To Calgary | By Johnny Gaudreau

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

I'm highly skeptical that if he decided earlier that many people would be saying "well, at least he told us now instead of 10 days from now!"

We'd see the same irrational vitriol, though probably more balanced in distribution to both Johnny and the Flames. By waiting, at least the Flames got a scapegoat!

The funny thing is that if they went the route of giving permission to talk to other teams on the hope of a draft pick he would have discovered how soft the market was for him, and we'd likely have this [alleged] immature little prick who everyone didn't know they hated locked up for 8 years. Sliding doors moments.

Honestly, I don't what you're expecting. Of all the paths Johnny could have taken throughout this process, he chose the specific one that left the Flames in the worst possible spot (in the short term, anyway). Then he gave an explanation that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and opened himself up to scrutiny.

Ultimately there are still things we don't know, such as to what degree was the decision actually his to make, and how he will perform over the course of the upcoming 8 seasons (especially playoffs).

Regarding playoffs, only thing we can look at are his numbers up to now. He had a good series vs Dallas, and 4 good periods vs the Oilers, good series vs Vancouver in 2015. Outside of that he's been not so great. What that suggests to me is that he can't handle tough, gritty playoff hockey when the level of competition really ramps up.

As for talking with other teams, if Philly had known a month ago that Johnny wanted to go there and it was his #1 choice, and he would take a discount to go there, I'm thinking they would have done what was necessary to get him.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Makarov

OK, seriously, this wasn't the "nice thing for Calgary" that Gaudreau referred to, right? RIGHT?!

It was. It was as predicted when I heard him announce that something was coming. Not a love letter to the city or Flames, just a "Here's an explanation after a couple of weeks that hopefully helps you guys get over it".

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by jayswin

It was. It was as predicted when I heard him announce that something was coming. Not a love letter to the city or Flames, just a "Here's an explanation after a couple of weeks that hopefully helps you guys get over it".

“Because I don’t want anybody to be mad at me…”

[djsFlames]

Honestly a framing of his Flames jersey/milestone pucks in his parents home with some loving sentiments to the city from the Gaudreaus is what I was imagining when he said "doing something" for the city/fans.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by PuckSlap

Some members are already starting to justify him not wanting to play here. Same with Tkachuk. Maybe ignorance is bliss.

If the oilers can bring in players and keep them, why can’t the flames?

2002-2007 Calgary was undoubtedly the place to be. The city was alive and thriving. There is something wrong with this place as of late and all the signs are there.

No new arena

Players leaving town

Downtown is basically dead

Mixed opinions in the idea of Olympics making a return.

I’ve never seen this city so divided politically

When I moved back to Calgary, in 1999 - we were voted the cleanest city 2 years or more in a row and I couldn’t have been prouder to be home.

When I was a kid here in the 80s and early 90s, we knew all our neighbours. I lived in my home now for 13 years, and maybe spoke to 2 of them.

This place isn’t what it used to be. But I still
Love it. In my honest opinion, it is without a doubt, the best city in Canada. But it definitely seems to be losing its charm.

I lived in Calgary at those times too. You got a whole lot of kid nostalgia filter on. Calgary was a pretty basic boring industrial looking town then too.

2002 to 2007 was just as ugly and empty as it is now. What a terrible time to live in a city. I'll take hate for this but Calgary was never a " place I must be in" it was a city that was reasonably a place to be when I wanted to escape my smaller town up bringing and " experience " big city living. It as always been I want to live in a bigger city but still be closeish to my rig job without a million flights. Don't kid yourself Calgary was never a must be destination visit before you die type of town.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

So...............that's it?

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

So, wait, this isn't the thing he said he was doing that was "for Calgary", right? Because... that's pathetic.

He just left $15m on the table to leave Calgary. And then to make some back he chose Columbus over NJ for an extra $0.25 x 7 lol. I don't think he's parting with his money for a Calgary charity lol.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by PuckSlap

Actually, it is pretty ####. You can tell by the stats. Crime and murder rate alone. Poverty, homelessness and hate crimes.

Population isn’t the problem, we’re sitting around the same as we were over the past 20 years.

I must be misunderstanding what you're saying here? Calgary's population has increased by about 60% (~1,000,000 to ~1,600,000 in the past 20 years). I can't find statistics re the downtown or inner city population growth over that period, but its grown by over 20% in just the past 5 years.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by jayswin

It was. It was as predicted when I heard him announce that something was coming. Not a love letter to the city or Flames, just a "Here's an explanation after a couple of weeks that hopefully helps you guys get over it".

