As someone who lived in the east for work but longed to come back west the whole time, I sympathize with and respect Johnny's decision. The issue I have is him leaving it until the last minute, which didn't allow the organization to make moves at the draft (if any of the rumoured deals were actually on the table). Treliving should have set a contract deadline of the draft and, if it wasn't signed, started looking at alternative options. Of course, that assumes that the Flames would be willing to do a tear down rebuild, which I strongly suspect they will not, but instead will sign some overpriced UFAs and we'll be stuck in the same 6-10 spot finish with the occasional divisional championship that's been our lot for the last 30 years.
That said, Treliving did play hardball during the last contract negotiations by taking advantage of the CBA quirk whereby Johnny didn't have arbitration rights so I'm not surprised that he wasn't willing to give the Flames the courtesy of letting them know his decision early.
Thanks for the memories Johnny, I hope your family is healthy, your personal life is great but that your career tanks and your contract becomes an albatross to whatever team signs you.
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