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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 7, 2008Jay FeasterDAVID KEON: Good evening, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department and I'd like to welcome you to this call. I have with us Jay Feaster, the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who earlier this evening won the NHL Draft drawing and will pick first at the NHL Entry Draft in June in Ottawa. Thanks to Jay for taking the time tonight to join us and answer your questions. We'll open it up for questions. Q. Can you take us through your emotions as they started to unveil the envelopes? Does Dave Andreychuk now have a contract for life? JAY FEASTER: In reverse order, yeah, Dave Andreychuk, he is the man (laughter). Andy continues to come through for the Tampa Bay Lightning. I told him, I talked to him shortly after the results were announced. I told him that I promise that I'm going to give him all the credit. That was a great job by Mr. Andy, Mr. Klutz, just as he was for us when we won the Cup in '04. In terms of the emotions, you know, because you cover us on a daily basis, you're very well aware that this has been a season of I just think incredible bad luck for us on so many fronts throughout the year. You go back to -- we had gone up to Detroit in May, met with Mr. Davidson, Ron Campbell and I, and certainly Mr. Davidson talked about how excited he was about the upcoming season. He was fully engaged and committed. On August the 7th, it's announced the team has been sold, that it was going to close in 60 or 90 days. It never did. From that point on, the next thing that happened is a skate falling off a locker hanger and onto Danny Boyle's wrist and severing three tendons. We just feel like -- I'm not sure what that cartoon is, but it's the guy that walks around with the thunder cloud over his head and it's raining only on him. That's how we felt throughout this season as an organization. That's really the same kind of attitude and mentality that we approach tonight with. It was nice to see that for the first time in an entire season that the storm cloud parted and there's actually a little bit of sunshine here in the Sunshine State. Q. Is Stamkos the guy you have targeted now at this point? JAY FEASTER: The thing is, we view him as a player who, you know, he is an impact player, a player who is ready to play in the National Hockey League. As we discussed, the moves that we made at the trade deadline, trading away Brad Richards, Vinny Prospal, we feel we are a better hockey club, and we've improved our hockey club as a result of the deals. But we recognize that we have weakened ourselves offensively. As we approach the off-season, we felt that we had to bring in a minimum of two top-six forwards, maybe even three. So to have the opportunity to have the No. 1 pick in this draft, have that player that we think is NHL-ready be a forward, again, that's a real nice position for our franchise to be in, to be able to look at that player at this stage. Q. What does it say about your powers of prognostication, about five hours ago we heard there was no way in hell you were going to win this? JAY FEASTER: Yeah, you know what, the great part about that is, as long as that's the way you think, you'll never be disappointed (laughter). Again, all the credit to Dave Andreychuk. Dave Andreychuk found the way to come through. What I think is truly amazing, and I really do think this is unbelievable, I heard it on the NHL Network, this is only the third time in 13 years where the team that was 30th or 29th has actually outright won the drawing. You know, that's what's significant to me. I appreciated that we had the 48.2% chance. But it wasn't on the basis of the field that we won it; it appears that, you know, we actually, with our 25% chance, were able to win the lottery. I've talked probably to already eight people in our organization, from our team president, Ron Campbell, our chief scout, Jake Goertzen, our director of player personnel, Bill Barber, assistant GM Claude Loiselle. Almost to a man, the comment is, Maybe the luck is finally turning, maybe this is what we need. It is an exciting time for the franchise. Q. You mentioned the other day, not that you never say never, but wouldn't it take an awful lot not to use this pick on Stamkos at this point? JAY FEASTER: Sure. I mean, again, from the standpoint, my conversations that I've had with Oren Koules, the prospective new owner of the franchise, he has indicated that it's about the long-term and it's not just being good next year, you know, it's being a team that can contend for a long time. Any time you have the opportunity to have a franchise player, you want to take advantage of that. So, you know, again, you never say never. If someone comes up with the truckload of players, picks and prospects and all that, you'd have to consider it. But we're certainly not going into it thinking let's trade the pick. Q. Does it give you some confidence that Steven is calling John, Mr. Tortorella at this point? JAY FEASTER: That's probably a good start (laughter). Q. The consensus seems to be this is a deep draft. Do you think teams might come calling for Stamkos, since he's such a special