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

[Gaudreau is a Ninja]

This still hurts, I just wish he would have let the Flames know he was planning on leaving. It would have been nice to trade him for some assets. I guessing the agent wanted to use the Flames contract offer as leverage. Frustrating

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I still don't get why people are mad at him. He did nothing wrong and didn't lead anyone on into thinking he was coming back. He was very noncommittal, he didn't rule anything out and wasn't forced to.

The entire issue people have is if there was absolutely zero chance they were going to stay in Calgary, then he led the team on. If that was just being noncommittal and not understanding the gravity of the situation for other parties, then it’s just as disappointing as a fan.

Most fans cheer for an organization. The org will have favourite players come and go, and you may cheer players on elsewhere. That’s all fine. This is all fun fantasy land stuff. But, being a fan of the organization, I’m disappointed in how the relationship ended. Especially with the position it puts my favourite team in.

[GS Skier]

Meow meow meow meow and Momma's Boy about sums it up.

I don't care if the spin was better on a TO TV show. You can't stand up for yourself and man up from the beginning. Name another major contract UFA player that let his wife decide what's best for his career? Seems pretty rare to me.

It's still both the way he did it and the damage he did to his former team by forcing them to wait until the 11th hour.

He will never be welcomed here no matter how many sycophant's posting above want to let it slide. The Radio guys keep spinning and then being forced to admit the texts are very much opposed to "giving Johnny a break" and indeed still like me unimpressed.

His wife??? made him destroy his career and he just became a league wide analogy for both "P%ssy whipped" and "untrust worthy Americans"? His actions have left many Calgary fans eyeing up Matt Tkachuk just as suspiciously. Hmmm maybe better get more Swedes, Finns, Russians and WHLers just to be safe. Can Hannafin be trusted?

He will never have his number raised to any roof much less in Calgary. His legacy will be as the "Player who's wife" wore the pants in the family. Can you imagine the on ice chirping he'll face for the next few seasons!!!

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Newark has a total area of about 26 square miles. Turning down New Jersey for that reason would be like turning down Calgary because there are rough neighbourhoods near the Saddledome.

There are some very high-priced and high-toned districts a little further out in New Jersey: Morris County, for instance (which happens to be the richest county in the state). From Morristown to Newark is a half-hour commute. From Morristown to the south end of New Jersey is about two hours, no plane required.

So what?

If he thinks Columbus is better for his family than New Jersey, and that it’s a better fit for them, then that’s his decision to make.

Just because it’s closer than Columbus to Philly doesn’t mean it was their preference.

Philly was the preferred choice…they didn’t make an offer. Sounds like New Jersey, New York islanders, and Columbus made offers and in the end Columbus was the best fit for his family from the options he had.

Sure Flames fans would have liked the optics of him going to Philly or New Jersey more than Columbus, but why does that matter.

In a world where a pandemic didn’t just happen I think Gaudreau is a Calgary Flame still today, or in a world where his wife wasn’t pregnant right now I think he’s still a Calgary Flame today. But those two factors made his him and family want to be closer to home, and likely based in the US, where it would easier to see them if things locked down again.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by memphusk

To be fair, Feaster was going to lose that trade no matter what team he traded with. #### he was a terrible GM.

Don't forget who drafted Johnny, in a move that went against organizational culture at the time. If Feaster had stuck to drafting big Western Canadian kids, we wouldn't have had this experience of Johnny leaving to go back to the states but we also would have missed out on having Johnny at all. Feaster had a huge positive impact on the team by bucking the organizational culture and believing in Todd Button's judgment about a very small US-born player.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I still don't get why people are mad at him. He did nothing wrong and didn't lead anyone on into thinking he was coming back. He was very noncommittal, he didn't rule anything out and wasn't forced to.

If only there was some way to have know when his contract was going to end and to somehow traded him for assets before he had complete control of the situation. It probably would have seemed rude to give him an ultimatum to sign or be traded, I mean what kind of franchise would do something as rude as taking control of the situation and essentially forcing a trade to better their team...wait, didn't the team that just made it to the finals and win the up the 2 previous years do that to one of their team leaders? I'm sure that upset a lot of their fans and other players??

Teams have to cut ties with players all the time and as kuch as it suck, they should have with Johnny before his NTC kicked in. Much like they should with Tkachuk if he doesn't want to sign long term.

For me the only offputting is the story about him demanding 10.5, getting 10.5 and then changing his mind.

The trade you are talking about would have happened in early July 2021, with him being a rental and coming off two sub PPG seasons. The Flames would have gotten very poor returns on that one. You don’t think fans would be upset, especially when Treliving says “well, he didn’t say he was refusing to sign - he just hadn’t made up his mind yet”.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by overtimewin

No hate toward Johnny.. He admitted he was not prepared for the question..which is tough..when it comes out like that..

