[News] Brian Burke stepping back from Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation

[Locke]

Originally Posted by icecube

It was embarrassing how many posters were defending the ROR fiasco as if Feaster was the smartest GM in the league when the plain truth was we came this close to losing Sean Monahan and being set back for another decade. Feaster is one of the biggest morons ever to get a GM job.

Well, you're right that it was a fiasco and a mistake, but you're also evaluating it as revisionist history because you know what Monahan is now as opposed to the information Feaster had at the time.

But yes, that was a complete disaster, I understand where Feaster was coming from, but that was a total mess.

[Roof-Daddy]

I'm as bitter as the next Flames fan guys, but "in the same spot they were 5 years ago?"

Really?

5 years ago our top scorers were:

Cammalleri who was 30
Stempniak who was 29
Tanguay who was 32
Hudler who was 28
Glencross who was 29

This year they were:

Gaudreau who is 24
Monahan who is 23
Tkachuk who is 19
Backlund who is 28
Hamilton who is 24

The team has been rebuilt, and we have really good young core. Now, hopefully Treliving can do something positive with it going forward, but we are not in the same spot at all.

As for missing the playoffs 3 out of 5, that was supposed to happen anyways during the rebuild. The only thing that's messed up is the order in which it happened.

In 2014/15 we should have never been anywhere near the playoffs, never mind won a round, and this year we shouldn't have missed. Progress isn't always linear, and sometimes #### happens. It sucks, but hopefully this is the last time we miss for a good long time.

[Strange Brew]

Flames were lucky to escape the Feaster regime as well as they did IMO.

He did bungle his way into a couple of decent moves. Salvaging the Erixon fiasco was his best trade. Russell for what a 5th? That was pretty good too.

Problem with the Iginla and Bouwmeester tardes was taking on the C level prospects. If you didn't know what you were doing, at least get more picks.

The Regehr trade was ill conceived from the start, but they did know something about Byron it would appear.

[Diemenz]

Some people need to let go. We are still talking about feaster and the RoR contract offer?

How did RoR do for us again? Talking about a contract that never came to fruition is ridiculous.

[FlamesFanTrev]

Originally Posted by Locke

Because he was overrated to begin with and he got found out in Calgary.

I like Bouwmeester, just not at his salary for what he brings, but he was always thought of as the 'Big Fish in a Small Pond' when he was in Florida and then we acquired him and.......he was pretty much exactly what he was.

But trading him on his Cap Hit was always going to be hard and not a lot of value was ever coming back the other way.

And St. Louis has done great things with Bouwmeester...I think they won....no they didnt.

No kidding. Soft soft soft. When he came to Calgary, I bought my dad a Bouwmiester jersey for Christmas. By may, he was too embarrassed to wear it in public. It was a long line of terrible jerseys that I bought including an amonte (drunk at a game, I think he scored his only two goals of his flames career that game). At first, I thought it was me, turns out, we just didn't have any players that were worth the 200 bucks a jersey cost. Broke the streak with a cammy jersey the year he won the scoring title from Iggy. And then he walked as a UFA, and the streak continued.

Dark days. On an unrelated note, if anybody is looking for vintage flames jerseys from insignificant players that only played for a season, or we gave up for nothing, PM me.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Locke

Well, you're right that it was a fiasco and a mistake, but you're also evaluating it as revisionist history because you know what Monahan is now as opposed to the information Feaster had at the time.

But yes, that was a complete disaster, I understand where Feaster was coming from, but that was a total mess.

What do you mean you understand where he was coming from? He wanted a good player, and came very close a huge fiasco because he didn’t understand how the NHL worked. I’m not about to pat him on the back and say “I understand, you really tried!”

Hatchet man or not, Feaster was a very poor version of whatever role he was supposed to play. He was a screw up in every facet of his role, and while you can blame others for this and that, the fact is that even the few good things that came out of his short tenure (Monahan for example), now seem like a miracle he didn’t screw up.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FlamesFanTrev

No kidding. Soft soft soft. When he came to Calgary, I bought my dad a Bouwmiester jersey for Christmas. By may, he was too embarrassed to wear it in public. It was a long line of terrible jerseys that I bought including an amonte (drunk at a game, I think he scored his only two goals of his flames career that game). At first, I thought it was me, turns out, we just didn't have any players that were worth the 200 bucks a jersey cost. Broke the streak with a cammy jersey the year he won the scoring title from Iggy. And then he walked as a UFA, and the streak continued.