He really should have just said "I'm going to explain my decision to the City of Calgary a little later" instead of "I'm going to do something nice for the City of Calgary a little later". Anyway, he doesn't owe Calgary anything but its (yet another) miscommunication.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

I lived in Calgary at those times too. You got a whole lot of kid nostalgia filter on. Calgary was a pretty basic boring industrial looking town then too.

2002 to 2007 was just as ugly and empty as it is now. What a terrible time to live in a city. I'll take hate for this but Calgary was never a " place I must be in" it was a city that was reasonably a place to be when I wanted to escape my smaller town up bringing and " experience " big city living. It as always been I want to live in a bigger city but still be closeish to my rig job without a million flights. Don't kid yourself Calgary was never a must be destination visit before you die type of town.

What about an hour from the mountain?

I left because of a job. That’s what I missed most.

[BurningSteel]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

What about an hour from the mountain?

I left because of a job. That’s what I missed most.

That's the problem with Calgary. The mountains aren't in Calgary. Sure they're ridiculously close. I often interact with visitors in Calgary. 90% of them come here as it's the closest airport to them. They immediately leave spending typically a day in town.

Calgary could be a world class city but it would mean some serious expenditures which no one wants to pay for. Not just an arena is needed, the BMO expansion is a good step forward but what do people in town have as options when they finish their convention duties for the day?

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Makarov

He really should have just said "I'm going to explain my decision to the City of Calgary a little later" instead of "I'm going to do something nice for the City of Calgary a little later". Anyway, he doesn't owe Calgary anything but its (yet another) miscommunication.

When he comes back, he is going to gift Trevor Lewis a few juicy passes
Maybe that’s what he meant

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by BurningSteel

That's the problem with Calgary. The mountains aren't in Calgary. Sure they're ridiculously close. I often interact with visitors in Calgary. 90% of them come here as it's the closest airport to them. They immediately leave spending typically a day in town.

Calgary could be a world class city but it would mean some serious expenditures which no one wants to pay for. Not just an arena is needed, the BMO expansion is a good step forward but what do people in town have as options when they finish their convention duties for the day?

The only thing it's really missing is an entertainment type district. The pubs etc on 17th would just move there, it really wouldn't change much, but would condense it to one area. Really it's the same as other cities, with different scenery.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by littlereddevil

Well, economic trouble does a lot to a city to divide it. It breaks social bonds. People tend to worry only about themselves and their immediate loved ones. There's less of that "good neighbour" attitude.

Then we add a once in a lifetime pandemic, where people are forced to stay home, and people get divided via social media algorithms and being affected vastly differently by pandemic policies.

Calgary has just had it harder than other cities in Canada because of the oil slump. I'm not sure when this city will recover (but it will recover), but when it eventually does, I'm sure we'll become a more desirable location for NHL players.

Maybe some people here need perspective. Problems exist in every city in Canada, we're not in a unique position. I lived in Montreal for 3 years. The city's plagued by corruption, incompetence (they can never get any infrastructure projects finished), racism and crime. Not to mention the constant language wars. But I loved the city despite living there, and that was because I found my "group" and did my best to ignore the obvious problems (and most of all we just laughed at how horribly bad construction was). I lived in Toronto for 2 years. The city's so crazy expensive I felt like I had to hustle just to survive in the city, and people felt distant and cold for that reason (probably because everyone was going through the same thing). It was also a very politically divided city in my opinion (and that was before the pandemic). Toronto reminded me of my times travelling in the U.S. where cities are segregated by class and race.

Don't worry, in time I think we'll become a more desirable location. I think that you have to realize that Johnny was clearly torn about re-signing here, and was strongly considering staying... it's just that life got in the way (notably his dad), and it's hard to justify being far away from family, separated by a border during such uncertain times, for such a long period of time. And we all knew that Gaudreau leaving would be the domino to fall leading to Tkachuk also leaving the team. But if you were to still ask guys in the room about their feelings about playing for the team, many would say that they still love the organization and team. That's not our fault. It looks they've created a great team, and we genuinely did make that step forward this past year (and maybe that's why it feels so tough following this off-season).

