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

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

“Build a team around draft picks” they say. Until it comes time to sign one of them, then you better bail a year early.

No you better pick the correct ones to lock up long term after their first contract like Ottawa is doing

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

It just blows me away how little he and his wife cared about his legacy here, and the decade he'd spent building something here, and his team mates here.

I hate to break it to you, but the powerful emotional attachment fans feel towards professional athletes is rarely reciprocated. Playing sports is their job. Most don’t think about their legacy in the various cities they play for in their career, any more than you think about your legacy at the various companies you’ve worked at in your career.

And I doubt any of Gaudreau’s teammates are surprised or angry that he chose to play in the U.S. Again, they’re professionals.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

No you better pick the correct ones to lock up long term after their first contract like Ottawa is doing

Yes let’s be like Ottawa.

Tampa does not have its stars on their first contracts. They pretty much all bridged.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by OptimalTates

Whatever was needed to secure "Plan B." Whatever that may have been or is.

And if Gaudreau's camp isn't taking negotiations seriously, well better to find out then rather than 2 hours before midnight. Isn't them not taking it seriously why they got to where they were?

This is plan B
What did you think it was?
What did you expect?

[dustygoon]

How will Lewis Gross be viewed? He did apparently get Calgary to meet every demand and offer more than anyone. But if I was a parent looking for an agent for my kid, I think I would want someone with a firmer hand on the wheel. JG needed more help in arriving at a decision…not someone allowing some consensus approach with several competing voices pulling him in different directions at the 11th hour. And then hold his feet to the fire to follow through on the original plan.

I am going to go relisten to the 32 thoughts pod with Lewis Gross assistant. A lot of talk in there if I recall about Gaudreau being pretty wide eyes.

[heep223]

Can we stop drafting Americans please.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Heavy Jack

Flames might have been more open/motivated to take the package that was reportedly offered for Tkachuk. The shock of thinking it’s done in the 11th hour and being told it’s not has totally paralyzed this team for the off-season so far which I don’t think would have been the case had the Flames known Johnnys decision around the draft. Hell, they might have been able to work with Philly to see if something made sense for both teams to get Johnny his dream of playing for the Flyers. Disappointing turn of events all around.

I doubt that the flames would have traded Tkachuk at that stage since they have now indicated they have no intention of rebuilding.

[NegativeSpace]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

By all accounts, he also strung his agent along. Why would he bother doing that? What advantage did he stand to gain?

I wrote elsewhere that this whole scenario seems to me to be the hallmark of a people-pleaser personality. Naturally, I don't know Johnny or anyone involved. Rather than being up front about the whole situation, he was waiting for some fact to come along that would make his decision for him - e.g., Calgary doesn't meet his demands or some team in free agency makes a massive offer that Calgary can't match. When that didn't happen, he was forced to confront the decision quickly and his responses suggest that he was not prepared for that.



For the sake of clarity, I have no issue with him leaving and think that this could be a good thing for the franchise. However, I can understand why the Flames would be upset about meeting his demanded offer and he still refuses to go. That is pretty disingenuous.



I have trouble believing that determining your priorities as a 29 year old takes two months. I can understand that you have to wait to the last minute to see what the offers are but refusing to sign a deal you demanded from Calgary suggests to me that he wasn't really spending the time to sort out what he wanted.



I hope that he's happy in Columbus. He will probably be a perennial 80 point guy there and they may be happy with that. I'm more convinced than ever that he's not the type of personality that wins in the playoffs and as of today think the team is better ahead with open cap space alone. Maybe it is a good thing that the whole offence won't be going through that one player's stick?

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

They probably would have been able to deal his rights for a pick. My bet is Jersey or the Isles would have stepped up in that regard.

There also wouldn't have been the same level of shock and/or bad blood I'm guessing.

So, they get a late pick for his rights, at best, I don’t consider that anyway close to material.

Plus I don’t think any UFA rights were traded this year, it’s pretty uncommon.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Originally Posted by heep223

Can we stop drafting Americans please.

So we should cut ourselves off from good talent just because some American players didn’t want to stay? That’s dumb. You always draft the best players you can find regardless of where they came from

[Hockey_Ninja]

Wheeler seems to like being in Winnipeg and is their captain. Brady Signed long term in Ottawa and is their captain. Matthews in Toronto. Boeser just signed to stay in Vancouver. You just got to get lucky enough to draft players who want to stay long term

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

None. This needed be dealt with before the NTC kicked in. All the warning signs were there and even some of the media who followed the team closely were certain he was not really interested in being in Calgary long-term. You have to make the moves to keep the organization healthy and sustaining itself. Did they learn nothing from the Iginla debacle? No. It's why we are here today with the current situation.

By “media” you mean Francis, who publicly rolled that one back this year. Anyway, what warning signs? His years ago interview with Philly? Did the warning signs include him continuing trouble negotiate? Who does that if they are not interested in a deal? At best he was displaying mixed signals. And if mixed signals are why you trade players a year out of their contract expiring, you’re trading a lot of people.