Dark days. On an unrelated note, if anybody is looking for vintage flames jerseys from insignificant players that only played for a season, or we gave up for nothing, PM me.

Bold move.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Locke

Because he was overrated to begin with and he got found out in Calgary.

I like Bouwmeester, just not at his salary for what he brings, but he was always thought of as the 'Big Fish in a Small Pond' when he was in Florida and then we acquired him and.......he was pretty much exactly what he was.

But trading him on his Cap Hit was always going to be hard and not a lot of value was ever coming back the other way.

And St. Louis has done great things with Bouwmeester...I think they won....no they didnt.

This isn’t accurate
He had a great year in Calgary and was good enough to be on Team Canada
He never had the offence that fans hoped but a dman that logs his minutes and is good enough to make team Canada’s blue line is a quality player
And he was signed for one more year so there was minimal risk
He was a good asset

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

This isn’t accurate
He had a great year in Calgary and was good enough to be on Team Canada
He never had the offence that fans hoped but a dman that logs his minutes and is good enough to make team Canada’s blue line is a quality player
And he was signed for one more year so there was minimal risk
He was a good asset

Yeah, thats why after being traded to St. Louis he took a salary cut.

Because he was a 'Good Asset.'

Dion Phaneuf didnt take a pay cut.

[Robbob]

Say what you want about the ROW offer sheet in hypetheticals, but at the end of the day it was a poison pill contract that screwed the cap structure for Colorado and they ended up losing Stastny and trading ROR out of the conference.

[transplant99]

Back to the OP subject...he really is a great man. Just another example from Francis..

Brian Burke is going to kill me.

But the story must be told.

At a Humboldt Broncos charity event Wednesday to which he lent his rock-star status, Burke sat with the parents of paralyzed defenceman Ryan Straschnitzki who he insisted on paying for as his guests.

Upon learning both Airdrie residents had been laid off in the last four months, he reached into his wallet and pulled out eight $50 bills and told me to put them in the mother’s purse when she wasn’t looking.

“Don’t you tell anyone,” were his strict instructions.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen him dole out cash like that, anonymously.

Sorry, sir, but in light of Friday’s announcement Burke was “stepping back” from the organization after five years, it’s important for Calgarians to know the breadth of what Burke brought to town.

Love him or hate him as a hockey man, what he did behind the scenes should be applauded by all

.

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...2-d04544d9f18c

[Flash Walken]

lol, Feaster brought in as the hatchet man.

Not. Even. Close.

The Flames didn't even realize they were trading Iginla until a month or two before the deadline. Eric Francis said following the trade something to the effect of Edwards thought Iginla would retire a flame up to the week prior to the deadline. You don't hire Feaster to be the GM to tear the thing down and trade Iginla if you're under the belief he's going to retire with the team.


The idea that Feaster was brought in to tear the thing down and rebuild just doesn't make any sense at all when you review the history of him coming on board with the team and the moves he made prior to everything falling apart.

The Flames had no intention at all of trading away Iginla until he forced their hand.

They didn't go into the feaster hiring or promotion thinking he would tear down the team, he presented them with a plan to keep winning with Iginla!

Trade for his buddies Tanguay and Cammalleri. Sign Wideman and Hudler. Sign Cervenka. Trading regehr for the capspace to sign Brad Richards. Attempt to trade a top 10 draft pick for the opportunity to sign a guy to 6.5 million per year in order to win now.

None of those moves are made with an eye towards rebuilding. Those moves were a net loss of significant draft picks. The Flames traded a 5th rounder to washington just to negotiate with Wideman 48-72 hours in advance of July 1st.

That is NOT a move a rebuilding organization makes. That's a panic move made by a GM without a plan, in an organization without a plan.

Feaster's tenure was an abject failure that necessitated hiring a career hockey ops professional to bring baseline credibility back to the organization. A job that was so unattractive--because of that lack of credibility--it was reportedly turned down by several experienced hockey people including former flames.

