The hot summer months are pretty dreadful for hockey content, so maybe we need to thank Johnny Gaudreau for giving us something to discuss. In a recent interview with a Philadelphia sports station, Gaudreau was asked about the future possibility of skating for the Flyers, a team which plays close to his hometown of Carneys Point, New Jersey.
Via the Calgary Sun, Gaudreau gave an answer to the radio hosts which created quite the stir.
A few moments later, after both Gaudreau and the other radio voices respond that he’s inked to a long-term contract, he asks, “Wouldn’t you love someday to come home?”
“Yeah, it would be sweet,” Gaudreau replied. “I’ve got a ton of family here and all my friends … Actually, I have a wedding here this weekend in South Jersey and all my friends come back here. All my good friends and kids who I’ve played with all my life are from South Jersey.
“So it would be sweet to play here someday. You know, you never know in sports, but a lot of support back here in South Jersey and the Philly area. They follow me pretty well.”
Gaudreau was slightly baited into the answer, but his response has hockey fans wondering what the future might hold in his career.
At 23, Gaudreau is still under a long-term contract with the Flames which will keep him in Calgary (barring a trade) through the 2021-22 season. Any possibility of joining the Flyers in the future would either require a trade or require everyone to wait several years until he’s a free agent. In other words, it’s a non-story as the odds are stacked against even the remote possibility of a move.
Gaudreau’s response will be exaggerated, but really this was just a local player talking about playing for the team closest to his hometown. These types of stories come out pretty regularly and Gaudreau probably wouldn’t even be a story if he would have chosen his words a bit more carefully.
