Feaster's best and worst

The former Lightning general manager made many moves in his six years on the job. Here are some of his most memorable:

BEST
1. Acquired D Darryl Sydor and a 2004 fourth-round draft pick from the Blue Jackets for C Alexander Svitov and a third-round 2004 pick, on Jan. 27, 2004.

2. Acquired LW Cory Stillman from the Blues for a 2003 second-round draft pick, on June 21, 2003.

3. Acquired RW Ruslan Fedotenko and two 2002 second-round draft picks (one of which was traded for Brad Lukowich) from the Flyers for the No. 4 overall pick in the 2002 draft, on June 21, 2002.

WORST

1. Acquired G Marc Denis from the Blue Jackets for LW Fredrik Modin and G Fredrik Norrena, on July 1, 2006.

2. Being part of the decision-making that, after Nikolai Khabibulin left as a free agent, led to three seasons of porous goaltending from John Grahame, Sean Burke, Denis and Johan Holmqvist.

3. Not trading players such as D Pavel Kubina, RW Ruslan Fedotenko and D Cory Sarich before they left, without compensation, as unrestricted free agents.

Comments

[Twinebulge]

'Bout sums it up. Bye, Jaybird

[Cleo]

I'll add one more 'best'

Convinced Vinny and Torts to put aside their differences for the good of the team.

[Nugent]

Here is another worst: Signing Brad Richards to that ridiculous contract and becoming the posterchild for what not to do in the salary cap era.

[HockeyBay.com]

It wasn't Jays Fault! The team was ruined by Khabibulin! being a traitor! and Jay having to come up with a good goalie from all the bad ones avaialable at the time of the low crappy cap in 2005...

[slapshot]

Add to the worst: Trading Boyle.

or was it the new owners that did it?

[chris]

Two more worst, Brad & dfb contracts couldn't afford either one and lost good asset (& dfb)

One more best, he left

[Don in St. Pete]

Thanks a lot OK! My Krispy Kreme stock lost 50%.

[léo]

It's Khabby's fault that Management made bad moves???
Huh, Hockeybay??? Whazat???
So by that rationale, it was Feaster's fault when Khabby would have a bad night?
Or MY fault when your neighbour's car won't start?
Is everything supposed to go smooth as butter for GM's without ANY challenges to come your way that would DEFINE you as an NHL GM? Is that how that works?
Your goalie turns traitor; you deal with it. The cap goes down by half; you deal with it. Your 1st line wants to play in Russia; you deal with it.
And THAT'S when we see WHO knows what's what and WHO's a good GM or not.
Yo.

[David (Clearwater, Fl)]

Just how good has Khabby been in Chicago? No one ever brings this up. It's not like he's setting the world on fire there. He isn't bad and he's better than what the Lightning have had, but I think he probably would have been overpaid had they given him the money they spent elsewhere. If they had given him the contract that Chicago did you'd see it on the latter have of the listings above and people would be criticizing Feaster for that move. Not only b/c of the money but b/c it would've meant that either Richards and/or St. Louis would have walked. It wasn't like he had endless money to work with and he lost an entire year with the lockout, making players eligible for free agency without playing the final year of their contracts. It's easy to criticize him in hindsight, and no dount he deserves his share of it, but it's not as cut and dry as most fans portray it to be.

[léo]

Of course it's easy to criticize in hindsight, David; can't criticize in forsight, can we?
So in HINDSIGHT, that is, once it's all said and done, in your opinion, Feaster was good, right? Hey, he got a Cup, I would tend to agree.
But what has he done for TB lately? Great trade for Brad, great, considerin' HE'S the one that paid him the crazy amount'o'money to begin with.
Khabby, Denis or the Buddha himself, who cares? SOMEONE! To stop the puck.
Can't stop the puck for awhile? Goalie's fault.
Letting it continue?! GM's fault.
And that's it.
Doesn't matter the reasons why. Feaster's a Saint and a hockey Genius? Ok. But has he done for TB lately? I'll tell you:
He finished last.
And that's it.
So god bless, good luck, god-speed, all the best to you and your family, your loved ones and friends, big kiss, a few tears,
And good-bye.
Yo.

