Too little, too late

Didn’t I JUST write this blog like a month ago?!  Yeah I’m sure I did.  It starred Jay Feaster and the Calgary Flames.  I talked about how awful of a GM Feaster is and how the Flames are in big trouble with him running the show.  I HATE re-runs.  I used to love them.  I never got sick of seeing Will staying in Philly and him talking to Uncle Phil on the phone about how he wasn’t coming back to Bel-Air and on the screen it said “Fresh Prince of Philadelphia???”  Great episode!  Never got sick of seeing the Simpsons softball episode either “Mattingly!  I thought I told you to TRIM those sideburns?!” and Don had shaved all the way up the side of his head from the sideburns up…TERRIFIC!  So maybe this re-run will be as sweet as those ones were!

Well its FINALLY happened.  The Flames did what they have had to do for over 2 years now.  They’ve dealt their franchise guy, Jarome Iginla (heard of him?)  And as I expected, Jay Feaster absolutely butchered this deal and is running that franchise completely into the ground.  Sure, I have no clue what the Flames got back.  Kenny Agostino, Ben Hanowski, I know absolutely NOTHING about these kids.  But I’m calling my shot right now, they got 2 kids who will only play in the show because of who they were dealt for.  They’ll play so the Flames save face.  They won’t be anything effective.  And they got back a 1st round pick which as of right now looks very likely to be at least 26th or lower.

I have to think a competent GM could have got more than this.  Are the Penguins REALLY saying no if you ask them for their 1st and Olli Maatta?  Or their 1st and Beau Bennett?  Come on!  But Feaster needed to get his 2 prospects.  And of course they got 2 college kids.  Leave it to an American GM to have way more faith in the US system then he should.  I’m not saying the USHL and NCAA don’t produce good players, they do.  But it seems as though American GM’s have an agenda to overload on those players.  Maybe I’m very wrong, but I kind of don’t think that the Flames know something about these 2 kids that the rest of the hockey world doesn’t.  It’s the same as Mark Jankowski.  MAYBE the Flames know something nobody else does…but lets be honest they don’t.

And as I have said, that 1st right now looks very likely to be a pick that will be 26th-30th, best case scenario.  Now it is a deep draft so a 1st round pick this year holds more weight then most year’s.  But still this was quantity over quality.  Take the 1st, get a prospect or a good young player and get the heck out of there.  GM’s get burned by this all the time.  Kevin Lowe when dealing Pronger wanted 5 pieces coming back.  So you couldn’t deal him 2 or 3 great pieces, it was more important to Lowe that he got 5 pieces which thanks to the Ducks making the 2007 Stanley Cup final they did.  I can’t understand why GM’s do this.

To make matters oh so much worse for the Flames and their fans….Feaster could have dealt Iginla when he first took over on December 26th, 2010.  The LA Kings were getting desperate to land that big time established player to take them from being a good young team to an elite team.  The rumors were that the Flames could have Brayden Schenn, Jonathan Bernier and a 1st round pick.  Potential future captain and great 2 way center, potential franchise goaltender, and a 1st that ended up being Oilers prospect Oscar Klefbom who scouts are very high on (of course Feaster would have likely taken Scott Mayfield out of the USHL because he would have known something amazing that nobody else did).  Sooooooooo….I hope 2 more 9th place finishes were worth that.

Now onto the rest of the Flames fire sale.  You don’t want to go overboard on selling.  Kipper still sounds like he might go somewhere.  I’m no insider but with Kipper I’m keeping my eyes on the St.Louis Blues.  I think that’s a situation he would report to and perhaps the Blues would do a Halak for Kiprusoff deal.  Maybe the Flames toss them a conditional 2nd round pick in case Kiprusoff retires after the season.

Jay Bouwmeester sounds almost guaranteed to be gone and everyone seems to think it will be the Red Wings that land him.  A lot of teams though will look to jump in on Bouwmeester, however if it is the Wings I believe a fair price is their 1st round pick and Brendan Smith.  Of course with Feaster I could project all day as to what the return will be, he has his own guys that he likes and they aren’t anything like what most hockey people look for.

Calgary ownership needs to see the mistake they’ve made in hiring Jay Feaster and clean house.  This guy is an absolute dumpster fire.  He didn’t build the Tampa Bay Lightning into a Stanley Cup champion, that was Rick Dudley.  What Feaster did was ruin a great young team in Tampa in very short order.  In 3 seasons that team went from Stanley Cup champs to the 1st overall pick.  Had that been a veteran heavy team that might be expected.  They weren’t.  Lecavalier, St.Louis, Richards, Boyle, Khabibulin, they’re all still playing!  As an Oiler fan a part of me is laughing pretty hard at all this (and Oiler fans shouldn’t be laughing at ANYONE the last few years), but I do feel bad for Flames fans because I believe this is only the begining.  As long as Feaster is around, the future is pretty bleak in Calgary.

Follow me on twitter where I will likely take at least 1 shot at Jay Feaster per week @TJ_Soups