[Signing] Gaudreau to Columbus (7 x $9.75 million)

[nik-]

I'm certainly not better than this.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Not to go all Kevin Lowe here, but I doubt there’s a big overlap between the people who spend lots of money on the NHL and the fans who make nasty personal comments about players on social media.

Yeah I don’t support personal attacks on people private life.

[activeStick]

Oh well. Now as a fan base, we've for sure gone through it all!

[RoadGame]

Some of those criticizing the discussion should give JACK FM a call, they're currently calling businesses in Columbus informally polling whether anyone cares about hockey let alone knows or is excited about JG coming to town. That's way more "cringe" than hockey fans discussing a hockey player's relocation on a hockey forum.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I agree 100%

He made a huge mistake and it cost him $15 million and his legacy with the Flames and plus he looks like a villain to many here.

I mean it would help his cause to nut up and acknowledge the fans here in any kind of statement, even if he thinks Flames ownership is evil.

The fans had nothing to do with it and supported him perhaps like nobody else in Flames silks outside of Iginla.

How small of a person do you have to be to not even put out a bare minimum, half-hearted thank you?

Hopefully he finds time in his busy schedule to open up his notes app or Instagram for 5 minutes before the month is out.

[Playfair]

“Every experience, however bitter, has its lesson, and to focus one's attention on the lesson helps one overcome the bitterness.” - Edward Howard Griggs

“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.” - Corrie Ten Boom

[Monahammer]

Can we talk about how funny that press conference of his was?

Johnny:
- can't name a single center on the BJs. Only player up front he did name is Laine, who is now without a signed deal and Johnny is taking all the cap room the team had to sign him.
- Says he likes the fans in Columbus (22nd overall in the league in attendence, 6-7 spots behind Calgary on average depending on the year.)
- Says he likes the city of Columbus, but when pressed admits he never toured around it at all and only went between hotel and arena
- Didn't know about arena upgrades happening at nationwide centre
- Says he wanted to be closer to family but ultimately didnt matter where

It is objectively non-sense and kind of hysterical to read aloud.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Can we talk about how funny that press conference of his was?

Johnny:
- can't name a single center on the BJs. Only player up front he did name is Laine, who is now without a signed deal and Johnny is taking all the cap room the team had to sign him.
- Says he likes the fans in Columbus (22nd overall in the league in attendence, 6-7 spots behind Calgary on average depending on the year.)
- Says he likes the city of Columbus, but when pressed admits he never toured around it at all and only went between hotel and arena
- Didn't know about arena upgrades happening at nationwide centre
- Says he wanted to be closer to family but ultimately didnt matter where

It is objectively non-sense and kind of hysterical to read aloud.

How about the question where he was asked what centers on the team he's excited to play with and he didn't even know their names and just brought up Laine and the coach. Doesn't sound like a guy that was actually paying a lot of attention to their roster. There's no doubt this whole thing went down strange but he's a grown man and I can't criticise what a family chooses to do with their lives. If Columbus is what he and his wife thought best then good for them I guess.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Can we talk about how funny that press conference of his was?

Johnny:
- can't name a single center on the BJs. Only player up front he did name is Laine, who is now without a signed deal and Johnny is taking all the cap room the team had to sign him.
- Says he likes the fans in Columbus (22nd overall in the league in attendence, 6-7 spots behind Calgary on average depending on the year.)
- Says he likes the city of Columbus, but when pressed admits he never toured around it at all and only went between hotel and arena
- Didn't know about arena upgrades happening at nationwide centre
- Says he wanted to be closer to family but ultimately didnt matter where

It is objectively non-sense and kind of hysterical to read aloud.

Yeah I didn't think it was possible for someone to make a huge life decision that.. casually.

I was astounded by his answers too. It's like he spun a bottle to decide, checked out a quick Google image search of the city, called up Gross to ring Jarmo and took the first contract draft they could scrounge up in their excitement and disbelief.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Can we talk about how funny that press conference of his was?

Johnny:
- can't name a single center on the BJs. Only player up front he did name is Laine, who is now without a signed deal and Johnny is taking all the cap room the team had to sign him.
- Says he likes the fans in Columbus (22nd overall in the league in attendence, 6-7 spots behind Calgary on average depending on the year.)
- Says he likes the city of Columbus, but when pressed admits he never toured around it at all and only went between hotel and arena
- Didn't know about arena upgrades happening at nationwide centre
- Says he wanted to be closer to family but ultimately didnt matter where

It is objectively non-sense and kind of hysterical to read aloud.

This does make me wonder if Gross and him didn't see eye to eye on this signing.

Generally the agent, agency, and agency PR team would have the player ready for these press conferences, and have them briefed on what to expect and how to answer.

Gaudreau looked like a deer in the headlights and had no idea how to answer any of the questions in that press conference. Generally he hasn't been bad in press conferences here in Calgary, so that was a bit out of the norm for him.

He did not look ready, and it did not look like he expected to be a Columbus Blue Jacket yesterday.

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Yeah I didn't think it was possible for someone to make a huge life decision that.. casually.

