Johnny Gaudreau Opens Up About Signing in Columbus

The move nobody saw coming. Johnny Gaudreau surprised us all by signing a massive contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team he's had circled on his list for apparently quite some time. The Calgary Flames did everything they could to sign him, offering roughly $15 more million than the Blue Jackets, however it was time for Johnny Hockey to move on from Calgary.

The biggest splash of free agency had this to say recently to the media as the newest member of the Blue Jackets couldn't be more excited. Just don't fire off those cannon's without him knowing it's coming:

I've gotten to play here many times, and every time it's a lot of fun to play here. There's a good, young group here, and that attracted me too. Me and my wife thought it was a really good fit for us. ... It was somewhere that I had circled on my list for a while now. I always dreamed about playing a tad closer to home. It didn't matter where I was signing. I think our decision was it was best for us not to go back to Calgary. Then we decided what to figure out, what the best option (was) for us, and Columbus was right up at the top of the list. I didn't come to Columbus to check out the views, I came here to win hockey games.

The Blue Jackets now sit with just over $3 million in cap space and there's still Patrik Laine to sign to an extension as the restricted free agent needs a contract for next season. Columbus has lots of work left to do and could continue to surprise us this summer.