[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I'll be outraged alright, if Gaudreau isn't in the lineup on opening night. You're completely wrong though in believing my outrage will be directed at the Flames management.

Gaudreau is one of my favorite players in a very long time, don't get me wrong. But we can reasonably assume that he has been offered, at a bare minimum, the same 6.375M AAV x 7 yr contract that Monahan just signed. That's an incredible deal for a LW that, while one of the most offensively gifted players in the game, is still very undersized, very soft, and has a whopping 160 NHL GP on his resume.

If Gaudreau's camp can not accept a deal based on the framework of this Monahan contract, you can bet your ass I will be outraged, and it won't be at Treliving.



For the sake of comparing, at the conclusion of their ELCs:

Kane - Regular Season:
244GP - 76G - 154A - 230PTS - .943PPG
Gaudreau - Regular Season:
160GP - 55G - 88A - 143PTS - .894PPG

Kane - Playoffs:
38GP - 19G - 23A - 42PTS - 1.105PPG - Stanley Cup Winner
Gaudreau - Playoffs:
11GP - 4G - 5A - 9PTS - .818PPG

Kane signed a 5yr x 6.300M AAV following that ELC. Important to keep in mind though that the salary cap going into the 2010/11 season was 59.4M. Adjusting for cap inflation, that would put Kane's contract @ 7.742M AAV in today's dollars. Remember too, that Kane was offer-sheet eligible.

Gaudreau hasn't earned that contract. An AAV in the 6.750M range is more than fair. Just because St.Louis overpaid Tarasenko by a million last year doesn't mean the Flames have to do the same.

Tarasenko's contract is more because they bought UFA years. The Kane deal didn't include UFA years...