I'm sure Philly tried and probably had a plan to make the money work but Johnny chose Columbus.

He would not have chosen Columbus over Philly if they could've made the money work, it's been reported almost ad-nauseum Philly was his top choice.

The problem is we have a hyper-incompetent GM that couldn't make the money work

I wouldn't give up a ticket in the Bedard lottery to move JVR to make room, either. Now, do I trust Fletcher to draft properly with that 2023 first? Unless Philly wins first overall, no, I don't. But I get it. He's built a bottom five team to be proud of; no reason to throw that away even for Gaudreau.

When they write the history of this period Fletcher & Bergevin will be at the bottom of the list of competent GMs.

I feel for you guys. The GM has to go and it may be time to retool if not rebuild. Even trading a 1st to get Gaudreau signed would have been more than worth it. DISASTER.

The problem is I have an incredibly hard time believing they couldn't have made the room for him without moving that pick if he just planned. Hell, the team above has 5 million in cap space with Gaudreau signed. Retain half on JVR, move Konecny, DON'T EXTEND RISTO LMAO, etc... There were so, soooo many options to choose from, he just made horrible decisions

Oh, agreed. Every move he's made except for maybe the Voracek/Atkinson trade has been a disaster, and even that isn't looking great for him. There's no excuse for finding yourself in that situation in the first place, especially knowing full well Gaudreau hits FA in 2022 and will want to come home.

Unfortunately we're ruled by an idiot. I mean who spends all cap on nothing AFTER getting rid of Giroux and Voracek contracts. So many things to say, don't know where to start. Sorry I just can't stand him