So it would be official, former Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving will succeed Kyle Dubas in Toronto.
Reporters Darren Dreger and Elliotte Friedman reported the news first.
Still amazing to see Leafs president Brendan Shanahan appoint a GM whose team has advanced to the second round of the playoffs only twice in nine years, but also missed the playoffs four times.
Treliving also left the Flames with an aging and overpaid core, unable to make the playoffs. Most of his big acquisitions in the free agent market, James Neal, Troy Brouwer and maybe eventually Nazem Kadri, didn’t turn out as expected.
The acquisition a few years ago of Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin for Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and Adam Fox (who refused to sign a contract in Calgary) however paid off big.
Not sure if this is big news in Toronto, but let’s give the runner a chance nonetheless…
Under his reign, the Flames cracked the top 15 overall in the NHL just twice in nine seasons. This team was located at the bottom of the rankings when it arrived in 2014, it should be mentioned, but it benefited by the very fact of the fourth overall pick of the rich repechage a few months after its appointment, and also inherited a center of 19-year-old already established in the first line after being drafted sixth overall in 2013.
After a surprising first season in 2014-2015, which was a third place in the Pacific division and a victory in the first round, his team fell back in the standings the following year (26th overall), but were at least able to draft in the sixth. overall rank in 2015.
With this trio of youngsters drafted among the top six between 2013 and 2016 (Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk), our man did not skimp on the means to win. He even chose to fire four coaches in six years, between 2015 and 2021, including one dropped due to a skeleton in the closet. Coaches Bob Hartley, Glen Gulutzan, Bill Peters (for past racist behavior) and Geoff Ward lost their positions under Treliving.
In the end, the first of the members of his young core at the time cost a first-round pick to get rid of him. In the GM’s defence, he was worn down by injuries.
The second moved on to a rival club for a second-round pick and a prospect. He had never flourished with his team.
The third core member also plays for another club. But unlike the other two, he had demanded a transaction. In return, we got forward Jonathan Huberdeau, 55 points in 79 games this winter, and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, third in the hierarchy of defensemen, and a first-round pick in 2025.
Tkachuk has just reached the Stanley Cup Finals with Bennett as a regular center.
Treliving leaves to his successor in Calgary, Craig Conroy, an experienced club, of course, but whose first two attackers, Nazem Kadri (32) and Jonathan Huberdeau (29), will be under contract until 2029 and 2031 respectively, at annual salaries of 7 and 10.5 million. A club that has only one player under the age of 26 in its top 9 attacking or top quartet of defenders.
