Johnny Gaudreau Chooses Columbus To Headline Day 1 Of 2022 NHL Free Agency

He may be small of stature, but Johnny Gaudreau was the biggest fish in the pond when the NHL’s free-agent market opened on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old finished second behind Connor McDavid with a career-high 115 points in the 2021-22 season, including 40 goals. And after playing his entire career with the Calgary Flames, there were whispers that he was looking for a change of scenery.

After finishing first in the Pacific Division with 111 points last season, the Flames pulled out all the stops, financially. As holders of his rights, they were the only club that could offer him a maximum eight-year term — but only until the free-agency period began.

On Tuesday, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that general manager Brad Treliving made his best offer, totalling more than $80 million.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN confirmed Wednesday that the Flames had offered a total of $85 million.

A South Jersey native, it was widely believed that the shifty winger wanted to join a team closer to home. The Philadelphia Flyers were a natural fit but were never really in the mix — tight to the salary-cap ceiling and arguably needing a more complete makeover than they’d get from adding one high-end scorer.

That left two neighbours, the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, as the top contenders for Gaudreau’s services. Educated guesses put the dollar values of the offers in the $65-million range over seven seasons.

The Devils are located in Gaudreau’s home state, and building back to respectability with a core of young talent including top centers Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Newly drafted defenseman Simon Nemec will soon be joining 2021 free-agent prize Dougie Hamilton on the back end.

The Islanders also offered the opportunity to play with a highly skilled center, Mathew Barzal. Eastern Conference finalists in both 2020 and 2021, they also have a strong recent winning culture, plus a passionate fanbase at the brand new, state-of-the-art UBS Arena.

When free agency officially opened at noon ET on Wednesday, all was quiet around Gaudreau. But by late afternoon, reports surfaced that the Columbus Blue Jackets had stepped up with a monster offer of their own.

In the end, that number was in the same ballpark as what the Islanders and Devils were reportedly offering: a seven-year deal worth $68.25 million.

In Columbus, lands a bit farther from home, in a college town that’s home to Ohio State University, and boasts a high liveability factor.

Gaudreau is joining a team on the rise — with a blue-line star in Zach Werenski and high-end recent first-round picks Yegor Chinakhov, Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson already with NHL games under their belts. Gaudreau’s Flames teammate, Erik Gudbranson, is also along for the ride. The big defender signed a four-year deal with a cap hit of $4 million per season earlier on Wednesday

The signing is arguably the biggest in franchise history for the Blue Jackets, who joined the NHL as an expansion team in 2000 and have better known for being spurned in free agency. In 2019, most notably, Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky signed as free agents with the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers, respectively, just months after the Blue Jackets shocked the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning with a first-round playoff sweep.

Colorado Tries To Keep Championship Core Together

Just 17 days after celebrating the 2022 Stanley Cup win on June 26, the championship roster of the Colorado Avalanche lost a couple of key players to free agency on Wednesday.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper, 32, signed a five-year deal with a cap hit of $5.25 million with the Washington Capitals. Andre Burakovsky joined the Seattle Kraken on a five-year deal at $5.5 million per season and infamous Cup-denter and depth forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel joined the Toronto Maple Leafs on a one-year deal worth $1 million.

The Avalanche have already re-upped with several players from their winning team. Valeri Nichushkin, 27, was the big winner, with a new eight-year deal with a cap hit of $6.125 million. On Wednesday, new general manager Chris McFarland also inked 2022 trade-deadline acquisitions Artturi Lekhonen and Josh Manson to new multi-year deals that each carry cap hits of $4.5 million a year. Veteran role players Andrew Cogliano and Darren Helm will also be back on new contracts.

As of Wednesday evening, there’s no landing spot yet for Nazem Kadri. The 31-year-old center who hit a career high with 87 regular-season points and added another 15 points in 16 playoff games.

A return to Colorado has not been ruled out.

Lightning Ink 3 To Max Extensions

Coming off two Stanley Cup wins of their own in 2020 and 2021, the Tampa Bay Lightning have also been keen to lock up their core players on long-term deals, leading to contract stability for players like Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

On Wednesday, his first opportunity, Tampa Bay general manager inked three players from his next generation of talent to max-term eight-year contract extensions. The cap hit for defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, 24, is $8.5 million per season. Fellow blueliner Erik Cernak, 25, gets $5.2 million and forward Anthony Cirelli, 24, gets $6.25 million.

All three players have one year remaining on their current contracts, so these extensions will take effect for the 2023-24 season.

Another Lightning defenseman, 31-year-old Jan Rutta, joined the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday on a three-year pact with a cap hit of $2.75 million per year. Forward Ondrej Palat, also 31, has been a valuable member of the Lightning since being drafted in the seventh round in 2011. Now, he’s an unrestricted free agent who has been squeezed off the roster due to salary-cap challenges. As of Wednesday night, he has yet to commit to a new home.

Who Else Is Still Available?

In addition to Palat and Kadri, unrestricted free agents in the prime of their careers who did not sign deals on Wednesday include 29-year-old right-shot defenseman John Klingberg, speedy winger Nino Niederreiter and center Dylan Strome.

Thirty-something veterans who could continue their careers in new homes next season include high-scoring Phil Kessel, pivot Paul Stastny and defenseman P.K. Subban.