The Team That Feaster Built

[Vulcan]

Feaster wasn't hired to tear the team down as some have said. He was hired to win and he failed. He should have been fired after the ROR fiasco (well IMO he should have been fired long before that) but it was a good decision to keep him around as the guy who traded away our assets for youth. This way new management wouldn't be stuck with the rep of the guy who traded away our best player and captain.

I'm sure Feaster is a good guy and is being underutilized in his present job but he just isn't a very good hockey GM because he doesn't have the background for that job.

[edslunch]

Feaster was the anti-Sutter in many ways which was a good thing for the time and started a culture change. He served a purpose, did net good IMO, and now is gone. All good.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Phil Russell

Feaster oversaw a reluctant transition by ownership into a rebuild. No GM can come out a clear winner in that situation. It was a schizophrenic period. Overall, however, Feaster did a good job. He made mistakes during the awkward "are we still in it or are we done" period but he did set the plate for what we are seeing now--what's looking to be a successful and quick rebuild. That said, Feaster's firing was also well-timed. It was time to move on and let someone else do the building after the Feaster tear-down.

This. Anyone who was being honest could see that the team Sutter left could only get worse before it got better. Feaster came in, performed the triage, and stabilized a patient with sucking chest wounds. Ownership wasn't onboard yet for a full rebuild, so he was in an awkward position. He was a caretaker GM, and caretaker GMs don't last long. But there's no doubt that Brad Treliving has taken over a franchise in far better shape than the one Feaster took over.

[Hanna Sniper]

The team that Giordano built

[Calgary4LIfe]

There are very few GMs in the league that only make poor moves. Snow is a guy who is highly criticized for making poor moves (though I do think some of his moves are unnecessary gambles - i.e. the Vanek/Moulson trade - Wang has much to do with the failures of that team) but even he has turned everything to gold this season thus far. That scouting staff on the Islanders seem to get the job done (Nielsen looks like a franchise-level player in the making, though we will see if he will really become one).

With Feaster, he did a lot of bad, did a lot of good.

The Good:
- Stopped trading picks for players to win now (this is when I said the 'rebuild has kind of started' 1.5 years or so before finally trading Iginla). He made the bleeding stop so to speak.
- Under his watch, the team did draft a lot of skill into the lineup
- Won some nice trades (like the Cammy trade)
- Did change the culture a bit organizationally by having a 'brain-trust' type of format where everyone was able to speak their minds (this was very important)
- He did bring in more scouting staff (Though D&D expanded GREATLY under Sutter, and the entire drafting philosophy around "Hockey IQ" and "Strong Character Guys ONLY" evolved under Sutter's Tenure and NOT under Feaster's) which I thought was hugely important as we were looking like a team poised to rebuild
- Weisbrod - though apparently the guy had many supposed warts, he did do one thing that was important, and that was to make the scouts overlap and get different eyes on different areas to confirm or rebuke another scout's findings. When you are fighting for 'your guy' but you didn't really see much of the 'other guy', how can you really fight for him? That was an important piece I thought, though Weisbrod overall MAY have brought some negatives with him as well.

I also want to bring one thing up. Organizationally, Feaster did quite a lot to rebuild. It started in the front offices, and the point above in 'expanding the scouting department' is of HUGE importance. There was an article I linked back by Duhatschek regarding Hartley (was in the anti-Dowbiggen thread or something) and in it there was a quote by Hartley saying something interesting about 'the rebuild'. This was as he was getting hired. Looking back now, it did seem that Feaster was getting his ducks in a row before finally rebuilding. Contrast that with the 'wandering the desert' and 'if the Flames want to rebuild, they will have to find a new GM' speeches tells me I am reading too much into it, but was a very interesting comment by Hartley nonetheless.

The Bad:
- ROR offer-sheet. This was an embarrassment to the organization. Whether you believe ROR would have had to pass through waivers or not, it was still quite the embarrassment organizationally. The entire management team essentially went into silence for a month or so after that.

- The Richards offer - Would have simply been a huge move backwards. However, I do think the Flames would have ended up using a compliance buyout on him anyways, so even if the Flames did get him, it wouldn't have been that huge a deal (except for the owners shelling out that coin). However, the real danger is that Richards would have done 'ok' with Iginla and Tanguay and the team decided not to rebuild.

