Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
I was just about to ask the same question.
I remember sometime after that 3rd (or 4th or 5th) hand account was posted someone claimed that Friedman and somebody else had reporting that supported the rumour. I was just listening to Fried's podcast and he says absolutely nothing about an ultimatum or reneg (though maybe he said something different elsewhere?).
FWIW, here is what Friedman said (pretty sure I've got it verbatim within quotes):
He twice said: [the Flames were confident] "it was going to get done"
"There was a time on Tuesday that the Flames [and other teams] thought he was staying, and then at the last second it changed."
ie. the Flames thought they were very close (not the first time we've heard something like that), but never actually thought it was 'done'.
The reporting of a 7 yr offer on the 13th also totally undercuts this rumour IMO.
The worst that can be said at this point is that Johnny took all of the time afforded to him and made a decision people don't like.
I suspect the decision was never really Calgary vs. Closer to Home, but rather Guaranteed $$$$ [which inherently = CGY] vs. More Risk/Reward + Closer to Home. Which is why he needed to know the actual $$ amount to make an informed decision.
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IMO the statement by Gross supports the rumour (he said Calgary did everything they could).