"I have a ton of family here, all my friends," the 23-year-old said. "I actually have a wedding this weekend in South Jersey, and all my friends come back here. All my good friends and kids who I have played with all my life are from South Jersey, so it would be sweet to play here someday.
"You never know in sports. It's a lot of support back here in South Jersey and the Philly area, they follow me pretty well."
Gaudreau has five years remaining on a six-year contract he signed with the Flames on Oct. 10, 2016. It has an average annual value of $6.75 million.
Last week, Gaudreau
expressed optimism regarding the Flames' immediate future
, saying, "I think we have a great three years ahead of us." And on Friday he said he enjoys being in Calgary.
"Every morning you wake up, you look out your window and you see the mountains," he said. "I go to Starbucks every morning and before I leave the Starbucks I'm taking three, four, five pictures and little kids [are] running up to me. It's really cool there, they're really passionate about their hockey … it makes it a lot of fun playing over there."
Gaudreau was selected by the Flames in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2011 NHL Draft. He has 204 points (73 goals, 131 assists) in 232 NHL games, and had 61 points (18 goals, 43 assists) last season to help the Flames qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the first wild card from the Western Conference.