Johnny Gaudreau has been offered a contract worth about $80M. The 28 year old winger played the full 82 games this season with the Calgary Flames, scoring 40 goals and assisting 75 for a career high total of 115 points. He had 14 points in 12 playoff games as well this season. Gaudreau has played his entire career with the Flames, being drafted 104th overall in the 2011 draft, and debuting with the Flames in the 2013-2014 NHL season.
Gaudreau led the entire Flames roster this season in assists, points, shots on goal, on ice goals % (74.5%) , on ice goal differential (+104) and shooting talent above average (13.2%). Data from Moneypuck.com.
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According to Frank Seravalli, The Calgary Flames have put a 8 year, $80M contract on the table for Gaudreau. A $10M AAV for the Flames, who currently have over $25M in cap space, but also need to sign star player Matthew Tkachuk, as well as Andrew Mangiapane. Gaudreau was on a $6.75M AAV contract over the last 6 years. This new contract would be the biggest contract in Calgary Flames history, and one of the biggest currently in the NHL.
The Calgary Flames have a solid squad that has potential to make a cup run with the right pieces added, but losing Gaudreau would hurt. Gaudreau will likely still go to the open market to see what opportunities are out there, and will have this Flames contract to fall back on if he doesn’t find something more enticing.
Gaudreau now has a decision to make, it is certainly not just about the money, or he would have signed this Flames deal in a heartbeat. Does he believe that the Flames are his best chance of winning a Stanley Cup, or will there be another offer on the table, potentially at a lower value, but with a higher chance of success that could be more enticing to Johnny? We will have to wait an see, but there have currently been no concrete reports of any teams that are set to make an offer for the 28 year old superstar, but we know there will certainly be a couple.
The Calgary Flames currently sit with +1800 odds to win the Stanley Cup, the 7th best odds in the league, with the Colorado Avalanche being +400 favorites.