[Marty Lindbergh]

It's apparent from the (lack of) results of Nikolai Khabibulin and those of the Lightning since the end of the lockout that maybe the Bulin Wall and the Bolts needed each other more than the other side realized. That said, the failure to adequately replace Khabibulin most certainly was # 1 in doing in the Lightning, and ultimately Feaster.

[Bingo]

When a team goes from first to last it is easy to place the blame. Try coaching, management, ownership and let's not forget the players. However with that said I've been privileged to witness two Stanley cups in person. There is nothing in sports that matches that excitement. For that Jay I say thank you. For the poor after the fact management, I say see ya, don't wanna be ya. I will always remember the heart of this team Andy and the Heart of the Bruins No 4 Orr. Two different players but hearts of Hockey gold.

Now it's time to move on. Treasure the memories and start a whole new set.

go bolts.

[Woodster]

So we go from loyalty to a fault to loyalty to only oneself. This will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

So...Denis signed with the Habs, Eh?

[David (Clearwater, Fl)]

I agree completely that he failed to bring in an adequate replacement for Khabby. Obviously if you're going to make the decision to go with Brad and/or Marty over Khabby, then you should be comfortable that you can replace Khabby more easily than those other players. What I'm proposing is that there wasn't an adequate way to replace any of those guys. He realized he wasn't going to be able to replace what St. Louis and Richards (don't forget his age and how well he performed in the cup run). He thought he could possibly replace, or had a better chance at replacing Khabby (who had been inconsistent prior to the cup run and who was the older player). His solution for Khabby was the thing that did him in more than anything, namely Marc Denis. No other two wrods better sumise the demise for Feaster than the words Marc Denis. He made his bed and lies in it even to this day with that trade. Not only that trade but it's the inability to bring in a good enough young goalie prospect shoudl Denis fail. And that goes back to the prior 3-5 years of scouting before the Denis trade. contrast that with the job that say division rival Carolina did having Cam Ward ready to step in for Gerber.

So I do not intend to defend everthing Feaster did, nor am I saying that he should still be a member of the organization, but I do agree that he was overall a very good GM for this franchise. He just failed to leave himself any outs when making a risky decision to go after Denis.

I tend not to think that the Lightning would have somehow had the elusive "missing peicce to the puzzle" had they only kept Khabby over Richards/St. Louis. I tend to think that even if Khabby would have shaken his former inconsisatency and played to his full potential, which it bares repeating he has not done in Chicago, the Lightning would still have a "missing peice" and possibly two of them. The overall record, I'd argue, would've been much the same.

Is that Feaster's fault? At least partially, yes it is. He needed to scout and draft better. It's the lack of talent evaluation leading up to the Denis trade that left the organization with no solid backup plan in the case of Denis not working out. And this, I would argue, is what has brought us to the discussion we're having today, that of 'what went wrong with Feaster?'.

[kg]

i think the denis deal was the worst as well.

[Not the Marlboro Man]

This was a concerted effort of incompetence. Good Freakin bye already. The Denis trade said it all for me, until then I was kinda on the fringe of liking or disliking Feaster. Then came the 2006 trade deadline when we were in serious need of a another scoring forward and D-man he brought in Jason Ward and O'brien and that AHL snapper head...I forget his name. I knew then that this guy didn't have a clue. He gave away our first round and our second round and we got very little in return. We needed a goal tender in 2007 and resigns Holmer to another year plus further depleated the farm system and overloaded it with non playing goalie prospects (with the exception of Ramo) and D-men that have yet to be proven. I'd say Feaster, his scouting staff and Tortarella were all on Wild Turkey Special Reserve. Face it, they didn't adapt to the NHL after the lock out and they dropped the ball/puck. Professional sports is an unforgiving business especially when the guy your saying yes to sells the team. Good luck at something pal, your a nice guy but not a good GM.

