The Gaudreau being awful in the playoffs thing is overblown. He looked great as a rookie in 2014/15. After that the team has really hung him out to dry. He simply hasn't had proper support from his line mates.
In 2018/19, Colorado's game plan against the Flames was painfully obvious. Double team and cheap shot Gaudreau. Don't worry about the rest of the team as much. At that point, Lindholm was only 24 and Tkachuk was only 21. Both were very young and inexperienced and not capable of dealing with Colorado's aggressive play. Monahan just disappeared, although in his defence he had a number of injuries. That series did, however, pretty much cement that Monahan was too one-dimensional to be effective in that kind of series as a #1 centre.
If Gaudreau has legitimate linemates that can act as a secondary threat, it prevents the double team and we see an entirely different playoff Gaudreau. If the Flames don't re-sign Gaudreau, whoever acquires him is likely to be a competitive team with more depth and going to get a serious playoff performer.
I see 3 courses of action:
1. Acquire Eichel and re-sign Gaudreau. This is the biggest dream.
2. Re-sign Gaudreau long-term to a reasonable contract and run with the current top line. Acquire good scoring depth.
3. Gaudreau makes it clear he won't re-sign. You trade him for whatever you can get. Do a massive re-tool.
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