Matthew Tkachuk would likely have been traded this season anyways if he was only willing to sign for 6 years.
Yup. And the quote I remember was him starting his description of long term out at 5 years.
No one will tell me what they would have signed either him or Gaudreau to back in the day. Only that the (unknown) offer by the Flames was "embarrassing".
Yup. And the quote I remember was him starting his description of long term out at 5 years.
No one will tell me what they would have signed either him or Gaudreau to back in the day. Only that the (unknown) offer by the Flames was "embarrassing".
They called it embarrassing vs the 10.5 offer he got. Its embarrassing that Johnny and his camp thought he should get 10.5 for being a 50-60 point player.
Even if the offer was 7.5-8.5 at the time that seems like a very good offer for a player who had a lot of question marks around him coming into the season.
Who knows what the Tkachuk deal would have looked like at 6 years but if we look around the league during that time, it would have been 9 plus. After 2 down years everyone would have had pitchforks out for Treliving if we had a 50 point Tkachuk at 9 million plus.
Yup. And the quote I remember was him starting his description of long term out at 5 years.
No one will tell me what they would have signed either him or Gaudreau to back in the day. Only that the (unknown) offer by the Flames was "embarrassing".
It is a moot point because the Flames did not have the cap space to sign Tkachuk to a longterm contract that offseason. I would have signed a PPG player to a 9 million dollar deal. But it does not really matter, the longterm dollars for Tkachuk went into UFA signings.
They called it embarrassing vs the 10.5 offer he got. Its embarrassing that Johnny and his camp thought he should get 10.5 for being a 50-60 point player.
Even if the offer was 7.5-8.5 at the time that seems like a very good offer for a player who had a lot of question marks around him coming into the season.
Who knows what the Tkachuk deal would have looked like at 6 years but if we look around the league during that time, it would have been 9 plus. After 2 down years everyone would have had pitchforks out for Treliving if we had a 50 point Tkachuk at 9 million plus.
Yup it's easy to say with hindsight on both of those things, especially knowing what we know post COVID and how that partially changed these players wanting to play in Canada.
Really most people wanted Gaudreau traded after the 20-21 season, not extended. And if Treliving gave him the 8 x $9M (i've heard that was the ask at the time) then he would have been roasted for that too.
If anything the history shows now that he should have just traded him...because he's likely not living up to a $9 or $10.5M contract right now anyways. (This is what we should remember before signing Andersson to a contract extension when he's 30).
And in terms of Tkachuk the longest high profile RFA signing that year was 6 years and it was Rantanen / Marner that got $9.25M and $10.9M respectively and I've heard that Tkachuk also wanted within that same range as Rantanen for a 6 year deal.
In the end if either guy wanted to stay there was a more than generous offer on the table for both of them to stay, and both decided they wanted to leave to actually take less money.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 02-05-2024 at 04:55 PM.
Yup. And the quote I remember was him starting his description of long term out at 5 years.
No one will tell me what they would have signed either him or Gaudreau to back in the day. Only that the (unknown) offer by the Flames was "embarrassing".
I've already stated my numbers numerous times and even dating back to 2019 and 2021. It was $9M for Gaudreau and $8.75M for Tkachuk. Also, why does it even matter what my number is anyway? Other than to open myself up for criticism? Where's your number? I wasn't the GM of the team. You can't change the past, so what difference does it make now?
Yup it's easy to say with hindsight on both of those things, especially knowing what we know post COVID and how that partially changed these players wanting to play in Canada.
Really most people wanted Gaudreau traded after the 20-21 season, not extended. And if Treliving gave him the 8 x $9M (i've heard that was the ask at the time) then he would have been roasted for that too.
If anything the history shows now that he should have just traded him...because he's likely not living up to a $9 or $10.5M contract right now anyways. (This is what we should remember before signing Andersson to a contract extension when he's 30).
