Ken King Interveiw w/bob McCown

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by freakinsaprikin

A couple of things:

1. I give the organization a lot of credit for giving Iginla the final choice for the trade. Jarome has done a lot for this organization and they felt they owed that him. Good on them and I think players notice this kind of thing and will help us when it comes to free agents.

2. I know a lot of people on here are frustrated with the lack of rebuild up until this point, but I believe the organization really wanted to try and compete for the cup well Jarome was under contract without trying to sacrifice the future (As miss guided as that might of been). Once they realized that that wasn't going ot happen this year and Iginla's contract was up, they decided to make the switch. I give the organization a lot of credit for at least trying this.

You deserve more than just thanks for this post. The team, and Jarome, both wanted to win here, and did everything they could to try to do that. One can blame the results/execution, but not the effort/desire.

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by browna

In this case, given the franchise player, absolutely the owners need to be informed and involved, Flames or otherwise.

The problem is, in the Flames case, its looking fairly evident that King and the owners to a lesser extent have their hands in the more day to day situations, and Feaster is simply the conduit for doing the nuts and bolts of what King and the owners plans are. IMO.

Hotchkiss kept Edwards down, but with his passing, Edwards took over and took the control away from Sutter and the shift you see was on. Feaster rolled with the punches, as he would for a guy trying to hold onto a position in the hockey world.

IMO.

Thanks for adding this last part, but the "meddling" comment is simply not true. End of story. Ownership (King and higher) does have to sign off on economic decisions of a certain level, but that is it.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

Thanks for adding this last part, but the "meddling" comment is simply not true. End of story. Ownership (King and higher) does have to sign off on economic decisions of a certain level, but that is it.

We have spoken before so I will take your word for that. With that said, I don't want Feaster running the rebuild and yet he will. Just my personal opinion.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by trublmaker

So a bunch of drunken Leafs fans are the yardstick of how we measure up in the NHL...really. I'm not to worried about our reputation in Ontario.

Yeah the laughing stock thing is not of any concern. It's sports, the fact that I choose to cheer for a bad team doesn't reflect on me as a person. The flames suck now and at some point won't suck. Welcome to being a fan

[FlamesAddiction]

I think people have a hard time believing that Iginla made a decision that screwed the team. I think that if a player provides a list, even if just verbal and not a formal waiver, that it implies he would accept a trade to any of those teams. I believe that the Flames had every right to assume the deal with Boston was a done deal and for Iginla to come back and say he would only waive to go to Pittsburgh shows a lack of class on his part. Perhaps it was just miscommunication, but I don't see how you can tell a team to negotiate with another team if it isn't a given that you will accept a trade there.

IMO, Feaster maybe should have told Chiarelli what was going on, but at the same time, the Boston media was leaking information left and right and having this information leak would not have been helpful.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by gargamel

Iginla agreed to accept a trade to one of the 4 teams on that list, and that's exact what he did. If only one team had been interested, he'd have waived his NMC to go there, but because more than one team was interested, he got to choose between them. That was a right that he earned both contractually and through his play over the past decade plus. I'd have been disappointed in Feaster if he'd have let it play out any other way.

It would be nice for King to show a little class by not trying to spin the situation against Iginla, but I have no other issues with the way this was handled by anyone involved.

Originally Posted by freakinsaprikin

A couple of things:

1. I give the organization a lot of credit for giving Iginla the final choice for the trade. Jarome has done a lot for this organization and they felt they owed that him. Good on them and I think players notice this kind of thing and will help us when it comes to free agents.

2. I know a lot of people on here are frustrated with the lack of rebuild up until this point, but I believe the organization really wanted to try and compete for the cup well Jarome was under contract without trying to sacrifice the future (As miss guided as that might of been). Once they realized that that wasn't going ot happen this year and Iginla's contract was up, they decided to make the switch. I give the organization a lot of credit for at least trying this.

This is all fine and Iginla deserves this.
But then why did Boston think they had a done deal if Iginla has the last say?
Did Feaster not tell Boston that Iggy has the last say, this deal is not done yet? Did Boston act prematurely?

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

You're complaining that no one is holding the players accountable after they've already been traded, while not holding management accountable? Ok.