player, and maybe you could get one of those top six forwards you are looking for, maybe move down two or three spots? JAY FEASTER: It's interesting. I've already had a general manager who has indicated they don't have a first. You know, they're going to be looking to wheel and deal. He said, When the time's right, we'll be calling you to talk about it. So that's why you don't ever say that you would never move the pick. I mean, it's something that certainly I think you have to listen to the offers that are made to you. But it would have to be something that we felt just was, you know -- it would almost have to be a no-brainer. Because if we can get a player that we think is a franchise player, is going to play for us for a long time, it would take an awful lot to convince us to move that pick. Q. Are you in agreement this is a deep draft? If so, how far does it go? JAY FEASTER: Yeah, we do think it's a deep draft. But, I mean, I like the possibilities that you have through the first 10 picks in this draft. And, yes, as far as -- you know, the thing that I lament the most is we don't have our own second-round pick. I wish we did. I think there are going to be some real good value picks in this draft. Our guys feel very, very good about it. You know, because of the way we were going during the season, we've not just had our normal contingency of amateur scouts out there, but Bill Barber, again our director of player personnel, he's been out scouting the amateur games. Claude Loiselle has been out there. I've gone out, which I haven't done necessarily in the past few years. So we feel that we've covered it pretty well this year. We're excited about the draft on an overall basis, not just the No. 1 pick. Q. Are you surprised that Dallas had such struggles after making the big trade with you at the deadline? JAY FEASTER: Yeah, you know what, I think from the standpoint of surprise, I don't know so much that. I think that there were a number of factors at work. You know, whenever they had struggled in the past, they knew Smitty, and they were more than happy to put Smitty in there and maybe change their fortunes by having Mike in net. I don't think that they knew Holmqvist as well, and it took them a little bit of time getting comfortable putting him in there. Unfortunately for him, the first game they put him in, he had a tough go the first period, got pulled the end of one. I think that changed their dynamic a little bit in net. The thing about Brad is, they've had to look at how they want to use him. Do they want to play him with Modano? Do they put him in the wing? Is he a center? It's one of those things, I've always said it, I felt in 2004, when we picked up Darryl Sydor, the best part of that field was we didn't do it at the deadline, we were able to do it at the end of January, so we had time. By the time the deadline rolled around, he was really integrated into our hockey club. I think it does take time. You know, I think they've had that time now. The one thing I know about Brad is that Brad will elevate his game in the post-season. And even with Homer, the fact that he has gone through a post-season with us, if he's called upon at any point in time to come and replace Turco, he'll be ready to go, too. So while he struggled a little bit right away, I think they're going to be a force here in the post-season. Q. I think they were asking Dave about the possibility that Stamkos could be part of the new top three. I knew Andreychuk was saying, you know what, the potential is there. Should it play out that way, do you think having somebody like Vinny on board, a guy that came into the league with a lot of fanfare and had to go through the things that he did being a topic will kind of be very good for Stamkos development, should you go that way? JAY FEASTER: Yes, I do. I don't think there's any question about it. Having gone through what Vinny did, you know, you look back at the history of this franchise, when he first came on board, I mean, he was touted as the Michael Jordan of hockey, he's a sure fire Hall of Famer. That's tremendous pressure put on a young man. I always said that I felt Jacques Demers did such a great job with Vinny. While that may have been the expectation from ownership, it wasn't the pressure that Jacques put on him. You know, he then experienced Jacques is gone after one year, Steve Ludzik is in, it's a new owner. I believe that if that's the direction we go, Vinny will be very good. Plus the fact that Vinny has reached a point in his career when he understands what he's gone through. He understands the pressure that's on guys. I think now he's at a stage where he takes very, very seriously sort of that obligation as a leader in the hockey club, as a member of the core of the hockey team to help the younger players coming in. So I think it will be an advantage. Q. Is there any part of you, or how much of you is sort of nagging, Okay, we've got the first pick, but how we went about obtaining it is still bothering you a little bit? Is that more or less a situation of, Hey, hell, we deserve it? JAY FEASTER: No, you know what, it does hurt to be where we are. We conducted our exit meetings today with the players, 27 guys, including our captain, Tim Taylor. You