Seravalli: Gaudreau has informed the Flames he will not return

[Sec214]

They’re both great players. One happens to be elite the other is a phenom.

You can’t compare them.

We all know who’d we’d love to have on our roster if we got to pick between the two and it wouldn’t be 50/50 that’s for sure. It pains me to say it. He will win but it won’t be in Edmonton. Kenny screwed the pooch and is lucky they went to WCF. Going after Campbell is stupid.

[Barnet Flame]

Johnny made what he and his family believe to be the right decision for them. It’s the wrong decision for us, but having personally, made decisions I didn’t want to make because it was for the wider benefit of my family, I can’t hold this against him.

I’m glad I got to see him one last time in the Dome with perfect seats to watch him achieve his 100th point. That was special. I think many people downplay moments like that, focussing on everything being pointless, because in the end, the Cup wasn’t won. But they weren’t pointless moments, times like that, living in the moment were and are special. Only one team can win the Cup and it is often punctuated with luck, a dodgy decision here and there, as well as great moments.

Johnny gave us our fair share of entertainment and jaw dropping plays. I’m so glad I got to see him do that. I’d have loved for him to go on and complete his career wearing our jersey, but wish him and his family, all the best for the future.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

What about 22 points in 21 playoff games, which is what McDavid has for the rest of his career combined? Did he suddenly get a brain transplant this year, or did he just happen to get most of his points against an opponent that massively crapped the bed? I'm afraid we know the answer to that.

Buddy, I know we’re all upset.

But just so I understand you, you’re arguing that Gaudreau’s hockey IQ is better than McDavid’s because, and forgive me if I’m misunderstanding, if you exclude the playoff games when he’s scoring 2.06 PPG, McDavid is only a 1.05 PPG player.

So how does Gaudreau’s 0.79 Playoff PPG denote a higher hockey IQ?

Like, if we just take this year, inarguably his best post season, Gaudreau’s PPG is 1.16.

And if we remove his most dominant year as you have for McDavid, Gaudreau’s PPG is 0.63.

And he’s the smarter player? Based on what?

McDavid destroyed us because our goalie is scared of him.

His PPG is 1.05 because his team is run by an even bigger cavalcade of fools than ours, and because even under the best of circumstances, this #### is really hard.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Prediction: Gaudreau signs his fat retirement contract, moves closer to home, gets comfortable in his new family life, and completely tanks as an NHL player. This is a guy who never put the effort into proper conditioning when he was younger and skated by purely on raw talent, I really don't see him staying focused on a new team with a new coach and with so many new distractions around. I'm thinking within 3-4 years his contract will be one of the worst in the league

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

I wouldn’t have tried to keep Giordano. I would have traded him.

A 37-year-old defenceman with a $6.75 million cap hit? Traded him to whom and for what? Nobody was looking to pay anything useful for a #4 defenceman ahead of an expansion draft where they could only protect three.

It was actually the worst of two worlds. Giordano wasn't a pure rental, because his contract wasn't expiring and an acquiring team would have to make tagging room for him against the next year's cap. But he also wasn't much of an asset, because whoever acquired him would have to expose him to the Kraken.

I would’ve tried to keep Brodie, but if he wasn’t extended by the deadline, I would’ve traded him.

I see you like the idea of repeatedly giving up in mid-season after the suckers have already bought their tickets. I'm sure that's a very sound business plan, but perhaps the owners, who know nothing at all about business, are dumb enough to see it differently.

Treliving actually did this once - he sent Glencross to Washington in Gaudreau’s rookie season. Got a ton of value back, we made the playoffs anyway and won a round.

He got a second and a third back, and turned around and traded the second as part of the Hamilton deal… which you don't approve of. So I don't know how you call that ‘a ton of value’. In any case, Glencross was not nearly as important to the team as either Giordano or Brodie. There's a difference between selling a spare part and giving up on the season, and trading a core defenceman at the deadline is much closer to the latter.

He hasn’t sold high on anyone since the Hamilton trade. He has talked a big game about every notable player who’s come available, and closed none of them.

I guess there's nothing notable about Markstrom or Tanev, then. Just replacement-level schlubs.

He has no vision for this team beyond the end of the week.

Yup, just randomly changes course every seven days, which is why he goes months and months without making any roster moves. Are you even listening to yourself here?

He seems genuinely astonished when all these quality players leave for nothing. His emotions today are the same as when they couldn’t convince the Kraken to leave Gio alone.

Yeah, he was just totally surprised that he lost a player in the expansion draft. 'Cos he is so incredibly stupid that he thought the Flames were exempt, amirite?

This is a man who does not seem to prepare for the worst possible outcome.

There is no way of preparing for the worst possible outcome, which would be for the franchise to go out of business. Dial back the hyperbole.

He’s been here since 2014, and has convinced precisely one pending UFA impact player to extend - Backlund. A man, btw, who was drafted by the head coach, before he was fired and went off to win two Stanley Cups.

So now Giordano was not an impact player. Good to know.

He’s employed five head coaches and hired four. Every one except Darryl has been a failure. Oh, plus Hartley, who won the Jack Adams and a playoff round with a bunch of children, Hudler, and without his Norris-favorite captain.

His first hire was Gulutzan, and that was a mistake. Then he hired Peters, who actually got results out of his roster, but had to be fired because it turned out that he had been a dickhead in some other team's dressing room years before. Ward was already on the staff as an assistant when Peters was let go. In none of those instances was hiring Sutter an option, and it's pretty clear that the owners were not interested in spending money on a top-tier coach. Cheaping out on management staff has been an organizational failing ever since Cliff Fletcher left the team in 1991. It didn't start with Treliving and there is no reason to think it will end with him.

Goalies he has employed: Smith, Elliott, Markstrom, Rittich, Talbot, Johnson, Ramo, Hiller, Ortio.

