Johnny Gaudreau will join the Columbus Blue Jackets as a free agent. Wednesday also saw several Finnish transfers and contracts.
13:26•Updated 13:27
Wednesday night saw a transfer bombshell in the NHL, when the superstar who represented the Calgary Flames his entire career, but moved to the free market Johnny Gaudreau28, signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The contract is for seven years and is worth about 68.25 million dollars, about 9.75 million per season.
GM of the Ohio team Jarmo Kekäläinen was excited about the arrival of a star player in Columbus, which is not used to being considered a destination for hard players.
The door has rather gone the other way: star players have left the club in recent years, among other things Seth Jones, Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky.
Kekäläinen took a stand on the talk about Columbus’s reputation when he got the chance.
– I think we can finally put an end to the nonsense that this is somehow a bad destination or city for players. That has never been true. We’ve had a bad reputation because a few people haven’t wanted to commit here for a long time. However, it has not been the fault of the city or the team, Kekäläinen acknowledged the For Athletic. (you switch to another service)
– Every time I see a similar comment, I get a rash.
According to Kekäläinen, however, Gaudreau’s desire to come to Columbus was surprising. Things finally happened quickly during Wednesday.
– He was at the top of our wish list. Gaudreau’s contact came a bit out of the blue. When a player of that size wants to join the team, you have to make moves. And that’s what we did, Kekäläinen said.
– Gaudreau is an elite-level player who has character and makes his teammates better players as well. Great to have a player of this caliber in the team. This is an exciting day for our club, our supporters and the city of Columbus, Kekäläinen said according to nhl.com (you will go to another service).
Gaudreau turned down the lucrative offer
Gaudreau has scored 609 points in his career in 602 regular season games. This season, Gaudreau scored 40+75=115 points in 82 regular season games. Only Edmonton remained ahead Connor McDavid, who reached 123 points. Gaudreau was the NHL’s best in the plus-minus statistic with a reading of +64.
“Johnny Hockey” would have had enough takers. The runner-up in the points market of the regular season refused Calgary’s extension offer of eight years and almost 84 million euros, which would have known annual earnings of 10.5 million dollars.
The 28-year-old scoring machine was thought to be moving to the vicinity of his hometown, New Jersey. The New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders were strong in the preliminary plans.
However, Gaudreau chose a club that has never advanced beyond the second round of the NHL playoffs. The striker told The Athletic in an interview that Columbus has been on his papers for a long time.
– When I played against them for the first time away, I was like wow! They have always had a great audience that is very interested in the game.
Familiar players also recommended Columbus to Gaudreau. For example, the striker is familiar with the national team Zach Werenski.
– I am really excited about this. This was the right decision for me and my wife. We are lucky, Gaudreau beamed.
of Columbus and Patrik Laine contract negotiations are ongoing. Columbus has offered winger Lainee, 24, a Qualifying offer, a one-year base offer worth $7.5 million per year.
Stanley Cup winner Kadri without a club
The free agent market was hot on Wednesday.
The Edmonton Oilers bolstered their goaltending department when they acquired by Jack Campbell From Toronto. Bought as a replacement by the Maple Leafs Ilya Samsonov on a one-year contract from Washington.
The Pittsburgh Penguins hooked my followers Yevgeny Malkin, 35, to a four-year, $24.4 million contract. The Russian will receive an annual income of 6.1 million dollars from the contract.
An experienced defender Brent Burns37, joins the Carolina Hurricanes from the San Jose Sharks.
Claude Giroux see you next season in the Ottawa Senators jersey. In the season that ended, he represented Philadelphia and Florida and scored 65 in 75 games. Giroux will receive $6.5 million per season from his contract.
Famous free agents who don’t have a contract yet include Colorado’s Stanley Cup winner Nazem Kadriwho has represented Tampa since 2012 Ondrej Palatthe Boston Conqueror Patrice Bergeronthe Dallas quarterback John Klingberg and Chicago’s Finnish guard Kevin Lankinen.
Sakari Manninen Vegas to the Golden Knights. The details of the agreement are not yet known.
Artturi Lehkonen, a five-year contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche. The value of the contract is 22.5 million dollars.
Olli Määttä From the Los Angeles Kings to the Detroit Red Wings on a one-year contract. The new Detroit deal is worth $2.25 million.
Erik Haula From Boston to the New Jersey Devils. In connection with the transaction, Haula changes the team to the Czech striker By Pavel Zachan with, who moves to the Bruins from New Jersey.