Johnny Gaudreau was on Philadelphia CBS radio this morning, and gave a quote that partially stopped the hearts of many Calgary Flames fans listening in.
I’ve got a ton of family here, all my friends…all my friends come back here, all my good friends and kids that I’ve played with my whole life are from South Jersey. It would be sweet to play here some day. You never know in sports, but there’s a lot of support back here in South Jersey and the Philly area.
This can probably be put up there with Drew Doughty’s comments on playing in Toronto from earlier this offseason, as something said just to appease the listeners of the radio program Gaudreau was on at the time. After all, he did sign a long-term deal with the Flames last summer and said at the time that he’d like to play his whole career with Sean Monahan in Calgary if he could. Still, it’s something to remember for the summer of 2022 when a 28-year old Gaudreau is destined to be an unrestricted free agent.
- The Blackhawks got some bad news today, as Tommy Wingels suffered a broken foot during his offseason training and will miss 6-8 weeks of the offseason. He is still expected to be ready for training camp, though missing two months of his offseason is never a good thing. Wingels was brought in on a one-year deal by the Blackhawks this summer to help fill out their bottom six with affordable veterans, after a season in which he produced just 12 points. It’s been a steep fall from his career-high of 38 in 2013-14, and he is best suited to a fourth line role at this point.
- The Toronto Marlies added a player from development camp earlier today, and also re-signed Alex Gudbranson to a two-way minor league deal. Gudbranson spent a few games with the Marlies at the end of last season on loan from the Minnesota organization, but will join Toronto full-time next year.
- Darryl Sutter won’t be in the Los Angeles Kings organization next season, but his son will. Brett Sutter, the former Calgary Flames prospect has re-signed with the Ontario Reign on an AHL contract. He scored 36 points with the Reign last year, after coming over from the Iowa Wild in 2016.