NHL 2022-2023 season

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Lots of people here haven't been there by the looks of things.

Apparently the decision was based on personal experience, people he's played with before, and family. It sounds like he weighed a lot of things and came up with a reasonable decision. Not sure about less money and term, but maybe he doesn't see himself playing past 35 anyway.

To be fair, Columbus is not high on my list of places to visit in the US. The US is large and visiting the 32nd largest metro in the US is probably not high on people's lists. But I lived in the US for a while and it seems similar to a few places I've been like St. Louis and Louisville which have some very nice and cool places.

[theman23]

Originally Posted by JHikka

The only really good reasoning i've seen for Columbus over the other options is that Gaudreau's wife supposedly works as a children's hospital nurse and Columbus has one of the better children's hospitals in the US (Nationwide). Gaudreau gets paid, she gets a job at a great facility, and both are closer to family (New Jersey & Philadelphia respectively).

Eh. Sounds implausible. Every major city has a childrens hospital. Not sure why it would matter to a nurse whether she works at one of the best in the country (if it even is that) or just an average one.

[esquire]

I honestly wonder if NHLers scrutinize the relative merits of cities as much as we do. I'm guessing they don't.

I suspect you are either playing in a year-round warm weather adult playground type setting (Tampa, Miami, LA, Anaheim, Vegas) or you're not. If you're not, then you're either in a US market, or you have to settle for a Canadian one. I doubt the typical player sees Columbus or Raleigh as some kind of hardship posting, although they might feel that way about some (maybe all?) Canadian places.

[Denscity]

Gaudreau today "We wanted to be relatively closer to home."
"It was best that we did not stay in Calgary ".
Ouch

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Gaudreau today "We wanted to be relatively closer to home."
"It was best that we did not stay in Calgary ".
Ouch

Double ouch making Calgary sound like the Thunder Bay of Alberta

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by theman23

Eh. Sounds implausible. Every major city has a childrens hospital. Not sure why it would matter to a nurse whether she works at one of the best in the country (if it even is that) or just an average one.

Combine it with all of the other mitigating factors and i'd say it's the most plausible reasoning.

Originally Posted by esquire

I honestly wonder if NHLers scrutinize the relative merits of cities as much as we do. I'm guessing they don't.

I suspect you are either playing in a year-round warm weather adult playground type setting (Tampa, Miami, LA, Anaheim, Vegas) or you're not. If you're not, then you're either in a US market, or you have to settle for a Canadian one. I doubt the typical player sees Columbus or Raleigh as some kind of hardship posting, although they might feel that way about some (maybe all?) Canadian places.

Winter in Raleigh (or even Columbus) sounds more fun than winter in Winnipeg.

[theman23]

Maybe someone in the Blue Jackets has pull with the hospital and was able to get her a job that she otherwise wouldn't have been considered for, otherwise I don't see it. Even if she for some reason cared for the prestigiousness of the institution, it's not like there's a shortage of highly regarded children's hospitals in the NE USA.

[Acajack]

We also don't know what others offers Gaudreau got, and what they were.

[JHikka]

This Gaudreau situation reminds me of when Trouba left Winnipeg.

---
'Her career is as important as my career': How Jacob Trouba and Kelly Tyson balance their ambitions
Emily Kaplan, ESPN
August 2019

...
But for the next six years, their relationship was strained by their careers. Trouba became a regular for the Jets by 2013 and was bound to Manitoba for at least eight months of the year. Tyson took a job in Washington, D.C., but dreamed of medical school. It didn't make sense for her to apply to programs, or eventually take her boards, in Canada. After all, with the precarious nature of an NHL career, she didn't know how long her boyfriend would be in Winnipeg.
...
Through it all, Trouba relied on Tyson as a confidant. Tyson quit her job in Washington to join Trouba in Winnipeg. The move wasn't easy. "She was pretty stir-crazy up there," Trouba says. "She didn't have a lot to do."

"I wasn't going to be happy sitting in Winnipeg without a career," Tyson says. "And he wasn't going to be happy seeing me do that. So it wasn't productive for either of us."

Tyson spent her year and a half in Winnipeg applying to medical schools and narrowed her search to schools in Florida. Trouba had already made Fort Lauderdale his offseason base; he had a trainer and now has a home there. If Tyson went to school nearby, it could maximize the couple's time together with limited disruption.

Tyson began at Nova Southeastern University in 2017. The first year, she tried to visit Trouba as much as her schedule would allow. "There are plenty of couples in the NHL that do long distance," Tyson says. "But being in med school was an extra layer."

