Matthew Tkachuk & Johnny Gaudreau Signing Watch Thread

[agulati]

Originally Posted by Saqe

Yeah. Johnny has them by the balls lol. They have to cave in.

That’s what they have always conveyed as well. Money is not the factor. They might be hoping that Johnny comes in a bit lower so they can use the savings towards on of the other RFAs

[PepsiFree]

Sounds like negotiations are ongoing and Johnny is both making his demands known and listening to new offers from the Flames, if what’s reported is true.

That’s a good thing to me. They were reportedly $2M off a few days ago, so the gap is closing. They’ll figure it out I think.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

lol @ the Flames if they don’t go above $10M and lose Johnny because of it.

Team is totally fine overpaying James Neal/Milan Lucic, but refuse to pay elite talent what they’re worth.

They’ll pay market value for 2nd and 3rd line forwards, but not elite talent?

Yikes. Flames better up that offer, or it’s rebuild time because the team without Johnny (+ the others that want out of Johnny leaves) is nowhere near Championship quality.

Well, just because a poster said he/she was told and without saying by whom, we should take it with a grain of salt. Have anyone heard anything from any of the creditable media reporting anything like that?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

lol @ the Flames if they don’t go above $10M and lose Johnny because of it.

Team is totally fine overpaying James Neal/Milan Lucic, but refuse to pay elite talent what they’re worth.

They’ll pay market value for 2nd and 3rd line forwards, but not elite talent?

Yikes. Flames better up that offer, or it’s rebuild time because the team without Johnny (+ the others that want out of Johnny leaves) is nowhere near Championship quality.

It's negotiating. I don't think Gaudreau has any intention of leaving but it is his agents job to put the pressure on to get the most money possible.

Flames initial offer is 9.5 x 8
Gross counters with 11.5 x 8
Flames come back at 10 x 8
Now Grosse will come back at 11x8
Then they will negotiate back and forth until they settle on 10.5x 8. dissentowner ends up right, Johnny stays, we all rejoice! Make it so.

[jayswin]

I'm actually more optimistic after DionTheDman's post (if true, of course). It's right down to the wire and I have faith the Flames will give in to a number less than $11.5 before Tuesday evening.

What scared me was radio silence as that points more to him waiting out and then heading to free agency regardless of Flames offers. If it's $10m and $11.5 from either side, great. I don't even need the middle, I think the Flames will go $11mil and Johnny will take it and that's one million times better than this stupid franchise bumbling ahead like they're threatening to win anything with this core minus Johnny.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by flamesgod

Are you kidding? We haven’t been this close to building a winner in a very long time. Let’s tear it down and start all over again.

Think he was basing his post on the “info” that some players might want out if Johnny leaves.. if that rumour is true I doubt we are talking about the 4th line plugs .

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

Well, just because a poster said he/she was told and without saying by whom, we should take it with a grain of salt. Have anyone heard anything from any of the creditable media reporting anything like that?

Meh, I know we can't know for sure, but to have two reports of similar nature from two long time CP posters that post in a very casual, professional manner normally is enough for me personally to believe there's a lot of credibility there.

There's many posters here who I'd go "yeah, yeah, you want attention or think you know things" if they were posting this. The two current posters are the exact opposite of these types to the point of believing they wouldn't post this for any reason other than having heard something.

[Burning Beard]

A lot of the same people going on about overpaying players by a million or two in other threads are on here criticizing the team for trying to negotiate and get the best deal possible with Johnny. I'm personally glad that the management didn't hand Johnny a blank cheque for whatever he wanted. Seems to me that the best managed teams negotiate on contracts...

[tvp2003]

No idea if it’s true but if so it’s a negotiation and both sides know when the rubber hits the road so to speak. I think it will get done but Treliving’s only leverage at this point is trying to convince Johnny to take less than 11.5 so there is enough left to extend Tkachuk long term (IMO).

