Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
This is the weird part.
No up front money and no signing bonus (which is a huge impact with Escrow).
I mentioned this earlier in the thread and it got lost in the shuffle but I found myself with a random conversation with somebody close to the family last night (not going to name names but a mod can PM me if they want).
Based on the conversation it really does sound like Johnny was truly torn by this decision to leave Calgary and it really was 50/50. Also it sounds like the family was as surprised as the rest of us that it’s Columbus in the end.
I really think this came down to Johnny really wanting Philly, and when that didn’t work out he just took the best offer that was in the East and closer to home, where he’s had some friends play. I don’t think it being a smaller market hurt either.
Honestly I have a feeling there might be some pressure on Lewis Gross today too, because I think everyone thought they would be offers of $10.5M AAV on the table and that just didn’t come to fruition.
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I would hope that Gross is under some pressure today. The biggest contract of his client's life really seems like it was poorly handled. I can accept that it was a 50/50 decision for Johnny, and it could be possible that Edward's was the one that closed the door on further negotiations with the Flames come midnight of the 12th, but there seems no doubt to me that he could have come out of this situation much better than he did. A contract at $9.75 for seven years with no front-loading and no bonuses in what was probably a second choice city is a pretty poor result for the best UFA to hit the market in a long time.
I really wonder what will leak out from the Flames and from his former teammates over the coming weeks and months about how they viewed this.