Jay Feaster fired as Calgary Flames GM, Brian Burke to take over interim role

It was really a matter of when it would happen. So if you had Dec. 12 in the "When will Jay Feaster be fired?" pool, you win.

The Calgary Flames announced on Thursday that they had relieved Feaster of his duties as general manager of the team. Also gone is assistant GM John Weisbrod. According to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, Feaster was in the final year of his contract.

During a Thursday afternoon press conference, Burke said he doesn't want to be the next GM, nor did he come to Calgary to take that position. "I'm not going to be the general manager other than for a short time."

(Oh, the irony of Burke's Christmas trade freeze going into effect this past Monday night, 10 days before the NHL's, and now Feaster is on his way out. He did say the fact that the Buffalo Sabres are currently looking for a new GM did play into the timing of this decision.)

Burke said he will be asking for permission for GM candidates beginning Thursday.

The Flames' record under Feaster after he took over the job as acting GM on Dec. 28, 2010 was 89-80-33, with 10th, 9th and 13th place finishes in the Western Conference. Calgary is currently 13th with no sunny days in sight at the moment.

Feaster was hired as Flames assistant general manager in 2010 and a few months later he replaced Darryl Sutter. History does indeed repeat itself. Burke was hired in September, so naturally three months later he's replacing Feaster, at least in the short term. That's how the circle of life works in Calgary. You only have a few months before the new guy replaces you.

During his tenure, Feaster came under fire during for questionable decisions that affected the organization. The Ryan O'Reilly/waivers fiasco was embarrassing. Jarome Iginla probably should have been traded much sooner than he was. And still to be played out, keeping Sean Monahan past the nine-game limit and not sending him back to junior to further his development raised some eyebrows.

Meanwhile, Feaster's former boss seems certainly pleased with this news...

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Sean Leahy

is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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