A Case of the Mondays: Insert Feaster Pun Here

After weeks of speculation and little in the way of Flames-related news, Eric Francis essentially confirmed what we’d all been thinking Saturday night during his appearance on Hockey Night in Canada when he stated that the Flames had yet to speak to any other candidates about the General Manager’s job, and that the only thing left to do was to remove the “acting” from his title. There have been hints towards this very outcome–Feaster has presumably been the one making decisions about the future of the coaching staff since the season ended–but no semi-official word was handed down until this past weekend.

Multiple interpretations of the decisions to let Rob Cookson, Ryan McGill, and Jamie McLennan go have arisen; some have said that the firings enable Brent Sutter to select his own staff without the interference of his elder brother and others that the GM-to-be has chosen to retain Sutter and Lowry but wishes to put his own stamp on the organization by hiring his own assistants. It's interesting that there has also been no word on the future of Abbotsford Heat head coach Jim Playfair even though their season has been over for a few weeks, but an announcement on his status could be included in the rumoured "package deal" that will see the organization make a simultaneous announcement about all hirings. 

There are pros and cons to Feaster being brought on permanently as GM, and there’s been little doubt that Feaster is the guy since Darryl was let go, but equally little understanding about why the organization has waited so long to remove the “interim” tag from his role. The only explanation that really makes sense is that they are waiting to announce the filling of more than once position. When that day finally comes, expect the team to reveal that Fredrik Modin has been signed to a multi-year contract extension shortly thereafter.

Links after the jump. 

In light of Francis' comments, has Ken King been entirely truthful in his claims that the organization was interviewing other people for the position? [Dome Beers]

Slowly becoming the new "No Fun League," the NHL should have more important things to worry about than attempting to shut down Vancouver's notorious Green Men like, I don't know, the fact that their best player hasn't seen game action in nearly five months? [The Globe and Mail]

After his fantastic work in Nashville’s OT win over the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night, a highlight reel of Vezina finalist Pekka Rinne‘s best saves of the post-season thus far [NHL]

Max Reinhart was named WHL Player of the Week after the third-year Kootenay Ice forward scored six times in two playoff games against the Medicine Hat Tigers [The World of Junior Hockey]

The Flames are being represented by Swedes Mikael Backlund and Tim Erixon at the IIHF World Hockey Championship this Spring, here is a look at their stat lines through two games [IIHF]

What the top-ten in next month's NHL Entry Draft could look like [Litter Box Cats]

Excuses from the NHL's loser teams [Down Goes Brown]

Last and certainly not least, a call to all Canadians to exercise their democratic right to vote on Election Day. If you haven't done so yet, please do [FlamesNation] 

Happy Monday everyone, and have a great week! 

by Hayley Mutch