Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
The thing is though...why do all of that for leverage and then throw all that leverage away.
Johnny didn't seem to leverage the Flames $10.5M offer at all in his negotiations - or else he's not signing for $9.7M.
If you're trying to do it for leverage your agent isn't going to the media and saying "The Flames did all they could and in the end this was a family decision"
He would have said "the Flames didn't offer enough money so we are going to free agency".
The whole stringing along the Flames for leverage thing makes no sense when you look at what actually happened and what was said before he even signed in Columbus.
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TBF, if he said the bolded and ended up with this CBJ deal, Gross would look like even more of a jackass.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
"The door is closed" is my wording. But if you watched that presser, the door was closed.
The links are all in the other thread. The Flames, according to two sources, thought they had a deal done. Which lines up with the demands being met story, the Gross statement and things Treliving said.
I think you really really want to believe JG didn't dick around. But even his story indicates he did. Referencing flip flopping to the last second, etc.
and this stuff from Steinberg/Francis:
"If this was handled professionally then it would just be sour grapes to bitch and moan about him going somewhere else. But the 2 things I keep coming back to: deception and destination."
"I get it, until you have a deal signed you don't have a deal. I heard your earlier talk about it-- I know Elliotte talked about it-- I'm well aware of exactly how it all unfolded. The Calgary Flames believed they had a deal, right near the 11th hour."
He then specifically says no shame on the Flames because they bargained in good faith but had everything pulled out from under them at the 11th hour. He later refers to Gaudreau "yanking the deal at the end".
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There's more evidence that the door wasn't closed than of any ultimatum. I recall "don't anticipate that happening" from Tre...do you have anything stronger? Do you think his [alleged] ghostwriter completely invented that bit about 7 years with CGY?
All of those quotes support multiple scenarios, including where things get close but just don't happen. None of them exclusively support the idea that Johnny told Gross to give an ultimatum and then reneged. We have exactly 1 piece of evidence supporting that scenario - the CP post (which I reiterate seemed to be a 3rd hand account at best).
Everything else is innuendo - "The Flames thought a deal was going to get done." that can certainly be used to connect many different dots that may or may not actually be there. We know Gaudreau yanked the 'deal' at the end. We don't know what that actually means - there are dozens of plausible fail points.
I just watched an interview where Steinberg concluded with "he really did do nothing wrong when it's all said and done."
https://youtu.be/DlpbOls1g6E?t=592. A pretty significant difference from his high-school gossip session with Francis that you're quoting.