Wife made the call.... On both accounts..

1. No calgary
2. No NJD.. Probably wants some independence from Inlaws.. Potentially higher expectations for Johnny.. More pressure..

Hope ppl treat him nice on his return..

Imagine being the main if not the only breadwinner and your wife tells you where to work?

Poor Johnny. Can’t even talk for himself.

Now I feel sorry for him more that hate the guy for what happened

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Infinit47

Nobody is arguing Gaudreau didn't meet his contractual obligations, which seems to be the point people are bringing up to defend his actions.

This city and the Flames were incredibly good to Gaudreau, and welcomed his family with open arms. He was treated very well.

On the way out the door he turned around and flipped us the bird.

At this point I'm not mad at Gaudreau, I'm just disappointed.

Boy did Iginla spoil us.

I haven’t seen a single post excusing Johnny’s actions by saying he met his contractual obligations. You’re confusing two different discussions.

Johnny negotiated poorly with the flames and clearly burned some bridges. That looks bad on him. I haven’t seen anyone excuse him for that, with the exception of a few cringe incel misogynist posts blaming his wife and suggesting she’s a controlling succubus (like the one directly above mine that was made while I was writing this).

Totally separate from that is the fact he didn’t choose Calgary and was free to leave. He didn’t owe our city anything. He’s not a loser for choosing Columbus because they offered less money, never win, aren’t a hockey hotbed and don’t have rabid fans. He made a decision to make himself and his family happy. The fact he prioritized different things than did flames fans makes total sense. It doesn’t mean he, or anyone in his family, hates Calgary.

People have every right to be upset that he ####ed up his legacy with the flames by screwing up the negotiations. They should not be upset that it made sense for him and his family to play closer to home.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Originally Posted by GS Skier

Meow meow meow meow and Momma's Boy about sums it up.

I don't care if the spin was better on a TO TV show. You can't stand up for yourself and man up from the beginning. Name another major contract UFA player that let his wife decide what's best for his career? Seems pretty rare to me.

It's still both the way he did it and the damage he did to his former team by forcing them to wait until the 11th hour.

He will never be welcomed here no matter how many sycophant's posting above want to let it slide. The Radio guys keep spinning and then being forced to admit the texts are very much opposed to "giving Johnny a break" and indeed still like me unimpressed.

His wife??? made him destroy his career and he just became a league wide analogy for both "P%ssy whipped" and "untrust worthy Americans"? His actions have left many Calgary fans eyeing up Matt Tkachuk just as suspiciously. Hmmm maybe better get more Swedes, Finns, Russians and WHLers just to be safe. Can Hannafin be trusted?

He will never have his number raised to any roof much less in Calgary. His legacy will be as the "Player who's wife" wore the pants in the family. Can you imagine the on ice chirping he'll face for the next few seasons!!!

You must have very loving and healthy relationships

[Njord]

Has he posted his thank you to the Calgary Flames, city of Calgary, and Flames fan yet? Usually doesn't take this long to say thank you at least

[GioforPM]

I really couldn’t care less who made the decision. Gordie Howe’s wife was the shot caller in his family (for good reason). Meredith Gaudreau may well be the smarter spouse so why shouldn’t she be in on the plans. The negotiating tactics sucked. But that’s not necessarily on her, it may have been a combination of Gross and her not being on the same page (if she was actually the one making the call afterwards).

[GS Skier]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

You must have very loving and health relationships

Ad Hominin: attack the messenger. None of your business but 37 years married, 3 kids, 5 grandkids doing fine.

Cleveland Ohio??? I'm in Calgary and while its just a game, Zadorov nailed it. In Cleveland its "Entertainment". In Canada it's religion.

However its a game that only the wealthy can afford tickets for and the newly wealthy play.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Originally Posted by GS Skier

Ad Hominin: attack the messenger. None of your business but 37 years married, 3 kids, 5 grandkids doing fine.

Cleveland Ohio??? I'm in Calgary and while its just a game, Zadorov nailed it. In Cleveland its "Entertainment". In Canada it's religion.

However its a game that only the wealthy can afford tickets for and the newly wealthy play.

