[Rumour] Garrioch: "Ken King will be moving on"

[Owen15]

Originally Posted by edslunch

But I thought the goal was to get younger?

Still need a veteran prescence to show the young guys how to be a real pro.

Just getting a bit tired of some of these characters...

[Dion]

Originally Posted by troutman

Is there a role for Brian Burke here?

I hope not!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

And the hate is driven mostly by people who wouldn't be caught dead calling themselves Flames fans during the Ron Bremner years.

I owned season tickets in the Bremner years and hate IMO is far too strong as I'm all about what's best for the hockey team regardless of the person being a good person or not. Bremner's incompetence shouldn't cast any shadow on King's failures. King did a lot of things right but he was handed an ATM machine of cash to build a cup contender and the return was 4 straight years out of the playoffs and more on the horizon as the year rebuilds. King has earned his legacy of failure.

[browna]

There is no good reason for KK to leave the organization. I do believe he's taken/given/acquired more power day to day in the last couple years of Sutter and the Feaster era.

That has to stop, full stop.

Dont think Feaster should feel any safer, Edwards also should do a clean sweep and move this franchise into the next era.

[sureLoss]

The timing of this seems off.

The reports are out there that the Flames are about to announce arena plans and Ken King would have been the one in charge of meeting with the city, builders, and planning the whole thing. For him to leave now would possibly put the arena plans back a few months.

[automaton 3]

Originally Posted by FlameZilla

Let the lawyer do lawyery things & leave hockey business to the hockey guy. Makes sense to me.

You might be already aware...Feaster did not practice very long as a lawyer, and has been involved in hockey management since about 1990. I think its safe to call him more of a hockey guy than a lawyer at this point.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

The timing of this seems off.

The reports are out there that the Flames are about to announce arena plans and Ken King would have been the one in charge of meeting with the city, builders, and planning the whole thing. For him to leave now would possibly put the arena plans back a few months.

I agree. Lets not get too excited here until a legitimate source confirms. This rumour carries all the weight of an Eklund rumour.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Can you elaborate on this 'contact'? There are few in the hockey media I trust less than Garrioch as he's basically Eklund with a real job. Honestly I'm not sure even Weisbrod would be privy to this unless it's already been decided and is just a formality waiting to be announced at the end of the season...

This is really speculation on my part, assuming that Garrioch would have likely run into Weisbrod at some point during the Gatineau / Halifax games; he is still a hockey journalist with a press pass, and I expect that he would have been there.

Originally Posted by sureLoss

The timing of this seems off.

The reports are out there that the Flames are about to announce arena plans and Ken King would have been the one in charge of meeting with the city, builders, and planning the whole thing. For him to leave now would possibly put the arena plans back a few months.

Or, the timing is perfect. Perhaps this will coincide with a new arena announcement, and with King being moved within the organisation to oversee this new project.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by automaton 3

You might be already aware...Feaster did not practice very long as a lawyer, and has been involved in hockey management since about 1990. I think its safe to call him more of a hockey guy than a lawyer at this point.

Mike Holditch has been with the Flames since 1994. Would you comfortable with him making hockey decisions for the team?

[Vulcan]

Ken King is a thousand times better than Bremmer but he needs to stay out of the hockey operations. I don't know if he's had his hand in on personal decisions or not but it's clear he set the tone of no rebuild and continue the plan of making the playoffs every year. This plan has stayed the same with Darryl's regime and Feaster's and I'm convinced led to many of the bad decisions that Darryl made because he was under the gun to perform now, without looking to the future.

[SuperMatt18]

They could announce it in conjunction with the new arena plans.

My guess is they announce the new arena plans and state that Ken King will be focusing on overseeing those arena plans and the Flames group (Hitmen, Stamps, Flames, Roughnecks, MLS?) as CEO.

They then announce new presidents for each of the individual entities and create a bigger organization, following the MLSE model.

Fact is the Flames brand has grown in the last 24 months and will only get even bigger if they open two new arenas. They haven't really restructured the organization to align with this growth and that is what needs to happen now.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Igottago

The hate on for Ken King is ridiculous. He was a big part of bringing the organization back to respectability. Sure, things haven't gone well in recent years. That's pro sports, it happens. Doesn't mean the guy didn't do a good job, at least for a while. Even if he's moving on I've always liked what he brought to the organization in terms of being the face of the business side of things.

'Hate' is far too strong of a word. I can only speak for myself, but just because I'd like to see King move somewhere else doesn't mean I hate him. Maybe he's a great guy, I don't know.

IMHO he has his fingers in too many cookie jars in the hockey operations side of things, and that has to stop.

[kyuss275]

Don't believe it.

[bubbsy]

i don't know if King is the problem, no denying he's been part of bringing hte flames back to something people care about again.

That being said, too much smoke regarding management getting too hands on, and not letting proper decisions be made.

My bet is king moves more to a business/brand role for the overall corporation (all the other teams, the new building, etc). A new president comes in to clean up the hockey operations image which has been severly tarnished over the last 3 years.

The fact that the flames are doing this now, and the oilers are doing this today, is hilarious. Oilers are quite laughable in all regards.

Oiler's mantra:
Go Low(e?) Go

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

i don't know if King is the problem, no denying he's been part of bringing hte flames back to something people care about again.

That being said, too much smoke regarding management getting too hands on, and not letting proper decisions be made.

Here's the thing: replacing or promoting Ken King does not change this. If people feel Edwards is too hands on, and King acts on the owner's behalf, guess what his replacement is going to do? Be too hands on.

People thinking/hoping that replacing King changes this dynamic are deluding themselves.

[Tinordi]

A strong President's job is to stickhandle relations with the owners and defend the hockey operations from meddling. Ken King is failing in that role and is actually making it worse. Ken King may have done wonders for the business side but in reality he may have opened a Flames bar, done wonders on customer service etc. etc. etc. but the Flames are really no better off than the Oilers in a crap building with brutal amenities and service.

What mattered is the cap and the Canadian dollar, things King had nothing to do with. If you want to say he's the reason you have to then say that the business man in front of EVERY Canadian team in the past 10 years is a genius as well.

Anyway, this guy can't leave soon enough and, from my read it's also likely related to the backfired way they were hoping to get public monies for their grand arena which is always 4 months away from announcement.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I could see Feaster - Prez, Weisbrod - GM.

This would be ideal. I think Feaster is a good business manager along the lines of Ken King, and realistically all the good things with player personnel have been because of Weisbrod.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Anyway, this guy can't leave soon enough and, from my read it's also likely related to the backfired way they were hoping to get public monies for their grand arena which is always 4 months away from announcement.

I suspect this is an invention of your own design, unless you can actually show a backfire. For instance, can you show how and when King was lobbying the government for public money, and how, exactly, it backfired?

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I suspect this is an invention of your own design, unless you can actually show a backfire. For instance, can you show how and when King was lobbying the government for public money, and how, exactly, it backfired?

Just my suspicion. But based on comments on this very board there is no municipal money coming for that arena. Who dropped the ball there?

[GreenLantern]

I once shook Ken Kings hand, I am pretty sure my hand is still recovering from his God like grip.