Treliving dishes on all the pre-camp question marks
Flames’ GM continues to ‘bang away’ at negotiations with Gaudreau
Brad Treliving took a deep breath and, facing the media at the start of Calgary Flames training camp, the general manager prepared himself to rattle off various news items.
And, rather suddenly, there was a pile of updates to address.
In no particular order — but starting with the most obvious — he began.
The absence of Johnny Gaudreau:
Of course, partially this has to do with the ongoing World Cup of Hockey and his presence on the Team North America squad. But well-advertised is Gaudreau’s contract situation, or lack thereof. No contract means no training camp.
“Obviously Johnny’s focus right now is (with Team North America),” Treliving said. “We’ll continue to bang away at (contract negotiations). You hope for the best. We hope it’s going to get done and going to get done soon. Time will tell.”
Preparing for training camp without Gaudreau:
“Listen, Johnny’s an important piece; an important player. This is not the first player that’s gone through a contract situation, and it won’t be the last. It’s just part of the business. You isolate that and take care of business. The other pieces, life goes on.
“You also have to figure out who the 23, 22, 21 other players are for Oct. 12. That process starts today. It’s a part of the business. We know how important Johnny is to us. I know he wants to be here. We’ll keep working away at that and the coaches will get ready to drop the puck Oct. 12.”
Injury update of Mikael Backlund:
The Flames centre sustained a concussion playing for Team Sweden at the World Cup. He’s currently under evaluation by Flames doctors who happen to be in Toronto.
“Reports back are he’s doing well. Like these injuries, he’s under the protocol. It’s a day-to-day situation we’ll monitor. Mikael will be staying there for the next couple days and we’ll come up with a plan after that.”
Centre Sean Monahan not participating in the skating portion of training camp for precautionary reasons:
“I think everybody saw when Sean pulled out of the World Cup with a back strain. He’s progressing. He’s doing well. We just want to be cautious with this. So, he’s going to take the first couple days and continue with some individual work. We’ll get through the first little bit here — at least the first three pre-season games. We’re looking at him (coming back) in the last three or four pre-season games to prepare for the season. We just want to be cautious with him.”
Right-winger Michael Frolik and defenceman Ladislav Smid:
Frolik is with the Czech Republic squad at the World Cup and will join the team Friday. Smid won’t be participating on the ice this year due to his ongoing neck issues but will be helping in a front office/ scouting role:
“He (Smid) is not making the decision to retire at this point. We’ll see. Obviously LTIR (longterm injured reserve) is a possible scenario ... He’s had a long history — physically, he’s not able to go.” Plenty to digest. But the biggest news from Thursday’s opening day of training camp?
Treliving’s off-season work is finally being put to the ice.
The additions of new head coach Glen Gulutzan and his coaching staff Paul Jerrard and David Cameron. Goaltenders Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson.
The addition of veteran Troy Brouwer.
And, also, the boss will get to see how their sixth-overall selection, Matthew Tkachuk, performs when matched against the veterans.
“The first step is rookie camp,” Treliving said. “Being able to contribute and play and finding a way to be at that level is another step. It’s an everyday league. (Friday), it’s finding a way to be at that level and to be comfortable.”
The real work, for everyone, starts Friday with the on-ice portion of training camp.
Treliving pointed out there are roster positions up for grabs, particularly up front.
“We purposely kept a couple of spots open,” he said. “There’s competition. There are people here on PTOs (Chris Higgins, Nicklas Grossman, and Lauri Korpikoski included) for a reason ... there are spots to be won. This isn’t one where 12 or 13 forwards are all drawn up. This is going to be a performance-based camp, as they all are.
“We’re a long way from (the season opener on) Oct. 12.”