Feaster was there to hold King and Edwards' hand and reload the gun while they shot themselves in the foot.

Unfortunately, there are things once again giving me pause about the input and accessibility of hockey ops to senior management/ownership. I don't know if that has anything to do with Burke's departure but Flames fans better hope not.

[jayswin]

Yeah, the fall guy/hatchet man stuff doesn't really make sense with Feaster and his track record until that point. Why would you hire a fall guy with a poor track record to bring you through one of the most critical asset management period in team history?

Is there actually a history of NHL teams bringing in hatchet men as GM's? I don't think there is. You see puppet GM;s and coaches due to hands on owners, but that's different.

[Vinny01]

When Feaster was hired in 2010 it was clear Darryl was on an extremely short leash and halfway through his first season as AGM Feaster gets promoted to Interim GM and then has that label removed at the end of the season.

When Burke was brought in 2013 it was clear that Feaster was now on borrowed time. In December Feaster was fired and Burke planned to hire his guy.

I feel Burke helped rebuild the image of the team that was tarnished by questionable trades and signings from the end of the Sutter era through the entire Feaster regime. Treliving has established himself very well and is entering his 5th year on the job. Burke is no longer needed but he was key in bridging the gap for a new era

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

lol, Feaster brought in as the hatchet man.

Not. Even. Close.

The Flames didn't even realize they were trading Iginla until a month or two before the deadline.

That's actually not quite true.

At the conclusion of the 2011-12 season, during the year-end wrap up, Feaster spoke with Iginla at the possibility of him moving if things don't work out the next season. The conversation came up again during training camp of the 2012-13 season. Remember the whole "Iginla might not sign with the Calgary Flames" talk?

I agree with you that Feaster was NOT brought in to be the hatchet man, however. I believe him when he said that he thinks this team can make a run, and tried to keep that core together.

I do think that Feaster was conniving, deceitful and incompetent. His media availabilities made me cringe often, and I do think it was an embarrassing time as a fan. I was very happy to have him move on. He was rightfully turfed for his handling of his trades and his 'plans'. He single-handedly turned this organization into a joke of a franchise, and I will be shocked if he ever sees another management opportunity again.

However, he did do some good.

1) He stopped trading picks - especially higher picks - in the season leading to the rebuild. I guess you can argue that his 'go for it plan' was not going for it, but doing something half-assed I guess, but I was happy to not see picks being traded away.

2) He lifted restrictions on the draft. I mean, his own incompetence forced him to rely on the experts. I like this approach. However, it wasn't so night and day like it was under Sutter anyway - Button still valued Wotherspoon over Kucherov, for example (in combination with him thinking that Kucherov would be available later - though thankfully he got Gaudreau right!).

3) He hired more personnel for the scouting department. I think he took Sutter's ball and ran with it. Sutter had been enlarging the scouting department already, and the organization was placing a greater emphasis on drafting as a whole under Sutter, but good on Feaster to continue with that vision.

4) He hired Bob Hartley and gave the players the mandate that it wasn't ok to lose. The culture on this team completely changed from one season to the next.

It wasn't all bad. It was, however, terrible as a whole and downright embarrassing as a fan to cheer for an organization that was often the butt of a jokes.

There was no excusing the lack of talent he received in trades, and Bouwmeester WAS a really good defencemen under Hartley. There was ZERO reason to trade him if the returns weren't there. In 33 games under Hartley in that shortened season, Boumeester scored more goals than in any other year with the Flames.

Imagine what offers Boumeester would have gotten after a shortened season under Hartley AND another year playing in Hartley's system in which the defence figured-into a lot of the offence. I would have bet that Boumeester would have probably hit a career high under Hartley - like Giordano did, like Brodie did, like Russell did, like Wideman did... In hindsight, the safe money would be to bet on Bouwmeester attaining a career high, and it would have been the Boumeester sweepstakes the following trade deadline at worst.

