Johnny Gaudreau walked away from 15.4M$ to play with the Columbus Blue Jackets

Clearly, there were better deals on the table with the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders, but he decided to play in Columbus. But what's even more intriguing is that he was offered 10.8M$x8 (84M$ total) by the Calgary Flames and he refused the proposition.

This means that he left, at least, 15.4M$ on the table to play with the Blue Jackets. Were the Devils and the Islanders better options? Newark and Elmont are less far away from South Jersey than Columbus. And he stated that he wanted to play near his family...

Anyways, we'll probably never know why he chose Columbus...