[News] Feaster says Iginla rejected trade to Boston

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

I think I'm as big on Iggy as it gets, my favourite player of all time. And I don't dissagree with you on Feaster pooping the bed on dealing with that important milestone in the Flames history, not at all saying he didn't.

But the pass Iggy gets from some fans on his decisions is rediculous. Yes, he had an NTC, so it was his "right" to do what he liked. That's not the entire point. Lots of things are people's "right", doesn't mean they fine things to do. Iggy got really really selfish at the end there, and showed the franchised that had basically made him priority #1 for over a decade (to a fault) no respect at the end. And he also showed just how stupid he was being about things by zeroing in on just one team. It's one thing to have a really small list (which he did), but to think one of those 4 teams had that much of a better chance then the other three on his list is just dumb. He had the top 4 contenders on his list, to micro analyse his decision down to one is just pure stupidity and shows such a lack of confidence on his own part on the difference he'd make to which of the teams he went to. He basically tried to pick which team he could be a passenger on win a cup, versus taking the stance that he's picked the 4 best teams and which ever one he goes to he will push them over the top and win the cup.

Stupid move for Iggy himself (as it proved out) and totally ####ty to give the franchise he played for all his career 0 leverage in moving him.

Yah Feaster took a #### on that one, but Iggy was in the stall with him too droppin a log right next to him.

Dude at the time Pittsburgh had what like 15 wins in a row? It would be stupid of an aging, declining player who wanted a cup before his career was over to not go to the best team available. He owes Calgary nothing. He didn't even want to be traded so just be happy he agreed (for the betterment of the Calgary Flames) to leave. Pittsburgh at the time was a no-brainer. And the return Boston gave us was better but not by much.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Dude at the time Pittsburgh had what like 15 wins in a row? It would be stupid of an aging, declining player who wanted a cup before his career was over to not go to the best team available. He owes Calgary nothing. He didn't even want to be traded so just be happy he agreed (for the betterment of the Calgary Flames) to leave. Pittsburgh at the time was a no-brainer. And the return Boston gave us was better but not by much.

Oh, he didn't want to be traded? Do tell.

I'd say Iggy and the Flames owe each other a lot, but whatever you say. Also, clearly Pittsburg was not a no brainer, and anyone knows teams go through ups and downs on the season, picking the hotest team 2 months before playoffs, yup that will likely last...................

[CliffFletcher]

Iginla was within his rights to pick only one team. By exercising that right, he was pretty much guaranteeing the trade return would be poor.

There may be some dispute over why Iginla had that right to pick only one team, and how he communicated his choice to the Flames. What I don't understand is why people are blaming Feaster for the return. What exactly would another GM have done to extract more value in a situation where - because of matters out of his control - he had no leverage?

[Red_Baron]

Originally Posted by c.t.ner

Obviously Lou is an idiot and isn't suitable to be a GM.

The difference is that Lou won't be on the TSN panel a year from now making excuses about a weak return for a franchise player.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Iginla was within his rights to pick only one team. By exercising that right, he was pretty much guaranteeing the trade return would be poor.

There may be some dispute over why Iginla had that right to pick only one team, and how he communicated his choice to the Flames. What I don't understand is why people are blaming Feaster for the return. What exactly would another GM have done to extract more value in a situation where - because of matters out of his control - he had no leverage?

This is exactly right.
Iginla exercised the rights he had in his negotiated contract. Don't blame him.
That restricted severely the number of teams that Jay Feaster could deal with and had the expected impact on the return netted. Don't blame him.

No blame here. Just the nature of NTCs.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Oh, he didn't want to be traded? Do tell.

I'd say Iggy and the Flames owe each other a lot, but whatever you say. Also, clearly Pittsburg was not a no brainer, and anyone knows teams go through ups and downs on the season, picking the hotest team 2 months before playoffs, yup that will likely last...................

Iginla said it himself. He did not ask for a trade and said it several times that if the team approaches him for a trade then he would respect their wishes. He never asked to be traded just said if that's the direction the team wants to take then he won't stand in the way.

[Tinordi]

There is a bit of blame actually. That the Flames organization acted like a bunch of rubes by not getting Iginla to formally sign off on a list of teams to be traded to. Instead they thought a gentleman's agreement would hold which is the blame of the party who's burned by that type of agreement.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

There is a bit of blame actually. That the Flames organization acted like a bunch of rubes by not getting Iginla to formally sign off on a list of teams to be traded to. Instead they thought a gentleman's agreement would hold which is the blame of the party who's burned by that type of agreement.

Why would Iginla, who never asked to be traded possibly tie his own hands? Makes no sense for him to sign anything.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Why would Iginla, who never asked to be traded possibly tie his own hands? Makes no sense for him to sign anything.

Sure, so Iginla didn't need to sign off on a list of teams. But he did give the organization a list of team's only informally. The organization should have got that in writing and signed off on. Maybe Iginla didn't want to do that. But the organization pretty clearly thought that that was the agreement because Feaster basically finalized the trade with Boston, obviously under the auspices that he knew Iginla would waive to go to Boston because Iginla said that Iginla was one of the four teams he'd accept a trade to. Until he didn't.

So there is blame to go around, and even King and Co. have acknowledged that they made a mistake.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Like Bingo said in the other thread, the return from Boston wasn't so much better. It may even prove to be worse. Neither of those deals were 'good'.

Some will argue that with Jarome having his NMC, that it is difficult to get a good return. Some argue that because the 2013 draft was so deep, teams didn't want to cough up picks.

