NY Times Gaudreau article. Update: response from Johnny

[Enoch Root]

I actually laughed out loud at this one...

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Wow, some really dumb logic going on there, and I think education is important. One, really, Johnny's mom is concerned he'll be taking a spot from a guy with a wife and kids................give me a break. That will be the case the following year, and that's the case whenever anyone takes any job. You could always argue you are taking a job from someone who "needs it more than you do". I guess we should all just sit around and do nothing until we've sure everyone in life with a different situation than our own is taken care of.

And then the whole "finish your education first" crap. Education is valuable, and I feel that every budding pro hockey player should take care of their back up plan. But Johnny isn't a 17 year old trying to figure out if he's going to forgo University to play in the WHL or AJHL with a very remote chance at making it pro. Johnny will get a pro contract if he wants one at this point. A pro contract that will pay him big money.........far more money then he will earn in probably the first 10 years of any other career he'd get with his education..........and certainly more than enough money for him to go back to school and finish that last year should he never sign another pro contract in his life.

I can't imagine how any logical person could think staying would be in his best interest, including from an education point of view. Hate to say it, but sounds to me like Johnny isn't sure if he wants to sign right away with the Flames or wait another year and get more choice of where he plays his pro career and good ol Mom is chucking herself infront of the bus for her son should he decided to snub the Flames.

You start with the bolded sentence, and then spend 3 full paragraphs backing it up, only to finish with the most illogical, paranoid, ridiculous piece of speculation in this entire thread!

Well played piece of trolling there. And it was thanked by Ashasx to boot!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I can't FRICKING wait until he signs because this constant whining, handwringing and self-loathing is so fricking annoying that it is actually worse than persistent trolls and 20-page arguments over semantics.

Get over it people - nothing to see here

Well then get out of the thread then if you don't think anything is here. Really I hate it when some posters take it on themselves to feel they can govern the rest of us. Nobody is making a big deal over this. We are just discussing the article and what was said with our opinions. You know opinions? Really easy to tell sometimes when the whole concept of fan forums fly right over some people's heads.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well then get out of the thread then if you don't think anything is here. Really I hate it when some posters take it on themselves to feel they can govern the rest of us. Nobody is making a big deal over this. We are just discussing the article and what was said with our opinions. You know opinions?

Maybe not some, but there are definitely at least a few people making a much bigger deal over this than it is.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

And you say one thing or another but leave the "taking jobs away from players with families" stuff for behind closed doors. I'm not going to get bent out of shape by what his mom said and my comment was more to parent over-involvement with kids as a lot of times being more of a negative than positive in professional sports.

No you don't - that screams to me that it was an off-the-cuff thought.

Someone came to her house to do an interview and ask her some questions. She responded with some motherly thoughts.

People need to relax.

Imagine if she said something like "go get rich Johnny - to hell with school!" People would rip her a new one as the worst mother of all time.

Ever mother on the planet would say more or less what she said in response to what was asked of her and her son.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Maybe not some, but there are definitely at least a few people making a much bigger deal over this than it is.

So what? There always is regardless of the topic. Taking the opposite stance to an equal extreme isn't any better.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

You pretty well spelled out why the Flames shouldn't amp up the hype. Hell with taking a page from the Oilers book I would burn it in a dumpster fire and do the exact opposite. Overhyping these kids is a recipe for disaster as it will be followed by unrealistic expectations. Look what happened to Sven already by being a little overhyped by fans and local media. He's almost looked at as a failure now despite taking the same course (being sent to the AHL for professional development) many young players have done to ensure a long NHL career.

Did you listen to the full clip, though? We can take a page out of their book, just not take it to the same extreme. Keep it within 'realism'. And even realism suggests that when you're bringing in the top NHLE player/prospect outside of the NHL, you're allowed to make some hype about it.

He's going on front pages in Boston ahead of the Bruins. They're hyping the kid way more than the Flames' brass and media do, and he's our prospect. Lol. I don't see anything wrong with that suggestion, we should be allowed to revel in our own prospects (a bit).

Sven was an overreaction of the fanbase because we weren't used to having even a half promising young player to talk about (for years). I hope people have learned a thing or two from that. And I hope people realize that Sven taking a step down for the sake of his development does not mean that he was, or is, a failure. We just thought it would come a lot faster with him than it was going to..

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

No you don't - that screams to me that it was an off-the-cuff thought.

Someone came to her house to do an interview and ask her some questions. She responded with some motherly thoughts.

People need to relax.

Imagine if she said something like "go get rich Johnny - to hell with school!" People would rip her a new one as the worst mother of all time.