Regehr was a trade in which I felt embarrassed. It wasn't just the return. It was HOW it was made. Regehr had a NMC. Feaster announced the trade to the media, and basically tried to railroad Regehr into accepting it. Regehr was of course (and rightfully so) hesitant to accept it, and he wanted to go somewhere like San Jose instead if he was being traded. I thought Feaster did Regehr a great disservice there. I thought - regardless of how people think - he was the one that bungled the Iginla trade. Again, it was embarrassing how this organization was treating their all-time greatest player who bled often for this team.

The drafting of Jankowski. Hey, I agreed with it, and I thought 100% it was the right move. But to say to the media "He will be the best player in the draft 10 years from now" is only begging for more ridicule. Make the selection, say you really like his kid and think he will be an NHL'er, and move on. I don't usually even hear about the #1 overall pick being touted by the team that drafts him as the 'best player in the draft', though one could hardly ridicule any team for thinking it (even the first few picks).

Feaster will never hold a position again in which he is allowed to make hockey decisions. Didn't do all bad, but was deservingly let go.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

That's actually not quite true.

At the conclusion of the 2011-12 season, during the year-end wrap up, Feaster spoke with Iginla at the possibility of him moving if things don't work out the next season. The conversation came up again during training camp of the 2012-13 season. Remember the whole "Iginla might not sign with the Calgary Flames" talk?

I do remember that. Iginla and Meehan told the Flames they didn't want to discuss a new contract during the season. Based on the context, they were essentially saying this year or bust. I think the Flames knew this even before that. Moves to bring back Cammalleri, to ship out Regehr and to try to acquire Brad Richards as well as the failed attempt for O'Reilly all point to me as attempts to create a situation attractive to Iginla in order to re-sign him. The O'Reilly attempt happened just 3 weeks before the trade and may ultimately have been the catalyst for both parties to realize where this train was headed.

However, he did do some good.

1) He stopped trading picks - especially higher picks - in the season leading to the rebuild. I guess you can argue that his 'go for it plan' was not going for it, but doing something half-assed I guess, but I was happy to not see picks being traded away.

I don't agree with this.

If you're saying the rebuild season is the season they dealt Iginla and then Bouwmeester, then the season leading to the rebuild was the one where the Flames moved a 2nd rounder in the deal for Cammalleri. It's actually from this point that I believe the Flames started to really spend picks. Prior to that in his limited tenure he was neutral in amount of picks dealt, getting a pretty good return for Tim Erixon.

2) He lifted restrictions on the draft. I mean, his own incompetence forced him to rely on the experts. I like this approach. However, it wasn't so night and day like it was under Sutter anyway - Button still valued Wotherspoon over Kucherov, for example (in combination with him thinking that Kucherov would be available later - though thankfully he got Gaudreau right!).

I mean, sort of. He again traded down in the first round to 'recoup the 2nd' he had traded away. I think that kind of undercuts the scouting. By their admission they were exploring the idea of also trading that first rounder away entirely; is that an indication he was lifting the restrictions on the draft? Over Feaster's tenure the flames drafted 20 times over 3 drafts with 7 rounds apiece. He inherited a lot of that debacle from Sutter, but he didn't actually do much to address it.

After Dealing Iginla, the Flames Pick scenario works out like this

IN:

1st (bouwmeester)
5th (Comeau)
6th (Jackman)


OUT:
4th (Knight)
4th (Galiardi)
5th (Russell)
4th (Colborne)
6th (MacDermid)

For a team at or near the basement of the league during that tenure, I don't necessarily believe that is taking the restrictions off the scouting staff. In my opinion, taking restrictions off would be giving the scouting staff the benefit of multiple draft picks to take chances on guys like Kucherov earlier or not risking Gaudreau not being there by giving them an extra 3rd rounder to work with, not drafting less than the bare minimum yearly allotment over a period of sustained lack of playoff calibre rosters.

4) He hired Bob Hartley and gave the players the mandate that it wasn't ok to lose. The culture on this team completely changed from one season to the next.

Why does this warrant adulation? Hartley was bad, was out of the league for a reason and is back out of the league again for a reason. He hired one of his best friends. I don't think the Hartley hire is crow worthy.

It wasn't all bad. It was, however, terrible as a whole and downright embarrassing as a fan to cheer for an organization that was often the butt of a jokes.

