As first reported by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Calgary Flames aren’t expected to reach an agreement with top free-agent forward Johnny Gaudreau prior to the market opening tomorrow at noon Eastern time. He’ll test free agency and hit the open market as a result.
Gaudreau and Calgary haven’t come to an agreement despite steadily increasing offers from general manager Brad Treliving to get him to stay. It was reported earlier today that Calgary had offered Gaudreau an eight-year deal worth more than $10MM per season. Gaudreau either believes he can get more on the open market tomorrow, or he simply wants a change of scenery out of Alberta.
After his electric 115-point season, he’ll have a certain handful of teams willing to pony up eight figures to get his services. While the Philadelphia Flyers have been linked to him constantly for years, they’ve failed to clear enough cap space in order to make signing him a realistic possibility. One team with loads of cap space that’s a logical fit is the New Jersey Devils, who could launch themselves into playoff contention with a Gaudreau/Jack Hughes connection up front.
No matter what, Gaudreau is slated to join the more-than-$10MM cap hit club tomorrow. He’d be the 15th player in the league currently on an eight-figure deal and the only left wing aside from the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin.
The only question I have is which one of Gaudreau, Tkachuk, and Debrincat gets third line minutes.
Flyers can exxceed Cap by 10% in pre-season. If they sign Gaudreau – they will find a way under the cap, somehow.
No sense clearing the space if you are not sure you can get the deal done.
Ellis probably goes to IR. JvR can also be dumped and stretched.
But at the same time if you spend that money and are in cap hell, who’s going to be willing to help you out without getting talent for pennies on the dollar OR you overpaying for teams to help you
He’s not going to Philly lmao. He will be playing for New Jersey devils come next season.
New Jersey would seem like a more attractive option, good young talent there
Jersey has some centres….
Damn, does it always have to be about money?
well I’d assume getting out of a dump like Calgary has something to do with it too
Calgary is not a dump.
Correct, it’s a landfill!
Says he dumb fucking American
The Flames team and their offer are better than his likely landing spots, so one must assume this is a family based decision.
Flames should have given him a take or leave it offer before Fiala and DeBrincat changed hands.
Poor work by Treliving.
That’s going to hurt.
He could help the Wings
Gaudreau wants to play In the USA!!!
PHI
NJD
SEA
ANA
…NYI
If Dubas was actually brilliant instead of a guy who just got stuck with Matt Murray only to watch the team who stuck him with Matt Murray then get a better goalie for less money the very next day…he’d sign Gaudreau and then trade Marner to fill the other holes on his team.
So Gaudreau would play on the third line?
Oilers would be a great fit for Gaudreau.
Cant have 3 players making $30 million. Especially when one is a passenger like Johnny
Leafs style
“Treliving added that his next steps would be problematic because “you’re certainly not going out and replacing a player like John. That’s something we’ll look at as an organization.
“The wrong move right now is to make a kneejerk reaction and just rush out and replace the player with the wrong response. So we just have to take a deep breath. It’s been a long process over the last couple of days, but at the end of the day, we need to move forward and we intend to do that.”
So…up until this moment you haven’t considered losing Gaudreau and have no Plan B? By all means, sit around and pontificate for a few weeks.
A real GM would be on the phone right now trying to pry Tarasenko out of St. Louis while the Blues still have a chance to use his cap space to keep Perron and might actually be willing to deal him, but sure…having a backup plan to an obvious possibility/eventuality would be “knee jerk”.
Gaudreau is not getting some per year $$ and less term. Can’t compete if you build your team around player not dedicated to your team. Good riddance, sure making less on bad teams that will have to partially gut roster to fit you in.
Can’t believe he’s choosing free agency over playing on one of the best lines in the league. He lied to the fans about loving Calgary. As a longtime Flames fan this one hurts. Where’s the loyalty Johnny? Flames have to get Tkachuk locked up ASAP
Maybe Johnny will pull a fast one on all of us and just re-sign in CGY. “Hey, if Stammer can mess with you guys, so can I!”
The lack of cap space by the Flyers is another of the many areas of mismanagement by Fletcher. Little cap space for a horrendous team. He certainly should’ve been shown the door after the season. Next season doesn’t look all that promising, Flyer fans.