How Did The Flyers Botch The Johnny Gaudreau Signing?

How Did The Flyers Botch The Johnny Gaudreau Signing?

The Flyers had Johnny Gaudreau gift wrapped to them in a bow and they blew it. That’s exactly what happened. They had their chance to bring the south Jersey kid home and passed. I’m not sure it gets worse. Chuck Fletcher, Comcast, and the entire city of Philadelphia need to be put on notice because the rest of the NHL fans are laughing at you.

Things we're still trying to process: Blue Jacket Johnny

On the season finale of 32 Thoughts, @JeffMarek & @FriedgeHNIC cover the Johnny Gaudreau to Columbus story from all angles, and much more.

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The karma gods actually went Philadelphia’s way. A star athlete wanted to come and play for them. Gaudreau, 28, is coming off a 115 point season which would have led the Flyers last year by 63 points. In fact, that 63 point differential is still substantially higher than the 52 points Travis Konecny led the team with last year. Johnny Hockey could have suited up in the Wells Fargo Center as the new face of the franchise and they said NO…

Karma works in mysterious ways but it favors those who pay attention. You can’t fix stupid. Just remember those sad Philly fans that never win anything. This is why. Half the time they do it to themselves.

Oh, wait… It gets better. Chuck Fletcher told you exactly why they didn’t land Gaudreau.

“We’re not involved in the Johnny Gaudreau sweepstakes,” Fletcher said.

“We don’t have the cap space to pursue those high-end type of free agents.

“You’d have to move multiple contracts to be able to do that and you have to have a team, as well. In some cases, contracts are extremely hard to move. In other cases, there are players that we don’t want to move, we feel they’re a big part of our future.”

I’m sorry but it’s embarrassing. He also lied to you. The Flyers did have cap space and they knew this Gaudreau day was coming. They used their cap space to re-sign Rasmus Ristolainen. They also traded for Tony DeAngelo further depleting their cap space. Those two moves gets you Gaudreau’s contract essentially. They could have also traded James Van Riemsdyk in a cap dump but things in life that are hard aren’t worth doing. That’s what Chuck Fletcher says anyway.

Who knows, maybe the Flyers dodged a bullet. Most UFA contracts don’t age well and we’re talking about a smaller player that just had the year of his life. Odds are, that Johnny hockey we just saw will never been seen again. However, what the Flyers are doing deserves riots on the streets on Philadelphia. They hired the guy that thinks Connor McDavid needs to change how he plays hockey. Why are you trading for DeAngelo if you’re not prepared to land Gaudreau? This Flyers franchise has a special kind of stink on it.

Johnny Gaudreau Signs 7-Year, $68.25 Million Contract In Columbus

We have to watch Gaudreau play in a stupid Blue Jackets sweater because Philadelphia couldn’t get their shit together. It’s bad for the Flyers and it’s bad for hockey. I don’t know how any Flyers fan watches their team next year. Count me out on putting them on my TV when the season reopens.