We're Less Than A Week Away From The Start Of The Season And Jonathan Gaudreau Is Still A Free Agent
Wednesday night. We’re just 5 days away from the start of the 2016-17 NHL season and Mr. Hockey still hasn’t re-signed with the Calgary Flames. I’m not saying that this is a bigger deal than when LeBron still hadn’t re-signed with the Cavs, but it’s not like he waited a week before the season started to finally put his Herbie Hancock on the dotted line.
In case you haven’t been keeping up with Johnny Gaudreau’s contract saga, here’s the four one one.
- Gaudreau was asking for somewhere around the $8 million range. He’s a tiny little fuck who still manages to put up big time numbers and if he signs long-term, you have to imagine the salary cap will go up eventually and $8 million won’t look like quite as much as it would today.
- The Flames want to get Gaudreau to sign somewhere in the same range as they got Monahan this summer. They’d like to keep him under Mark Giordano’s $6.75 AAV which is the highest on the team. But like I said, eventually that cap is going to rise and $6.375 could end up being considered robbery for Gaudreau in let’s say 2019.
- As you can see, Johnny is a restricted free agent. So as much as other GMs around the league would love to fly in to Calgary with a briefcase filled with $8 million, they can’t do that.
- Gaudreau and his agent have both come out and said that unlike other unsigned RFA’s like Jacob Trouba, they won’t be requesting a trade. However, I feel like you only have to say you’re not requesting a trade when you’re actually requesting a trade.
As an investigative journalist, something here stinks to me and I’m looking to sniff it out. When you’re dealing with agents, the wording of everything is important. They’re sneaky bastards who are always scheming and up to no good. So while Johnny Gaudreau isn’t requesting a trade, that doesn’t mean that they’re not open to one. What makes the most sense? Glad you asked. A sign & trade with THE Philadelphia Flyers, of course. Gaudreau grew up a Flyers fan as a South Jersey native. Plus, he already formed some strong chemistry with Shayne Gostisbehere together at the World Cup.
Just imagine a 3-on-3 overtime line up Gaudreau, Ghost and Giroux. The 3 G’s. Holy fucking tits they’d end every game 30 seconds in. I think it makes the most sense in the world that Gaudreau is just waiting to see if the Flyers can make a deal work out with Calgary before he signs his contract. What does Calgary need the most? Defense. What does Philly have an overabundance of? Defensemen. Gaudreau signs for Tarasenko’s $7.5 AAV, gets shipped over to Philly for Andrew MacDonald plus a conditional bag of pucks, everybody is happy. (Just let me have this fantasy. It’s Friday).
On a more realistic note, Flames GM Brad Treliving is in New York talking with Gaudreau’s agent probably as we speak. They announced the Monahan extension on a Friday so chances are this entire blog could be rendered irrelevant in just a few hours. The Flames have just around $7 million left in cap space to play with and they’d be bozos to not hand it all over to Johnny. Then he’ll be rich and able to buy all the 55 flex sticks he could ever need.
Gaudreau. Monahan. Bennett. Tkachuk. A new coach and Brian Elliott between the pipes? Time to invest heavily in some Flames stock.