rickross

We’ll there you have it. Johnny screwed us over and it sounds like it’s out of spite. The reasoning he’s provided for leaving doesn’t really up! Something definitely happened here in Calgary that irked him. Nobody leaves that much money in the table just because they think the other destination “has great fans” is BS..even the Columbus GM asked if he was serious about coming there proves CLB wasn’t Johnnys primary choice destination. He was never gonna sign here and played the Flames out of spite. No idea what it could have been. Apparently we suck as fans? Honestly this doesn’t make sense and starting to look like he was trying to get back at the Flames organization…or is it disorganization now??

Yup. Ohio it is! ….he can eat his cheese sandwiches with American cheese again

We’re both right! This is a really messed up situation, I mean they COULD have traded him at the TDL but that would have derailed our playoff chances so a trade didn’t make much sense at the time. I’m sure BT tried to start negotiations earlier but no way JH would undersell his value going into a contract year. Of course he puts up career numbers to boot. We all saw in the playoffs how much this team lacked playmakers, let alone elite players. Losing Johnny is an absolute stomp on the gonads of this organization BUT…this has to bring out the best from this organization. You can see the glaring holes and just how little star power this team has developed or attracted over the years. Now we’re going to get the “Workmen” version of the Flames. No Flash…no more danglin’…just some hard and honest hockey. It might work but it won’t be pretty. If anything this should only whip this entire organization into shape. Keep in mind the impact of losing a player of Johnnys caliber doesn’t exactly help sell an “exciting team” looking for a new arena

There are always risks involved and there are no guarantees, it’s why they negotiate. Johnny Gaudreau didn’t want to be a Calgary Flame anymore, sadly he waited until the last minute to state as much. And here we are now. It’s a failure on the organization not being better prepared but it also falls on the player for failing or delaying to state his true intentions and ultimately handcuffing the franchise

It’s all coulda, woulda , shoulda in hindsight! We’re you out here advocating to trade JH all of last season ?….or we’re enjoying him help propel the team into the playoffs? We all know BT isn’t trade shy, if he knew the situation was an untenable one he’d have made the proper arrangements at this time. I genuinely believe the Flames FELT they had a solid chance to sign him..clearly they weren’t giving reason to otherwise. Besides BT never promised anything…but Craig Conroy sure did over national tv at that! He promised “he’d get it done!”…even referred to himself as “Santa Claus handing out contracts”. Don’t think that level of over confidence helped our chances any. Losing Johnny sucks but the organization has to move forward and build from this. This could become a very positive thing in time

The fact that Johnny is now married and expecting a child is not an excuse, it’s a simple fact. His priorities have changed since last year, no dancing around that. The players are human beings let’s try and keep that in mind. What if Johnny refused to enter negotiations last summer ? That still BT’s fault? Johnny is an American , he didn’t grow up in Calgary…he wanted to play closer to his family in the US…but I guess thats Trelivings fault too! It’s a 2 way street! Johnny is also to blame for the stalemate and our current situation…he could have clearly communicated he wasn’t staying no matter the offer and saved this waste of a process. It’s a tough blow but Tre was in a tough position, u can’t sign players without their consent. Clearly JH didn’t want to be here anymore he just waited until the last minute to be forthcoming about it. Go ahead and fire BT and then who do u suggest to replace him? What GM would magically have gotten JH to stay ? I’ll wait! Im not going to overreact until I see what the contingency plan is. If this team is less than adequate come next season then BT deserves all the blame until let’s see how this plays out.

This is also on Johnny. He waited until the very last minute to make a clear decision, in a way he hold the entire franchise hostage throughout the process. He could have just informed BT earlier on he had no intention to resign as he wanted to be close to home but he didn’t. So now we move on. BT has had a long time to prepare for this day but it’s been a fluid situation. Now that it’s over we have to get over it and grow as a franchise. We can fire BT but that signals another rebuild…for a team that finished tops in its division at that. There’s still a team we have to ice, we don’t live and die with Johnny

I get the frustration In not getting a deal done but BT was up against the Gaudreau FAMILY…that’s a very important and loud voice to negotiate with. Johnny is a married man now. This wasn’t just his decision anymore, ultimately it didn’t matter what BT offered him. It’s a tough loss and I get the frustration but there were variables in play that weren’t there 1 year ago, very hard for anyone to predict. It’s over now. Time to move on, I’d rather judge BT on what he does now moving forward, what he has within his control. Losing Johnny isn’t the end of the world.

Exactly. In this case the player has moved on and so should we! This is not the time for “woe is me”, it’s a critical time for the franchise and it’s a great opportunity to move things in a better direction.

