Article: Is Gaudreau's Long-Term Contract Is Starting To Make Sense?

[Phillip Garrett]

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[Will D. Ness]

It's the Yagafo line!

Freddy deserves some applause especially since we ragged on him so much last season.  

[Imyourhuckleberry]

49 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

It's the Yagafo line!

Freddy deserves some applause especially since we ragged on him so much last season.

The Wild had a few guys underperforming while they played hurt much of last year(Faber & Middleton among them), and nobody more than Gaudreau.

YaGaFo doesn't roll off the tongue too smoothly for me.

I might go with FolGaTr. Not half gator, FolGaTr, and it will attack!

 

[Citizen Strife]

You might need to edit that title, either to the declarative "Gaudreau's Long Term Contract Is Starting to Make Sense" or the question, "Is Gaudreau's Long Term Contract Starting to Make Sense?"  One too many Is's.

[Citizen Strife]

And yes, Gaudreau has been one of the many surprises this year.  In terms of bounce backs or upgrades in form, I think it goes Gus > Middleton > Kaprizov > Rossi > Gaudreau > Johansson.  Most players are pretty much what they always have been.  Hartman and Ek might be slipping a bit, but otherwise doing things that matter off the scoresheet.  

In Gaudreau's case, he's returned to being a steady defensive presence with a streaky offensive side.  I'd say he's Hartman, but with better defensive instincts and less offense (usually).  But he's ben on his game and part of the reason the team is so lock tight defensively.  They aren't beating everyone (Kings...grr), but mostly playing against any competition without too much trouble or beating them outright.

[1Brotherbill]

Gaudreau is fine as he is.  He is solid defensive player.  Has good hockey sense and makes few mistakes.  I he one of the best players in the history of the game?  No but he is solid and worthy of his position.  There is and was no option to replace him with someone better and cheaper.  So Freddy is perfectly fine where he is.  

If some of the prospects show that they are better than he is then we can have that discussion.  Right now we know Freddy will be on the PK and on the 3rd or 4th line and we don't need to worry about that position. 

[Patrick]

The editing on the headline...😬

[Oliver It]

11 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

You might need to edit that title, either to the declarative "Gaudreau's Long Term Contract Is Starting to Make Sense" or the question, "Is Gaudreau's Long Term Contract Starting to Make Sense?"  One too many Is's.

Or…Is ‘Gaudreau's Long-Term Contract Is Starting To Make Sense’ a correct headline? The is’s have it…is I right, or what?

Edited Monday at 04:56 AM by Oliver It
Clarity

[Citizen Strife]

Probably getting rid of the first is makes the tone of the article fit.

[MrCheatachu]

I don't think anybody should be surprised that FreddyG has returned to form from last season.

After the season last year, SillyG listed out all the players who were injured or playing hurt and Freddy was one of them.

I can probably pinpoint the exact moment when Freddy's play turned down last season:

I'll repeat the same argument I had last season. His salary is $2.1M/yr, he's a NHL level player who's making barely above league min.  Should it come down to it, and he didnt get picked up off waivers, you can bury $1.125M of that in the minors, so you'd only be looking at about $1M in dead cap should things go incredibly south with him.  Even when he wasn't producing offsensively last season, he looked a lot better than the majority of the league-min callups we rotated through.

[Pewterschmidt]

56 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

I don't think anybody should be surprised that FreddyG has returned to form from last season.

After the season last year, SillyG listed out all the players who were injured or playing hurt and Freddy was one of them.

I can probably pinpoint the exact moment when Freddy's play turned down last season:

I'll repeat the same argument I had last season. His salary is $2.1M/yr, he's a NHL level player who's making barely above league min.  Should it come down to it, and he didnt get picked up off waivers, you can bury $1.125M of that in the minors, so you'd only be looking at about $1M in dead cap should things go incredibly south with him.  Even when he wasn't producing offsensively last season, he looked a lot better than the majority of the league-min callups we rotated through.

Great argument and you nailed it.

This season's version of Fred G. makes that contract look smart.

[mnfaninnc]

I still believe that with Gaudreau's shootout prowess, he was given an extra $500k on the contract. That makes it look even better. The past 2 seasons we haven't gone to many shootouts, but you still have to plan a lineup accordingly. At the time the contract was signed, Freddy was money in the 3 slot, a position that was filled with someone who had ice water running through their veins.

Last season, he missed a few shootouts due to injury and then we just never really got that far. He didn't perform all that well which made it seem like there were still lingering affects from the injury above. 

We've had a couple this year. The 1st one, Freddy wasn't 1 of the top 3 which surprised me. The next one, Freddy went 1st with Kaprizov and Zuccarello out. He was money. Essentially, he's the type of guy who scores at a good rate on this, and can do it from the 3 slot, a guy like that is kind of hard to find. He banked points for the team 2 years ago doing it. He may still do so this season. Those points matter. 

I did not like Boldy's shootout, it seems like he was indecisive on his way in and it flubbed. That's something he should be working on in practice, a lot, especially with a 3rd goalie up right now. 

[Up North Guy]

I have to admit that I was one who was really down on Freddy. I was wrong.