Flyers fans aren't happy after GM Chuck Fletcher says it was “too difficult” to sign Johnny Gaudreau

In case you missed it yesterday, Johnny Gaudreau absolutely shocked the hockey world by turning down big money offers from the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders in favor of signing with the... Columbus Blue Jackets.

It's a move that NO ONE saw coming, even after Gaudreau informed the Flames on Tuesday evening that he wouldn't be re-signing in Calgary. There were rumors that the Philadelphia Flyers, Devils and the Islanders were all in pursuit of Gaudreau, but the persistence of Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekkalainen and President John Davidson is what sealed the deal for Johnny Hockey.

There had been rumors for weeks that Gaudreau would sign with the Flyers, the team he grew up cheering for when he lived in nearby Salem County, NJ but things never really materialized. Even after Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher cleared the table by buying out Oskar Lindblom and no bringing back Claude Giroux, he still never tendered an offer to Gaudreau. The fact of the matter is that the Flyers are capped out and Fletcher would have had to move someone like James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Hayes or Ivan Provorov to clear the deck for Gaudreau. Fletcher himself tells fans that trying to do that was too "difficult."

Check it out:

Sorry your job is so tough, Chuck. Maybe you should find a gig elsewhere? There's plenty of "easier" hockey jobs out there, surely you've got the connections to transition into something a little more easy going...