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Steve Yzerman explains why Red Wings didn't pursue Johnny Gaudreau

Johnny Hockey certainly was at the top of the wishlist for many Red Wings fans.

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The Detroit Red Wings entered the 2022 National Hockey League free agency period with over $30 million in cap space, and they certainly put it to good use. General manager Steve Yzerman was among the busiest executives in hockey on Wednesday, bringing aboard the likes of Andrew Copp, David Perron, Dominik Kubalik, Olli Maatta, and Ben Chiarot. And that was already on top of his acquisition of goaltender Ville Husso from the St. Louis Blues the previous week.

The most prized free agent on the market was Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau, who scored 40 goals with 75 assists for a career high 115 points during the 2021-22 season. A native of New Jersey, the prevailing thought was that he'd be signing with the New Jersey Devils, or perhaps even the nearby Philadelphia Flyers or New York Islanders. 

However, Gaudreau shocked nearly everyone in the hockey community by signing a seven year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, reportedly leaving millions of dollars in salary on the table compared to what he was offered by Calgary.

It's no secret that Gaudreau was at the top of the wishlist for plenty of the Hockeytown faithful, especially considering the ample cap space that Yzerman had to work with. However, were the Red Wings serious players in the Gaudreau sweepstakes? 

"No, not really," Yzerman said this morning during a guest appearance on 97.1 The Ticket.

"Obviously we’re following what’s happening around the league and who might become free or not, but if you look at our lineup and our roster, we have a lot of wingers, a lot of left-hand-shot wingers. An excellent hockey player obviously, but it wasn’t a priority for us in tying up that much money and term," Yzerman continued. "We have a lot of left-shot wingers, different than him obviously, but just wasn’t really a priority for us at this time."

Just how well will Gaudreau's unusual move to Columbus work out for both sides?