I grew up in Calgary fam

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Gaudreau is a Ninja

This still hurts, I just wish he would have let the Flames know he was planning on leaving. It would have been nice to trade him for some assets. I guessing the agent wanted to use the Flames contract offer as leverage. Frustrating

Gross' style seems to be to always take things down to the wire and squeeze the team as much as possible would have worked out okay if Johnny had ultimately wanted to stay in Calgary. Unfortunately it's a very high stakes negotiating tactic, so it was an especially bad approach for this situation and this client because Johnny didn't know what he wanted.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Don't forget who drafted Johnny, in a move that went against organizational culture at the time. If Feaster had stuck to drafting big Western Canadian kids, we wouldn't have had this experience of Johnny leaving to go back to the states but we also would have missed out on having Johnny at all. Feaster had a huge positive impact on the team by bucking the organizational culture and believing in Todd Button's judgment about a very small US-born player.

Yes, JG was drafted on Feaster’s watch. But he had very little to do with it. It was a throwaway 4th round pick where his involvement was saying “ok”.

A bigger display of his (and Weisbrod’s) drafting judgment is the Jankowski fiasco. He also used his first rounders on Poirier, Baertschi, Klimchuk, (and his picks for TB aside from the Stamkos no brainer are no better), his seconds on Seiloff, Wotherspoon and Granlund, and his thirds on Keegan Kanzig and Gillies.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

You must have very loving and health relationships

That’s what it looks like when someone is obsessed with someone else and finds out they don’t love them the same way back. So desperate and pathetic it’s sad.

As Cecil said, people can be mad about the negotiations all they want, totally fair. But I think people resorting to misogyny and mocking Gaudreau’s manhood are desperately trying to cover for the realisation that this is a business and players have higher priorities than their fans. Viewing the idea that Johnny was comfortable letting someone else make the decision (if that’s what happened) as a problem with Johnny is just a way to avoid dealing with the fact that the problem is actually with the way some fans view the player/fan relationship.

Guys like GS Skier and Flamesfan05 talk a big game about what they think Johnny is, but they’re irrelevant nobodies. It’s not like Johnny is ever going to read it, so they’re just projecting their own nonsense into space to make themselves feel better. And when you look at how these guys talk about other players and members of the Flames organisation, you quickly realise that if someone from the Flames owed a fan anything, it wouldn’t be these kinds of fans.

Constantly trashing players and management, but as soon as they get rejected, then it’s actually a character issue for the person that rejected them. Pretty pathetic.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

That’s what it looks like when someone is obsessed with someone else and finds out they don’t love them the same way back. So desperate and pathetic it’s sad.

As Cecil said, people can be mad about the negotiations all they want, totally fair. But I think people resorting to misogyny and mocking Gaudreau’s manhood are desperately trying to cover for the realisation that this is a business and players have higher priorities than their fans. Viewing the idea that Johnny was comfortable letting someone else make the decision (if that’s what happened) as a problem with Johnny is just a way to avoid dealing with the fact that the problem is actually with the way some fans view the player/fan relationship.

Guys like GS Skier and Flamesfan05 talk a big game about what they think Johnny is, but they’re irrelevant nobodies. It’s not like Johnny is ever going to read it, so they’re just projecting their own nonsense into space to make themselves feel better. And when you look at how these guys talk about other players and members of the Flames organisation, you quickly realise that if someone from the Flames owed a fan anything, it wouldn’t be these kinds of fans.

Constantly trashing players and management, but as soon as they get rejected, then it’s actually a character issue for the person that rejected them. Pretty pathetic.

I am sure Johnny only read your posts and you are the right kind of fan

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

I am sure Johnny only read your posts and you are the right kind of fan

I’m well aware he doesn’t, but you do. I’m sorry after years of trashing 90% of the Flames’ players they don’t send you a personalised gift basket when they leave as a thank you. You’ll get over it big guy.

[GS Skier]

"Constantly trashing players and management, but as soon as they get rejected, then it’s actually a character issue for the person that rejected them. Pretty pathetic."

I'll skip this thread as the emotional, wokester, liberal types and the "Franchise Player" commenters LOL are continuing to make Ad Hominin attacks on messages they don't like.

I don't fall in love players. Go psychoanalyse yourself Dr Freud.

What really is amazing is Eric Francis was right after all these years. The Guadreau's hated the guy and now he's the one they owe an apology too.

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The same Iginla who turned the dressing room into a country club his last couple seasons? Who when he finally agreed to a trade at the deadline and submitted a list of four teams for Feaster to negotiate with, changed his mind at literally the last hour and said actually no, there’s only one team I’ll accept a trade to, scuppering the deal with Boston and completely hamstringing Feaster’s negotiating position with the Penguins? That Iginla?

Iginla’s a good guy. But he was as ruthlessly selfish as other pro athletes when it suited him.

Iginla played through his entire prime in Calgary and then was straight up about leaving to chase a cup.

And he for sure had a last minute flip flop on destination, but his honesty through the process bought him goodwill and so the fan backlash was minimal.

He gave the Flames a chance to get something as part of his leaving. Gaudreau did not.