After Monahan, Flames ‘work away’ at Johnny Gaudreau extension

Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving had two big restricted free agents to lock up this summer, and as of Friday afternoon he’s down to one.

Following Sean Monahan’s seven-year, $44 million extension, his good pal Johnny Gaudreau still remains unsigned.

“It takes time. I’m positive he’s going to be here for Oct. 12 and be playing for the Calgary Flames,” Monahan said on Friday. “I’m not worried about it and obviously Brad’s doing his work on that part. I’m just looking forward to getting up to the World Cup and playing with him there and continue that chemistry into the season.”

Both players will be in Toronto next month playing for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported earlier this week that Gaudreau will play even if he remains unsigned come Sept. 17 after he purchased his own insurance for the event.

Potentially making things more interesting is the fact that Friedman also reported that he was told that once World Cup camps open on Sept. 4, Gaudreau does not want to negotiate until the end of Team North America’s tournament.

Now that Monahan’s future is settled all eyes will turn to Gaudreau. If that World Cup deadline is true, that leaves Treliving a little over two weeks to get a deal done before needing to wait until at least late September to hammer something out. He’s confident progress is being made toward a finish line.

“There’s some uniqueness when you have two young players like this, relatively same age, coming out at the same time,” Treliving said. “Is there some uniqueness? Sure there is. Does one impact the other? It’s like we talked about earlier, there’s a market place. … We’ll continue to work away. … That’s all you do. You pick away at it every little day. You try to find common ground.

“But as Mony said, Johnny’s an important guy, as all our players are. He’s a terrific young player. He wants to be here. We want him here and you keep working away at it and we have every confidence we’re going to find a deal that’s fair and works for both sides.”

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy