"Olli Jokinen wants to retire with the Calgary Flames.

And with that in mind, his agent recently flew into Calgary and met with Flames GM Jay Feaster to start the ball rolling on trying to extend his NHL contract.

While the notion of re-upping the 33-year-old centre would have been pure folly when he was brought back here two summers ago, his leadership and inspired play this season have essentially put the Flames in a position where they can't afford not to re-sign the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent.

Without him, the Flames could theoretically start next season with Mikael Backlund, Blair Jones, Roman Horak and Matt Stajan as the club's starting middlemen.

Jokinen, 36-year-old Brendan Morrison and converted centre David Moss are all UFAs in July."