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'Good spot for me': Gaudreau to Blue Jackets tops busy summer of NHL player movement

Johnny Hockey moved East, though not as far as everyone thought. The champs out West couldn't keep the entire band together. And two teams with lengthy playoff droughts made some moves hoping to change that.

Johnny Gaudreau joining Columbus headlined a busy off-season of player movement around the NHL. Darcy Kuemper left Colorado for Washington after backstopping the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup, and former teammate Nazem Kadri signed with Calgary, Gaudreau's former team.

Toronto is often called the centre of the hockey universe, but this past summer it was Calgary being part of the biggest blockbuster trade: Matthew Tkachuk to Florida for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. Panthers division rivals Ottawa and Detroit also made substantial moves to take another step toward contending.

Despite the salary cap only going up $1 million US, plenty of players changed places since the Avalanche dethroned Tampa Bay to win it all.

Gaudreau was the best free agent available, and signs pointed toward a return home to Philadelphia. But the Flyers couldn't clear cap space to sign the South Jersey native, who chose to sign a seven-year contract worth $68.25 million with the Blue Jackets.

"I thought it was a good spot for me, personally," Gaudreau said. "I think we can have a lot of success here. It's somewhere that I had circled on my list for a while now. It's not only from what I've heard about the city and where you live, but they've got good players on this team, too, and I'm really looking forward to jumping in with this group."

The Blue Jackets are still not favoured to make the playoffs, but they're closer than before with Gaudreau.

After the top eight and bottom eight in the Eastern Conference last season were separated

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