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Old 01-03-2023, 01:57 PM   #121
Igottago
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates View Post
You're probably right, but I still don't get why.

If you left any other job the way he did (apparently very dishonest and angering to ownership/management) even if you were one of their best employees ever before that, they wouldn't tribute you, you probably wouldn't even get a decent reference.

People keep saying he was entertaining, one of the best Flames ever which is all true; but how he left surely is part of the equation too, it would be in any other profession.

I don't see how the organization would be any less professional for not giving tribute to a former employee who left under bad terms.
I guess it has become a hockey thing with mandatory fake tributes pretending you want to honor someone everyone knows you really don't.
He left after he was out of a contract, he did exactly as he was entitled to do as a pending UFA. He did nothing to breach an existing contract with the Flames. They took the risk of having him get to UFA, and he did. Yes he was conflicted about his decision and apparently changed course last minute, but it's not like he stepped out on a signed contract or something. Flames owners are shrewd business men, they know how contracts work. He will get a tribute because he was the best player on the team for many years, and he deserves it. There's absolutely no way an organization like the Flames snubs him of a tribute. No chance. I would be highly disappointed if they did.
I fully acknowledge he's going to get boo'd as well, but I still think many people are overplaying the idea that Gaudreau somehow screwed the team. He did nothing of the sort. A pending UFA has all the leverage and he used it. That's how it works. He made a really silly decision IMO, but that's a different story.
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A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:

"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
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