Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason14h
When you need to go back and use Chelios and Ronning as examples I think it proves the point that ALMOST no players actually care about moving “closer to home” - because they haven’t been “home” in 10 -15 years usually so it’s no longer home
It does happen, but it is rare. Maybe JG is the rare case . We’ll see in a few weeks
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There's hundreds of players who have gone home. There's hundreds more that don't have that option (Suter is from Madison but went "home" to Minnesota?). Statsny went back home to St. Louis and joined up with other UFAs going home in Butler and Maroon. Raymond went back to Calgary. Even Corban Knight forced his way back to Alberta because he took the College route and wouldn't sign with the Panthers.
Must suck for the Panthers to lose a player because he could become an UFA and forced his way to his hometown, luckily that never happened to the Flames. Hamonic forced a trade out of New York to get closer to home so he accepted one to Calgary. Hamhuis signed with BC. JVR signed with Philly as a NJ native much like Gaudreau. Players like Tavares are only recognized because he was a top tier UFA and home was the center of the universe but any given UFA class has a person or two returning home. Heck, usually it is Toronto; Tavares, Thornton, Simmonds, Spezza, Brodie and Giordano just recently. Did Savard sign last year with Montreal to strictly go home? Probably not. Was it a bonus and probably tipped the scales in Montreal's favour? Probably.
Other players also do make their "homes" in places beyond where they were born. You hope that a player like Gaudreau does that with Calgary, but think Perron and Luongo heading "home".
Keith, Stepan, Hamonic, DeBrusk are all players who have requested trades to get closer to home recently that we are aware of. It's asinine to believe that playing near home isn't a factor for many players (and for many players it isn't).