How have we held Iginla accountable? We traded him because we suck as a team so he can win his cup. Iginla was never held accountable for his play here.

Also I believe King and Feaster will be let go in the offseason. Much like Columbus you don't let the new Management group fall on the sword of tearing the team down because no matter the return it will always look poor. You let the old guys burn it down and bring in a new group to clean up the ashes.

I think we actually will follow Toronto quite closely. Rumors of Burke coming in were rampant but they let Fletcher try and trade the old assets so Burke could come in with a clean slate. See a similar situation playing out here.


My issue is people overreacting and makeing this seem like some fatal mistake by the management group. Fact of the matter is Iginla's word should have been good enough but it wasnt. I dont fault the management group at all for not getting it in paper, you should be able to trust the word of your captain.

King and Feaster should go for other reasons but this one isn't on him. This one is a result of having a NTC and going back on your word.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Going back on your word?

Haven't seen any of that. The conclusions some will draw from limited information always amazes me.

[mikeecho]

It's my guess that Iggy wouldn't agree to providing a written list for submission. He wanted to control where he went with 100% certainty.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by trublmaker

So a bunch of drunken Leafs fans are the yardstick of how we measure up in the NHL...really. I'm not to worried about our reputation in Ontario.

It always surprises me about how many hockey fans somehow missed that free agency and a salary cap have come to hockey, and deeply affect how trade values. Still seems there are many people who actually follow hockey and think that a trade for Iginla should return something comparable to a guaranteed 30 goal scorer with no regard to the fact that we are only trading away 16 meaningless games of Iginla.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

This is all fine and Iginla deserves this.
But then why did Boston think they had a done deal if Iginla has the last say?
Did Feaster not tell Boston that Iggy has the last say, this deal is not done yet? Did Boston act prematurely?

It sounds like maybe Chiarelli thought that Iginla signed a formal waiver and therefore was legally obligated to accept a trade to Boston.

The Flames on the other hand, did not make Iginla sign a formal waiver and assumed that Iginla's inclusion of Boston on his list was a "handshake" deal that he would accept a trade there (which after a 16 year relationship, I would also think it would be a safe assumption).

In the end, the Flames look like fools for not crossing the t's and dotting the i's with Iginla and Meehan. Lesson learned I guess, but it's sad that after everything, Iginla should have been treated as a commodity and not as a friend.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

This is all fine and Iginla deserves this.
But then why did Boston think they had a done deal if Iginla has the last say?
Did Feaster not tell Boston that Iggy has the last say, this deal is not done yet? Did Boston act prematurely?

Well according to Chiarelli, Feaster told he that he had "won the Iginla sweepstakes". Feaster really shouldn't have used that language. The root of the fault is on Iginla, but Feaster bungled the communication. I don't feel he needed to call and inform Boston when Iginla drop the list to one team, but don't tell them it's done until you've confirmed a major component is addressed.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yeah the laughing stock thing is not of any concern. It's sports, the fact that I choose to cheer for a bad team doesn't reflect on me as a person. The flames suck now and at some point won't suck. Welcome to being a fan

I don't know, i guess, maybe?

I don't have a problem being a fan of a "laughing stock team" because the team on the ice is bad. There are ebbs and flows with that. Some years the flames will suck and for some stretches they will be good.

I do have a problem when we are getting labelled "a laughing stock team" when its more to do with the off ice stuff and the way the organization is run. I am not happy and a bit ashamed when the flames organization is starting to be compared to the NY Isalnders.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Going back on your word?

Haven't seen any of that. The conclusions some will draw from limited information always amazes me.

Pretty clear that in the end Iggy wouldnt waive for Boston even though they were on his list.

Shero said that at noon on Wednesday they thought they were out, while Chiarelli said they were informed they had Iginla around the same time.

We dont have full information on what happened after that but IMO it is pretty damn clear that the Flames ended up having to go back to Pittsburgh for some reason and I doubt it was their own accord since they have pretty much stated they preferred the Boston offer.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

do you really think that the organization is going to change because the "fans are unhappy"?

Dome is full, and as you say, there is a waiting list for season tickets...

I don't see any changes on the horizon.