[léo]

Of course, David. Maybe it WAS a string of situations that accumulated into a bizarro, machiavellian, totally unfair result. Ok. But you know how the NHL is, David, c'mon.
"There wasn't an adequate way to fix things"? Not GOOD enough, mate.
"Failed to leave himself any outs when making a risky decision"? Not GOOD enough either.
Only winning is good enough. He didn't. He's gone. It's over. Hey, guess what? One day, Lawton and Kouliwood will be gone too. One day, Burke will be gone, Lowe will be gone, Gainey will be gone, Shero will be gone and the list goes on just as it gets longer.
Woodster,
A) I don't understand your proverb. What's'it mean?
B) Yeah, We got your boy in the minors. We got no one there; all OUR goalies are NHLers. Oh and uhhh, you're paying his salary by the way.
So, thanx fer askin'!
P.

[Don in St. Pete]

David, Leo, Bingo, et al, It actually runs deeper than that ( Yo Bingo, I watched my beloved Bruins win 2 cups and the Lightning 1 )The drafting has been a problem from day 1, although they got a few right ( Hamrlik, Gratton and Lecavalier ). They were constantly having to make trades because they had nobody to step up at ANY position, not just goaltender. lest we forget, John Grahame had equal or better #'s during the cup season as Khabby. Our defense was a rock then. But you lose Kubina, Sarich, Lukowich and Sydor and the only home grown player coming up was Ranger. On offense key charachter guys left, even though not big scorers, we couldn't even replace them. Andreychuck, Clymer, Cibak, Stillman and Fedotenko and who stepped up from withing the organization? Just Ryan Craig. The cupboard was bare, and is still almost bare. As the GM how do you continue to go with the same head scout when the cupboards continue to be bare?

[buck]

I agree with the Denis, Burke goalie problem (bad bad decisions, we needed a second goalie that would help and challange each other like we did in '03 '04) but not with Grahame and Holmie. I think if the team had had a defense that could play consistency, people would not be bashing those two. I also think that Khabby would have been in the same boat had he stayed. The game changed after the lookout and our coaches and GM didn't change our game with it. We can only hope with all these changes that this season will be positive for the team.

[David (Clearwater, Fl)]

Leo (sorry about neglecting the accent on the e),

I think you're misunderstanding me. As I stated, 'I'm not defending Feaster's moves'. We agree that in the end Feaster's performance wasn't good enough. We agree, you and I, we honestly do. Feaster's time was up b/c he could no longer put a winning team on the ice.

I'm simply detailing how that came to pass and pointing out that his lot was not an easy one coming out of the lockout. Again, it's his own doing. as for the comment on "adequate replacements", who from the list of affordable (and remember the Khabby was not affordable) free agents would you propose that they should have signed? Even looking back in hindsight, I don't think you could adequately fill that hole. That was a hole that they needed to be ready to fill from within and they weren't. Again, we agree, because of Feaster and the scouts under him not being as you correctly put it 'Good enough'. Agreed.

I'd still argue, and maybe we don't agree on this part, that there weren't players available that were capable of replacing a guy like Khabby, or Marty, or Brad. Poor scouting, and scounting under a collective bargaining agreement that had no salary cap, eventually backed the Lightning and Feaster into a corner that they proved unable to fight their way out of. And I think that's another valid point that goes unmentioned in this discusion; what of the salary cap? If it weren't for the salary cap being instituted after the lockout, the Lighting would have been able to re-sign all of those guys, and liekly would've not made the Denis trade with Khabby locked in for the next few years. They would probably only now be looking seriously at replacing Khabby had the cap not been instituted.

End of the day, Feaster was good for the organization during his tenure as a whole, and the cup guarantees that status, but he was not good enough in the years after the cup to justify keeping him around. Change was needed and he was a part of the needed change. To that I think we can all agree.

[Don in St. Pete]

Despite his failings Feaster was masterful in his compiling of the squad that enabled us to win the cup. To his credit he realized we were close but needed a bump, so he wheeled and dealed us the lineup that hoisted lord Stanley and gave him a tan. I'm listing here the roster of who we used on the way to the cup and from whence they came.

