Article: Freddy Gaudreau Has Earned John Hynes' Trust

[Tony Abbott]

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[SkolWild73]

Great article Tony.  All this for a guy making $2.1m a year.  I think Freddy is a guy that is vital to a team.  In a year or two if some of our young players blossom, he might be down to the 4th line again, but I would take him over any of the other players we have had on that line the last few years.  

[M_Nels]

40 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Great article Tony.  All this for a guy making $2.1m a year.  I think Freddy is a guy that is vital to a team.  In a year or two if some of our young players blossom, he might be down to the 4th line again, but I would take him over any of the other players we have had on that line the last few years.  

I was super down on Freddy after last season and was scratching my head at the term he got for his extension but if we can get this years Freddy for the remainder of his contract that's one hell of a bargain.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Yurov's KHL team lost without him in their 2nd playoff game, this one 3-2 in OT, putting them down 0-2 in their best of 7 series.

If they don't win the next game, it might be possible he doesn't get into any games for the playoffs, but I think he's getting close to returning.

[Enforceror]

45 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Yurov's KHL team lost without him in their 2nd playoff game, this one 3-2 in OT, putting them down 0-2 in their best of 7 series.

If they don't win the next game, it might be possible he doesn't get into any games for the playoffs, but I think he's getting close to returning.

I'll have to double check but I thought he was on the roster today.

[FredJohnson]

I have egg on my face. I apologize to Frauddy, I mean Freddy. I thought his 1 good year was a fluke. I was wrong.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

20 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Yurov's KHL team lost without him in their 2nd playoff game, this one 3-2 in OT, putting them down 0-2 in their best of 7 series.

If they don't win the next game, it might be possible he doesn't get into any games for the playoffs, but I think he's getting close to returning.

I'll have to double check but I thought he was on the roster today.

Actually, I think you're right.  I tried looking at the stats during the game and I didn't find his name, but they might have only had players listed at that time who had registered a statistic in the 1st period. I see now that he had 2 hits in the game.

My mistake.  Hopefully Yurov gets stronger and delivers some points in the upcoming games.  If not, could be a short playoffs for his team.

[Citizen Strife]

I've been singing Freddy's praises all year, and am happy he's continuing to shine late in the season.  He was kinda known as, "that shootout wizard."  But he's doing what he can this year to erase the bad...BAD taste last year brought.  He's not the "star" player by any stretch.  What he is is a guy who does good at everything and lives under the radar in a good way.  

[RedLake]

In Buuim we trust producing offense on PP1

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 hours ago, RedLake said:

In Buuim we trust producing offense on PP1

A goal and 2 assists in their 5-1 win over Providence to open the Frozen Four?

It's a nice start! I believe it puts him back on pace to hit 50 points again if they can play a few more games, but Boston College will be a tougher opponent on Sunday.

[mnfaninnc]

12 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

It's a nice start! I believe it puts him back on pace to hit 50 points again if they can play a few more games, but Boston College will be a tougher opponent on Sunday.

Where do you draw the line at the 50 points? For me, I think he's already there because I'm counting the 6 in the WJCs. I think it's perfectly fair to do that, as those guys were the best of their peers. So, to me, he's at 52 points for the season.

[mnfaninnc]

Gaudreau did get the bounce back season that some of us thought he'd have once he got fully healthy again. We haven't had many shootouts, so that aspect of his game hasn't shined, but he has stepped up when few have with everyone else injured. $2.1m doesn't look like such a bad deal now. 34 points so far for that contract has to be considered pretty good value. Even Johansson is up to 27 points now. 30 points at around $2m is adequate for a forward, I would think. 

The nice thing about having Freddy, even as a 4th line player is that he can move up and down due to injuries. He's that type of depth every club needs. He's adequate in the face off circle and provides that RHS we seem to be lacking. While most have thought his contract will not age well, it appears with the cap increases coming that it will. Freddy also has shown he's a pretty durable player.

[mnfaninnc]

CBJ did us a favor last night, taking away the 2nd point from the Canucks in a shootout. Utah fell in OT too, which probably pushes them out of the playoff picture. Jets had their way with the Devils and hopefully softened them up for us, but, Devils played Jake Allen last night and saved Markstrom for us. 

Also, it appears that we are at 45/50 contracts, with 3 more ready to go but off the books. I think the goalie got signed to a PTO in Iowa, but won't be playing 9 games to kick in the ELC contract. Wutzke is only 18.

It appears that some enlightenment has come from the Jiricek injury. He suffered a lacerated spleen. I'm not sure how long that takes to heal. Chisholm is listed as day to day with an estimated return time off today. April 6th for Kaprizov and Ek (via puckpedia). 

[mnfaninnc]

So, last night started the WHL playoffs. 

• Medicine Hat, a 1 seed won, Ryder Ritchie chipped in a roughing penalty
• Prince George a 4 seed won 7-6 with Riley Heidt getting a goal
• Calgary also won with Kalem Parker chipping in apple

These stats didn't show up on Elite Prospects last season, so we kind of have to go 1 by 1. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Where do you draw the line at the 50 points? For me, I think he's already there because I'm counting the 6 in the WJCs. I think it's perfectly fair to do that, as those guys were the best of their peers. So, to me, he's at 52 points for the season.

That's not unreasonable to consider, but I was only looking at NCAA points. He had 50 points in 42 games last year. He has 46 in 39 games so far, so very close.

Those 6 points in 7 world championship games were huge though, particularly that last assist for the championship winning goal.

[raithis]

On 3/29/2025 at 11:15 AM, mnfaninnc said:

It appears that some enlightenment has come from the Jiricek injury. He suffered a lacerated spleen. I'm not sure how long that takes to heal.

If memory serves, Mark Stone had a lacerated spleen last season.  Hard to say how long it will take, though it seems that sort of injury has a way of magically healing when the playoffs start.