Quote:
Originally Posted by kehatch
...At that point to you want to play for the team that drafted you, that has a number of other college prospects (Knight, Jankowski, Arnold, etc), that has treated you well, and where you will get a lot of opportunity?
Or do you want to play for the team you cheered for growing up, that is a contender, and that is close to home.
If I was in the position it would be a tough decision for me when the time came...
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I think that for most players in their late-teens or early-twenties the decision is probably not as difficult as it would be were they established professionals in their mid-late twenties. Familiarity will play a big part in the decision to stay with the Flames, and these summer development camps provide just that. For any young kid who is just in the process of making his own way in the world, building upon what is already familiar will almost always take some precedence
This is Gaudreau's third camp in the only professional organisation he has known. He knows the management and coaches, has established relationships with other players/prospects, and the team is working very hard to ensure that its personnel are all treated extremely well. By all counts—regardless of what one believes about the hockey-ops dept.—the Flames have a great reputation for treatment of players. How much more difficult would it be for Gaudreau to leave what he has already established here in Calgary for another team with a completely unknown environment? How much more difficult would it be for him to leave a situation that by all counts is extremely good to begin with? Based on everything we know, I find it highly unlikely that he would make such a choice.