Ken King Interveiw w/bob McCown

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Dion

They should have canned King and brought in Davidson when they had the chance.

I agree. But that was Edwards' call. And apparently he didn't see the need.

I personally like to see hockey people in charge of hockey jobs. King is probably a great guy in many aspects, but perhaps isn't the right person for the job he is in charge of.

Meeting people and selling hot dogs, sure. But hockey transactions? Not so sure.

[JohnnyB]

Edit: Wrong thread. Too much wine this afternoon....

[browna]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

I agree. But that was Edwards' call. And apparently he didn't see the need.

I personally like to see hockey people in charge of hockey jobs. King is probably a great guy in many aspects, but perhaps isn't the right person for the job he is in charge of.

Meeting people and selling hot dogs, sure. But hockey transactions? Not so sure.

I'll agree to disagree on Davidson. Personable, and a hockey guy, but he ran into issue with new ownership there, and to be honest, look at his drafts and his playoff performance and limited success.

To me, he seems a little too soft in having to deal with the likes of Edwards. Sutter was a rough around the edges, old school straight shooter, and only when some of his gambles to meet the owners mandate backfire, did he start to get power taken away.

IMO, now, the need for strength and conviction has gone past just the GM's role, since King has had the taste of power these last 2+ years with Darryl gone and Feaster answering phones and sending guys on waiver wires as his unsupervised duties...you need an old school guy to come in and take charge as President/VP Hockey ops and GM, and be the type of guy to stand up to Edwards and the owners as doing things day to day his way, and not be afraid to walk away if they meddle.

That fits Burke to a tee from what I can gather. I am sure there are others. Burke would love the challenge, be another tick for his ego. I also still recall his letter to the City after the 2006 playoffs...but make no mistake, he likely knows the situation here (or a couple calls and he'd find out) and would come on his strict terms only.

[danny darko]

Meh, I'm happy Iginla had the final say in the matter, he deserved it. Pretty sure everyone in here hating on the deal has no real idea of what either of these players potentials are, and only time will tell. Instead of listening to idiots like Button talking down on it, I say we need to watch how the rest of this whole thing plays out.
With more moves likely to be coming, we can potentially make out with 3 first round picks in the upcoming draft and that alone is pretty damn exciting. Here's to hoping Feaster and company don't decide to go off the board with our top 10 pick, and actually choose a player that can really help get this franchise moving in the right direction!

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Oh I agree MMF. I understand Murray & Co. has to put the rubber stamp on things, but the feeling I get is that Feaster is a puppet for King (and Murray).

King has been sitting pretty too long for my liking. He's overseen too many moves that have been so bad that's it's hard to ignore.

The Flames need a hockey guy (like browna says) to run things properly..........not a newspaper guy trying to be a hockey guy.

Ken is probably a great guy. But he's not right for this job IMO.

I'd be really excited to see what a "hockey guy" would do with Ken Kings role if they did as you suggest. Really interested to see how they'd manage the new building, manage all the separate business entities the Flames own, how they'd manage the advertising, marketing and sales. "Hockey guys" are often Ex-players, the same players who seemed to struggle understanding the difference between revenue and profit during the past lock out. I'm sure the business would be run in top shape if we had one those genius players in charge of the organization.

Isn't the hockey guy supposed to be the GM? Problem is, the Flames don't have a hockey guy in the position that is in charge of the on ice activities, they have a lawyer instead. Kind of f'd up.

[JohnnyB]

Really listening to the interview now, with a little too much wine in the system, it sounds pretty much like a total cluster#### with a bunch of throwing under the bus going on. Just makes everyone look bad.

[mister__big]

Originally Posted by Dion

How is it possible for Iginla to know the teams years ahead of time when you are drawing up his contract and adding those teams in writing? These NMC NTC in contracts are the problem here. It gives the player control of where he is going and severly handcuffs a GM's role in getting the best deal his team. I have no doubt that Feaster told Chiarelli he had a deal only to have Iginla tell Feaster and management that no we don't and i'm going to choose Pittsburgh.