V4 draft
Richy draft
St. Louis free agent
Boyle trade with Florida
Lukowich Trade with Dallas
Sydor trade with Dallas
Roy trade with Ottawa
Andreychuck free agent
Taylor free agent
Clymer draft
Cibak draft
Perrin free agent
Sarich trade with Buffalo
Kubina draft
Cullimore off waivers from Montreal
Pratt trade from Colorado
Dingman trade from Carolina
Stillman trade from St. Louis
Modin trade with Toronto
Fedotenko trade with Philly
Grahame trade with Boston
Khabibulin trade with Phoenix

So contrary to what PD has been saying you can work enough magic to become a winner through trades and free agency. Of course once again Feaster was forced to go this route because they were few or no NHL ready players in the pipeline.

[deanhall]

Jay made some good and plenty of bad moves. But does anyone remember that under Davidson's ownership the last year Feester, Torts and the fans were forced to have bargain basement low payroll players. Let's not forget the the tightwad owner's role in the demise of the Bolts.

[olin storahund]

....for craig mcDonald fan's- he's signed with columbus

[Don in St. Pete]

Olin, Thanks for the heads up. That's a sad note in my book as C-Mac, much like grats left his heart on the ice every shift and while not the most talented player, had the grit and tenacity it takes to be successful. I wish C-Mac and his family the best and thank him for his efforts in hockeybay USA.

[olin storahund]

.....OK Hockey...C'mon now, Please go get me a SWEDE to join the Bolt's roster. No more Freddy Mo-Johan H-or Andreas, now you can go to Stockholm and offer up an "ante" to bring Matty Norstrom here to anchor the blue line with a seasoned stay at home big man veteran at only 36- freshly "retired" from dallas. Give him a 1 year contract, and give the area Swede's someone to cheer for.
Your welcome for the C-Mac info Don, compliment's of my swedish ishockey website which seems to be more up to date than tsn-cbc-nhl-espn etc. Steve Montador has also gone to Anheim, and Pratter is available still.
Think you guy's are doing a great job so far- just get us a big Swedish defenseman for that final touch....ala Lidde Lidstrom

[Don in St. Pete]

Olin, Mattias was my #1 choice of who the Bolts should go after in FA until he retired from the dtars. Does he really still want to play? He would be perfect to mentor our d and log serious minutes on a team with a young d. Please let us know haw we can get ahold of him, if he is ready for another go round.

[léo]

Well David,
Lemme say that yours was a finely written post that clearly laid out the details with a keen eye and an evident knowledge of the game. Can't argue any of what you said. I'm sure you're correct when you lay out the ifs and whyfors that spelled Feaster's demise.
But not only am I not intimately familiar with those details (I've ALWAYS conceded that y'all are MUCH more in tune with your team than I could possibly ever be), but I don't care about them.
All We care about is the bottom line. Trust me, if Gainey's Plan hadn't shown the dividends HE promised, he'd be out on his butt too, with marks of Our soles imprinted on it, to boot. (hey!, double pun) We would've too! Gainey was Trying. But We couldn't get Shanahan; year after, We couldn't get Brière, trust me, Gainey's was feelin' the heat. But he came through, David. Bottom line is: he. came. through.
Let's lay it down. Will Tortie get another coaching job in the NHL? I say yes. Why? I don't think there is any doubt as to his competence COMPARED to other coaches out there. Now, will Jay get another GM job? I say no. Why? I think there is some doubt as to his competence COMPARED to other GMs out there.
Ain't saying he can't do it. Sayin' he didn't do it well enough to keep THIS job, no matter what he tried.
What was it Yoda said?
"Do. Or do not. There is no try."
That little green freak was OBVIOUSLY a NHL GM in his other life.
Yo.

[Mike13]

Remember when c-Mac took a puck to the chops last year and was back out on the ice only a few days later? Talk about a warrior. No real offense in his bag o' tricks, but he was a decent 3rd line checker and a pretty decent PK guy.

[PD]

Don you make a point about what Feaster was able to do to build the team with free agents and trades proving it can be done ..heh Don welcome to the Capworld.

Its different now , you have to have a core of homegrown to build on. See Detroit or Ducks or Habs.

