozen teams who have consistently been in the playoffs the past few years who are thinking it's Stanley Cup or bust, but pretty much everyone else is just trying to get in (preferably with a decent seed) and then will hope for the best.

Where most of those teams differ from us is that they've actually got a decent chance of getting in, while we're counting on a miracle.

[GGG]

We are getting to the end of the cycle. In retrospect trading iggy for schenn, simmonds and a first would have started the rebuild sooner but not really changed the duration of it. Instead management decided that while we have the best player to ever play for the flames and a vezina caliber goalie we will take our best shot at winning. I think this was a reasonable approach despite the long odds.

This year is clearly different, we arent competitive at all, the Jarome Iginla era of the flames is clearly over. As long as management realizes this at this deadline I am okay with how the last three years were handled.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by Sakari

Let's play make believe....It's 10 games away from the final game of the 2013 NHL regular season. The Calgary Flames sit in the 9th seed in the west, 3 points out of a playoff spot.

A solid start. I'm having a hard time seeing it in my mind's eye, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Originally Posted by Sakari

Let's play make believe....They make the playoffs!

You've almost lost me, step your game up.

Originally Posted by Sakari

Let's play make believe....What is every single every other ####ing teams goal? To win the Stanley Cup.

Game stepped up, nice recovery. Build on that momentum!

Originally Posted by Sakari

Let's play make believe....we need a 1-2 year rebuild.

That is very make believe, you're really running with it now!

Originally Posted by Sakari

Let's play make believe....the managements goal is essentially to break the hearts of the most important part of their team, the fans...

I tip my hat to you. Bravo.

[nate12]

Originally Posted by Sakari

Let's play make believe.

It's 10 games away from the final game of the 2013 NHL regular season. The Calgary Flames sit in the 9th seed in the west, 3 points out of a playoff spot. In these 10 games, the Calgary Flames play .800 hockey, going 8-2-0 in the final stretch of the season. They make the playoffs! They sit in 8th place, 3 points above the Dallas Stars. CP and the city of Calgary go wild! The streets are buzzing.

Let's move forward a bit.

The Flames are playing in the 6th game of their series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The series is 3-2 Blackhawks. It's now or never for the Flames. They play a strong first period, the score sits at 1-1. Chicago comes out of the doors with their game faces on. The period starts. The Blackhawks score 20 seconds into the period. 2-1. They score again. 3-1. By the end of the period, the score is 4-1 Hawks. Crawford stops 15 shots in the 2nd frame. Kiprusoff stops 6. The Flames come out of the gates in the 3rd skating, but end up giving up 3 more goals. The Hawks take the series, 4-2, embarrassing the Flames 7-1 in the final game. This weak, short-lived playoff stint gives the management hope. Iginla re-signs. They make small changes in the off-season. The team comes back, and completely repeats the previous season. This continues for 5 years.

I am all too afraid that this is exactly what will happen to the Flames.

Feaster's goal, in his entire stint with the Flames, has been clear-cut. Make the playoffs. What is every single every other ####ing teams goal? To win the Stanley Cup. Why? Because, for nearly the past century, that has been the most prestigious award you can win in ALL of sport outside of the Olympics, it takes the most work, drive, and passion to win. The Flames lack all 3 of those qualities, which is why our goal is to make the playoffs, not win the Cup.

Why is this Feaster's goal? Does he honestly believe that this tiny, heartless team can drive right into the heart of the playoffs? He must. After much consideration, I'm pretty much 100 percent against Feaster. Cleaning out the coaching staff wasn't the problem. King, Feaster, and everyone around them needs to go. We need a fresh start, we need a 1-2 year rebuild. I sound like a broken record, all of this has been said. But when the managements goal is essentially to break the hearts of the most important part of their team, the fans, there's a huge problem. And that is exactly what this team has been doing since the 1990 season.

The goal needs to be to build a Stanley Cup roster worthy of contention, not a roster that will, without a doubt, lose in the first rounds of the playoffs year after year, and that is final.

And Feaster certainly won't give us that.

Its quite obvious that we need a rebuild, but the "win now" mantra i think is ownerships call, not necessarily Feasters. Whats happening right now is the best thing to happen to this franchise since their cup run. They are being forced to turn the page on the Iginla/ Kiprusoff era of the franchise. If they can keep on losing we'll almost be guaranteed an up and coming player to build the franchise around, instead of a fading 35 year old Iginla. We wont have to get "creative" about drafting mid round players in the draft, and hoping they pan out. Which for the flames, lets be honest, rarely ever happens. I havent been this excited about the flames in a long time

[BACKCHECK!!!]

What is Feaster's (and co.) goal?

Make mo' money.

There are a lot of other subsidiary goals, ie keep NHL hockey in Calgary, and contribute to the city's community, children's charities, minor hockey, etc.

All of which require the team to make money.

I don't begrudge the owners their desire to make money, and I don't blame them for being shy about deliberately tanking their team.

But now that they've tanked against their will, i think it's time to bite the bullet and have a fire sale.

[really?]

Originally Posted by GGG

We are getting to the end of the cycle. In retrospect trading iggy for schenn, simmonds and a first would have started the rebuild sooner but not really changed the duration of it. Instead management decided that while we have the best player to ever play for the flames and a vezina caliber goalie we will take our best shot at winning. I think this was a reasonable approach despite the long odds.

This year is clearly different, we arent competitive at all, the Jarome Iginla era of the flames is clearly over. As long as management realizes this at this deadline I am okay with how the last three years were handled.

It may have been a reasonable approach, but ultimately good management requires a sense of what the future holds, and the wisdom and courage to take bold steps. Feaster and the collective brain trust blew it in this regard. The easy, safe path was to stay the course and hope for a 6th-8th place finish. Even if that happened the team would still be in the same place today. If... that deal involving Shenn, Simmons and a first was on the table, then Feaster and King should not only be shown the door, but a mental health evaluation should be court ordered.

Despite his struggles during his tenure, I still like Jay Feaster for some reason. He may be a dead man walking, but if he still has any power it's time to drop a set and get bold. Given the hole they've put themselves in by refusing to be proactive, stockpiling picks is probably the best the team can do, but that doesn't mean those players are 3+ years from contributing. Every year guys jump from juniors/NCAA and impact at the NHL level. The Flames just need to identify these guys. It ain't easy, but thats how its going to have to be done.

I truly believe that there is a scouting staff in place to accomplish this, its just time for Feaster and Co. to lay caution aside and trust what they have in place. In short a culture change is in order and it starts with management. This team has mirrored management's survival mentality and its time to be aggresive and start rewardinig risk instead of merely attempting to avoid failure. Somehow I trust that this will happen with this deadline being very productive, but fans must accept that picks and not second tier prospects are the first step in this renovation.

[CliffFletcher]

The goal of ownership and King (let's not kid ourselves that Feaster controls the strategic direction of this team) has been to sell a team built around the iconic players of the 2004 run, and resolutely behave as though this is a contending team, in spite of all evidence to the contrary. They seem to think that if you act like a a franchise that achieves sustained excellence, it will translate into excellence on the ice. And deep down, on a personal level, their overriding goal has been to keep their friend Jarome happy.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

It honestly appears that their only goal is to make sure 19,289 butts are in the seat for every game; not sure they care as much if the fans go home happy with a Flames victory.

If that's their goal then they are surely failing. They can massage the numbers all they want, but this year and last, I see the empty seats around the dome. Up in the bleeders every night. The single seat next to mine that I know is not owned by anyone has been vacant 80% of the time this year.

It might be a slow burn, but they aren't selling the tickets the way they used to, and its got to be impacting the bottom line and they know it.