Friedman: Flames, Cammalleri's agent will negotiate
/Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman joined Boomer & Pinder on Sportsnet 960 The Fan Monday morning.
Friedman had a note on Michael Cammalleri in his 30 Thoughts blog, posted late Sunday night.
8. New Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving said he's met with UFA-to-be Mike Cammalleri, but it was more of a feeling-out, get-to-know-each-other conversation than a serious discussion about numbers. You never know until the offers get exchanged, but the two sides are going to give it a shot.
Here's what Friedman had to say on the radio Monday on the subject:
"I had a chance to talk to Brad Treliving last week just to get an idea of some of the kinds of things he's thinking. I did ask specifically about Cammalleri, who's an unrestricted free agent. He told me they'd met. They had a really good conversation. I asked if offers were exchanged. He said no. He just wanted to get an idea of where Cammalleri was and what he was thinking and what I do think is going to happen is the two of them are going to give it a shot.
"Cammalleri's agent, Ian Pulver, and Treliving and the Flames, they're going to have a negotiation and see where it goes. I don't think you ever know for sure what a player or team's interest is until these offers gets exchanged, but Brad certainly left me with the impression that it was a good meeting and Cammalleri was open to the idea of staying and they were open to the idea of keeping him. We've just got to wait and see what their values to each other is. That's always the determining factor. Those first offers, how close are they. "
Does that make sense, given where the Flames are today?
"I do. It does make sense because to me the biggest question for Cammalleri is - he's a guy with a family now. As a guy with a young kid myself, who's also kind of going through a job negotiation, situation for your family becomes more important than your situation. You look at your wife, you look at your child and you say, 'what's the best for them' as much as it is for me.
"So, if he's happy in Calgary and he likes it for his family, I think that always increases your chances.
"The way to look at it for the Flames is - what's the hardest thing to do in this league. Score. Cammalleri can score. You can't always be giving up, not to add. You look at the year you guys had last year, I think people felt really good about it - but now what are they going to feel good about next year. They want to see improvement.
"I think the Flames know Cammalleri is a guy, because of his gift to score, he can help them in that area and that's hard to find. But where it always comes down to Ryan, is value for the contract. What does the player want, what does the team want. That's why I always say people can sit there and say, 'I want to be here, I'm happy to be here' and a team can say 'we're happy with you here, we want you here' but until we see those contract offers, you don't really know how much they are on the same page.
"But I see value in him. I just think it comes down to the offer."
