“It’s disappointing” – Twitter flames up as Johnny Gaudreau tests free agency on Wednesday

“It’s disappointing” – Twitter flames up as Johnny Gaudreau tests free agency on Wednesday

Johnny Gaudreau

Calgary Flames star winger Johnny Gaudreau decided to leave the team as he marched into the unrestricted free agent market on Wednesday afternoon. Flames general manager Brad Treliving said, “It’s a disappointing day to say the very least”. “I sat in front of you, those who are local here, at the end of our season, and I think my line was, ‘We would move heaven and earth (to sign Gaudreau).’”

He further continued, “I can assure our fans we’ve done everything possible to keep Johnny in Calgary. I want to wish Johnny, his family, his wife Meredith — he’s going to be a dad in the upcoming months — I want to wish his family the very best. He gave us eight wonderful years here, great memories. It’s difficult. The hard part of this business is we do have to move on.”

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Johnny Gaudreau is officially out from Calgary Flames

Johnny Gaudreau
Johnny Gaudreau

Johnny Gaudreau had a career-high of 40 goals, 75 assists, and 115 points in 82 games this season. He was in the final year of his 6-year $40.5  million contract with the Calgary Flames at an annual average of $6.75 million. He led the Flames in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 14 points in 12 games when they were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Second Round.

After their elimination, Gaudreau mentioned he wanted to be in Calgary and win the next Cup with them, “I’ve been here for 11 years and haven’t got to that ultimate goal,” Gaudreau said on May 28. “It’s been a while since they’ve won here (1989). So, I think that would be pretty special, to win a Cup here. It’s something that I kind of dreamed about my whole life, and Calgary is a great place to do it.” 

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Treliving mentioned that it was “an emotional” conversation with Gaudreau before his leave. His teammates, GM, coach, and his fans are very upset to see this outcome. Many took Twitter as the platform to vent out their frustrations and disappointment to see him go into free agency. Johnny Gaudreau has total points of 609 in 602 regular-season games and 33 points in 42 playoff games with the Calgary Flames.

As per nhl.com, Treliving further stated, “I don’t want to speak for John and I won’t speak for John, but it’s my strong belief that this was a family decision, and I respect that”. “That’s something that certainly John has every right [to], and we have nothing but respect for John the player and John the person.” His fans have been tweeting away which team would suit him and a look at how and where he approaches as his next stop. Everyone including his team has been wishing him well on his new journey.

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