Will Johnny Gaudreau be traded to the Flyers?
Congrats, Flyers fans, you’ve made it to another NHL trade deadline! Although it looks like your 2-time Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers (hopefully) are looking to be sellers at this NHL trade deadline. The team may be in the running to acquire one of the all-time favorite trade rumor players on “Flyers twitter,” Johnny Gaudreau.
Ever since Johnny Hockey ascended to stardom in the NHL and became the best forward on the Calgary Flames roster, Flyers fans have been chomping at the bit to get him in the orange and black for a few different reasons. Like clockwork, there are conspiracy theories at every deadline about Johnny Hockey trades, like in 2020 when he left practice early hours before the deadline.
Besides his production as a player, Johnny was born in Salem, NJ, grew up in Carney’s Point, NJ, and played hockey for Gloucester Catholic High School in Gloucester City, NJ. In a July 2017 interview with 94 WIP, Johnny said, “I have a ton of family here, all my friends,” and “I actually have a wedding this weekend in South Jersey, and all my friends come back here. 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”. All it took was “it would be sweet to play here someday” for the Flyers fan trade rumor mill to get fired up and create a constant flow of “Gaudreau to the Flyers?” rumors around every deadline.
The problem with that notion is that Philadelphia sports fan already went through this experience with another star athlete who also grew up in New Jersey, Mike Trout. For years, all you heard was how Mike Trout was going to “come home” and play for the Phillies because he grew up in South Jersey and cheered for the Phillies growing up. The years on Trout’s contract ticked down, and the rumor mill continued to churn, and he then signed a 12 year/ $426.5 million dollar contract extension with the Angels in 2019, and that Phillies idea suddenly got tossed out.
One of the main frustrations with the Johnny Hockey trade rumors is the thought that he would want to push his way out of Calgary to play for the Flyers. There’s no doubt that Johnny would probably like to play for the Flyers one day and “come home” because he said it, but the likelihood of this ever actually happening through a trade is slim. The Flames wouldn’t give up their best player for nothing as he’s a 5x All-Star and arguably the team’s best player (although Elias Lindholm and Mark Giordano may have some objections to that statement) and can’t picture the Flyers willing to mortgage assets to get him. The Flyers don’t really have a need at forward either, as defense is their biggest issue by far, so I can’t see why they’d make a big flashy trade for one. Johnny Gaudreau is an unrestricted free agent in 2022, so it’s possible that we could see him in the orange and black after next season but very unlikely in the near future.
Featured image – Sporting News
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Categorized:Flyers