Don't blame Jay Feaster for Iginla trade: Don Cherry
Grapes comes to the defence of Calgary Flames GM
Don Cherry knew Jarome Iginla was going to end up wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey.
On his latest Coach’s Corner segment of Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night, Cherry said Calgary Flames general manager Jay Feaster had nothing to do with the surprise trade that sent Iginla to Pittsburgh, instead of the Boston Bruins.
Grapes was sure Penguins captain Sidney Crosby wanted to play with his Olympic teammate, and that was the difference.
"He [Feaster] gets four teams and they had that deal made [with Boston]," Cherry said. "They pulled two players off and everything and then [Sidney] Crosby must have talked to him..."
The opportunity to play with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin made the decision easy for the 36-year-old from Edmonton. The Penguins also have won 15 straight games following a 2-0 victory over the New York Islanders Saturday night.
And Cherry agrees.
"He goes there [Pittsburgh] and now he's got a nice sweet team where he can play."
The former Bruins coach blames the owners, and not Feaster, for the trade confusion and said he would have made the same trade, only much earlier.
"It wasn't [Feaster's] fault and everybody is ripping him," he said. "He did the best he could, and I would've done it two years ago."
"The owners put the kibosh on it and now Feaster takes the blame...not fair."