Johnny Gaudreau to play his 500th NHL game

[Manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

The most under appreciated Flames of his time. He gets railed on here for doing the job of a center admirably even though he’s a winger. I think I posted a stat the other day that had him ranked #6 in scoring since he arrived to this league behind only McDavid, Kane, Crosby, Kucherov and Marchand.

It’s gonna be tough to find another player who can produce anything close to what Gaudreau has done for this team over the last 7 years.

The most under appreciated? Serious?

[Mathgod]

One of the best 4th round draft picks in NHL history? He's gotta be right up there.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

The most under appreciated? Serious?

Gaudreau gets dumped on a lot for his turnovers and being soft around here. His name probably appears more in the trade proposals thread than anyone else over the years. As I just posted prior, he’s been one of the top scorers in this league since day 1. I don’t think McDavid, Crosby, Kane, Kucherov or Marchand take the kind of crap that Gaudreau gets from his own fanbase.

[mdubz]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Gaudreau gets dumped on a lot for his turnovers and being soft around here. His name probably appears more in the trade proposals thread than anyone else over the years. As I just posted prior, he’s been one of the top scorers in this league since day 1. I don’t think McDavid, Crosby, Kane, Kucherov or Marchand take the kind of crap that Gaudreau gets from his own fanbase.

Those players all show up when it matters.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by mdubz

Those players all show up when it matters.

Put Gaudreau on any of those other teams and he’d be doing just fine in the playoffs. He’s won gold at the World Juniors, he won a Frozen Four tournament when he was in College. He’s played in some big games and has shown up, just needs a better supporting cast. Flames did the same thing to Iggy and Theo for years, built shallow teams for them to carry on their backs.

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1376035941110972417

[Dion]

[blender]

Great to see Johnny play a good game tonight.
Hope he keeps it up.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

https://twitter.com/user/status/1376035941110972417

Where's Iggy on this list?

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Where's Iggy on this list?

Nm

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Where's Iggy on this list?

He had 382 points in 500 games.

[AC]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

Didn’t “debut” with the flames

Yes he did, he's just lower on the list.

[P-DAZZLE]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

Nm

He definitely did.

[wired]

Originally Posted by AC

I'm hard on Johnny, mainly because we've seen he's capable of so much when he's on.

He's one of my all-time favourite players, yet I'm conflicted on what the Flames should do with him next.

On the one hand I think moving him for a cost-controlled young asset (or 2) would be smart... I'd also be on board with trading whatever combo of Tkachuk, Monahan, +, it took to get Eichel in order to pair him with Gaudreau. A play-driving elite #1C with Gaudreau would be incredible.

Either way, it's been a lot of fun watching and covering Gaudreau all these years and I'll be a fan of his regardless of where he ends up.

Whoever you put with him is a moot point if he just skates in circles and does nothing.

Exceptional talent, but fir the last 20 games or so, he has floated around and done next to nothing.

Trade him and Tkachuck for someone who plays with heart and wont pass the puck blindly between his legs.

[getbak]

Crazy that Iggy was nearly a point a game player with the Flames after his first 500 games.

713 points in 719 games.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Makes you realize how much offence has gone through Johnny. The rest of that list is from much higher scoring times & teams.

[P-DAZZLE]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

The most under appreciated? Serious?

I get the hesitation, but he is, no? So influential in 2015 and all the success of this era. Definitely a victim of his own inability to carry that forward, but I'm a massive Iginla fan and he had the same issue outside of 2004. Fleury too. Great player. Imagine he came into or was part of a really stacked team. He'd be a fan favourite instead of a target when things go wrong.

[JD]

It took Iggy a long time to realize how good he could be. Really, the Art Ross season coupled with the Olympic appearance boosted his confidence and he didn't look back after that.

Johnny has been elite in terms of pure skill since he was a kid. I don't think he's really suffered with confidence until the last couple years. It stands to reason he had a quick start to his career, despite being told he was too small for the pros. Small guys need that "FU I'll show you" attitude. He's got that.

[Huntingwhale]

Congarts to Johnny on 500. Hell of a game he had. I've always seen his entire career with the Flames as gravy for the most part. 4th round picks aren't supposed to play a single game in the NHL, let alone 500. I'd be curious to see the actual number of 4th rounds picks with >500 NHL games played in league history. I don't imagine it's very long. I thought if he did play in the NHL, he was supposed to top out as a skilled middle 6 winger who could play mostly on the PP and be lucky to put up 40 points in his prime.

Instead he played on the 1st line almost immediately (took 4-5 games into his career to be fixture on the top line). He became the de facto face of the franchise, an Art Ross contender one season, 4th in Hart voting. Played in a couple all-star games. A superstar at times.

Yet he catches so much flack for the team faltering in both the regular season and post season. While it's not ideal to have an undersized winger to carry the team, he HAS in fact done so at various points and for extended periods of time. It's a complete failure by management to force him to carry the team on his shoulders when they should have built a proper team around him properly.

I think if he can find his groove with Sutter's style, he'll be fine going forward. He's not one of the players I look down upon when it comes to effort. Seems like he's also one of the few who genuinely hates to lose. Often when he's faltering I think it's more so because he lacks the skillset to play a more rugged grinding style which some team can impose upon Calgary. At the skilled game he's obviously great.

Will be interesting to see what the plans are for him when the inevitable changes occur next season.

[BurningSteel]

I may be in the minority but I hope his next 500 are spent in Calgary too.