He's hardly alone in that. You want a list of goalies that other teams have employed in the last eight years? Some of those lists are pretty long. Not everybody has a Price or even a Lundqvist.

His draft successes are… Tkachuk, who he lucked into because Benning and Chiarelli are even worse at their jobs than Try-Hard. They also don’t have them anymore - would that we should be so lucky.

If he were as bad as his job as they were, he wouldn't have drafted Tkachuk either. Apparently there are some limits even to his unearthly stupidity.

Andersson and Kylington, both of whom were drafted during the Obama administration.

And Kylington only became a full-time NHLer this last year. I guess you haven't heard of this thing called player development? Evidently not, since you are writing off every player drafted since then.

Mangiapane, like, great - it only took seven years for him to pop, and now we’re going to pay him a contract he can’t possibly live up to.

Ah, the old ‘argumentum ad futurum’. Treliving is dumb because I know what he's going to do this summer, and I know what he's going to do because he's dumb.

####ed Bennett’s development, traded him for rocks.

I see you've bought the narrative that Bennett has no responsibility whatever for failing to improve as a player while he was here. Good to know.

Trades a 1st round pick for Travis Hamonic a year after acquiring Dougie Hamilton for the pick that could’ve been Matt Barzal, Kyle Connor or Thomas Chabot.

Well, we know Hamilton was never turned into anything useful, amirite? Just walked as a UFA like every other player Treliving ever had.

This is not a man who deserves to be in charge of a National Hockey League team.

It isn't even a man who exists. It's a strawman. But thanks for playing; your lies and misleading half-truths are most amusing.

[Phaneuf_Phan]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

The softest player in the league has missed 2 games in the last five years, and never sustained a significant injury.

I don’t even think he’s taken a direct hit since Datsyuk retired.

I'm not disagreeing with you - I'm talking 30+ Johnny. The Johnny in the next 2 years will be great. Unfortunately, he's not signing for 2 years, it's 8 minimum. We would regret years 3 to 8 Big Time.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Dragomir

He's nowhere near anything regarding McD, the playoffs proved that loud & clear.

Look at all these idiot Oiler fans coming out of the woodwork after John leaves.

Loud and clear... lol.

How many more games did Mcbrokenleg win after playing against one of the worst playoff goaltending performances in NHL history?

[dino7c]

Getting out of the Giordano contract and him taking the expansion hit was great for the Flames.

[Manhattanboy]

Nm

[dino7c]

60 points, wife leaves him, Devils buy him out

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Yes, it does.

It’s impossible to score 33 points in 16 NHL playoff games without elite hockey IQ.

I didn't say he didn't have elite hockey IQ, I'm saying Gaudreau has a higher hockey IQ than Mcspeedygonazalez. How else does a 5'9 165 lber put up 115 points in a season in the NHL and has never been seriously injured?

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Ha. And watch his marriage blow up in two years.

Hope you guys are drunk at 2am because these are garbage posts.

[Manhattanboy]

Nm

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Yup. And 8th stage of grief, vindictiveness (sp)?

Go edit your god damn post when you sober up then.

[Manhattanboy]

Ok. Done.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Buddy, I know we’re all upset.

But just so I understand you, you’re arguing that Gaudreau’s hockey IQ is better than McDavid’s because, and forgive me if I’m misunderstanding, if you exclude the playoff games when he’s scoring 2.06 PPG, McDavid is only a 1.05 PPG player.

So how does Gaudreau’s 0.79 Playoff PPG denote a higher hockey IQ?

You're still making the same silly mistake. I am not quibbling with your numbers, I am denying the whole premise of your argument.

I am saying that you can't tell a player's hockey IQ by the number of points he scores, because there are too many other variables. Still less can you judge by a single postseason. As I intimated earlier, McDavid did not suddenly receive a brain transplant, so whatever his hockey IQ was before this year's playoffs, that's pretty much what it still is now. So the number of points he scored this particular postseason is obviously irrelevant. If he's a genius because of this year, was he a moron when his team got swept by the Jets? Certainly not.

McDavid is bigger, faster, more athletic, and a better shooter than Gaudreau. But I have not seen any evidence that he is any smarter, either on the ice or off it.

Gaudreau has an ability to read plays and anticipate opponents that I haven't seen since Makarov retired. (I don't agree with ‘Johnny Makarov’ about many things, but I agree with his username.) He's tiny, not very fast, not exceptionally fit or muscular, and hasn't got a great shot – but in spite of all those things, he's a career PPG player and matched McDavid in points per minute of ice time during the most recent regular season.

What makes him able to do that? Hockey IQ. His smarts make up for his weaknesses – weaknesses McDavid does not have.

[Snuffleupagus]

Epic fail by Flames management and ownership

Fire Sutter, sell off every decent player and hope we beat Chicago in the lottery

[flames_fan_down_under]

What are the rumors as to what the Flames final offer to Gaudreau was? 10.5 x8?

[djsFlames]

Going to take some solace in him potentially playing on a bad team.

PHI/NJ will both be mediocre and below the PO line. The east has quite a separation between the top 8 and bottom 8 except for the islanders who may rebound.

Best scenario to win/compete was extending with his current team.

Flames would've had to retool or rebuild in 3 years when he would begin to be overpaid. That timeline is accelerated now, but at least they get that inevitable pain over with sooner and don't have to pay Gaudreau that sum well into his thirties.

Hard to take a lot of positives right now, but this gives the organization a nudge into making meaningful changes to a core that wasn't really getting the job done when it mattered.

Hopefully the bones of the next iteration of the team at better/stronger and built around the C position and not around a LW.

[Sec214]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

What are the rumors as to what the Flames final offer to Gaudreau was? 10.5 x8?

Correct