Philadelphia Flyers should trade for Johnny Gaudreau before season starts
Anthony Scultore
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Johnny Gaudreau would love to play for the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers would love to have Johnny Gaudreau. The Flames are looking to improve. And now the two sides should have even more motivation to strike a deal.
An unintended consequence of COVID-19 will be the ability to make trades in the NHL next season. Teams are going to be handcuffed and restricted once they get into their respective hybrid bubbles due to travel restrictions and quarantine protocols.
So if there was ever a time to keep the native of Salem, NJ on the east coast, it would be before the season starts.
Calgary Flames should look to trade Johnny Gaudreau
The Calgary Flames want to get better, but with just about $1 million in cap space, they are likely going to need to trade a key roster piece to do so. After signing Andrew Mangiapane, Flames GM Brad Treliving said, “We don’t expect this is the team we’ll go to training camp with.”
His team was eliminated in spectacular fashion in these past playoffs. With their backs against the wall, the Flames took a three goal lead before surrendering 7 unanswered goals to the Stars dropping their series in six games.
One player in particular seems to be the poster child for the Flames inability to win in the postseason is Johnny Gaudreau. That seems pretty unfair for a guy who scored 7 points in 10 games in the playoffs (including the qualifying round).
The Flames left winger turned 27 this past August. He had a decent year with 58 points in 70 games, but a far cry from the prior year’s 99 point campaign.
Gaudreau would love to play for the Flyers
Back in 2017, the up and coming star let it be known he’d love to play for his hometown Flyers.
“I have a ton of family [in Philadelphia] all my friends,” Gaudreau said during an interview with a Philly sports station. “All my good friends and kids who I have played with all my life are from South Jersey, so it would be sweet to play here someday. You never know in sports. It’s a lot of support back here in South Jersey and the Philly area, they follow me pretty well.”
With the trade rumor mill constantly swirling around him, and Kevin Hayes clamoring to play with his College buddy again. These dots have been connected for awhile.
What a potential Flyers and Flames deal could look like
Cap wise, the Flames are up against it with only $1 million in space and 21 of 23 roster spots filled. The Flyers have around $4 million to play with but have just 19 of 23 spots accounted for.
Johnny Gaudreau makes $6.75 million against the cap for the next two seasons. That’s more than the Flyers can take on without giving up some salary themselves.
The logical trade would be Gaudreau for Shayne Gostibehere who makes $4.5 million for the next three seasons. Philadelphia would need to give up more to make the deal happen but it’s a feasible trade. The Flames would pick up an additional $2.25 million in space to sign another player or two. That also fits Gaudreau nicely into the Flyers cap as well.
Logistically, another left handed defenseman doesn’t address the Flames needs for a right handed one. They could then flip lefty defenseman Noah Hanifin in a deal for a righty with the extra depth on the left side.
Like I said, the time is now for these two to strike a deal.