Matthew Tkachuk & Johnny Gaudreau Signing Watch Thread

[djsFlames]

Reading hearsay/baseless speculation?

Because there was no news.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

I didn’t know there was an NHL team in Cole Harbour.

Well, there is no NHL team in Carney's Point either.

[memphusk]

He's making a life decision and its his to make. He's going to spend the majority of his 30s playing for one team. I would be weighing my options also.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Well, there is no NHL team in Carney's Point either.

But there are two NHL teams within a two hour drive of Carney Point.

The closest NHL team to Cole Harbour is likely Boston, and let’s not even talk about the closest team to Sweden.

It was a senseless point suggesting players from Sweden or Cole Harbour would move back home when there wasn’t an NHL team alternative.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

There are 29.4 million reasons Coleman came here. He had career earnings of like $7M and coming off 2 Stanley Cups it was a no-brainer for him to chase the cash.

DAL is also a fairly isolated NHL city. Some of the Central Division teams might have been a bit closer, but it seems unlikely that DAL or COL or STL or NAS or CHI or MIN would have matched CGY's offer. At which point CGY isn't much different than anywhere else.

STL signed Saad for 5x4.5M. Saad is 1 yr younger with a longer track record and if anything slightly better stats. Would STL have given Coleman an extra year of term + $400k AAV ?

NAS re-signed Granlund for 4x5M. Known quantity to them who can play C. Same age player, 2 years less term.

CHI got a 2nd to take on the last 3 years of Tyler Johnson.

By all reports Coleman had multiple offers in this range...he likes the outdoors/mountains and thought Sutter was a good fit

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

What makes you sure he isn't signing?

I am not sure just asking because I missed his signing lol

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dino7c

By all reports Coleman had multiple offers in this range...he likes the outdoors/mountains and thought Sutter was a good fit

If another team offered him more than the Flames he would have taken it. The Flames offered him the most money and he took it as he should have given it would be the contract that subsidizes his life after hockey.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

You can swing a cat in Carney's Point and it'll land within a 5-hour drive of 7 NHL teams. And another 10 teams in the US within a 3 hr direct flight.

None of that means that CGY is a bad team or city or that Johnny would be unhappy to stay here. He just might be a bit happier somewhere else. It's not the end of the world.

speaking of that, how is he with flying? I thought I read he's terrified of takeoffs and landings.
If that was me, I'd want to go east to really shorten my air travel.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Not true. Parise (Wild), Tavares, Spezza (Leafs), Glencross, Bouwmeester (Flames), Chelios (Hawks), Ronning (Canucks, technically a trade to be closer to home) all to mind. I am sure if I put my mind to it, there would be many other examples. That's just players that signed with their hometowns, and not ones who signed somewhere just to be somewhat close.

When you need to go back and use Chelios and Ronning as examples I think it proves the point that ALMOST no players actually care about moving “closer to home” - because they haven’t been “home” in 10 -15 years usually so it’s no longer home

It does happen, but it is rare. Maybe JG is the rare case . We’ll see in a few weeks

[bigrangy]

Definitely had a nightmare last night that Johnny signed in pittsburgh

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

When you need to go back and use Chelios and Ronning as examples I think it proves the point that ALMOST no players actually care about moving “closer to home” - because they haven’t been “home” in 10 -15 years usually so it’s no longer home

It does happen, but it is rare. Maybe JG is the rare case . We’ll see in a few weeks

The rarity doesn’t really matter, it’s just the fact that it happens. Because every player is unique, even if only 1% of players sign somewhere to be closer to home, it doesn’t mean there’s a 1% chance Johnny does. Could be 100%.

For the “it’s no longer home” point, that’s great, but you also have to look at it on a case by case basis. Jersey literally IS Johnny’s home. He has a house there. That’s where he spends the off-season. He went to college nearby. His family is important, as aside from his relationship with his parents, he’s talked a bunch about how much he enjoys being an uncle to his sister’s kids, and instead of going to the NHL a year sooner (and making more money) he spent an extra year at Boston College just so he could play with his brother.

I’m still of the belief he stays in Calgary, but anyone who tries to boil this down to odds or statistics is missing the fact that people are individuals and don’t make decisions that way. It’s irrelevant.

Players have joined teams for just as “silly” reasons (to play with their friends) so we know players make decisions based on what is important to them individually.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

Definitely had a nightmare last night that Johnny signed in pittsburgh

It's crazy to me if that's what he decides. Crosby has like 2 good years left and Malkin is most likely gone. I get its closer to home, but I don't see how it's a place to win.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

speaking of that, how is he with flying? I thought I read he's terrified of takeoffs and landings.
If that was me, I'd want to go east to really shorten my air travel.

Shortening his air travel really does nothing about taking off and landing, which are required on all flights..

[OptimalTates]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

When you need to go back and use Chelios and Ronning as examples I think it proves the point that ALMOST no players actually care about moving “closer to home” - because they haven’t been “home” in 10 -15 years usually so it’s no longer home

It does happen, but it is rare. Maybe JG is the rare case . We’ll see in a few weeks

There's hundreds of players who have gone home. There's hundreds more that don't have that option (Suter is from Madison but went "home" to Minnesota?). Statsny went back home to St. Louis and joined up with other UFAs going home in Butler and Maroon. Raymond went back to Calgary. Even Corban Knight forced his way back to Alberta because he took the College route and wouldn't sign with the Panthers. Must suck for the Panthers to lose a player because he could become an UFA and forced his way to his hometown, luckily that never happened to the Flames. Hamonic forced a trade out of New York to get closer to home so he accepted one to Calgary. Hamhuis signed with BC. JVR signed with Philly as a NJ native much like Gaudreau. Players like Tavares are only recognized because he was a top tier UFA and home was the center of the universe but any given UFA class has a person or two returning home. Heck, usually it is Toronto; Tavares, Thornton, Simmonds, Spezza, Brodie and Giordano just recently. Did Savard sign last year with Montreal to strictly go home? Probably not. Was it a bonus and probably tipped the scales in Montreal's favour? Probably.

Other players also do make their "homes" in places beyond where they were born. You hope that a player like Gaudreau does that with Calgary, but think Perron and Luongo heading "home".

Keith, Stepan, Hamonic, DeBrusk are all players who have requested trades to get closer to home recently that we are aware of. It's asinine to believe that playing near home isn't a factor for many players (and for many players it isn't).

[oldschoolcalgary]

didn't Markstromm take less money (albeit a small amount relatively) to sign with Calgary instead of Edmonton? I seem to recall that...

Anyways, I hope they sign Gaudreau, but Calgary needs to make the cap numbers work too.

At this point all you can do is offer the most money you can and see what happens.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

Sure so why is he not signing if they offered the highest?

He doesn’t want to stay?

If JG doesn’t extend, yes, it means he doesn’t want to stay. And valued the new team (for whatever reason) more than the extra $8M. Which, after tax might not be significant to him.

[FBI]

Pittsburgh is not that close to Philly, it's like a 5 hour drive

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FBI

Pittsburgh is not that close to Philly, it's like a 5 hour drive

Yes, the close cities are the NY/NJ teams, plus Boston/Washington aren’t too bad.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Yes, the close cities are the NY/NJ teams, plus Boston/Washington aren’t too bad.

Backstrom's career might be over.

Caps might be in the market for an elite playmaker to help Ovi chase the record.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Shortening his air travel really does nothing about taking off and landing, which are required on all flights..

true, I thought there might be less flights.
Maybe depending where he played he could likely drive to some road games.