Matthew Tkachuk & Johnny Gaudreau Signing Watch Thread

[Manhattanboy]

I don’t expect John to take any discount. He’s earned a long term contract as a UFA. As long as the Flames are negotiating in the range of what he considers a reasonable “fair market value” I am confident he will re-sign here.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

No, that was what you said. You said this was different because Landeskog and Stamkos wanted to stay in their markets. You took the approach that Gaudreau doesn't. I mean it is right there for everybody to read man.

I said thost players wanted to stay in their markets yes. So? We really don't know if Johnny wants to stay in Calgary or play closer to home. I'm not exactly sure how you can extrapolate that I inferred Gaudreau is a liar out of that. You need a break man.

[Hackey]

Both of those teams were elite and seen as the top teams in the entire league. Bright futures. Great places to live and play. Calgary has a very questionable future and I doubt the majority of players view Calgary as a top lifestyle city. Doesn't mean Gaudreau won't stay but neither of those are good examples.

[Flamesfan05]

Which elite team has money or wanting to sign Johnny?

Calgary is not a bad place to live. It’s not that big of a difference from Denver.
Unless you prefer US taxes.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Both of those teams were elite and seen as the top teams in the entire league. Bright futures. Great places to live and play. Calgary has a very questionable future and I doubt the majority of players view Calgary as a top lifestyle city. Doesn't mean Gaudreau won't stay but neither of those are good examples.

When Stamkos signed his contract TB was the opposite of a top team - they missed the POs the season after he signed. Maybe he was prescient But they were still thinking Drouin was a future star.

And of course, when Landeskog signed, the Avs were in a similar position as the Flames. Fresh off a second round exit. And it was clear money was the issue for Landeskog anyway.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

No that's only you. I certainly hope that if he signs elsewhere you don't sulk and call him a liar. He can love it here and still decides he loves it closer to home more.

Yeah, I don’t know why that particular poster gets so caught up on this issue and always has to bring in the narrative of Johnny being a liar. Two things can be true: that Johnny loves Calgary and is happy here and wants to stay AND finds a better fit closer to home and his family, which he also loves. Most people, if they’re lucky, have had to choose between two things they loved, or two things they wanted, but could only have one. It happens, it’s a sign of a good life.

I’m not going to fault the player if he goes, but it seems like some are ready to blow a gasket.

It’s just hockey.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah, I don’t know why that particular poster gets so caught up on this issue and always has to bring in the narrative of Johnny being a liar. Two things can be true: that Johnny loves Calgary and is happy here and wants to stay AND finds a better fit closer to home and his family, which he also loves. Most people, if they’re lucky, have had to choose between two things they loved, or two things they wanted, but could only have one. It happens, it’s a sign of a good life.

I’m not going to fault the player if he goes, but it seems like some are ready to blow a gasket.

It’s just hockey.

In the event Johnny chooses to play closer to home I really hope fans cut him some slack and don't turn on him as this isn't Tom Erixon or Adam Fox we are talking about. He came to Calgary, has been an all-time great Flame and by all accounts has enjoyed his time being a Flame and playing in this city. I'm sure this decision is one that has not been easy on him at all and whatever decisions he makes will be done in the best interests of himself and his family and we should respect that.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

In the event Johnny chooses to play closer to home I really hope fans cut him some slack and don't turn on him as this isn't Tom Erixon or Adam Fox we are talking about. He came to Calgary, has been an all-time great Flame and by all accounts has enjoyed his time being a Flame and playing in this city. I'm sure this decision is one that has not been easy on him at all and whatever decisions he makes will be done in the best interests of himself and his family and we should respect that.

Anger or booing should be directed at management if he leaves.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

Anger or booing should be directed at management if he leaves.

Why?

Its HIS decision alone.

If he wants to play here, he will.

If he wants to move on, he will.

Nothing BT or anyone can do about it.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Why?

Its HIS decision alone.

If he wants to play here, he will.

If he wants to move on, he will.

Nothing BT or anyone can do about it.

From all the reports he was close to signing long term before the start of the season. I'm thinking BT chose to prioritize guys like Coleman over getting him locked up.

