Jay Feaster History

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Rerun

I give Feaster a grade of B+ for his time here as GM

Hard for me to agree with that grade for a guy who will likely never see work in the NHL again as a GM.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by strombad

Out of curiosity, when did the narrative on Jankowski change?
I've always been neither here nor there on him, and that hasn't changed for me, but I have noticed a sudden shift from wide-eyed optimism to a more sullen view of the kid.

Are we now thinking Janko isn't much of a prospect?

There is a perception that Burke isn't a fan. I think it stems from a combination of the fact that, when praising prospects he likes, he hasn't mentioned him, and from some criticisms of drafting history that people are interpreting as referring to that pick.

Speculation: Burke doesn't like Jankowski.

Result: many now view him as less of a prospect.

But he is what he is and we'll know more over the next couple years.

[FAN]

With current hindsight, I don't think Feaster lost the Cammy trade, but he certainly didn't win it (not that it's necessary to win the trade). The Habs needed to get rid of Cammy who was creating controversy and however invisible Bourque has been for the Habs, there was almost a $2.7M difference in cap hit. Compare the Habs record since the trade and the Flames record since the trade and it's hard to declare the Habs the losers here.

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

Finally, there is no absolute, 100% unequivocal answer as to what would have happened had the Avs not matched the O'Reilly Offer Sheet. I remain in the camp that the Memorandum of Understanding that was in effect at the time (if I recall, correctly, the CBA was not completed yet) was open for interpretation, and could be read the way the Flames interpreted it. I believe the MOU and the final CBA differ, but I cannot find the MOU on short notice.

Challenging the league's interpretation of a rule and risking a potential top 10 pick in doing so is a bad idea. Heck, Feaster could have called up his friend Brian Burke for his interpretation and I bet Burkes interpretation is the same as the league's.

Originally Posted by Rerun

I give Feaster a grade of B+ for his time here as GM

If you look at Feaster's moves in a vacuum I can agree with giving Feaster a B or even a B+, but if you consider the effects of those moves Feaster deserves a C or even a C-. We are not talking about a GM who took a team that finished in the bottom of the NHL standings and put together pieces that serves as building blocks for the future. We are talking about a GM who took a team that missed the playoffs the previous year and made moves thinking the team was close to making the playoffs. No way Feaster deserves a B+ for leading this team to the worst record in years.

[Green Machine]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Sutter drove this team into the ground. He caught lightning in a bottle with Kiprusoff, good move but also very lucky and inherited the best player in the league at the time. Since the high water mark of his first season each team successively was worse than the year before it. By the time Sutter was finally put down all that was left was a smoldering pile of embers. Incredibly overrated GM by Flames fans.

Your assessment of Sutter's tenure with the Flames overlooks many other positive moves he made. He took a team that had missed the playoffs for seven years and was lacking star power outside of Iginla and added essential pieces while building a team identity. Sure Kipprusoff was his best move and included an element of luck but acquiring or signing players like Tanguay, Langkow, Hamrlik, Hueselius, Glencross, Bourqe, Simon, Nilson, Donovan, Giordano, and Cammaleri, all for good value, can't be overlooked.

Even though Sutter's trading record was sullied near the end by a few questionable moves that I still don't understand, his trade portfolio prior to that was still exceptional enough to consider it well above average on the whole. Sutter returned respectability to a franchise that had wallowed in mediocrity for years. So much so, that the Flames were actually considered by top level Free Agents such as Bouwmeester. Say what you will about that being an overpayment, but UFA's almost always are and in the end it cost the Flames nothing but cap space and returned additional assets when the orginization transitioned to rebuild mode. Prior to Sutter, It would have been hard imagine the Flames ever landing an upper level Free Agent signing, much less the consensus free agency prize of the year.

I also disagree with your point that the team hit its high water mark in year one and regressed from there. There are other parameters that affects how far a team progresses each season outside of the quality of the roster and I would suggest that the team that lost to Chicago four years later was far superior in roster quality with extremely bad injury luck at the worst possible time.

As far as leaving the team in shambles, I would agree that the Flames were left with an aging veteran core and no young prospects to replenish their declining skillset but it is not like Sutter decimated a prospect base that was flush with young talent and the picks that he traded always seemed to return decent value. Besides, it seems natural to shift focus away from future prospects when pursuing success with a current core that you think can contend for a cup. Despite the lack of success, I don’t think you can condemn the strategy as it has been common practise amongst cup contenders for a long time. In fact, the building of our Franchises one Stanley Cup Champion ship team included dealing away a prospect that became one of the NHL's best goal scorers ever in Brett Hull.

