On Tuesday night, Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving announced that Gaudreau, a long-time face of the franchise and a first-time unrestricted free agent, would be testing the market after eight years in Calgary. As Treliving reported, Gaudreau’s decision was made with family in mind — the 28-year-old hails from Salem County, New Jersey, and a number of reports highlight his desire to be closer to home. That has put the Devils, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers in the spotlight whenever talk of Gaudreau’s potential destinations comes up, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting late Tuesday that “all eyes are on New Jersey and Philadelphia for Gaudreau”. On Wednesday afternoon, however, during a media availability after the first signing rush of the season, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said the Flyers were not in on Gaudreau and effectively ruled out any possibility of Philadelphia landing the local star due to lack of cap space. Fletcher signed defenseman Tony Deangelo to a two-year, $10 million contract last week, and on Wednesday brought in two veterans in Nicolas Deslauriers (four years with an AAV of $1.75 million) and Justin Braun (one year worth $1.75 million). As things stand now, the Flyers are over the salary cap. James van Riemsdyk’s contract has been in the spotlight in Philadelphia – at $7 million for one more year, it would take some sweetening for a team to take him on. According to Friedman, the Flyers are not willing to pay that cost of moving him. That leaves the Devils and Islanders, but reports around the league suggest they aren’t the only ones making a strong push for Gaudreau’s services. According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff and Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the Columbus Blue Jackets have also expressed interest — and are reportedly ready to pay. Considered the top UFA in this 2022 class, Gaudreau is coming off his most productive season to date, scoring 40 goals and 115 points to lead the Flames to the top of the Pacific Division.