At the end of the day, Feaster was let go partially because of the return on trades. Some GMs are able to get a nice return even under tough circumstances. Feaster wasn't - for whatever reasons. He could have ensured that Iginla sign-off on those 4 teams. Maybe even convinced Iginla to widen the team list. Even if it was just one team, he could have put the pressure on Pittsburgh to up the ante and maybe out-wait them. Who knows how it could have been handled better. Point is, the return was sub-par, and the manager who was in charge of trades was let-go - for whatever reason, including what some posters (not me) say as "Iginla screwed Calgary". Iginla could have easily screwed Calgary by just reporting to the media he will only go to Pittsburgh.

To me, it boils down to this:

Feaster had enough leverage to play two Eastern-conference favorites against one another, and neither one of those trades was good enough. That (along with the Bouwmeester trade, Regehr trade, and others - though he has had a few 'wins' to his credit) is why Feaster was fired.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Iginla said it himself. He did not ask for a trade and said it several times that if the team approaches him for a trade then he would respect their wishes. He never asked to be traded just said if that's the direction the team wants to take then he won't stand in the way.

Oh my goodness. That's a very clever way for Iginla to not upset his fan base (another way the Flames helped him out). If Iginla didn't want to be traded, he'd still be a Flame right now.

I'm sure his 1st option would to still be a Flame on a competitive team, when that no longer became an option, he wanted out and rightfully so.

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

He didn't even want to be traded so just be happy he agreed (for the betterment of the Calgary Flames) to leave.

This is simply not true.

[Tinordi]

If Feaster was fired because he didn't get a good enough deal for Iginla then that's a pretty raw deal considering that most of the authority and decision making around that deal was out of Feaster's hands.

[atb]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

This is exactly right.
Iginla exercised the rights he had in his negotiated contract. Don't blame him.
That restricted severely the number of teams that Jay Feaster could deal with and had the expected impact on the return netted. Don't blame him.

No blame here. Just the nature of NTCs.

That's fair, but Doug MacLean mentioned something interesting when this happened last year. He said as a GM in this situation, if a player gives you a list of 4 teams, you have to get them to sign off saying that they can be traded to any of those 4 teams (and is what is typically done in these situations). Otherwise you leave yourself in a weak bargaining position where it's difficult to bargain in good faith. I assume that due to Iginla's standing with the team, they didn't want to make him (or he refused to) sign anything. This turned out to be a big mistake.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Iginla was within his rights to pick only one team. By exercising that right, he was pretty much guaranteeing the trade return would be poor.

There may be some dispute over why Iginla had that right to pick only one team, and how he communicated his choice to the Flames. What I don't understand is why people are blaming Feaster for the return. What exactly would another GM have done to extract more value in a situation where - because of matters out of his control - he had no leverage?

This is where the arguments break down. Those that defend Iginla say it was "his right"..........yes, it was his right, I don't dispute that. To the letter of the "law" (I don't know how else to describe it) he did nothing wrong. Agreed.

Did he do the right thing by his long term employer by which he had a very mutally beneficial relationship with and that treated him exceptionally well, not in my opinion. Business is business, he had the right to do what he did. But there are lots of things that I have the "right" to do at work or in my personal life, but that doesn't make them the "right" things to do.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by atb

That's fair, but Doug MacLean mentioned something interesting when this happened last year. He said as a GM in this situation, if a player gives you a list of 4 teams, you have to get them to sign off saying that they can be traded to any of those 4 teams (and is what is typically done in these situations). Otherwise you leave yourself in a weak bargaining position where it's difficult to bargain in good faith. I assume that due to Iginla's standing with the team, they didn't want to make him (or he refused to) sign anything. This turned out to be a big mistake.

Sure but first of all Doug MacLean is a twit. So if he's your evidence to support any argument - you do so at your peril.

Second - what if Iginla wasn't willing to sign that list. What if he said "here's a list of teams I think I'm OK with but I want final say".
What then?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

This is exactly right.
Iginla exercised the rights he had in his negotiated contract. Don't blame him.
That restricted severely the number of teams that Jay Feaster could deal with and had the expected impact on the return netted. Don't blame him.

No blame here. Just the nature of NTCs.

I certainly don't blame Feaster for the return, but there was clearly a lack of communication somewhere about what Iginla's verbal list of teams really meant. Feaster thought it meant one thing, and Iginla/Meehan thought that it meant something else.

The real question to me is, did Meehan/Iginla purposely present it in a way that misled Feaster and the Flames. No one really knows for sure (or has at least been able to prove one way or the other). Feaster is a lawyer though and should have known better. Iginla and Meehan aren't a couple of bumpkins that do "handshake" deals. They are battle ready business men who have always been good at getting what they want. People like to romanticize Iginla and while I do think he is a great guy, he has always been a tough player when it comes to the business side (recall his contract negotiations/hold out, and the fact that he was hands on with the NHLPA).

[BigNumbers]

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Sure but first of all Doug MacLean is a twit. So if he's your evidence to support any argument - you do so at your peril.

Second - what if Iginla wasn't willing to sign that list. What if he said "here's a list of teams I think I'm OK with but I want final say".
What then?

At the very least you don't punctuate an embarrassing season from your front office by having egg all over your face finalizing a trade and then having to back off of it after the other team thinks it's a done deal and leaks it. But that's mostly immaterial. In the end, it would force Iginla to define his future first, lower the amount of work the GM has to do to trade him, and makes sure everyone's being honest with each other. If that matters.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Sure but first of all Doug MacLean is a twit. So if he's your evidence to support any argument - you do so at your peril.

Second - what if Iginla wasn't willing to sign that list. What if he said "here's a list of teams I think I'm OK with but I want final say".
What then?

IIRC, Chiarelli also said the same thing that MacLean said.

If Iginla did say that, then Feaster is liar because he claims that that he was caught off guard be the "final say" caveat.