The last time the Flames were in the running to get a guy this old signed to a longterm contract was Brad Richards. Of course Richards was 2 years younger than Giordano when those sweepstakes were going on, so you had a little more certainty that there were some guaranteed years of production left in the tank.
Richards was 9th in league scoring in 2004, 11th in league scoring in 2006 then dropped off for a bit (always being in the top 30 though) and then came roaring back in 2007 to finish 7th in league scoring and then 10th in 2011 before he went out for his big contract.
Similar situations, two guys who most people would argue were top 5-8 at their positions at the time they were seeking their big deals, similar in age with Richards being less injury prone. It will be interesting to see how the Giordano situation turns out compared with the Brad Richards one.
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