Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
Again, we don't know the number, it's all speculation and it's getting annoying constantly talking about a number we cannot confirm. I know for myself, I stated that offseason that I would've been comfortable with something in the $9M range anyway, so it's obvious I would've been the outlier here in CP.
Secondly, my opinion on the matter is that Johnny was interested in re-signing with the Flames throughout his entire tenure with the Flames, that never changed and his family all but confirmed this. But in 2021, he was a newly wed at the time, so maybe his wife was more open to it at the time. But things change over time, she spent the winter here in the praries, saw what life was like away from her hometown, away from friends, she became pregnant and ultimately wanted to head back. Everyone has their own opinion, but this is my personal take on the matter and believe it or not, this was a fear I had back in the offseason of 2021, so it was just another reason why I wanted the deal to be done.
Lastly, as I've said before, the previous stats mattered less to me. I knew he was going to have a dynamite 21-22 season and why I predicated 100+ points from him. I don't look at stats first and foremost when I judge players, I watch and critic their games. It's the right way to go about it because stats can fluctuate so much season to season. Even with a guy like Huberdeau, I knew he was coming off of 115 points. But after watching a couple of his previous games and looking at him critically, I had serious concerns last summer about whether he'd fit here. Sometimes, stats mislead and which is why numbers are not the be all end all for me.
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Ultimately you were more comfortable paying him $9M+ but for the reasons I stated around team performance and Johnny’s declining numbers it makes sense why the Flames were not interested in that dollar amount. Johnnys career year in goals, points, and 2 way play changed the Flames mind but it was too late for them as he made the decision to go back to the Eastern US.
I think it is very fair to assume if the flames wanted to keep Johnny and extend him they would have needed to pay market rate for a top end winger. I also think the flames shopped Johnny in the 21 offseason but the rest of the league did not value him that high either so the Flames felt better keeping him than selling low as he was coming off 2.5 seasons of average play (by the standards of elite wingers) and had yet to prove he could do anything in the playoffs or play a 200ft game.
The end of the day with Huberdeau is you had 2 sides extremely motivated to get a deal done. Huberdeau wanted to cash in on a career season and the Flames desperately wanted to avoid being in the same spot in the summer of 23 than they were in 22.
Ultimately I do not doubt those were your thoughts but I have been pointing out why the Flames and fans as a whole would not be interested in $9+x8 until he did what he did last season