Poll: "Do you believe in the current mgmt group"

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by moon

I don't see any valid reason at all.

There were plenty of valid reasons, but I do agree the flames could have blown it up right when sutter was fired. That was a window.

The flames had 2 roads to take in 2011. blow it up a flail around for a year until they could start putting peices back together, or give it a run with kipper and iggy on the hopes of a miracle run, and then blow it up and start to put the pieces back together. Everyone who wanted them to take the other road now gets to throw out the I told you so.

But Both roads lead to the same place. No one should be arrogant enough to think that they didn't know which was which or what they were trading off.

I am not sure they would do it differently even in hindsight, or that I would want them to.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Yeah, I don't think you can fairly judge Feaster without considering:

A) He stepped into maybe the worst situation in the NHL in terms of roster talent, cap, and age profile.

B) For his first two seasons, ownership was evidently opposed to rebuilding or moving the team's top assets.

Lets say ownership did not want a rebuild ( i believe you are right), then this year Feaster failed miserably in keeping a competitve team on the ice. He hired the wrong coach to get the veterans going ( not that the greatest coach in the world could motivate that group) but at least should have kept them in the 9th-10th spot. He spent to the cap trying to make the playoffs and if this was an 82 game season they would have been out of it by December.

I'm not saying he had an easy job to make the playoffs, but he iced a horrible team when he thought he was a couple of players away from making 8th.

Granted i wanted a rebuild from the start but he still has to take his licks from not reaching, or coming close to his mandate.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Lets say ownership did not want a rebuild ( i believe you are right), then this year Feaster failed miserably in keeping a competitve team on the ice. He hired the wrong coach to get the veterans going ( not that the greatest coach in the world could motivate that group) but at least should have kept them in the 9th-10th spot. He spent to the cap trying to make the playoffs and if this was an 82 game season they would have been out of it by December.

I'm not saying he had an easy job to make the playoffs, but he iced a horrible team when he thought he was a couple of players away from making 8th.

Granted i wanted a rebuild from the start but he still has to take his licks from not reaching, or coming close to his mandate.

Do people not remember his first press conference about him guaranteeing that the Flames will make the playoffs and then proceeding to mock the Oilers? Where's the accountability?

What a joke.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Do people not remember his first press conference about him guaranteeing that the Flames will make the playoffs and then proceeding to mock the Oilers? Where's the accountability?

What a joke.

What were his specific words? Did he really guarantee or is that just your interpretation?

[JayP]

Originally Posted by moon

There really hasn't been enough of that at all but different people will believe what they will.

People in print, on TV, or on radio from both local papers, The Globe & Mail, TSN, CBC, and Sportsnet have all insinuated that Ken King is heavily involved in hockey ops in the past year - what else do you want?

You like to talk about how Feaster wouldn't submarine his own career by going to another situation with meddling ownership (which I disagree with when the only other option for the past three seasons was blogging for The Hockey News) - let's see your long list of evidence proving Tampa Bay's ownership was meddling with his affairs.

[moon]

Originally Posted by JayP

People in print, on TV, or on radio from both local papers, The Globe & Mail, TSN, CBC, and Sportsnet have all insinuated that Ken King is heavily involved in hockey ops in the past year - what else do you want?

I have heard and most seem to be very flimsy reports. I haven't heard anything credible from a credible source other than maybe, sounds like it could be, possibly etc.

Again I am not saying he isn't but there is no proof that he is and when Feaster says that he isn't telling him to do anything and that he believes in the path they are taking what reason is there to look for excuses and conspiracy theories.

You like to talk about how Feaster wouldn't submarine his own career by going to another situation with meddling ownership (which I disagree with when the only other option for the past three seasons was blogging for The Hockey News) - let's see your long list of evidence proving Tampa Bay's ownership was meddling with his affairs.

I thought Feaster talked about him leaving TB in an interview I will take a look for it online.

He didn't get another job for so long because he did a crap job in TB. Perhaps he is willing to kill his hockey credibility again to try and hold on to this job in Calgary but if he truly believed that the rebuild needed to happen and that going for the play-offs was the wrong way to go he must have realized he would be screwed when the Calgary job was over after doing a horrific job for a second time.

Perhaps he is a great hockey mind that just got screwed twice by meddling owners but that seems pretty far fetched and terrible luck and more likely the guy is a bad GM with little hockey sense that is/was completely on board with what has happened over the past 2.5 years.