And in terms of Tkachuk the longest high profile RFA signing that year was 6 years and it was Rantanen / Marner that got $9.25M and $10.9M respectively and I've heard that Tkachuk also wanted within that same range as Rantanen for a 6 year deal.
In the end if either guy wanted to stay there was a more than generous offer on the table for both of them to stay, and both decided they wanted to leave to actually take less money.
It wouldn't have been from me. I was more than willing to pay up for the franchise players of the team, even if I had to go slightly above what I'd be comfortable with. These are the franchise players of the team who lead your team in scoring every year; you pay and find the savings elsewhere.
Even dating back to 2021, all we heard was that Gaudreau wanted to finish his contract and sign with Philly. Well, in his final season press conference, he mentioned for the first time, that he'd be open to re-signing if Brad and ownership was happy with him. For me personally, that was all I needed to hear to get the ball moving. Then I remember feeling quite anxious by the summer when it hadn't been announced yet as Gaudreau's wedding was coming up. It always left me feeling uneasy that Johnny was marrying a Philly girl especially with the Chris Pronger's wife hating Edmonton fiasco.
I've already stated my numbers numerous times and even dating back to 2019 and 2021. It was $9M for Gaudreau and $8.75M for Tkachuk. Also, why does it even matter what my number is anyway? Other than to open myself up for criticism? Where's your number? I wasn't the GM of the team. You can't change the past, so what difference does it make now?
And yet the conversation rages on. In every thread.
Kuzmenko looks like a super upbeat and funny dude. His entire interview he had the biggest smile on his face.
I'm a fan.
Honestly, being a guy that gets to play in an elite league with the perks that come with it, I'm surprised that a lot of these players are as serious and rigid as they are/come off.
Like, why not be flexible and have fun? It's a short career. See places, make a great living. Worry about settling down and planting roots later. There will still be lots of life left then.
Yup. And the quote I remember was him starting his description of long term out at 5 years.
No one will tell me what they would have signed either him or Gaudreau to back in the day. Only that the (unknown) offer by the Flames was "embarrassing".
And the Flames wouldn't sign that because it carried him right to free agency. Both him and Gaudreau got league average deals on their second contracts, they weren't low paid. Tkachuk got a contract that guaranteed him $9M qualifying offer after 3 years so it was above fair market for him anyway.
I've already stated my numbers numerous times and even dating back to 2019 and 2021. It was $9M for Gaudreau and $8.75M for Tkachuk. Also, why does it even matter what my number is anyway? Other than to open myself up for criticism? Where's your number? I wasn't the GM of the team. You can't change the past, so what difference does it make now?
I think those who criticize a GM should say what should have been done instead. But you’d have made Gaudreau around the 10th highest paid player in the league when it looked like he’d peaked 2 seasons before?
Tkachuk wanted $9M at least, hence his QO season number.
I’m not criticizing the move, so I don’t have to say what should have been done.
It wouldn't have been from me. I was more than willing to pay up for the franchise players of the team, even if I had to go slightly above what I'd be comfortable with. These are the franchise players of the team who lead your team in scoring every year; you pay and find the savings elsewhere.
Even dating back to 2021, all we heard was that Gaudreau wanted to finish his contract and sign with Philly. Well, in his final season press conference, he mentioned for the first time, that he'd be open to re-signing if Brad and ownership was happy with him. For me personally, that was all I needed to hear to get the ball moving. Then I remember feeling quite anxious by the summer when it hadn't been announced yet as Gaudreau's wedding was coming up. It always left me feeling uneasy that Johnny was marrying a Philly girl especially with the Chris Pronger's wife hating Edmonton fiasco.
It's tough to know without knowing what the exact asks were.
My thought at the time was under $8M they should re-sign him without hesitation, $8-9M ask it would come down to what the return was on the trade market for him, and $9M+ they should have traded him.
In the end I still feel like that would been the right approach...but more and more I think they shouldn't hand out any 8 year contracts to players 29 or older unless you are sure they are true elite players.