Plus, traveling from South Florida to Winnipeg can be thorny and takes about 14 hours door-to-door, including connections in Chicago or Minneapolis. She tried to study on the plane but was often exhausted. "The only flight that would get her back in time for her classes in Florida left at 6 a.m. on Sunday," Trouba says. "I'm sure it wasn't great for her at times, traveling more than 20 hours in a weekend just to see me."

Last season, Tyson made the trip only three times. "It was a learning curve for both of us and good for both of our growth because you have to completely change the way you communicate," Tyson says. "And you have to be completely cognizant of each other's schedules way more."
...
Tyson is excited that she can hop on a plane whenever she wants, with much less of a hassle to visit her fiancé. She'll stay in Fort Lauderdale during the season doing her rotations and the following year will "hopefully" do her residency in New York.

"There's so much opportunity in New York, especially in the medical field," Tyson says. "It also poses its own challenges because it's a very desirable and competitive place to be."

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/...heir-ambitions

Emphasis added mine.

As I mentioned originally re: Gaudreau, this sort of thing will only become more common as the league playerbase becomes more American and less Canadian. Markets like Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, etc. are going to have a difficult time attracting talent down to circumstances they can't really control. There's a balance to be had and solutions to these sorts of issues (like drafting well), but we can already see in Winnipeg's free agency history how difficult things will be in the future for other markets.

Originally Posted by Acajack

We also don't know what others offers Gaudreau got, and what they were.

We have a good idea of what Calgary and New Jersey offered. He left upwards of $15M+ on the table in Calgary to sign in Columbus.

[esquire]

In Trouba's case, I'm not aware that he gave anything up when he left Winnipeg, unlike Gaudreau. In that case, there is also a lot more to consider given that his girlfriend was in medical school, so her career earnings are not going to be a relative trifle next to her partner's the way that Gaudreau's is.

But I do agree that there is a clear pattern of preference for US locales among NHL players. It doesn't seem to me that American players will opt to play in Canada as free agents unless they're depth players grateful for any job. A seemingly shrinking number of Canadian players is as well. At which point Canadian fans may have to wonder if they're happy to pay a premium price for what amounts to maybe 2/3 of a NHL team. At first Winnipeg fell apart and everyone just shrugged and said 'well, it's Winnipeg'. But now it's happening to Calgary. And it will be interesting to see what happens in Edmonton and Toronto when their franchise players, who, let us remember, are only there because they were drafted, skip town.

[drew]

I think in the Gaudreau situation - the want or desire to move back to the states was probably heightened due to the COVID situation and the effect that had on travelling and especially border crossing.

WRT Trouba - he always wanted out. I don't think even if he had married a local Winnipeg girl who was already a practicing doctor - he would still be a Jet. I think the way it was rationalized to the press just softened the blow somewhat to us Jets fans.

Plus he is represented by an agent (same agent as Andrew Copp) that does nothing but try to make the Jet's management's life more difficult.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

I think in the Gaudreau situation - the want or desire to move back to the states was probably heightened due to the COVID situation and the effect that had on travelling and especially border crossing.

WRT Trouba - he always wanted out. I don't think even if he had married a local Winnipeg girl who was already a practicing doctor - he would still be a Jet. I think the way it was rationalized to the press just softened the blow somewhat to us Jets fans.

Plus he is represented by an agent (same agent as Andrew Copp) that does nothing but try to make the Jet's management's life more difficult.

Which leads me to wonder why Jets management keeps using high draft picks on Americans like Trouba who want out at the first opportunity. The Jets did it again by drafting a kid from the US with their first pick.

Would it really kill them to draft some CHL players for a change?

[drew]

Originally Posted by esquire

In Trouba's case, I'm not aware that he gave anything up when he left Winnipeg, unlike Gaudreau. In that case, there is also a lot more to consider given that his girlfriend was in medical school, so her career earnings are not going to be a relative trifle next to her partner's the way that Gaudreau's is.

But I do agree that there is a clear pattern of preference for US locales among NHL players. It doesn't seem to me that American players will opt to play in Canada as free agents unless they're depth players grateful for any job. A seemingly shrinking number of Canadian players is as well. At which point Canadian fans may have to wonder if they're happy to pay a premium price for what amounts to maybe 2/3 of a NHL team. At first Winnipeg fell apart and everyone just shrugged and said 'well, it's Winnipeg'. But now it's happening to Calgary. And it will be interesting to see what happens in Edmonton and Toronto when their franchise players, who, let us remember, are only there because they were drafted, skip town.

