Quote:
Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates
I agree on his bargaining power.
Perhaps victim isn't the right word, but I'm saying his negotiation is being heavily influenced by what happened with Gaudreau (so beyond his control).
If Gaudreau had signed, no one would be panicking right now that we must sign him right now or trade him right now. That would still be the preference, but there's an extra urgency to his negotiation now that came from external circumstances.
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Looking back a year, everyone always thought Tkachuk was the bigger flight risk than Gaudreau. With deadlines based around arbitration, it would have been an awful idea to sign Tkachuk for one year and then let him "make up his mind" at the end of the year.
Management should not have handled this any differently, even with Gaudreau walking....although maybe they would have. So perhaps the silver lining here, is that they get value for Tkachuk or re-sign him, as opposed to just acting like softies and letting him walk, which is what may have happened if Gaudreau had signed.