We've just had very rotten luck, all based on circumstance. It's the nature of the game. All sports teams go through these ups and downs. I'm sure Leafs and Oilers fans will be nervous about the fate of their stars when it eventually comes to re-signing them, after seeing what has transpired with the Flames this summer.

I think a new arena will do a lot to elevate the team from where they currently are. I have seen a lot of comments from hockey media of how outdated the Flames facilities are over the past year and that kind of stuff unfortunately sticks to an organization. Hopefully that gets sorted out before the team really goes into a tailspin of this small market Canadian team that is not even a preferred destination even within Canada.

[AC]

Looks like Ryan Leslie is going to talk to Johnny on IG Live tomorrow.

[jayswin]

I love Ryan Leslie, but he's definitely a players guy (I've never seen Flames players treat a local media guy as close and friendly as they have with Ryan over the years) and I suspect he'll keep it really kind and easy going for Johnny.

That's fine, I'll still watch it, but it would be nice for someone to just lay out the inconsistencies and annoyances of the process from our perspective.

[Philly06Cup]

Can someone explain again how Johnny screwed over the Flames? Or how the Flames were harmed?

Say Johnny gave the team a week notice that he wanted to pursue free agency. What would the Flames have done differently? How would the Flames have improved their team with that extra knowledge?

"We could've maybe got a better deal for Tkachuk" is the only tangible argument that has been made, and even that is incredibly flimsy.

Johnny's indecision ultimately didn't hurt the Flames.
People want to hang onto the belief that Johnny committed this terrible sin to the team and city.
People want a reason to be angry because they feel hurt.
Feeling hurt sucks. Hope y'all can find the time to get over it, "forgive" Johnny, and get to a better place.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by Philly06Cup

Can someone explain again how Johnny screwed over the Flames? Or how the Flames were harmed?

Say Johnny gave the team a week notice that he wanted to pursue free agency. What would the Flames have done differently? How would the Flames have improved their team with that extra knowledge?

"We could've maybe got a better deal for Tkachuk" is the only tangible argument that has been made, and even that is incredibly flimsy.

Johnny's indecision ultimately didn't hurt the Flames.
People want to hang onto the belief that Johnny committed this terrible sin to the team and city.
People want a reason to be angry because they feel hurt.
Feeling hurt sucks. Hope y'all can find the time to get over it, "forgive" Johnny, and get to a better place.

What are you, his mom?

[Icon]

Originally Posted by Philly06Cup

Can someone explain again how Johnny screwed over the Flames? Or how the Flames were harmed?

Say Johnny gave the team a week notice that he wanted to pursue free agency. What would the Flames have done differently? How would the Flames have improved their team with that extra knowledge?

Knowing Johnny wouldn't be around next season is akin to him already gone - provides the opportunity to look at other trades or FA signings to use the money you were mentally putting aside for Gaudreau's next deal.

Not knowing basically meant we had to sit on our hands while other teams didn't. Who knows what or if we actually missed out on any other opportunities, but could have at least had discussions that may have lead somewhere.

Granted the first step would have still been to figure out what Tkachuk was going to do too. Knowing both of them were leaving before the draft would have started the process they're on now a few weeks sooner, plus provided the picks in the 2022 drafts as options coming back (like the NJ trade for #2 that's been rumored, etc)

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Philly06Cup

Can someone explain again how Johnny screwed over the Flames? Or how the Flames were harmed?

Say Johnny gave the team a week notice that he wanted to pursue free agency. What would the Flames have done differently? How would the Flames have improved their team with that extra knowledge?

"We could've maybe got a better deal for Tkachuk" is the only tangible argument that has been made, and even that is incredibly flimsy.

Johnny's indecision ultimately didn't hurt the Flames.
People want to hang onto the belief that Johnny committed this terrible sin to the team and city.
People want a reason to be angry because they feel hurt.
Feeling hurt sucks. Hope y'all can find the time to get over it, "forgive" Johnny, and get to a better place.

The harm is definitely debatable, as the return on a deal for his rights prior to free agency would be negligible. However, the way it went down is really unusual and I think it is totally fair if fans were hurt by it. I know there is some debate as to what went down, but the reaction by management, his agent and insiders seem to suggest a deal was done (or at the very least, Johnny's number was met) and he walked away from the deal, leaving the Flames with nothing.

Add to that, the fallout with Tkachuk, the Flames went from contender to pretender in about 4 days. You can't understand why there might be some bitterness?