Ever mother on the planet would say more or less what she said in response to what was asked of her and her son.

I am relaxed however it's quite evident by your last handful of posts that you are quite excited about all this. Take a step back. Nobody is calling the mother some anti-Flames witch.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well then get out of the thread then if you don't think anything is here. Really I hate it when some posters take it on themselves to feel they can govern the rest of us. Nobody is making a big deal over this. We are just discussing the article and what was said with our opinions. You know opinions? Really easy to tell sometimes when the whole concept of fan forums fly right over some people's heads.

Ummm, I also gave an opinion.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by fotze

Just a reminder. It is well within reason that players and or their families couple be reading CP. Everyone is free to post whatever and it is anonymous, but what you do say here reflects upon the entire fan base. Stupid stuff has the resonance equivalence of 20 sane posts. Just keep that in mind.

Duly noted. I see very few examples of stupid stuff so I feel we are pretty safe here.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

So what? There always is regardless of the topic. Taking the opposite stance to an equal extreme isn't any better.

You mean being even keel and waiting until Johnny actually makes some sort of decision before freaking out isn't better than freaking out with little to no evidence of any decision being made to screw over the Flames at the last second (which is a year and a half away)?

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

You pretty well spelled out why the Flames shouldn't amp up the hype. Hell with taking a page from the Oilers book I would burn it in a dumpster fire and do the exact opposite. Overhyping these kids is a recipe for disaster as it will be followed by unrealistic expectations. Look what happened to Sven already by being a little overhyped by fans and local media. He's almost looked at as a failure now despite taking the same course (being sent to the AHL for professional development) many young players have done to ensure a long NHL career.

Yup follow the Detroit Red Wings.

Look at Gustav Nyquist. Great college stats but they didn't rush him. Gave him the majority of two seasons in the AHL with some call ups to give him a taste of the NHL.

They even started him in the AHL this year but once he was dominating they called him up and he has been close to a PPG for the wings.

That is the type of development that we should be following with our prospects, and we should not be rushing them.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Ummm, I also gave an opinion.

And your opinion was on us not the topic. I don't come here to hear your opinion of me or how I am posting.

[AltaGuy]

To me it is all about the potential for injury on the player's part. A highly touted prospect like Gaudreau is looking at least a million bucks (made up number) that he is guaranteed the moment he signs with the Flames. One cheapshot or accident in a developmentally redundant senior year and... POOF.

I would not counsel my kid to take that risk.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

And your opinion was on us not the topic. I don't come here to hear your opinion of me or how I am posting.

The post of mine that you reacted to made no reference of you whatsoever.

And now you are making direct references to me. So...

[strombad]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

And your opinion was on us not the topic. I don't come here to hear your opinion of me or how I am posting.

Well no one here comes to hear your opinion specifically, or Enochs, or mine.

Can we stop with the bickering over nothing?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by strombad

Well no one here comes to hear your opinion specifically, or Enochs, or mine.

Can we stop with the bickering over nothing?

Agreed. That was my stance all along. Continue to discuss the topic and not what posters can and cannot post about the topic or the mother. I have confidence the moderators will ensure that comments do not go out of hand and I have confidence the Gaudreau's aren't going to base any of their son's career decisions off of a thread in a local fan board.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by AltaGuy

To me it is all about the potential for injury on the player's part. A highly touted prospect like Gaudreau is looking at least a million bucks (made up number) that he is guaranteed the moment he signs with the Flames. One cheapshot or accident in a developmentally redundant senior year and... POOF.

I would not counsel my kid to take that risk.

Morganti mentioned this specifically and I think, from a hockey career perspective, that it's very important. And the family advisor/agent has likely discussed this with the family as well. Taking another (IMO unnecessary) year in a league where you're constantly in the spotlight and the kids are big and strong enough to do damage to you could put your whole hockey career in jeopardy. There's not nearly enough reason to stay and risk that from purely a hockey perspective. Better that he finish his education after making the jump to pro, where he can get professional training to beef up and handle the rigours of the job, than to stay and risk it all.

[kermitology]

There's prom for college? That's not just high school stuff?

I guess going to school in Canada in engineering, the only thing we cared about was our iron ring ceremony. Grad was meh; getting the ring was special.

[mikeecho]

This is just Mom giving her son the "mom eye" and saying, "if you go and play in the NHL, don't you think you're getting off the hook and not graduating."

Signing a contract and graduating are not mutually exclusive. He can do both which will make all the Gaudreau family happy. Mom is just making it clear she won't get brushed off by a kid who would would do anything to play pro hockey.

[nik-]

What mom doesn't want her son to finish a degree?