Iginla gave his list of 4 teams to Feaster just days or weeks prior to the trade. Not years before. Basically Iginla told Feaster he was ok with going to Boston less than a month ago, then backed out at the very last minute catching Feaster and Chiarelli with their pants down.

[danny darko]

So does Iginla get booed every time he touches the puck April 19 when the Pens play in Boston? lol Iggy the bad guy!

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by mister__big

Iginla gave his list of 4 teams to Feaster just days or weeks prior to the trade. Not years before. Basically Iginla told Feaster he was ok with going to Boston less than a month ago, then backed out at the very last minute catching Feaster and Chiarelli with their pants down.

Frankly, I would have preferred if that had never come out. The highest value item that the Flames walked out of this deal with was the Jarome Iginla exit interview with him genuinely praising the organization and the city up and down. The King interview just made the organizations management look like they were blaming an iconic player for the cluster#### that they were essentially responsible for themselves. They should have just protected the image that they were looking out for Jarome rather than making it look like they gladly would have gone against his preference if not for their own lack of preparation. They look worse on both fronts for King's interview.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by browna

I'll agree to disagree on Davidson. Personable, and a hockey guy, but he ran into issue with new ownership there, and to be honest, look at his drafts and his playoff performance and limited success.

To me, he seems a little too soft in having to deal with the likes of Edwards. Sutter was a rough around the edges, old school straight shooter, and only when some of his gambles to meet the owners mandate backfire, did he start to get power taken away.

IMO, now, the need for strength and conviction has gone past just the GM's role, since King has had the taste of power these last 2+ years with Darryl gone and Feaster answering phones and sending guys on waiver wires as his unsupervised duties...you need an old school guy to come in and take charge as President/VP Hockey ops and GM, and be the type of guy to stand up to Edwards and the owners as doing things day to day his way, and not be afraid to walk away if they meddle.

That fits Burke to a tee from what I can gather. I am sure there are others. Burke would love the challenge, be another tick for his ego. I also still recall his letter to the City after the 2006 playoffs...but make no mistake, he likely knows the situation here (or a couple calls and he'd find out) and would come on his strict terms only.

Great response, browna.

Not a fan of Burke, though. Love the passion, not a fan of the abrasiveness. I think he'd be fun for a few weeks, but his act would wear thin. A better prospect than Feaster, but not by much, IMO. Is he the man for a rebuild, or too bored with that job?

And would Burke even survive with King and Edwards peering from above?

[browna]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Great response, browna.

Not a fan of Burke, though. Love the passion, not a fan of the abrasiveness. I think he'd be fun for a few weeks, but his act would wear thin. A better prospect than Feaster, but not by much, IMO. Is he the man for a rebuild, or too bored with that job?

And would Burke even survive with King and Edwards peering from above?

Only way Burke would come in is if King was not technically above him in any sort of operational capacity (think, head of the new arena/Stamps/Hitmen/Roughnecks, as was thrown out here with Davidson rumors), and Edwards only becoming involved in certain situations when Burke would go there. Not sure how King would like that; I don't think he would at all so not sure how that dynamic would play out. Burke would make it clear that if he had fingers in his pie from a guy like King, he's gone on the next plane back to Mass.

It doesn't have to be Burke, it just has to be a single, unifying presence in the hockey operations department and decision making areas as opposed to the 3 headed monster they have now, and they've created on their own.

-A guy they probably don't 100% trust in Feaster (and his department), but he'll do what they say because that's why they hired him and they need him to do the daily grunt work.

-King with a self inflated sense of knowing what to do on the hockey operations side, thinking he has a say and gaining that gradually since Darryl left as the over the shoulder watcher of Feaster, appointed by Edwards.

