On the Calgary Flames, Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan …
Eric Francis of Sportsnet: The Flames are going to be looking for a proven goalie and a big, skilled winger. There still needs to be more change within the Flames, but it doesn’t mean there will be a huge turnover.
“It’s unrealistic to say there are going to be 25 new faces here,” said Treliving following his exit meetings with players. “There’s three ways to improve – bring someone in from the outside, potentially improve by eliminating someone from the inside and, more often than not, it’s internal growth. That was a big message today.
“This is a very critical summer for every player and for us as an organization.”
The Flames have good nucleus in place already.
Joe Colborne will likely be looking to double his $1.27 million salary.
Scott Fisher of the Calgary Herald: Both Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are pending RFAs, and Gaudreau suggested on Monday that they could sign identical contracts.
“Perfect,” Treliving said with a smile. “There are some similarities. They’re teammates, they play together.
“There’s some differences in terms of contractual CBA rights. Does it make it easier, harder, better or worse?
“We’ll get to work on it. We’ll get the contracts done. They’re both excited to be here and they’ll both be big parts of this team moving forward.”
Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall signed identical deals, same with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it at times,” Gaudreau said. “But we have different agents and they probably don’t see eye-to-eye.
“They probably think their player deserves more. Me and Sean love playing together and we love being in the city of Calgary.
“So if it was up to us, I think we would sign the same deal and get back after it next season. But the agents are smart and they’re professionals at what they do. I trust my agent (Lewis Gross). He looks after me and does a lot for me.”
Neither Gaudreau or Monahan seem concerned about a new deal. Gaudreau said they’ve made some progress before the trade deadline on a new deal.
Monahan on their contract status.
“Obviously, Johnny’s a good friend of mine and he’s a great player,” Monahan said. “If we could get the same contract, that would be cool.
“I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen. It’ll get done. It’s just a matter of time.”