[moon]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

What were his specific words? Did he really guarantee or is that just your interpretation?

I thought he said something like "you won't see us here next year talking about missing the play-offs again." May have even thrown out a "out of a job if we are" type of comment similar to his BS I am not a guy for a rebuild comment.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

What were his specific words? Did he really guarantee or is that just your interpretation?

Been trying to find it, to no avail. So maybe it existed as a figment of my imagination. It may have also been uttered in his press conference to open the 2011-12 season.

In any case, dude talks alot of crap.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Been trying to find it, to no avail. So maybe it existed as a figment of my imagination. It may have also been uttered in his press conference to open the 2011-12 season.

In any case, dude talks alot of crap.

I agree that he talks a lot of crap (too much)

But the guaranteeing a playoff spot, I completely give him a pass on.

He didn't say it, Duthie did. Duthie put him in a situation where he had basically no choice but to say 'yes, I guarantee that we will make the playoffs'. I watched it and I had no problem with it whatsoever.

However, he definitely talks too much and really needs to stop trashing the Oilers.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Been trying to find it, to no avail. So maybe it existed as a figment of my imagination. It may have also been uttered in his press conference to open the 2011-12 season.

In any case, dude talks alot of crap.

He did guarantee, I remember it too. I know Steinberg has played the clip quite a bit on 960. Jiri can just call up Pat and ask for it.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Been trying to find it, to no avail. So maybe it existed as a figment of my imagination. It may have also been uttered in his press conference to open the 2011-12 season.

In any case, dude talks alot of crap.

I know what you are talking about. On TSN he told Duthie to write it down at the start of the year that the flames would make playoffs. He also made the wandering in the dessert comment about the oilers and other teams during that fan forum on 960 before that same season started

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I agree that he talks a lot of crap (too much)

But the guaranteeing a playoff spot, I completely give him a pass on.

He didn't say it, Duthie did. Duthie put him in a situation where he had basically no choice but to say 'yes, I guarantee that we will make the playoffs'. I watched it and I had no problem with it whatsoever.

However, he definitely talks too much and really needs to stop trashing the Oilers.

The Flames should hire somebody to shadow Feaster, and anytime he is on TV making a comment where he gets his digs in about the Oilers, the shadow will hold up a sign to the camera that says : "Any scenario that Mr. Feaster makes reference to is strictly hypothetical. Any resemblance to a real life situation is extremely cooincidental."

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

There were plenty of valid reasons, but I do agree the flames could have blown it up right when sutter was fired. That was a window.

The flames had 2 roads to take in 2011. blow it up a flail around for a year until they could start putting peices back together, or give it a run with kipper and iggy on the hopes of a miracle run, and then blow it up and start to put the pieces back together. Everyone who wanted them to take the other road now gets to throw out the I told you so.

But Both roads lead to the same place. No one should be arrogant enough to think that they didn't know which was which or what they were trading off.

I am not sure they would do it differently even in hindsight, or that I would want them to.

The flames getting hot in 2011 was a ton of fun to watch and Gabe me the impression that Sutter was the problem. In hindsight you have to think they would have blown it up then if they knew where they would be today. They likely had Schenn, Simmonds + for Iggy and tangs. Regehr was movable, Kipper and Bouw had value. Perhaps Glencross does not stay for that same contract? The Sven pick then becomes Landeskog or Huberdeau. Of course the time to rebuild was when Darryl was fired. But not everyone felt that way and we did get and incredible 2nd half from Iggy and hope moving into 2011-2012

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

He did guarantee, I remember it too. I know Steinberg has played the clip quite a bit on 960. Jiri can just call up Pat and ask for it.

He did guarantee, I believe it was an interview on Tsn... There was a ton of talk on it... The word guarantee isn't in this article, http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=371285

But pretty much the same thing at the bottom....

Makenzie references the guarantee in this article-which is actually prescient for what ended up happening this year, and the mindset of the team going into the season

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/bob_mckenzie/?id=413104

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

He did guarantee, I believe it was an interview on CBC... There was a ton of talk on it... The word guarantee isn't in this article, http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=371285

But pretty much the same thing at the bottom....

"We'll make the playoffs this year," he said.

Pretty much a guarantee.