- His media presence: "Fool me once", Jankowski draft where he goes and proclaims that the kid will be the 'best player out of this draft' (horrible thing to do to the kid, and made Jankowski the butt of all jokes), the ROR incident above (not coming out and addressing it other than a released statement was very telling at the time I thought, when you consider how often he would speak to the media, his "Make the playoffs guarantee" (though he got ambushed a bit my TSN, the politically correct answer would have been "30 teams in this league are doing everything possible to get into that dance, and there is nobody that counts themselves out of it this early)

- Trades - definitely some horrible trades, for what was supposedly high-value assets. Having to give up a 2nd to unload Kotalik was a HUGE mistake. Apparently, Kotalik wasn't interested in returning to the AHL, and was more interested in going to the KHL. Had Feaster bothered to talk to him he could have saved that 2nd (though the Regehr return was still bad regardless, even though I like Byron).

- The Iginla trade debacle. I know a lot of people blame Iginla, but it was Feaster who should have gotten that down on paper, or not have told him about the Pittsburgh deal. When you don't get sign-off in advance, and then approach Iginla with a "Boston and Pittsburgh both made offers, and we hope you take Boston", do you really think Iginla is going to say: "Ok, I will do what is best for you and your team that I am leaving now."? Didn't get sign-off on the waive list, and it cost him.

The Ugly:
- I know many posters will disagree with me on this one as it is always such a hot topic, but Baertschi. I think forcing Hartley into having Baertschi in the lineup was awful. I think trying to appease fans and show 'hope' to the franchise (and save his job) is one of the worst things you can do as a GM. You ruin prospects and careers that way. Baertschi was not ready, and possibly created this sense of entitlement that many posters (myself included) felt he suddenly developed. IF (and it is difficult to confirm how true this is anyways) this was the case, then I find this 'unforgivable' in every sense of the word, especially when I think this strikes at the heart of the issues up north.

The Awesome:
- Bob Hartley. I thought it was simply Feaster bringing in his own old boy's club (and maybe it was) but wow was that a good hire. I thought I would hate Hartley, but I have to admit during his press conference he won me over. "Hard working team", "Fun to watch", "High-tempo" - all things I was hoping to see, and he has thus far delivered. Without Hartley, one has to wonder if the Flames currently would garnering the praise they have so far earned.

Did Feaster do enough to deserve to be let go? I am of the opinion he did. There is no denying that he did a lot of good, a lot of bad, and a lot of 'meh' as well. I really didn't like his media presence at all (though many posters felt he was refreshing after the Sutter years). I like a guy like Treliving more in the media, or even Sutter who says nothing and then just does something. It always seemed like he was trying to 'earn' points with the reporters and fans, rather than just do what he needed to do. You don't get that sense at all from Treliving (and no way did you get any of that with Sutter - Sutter seemed bent on making the reporters' lives as miserable as possible at times!).

I personally can't credit him as an awesome GM when arguably his best moves was to 'be hands off at the draft' and attempts that failed. Other moves like Russell was a huge win, and though Burke was the President by then, I give full credit to Feaster on Colborne (he was signing Calgary/Alberta guys, Colborne was rumored linked to the Flames before with Weisbrod anyways, and there was suddenly a low-risk opportunity).

Our 2nd pairing on defence at the moment is totally his call (though I am sure pro scouts helped to guide him to signing them). Though everyone dumps on Wideman a lot, without that 2nd pairing doing this well, there is no way the Flames are this high in the standings either. Feaster deserves a lot of credit and accolades, but let's not overdo it as he made some HUGE mistakes and a couple 'almost' even bigger mistakes that just didn't happen (thankfully!).

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I agree. That was almost a no-lose deal. That said, while MacKinnon is easily the best player of the draft, Monahan is going to put up a credible argument for second best player (between he, Jones and Drouin, imo), and if either of Poirier or Klimchuk becomes a good NHL player, then we're laughing.

Completely agree.

At the time of the draft I said I thought Monahan was the second best C (ahead of Barkov) and I took some heat for it. I still feel that way and it could well turn out as such.

If Poirier is the real deal (and I believe he is) it is a home run draft.

Having said that, I still would be happy if we had McKinnon. As you said, win/win

[Mister Yamoto]

I don't see why Sutter is criticized so much for trading all of his second rounders.

If you put the players the Flames acquired up against the players that those picks yielded the Flames win by miles. Kiprusoff alone was worth 20 second rounders. And the 2 times that Sutter kept his 2nd, yielded Ramholt and Wahl. Yay.

If anything, it is a strong argument for trading your 2nd every year.