I agree, it wasn't all bad. There was that one season where the team beat the canucks in the playoffs and that was great. The rest of it was some of the worst flames hockey teams i've ever seen.

Agree with the rest of your post though.

[Sylvanfan]

Say what you want about Burke, but he always made sure the players on his team knew how important it was to be part of a NHL organization and have pride in it. You have to commend him for his insistence that players be part of the community.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I'm as bitter as the next Flames fan guys, but "in the same spot they were 5 years ago?"

Really?

5 years ago our top scorers were:

Cammalleri who was 30
Stempniak who was 29
Tanguay who was 32
Hudler who was 28
Glencross who was 29

This year they were:

Gaudreau who is 24
Monahan who is 23
Tkachuk who is 19
Backlund who is 28
Hamilton who is 24

The team has been rebuilt, and we have really good young core. Now, hopefully Treliving can do something positive with it going forward, but we are not in the same spot at all.

As for missing the playoffs 3 out of 5, that was supposed to happen anyways during the rebuild. The only thing that's messed up is the order in which it happened.

In 2014/15 we should have never been anywhere near the playoffs, never mind won a round, and this year we shouldn't have missed. Progress isn't always linear, and sometimes #### happens. It sucks, but hopefully this is the last time we miss for a good long time.

And after all that hard work Feaster did of shedding our team of all those high salaries and older players, BT under the BB era decided to sign/trade for;
Mason Raymond 28
Brandon Bollig 27
Jonas Hiller 32
Brian Elliot 31
Chris Versteeg 30
Niklas Backstrom 37
Troy Brouwer 31
And our payroll went from 56 million to 73 million.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

And after all that hard work Feaster did of shedding our team of all those high salaries and older players, BT under the BB era decided to sign/trade for;
Mason Raymond 28
Brandon Bollig 27
Jonas Hiller 32
Brian Elliot 31
Chris Versteeg 30
Niklas Backstrom 37
Troy Brouwer 31
And our payroll went from 56 million to 73 million.

OK and? Are you saying that teams shouldn't have any older players?

Let's go down that list, by the way, and assess just how good those acquisitions were.

Raymond -- decent first year, injured, never looked the same. It was still a reasonable signing at the time
Bollig -- yeah, no
Hiller -- great first year, putrid second year. Again, another reasonable contract
Elliott -- fine regular season, awful playoff. Another reasonable trade.
Versteeg -- great first year, injury-plagued second year. Cheap both years, great signing.
Backstrom -- who cares? He played four games here and was purely acquired to equate salary in the Jones deal.
Brouwer -- iffy. He's an okay penalty killer but otherwise, yeah, probably overpaid by $2.5-3 million.

I don't see why paying money for players is a bad thing. Do you want the Flames to be like Florida or Carolina? And objectively speaking, Versteeg, Hiller, Elliott, and maybe even Raymond were good acquisitions. You're not even including Frolik or Stone or Hamonic or Smith or Shore, more objectively good players who Treliving has acquired.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

OK and? Are you saying that teams shouldn't have any older players?

Let's go down that list, by the way, and assess just how good those acquisitions were.

Raymond -- decent first year, injured, never looked the same. It was still a reasonable signing at the time
Bollig -- yeah, no
Hiller -- great first year, putrid second year. Again, another reasonable contract
Elliott -- fine regular season, awful playoff. Another reasonable trade.
Versteeg -- great first year, injury-plagued second year. Cheap both years, great signing.
Backstrom -- who cares? He played four games here and was purely acquired to equate salary in the Jones deal.
Brouwer -- iffy. He's an okay penalty killer but otherwise, yeah, probably overpaid by $2.5-3 million.

I don't see why paying money for players is a bad thing. Do you want the Flames to be like Florida or Carolina? And objectively speaking, Versteeg, Hiller, Elliott, and maybe even Raymond were good acquisitions. You're not even including Frolik or Stone or Hamonic or Smith or Shore, more objectively good players who Treliving has acquired.

Quick response on just point one - when they couldn’t retain team leading scorer Cammalleri BT noted that Raymond was a good fit as a NHL winger was needed in that role.

Elliott - gamble on a backup
Versteeg - the guy is a 3rd line player

These were a lot of replaceable filler, good for treading water at best .