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

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

You don't need telepathy to see that you are going into the final season of your franchise player's best contract. You need a calendar.

That happens frequently. Most teams in that situation don't respond by panicking and selling off the player… and if they did, they are merely putting some other team in the exact same position.

You don't need telepathy to know that a player's family has been pulling him in another direction. You just need to be paying attention.

You do need telepathy to know if he has decided to give in to their wishes, unless he comes out and actually says so. Which Gaudreau did not until late on July 12.

You don't need telepathy to see that for over the past year, the player isn't into negotiating or is stalling. You just need intuition.

So you had this intuition, and therefore you know better than any of the people who were actually employed by the team and/or working on the negotiations? Got it.

A player can say whatever he wants, but it is up to the GM to believe it based on the other signals they are sending.

Telling your agent to work on negotiating a new contract is a pretty powerful signal. If Gaudreau had no intention of signing, why was Lewis Gross even talking to the Flames in the first place?

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

You don't need telepathy to see that you are going into the final season of your franchise player's best contract. You need a calendar.

You don't need telepathy to know that a player's family has been pulling him in another direction. You just need to be paying attention.

You don't need telepathy to see that for over the past year, the player isn't into negotiating or is stalling. You just need intuition. A player can say whatever he wants, but it is up to the GM to believe it based on the other signals they are sending.

i agree with you. Tre left this too late but I also think it was a dick move by johnny to not tell tre even if he's on the fence about leaving, i know most gms aren't trading for a player a monnth away from ufa but maybe before the trade deadline johnny could have said"

ya know im thinking i may not want to return, here's a couple teams im maybe interested in if you want to trade me" A team might have traded to get johnny as a rental for a run.

To me johnny saying he wants to wait til season is done to negotiate is a red flag to start working on either a trade or saying we can't wait. Tre didn't handle it the greatest.

Tre said "we're going to move heaven and earth to sign him" do you guys think we moved heaven and earth? i didn't follow it but what was out offer like compared to CBJ?

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

Tre said "we're going to move heaven and earth to sign him" do you guys think we moved heaven and earth? i didn't follow it but what was out offer like compared to CBJ?

The Flames offered $10.5 million x 8, which would have been the biggest deal signed by any NHL player since 2019. Gaudreau settled for $9.75 million x 7, which was not even the biggest deal of 2022.

I'd say Treliving moved heaven and earth, or as much of them as he could get his hands on. He offered Gaudreau exactly what his agent demanded. If Gaudreau wasn't going to accept that, he shouldn't have wasted everyone's time by pretending to negotiate.

[Jethro Choicebro]

I just don't get all this "wife made him do it" nonsense.

If I'm making a 7 or 8 year work commitment of course I'm consulting my wife and making a family decision... especially if she is pregnant - who wouldn't?

Sucks for us and the it was handled clearly wasn't great, but they made a call they thought best as a family, even if Johnny had to sacrifice his preferred team.

Seems like a reasonable thing to do.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Gaudreau had the right to choose any team he wanted, but as others have stated, it is how he did it that is really egregious. That is all on Johnny. Not Brad, not his agent, not his wife.

The quotes after things broke down are really telling in my view. The Flames “were stunned”. They have been involved in hundreds of negotiations many which proved to be unsuccessful, it it is almost never stunning. In this case it was. Gross stated that the Flames did “everything that they could have done”. That tells me the Flames met the demands of Johnny and his agent. I think the Flames and it’s fans have every right to be bitter about that. I don’t think it is fair to say they were overly optimistic. They had a deal. They knew Philly wasn’t likely a player. They had the best offer to a guy that wanted to play here. That should be enough.

I negotiate contracts for a living. It is true that nothing is finalized until the paper is signed, but it is exceedingly rare for a counter party to just turn away from a deal like this. Johnny screwed the Flames and he screwed Gross. It is on him.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Gross stated that the Flames did “everything that they could have done”. That tells me the Flames met the demands of Johnny and his agent.

This is the big tell for me, and I agree with you, Gross was screwed over too. One or two posters have said they would quit on the spot if a client did that to them, and I can understand why.

When even Gaudreau's own agent thinks he should have taken the Flames' offer, that doesn't leave much room to blame anyone but Gaudreau himself.

[PuckDemon]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

The Flames offered $10.5 million x 8, which would have been the biggest deal signed by any NHL player since 2019. Gaudreau settled for $9.75 million x 7, which was not even the biggest deal of 2022.

