Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
I don't think Johnny was ever really truly undecided. I just think he was afraid to make the decision so he let the clock do it for him.
It's like when two people are in a relationship and one person is thinking about leaving and has an overnight bag packed just in case they decide to leave. If that bag is ready to go, then the decision has already been made and it is only a matter of time until it's used. When Johnny said he didn't want to negotiate until the end of the season, that was him packing the overnight bag. His heart may have been saying stay, but his head was already putting the mechanisms in place to leave. If you're in that situation and asking question still in the final days, then you already know the answers and just don't want to admit it.
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But we can't forget about the $$$ part of the equation. I think Johnny knew for a long time that he'd prefer to be somewhere else, but harder to answer is how many millions was that preference worth?
How did Gross manage his/their expectations on CGY vs. UFA?
This was essentially his 3rd time navigating UFA with a pretty big client (neither really comparable to Gaudreau, though):
1. Krug - signed on Day 1 in 2020 - 2nd biggest deal that year after Pietrangelo. I'm sure it wasn't "easy", but probably more simple as reports are that BOS held firm
on 6x6.5 and let him hit UFA. He got 7x6.75.
2. Saad - signed day 2 in 2021...also in STL. Coming off 1 season in COL, who probably considered him Plan B to Landeskog (though who knows how Saad felt about that). Probably not too complicated...
No shade on Gross, but it's fair to ask exactly how well he know what he was doing given the lack of experience with similar situations.
Dumoulin is 1 yr to UFA. It will be interesting to see if he stays with Gross.