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

[Jordan!]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, is Johnny's wife or family in Columbus?

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by Jordan!

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, is Johnny's wife or family in Columbus?

No, they live in Jersey just outside of Philly.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

No, they live in Jersey just outside of Philly.

They said she had family in Columbus but I suspect that's extended family - cousins and the like.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

So this really comes down to her wanting to go home and has little to do with Gaudreau wanting to go home, and also explains the bizarro decisions and way this all rolled out.

Well a wife should have a say in where she raises her family. Like a lot of hockey players, Johnny has been a coddled hockey player his entire life. Go to school, then practice, repeat over and over. Sign pro contract, play NHL every season, have summer off. Rinse and repeat as his entire life has revolved around playing hockey and at 29 years old he's always played for one NHL team. He's never really had to make many difficult decisions. Clearly his heart was in Calgary but this free agency thing was probably the first time he really had to make a major life decision and he was probably happy to defer to his wife.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

And none of them are the money or term he was expecting. He would have signed with a team on the 1st day of free agency had a team met his salary and term demands.

Unless he is waiting on the Avs...which is what is being reported. I'm sure he would take less to stay there

I bet he has good offers on the table as backup...likely one from the Flames. Do you honestly not think they offered him a big deal after Gaudreau left?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Unless he is waiting on the Avs...which is what is being reported. I'm sure he would take less to stay there

I bet he has good offers on the table as backup...likely one from the Flames. Do you honestly not think they offered him a big deal after Gaudreau left?

I think they have offered him a good deal but I'm not so sure they offered him a big deal. He's going to be 32 years old at the start of the season and I think teams have been cautious on the term they are offering him.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Tacoman

I have a friend who is an NHL executive for a team in the US and he said that any team that uses analytics heavily was at a max of $8 million for Johnny. When he came out to the market, the offers just weren't there. Lewis Gross just completely misred the market. Only two teams were desperate enough to go against the analytics - the Flames who wanted to keep the face of the franchise and Columbus who can never sign a free agent and don't really care.

They must be looking at analytics that aren't known by the public because by almost all measures he is elite.

If instead they are using age trends to predict his value over the next 7 years, that's a different story.

[powderjunkie]

Can anyone recall other years where any of the top 5 big UFA fish went unsigned for 2+ weeks? Let alone 2 of them?

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

They said she had family in Columbus but I suspect that's extended family - cousins and the like.

I get the same impression, extended family in Columbus.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think they have offered him a good deal but I'm not so sure they offered him a big deal. He's going to be 32 years old at the start of the season and I think teams have been cautious on the term they are offering him.

I guess it depends what he is looking for...Avs would be a hard team to leave though...if there is any chance of going back he is going to wait for it IMO

I bet the Flames have the highest bid in

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Can anyone recall other years where any of the top 5 big UFA fish went unsigned for 2+ weeks? Let alone 2 of them?

This is how you know your free agency isn't going well:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1552367655356596226

[Big Erned Nevergivn]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Which is also kind of dumb because there are a bunch of western teams that are in similar proximity to "home" as CLB is for the Gaudreaus.

So this really comes down to her wanting to go home and has little to do with Gaudreau wanting to go home, and also explains the bizarro decisions and way this all rolled out.

Just not true. Name one western team that is a 7 hour drive to Salem New Jersey.... Next closest gotta be Nashville or St.Louis which are an additional 7 hours on top of that. Add on that one of U.S. largest most esteemed children's hospitals are in columbus, his wife is a pediatric nurse and she has extended family out there.

Can we Calgarians not understand that Columbus is just a Shuswap away from his home town lol. How many times you driven to the Okanangan for a weekend, now how many times you driven to Vancouver for a weekend? (it isn't the same). Sure there are some eastern teams closer but who knows who/what they offered. NJ seemed to make the most sense but he grew up a Philly fan. I look at like if my best offer was from the Edmonton Oilers, I would take the worse contract in Winnipeg lol!

At first glance it didn't make a lot of sense, but with a little bit of digging it makes perfect sense. He chose his wife, future kids and extended family over $ and arguably hockey. I respect him more as man, but I want every player on the Calgary Flames to be willing to sacrifice their first born for a Stanley cup (jokes).

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Can anyone recall other years where any of the top 5 big UFA fish went unsigned for 2+ weeks? Let alone 2 of them?

I remembered the Suter/Parise drama of 2012 going on for what felt like forever, but Wikipedia informs me it was only 4 days, so there goes my big response!

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

I get the same impression, extended family in Columbus.

I think there's one set of her grandparents in Columbus.

Side note:

Heard Johnny and Gud got an invite to play golf at Muirfield village this weekend

[AndyM]

I'm sure they'll get used to golfing for much of the year.

Sorry.

[UnitedFlames]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

This is how you know your free agency isn't going well:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1552367655356596226

The Tkachuks' agency.

[Hack&Lube]

He's said multiple times that he wanted to be closed to home, but also not TOO close. We can all understand that, if you are trying to start your own family with your own space and you don't want your mom and dad dropping by suddenly every morning or have your high school jersey shore entourage (literally) hitting you up for a few bucks and freebies all the time.

[Wolfman]

I can't believe this thread still lives on. He's gone...move on.

[PuckSlap]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Lol, WTF is going on in this thread?

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

He's said multiple times that he wanted to be closed to home, but also not TOO close. We can all understand that, if you are trying to start your own family with your own space and you don't want your mom and dad dropping by suddenly every morning or have your high school jersey shore entourage (literally) hitting you up for a few bucks and freebies all the time.

to be fair he said all these things afterwards...like a week later


If Philly offered him a market value contract he would have gone there