Johnny Gaudreau says he was always open to staying with the Calgary Flames.
The appeal of being closer to family, however, became too strong.
The star winger wrote an article in The Players’ Tribune published Wednesday in which he tried to explain his decision to leave the only NHL team he had known for the Columbus Blue Jackets in free agency.
Gaudreau said he was undecided he would leave Calgary, even after rejecting an eight-year contract extension before reaching the open market.
“I still thought about going back and trying to work on a seven-year deal to stay,” he wrote. “Everything was on the table throughout the process.
“It may seem messy, but life is messy, you know?”
Exposing what contributed to his decision to go south from Alberta to Ohio, the 28-year-old, who grew up in New Jersey, said the idea of ”just getting on a plane” to see the loved ones is not as easy as people think for an NHL player.
Gaudreau signed a seven-year, $ 68.25 million U.S. contract with Columbus last Wednesday after scoring 40 goals and 115 points in 82 games with Calgary in 2021-22.
“I’m incredibly grateful to be an NHL player and to earn the salary I earn,” Gaudreau wrote. “I don’t actually take it for a second. Which contributes to the fact that money wasn’t the main deciding factor for me. But the idea that Meredith (his wife expecting the couple’s first child) and I can only fly back and forth home, or our loved ones visit no problem, because we have money?
“It’s not that simple. Our families still work full time. Our siblings have their own lives. Our nieces and nephews are in school. It’s a difficult trip for people to do and it’s just been become more difficult with the pandemic “.
Chosen by Calgary in the fourth round of the 2011 draft, Gaudreau said he left “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
He left Calgary after scoring 210 goals and 609 points in 602 regular-season games. Gaudreau added 33 points in 42 playoff appearances.
“I loved the time I spent in Calgary,” Gaudreau wrote in The Players ’Tribune. “For a long time, Meredith and I saw our future there. We wanted to sign again last summer. We were looking for houses to start a family. But it didn’t work out and we thought this summer could be different.
“But that doesn’t change how I feel right now. I’m very proud to have been on this team and to have represented this city. And these last few weeks I’ve been struggling every time I think about it. All the relationships we’ve built here, all the amazing friendships we have, I felt them in my chest every time I thought about leaving. “