My favourite rumour in all of this is the one where Murray Edwards decided to personally handle the negotiations with his 10m deal (and I am not convinced that it was true).
Edwards: Come on Johnny, why don't you want to stay in Calgary?
Gaudreau: Must be the same reason you don't want to live there.
Hopefully they sign, but count me in as someone that hopes they sell if Gaudreau walks.
As for some players wanting to leave if Gaudreau doesn't re-sign - not sure if that is true or not. I can see it both ways. Why stay somewhere that they feel doesn't give them a chance to win, especially when you are playing for a coach that is so demanding? It is somewhat disheartening to work that hard knowing you don't have a realistic chance.
Don't misunderstand me here - I think Calgary will continue to be a decent team if Johnny leaves. It just makes it much more difficult to become a great team without him. Last time I checked, I don't see decent teams winning cups - I see great teams. From that standpoint, I can understand how some players MAY feel (if that rumour is even true).
For me, it is rather cut and dry. If Johnny walks, then this team should just rebuild. There just isn't enough high-end talent left to compete with teams like Colorado, Tampa, Vegas (if they get their goaltending sorted), etc.
I will still watch them and support them just like I did throughout the young guns era when everyone in this city knew what that era was - a farm team that is decent at drafting and developing players for good teams. There was zero chance of ever winning a cup during that era, but I still cheered. I did the same thing in the 2009-2015 seasons too. It is fine by me - this is something I watch for entertainment after all, and there are always intriguing stories within every season to keep me interested. I just hope that if Johnny does leave, this team just does a rebuild. Might not even take too long - a couple of seasons if they get lucky in the draft - as I think they have a good base of youth and prospects to build off of.
However, hopefully Gaudreau signs and the Flames find the wiggle room to re-sign Tkachuk long-term and find a better supporting cast as well this season to be able to compete with top-tier teams. That would be very interesting to me.
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