I'd say Treliving moved heaven and earth, or as much of them as he could get his hands on. He offered Gaudreau exactly what his agent demanded. If Gaudreau wasn't going to accept that, he shouldn't have wasted everyone's time by pretending to negotiate.

How do you know Gaudreau was just pretending to negotiate? I guess telepathy exists after all! Why haven't you been hired as GM yet?

As far as we know, Johnny (and his family) changed his mind last minute, we have no evidence that he was just pretending.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by PuckDemon

How do you know Gaudreau was just pretending to negotiate? I guess telepathy exists after all! Why haven't you been hired as GM yet?

Do try to follow.

If he had already decided to go to UFA, then he was not going to sign any contract with the Flames.

If he was not going to sign any contract, then he had no reason to tell his agent to negotiate such a contract.

But he did, in fact, tell his agent to do that, and his agent kept working on that contract right up to July 12.

Therefore, EITHER he had not already decided to go UFA, OR he was deliberately wasting the team's and his agent's time.

As far as we know, Johnny (and his family) changed his mind last minute, we have no evidence that he was just pretending.

I agree with you. I was responding to the claim that he had made up his mind a year ago, and Treliving was at fault for not knowing this.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by tkflames

Agreed. It's also weird that he names her in interviews. I wish the curtain between professional players and fans remained. Learning your on ice hero is a dick in real life sucks (not necessarily a reference to Gaudreau).

Is it weird? He’s a human being that made a decision with his human wife…


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[Roof-Daddy]

I'm not really mad anymore I don't think, more just disappointed.

They spent a decade building around this guy and they finally got to the point where they look like the real deal with a real coach, and just like that he leaves us......to go to fricken Columbus.

Like I said, I get it if it was Philly, but they dropped the ball. When that happened he should have come back.

It just blows me away how little he and his wife cared about his legacy here, and the decade he'd spent building something here, and his team mates here.

To walk away from all of that to go to Columbus? Really? Because of the border and COVID? Because it's an extra bit of travel time for you to see your families?

Unbelievably disappointing.

[powderjunkie]

What's the point of having a legacy somewhere you don't actually want to stay long-long-term (ie. after you retire).

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

What's the point of having a legacy somewhere you don't actually want to stay long-long-term (ie. after you retire).

He's not going to stay long term in Columbus either lol

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

What's the point of having a legacy somewhere you don't actually want to stay long-long-term (ie. after you retire).

Gretzky and Messier don't live in Edmonton but are still Oilers legends. And yes Gretzky went to LA with his wife.

Gaudreau won't be invited to a single thing

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

He's not going to stay long term in Columbus either lol

If he doesn't live up to his contract, they might just be stuck with him.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

If he doesn't live up to his contract, they might just be stuck with him.

I meant after he retires, like powderjunkie mentioned in the post I quoted

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

He's not going to stay long term in Columbus either lol

I disagree.

I think they'll get a couple good years out of him, but near the end of that contract? That one I think might be tough to move in the back end.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

i agree with you. Tre left this too late but I also think it was a dick move by johnny to not tell tre even if he's on the fence about leaving, i know most gms aren't trading for a player a monnth away from ufa but maybe before the trade deadline johnny could have said"

ya know im thinking i may not want to return, here's a couple teams im maybe interested in if you want to trade me" A team might have traded to get johnny as a rental for a run.

To me johnny saying he wants to wait til season is done to negotiate is a red flag to start working on either a trade or saying we can't wait. Tre didn't handle it the greatest.

Tre said "we're going to move heaven and earth to sign him" do you guys think we moved heaven and earth? i didn't follow it but what was out offer like compared to CBJ?

Yep, the moment Johnny said he didn't want to negotiate until after the season, Treliving should have told Johnny sorry, that won't work for us and asked him for teams he would be willing to be traded too.

Teams like the Flames just can't afford to take these chances.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I meant after he retires, like powderjunkie mentioned in the post I quoted

Oh, OK. I thought you meant like the people who think Columbus will trade him to Philly in a couple of yearas.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Gretzky and Messier don't live in Edmonton but are still Oilers legends. And yes Gretzky went to LA with his wife.

Gaudreau won't be invited to a single thing

Exactly. Lots of legacy players don't live where they have their legacy after they've retired, but they still have it.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

What's the point of having a legacy somewhere you don't actually want to stay long-long-term (ie. after you retire).

Lots of European players have NHL legacies and I would imagine most of them are very proud of their achievements regardless of where they settle down after hockey.