Seravalli: Gaudreau has informed the Flames he will not return

[Erick Estrada]

Nick Kypreos on 960 saying Johnny knew for a long time that he was leaving and he simply played his hand perfectly just as Tavares did. He said if it was his son he would have done the same thing as players going to do what's best for them.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by manwiches

We did too for our second.

I can empathize with both sides.

I already stated what I would have done in his shoes earlier (play 8 here, sign a retirement contract in east coast, cement legacy). But that's me. Despite how close we are with our families, my wife and I are different than the Gaudreaus.

As noted, father w health issues, new baby, close knit family, among other things... I really don't fault the guy. It must have been a brutally difficult decision he wrestled with for a while.

When we entertained the offer to move for my work, my wife and I agonized for weeks. We negotiated, thinking they would never meet our requests or demands. When they did tho, we did opposite of Johnny, and felt if we had turned it down, it would have been negotiating in bad faith, and I likely would have had to leave my company.

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

And it is not likely that your parents sacrificed as much of their own life as Johnny's having you playing on a hockey team as a 13 year old a 2 hr drive away from home.

[RobotTalk]

As someone who lived in the east for work but longed to come back west the whole time, I sympathize with and respect Johnny's decision. The issue I have is him leaving it until the last minute, which didn't allow the organization to make moves at the draft (if any of the rumoured deals were actually on the table). Treliving should have set a contract deadline of the draft and, if it wasn't signed, started looking at alternative options. Of course, that assumes that the Flames would be willing to do a tear down rebuild, which I strongly suspect they will not, but instead will sign some overpriced UFAs and we'll be stuck in the same 6-10 spot finish with the occasional divisional championship that's been our lot for the last 30 years.

That said, Treliving did play hardball during the last contract negotiations by taking advantage of the CBA quirk whereby Johnny didn't have arbitration rights so I'm not surprised that he wasn't willing to give the Flames the courtesy of letting them know his decision early.

Thanks for the memories Johnny, I hope your family is healthy, your personal life is great but that your career tanks and your contract becomes an albatross to whatever team signs you.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I am ok, thanks for the concern. I am a Flames fan, Gaudreau was my fav player but I cheer for the logo on the front, not the name on the back. This didn't gut shot me nearly as badly as when Fleury left who was my fav player growing up. That one sent me to sitting on my bed bawling like a baby. I got over it though. I am still optimistic about this team and am actually kind of excited to see what happens now that the team has some flexibility. I also want to apologize to any poster I offended with some of my posts, I can be a little too emotional and passionate about my thoughts, I will try and be a better poster going forward. One thing that unites us all is the passion for this team, go Flames go!

I feel bad for the little kids (and heck even the big kids) when they find out Johnny is leaving. This IS their Fleury moment, so to speak.

Kind of sucks that being a Flames fan requires you to endure the hard, bitter parts like that, while only rewarding you with the good parts every so often. A reminder to really cherish the good stuff when it happens.

[Strange Brew]

Trying to second guess or justify Gaudreau's decision is really not our place. Everyone is different and he is doing what he thinks is best.

What is disappointing is the time it took to communicate this decision to the club. He is the most important asset the club had and knew it. Players, coches, management, fans are all impacted by the decision and he knew this. If nothing else, you had Treliving and team negotiating until the very last minute in what turned out to be nothing but a waste of their time.

On the Flames side, you'd like to think that going the last twelve months presumably without a formal counter offer from the Gaudreau camp was a rather clear sign how this would end. Maybe they feel duped, I don't know. But the organization has to take responsibility for pushing all their chips in to the Gaudreau negotiations, taking it to the very brink and failing.

It's the real world and you get evaluated on outcomes, not process. They clearly had their plan A and didn't get it done.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

...

Calgary is not the Boston equivalent of the NFL. This is a tough market to attract talent too. I don't believe the Patriots / Golden Knights approach to asset management likely works as well in Calgary.