Time to move on folks! Let’s not get butthurt over this. One player doesn’t make a team. As great as Johnny has been for the Flames…what did we really accomplish with him? An embarrassing 2nd rd exit? We barely even got out of the 1st rd. This team has had major holes in it for years. If anything our focus shifts from depending on 100pts from Gaudreau every year to getting that production out of having more productive lines across the board. We had 1 true scoring line last year. That’s not the signs of a great team, it’s not even sustainable in this league. We have a ton of cap space and a brand new outlook ahead of us. Sure change can be scary but it can also be a great thing.

Hard to put this one solely on BT, ultimately it came down to Johnny’s decision, home is where the heart is. Where it IS on BT is the contingency planning. These next few days will be interesting for the Flames. I’m hoping BT doesn’t ’have any knee jerk reactions and commits big $ long term chasing this current UFA pool. It’s going to be a long night and next couple weeks for BT

Goodbye Johnny!! Thanks for the on ice magic! This really sucks! Barring some change in negotiations…I think he’s hitting the market 💯. Pretty tough not to live out your life long dream to play for your hometown team. Wish the kid all the best…even though him leaving really hurts the Flames. I had high hopes this would get done so onward we must go. Gonna really suck seeing him dance on us wearing another teams jersey! Does he get booed or applauded next time he’s at the Saddledome?

Think we should all just accept the fact the Johnny Gaudreau is no longer a Calgary Flame. There’s still time of course but they must be a ways away if it’s taking THIS long. Tough loss for the organization and the fan base lose a fan favourite…let alone our best player! Ouch! Time to consider life without him and how can we continue to improve this team without his services. Not ideal but reality bites!

Tick. Tock. We are really running out of time here. I had always hoped we’d be able to extend Gaudreau but the optics of radio silence aren’t looking too great right now. This is getting too close for comfort! Cmon Johnny sign on the line!!

I think Craig Conroy is the X factor here! He was talking smack early in the season….promising to get it done, pretty sure the man said he was “Santa Claus handing out contracts!” We are so screwed lol

Yea if we lose Gaudreau we will lose THE franchise playmaker…it would be a major loss as there’s just no replacing him from the FA pool. Do we even get passed Dallas in Rd 1 without Johnny? The opportunity to add depth via speed and skill will definitely be available but like you said , we don’t have enough of those elite level players who can seperate us from the pack. We’d be good but probably closer to a middling team again. I’m just hoping BT has a kill switch in place and magically trades his rights before Free Agency opens lol…Atleast we’d get a return and the extra cap space!

If we don’t extend Gaudreau which is looking more and more likely, I’d prefer if BT not go out and overpay the Kadris and Malkins out there. Rather shore up the precious cap space and see what comes up in trades or even for next year. Losing JH will change the dynamic of this team without question but I don’t want us to just settle on what’s available in the market if it’s not going to actually improve the team in the long term

Yeah don’t think that necessarily the case here. I think ppl are now started to see the writing on the wall with 24hrs remaining and no signs of progress that’s being reported of course. I’m not surprised if JH Atleast waits to see offers come Wednesday…he’s earned that right. Is Kadri the right kind of supplement? If Kadri isn’t available what really are BT’s contingency plans? He’s had a long time to prepare for this day

The end of the Tyler Parsons “era”. Too bad he never lived up to the hype, Atleast we have Wolfman now

Preparing for life without JH! If he does end up staying it’s likely $10M/8yrs…these contracts almost never work out in the long run but this is the business! We’ll get an announcement by tommorow evening, don’t think JH will want to drag this into Wednesday knowing it’s hampering the teams ability to improve itself.

Isn’t Brock’s qualifying offer starting at like $7.5M or something the rather? Much too rich for us at this stage, Lucic does give us somewhat of a edge with keeping opponents in check…Johnny would be a pancake out there without proper protection. Knowing Toffoli in a contract year he puts up numbers ..just our luck!

Let Holland overpay for Kulaks services..we still have Mackey and Valimaki chillin’ in the cut

I think the Flames will sign both Gaudreau and Tkachuk for mid to long term contracts. Sutter has been preaching how imperative it is to allow your core to grow together. He’s not the GM but he has that level of influence and experience of one. I think Monny is gonny…lol I just couldn’t resist…with the cap expected to go up over the next few years they could backload some offers to fit guys like Mangiapane and Kylington under the cap as well. I think both Sutter and Tre will work some magic…let’s not forget Connie is Santa Claus out here handing out contracts!

Flames just need to shut them out for a period. We need to figure out how to keep the pucks out and these continuous momentum swings we keep gifting the oilers

We’ve allowed a minimum of 4 goals per game , this is not the recipe for success especially in the playoffs! Biggest period of the year.