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

[tony-soprano]

Did she just recently graduate or something?

Edit: Ahh yes, 2020 grad..probably feeling like she's about to change the world.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Or maybe just like Treliving, his agent, people close to the family, and Gaudreau have all said it was a very tough decision, it was 50/50, and it really came down to Tuesday.

I dont get why people think this must have been some conniving plan by Gaudreau and his agent to leave Calgary holding the bag and drive up his own value...to only then throw away all leverage by publically saying it wasn't about money and it was a family decision and then taking less money in what I still think was not his preferred location.

You really tricked us Gaudreau!

I think what’s confusing is how it came down to Tuesday. What about Tuesday night did it?

How do you go from “maybe Calgary” for a month to “any team but” in a night? Especially combined with the fact that he was researching other places over the past month, which is fine, but it wasn’t just “I’m going to see what else is out there tomorrow” it was “I’m not coming back here regardless of what’s out there tomorrow.”

It’s weird.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Leaving this here:

“Calgary has been a second home to me,” Gaudreau said. “I love playing there. I love my teammates there. I love the city. The fans are awesome. It’s a team that I could see myself playing for for the remainder of my career, and I’ve always said that. I know a lot of people have speculations of me wanting to go back east, but I just feel really comfortable where I’m at — with the teammates there, the coaching staff, with Brad (Treliving), the management, the owners …
…

“Throughout my whole time there, I’ve been treated really well. I love the city. It’s been a blast playing there the past six years. It’s unfortunate we haven’t reached the end-goal that we’ve wanted in the past, but it’s been a second home to me. My family loves it there. My girlfriend likes being there. It’s a special place for us.”

I'll take it at face value.

I guess they found a more specialerer place.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by devo22

who is actually hating on CBJ? I'm not mad at them one bit. On the contrary, they've experienced the same thing with Panarin a couple of years ago, so good on them.

Johnny pulled a Panarin on us and the CBJ are basically our brothers in that sense of always having the feeling our stars are going to want to leave us.

Nothing but happiness for them and their fanbase to have something to celebrate.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

A typical nurse makes 100-150k/year

I don’t think throwing away 15M so she can work in a better hospital is a real reason.

I thought the typical Nurse made $9.25M per season?

[Redlan]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Leaving this here:

“Calgary has been a second home to me,” Gaudreau said. “I love playing there. I love my teammates there. I love the city. The fans are awesome. It’s a team that I could see myself playing for for the remainder of my career, and I’ve always said that. I know a lot of people have speculations of me wanting to go back east, but I just feel really comfortable where I’m at — with the teammates there, the coaching staff, with Brad (Treliving), the management, the owners …
…

“Throughout my whole time there, I’ve been treated really well. I love the city. It’s been a blast playing there the past six years. It’s unfortunate we haven’t reached the end-goal that we’ve wanted in the past, but it’s been a second home to me. My family loves it there. My girlfriend likes being there. It’s a special place for us.”

Fits in nicely with:

"Our decision was it was best for us not to go back to Calgary and then we decided to figure out what was the best option for us and Columbus was right up on top of the list."

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I thought the typical Nurse made $9.25M per season?

Not the good nurses.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

This is shortsighted. Money isn't everything, many spouses want their own fulfilling career and not just be a trophy sports wife blowing his money and chasing celebrity. In that sense she's probably a great catch for him in terms of long term happiness and stability.

If you gave me the choice between $15M and the perfect spouse I would choose the latter.

Do you have multi million dollar spouse?

Also just like someone said , every major US/Canadian city has a good children hospital.

They just threw it out there, it’s not the reason he chose Columbus

[AC]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

This is shortsighted. Money isn't everything, many spouses want their own fulfilling career and not just be a trophy sports wife blowing his money and chasing celebrity. In that sense she's probably a great catch for him in terms of long term happiness and stability.

If you gave me the choice between $15M and the perfect spouse I would choose the latter.

Yup, Trouba's quote that I posted earlier I think might tell the story here.

"It's a great opportunity for myself and my fiancée" because "her career is as important as my career."

I think that'd be a completely valid reason which many would respect if he said something similar. But Johnny's answers came off unprepared, cold, and awkward... and certainly haven't helped the growing ill will. Trouba explained he didn't want to attribute his decision to that reasoning initially either because it puts the spouse in the firing line.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

I think the press conference leads me to believe that Johnny wanted to stay. His wife didn't and he can't throw her under the bus. But he talks about "we" and "best for us". That's why the squirming. That's why the changing of minds. I think he really wanted to come back, but ultimately they made the decision together.

Why Johnny wife wanted out is anyone's speculation. But she must have really hated someone in Calgary. Maybe the ghost of johnny's past. Maybe some of the wives. Maybe some of the players. Maybe some of the exes.

Johnny probably thought the money could convince her to stay. But it didn't. She wanted to start a new life together. anywhere else but Calgary

I suspect there is some truth to this. Just hearing JG's answers in the presser sound like it wasn't really a choice, but something he had to do. We can speculate on the reasons, which probably isn't fair, but the fact that his wife moved to Calgary this past season and he mentioned her specifically in why he moved to Columbus, you can't help but feel that was the catalyst.

Maybe Johnny moving her to Calgary was to try and sell her on the City, or maybe she moved up to domesticate him, whatever the reasons, I strongly suspect Johnny didn't have any issues staying, but had to go.

