Erik Francis of Sportsnet: Calgary Flames pending UFA winger Johnny Gaudreau said that he and his wife love it in Calgary and it has a special place in his heart.
“You guys can tell on Twitter, my uncle, my dad, my mom, my sisters, my brother, everyone loves Calgary. It’s a special place in our heart and we love it here, so we’ll see what happens.
“I’ll sit down with my agent this week sometime and figure out what’s best for me and my family.”
Gaudreau adds that he hasn’t spent that last weeks or months thinking that his time with the Flames was up.
“I didn’t sit in the locker room and keep my jersey on or stare up in the stands,” said Gaudreau.
“That’s something that I didn’t really think of. I do have a big decision and we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks, but I love it here. I love the fans. I love the city. But I never really had that moment where I was like, ‘This is it for me.’”
GM Brad Treliving said he’ll do all he can to sign Gaudreau to an extension. He’s finishing up a six-year, $6.75 million per season deal and he likely won’t signing a discounted deal.
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts on some of the Calgary Flames soon to be free agents.
“Well obviously some huge negotiations coming up in Calgary – Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Mangiapane, and I don’t think the Flames are going to wait to long to get this started.
I would expects it’s going to begin in the very near future. Gaudreau is an unrestricted free agent. Tkachuk has one more year. I think they are going to start with the two of them and I don’t necessarily think it’s, one is more important than the other, because of the timing or anything like that.
I think they are going to go right to both of them very quickly, very aggressively to see where everything stands and where everything is going. And I think that’s the reason why Calgary will start quick, so they can know what the landscape is. What they might have to do to either re-sign them or otherwise.
So I think these are going to be quick negotiations in terms of when they are going to start from today.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription