[News] Friedman: Feaster/Flames are not going to blow it up

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I'm not a huge fan of Burke.. I'd have serious doubts about him.. But Burke isn't afraid to make changes, major changes.

Would probably help dispel questions about meddling ownership too.

[AltaGuy]

Wasn't King supposed to move into some higher post involving the Stamps/Roughnecks/Hitmen etc?

I would like to have Burke in the President role.

[Badgers Nose]

Calgary deserves the best.

Unless ken holland comes here, Burke is best.

[PeteLFan]

Ken king can oversee the Calgary sports and entertainment group, which is what they are aiming for. Didn't ken say he was going to retire once we got a new arena?

[albertGQ]

How long does it take the mods to verify a source?

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Have any of you guys actually met Ken King? He is a sharp businessman with great respect for the Flames and even moreso for the fans. He's always out mingling with people in the concourse at games, at Flames Central when possible to hang out with the patrons and answer their questions, and has always been approachable in most situations I've seen him. He bought my friends and I drinks once and sat there at FC answering all of our questions - and he was even more keen to hear our opinions.

Where am I going with this? You may not like King's approach to team success and the heavy-handed nature of his role on the GM duties, but him and his team aren't stupid and they certainly aren't out to destroy the Flames through lack of action. They also consider the fans in most decisions they make, so getting rid of Iginla / the core is not an easy one because that's the house most of us Flames fans have grown up in for the last 18 years. Iginla is an institution in this city and you can't just fire him off without very good reason to do so. He is asset to the city, not just the team.

I don't know if Burke could do a better job, but axing King is not as easy as it would seem. He does bring a strong PR and management element to the administration, even if some people don't like the results (or lack of them). Hold the whole operation accountable, not just King.

I've met KK and everything you have said is true. The problem is that he really does not know hockey any better than the posters on CP. Flames need NHL experience in management in a big way.

[Super-Rye]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I'm not a huge fan of Burke.. I'd have serious doubts about him.. But Burke isn't afraid to make changes, major changes.

Agreed. I think the organization has too many "good guys" in it. Having a guy who isn't afraid to make the unpopular decision would be a good thing. If true it could be a good move, especially since Burke wouldn't end up in the GM chair.

[liamenator]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Presumably he'd be next in line for GM when Feaster gets the axe. Similar to when Feaster was hired as Assistant GM with Sutter still around.

If he were to take on the position of President, I have no doubt he'd axe Feaster, but I don't think he'd take over GM duties himself. More likely, I think, we'd see him adopt a role similar to JD's in St. Louis now in Columbus: a President that has a heavy involvement in hockey operations, but is not the primary day-to-day hockey ops person. I would guess Burke would hire a guy he could work closely with in this kind of arrangement, i.e. one of the guys from the pretty formidable hockey ops staff he amassed in Toronto. Likely Dave Poulin or Claude Loiselle.

[jg13]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Have any of you guys actually met Ken King? He is a sharp businessman with great respect for the Flames and even moreso for the fans. He's always out mingling with people in the concourse at games, at Flames Central when possible to hang out with the patrons and answer their questions, and has always been approachable in most situations I've seen him. He bought my friends and I drinks once and sat there at FC answering all of our questions - and he was even more keen to hear our opinions.

Where am I going with this? You may not like King's approach to team success and the heavy-handed nature of his role on the GM duties, but him and his team aren't stupid and they certainly aren't out to destroy the Flames through lack of action. They also consider the fans in most decisions they make, so getting rid of Iginla / the core is not an easy one because that's the house most of us Flames fans have grown up in for the last 18 years. Iginla is an institution in this city and you can't just fire him off without very good reason to do so. He is asset to the city, not just the team.

I don't know if Burke could do a better job, but axing King is not as easy as it would seem. He does bring a strong PR and management element to the administration, even if some people don't like the results (or lack of them). Hold the whole operation accountable, not just King.

I'd rather axe him and have a direction and plan over the next 3-5 years instead of riding iginla and kiprusoff until they both retire and being forced to go through an oiler 7+ year rebuild which still isn't working out for them and could easily not work for us either

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by liamenator

If he were to take on the position of President, I have no doubt he'd axe Feaster, but I don't think he'd take over GM duties himself. More likely, I think, we'd see him adopt a role similar to JD's in St. Louis now in Columbus: a President that has a heavy involvement in hockey operations, but is not the primary day-to-day hockey ops person. I would guess Burke would hire a guy he could work closely with in this kind of arrangement, i.e. one of the guys from the pretty formidable hockey ops staff he amassed in Toronto. Likely Dave Poulin or Claude Loiselle.

If this is true and he was hired in the next week, I could see him being interm GM for the rest of the season. I would love for Burke to be handling the trades if the flames are sellers. He could hire "his guy" as gm, in the summer.

[SOMBRI2]

Wasn't some discussion out there that KK is moved to the Admin side President and they would hire Davidson?

Perhaps, this can be done...KK - VP - Business Operations; Burke or Davidson - VP - Hockey Operations.

[Wronskian]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Have any of you guys actually met Ken King? He is a sharp businessman with great respect for the Flames and even moreso for the fans. He's always out mingling with people in the concourse at games, at Flames Central when possible to hang out with the patrons and answer their questions, and has always been approachable in most situations I've seen him. He bought my friends and I drinks once and sat there at FC answering all of our questions - and he was even more keen to hear our opinions.

Where am I going with this? You may not like King's approach to team success and the heavy-handed nature of his role on the GM duties, but him and his team aren't stupid and they certainly aren't out to destroy the Flames through lack of action. They also consider the fans in most decisions they make, so getting rid of Iginla / the core is not an easy one because that's the house most of us Flames fans have grown up in for the last 18 years. Iginla is an institution in this city and you can't just fire him off without very good reason to do so. He is asset to the city, not just the team.

I don't know if Burke could do a better job, but axing King is not as easy as it would seem. He does bring a strong PR and management element to the administration, even if some people don't like the results (or lack of them). Hold the whole operation accountable, not just King.

Not to knock Ken King, but everyone is replaceable no matter what they do. If KK is as involved in hockey operations as is rumored, he most certainly should be held accountable. You may argue "well the flames have prospered financially with him at the helm", but they would have been more prosperous than that with more than one playoff appearence in the last 5 years (assuming we don't make it this year).

[HighLifeMan]

Burke's track record speaks for itself. Outside of the Kessel trade (which he himself claims came to early on in the rebuild) he has done a very good job at drafting and trading specifically.

Thomas Kaberle trade? Win.
Francois Beauchemin trade? Huge win.
Dion Phaneuf trade? Massive win.
Hell the man even got a 2nd out of us for dumping Primeau on the leafs.

Look at his draft history...
Chris Pronger
Manny Legace
Bryan Allen
Jarkko Ruutu
Daniel Sedin
Henrik Sedin
RJ Umberger
Kevin Bieksa
Ryan Kesler
Bobby Ryan
Matt Beleskey
Jake Gardiner
Justin Schultz
Nazem Kadri
Morgan Rielly

That is an impressive list of talent no matter how you slice it. Sure he has had his misses like everyone else, but not many GM's can match his resume.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

Flames 3-Step Process to Contention :

1. Admit to themselves they've been wrong and need to start over

2. Replace Feaster with Burke

3. Replace Hartley with Ruff

And become the laughing stock of the NHL. If you think things are bad now just follow #2 and 3 and watch how boring and crappier this team gets.

[$ven27]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

And become the laughing stock of the NHL. If you think things are bad now just follow #2 and 3 and watch how boring and crappier this team gets.

Burke, boring? That's hilarious.

[Ashasx]

I never want Lindy Ruff near this hockey team.

[dammage79]

I would hope Hartley would get at the very least one full 82 game season to implement his vision. I would hope that Weisbrod stays on regardless of the direction the Flames go in.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

How long does it take the mods to verify a source?

Sometimes things aren't black and white

[Poe969]

Why on earth do you want Hartley to stay on with the team??? Do you want to see how good of a third line player Reinhart is?

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Sometimes things aren't black and white

Sometimes they are...ORANGE.