It's hindsight but if he leaves that was a huge mistake.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

From all the reports he was close to signing long term before the start of the season. I'm thinking BT chose to prioritize guys like Coleman over getting him locked up.

It's hindsight but if he leaves that was a huge mistake.

I don't recall any reports that said he was close to signing.

[Jiri Hrdina]

One of the aggravating human behaviors is the need to assign blame. Why must it be Johnny's fault or the team's fault?
It's the same thing when you get divorced. Who's fault was it?
Someone must be blamed for all things.

Sometimes things just happen and no one is to be blamed.

[UnitedFlames]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't recall any reports that said he was close to signing.

Correct. There were none.

[Krovikan]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

From all the reports he was close to signing long term before the start of the season. I'm thinking BT chose to prioritize guys like Coleman over getting him locked up.



It's hindsight but if he leaves that was a huge mistake.

If that was the case you sign him and worry about the cap issues next summer, like the Oilers did with Nurse okay bad example, but still if he was close the Flames would have signed him.

[Cole436]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't recall any reports that said he was close to signing.

Johnny mentioned in an afterhours during the PO's that his camp tried to get something done last offseason.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Cole436

Johnny mentioned in an afterhours during the PO's that his camp tried to get something done last offseason.

Lot of distance between that and 'close to signing'

I'm sure they tried. Why would they not have.
But I think it's reasonable to also assume that Johnny was prepared to bet on himself if he wasn't happy with the offer.

[tvp2003]

I don't recall seeing any such reports. There may have been initial conversations, but I would expect that would happen if anything out of courtesy.

Having said that, if he was in fact ready and willing to sign an extension last year (confirming he likes it here and prioritized staying), then doing so this year should be a relative no brainer. Arguably nothing has negatively changed from a city/lifestyle perspective (ignoring the noise about the new arena), and from a hockey perspective the team had a breakthrough season last year under Sutter (which is way more attractive to come back to compared to last year's team that missed the playoffs).

[nik-]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah, I don’t know why that particular poster gets so caught up on this issue and always has to bring in the narrative of Johnny being a liar. Two things can be true: that Johnny loves Calgary and is happy here and wants to stay AND finds a better fit closer to home and his family, which he also loves. Most people, if they’re lucky, have had to choose between two things they loved, or two things they wanted, but could only have one. It happens, it’s a sign of a good life.

I’m not going to fault the player if he goes, but it seems like some are ready to blow a gasket.

It’s just hockey.

He's basically built his personality over the last two years on Johnny will for sure re-sign and anyone that thinks he won't is an idiot. He's way too emotionally invested to see what happening right in front of him.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by Cole436

Johnny mentioned in an afterhours during the PO's that his camp tried to get something done last offseason.

Yup, and the guys on 960 have talked about it many times.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

When Stamkos signed his contract TB was the opposite of a top team - they missed the POs the season after he signed. Maybe he was prescient But they were still thinking Drouin was a future star.

And of course, when Landeskog signed, the Avs were in a similar position as the Flames. Fresh off a second round exit. And it was clear money was the issue for Landeskog anyway.

You're off by a year on Stamkos - they missed the playoffs in year 1 of his deal.

Stamkos
- TBL was coming off G7ECF and G6 SCF in the 2 previous years
- Florida tax advantage (which is generally overblown, but it's not nothing)
- he had the benefit of the courting period - so he could formally satisfy his curiousity without risking year 8


Landeskog
- COL clearly on the cusp of breaking through: 4 straight PO's; out in G7 G7 G6 of the 2nd rd previous 3 years (CGY's best season in JG's tenure doesn't match any of those)
- The expansion draft may have also created a bit of uncertainty and delayed negotiations a bit (losing Donskoi and his 3.9 AAV probably made it more possible to keep him than if they lost a cheaper D or something).
- Makar, MacKinnon, and Rantanen had clearly surpassed him in importance to the team and he probably took a pretty big discount to stay. The Kuemper trader happened the next day, so it seems COL had a lot of balls in the air - they may have wanted to keep flexibility to resolve their goalie issues
- Sweden is far away from anywhere in NA


There aren't really (m)any similarities with Johnny's situation...it could still happen, but this seems much closer to the NYI (Tavares) and CBJ (Panarin+Bob) situations where the teams tried hard to keep the players...