Calgary is definitely in the bottom half of desired cities players want to play in, both due to climate, and in regards to probability of winning the cup. So with that they would need to sweeten the pot to draw players in. But it's for that same reason that makes them more vulnerable compared to other teams. So although they may not be as cut-throat as the Patriots and Golden Knights (and who knows if that's sustainable for them), they likely would be better served by being more proactive from here on out, rather than hoping for the best on a situation they don't have full control over.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Skaloper

Johnny is also smart to realize the Flames are going to have a hard time making it past McDavid + the Refs. Can't blame him for being smart and giving him the best shot at winning a cup in the next 7 years.

His only way to win the cup is to go to a team that has someone better than him. He is easily shut down in the playoffs

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

I'm not saying your wrong, but I'm also someone who doesn't think this was miss handled. The result wasn't what we wanted, but as I said in a different post, I think Brad rolling the dice on keeping Johnny was 100% the right call given the team we had, and where Johnny is in his career. Just sucks it didn't work out.

To the bolded part. You could also look at it this way. This is a player who has been rumored to want to play close to home since before he was a Flame. Very family oriented, his mother cried when she saw how far away Calgary was, those type of stories. You could argue the people first way Brad and the team approach things actually got us almost 8 years of Johnny's services that we would have gotten otherwise. He didn't pull a Fox (and could have) and he didn't demand a trade at any point.

Calgary is not the Boston equivalent of the NFL. This is a tough market to attract talent too. I don't believe the Patriots / Golden Knights approach to asset management likely works as well in Calgary.

Ironically, we'd be better off today if he had.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Nick Kypreos on 960 saying Johnny knew for a long time that he was leaving and he simply played his hand perfectly just as Tavares did. He said if it was his son he would have done the same thing as players going to do what's best for them.

Refreshing to hear something other than the Flames management and Johnny apologist tour.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Nick Kypreos on 960 saying Johnny knew for a long time that he was leaving and he simply played his hand perfectly just as Tavares did. He said if it was his son he would have done the same thing as players going to do what's best for them.

What is the benefit to Gaudreau of stringing the Flames out? Maybe if the Flames were the only other suitor but otherwise it doesn't make sense.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Ironically, we'd be better off today if he had.

Only if he did at the perfect time IMO. Like right before his NTC kicked in. Otherwise, I don't believe so.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

What is the benefit to Gaudreau of stringing the Flames out? Maybe if the Flames were the only other suitor but otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Ya that's what I don't get. Tell the Flames once the season is over. Zero reason to string them along.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

What is the benefit to Gaudreau of stringing the Flames out? Maybe if the Flames were the only other suitor but otherwise it doesn't make sense.

I think Johnny has a lot of good friends on the team and it probably pulled at his heart strings to leave. He probably left it to the last minute for optics and the fact that his agent wanted to find out what would be the max tabled offer from the Flames for 8 seasons to leak to the Flyers, Devils, Islanders, etc.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Nick Kypreos on 960 saying Johnny knew for a long time that he was leaving and he simply played his hand perfectly just as Tavares did. He said if it was his son he would have done the same thing as players going to do what's best for them.

I doubt this is true and it’s just the insiders trying to validate what their position was the whole time.

By the sounds of it He’s actually going to be taking less AAV to play in NJ or PHI.

So how was he just using the Flames for leverage to get a higher AAV if he doesn’t actually leverage their offer into a higher AAV?

If anything if he knew he was leaving he should have been trying to facilitate a sign and trade to get an 8th year at his preferred location.

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I doubt this is true and it’s just the insiders trying to validate what their position was the whole time.

By the sounds of it He’s actually going to be taking less AAV to play in NJ or PHI.

So how was he just using the Flames for leverage to get a higher AAV if he doesn’t actually leverage their offer into a higher AAV?

If anything if he knew he was leaving he should have been trying to facilitate a sign and trade to get an 8th year at his preferred location.

Possibly because a "discount" at 10 million vs a flames 10.5 is a lot better for him than a discount of 9 million vs a flames 9.5

[Heavy Jack]

Originally Posted by Heavy Jack

So they used Calgary to build a UFA number and market for him… feels brutal man.

