The Johnny Hockey sweepstakes are over. Despite the New Jersey Devils’ rampant interest in the former Calgary Flames forward, Johnny Gaudreau has shocked everyone by signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 7-year, $68.25M deal.
I’ve got to be honest, this is the last place I thought Johnny Hockey was going to wind up. No offense, Columbus, but the Blue Jackets might be the last team to be associated with “big-name” free agent signings. And I still really don’t know why he decided to sign with the Blue Jackets.
The New Jersey Devils are his hometown team (as he was born in Salem, NJ), and they supposedly offered him more money. Apparently, the Devils were offering a 7-year, $10M deal to join up with Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier to play at the Rock. That’s the deal I would have gone for.
The Flyers were also interested in Gaudreau (and he was a fan of them when he was a kid), though they couldn’t clear up enough cap space to fit the 115-point scorer on their talent-bereft roster.
For a team that utterly failed each and every expectation that was placed on them last season, I’m glad the Flyers are finally showing a little consistency by continuing their miserable streak of failing to attract big names to Philadelphia. First it was failing to bring back Claude Giroux, and now it is Gaudreau. Flyers fans should be thankful that Sean Couturier recently signed an 8-year extension.
Anyway, I’m glad to see Columbus finally able to attract some “big-name” free agents. It was only a four years ago when the Blue Jackets lost their three stars of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky to free agency.
Whether it was the Blue Jackets’ rebuilding project, their upper management, or some other factor that swayed Johnny Hockey really doesn’t matter. They somehow were able to convince the most desired free agent to sign with the team long-term.
That is a massive triumph for this franchise.
Hopefully, for Blue Jackets fans, the Gaudreau signing can convince their other star, Patrick Laine, to sign a long-term deal too. Can you imagine a line with Gaudreau and Laine on the wings? It would be a goal-machine! Columbus’ next move has to be acquiring an elite passing center to complement those two.
The Columbus Blue Jackets may not be a playoff contending team yet, but it is only a matter of time. With a few more additions down the middle of the ice, I can see Columbus returning to playoff action in 2-3 years’ time.
As for Johnny Gaudreau, I think this is a high risk-high reward move. He will either become the hero that the Blue Jackets have long desired by putting up 85-95pts/season regularly and getting this team back to the playoffs. Or he won’t be able to recapture his Calgary Flames’ form and will wind up yet another overpriced, overrated free agent signing in the long history of the NHL.
Only time will tell.
Images Source: Featured Image:
