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Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
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I'm also 100% with you on your take. Management let him get to free agency which was always risky based on the potential flight risk. The team should've signed him back in 2021 when he was more than willing to and they failed to do so. That's more of a failure on their part by not recognizing the potential risks and pitfalls. I still believe that the reason why Calgary was even in the mix until the end was because of Johnny, but I don't think anyone else in his camp was too interested in coming back.
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Johnny had 99 pts in 2018/2019. From the start of the season until the end of January he scored 73pts in 51 games which had him pacing for 117pts over the full season. He gets 26pts in his final 31 games and follows that up with 58pts in 70 games and 49pts in 56 games which works out to 133pts in 157 games or an average of 69pts per 82 games. That production was for nearly two and a half seasons so when those conversations are happening are the Flames even considering going $9.5M for 8 years? Johnny was always dynamic offensively but had a reputation of being pushed around in the playoffs and being a liability defensively.
Is it really a huge failure after watching him for 7 years to not think he was going to put it together for a full 82 games and score 115pts while flashing a 2 way game we had never seen before under any coach before Darryl? Johnny earned what the Flames offered him but had he got $9.5x8 or more after scoring at a 69 point pace for 2.5 years I think a lot of people would have ripped that contract apart at the time.