With what Kypreos said this really rings true. Really hard for me to hate Johnny, have 3 of his jerseys and he’s been my fav player ever to follow from the day he was drafted until now but man… what an absolute knife in the back of a franchise that gave you the chance. I get that it’s a business, I get that it was his choice that he earned but it’s hard for me to understand this position from Johnny and it’s a different side to the guy that we’d never really seen before. It’s really hamstrung the flames from doing anything meaningful during the draft and now with UFA unless they make a decision that clearly won’t have had any or as much time to be considered that would be desirable. What an absolute pickle the Flames find themselves in because of Johnny, it’s unbelievable but at the same time I guess it’s not when you look at the Tavares and Panarin UFA scenarios. Just really sucks that it’s happening to us and our player was a 115 point unicorn winger lol.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by tkflames

After waking up with a fresh perspective this morning...

I believe we can all comfortably blame this on Locke's wife.

Hah! Sorry man, she is not the party guilty of getting me the Johnny Jersey.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

What is the benefit to Gaudreau of stringing the Flames out? Maybe if the Flames were the only other suitor but otherwise it doesn't make sense.

This is what I don't get.. if he was trying for max $$, then the 11th hour totally makes sense and I wouldn't blame him. But if it is for other factors like family (which is totally fair) and he knew a while ago, then what's the end game other than to stick it to the Flames. If anything, letting the team shop him would have given other teams the chance to clear cap room knowing that he definitely is going to FA and probably increase his number of suitors.

I just can't see the advantage there is to him by stringing the GM along.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Royle9

It's not mom.. its his wife and their kid on the way.
I take it you're not married nor have kids? Not a jab, just a serious question.

There's nothing stronger than a women having their mom around when a baby is born. I can almost certainly tell you that the biggest decision was keeping his wife happy and close to her parents.

I have a wife and 6 weeks old newborn.
I would never royally F over people who have been close to me and instrumental in my career developer because "family first".

That narrative is complete BS. They could have made a family decision to leave, and told the team soon enough and done right be all parties.

Even if they said it before the draft, the Flames may have Shane Wright right now and made hard decisions knowing they had to.
But they certainly weren't going to trade Tkachuk at the draft knowing JG wouldn't come back without his 100 point linemate.

But instead he played the Flames like fools, massively screwed over the franchise, likely lost BT his job, left Sutter without his best tool (the coach that helped you get 115 points and all the money that's about to come), undoubtedly upset a lot of his teamates (who also helped him get the points and $).
And the fans... JG isn't losing a minute of sleep on his $10M bedsheets over how any of us feel this morning.

Lets stop talking like the only 2 choices were take care of family or be fair to the Flames. There's a way of doing both and UFAs do it all the time, just not Tavares and not Johnny Gaudreau.
I hope he never wins a playoff round just like Tavares.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

I have a wife and 6 weeks old newborn.
I would never royally F over people who have been close to me and instrumental in my career developer because "family first".

That narrative is complete BS. They could have made a family decision to leave, and told the team soon enough and done right be all parties.

Even if they said it before the draft, the Flames may have Shane Wright right now and made hard decisions knowing they had to.
But they certainly weren't going to trade Tkachuk at the draft knowing JG wouldn't come back without his 100 point linemate.

But instead he played the Flames like fools, massively screwed over the franchise, likely lost BT his job, left Sutter without his best tool (the coach that helped you get 115 points and all the money that's about to come), undoubtedly upset a lot of his teamates (who also helped him get the points and $).
And the fans... JG isn't losing a minute of sleep on his $10M bedsheets over how any of us feel this morning.

Lets stop talking like the only 2 choices were take care of family or be fair to the Flames. There's a way of doing both and UFAs do it all the time, just not Tavares and not Johnny Gaudreau.
I hope he never wins a playoff round just like Tavares.

I don't think I ever said he didn't take too long and in the end screwed this Franchise. I'm just simply saying he made the FAMILY over FRANCHISE choice and stated what likely was the reasons behind doing so.

I too think he took way to long and likely decided this at the end of the season as she was pregnant before the playoffs ended.

Just a #### situation.