I wonder if eventually the Canadian owners push for some sort of provincial/state income tax equivalency fund to even out the playing field WRT to several US jurisdictions. It's bad enough trying to compete with somewhere like Florida and Texas when it comes to weather, let along taxes.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Gaudreau today "We wanted to be relatively closer to home."
"It was best that we did not stay in Calgary ".
Ouch

I don't think that is ouch at all.

If you look at the travel between Calgary and the Eastern seaboard, having to cross the border you are wasting a good portion of an entire day to get home or to have parents come see grandkids. I've done this without the border crossing (Regina to St. John's) and moved back because an entire day to get home is not fun, even in first class. Even if you are both working and enjoying life. Family is important to some people. I'm happy Gaudreau could make that decision and have it work out.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by esquire

Which leads me to wonder why Jets management keeps using high draft picks on Americans like Trouba who want out at the first opportunity. The Jets did it again by drafting a kid from the US with their first pick.

Would it really kill them to draft some CHL players for a change?

They'll get a chance next year if they do the right thing tanking this season.

[drew]

Originally Posted by esquire

Which leads me to wonder why Jets management keeps using high draft picks on Americans like Trouba who want out at the first opportunity. The Jets did it again by drafting a kid from the US with their first pick.

Would it really kill them to draft some CHL players for a change?

The Jets really seemed to go after players from Minnesota/Michigan for a while there. Probably with the assumption that Winnipeg isn't too far off of what they grew up with.

Again though - COVID really messed with travel, and has ended up making a lot of players second guess wanting to deal with that more than they have to.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

In Trouba's case, I'm not aware that he gave anything up when he left Winnipeg, unlike Gaudreau. In that case, there is also a lot more to consider given that his girlfriend was in medical school, so her career earnings are not going to be a relative trifle next to her partner's the way that Gaudreau's is.

But I do agree that there is a clear pattern of preference for US locales among NHL players. It doesn't seem to me that American players will opt to play in Canada as free agents unless they're depth players grateful for any job. A seemingly shrinking number of Canadian players is as well. At which point Canadian fans may have to wonder if they're happy to pay a premium price for what amounts to maybe 2/3 of a NHL team. At first Winnipeg fell apart and everyone just shrugged and said 'well, it's Winnipeg'. But now it's happening to Calgary. And it will be interesting to see what happens in Edmonton and Toronto when their franchise players, who, let us remember, are only there because they were drafted, skip town.

It's said that a lot of Québécois players would prefer to play in the US than play in Montreal.

Even though if you're doing well in Montreal as a Québécois player, you're basically THE KING, doing well on the ice is not really a sure thing like sunshine and relative anonymity are if you're playing in Florida or California.

Québécois players on the Habs are under the most intense media microscope in the league. When you go through a rough patch as a player (or if the team is), that can be absolute hell.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

The Jets really seemed to go after players from Minnesota/Michigan for a while there. Probably with the assumption that Winnipeg isn't too far off of what they grew up with.

Again though - COVID really messed with travel, and has ended up making a lot of players second guess wanting to deal with that more than they have to.

Good point. I think COVID generally probably hit Canada pretty hard in terms US player perceptions of Canada. Most Canadian cities were locked down for extended stretches, meanwhile they were partying on the beach in Florida. That just compounds the usual lousy winter weather concerns that all Canadian markets are subject to, to varying extents. If you're a 23 year old pro athlete, it was probably tough to stomach being forced to stay in your condo watching Netflix night after night.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It's said that a lot of Québécois players would prefer to play in the US than play in Montreal.

Even though if you're doing well in Montreal as a Québécois player, you're basically THE KING, doing well on the ice is not really a sure thing like sunshine and relative anonymity are if you're playing in Florida or California.

Québécois players on the Habs are under the most intense media microscope in the league. When you go through a rough patch as a player (or if the team is), that can be absolute hell.

Which is interesting contrast with the NBA for example where most of the star players (including locals) would love to play for the Lakers.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

With Kiprusoff, there was talk of trading him a few years before he retired and they could have gotten something from him at that point instead of just riding him out to retirement and getting nothing.

That same statement could go for many players on many teams. Sedins in Vancouver.

We love players we like consistency in the team, but if we want our team to move on and continue to be good, we need to realize that a few years earlier is probably better unless your team is winning playoff rounds. The Flames didn't make the playoffs the last few years of Kiprusoff's career. A second and/or third round draft pick is better than nothing on a go nowhere team at that point.

Gaudreau this year is going to suck because he's got a few pretty good seasons left in him. Nothing is hard to swallow for him.

Don't like the Kane contract at all. Didn't like him getting signed. He did great for him, but another season and that is maybe a 50/50 chance of it going badly. Same for each year after.

I don't know if giving him a shorter or longer leash is any better. It's a gamble for sure.

Pun intended?