When Gaudreau was flirting with the top spot in the scoring race for a fair portion of the season, and was something like 2nd in the NHL in contribution percentage in team goals this season, it shows that he's not a player that you win with.
A team that's lacking offense talent, the best choice to make is to trade your young, and still developing superstar. That'll certainly fix the team's issues! Can't win with a player like Gaudreau on your roster. (Although the team trading for them think differently?)
If you can't win with him, then you can't win with Connor McDavid, or Jarome Iginla in his prime.
Yeesh. Gaudreau is not the problem. Without him the Flames likely would be competing for the 1st overall pick this draft.
The problem is that Gaudreau doesn't have support that's required. He's a playmaker, not #1C that does everything.
If we're gonna be placing blame on players not doing enough, and being "the players you win with", look at Monahan and Bennett. And one of those players was dealing with an injury which required surgery.
Flames, and Gaudreau lack that #1C that is a strong two way player whom can also put the puck in the net often. They're also missing right side talent on the top 2 lines. I don't think trading Gaudreau to fill those holes is a good idea, since you won't get enough of a return and just create a new hole.
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