Speculation: Jonathan Huberdeau is open to waiving his NMC to go to a contender

[LuGBuG]

If Calgary ate 50% of his salary and attached a 1st round pick and a prospect you might get a bit of interest from someone like Pittsburgh. They did the soft rebuild type deals taking back Glass and Kevin Hayes. That's about as close to a "contender" as I can see Huberdeau getting.

That's not to suggest Calgary should do that deal, but that's where I see the value.

If they are retaining 50% they don’t need to add anything. Then his contract becomes great.

 

[tmurfin]

And I’m open to dating Kim Kardashian, so what

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Merzlinkins (5.4M x 3Y) for Huberdeau (10.5M x 7Y).

• Calgary doesn't want Merzlinkins. He is a proxy for retention. Calgary does not have to burn a retention spot by taking Merzlinkins.
• CBJ dumps 6M prorated this season. Huberdeau's base salary is only 3M.
• They subsidize Huberdeau's contract over the next three seasons by dumping Merzlinkins.
• This gets CBJ a big name star player to go with their fantastic group of upcoming young stars. They are one of the few teams with the cap flexibility to take a risk on Huberdeau.
• Huberdeau waives for Columbus because his options are Columbus or Calgary. There is no perfect contender who wants him. There is an easier travel schedule in the East. The lifestyle is generally better for a hockey star in USA than in Canada.
• You could add in a veteran or journeyman goalie from Calgary's side and an equivalent forward from Columbus to balance out the rosters.
• Merzlinkins would get a fresh start in Calgary. While they don't want him, if you look at their goalie depth, there is a great chance for him to win a backup spot, especially if one of Calgary's goalies goes back to Columbus.

 

[Figgy44]

I certainly didn't. I still remember convincing you guys how much of a mistake signing both was even beforehand. Took a ton of heat for it.

IIRC, our most frequent reply was that we couldn't control what ownership wanted anyways, but if it forced their hand for a rebuild we'd accept that as a silver lining. Many of us also admitted that rebuild wise, it wasn't necessarily ideal, but worked, since those two guys likely would cause us to continue on the wheel of mediocrity vs all out rebuild.

I mean, we were supposed to be a favourite for the Connor McDavid sweepstakes before the 2014-2015 season began. Ownership requested a playoff mandate and the team caught lightning in a bottle. I mean, I'm kinda torn. 2014-2015 was so much fun and it reignited my excitement for hockey. We've constantly retooled since then and the performance has fluctuated between very good and very bad. Stuff that supports ownership's decision, stuff that confirms agains it. I don't think either is wrong, but I think some of us just want to see what a proper rebuild might look like.

Merzlinkins (5.4M x 3Y) for Huberdeau (10.5M x 7Y).

• Calgary doesn't want Merzlinkins. He is a proxy for retention. Calgary does not have to burn a retention spot by taking Merzlinkins.
• CBJ dumps 6M prorated this season. Huberdeau's base salary is only 3M.
• They subsidize Huberdeau's contract over the next three seasons by dumping Merzlinkins.
• This gets CBJ a big name star player to go with their fantastic group of upcoming young stars. They are one of the few teams with the cap flexibility to take a risk on Huberdeau.
• Huberdeau waives for Columbus because his options are Columbus or Calgary. There is no perfect contender who wants him. There is an easier travel schedule in the East. The lifestyle is generally better for a hockey star in USA than in Canada.
• You could add in a veteran or journeyman goalie from Calgary's side and an equivalent forward from Columbus to balance out the rosters.
• Merzlinkins would get a fresh start in Calgary. While they don't want him, if you look at their goalie depth, there is a great chance for him to win a backup spot, especially if one of Calgary's goalies goes back to Columbus.

It's been brought up before and the answer is the optics is not good. Losing Gaudreau and bringing in a Huberdeau which creates an extra layer of reminder will hurt the hearts of both fanbases. There's some logic in the idea that doesn't make it totally unreasonable, but overall in the end, there's quite a few reasons why it doesn't make sense.