Leo Feaster was selected by his peers as executive of the year. No higher compliment.

Forbes Mag named him executive of the year as well.

Deanhall above actually nailed it. The demise was due to PSE and if Koules and the gang had not rented the club for awhile Feaster would easily still be here for 3 more years.

[léo]

Ok, PD. Like I said, you know your team better than I do.
But from where WE'RE standing, We see a team that finished last. So We're like, ouch, last, unacceptable, where does the Buck stop? Oh, he was attacked by a lion and aliens kidnapped his star? So what? His name's on the nicest door in the building so he's the guy.
Don't get me wrong, We understand a little bit of the situation in TB to see why Feaster left or was made to leave.
But at the same time, you will agree that, disregarding making the playoffs or not, if the team showed even a hint moving in the right direction with savvy moves at appropriate times, Feaster would have had a leg to stand on during the transfer of ownership.
But he didn't.
Hey man, he got a Cup! That's no small feat and no one can take that away from'im.
That was 4 yrs ago. And since then, his stock has fallen dramatically, what can you do?
We're really sorry for the guy, honest.
But what can you do?
You gotta win. Or show that you're on your way to win.
Not cross your fingers during a lottery.
Yo.

[PD]

Wrong again buddy.
You make it sound like he got axed.

These clowns that bought the team want to play sports monopoly..time to pass the dice.

[Twinebulge]

They've officially owned & operated the club for 11 days - at least they didn't sit on their hands in free agency like we're used to. Why not wait at least until we see some scrimmage games in camp before pronouncing the project failed, the owners clowns and the team defunct :p

[PD]

THeir screwing it up quickly Twiner.
No choice but to watch like a train wreck.

[léo]

Didn't mean to make it sound like he got axed, PD. But neither was he really in charge. It was HIM wheelin' and dealin' for free-agents?
Don't need a press-pass at St-Pete's to come to a reasonable, albeit conclusive, decision. Boss out the door. Who else out the door? No one else; everyone new. So only Boss responsible? Then Boss out the door. Me not need know team or reason why this or that. You win or you leave. If that's "wrong", well, we see hockey differently, I guess.
Me, as an outside observer, sees you finishing last. Me, as an outside observer, feels your GM shouldn't have his job anymore.
And that's it. "Wrong" as it is.
I'm not blasting the guy, I think a different outlook will be good for the Bolts. I think that, although I'm concerned for your blue-line, I can't deny that you're a better team than last year. Already, the dif outlook is bringing positives.
Bottom line is,
Forget the past, it's over, he's gone, godbless'n'all, but now it's time to look ahead and ask Kouliwood or Lawton or whoever, "What have you done for me lately?"
So far, so good.
You can stay.
For now.
Yo.

[PD]

Except the owners are drafting and making trades and overpaying on free agents..nothing to do with Feaster.
Read his exit release.

Koules/Barrie bought or at least rented the house so he and tortsie call the movers. No different than a coach waving goodbye when a new GM comes in.

What the hell are you doing blogging at this hour when you could be down on Crescent street?

[JFeces]

Feaster was simply a victim of his own success. He finished the job of building a talented but scrappy team that went the distance. And for that he deserves more credit than he will ever get. Once they won it all, however, the team looked (and acted) like a bunch of prima-donnas. Nikoli "Easy Money" Khabibulin bolted for more cash and the fact that Tortorella is basically a Type-A A-Hole didn't serve to motivate guys that were no longer hungry. I can't say that that's Feaster's fault. Then Richards became a bum and Boyle couldn't hang his skates in his locker. Feaster's fault? Don't think so. But, that said, it was time for him to go. At least the Lightning knew when to clean house... the Glazers are still clueless in that regard.

