Johnny Gaudreau Was About To Be a New Jersey Devil...Until The Columbus Blue Jackets Swooped In Out Of Nowhere To Swipe The Prized Free Agent

The biggest story in the hockey world over the last week was free agent Johnny Gaudreau signing a monster 7-year deal with Columbus worth just over $68M. Everybody knew the dynamic left-wing was going to get paid by some team. But heading into Wednesday, nobody thought it was going to be the team in Ohio.

Our old pal Johnny Ham & Cheese was kind enough to join us for his third appearance on Spittin' Chiclets to explain exactly how and why he ended up becoming the newest Blue Jacket. [Trigger warning for Devils fans.]

Johnny was pretty surprised that everyone else was very surprised that he signed with Columbus. The team did not have a history of landing big-ticket free agents and none of the looped in NHL reporters mentioned them in the lead up to free agency starting. But that's all changed now as have the team's playoff prospects for the '22-'23 season. The Blue Jackets also signed him despite knowing his dirty little secret.

Despite the sweet payday, it's not a process that he's looking to take part in again anytime soon.

Thanks again to Johnny for joining us almost four years to the day of his first appearance with Kevin Hayes back in my old living room in Southie. He'll also play for the only two NHL teams with Civil War-inspired nicknames (killer trivia question).

The boys also went over all the big moves by Ottawa, dumped on whatever the hell Philly's doing, discussed the Pens moves, broke down all of the other deals, and had a bunch of laughs as well. 

Give it a whirl.