Johnny Gaudreau basically gets former Blue Jacket traded, then buys his house!
When free agency opened on July 13th this year, the biggest name available was Johnny Gaudreau.
Gaudreau was coming off a 40 goal 115 point season, and at the age of 29, he was looking to really hit it big in free agency.
Unfortunately for the Calgary Flames, the team that drafted and developed him, he left millions on the table with the Flames and joined the Columbus Blue Jackets, signing a 7 year contract with an AAV of $9,750,000.
Now bringing in this level of salary is a lot to fit under the cap, especially when they were just about to extend Patrik Laine to a 4 year deal with an AAV of $8,700,000, so someone had to go.
The poor victim was Oliver Bjorkstrand who was coming off of career highs in both goals (28) and points (57) and was shipped to Seattle for almost nothing. In return the Blue Jackets got a round 3 pick in the 2023 draft and round 4 pick in the 2023 draft. Not very much for an almost 30 goal scorer.
But what makes this look worse is, apparently Gaudreau bought Bjorkstrand's house!
#CBJ president of hockey operations John Davidson says that Johnny Gaudreau bought Oliver Bjorkstrand's house.
It was Gaudreau's free agent signing that prompted Bjorkstrand's trade to Seattle. #SeaKraken— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) September 19, 2022
Lucky for Bjorkstrand the Kraken are going to be a good up-and-coming team and they brought in some decent pieces this offseason, so it could be a blessing in disguise getting shipped out of Columbus.
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SEPTEMBRE 21 | 406 ANSWERS Johnny Gaudreau basically gets former Blue Jacket traded, then buys his house! Will Gaudreau be boo'd in Calgary? | ||
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