[peter]

Try coaching, management, ownership and let's not forget the players.Do fare deals with players.
_____________________-
peter
http://www.addictionrecovery.net/florida

[Bingo]

Don St Pete, the point was I was in attendence for both Cup series Bruins with Bobby and Bolts with Andy. Yes, I came from New England as well and watched all the cup action with the bruins. It's just those two cup years I was in attendance and there is nothing in the world like a Stanley cup run. It is the greatest sporting event IMHO.
The team in 04 was pre lockout a much different game and cap structure. I understood the choice's coming out of the lockout. Habby went for 6.75 per year, Culimore for If memory serves 3.5 a year, Stillman was awarded 3.4 in arbitration, none of those players based on 36 (might be 34) mil cap were sign able by the lightning. However, there is no excuse for the Denis debacle, 8mil Sal for Richards, the jokes for AHL caliber draft picks under Goetzn(sp) and the final nail was Torts playing 4 guys 25 to 30 minutes a night and expecting legs in the 3rd period. We were long overdue for a purge.

All parties, Torts, Feaster and Goetzn have been extricated. In 10 or 20 years lord willing my only memory will be of Bobby thru the air Andy jumping up and down like a child with the Cup over his head. The rest will be forgotten.

Oct 1 is only 70 days away.
Can't wait.

Go Bolts
Bingo

[Dan]

Lots of good points pro and con in reflecting on Feaster's history. Many feel Jay acted independently in making trade/draft/waiver decisions. I question that; GM's have to answer to somebody, and that somebody is the ownership. Only he knows what limits management may have put on him, or squelched deals, or whatever. Further, I'm confident Torts had some input in these decisions. And along those lines, I wonder how many players tested free agency because they were unhappy with the constant berating and belittling by the coach.

In the end, we had a poor management team that emptied the farm system and shed a number of our front liners. Ownership wouldn't spend and didn't even have a presence here. Unfortunately, the GM has the greatest public exposure and, therefore, takes the first hit when things go sour (as well as the glory when things go right).

We'll never be able to appreciate all the things that may have gone on behind closed doors. But what we do have now is active ownership, two of whom were former players and know the minds of the athletes. Let's look forward to an entirely fresh start and support them like during the Cup run. GO BOLTS!!!!!!

[Don in St. Pete]

Bingo, I'm telling you I was in the Garden too, and watched both of thos cups won by Boston and I was in the forum to watch the bloodied but unbowed Fedotenko's game 7 heroics. My point is Feaster did an amazing job assembling the parts ( some were also brought in by Dudley ) but as Leo would point out he had to do it that way because our minor league systems was bankrupt. PD has no clue, claiming feaster would still be here and if he was, we would still suck. Goertzen stunk up the draft for all those years but Jay didn't fire him, that's his fault. In hockey $hit rolls uphill and it stops at the GM's desk. If we go into this season with all the extra forwards and Lawton hasn't been able to trade some for a defenseman and some pics, he'll be feeling the heat too. P, S & E never put a torch under Jay's butt which is why the product on the ice has continued to get worse, year after year. They were happy he put fannies in the seats, which was enough for them and he did it well. See ya! GO BOLTS!

[Karen]

Marty--I agree with you about Khabibulin and the Bolts needing each other. The D laid their bodies down for Khabby and he stood on his head when it counted. Khabibulin was, and still is my favorite player, but I can't blame him for taking the money. Don't forget he and Torts didn't exactly have a great relationship. Go Bolts--let's hope we have the right replacements this time.

[Don in St. Pete]

Did anyone other than Boyle and Richards have a cozy relationship with Torts? If they did, I've never seen it. I hope Melrose can step in and inspire our guys to greatness, which Torts had lost the ability to do.

[PD]

With this defence Don you will need a lot of hoping but I'm sure the speed of Recchi will bail us out if not then the speed of Roberts...all the way Don! Finally agree with you.

Don't forget Tony Robbins helping with the inspiration either..huge.

[BG]

Do yo think that the new head coach and new ownership will have this team ready to compete for a Stanley Cup ? Like Torts did ?

[db]

It is my hope that with all the aquisitions the #1 line does not have to play 30minutes a game just to compete. Torts had to do that because he had no options. I did not agree with his coaching style, hockey players are men, not children. Looking forward to the future of the bolts..........long live the mullet!!!!!!

[JF]

Damian: What I really want is a list of the best and worst LOW-PRICED buffet restaurants