I was astounded by his answers too. It's like he spun a bottle to decide, checked out a quick Google image search of the city, called up Gross to ring Jarmo and took the first contract draft they could scrounge up in their excitement and disbelief.

Honestly at this stage it doesn't feel like he "choose" Columbus. It feels like they were just the only team left offering above $9.5M, he burned his bridge with Calgary, Philly never came to the table, looks like maybe NJ/NYI never were as seriously interested as was rumored, and that his wife might have been comfortable with the city for whatever reason (sounds like she has family there).

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

How about the question where he was asked what centers on the team he's excited to play with and he didn't even know their names and just brought up Laine and the coach. Doesn't sound like a guy that was actually paying a lot of attention to their roster. There's no doubt this whole thing went down strange but he's a grown man and I can't criticise what a family chooses to do with their lives. If Columbus is what he and his wife thought best then good for them I guess.

He said he loves Calgary

You know what he really means ……nothing lol

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

The thing is that we don’t actually know the exact details of what happened and everything is just speculation at this point…so that’s why I try to refrain from attacking anyones character.

.

This should be pinned.

How many people have claimed to have access to insider information? I know it's our mouth that gets us into trouble but god damn seems like no one is able to shut up! lol

All this second hand information is pure speculation. Especially when it's related to past events, it's one thing to predict things in the future and get them right, totally different when people start leaking information about the past like in this case.

For all we know the Flames organization is leaking stuff on purpose that makes them look good (the same thing can be said about the Gaudreau family/friends).


Gaudreau wanted to leave, who cares where he ended up or how many miles it's from Philly. He wanted to get the hell out of dodge and now he's gone, time to move on.

[devo22]

I mean, he probably always envisioned himself being either in Calgary, Philadelpha or New Jersey for the next 7 or 8 years. It probably takes some time before it sinks in that it's not going to be any of those places, but yeah, he certainly could/should have been better prepared for that presser.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

He said he loves Calgary

You know what he really means ……nothing lol

I think he and his family truly did enjoy Calgary. I believe Johnny and his family are genuine here and don't think any of this had anything to do with Calgary or Flames fans. It sounds like it may have been more of a thing with his wife's family and them living outside the US and maybe some issues with the organization.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Earlier in the thread, I jumped to conclusions and assumed that Gross messed this whole thing up for Johnny. I'm inclined to retract that speculation. It's sounding to me like Gross did his best after being put in a tough situation.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

Earlier in the thread, I jumped to conclusions and assumed that Gross messed this whole thing up for Johnny. I'm inclined to retract that speculation. It's sounding to me like Gross did his best after being put in a tough situation.

If your client can't make up his mind it makes an agent's job much more difficult. Player takes until the 11th hour to decide which is his right but the agent has to go along with it so even he may have taken some flack from Edwards for essentially just doing his job.

[Jordan!]

Forget Calgary, it's just as ridiculous and WEIRD that he had offers in NJ or closer to home that he didn't even really consider.

Dude must have just LOVED Columbus. Or his wife has some kind of dream job lined up there

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Can we talk about how funny that press conference of his was?

Johnny:
- can't name a single center on the BJs. Only player up front he did name is Laine, who is now without a signed deal and Johnny is taking all the cap room the team had to sign him.
- Says he likes the fans in Columbus (22nd overall in the league in attendence, 6-7 spots behind Calgary on average depending on the year.)
- Says he likes the city of Columbus, but when pressed admits he never toured around it at all and only went between hotel and arena
- Didn't know about arena upgrades happening at nationwide centre
- Says he wanted to be closer to family but ultimately didnt matter where

It is objectively non-sense and kind of hysterical to read aloud.

Part of it I think is due to the fact he's just not particularly well spoken. However, it was VERY weird.

I still believe that he thought he would land in Philly and that the Flyers would make the necessary moves to meet his contract requirements.

Then they didn't.

Johnny's warts are not unknown to the rest of the league. I'm sure some teams were asking the same questions
- Should we devote that much cap to a winger
- Should we make a 7 year high cap commitment to a player at that age
- What production will Johnny deliver going forward. Something close to last season or the 2 seasons prior
- Can he deliver in the playoffs.

At the end of the day the Flyers decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. So that took away the major seat Johnny thought he would land on. And with the music coming to an end, his agent told him to plant that butt on a chair before there were none left.

And that chair was CBJ.

The only flaw in this theory is I still can't grasp what the heck happened with New Jersey and why that isn't where he went.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The only flaw in this theory is I still can't grasp what the heck happened with New Jersey and why that isn't where he went.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that he wanted somewhere that was a relaxed hockey market.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Everyone is focused on travel itineraries and distances and such to his home to be closer to family.

It’s not about him being closer to HIS family (well, I’m sure it is but to a much lesser degree).

It’s about being closer to her family, and by the sounds of those rumours, they are exactly closer to her family. That’s why Columbus was on the list. And it makes sense for a woman who’s about to have a baby, to be closer to her parents / family for help. So, they are closer to family.

I guess so but it's still pretty weak. Many many families and players raise families far, far away from home. Think if Europeans who play here. And there are established families too, not newlyweds like the Gaudreaus.