You can believe Johnny played the flames. Even though he clearly didn't because the lack of offers from Philly and spurning the Devil's suggests there was no tampering going on.
Johnny and his family probably agonized over the decision. Being in Calgary was best of Johnny. His teammates and friends are here. He liked the team and organization. It was the best money. And it was his best chance to win. He probably REALLY wanted to stay here. And he probably thought his wife would agree to stay if the money was high enough.
And when the final offer came and Gross said, "look, this is a great over, if you leave, you're leaving $10m on the table." And Johnny discussed it with his partner and they decided to leave it on the table.
I feel bad for Johnny and the flames and his wife. Sometimes, there are no winners. It just wasn't meant to me.
Time to accept the outcome and move on. No ill will from me. He was a great player on a great contract who played here for eight years. If he ended up having a baby two years ago or two years from now instead of this year, he'd probably still be a flame.
That's just life sometimes.
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