"It's a disappointing day to say the very least," Flames general manager Brad Treliving said.
"I sat in front of you, those who are local here, at the end of our season, and I think my line was, 'We would move heaven and earth (to sign Gaudreau).' I can assure our fans we've done everything possible to keep Johnny in Calgary. I want to wish Johnny, his family, his wife Meredith -- he's going to be a dad in the upcoming months -- I want to wish his family the very best. He gave us eight wonderful years here, great memories. It's difficult. The hard part of this business is we do have to move on."
Gaudreau, who was in the final season of a six-year, $40.5 million contract ($6.75 million average annual value), had a career high in goals (40), assists (75) and points (115) in 82 games this season. The 28-year-old also led the Flames with 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in 12 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when they were eliminated in five games by the Edmonton Oilers in the best-of-7 Western Conference Second Round.
Two days after the Flames were eliminated, Gaudreau said he wanted to stay and try to win the Stanley Cup in Calgary.
"I've been here for 11 years and haven't got to that ultimate goal," Gaudreau said May 28. "It's been a while since they've won here (1989). So I think that would be pretty special, to win a Cup here. It's something that I kind of dreamed about my whole life, and Calgary is a great place to do it."
Treliving described the conversation he had with Gaudreau regarding his decision as "an emotional one."
"I don't want to speak for John and I won't speak for John, but it's my strong belief that this was a family decision, and I respect that," he said. "That's something that certainly John has every right [to], and we have nothing but respect for John the player and John the person."
Selected by Calgary in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Gaudreau has 609 points (210 goals, 399 assists) in 602 regular-season games, and 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 42 playoff games.
Despite losing arguably their best player, Treliving said don't expect the Flames to replace him immediately after free agency begins.
"You've lost a really good player, you have to move forward here," Treliving said. "If you're sitting around tomorrow and thinking, 'We're going to fix all our issues tomorrow,' that's not the way you do it. You have to take some time, take a look at things and you have to be smart in your decisions. You don't go and pick somebody off a tree tomorrow to replace Johnny's offense and what he did with our team, but you also have to move forward. You go through adversity through life, and it's how you deal with it. We'll pick ourselves up. We have a lot of really good players, and we're going to find a path forward that makes the most sense for us."