Wasn't trying to dispute that it didn't happen - I honestly couldn't remember if he said it or if had been interpreted that way.

And for the record I agree saying stuff like that is dumb.

[$ven27]

Nope, we aren't going anywhere until Management is cleaned out.

[Ark2]

It seems to me that the only way anyone can defend Feaster is by inventing some conspiracy theory that every bad move he has made was really the result of president/ownership meddling, which is just silly.

To those who are saying that Feaster probably realized that a rebuild should have occurred much sooner, but ownership wouldn't let him so he was just towing the company line, I am failing to see your point. Even if this was the case (which I am not certain that it was) Feaster was still given a job to do (make the playoffs) which he has come significantly short of. Think about the line-up that he assembled this year with the intentions of making the playoffs. Our centres consisted of Stajan (a player who played fairly well this season but had come off of multiple disappointing seasons and, even when at his best, is no where near adequate enough to rely on in a top 6 role), Backlund (a guy that has struggled with consistency and injuries and was very much a question mark coming into this season), Cervenka (a player that was brought in to replace Jokinen but, by all accounts, has never actually played centre before), Jones (AHL throw-away), and a number of small players that are not natural centres who were played as fill-ins. Anyone who assembles a team with that kind of centre depth and thinks that they have a shot at the playoffs clearly has no idea how important centres are to the game, and likely lacks a fundamental understanding of hockey. This should be very concerning to everyone. We saw the exact same issue when he was in Tampa Bay. He allowed Khabibulin to leave for nothing, and thought he could just replace his number 1 netminder with career back-ups. There is clearly something lacking there and while many have speculated that Feaster surrounding himself with sound hockey minds would compensate for this, we have yet to actually see this occur.

It's pretty clear that he is not a hockey guy, but what he is, is someone that plays corporate politics very well and uses that skill to work his way up the food chain. He did this in Tampa Bay, getting promoted from assistant GM after Rick Dudley did all the heavy lifting in bringing in the core players that ultimately won Feaster his cup, and he did the same thing in Calgary, with much poorer results, unfortunately.

In summary, while you can perform mental gymnastics to create reasons for why Feaster is not to blame for his numerous mistakes, what no one is able to do is present a list of actual accomplishments that would suggest that he is suited for the job and that belief in this management group is well placed. Frankly, I am amazed that he has as much confidence in this thread as he does, because I can't see any justification for it.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

"We'll make the playoffs this year," he said.

Pretty much a guarantee.

Wasn't trying to dispute that it didn't happen - I honestly couldn't remember if he said it or if had been interpreted that way.

And for the record I agree saying stuff like that is dumb.

Ah, no worries...

[FAN]

Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands

You took one tidbit of information and made your decision. Could he have been wrong? The DOU stated otherwise. The fact is you just jumped the gun.

I don't really understand where you're coming from with this. The Deputy Commissioner of the NHL gave his interpretation of the waiver rule declaring that ROR would have to be put on waivers in order to join an NHL midseason and you accuse board members of making a baseless assumption that ROR would have to pass through waivers in order to join the Flames? Who are you insulting here?

Feaster can interpret things however he wants but if the NHL front office is adament that THEIR interpretation of the rule is the correct one, Feaster can't just put ROR into the lineup. He wouldn't be allowed to play, which means Feaster had three options: 1) Put ROR on waivers and hope he clears, 2) have ROR sit out the season, or 3) Appeal the decision and have an arbitrator decide on the interpretation of the rules and hope that it gets resolved quickly enough so that the decision wouldn't become moot.

There's no way out of this. What Feaster should have said in an effort to cover his ass is something to the effect that it didn't matter if ROR can play this season because they believe ROR is a franchise player and he would be worth the wait. But no. Feaster chose to reveal to us that he was aware of the rule, that he had his own interpretation of the rule, that he didn't know or care to check to see if the NHL front office had another interpretation, and he chose to sign ROR anyways.

[FlameZilla]

I cannot really believe Feaster still has this job... On one hand I suppose we're already in such a mess that we may as well let him apply the final brush-strokes; on the other hand we could fire Feaster in the offseason & hire a very competent GM who has a history of dramatically reshaping NHL franchises through bold trades.

It's not that I really dislike Feaster, but I believe there are better options available outside the organisation (Burke) or within (Weisbrod).