Gaudreau’s free agency was largely about staying home, whether that meant staying with the only team he’s ever played for, the Calgary Flames, or moving closer to his hometown in southern New Jersey. Of course, the Philadelphia Flyers, Gaudreau’s boyhood team, were the frontrunners for the winger’s services, with nearby clubs also looking to add a power forward to the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. After Gaudreau informed Calgary of his intention to hit the open market and not return, the field was whittled down to just the other three. However, around the time Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher had announced that the team was done signing free agents, effectively eliminating them from Gaudreau’s bid, a dark horse in the form of Columbus entered the fray and won the war. Of course, not as close to southern New Jersey as Philadelphia, Newark, or Long Island, Columbus brings Gaudreau much closer to the East Coast of the United States than he seemed to want, and places him at the center of what was already an exciting . Blue jacket construction. Gaudreau will now team up with fellow winger Patrik Laine and star defenseman Zach Werenski to form a formidable trio to lead an otherwise solid Columbus team that features several young players and extremely high upside prospects like Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger and recent draft picks. David Jiricek and Denton Matechuk. One issue here for Columbus right now that is definitely worth addressing is cap room. CapFriendly now projects Columbus to have just over $3.4 million in salary cap space, but with re-signing RFAs including Nick Blankenburg, Emil Bemstrom and the decidedly not-cheap Laine. In order to get their RFAs back, Columbus will likely need to make another move to clear some cap space. The loss of Gaudreau is clearly a huge blow to the Flames, the news tonight doesn’t make much of a difference to an organization that saw one of its all-time greats move on. The team will now have to choose which direction to head, with fellow superstar forward Matthew Tkachuk a pending RFA and hitting the UFA market next summer. How Calgary and GM Brad Treliving play this offseason could determine whether the Flames choose to push forward, add talent again or rebuild, potentially requiring a trade for Tkachuk. For the Flyers, it might be hard to pass up the opportunity to sign a hometown superstar, yet the team went out on their own, apparently trying to go down a different path, with Gaudreau not part of the plan. For the Devils and Islanders, however, losing Gaudreau is more difficult since he was part of the bid and both need to add an offensive weapon to take a step forward. The Devils looking to escape a rebuilding year and the Islanders looking to return to the playoffs after back-to-back Conference Finals appearances followed by a complete miss in the postseason. However, Gaudreau wasn’t the last brand the market had to offer, with Nazem Kadri still representing a star player and Ondrej Palat another point producer, as well as JT Miller on the trade market, so options remain. Finally, Gaudreau moving on from Calgary to Columbus seems to bring Columbus full circle and bring back memories of 2019. It was on the first day of free agency (July 1st of that year to be exact) Columbus, who had a world of promise, it lost three superstars in the form of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene and Sergei Bobrovsky to free agency, effectively establishing the franchise’s mini-rebuild ever since. Today, Columbus is switching roles, signing the superstar free agent with Calgary now evaluating his future.