This city has more money than brains. When you got 80% of the idiots (sorry if you're one of them) wanting Iggy out and start a team rebuild without thinking what the rebuild should look like and that all these ppl want is just to rebuild because the young and the restless is more exciting than watching a bunch of 30+ year-olds play, well, this is what it looks like. You don't trade a franchise player to start a rebuild when you're not gonna get back an equal or greater value than what he was when he was in his prime. If you know the value is gonna be crappy or unknown, why even bother making a trade and just let the guy retire with honour? There are other players that could and can fetch way more, but the Flames consistently get fleeced due to poor management.

If money keeps flowing out of fat cows like the Bow River, frick, management will try to milk the cows until they're run out of town. Why fix anything when there's endless money coming in? This is gonna be one long painful rebuilding process, probably longer that the one caused by Doug Riseborough.

[VO #23]

Haven't seen this posted in this thread yet, so here it is. Friedman knocks it out of the park, as usual:

But I'm a big believer that the best organizations work like the perfect machine. No matter what happens, no matter what curveball life throws at them, they adjust almost seamlessly. You might be working like crazy behind the scenes, but, in the public eye, it's all cool.

That's not happening in southern Alberta. Nothing seems to occur without controversy or confusion. You can't have that, especially now.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opin...03/post-3.html

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yeah the laughing stock thing is not of any concern. It's sports, the fact that I choose to cheer for a bad team doesn't reflect on me as a person. The flames suck now and at some point won't suck. Welcome to being a fan

Hope you don't die young, cause you got a long wait ahead of you to see the end of the sucking!

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by mikeecho

It's my guess that Iggy wouldn't agree to providing a written list for submission. He wanted to control where he went with 100% certainty.

I have no problem with that, what is of concern is Feaster appears to not have been aware of it, one would assume a competent GM has a handle on what the parameters of the trade are, Feaster appears to have been assuming that Iginla would go to Boston and then was blind sided by Iginla's decision to only waive for the Pens, you have to think if he knew what was likely to happen he would have spent his time pushing the Pens for a deal not Boston.

I get the feeling that Feaster just isn't that on the ball, isn't really a 'details' guy, didn't keep assesing where Iginla and his agent were in the process.

[sa226]

Yep, I don't really care about laughing stock. We're not very good. So be it.

I don't even really care about the return in the trade. Hands were tied. Even the return from Boston wasn't really impressive.

What I really don't like is KK taking to a radio station and being as specific as he was. I have no issue with him being on the Radio. But the media wanted to know how it all went down as we all did, the situation was pretty unprecedented.

But all KK had to do was be professional and take the high road. A simple "NMC are very complex especially with a player of Jarome's stature, both the player and the team are satisfied with the outcome"

Elliotte Freidman is becoming one of the best sports journalists\personalities when it comes to insight.

One point he made in an article was that the best organizations appear to run as a well oiled machine, regardless of what is happening behind the scenes. The Flames can't seem to do anything without it being headline grabbing and controversial.

Also the point Freidman made on HNIC last year about how the Flames are the team the most concerned in the league with their image. That is kinda funny given where we are today.

EDIT: Beaten above by the Friedman article

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by CSharp

This city has more money than brains. When you got 80% of the idiots (sorry if you're one of them) wanting Iggy out and start a team rebuild without thinking what the rebuild should look like and that all these ppl want is just to rebuild because the young and the restless is more exciting than watching a bunch of 30+ year-olds play, well, this is what it looks like. You don't trade a franchise player to start a rebuild when you're not gonna get back an equal or greater value than what he was when he was in his prime. If you know the value is gonna be crappy or unknown, why even bother making a trade and just let the guy retire with honour? There are other players that could and can fetch way more, but the Flames consistently get fleeced due to poor management.

If money keeps flowing out of fat cows like the Bow River, frick, management will try to milk the cows until they're run out of town. Why fix anything when there's endless money coming in? This is gonna be one long painful rebuilding process, probably longer that the one caused by Doug Riseborough.

Your assuming that Iggy would have re-signed. I do not belive that would have happened. I don't like the trade to Pitt, but it's better than having Iggy leave for nothing at the end of the year.