Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
You can't say lateral move contracts aside.
Contracts are EVERYTHING in the NHL.
You aren't solving the centre problem with this deal. You are making the deal to maximize the asset.
Again 3 outcomes:
- Johnny walks
- Johnny is traded
- Johnny signs a new deal with the Flames that has a ton of risk
I know which outcome I think is best.
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Exactly.
This isn't NHL21, everything about all the discussions around trading JG are driven by the extremely important factor of his contract ending next year. Any hopes and dreams people have about who he could produce better with, what the flames could have done differently, or even how many points he could put up on a new team are irrelevant. He probably will be successful, or more successful than he's been the last couple years, on his next team. But it changes nothing from a Flames perspective. I think the Kessel comparison is extremely apt. We tried him as the best player on this team for his entire RFA contract, it hasn't worked. Maybe it could have, maybe he needed some other kind of centreman, but none of that matters now. All the team can do is look forward and that involves facing a hard truth that the Flames will be hard pressed to re-sign him (personally I think we were lucky to even get him out of college in the first place) and the best move from an asset management point of view is to trade him ASAP.
This is a similar problem that people had with the Dougie Hamilton trade, sure Adam Fox was a good player but the Flames were going to lose him for nothing. They made the correct move trading him and Ferland's expiring contract for two promising guys that still had a lot of team control. Now the Flames still have Lindholm and Hanifin on good contract while neither Fox or Ferland plays for Carolina.