With the Calgary Flames season over, the franchise may focus on one of the biggest issues in its history: pending free agent Johnny Gaudreau will re-sign with the club or star will prove free agency ?
For his part, Gaudreau reaffirmed his love for the city on Saturday.
“I’ve been here for 11 years and I haven’t reached that ultimate goal and they haven’t won here in a long time, so I think it would be very special: to win a Cup here,” he said.
“It’s something I’ve dreamed of all my life, and Calgary is a great place to do it.”
Calgary is the only NHL team he’s ever met, and even Gaudreau didn’t seem ready for the chance to put on a different jersey.
“It’s all I’ve known for the last 11 years and it’s an important decision here and I’ll just try to figure out what’s best for me and my family and go from there,” he said.
“But Calgary is a special place for me and I love it very, very much here.”
Brad Treliving and Gaudreau agent Lewis Gross kept the conversations out of the public eye during the season. With free agency approaching, the urgency of having a response from Gaudreau has only grown.
“I said that, and I told John, I think it’s a Calgary Flame and we want to turn it into a Calgary Flame for a long time,” Treliving said.
“We’ll do our best to make that happen. We’ve seen what he’s capable of. I’ve believed in this guy since the day I walked in the door here. No doubt this is an important business that we have to take care of.”
His teammates have also been doing their fields all season, including two-time Stanley Cup champion Blake Coleman, who posed as he remembered.
“He’s a very important part of this team,” Coleman said.
“In my conversations with him, [I am] trying to figure out what legacy he could leave to Calgary if he stays. You could probably put your shirt on the beams now. Eight more years than Johnny, would be consolidated forever. And I think that’s important to him. “
Despite the magnitude of the moment, Gaudreau did not stop in the future during the Edmonton series.
“I didn’t sit in the locker room and I didn’t stay in my shirt or stare in the stands,” he said.
“That’s something I didn’t really think about.”
Gaudreau is just one of many important contracts that Treliving has to deal with during the off-season. Fellow Matthew Tkachuk has also just finished a one-year career and needs a new one-year unrestricted free agency contract. Tkachuk said he would be open to staying in Calgary for the long term.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I loved it here. I grew up here.”
“At the end of the day, you live in a world of tapas where you have 23 mouths to feed,” said Treliving, of the two big contracts. “You treat everyone fairly, but not everyone gets the same treatment. Or they would all do the same thing. It’s a puzzle.”
What is clear is that the Flames will raise any amount needed to keep the number 13 in white and red. What remains to be seen is whether Gaudreau will commit. Saturday’s comments hinted at optimism.
“You can tell on Twitter: my uncle, my dad, my mom, my sisters, my brother, everyone loves Calgary,” he said.
The close-knit group in Calgary seems to have accepted the result, regardless of whether they are friends or foes in the fall.
“It’s a business and we all understand it,” Coleman said.
“I didn’t know I was in Calgary last season. Who knows what the future holds for him? “