-Edwards with his ideas, put through King (who lops it on top of his opinions) and as the head of the owners, and also trying a little too hard to steer the ship now that he's the kingpin of the owners group, knowing full well they don't have a pure hockey guy as GM, and its up to him and King to keep JF in line (and haven't done that with the ROR and now Iginla thing).

All of the above, IMO of course.

Burke held that trifecta role in Toronto, ANA, and to a lesser extent Vancouver, and he's available now, so his name is more a matter of convenience I guess. But then you're looking at a full cleaning of the house, coaches down to many of the hockey ops guys.

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

If the Flames had demanded his list in writing so that it was binding, half the folks in here would have been complaining about how our bush league management doesn't know how to properly treat the greatest Flame of all time and after 16 years they should have negotiated in good faith cause Iggy's a swell fella.

And those folks would be wrong. So what?

[JeanLucPicard]

Although he must've felt a bit sad about leaving the city, I bet Iginla was very happy to leave this shi%%y management and ownership, or whatever they are, behind

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by browna

I'll agree to disagree on Davidson. Personable, and a hockey guy, but he ran into issue with new ownership there, and to be honest, look at his drafts and his playoff performance and limited success..

I don't disagree with your post at all, but your comment about his drafts piqued my interest, so I looked into the history of the Blues draft record under Davidson. Now call me crazy, but I would kill to have this kind of draft history here in Calgary, so saying he had 'limited success' in the draft is a large understatement. anyway, not trying to be confrontational, just trying to clear it up a bit imo.

2007
13th - Lars Eller
26th- David Perron

2008
4th - Alex Pietrangelo
34th - Jake Allen

2009
17th - David Rundblad

2010
14th - Jaden Schwartz
16th - Vladimir Tarasenko

2011
32nd - Ty Rattie
41st - Dmitry Jaskin

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

It's going to get Oiler-bad around here, no question.

come to think of it, I haven't noticed any hilarious news about Lowe/Tambellini incompetence lately, there's only one Albertan team making the news, the ROR fiasco, now this...

[The Goon]

Yeah, that interview was tough. And McCown and his panel savaged the Flames organization afterwards.

Granted, it was Damien Cox and Glenn Healy, but the wide perception is that this organization is completely bush league.

[Machiavelli]

That pretty much removes any respect I had for the guys at the top.

Way to try to tarnish the reputation of greatest player in franchise history. Don't blame him because you don't know how to orchestrate a trade when a player has a NMC.

Losers.

[Phil Russell]

There are a lot of details surrounding the negotiation that we will never know about, but it probably would have gone more smoothly if a list had been put into writing. My guess is that a list was not created because management was giving Iggy full decision making power over his destination--the last thing they wanted was an unhappy Jerome at the farewell presser. Was this the smart thing to do? Who knows. The Flames did succeed in moving Iginla onward amicably and I think that that was potentially more important to ownership than the return.

And speaking of return, many are lamenting that we didn't get the Boston return. But, Wednesday night, most hated the Boston return. I don't see a huge difference in what was being offered--neither package was overwhelming. Two prospects and a pick was what I was expecting. The decision not to have lawyers write down teams--to give Iggy all the decisionmaking power--probably cost us little by way of return. But ultimately, none of us will ever know.

[Phil Russell]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Frankly, I would have preferred if that had never come out. The highest value item that the Flames walked out of this deal with was the Jarome Iginla exit interview with him genuinely praising the organization and the city up and down. The King interview just made the organizations management look like they were blaming an iconic player for the cluster#### that they were essentially responsible for themselves. They should have just protected the image that they were looking out for Jarome rather than making it look like they gladly would have gone against his preference if not for their own lack of preparation. They look worse on both fronts for King's interview.

Could not agree more. The smart move here from King was "Jerome had final call on the destination and that was more important to the organization than the return." And, from the owners box at least, it is probably a true statement.

[PIMking]

They should have just honored his nmc and worked on a contract if they didn't like the deal