The biggest prize of NHL free agency has been won — by a very unlikely team.
On the first day of unrestricted free agency Wednesday, Johnny Gaudreau signed a seven-year, $68.3 million deal with the Blue Jackets for a $9.8 million average salary and cap hit.
On the surface, the 28-year-old’s decision to spend his prime years in Columbus is very bizarre — the franchise has no clear path to being a Stanley Cup contender, has no hometown connection to him, and gave him less money than other teams could offer.
- Gaudreau reportedly turned down an eight-year, $10.5M AAV deal from the Flames — the first and only team he’s ever played for.
- His hometown Devils offered the New Jersey native a similar number of years with an AAV north of $10M, according to some reports.
- The Flyers — whose front office has promised an “aggressive retool” — weren’t able to entice him either.
- The Islanders were also rumored to be interested.
Gaudreau seemingly had other motivations to join CBJ.
“I’d never been to Columbus before until I made it to the NHL, so when I started playing there I didn’t know what I was walking into, and I was just … ‘Wow!’” he told The Athletic. “They’ve always had great crowds, really into the game. I said to myself then, ‘This looks like a really fun place to play.’”
In his introductory press conference Thursday, he doubled down on those sentiments, saying that Columbus was a place he “had circled on [his] list for a long time.”
From a hockey perspective, it could be worse: Gaudreau will likely be on a line with Patrik Laine, a dynamic goalscorer who hit the 30-goal mark in each of his first three seasons.