Overall, Sutter demonstrated above average trading, UFA signing, and Contract negotiation. His pitfalls included Drafting, and Hiring front office staff as it seems he was never able to effectively fill the coaching vacancy that he left. The argument could be made that he failed to shift Strategy from pursuing success with with the current core to rebuilding at the proper time but that may have been due to ownership reluctance. Regardless, I don’t think he is quite the disaster you make him out to be when you consider the positive accomplishments he achieved while here.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Freeway

Feaster hires:

John Weisbrod (AGM)
Craig Conroy (Assistant to GM)
Chris Snow (Director, Video and Statistical Analysis)
Jamie Pringle (Senior Video Analyst)
Bob Hartley (Head Coach)(who hired Jacques Cloutier and Martin Gelinas)
Craig Hartsburg (under Brent Sutter)
Clint Malarchuk (Goaltending Coach)(under Brent Sutter)
Todd Woodcroft (Director, Scouting)
Brandon Benning (WHL Scout)
Michel Goulet (Western Pro Scout)
Bobbie Hagelin (European Amateur Scout)
Troy Ward (as a head coach)
Jordan Sigalet (under Ward)
Robbie Ftorek (under Ward)
Dominik Pittis (Skills Coach)

I believe Goulet was already here prior to Feaster being hired as Sutter's AGM, wasn't he?

Also, I find it difficult to find the scouting changes over the years (I find it difficult to even find an updated scouts list!). Did any of the above replace anyone else, or were they added to the existing staff? I know a few names left, but it seems the scouting department has been growing since ~2002 or so. Would love to see some sort of a complete year-by-year listing somewhere.

Edit: Also, I thought Goulet was the director of pro scouting - Todd Button's mirror on the pro-side of things. Was there a recent change?

[Calgary4LIfe]

To add to Green Machine's post, one thing I notice Darryl taking a lot of flack for is the drafting.

Yes, it was horrid in the first half of his tenure here, but you also have to grade him based on the changes he made, not just the outcome.

When he took over, I believe the Flames were sharing their AHL team with Carolina (if I remember correctly - anyone verify?). Also, Todd Button might have been the ONLY full-time scout. I believe there were 2 part-time scouts in the organization.

So, he started off with nothing much.

He substantially added to the scouting department, restarted the development program (seriously, I don't even think there was anyone employed in development), and in time even got ownership to buy-into the creation of the Heat.

From these changes, you could see progress, though painfully slow. Over the years it became better as Sutter added to it. Yes, one can argue that change was too slow to be acceptable, and you may very well have a point. Maybe ownership was more hesitant to throw money into it at first? Perhaps building a scouting department takes a lot of time to put together, and even more time for them to start seeing results proving to themselves they are on the right track?

A rookie GM no less would probably have even a harder time assembling a scouting crew.

Did Darryl fail at the drafting and development side of things? Yes, he did. However, he also realized how important it was, and he put a lot of effort into getting it on track (which it started becoming around 2008 or so, and increasingly better every year). Too little too late, but bulk of the work that continues to this day I believe was centered around 2005-2008/9 maybe - when it seems they finally started identifying what they should be looking for in prospects.

I always wonder what would a rebuild look like under Darryl. Would have have been very interesting to see what direction he would have gone in, but Burke and Regier all strike me as the most 'Darryl-esque' GMs out there for some reason (and I also think given Regier's relationship to Burke, he is probably the favorite for the GM role).

[Freeway]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I believe Goulet was already here prior to Feaster being hired as Sutter's AGM, wasn't he?

Also, I find it difficult to find the scouting changes over the years (I find it difficult to even find an updated scouts list!). Did any of the above replace anyone else, or were they added to the existing staff? I know a few names left, but it seems the scouting department has been growing since ~2002 or so. Would love to see some sort of a complete year-by-year listing somewhere.

Edit: Also, I thought Goulet was the director of pro scouting - Todd Button's mirror on the pro-side of things. Was there a recent change?

Actually, you're right. Goulet was actually Darryl's last hire (hired in August, Darryl was gone in December). But he was always the Western pro scout (Steve Leach is the Eastern pro scout).