know, it's not where we want to be. I felt, and I have felt all along, that while we are 30th, we're not that bad, we're not that far away. I was encouraged today because I didn't articulate that today during the meetings, but this is a time for me to listen to the players. Almost to a man, particularly the core, the veteran guys who have been with us, that's one of the teams that they had. You know, we're not that far away. So as I was talking to Oren Koules, our prospective new owner, a little bit earlier, I said, This is a great night for some of our veteran guys. I know Vinny talked about it in the meeting, Marty talked about it, talked about the idea of having the first pick overall, what that would mean. It does sting that we are where we are, yet we don't feel that we're that bad and that we're that far away. To be able to pick up a franchise player with the first pick overall, we think we get going in the right direction that much faster. Q. When can other GMs start calling you? You alluded to it. Does it have to wait till after the season? JAY FEASTER: No, I mean, some guys will do it now. The guys that are not in the playoffs, if they feel they want to have those conversations, they will. The guys that are in the playoffs, I mean, once you're one of those 16 playoff teams, you aren't thinking draft. You're focused on the task ahead of you. The team I was talking about earlier, they're actually a team that will be in the playoffs. I talked to them last week. They referenced this. But I won't hear from them until they're finished in the post-season. Q. I talked to you about an off-season game plan, piecing things together. How much does this alter or change some ideas you had in mind because you can't necessarily put together a plan without knowing where you're picking? JAY FEASTER: Yeah, I mean, that's clearly a factor of it. I mean, this gives us the opportunity, as I was talking this afternoon with you, really coming off of or out of the trade deadline, we sat down with an organization with our prospective new owners, Oren Koules, his partner Len Barrie. We talked about the positions we were going to have to fill. We knew going in what we needed to do. But certainly if you don't know where you're going to be drafting, you don't know what the possibilities are there, then you always have that question mark. You know, this gives us an opportunity that we can start to throw some names up there, maybe put some things in pen as opposed to pencil, again, subject to whatever offers we might get on the trade front. So it's a good thing from that standpoint, as well. Q. We're doing a preview for the next round. What is it about Brad and his history of playoff success? Just seems to come naturally for him. JAY FEASTER: Yeah, you know what, Brad Richards, he's a great student of the game. Brad's the kind of guy that even if he weren't involved in the post-season would be home watching it on television. He'd be following it just like we would as fans. And the thing about him is, you know, he plays to win championships. I mean, if you said to him, You can have 120 points, you can win the scoring title, you can win the Rocket Richard title for the most goals, at the end of the day you're going to get knocked out in the first round, or you can have a rotten season and they're going to criticize you, they'll be on you, but you can win the Stanley Cup and you're going to play decently, that's what he wants. It's all about winning a Stanley Cup for Brad. One of the things I find amazing about him is that over the course of his career, I think every year, with the exception of his very first year pro, every year he's been able to elevate his game. You know, there are special players that can do that. There are money players in this league, and Brad's one of those guys. I really do, I think from the standpoint of the fans in Dallas, they're going to be thrilled to have Brad on their side in the post-season. And I think it creates a weapon that Anaheim has to be very, very aware of. Whatever game planning you were doing for Dallas before that, you really have to factor him in now. And I don't care where you play him, on the wing, center, whatever, whatever line you put him on, you better be aware of Brad Richards in the post-season. Q. Have you been surprised by his goal scoring in the post-season? He's obviously a great setup man. Even here he's been more of a guy that is going to pass first. I'm looking back at the history, he's a big goal-scorer at big times in the post-season. JAY FEASTER: Yeah, he is. You know what, I mean this, nothing that Brad does any more surprises me or catches me off guard. As I said at the time we did the deal, and I do, I still believe that we improved our hockey team. The three players that we picked up, we improved our hockey team as a result of that deal. Yet losing Brad Richards, it's a huge loss organizationally. Our loss is Dallas' gain. I think the wisdom of that deal from the Dallas standpoint will pay off in spades in the post-season. DAVID KEON: Thanks very much, Jay, for your time. JAY FEASTER: My pleasure. DAVID KEON: Thanks, everyone, for joining us and have a good night. End of FastScripts |
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