Great post, Coach.
I think there is still a lot of speculation about how this happened, but in the end it really doesn't matter. The Flames misread Johnny's intentions - badly. Even if Johnny wasn't upfront, it is the organization's job to know its players - what makes them tick, what drives them, what they really want to acheive in their career. Frankly, its the job of any leader in any organization.
It is incredibly naive to think a player will re-sign out of loyalty. We see every year that hockey is a business and loyalty doesn't matter.
I will continue to use the term "system failure" because this is not on one person, but on the whole franchise from the ownership to management to coaching staff. Someone had to have known, or had an inkling, that Johnny didn't want to be here. It wasn't a decision he made in 24 hours.
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