Iginla was totally different. They were a bottom half team, and sinking. So they should have made a trade earlier. But they did make a trade and got peanuts.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

IMO the statement by Gross supports the rumour (he said Calgary did everything they could).

Fair - I'll agree it's an odd tweet and certainly could support the rumour.

But there are also other explanations:

- Gross managing his reputation (he thinks Johnny is turning down the best $$ offer he'll get)
- Damage control (Gross was actually the one that bungled things by not understanding his client's wishes and mislead the Flames or gave an unauthorized ultimatum)
- Simple relationship management/hamfisted PR (he knew the Flames got to a fair enough number, but it truly was a difficult family decision)


IMO the reported 7 yr offer from the Flames is stronger counter-evidence than this tweet is affirming.

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

They probably would have been able to deal his rights for a pick. My bet is Jersey or the Isles would have stepped up in that regard.

There also wouldn't have been the same level of shock and/or bad blood I'm guessing.

NJD and NYI weren't particularly willing to step up once he did hit UFA...

Originally Posted by Heavy Jack

Flames might have been more open/motivated to take the package that was reportedly offered for Tkachuk. The shock of thinking it’s done in the 11th hour and being told it’s not has totally paralyzed this team for the off-season so far which I don’t think would have been the case had the Flames known Johnnys decision around the draft. Hell, they might have been able to work with Philly to see if something made sense for both teams to get Johnny his dream of playing for the Flyers. Disappointing turn of events all around.

If any of this is true, it's 100% on the Flames. It would have been nice if Johnny did them a favour by deciding sooner...I'm sure Johnny would have like their absolute final offer a lot sooner, too...

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I hate to break it to you, but the powerful emotional attachment fans feel towards professional athletes is rarely reciprocated. Playing sports is their job. Most don’t think about their legacy in the various cities they play for in their career, any more than you think about your legacy at the various companies you’ve worked at in your career.

And I doubt any of Gaudreau’s teammates are surprised or angry that he chose to play in the U.S. Again, they’re professionals.

This is an odd take considering one of his American teammates made the exact same point to him about his legacy while pitching him to stay.

[GioforPM]

^^ who reported a Flames offer of a 7 year contract after UFA? Because didn’t Treliving publicly say right after the deadline that there was no chance he was coming back?

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

By “media” you mean Francis, who publicly rolled that one back this year. Anyway, what warning signs? His years ago interview with Philly? Did the warning signs include him continuing trouble negotiate? Who does that if they are not interested in a deal? At best he was displaying mixed signals. And if mixed signals are why you trade players a year out of their contract expiring, you’re trading a lot of people.

Iginla was totally different. They were a bottom half team, and sinking. So they should have made a trade earlier. But they did make a trade and got peanuts.

The holdout on his RFA contract was a pretty big sign. That summer Monahan signed a 7 year basically right away, Gaudreau's went right up to training camp, sounded contentious, and took less money to sign for 6 years. That right there is a pretty big clue that he wanted to UFA as fast as possible, to bounce. How many best friend young guys have we seen sign matching contracts? A lot of them, not that one though. It's because he always had an eye to moving back east.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

The holdout on his RFA contract was a pretty big sign. That summer Monahan signed a 7 year basically right away, Gaudreau's went right up to training camp, sounded contentious, and took less money to sign for 6 years. That right there is a pretty big clue that he wanted to UFA as fast as possible, to bounce. How many best friend young guys have we seen sign matching contracts? A lot of them, not that one though. It's because he always had an eye to moving back east.

So obviously the Leafs should trade Matthews?

I’m not sure stuff that happens six years ago when a kid is at a completely different stage is a big sign. Getting to UFA quickly is a motivation for most young players. It’s not about leaving, it’s about bucks.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

“Build a team around draft picks” they say. Until it comes time to sign one of them, then you better bail a year early.

First, draft the best player available, which means players that are most likely to play with the Flames. Stop drafting Americans that have no connection to Canada. When you do draft them, make sure you educate them on Canada/Calgary and make their entire support network invested in the player establishing that long-term relationship. Make everyone see the value in staying in Calgary and want to be here long-term. Maintain as much control as you can, and when you're in a situation where you're going to surrender all control, have an exit strategy.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

So we should cut ourselves off from good talent just because some American players didn’t want to stay? That’s dumb. You always draft the best players you can find regardless of where they came from

It was tongue in cheek. But I do think it’s getting to the point where it’s at least a factor for Canadian teams.

[MrMike]

So we shouldn’t have used a 4th rounder on Gaudreau?
We shouldn’t have taken Norris Trophy winner Fox?
We should have done what Benning did and skipped over Tkachuk for Clayton Keller or Alexander Nylander or Sergachev? Well not Sergachev because if we’re not drafting US no way are we drafting Russian.