[OILFAN #81]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

First of all, there is little doubt her opinion/desires/career were important, and part of the decision. I mean, obviously.

But the argument that he chose Columbus because there is a great hospital there is still a really weak one IMO - there is a great children's hospital in every big city (or at the very least, many). Would it have been a bonus? Sure, no doubt. But I doubt Gaudreau chose the Jackets because of a hospital in town.

The one in Columbus is ranked in the top 10 in the entire United States which is huge. Many agencies including the US News among a handful of others have backed that up. I'm not saying it is the only reason but it seems like it was one of the pieces that was important to him.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Redlan

Fits in nicely with:

"Our decision was it was best for us not to go back to Calgary and then we decided to figure out what was the best option for us and Columbus was right up on top of the list."

TBF the 2 quotes are 2 years apart so things change. But why? Was it that Treliving made him an offer in 2021 reflecting two years of under PPG production (and one previous one over)? Was it the pressure of a great season followed by a disappointing PO? Did he decide he loves open carry firearms?

[Coach]

The hospital thing makes sense. I know a few nurses in Canada and even within the same city, working at one hospital or the other can be the difference from loving or hating your job. And that's where hospitals are going to be largely the same across the board. The US, if it was their goal to be there, the disparity can be incredible.

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Or maybe just like Treliving, his agent, people close to the family, and Gaudreau have all said it was a very tough decision, it was 50/50, and it really came down to Tuesday.

I dont get why people think this must have been some conniving plan by Gaudreau and his agent to leave Calgary holding the bag and drive up his own value...to only then throw away all leverage by publically saying it wasn't about money and it was a family decision and then taking less money in what I still think was not his preferred location.

You really tricked us Gaudreau!

I don’t think it was some conniving plan. I think deep down that he knew he wasn’t coming back but it’s hard to break things off, and in negotiations it’s actually a good thing not to break things off so you keep leverage for a better deal in the place you hope to go.

I’ve quit a few jobs where I’ve already accepted a new position at a new company in a new city. It can still be hard to walk in the office and hand over that “I quit” letter even though your absolutely quitting.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I suspect there is some truth to this. Just hearing JG's answers in the presser sound like it wasn't really a choice, but something he had to do. We can speculate on the reasons, which probably isn't fair, but the fact that his wife moved to Calgary this past season and he mentioned her specifically in why he moved to Columbus, you can't help but feel that was the catalyst.

Maybe Johnny moving her to Calgary was to try and sell her on the City, or maybe she moved up to domesticate him, whatever the reasons, I strongly suspect Johnny didn't have any issues staying, but had to go.

We could speculate forever here. Maybe his wife's parents are MAGA people and told them they would not visit them in Canada? It's been stated in he NBA that a lot of players don't like playing in Canada as not all Americans have a high opinion of this country. We could go on for weeks speculating.

[jg13]

Not sure if anyone remembers but when Johnny was on Spittin' Chiclets probably 5-6 years ago he said the best thing about the city was the fans and the worst thing about the city is the fans too.

My guess is part of the decision has to do with the fact he's sick of going out for a coffee and having to take pictures with 3 people every single time he steps out in public. He won't have that problem in Columbus.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Is there an NCAA American factor, like there is a Russian factor?

Funny, I was literally just thinking this (just replace NCAA with American). Once Tkachuk leaves, going forward I'm going to have the same fear drafting Americans high in the draft as people already seem to have regarding drafting Russians high, for the same reason.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Coach

The hospital thing makes sense. I know a few nurses in Canada and even within the same city, working at one hospital or the other can be the difference from loving or hating your job. And that's where hospitals are going to be largely the same across the board. The US, if it was their goal to be there, the disparity can be incredible.

Knowing nurses in Calgary, they hate working for the AHS. Many of them quit or burnt out last year. Combine that with an adversarial relationship with Kenney and Covid, the system is in shambles and is a terrible place to be in from what I heard over the last two years. Many nurses I talked to want out of Calgary and the AHS is backfilling them with lower quality outsourcing/contractors which sucks for both patients and those who care. My dad almost died last year because an outsourced floor nurse doing night rounds didn't check his vitals.

The hockey analogy would be that working for the AHS is like playing for the MacT Oilers while your facility is that of the Coyotes.

The other thing to note is that Gaudreau's wife Meredith is trained and licensed in PA and Canada is notorious for making it difficult to transfer medical credentials from other countries. It will be much easier for her to work and build a fulfilling pediatric nursing career in Columbus.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Leaving this here:

“Calgary has been a second home to me,” Gaudreau said. “I love playing there. I love my teammates there. I love the city. The fans are awesome. It’s a team that I could see myself playing for for the remainder of my career, and I’ve always said that. I know a lot of people have speculations of me wanting to go back east, but I just feel really comfortable where I’m at — with the teammates there, the coaching staff, with Brad (Treliving), the management, the owners …
…

“Throughout my whole time there, I’ve been treated really well. I love the city. It’s been a blast playing there the past six years. It’s unfortunate we haven’t reached the end-goal that we’ve wanted in the past, but it’s been a second home to me. My family loves it there. My girlfriend likes being there. It’s a special place for us.”

Yeah, but if the team had a good psychologist on staff, they would have seen right through that lie and known Gaudreau had no intentions of re-signing.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yeah, but if the team had a good psychologist on staff, they would have seen right through that lie and known Gaudreau had no intentions of re-signing.

Yeah Psychologists are not Psychics. You may be mixing up the two.