[Da_Chief]

Feaster did not build this team. Gio and Brodie are driving this train, take them out and we would be worse then the Oilers. Gio and Brodie were not Feaster guys.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Mister Yamoto

I don't see why Sutter is criticized so much for trading all of his second rounders.

If you put the players the Flames acquired up against the players that those picks yielded the Flames win by miles. Kiprusoff alone was worth 20 second rounders. And the 2 times that Sutter kept his 2nd, yielded Ramholt and Wahl. Yay.

If anything, it is a strong argument for trading your 2nd every year.

Can't look at it in a vacuum, though.

Calgary traded down in the first round, seemingly every year, to 'recoup' that 2nd rounder.

That's opportunity cost.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Feaster did not build this team. Gio and Brodie are driving this train, take them out and we would be worse then the Oilers. Gio and Brodie were not Feaster guys.

Yes to your first part. No to the last part.

[Where ru Chris O'Sullivan]

Originally Posted by edslunch

Feaster was the anti-Sutter in many ways which was a good thing for the time and started a culture change. He served a purpose, did net good IMO, and now is gone. All good.

Daryl (2 Cups) Sutter?

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Feaster did not build this team. Gio and Brodie are driving this train, take them out and we would be worse then the Oilers. Gio and Brodie were not Feaster guys.

Bull####. Gio and Brodie are two player won a team of 23+ guys. The depth that Feaster built for this team which is what has made this team competitive. The Flames have gone through a number of key injuries and only gotten better. Depth has made that possible. Thank you Mr. Feaster.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by New Era

Bull####. Gio and Brodie are two player won a team of 23+ guys. The depth that Feaster built for this team which is what has made this team competitive. The Flames have gone through a number of key injuries and only gotten better. Depth has made that possible. Thank you Mr. Feaster.

It's not bull ####, truth is you are both correct. With out the young forward depth, this team wouldn't be competitive as they are right now, and with out Gio and Brodie becoming all world, same deal.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by New Era

Bull####. Gio and Brodie are two player won a team of 23+ guys. The depth that Feaster built for this team which is what has made this team competitive. The Flames have gone through a number of key injuries and only gotten better. Depth has made that possible. Thank you Mr. Feaster.

You mean the prospects he didn't mingle in drafting? Feaster was a disaster but right couple of times in the Erixon trade and letting Button and scouts do their job.

[Where ru Chris O'Sullivan]

What sticks most is you were just handed an under achieving team. The GM you were replacing was by all reports going to fire his own brother. And you went and gave Brent another year. Your first decision as captain of the ship and you stick with the old guard - which had already showed inability.

Most believe he was just a mirror for KK, and every part of his demeanour and conduct seem to confirm this.

Every new Tweet is just painful to read, wants full cred for Monahan when it was the only real choice? Perhaps it wasn't considering the Janko pick...

Good Riddance

[BlackWallStreet]

one of my fav feaster moves was his hiring of Bob Hartley

I've been a bobliever for awhile now he's awesome

[Hackey]

There's a reason the scouting department is still around and Feaster is not. I'll give him credit for Hartley and Hudler but that is about it. He dodged way to many bullets that could have really crippled us and made some terrible trades that set us further back than we needed to be. There's a reason Feaster will probably never get another GM job again in the NHL.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Hackey

There's a reason the scouting department is still around and Feaster is not. I'll give him credit for Hartley and Hudler but that is about it. He dodged way to many bullets that could have really crippled us and made some terrible trades that set us further back than we needed to be. There's a reason Feaster will probably never get another GM job again in the NHL.

You know they fired Weisbroad eh?

[browna]

So many Feaster stories, but when talking about scouting, and Weisbrod, in addition to the Jankowski reach, was the pumping up of Roman Cervenka after his signing as free agent, proclaiming his hope that Roman was a top 2 center in this league:

Roman is a highly skilled player with great hands, excellent vision and the ability to score goals at an elite level of play,” said Flames General Manager Jay Feaster. “Our scouts in Europe identified him as someone who could slot into our top six forward group and play in the NHL as a top two line centre. John Weisbrod went to see him play early in the KHL Playoffs and came away confirming everything we had heard from our scouts in Europe.

http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=630384

Then Roman arrives here and promptly tells the media he's not really a center and much prefers playing wing.

[Hanna Sniper]

Does Feaster deserve the credit for Hartley's success more than Hartley? At what point does the credit go to the employee rather than the management that signed him

Does Burke not also deserve credit for backing the coaching staff when management was being overhauled?