Lets summarize.
He citied family reasons for not staying.
The closest city to where his family is was in Philly. Philly didn't have the cap space to sign him.
The next closest is New Jersey, who had the cap space.
New Jersey also has a brighter future.
Instead, his camp reaches out to Columbus and basically tells them he wants to play there. Columbus has basically done nothing in 20 years as a hockey organization, so there are no expectations, nothing. Outside of Arizona, is there another team that has been so mediocre for that long?
All in all, my best guess is he does not care about winning, can't stand the pressure of winning, and wanted to go to a destination where he could do just that.
And he was willing to forgo $18 million to do that.
His decision, but I can't imagine his teammates, other teams, the NHL, NHLPA, the Flames, GMs around the league and other player agents are looking at that situation and thinking he made a smart move.
You don't go to UFA to leave $18 million on the table. Yes, you sign for less sometimes, and sometimes you want to play in certain cities. But if you are a top player, you command top money & you can pick where you want to play. That is the point of being a UFA.
Hard to see all of this as anything other than a complete disaster for the Johnny side of things. And as complete disasters usually go, they tend to follow you along for the rest of your career.
|