[flamesgod]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Think he was basing his post on the “info” that some players might want out if Johnny leaves.. if that rumour is true I doubt we are talking about the 4th line plugs .

Fair enough.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Source?

Mod can PM, but not going to divulge publicly.

[Swayze11]

The ball has always been in Johnnys court tbh

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Saqe

Yeah. Johnny has them by the balls lol. They have to cave in.

End of the day the Flames did the exact same thing to Johnny when he was a RFA in 2016. Despite being 6th in league scoring at 22 the Flames forced Johnny to take the Gio cap under $7M.

The Flames have to pay to keep Johnny and if it is 10.5-11.5 they need to do it because the alternative is not the direction they want to go

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

End of the day the Flames did the exact same thing to Johnny when he was a RFA in 2016. Despite being 6th in league scoring at 22 the Flames forced Johnny to take the Gio cap under $7M.

The Flames have to pay to keep Johnny and if it is 10.5-11.5 they need to do it because the alternative is not the direction they want to go

This is one thing that bugs me a bit with Tre's successful RFA deals. Yes, the numbers are great, but then do the players go for some "payback" when they gain some leverage? Curious to see, especially with players like Johnny and Bread.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

A lot of the same people going on about overpaying players by a million or two in other threads are on here criticizing the team for trying to negotiate and get the best deal possible with Johnny. I'm personally glad that the management didn't hand Johnny a blank cheque for whatever he wanted. Seems to me that the best managed teams negotiate on contracts...

As long as they're ultimately going to pay him $11AAV or less. Being tough negotiators is one thing and I appreciate that part of the process but if you lose Johnny it is a catastrophe for this current build no matter how some spin it as "well others players step up and we should still be really good".

We'll be good without Gaudreau for sure. But no where neat contending for a Cup, yet likely still building as if we are almost there.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

I was told today the current positions are:

11.5 from Johnny
10.0 from the Flames -- offer given directly to Johnny by Murray Edwards yesterday. Not sure if this means that they went over Tre's head or if it was more of a "this is how important you are" type thing.

This is an interesting little tidbit.

I’m inclined to agree this wouldn’t be about going “over” Treliving, likely more just a respect thing in terms of getting the information communicated directly from the guy at the top (ie. who is signing the cheques).

Although part of me wonders if this isn’t a bit of a negotiation tactic, Treliving probably knows the market value for Gaudreau is closer to $10.5M if not higher, so instead of making Treliving look like the unreasonable one by only offering $10M, you get Edwards to look like the penny pincher and try to sell the counter. Then when it comes to crunch time Treliving can come through with the final offer that both sides can agree to…

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

Mod can PM, but not going to divulge publicly.

I would say it's all good. You've been here 18 years and don't ever do this kind of thing lol. Should be trustworthy enough and other posters can still just decide whether to lend credence or not.

[Ferarri]

10.5 would be fair but I think it’s going to have to be 11.0 to get it done.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

This is one thing that bugs me a bit with Tre's successful RFA deals. Yes, the numbers are great, but then do the players go for some "payback" when they gain some leverage? Curious to see, especially with players like Johnny and Bread.

Johnny is the first one up if I am not mistaken? The Hamilton negotiation was quick and they traded him halfway through his contract. I can’t think of someone he signed as a RFA and then again as a UFA? Backlund maybe?

If the player doesn’t feel the need for payback I could definitely see the agent looking forward to the tables turning. Here we are with Gross who holds all the cards

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

This is one thing that bugs me a bit with Tre's successful RFA deals. Yes, the numbers are great, but then do the players go for some "payback" when they gain some leverage? Curious to see, especially with players like Johnny and Bread.

I'm of the opinion that Brad gained and lost nothing on this negotiation in regards to the last negotiation with Johnny.

Especially considering the agent, this negotiation was always going for maximum dollars and right down to the last minute whether the last one went as it did or Brad had given Johnny en extra million a year and said "the extra mil is out of the goodness of my heart because you're a swell guy".