Is Brad Treliving the Right Choice For the Toronto Maple Leafs?
The Toronto Maple Leafs New GM’s Drafting Record
2014 NHL Draft
Notable Players: Sam Bennett
At Treliving’s first draft in Calgary, he took the lean centre in Sam Bennett fourth overall from the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL. Although a star in junior, Bennett never came into his own as a member of the Flames. (info hockeydb.com).
2015 NHL Draft
Notable players: Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington, and Andrew Mangiapane
After dealing their first rounder (15th overall) for Dougie Hamilton among other deals, the Flames only had five draft choices at the 2015 draft. Despite this, Treliving and Co. Made the most of those selections.
They nabbed Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington with their first and second picks, both second rounders. Both players have become main fixtures on the Flames backend with Andersson becoming arguably Calgary’s best defenceman.
Then in the sixth round, they grabbed forward Andrew Mangiapane. He is by far the biggest steal for the Flames during Treliving’s tenure (so far) becoming a solid middle-six/top-six contributor.
2016 NHL Draft
Notable players: Matthew Tkachuk, Dillon Dube, Adam Fox
Although usually you wouldn’t give a GM kudos for hitting on a top-10 selection. Given multiple teams passed on him, Matthew Tkachuk is a grand slam at sixth overall. He’s become the NHL’s premier power-forward and the best to do it in nearly two decades. In the late second round, he grabbed middle-six forward Dillon Dube. At 24, Dube just hit career highs in points and assists, signaling we still may not have seen his best just yet.
In the third round, Treliving grabbed Adam Fox. I would classify him as his biggest steal overall, differentiating him from Mangiapane because he never played in Calgary. He forced his way to the New York Rangers by refusing both the Flames and Hurricanes offers. More on him later but he is currently one of the NHL’s best blueliners, which is phenomenal value from a third round selection.
2017 NHL Draft
Notable Players: Juuso Valimaki and Adam Ruzicka
There will be more on Valimaki later but the Flames took him 16th overall and after a breakout 2022-23 campaign he looks like a hit. The other notable player from this draft is forward Adam Ruzicka. Treliving grabbed him in the fourth round and he seems to be blossoming into a good middle-six/bottom-six forward after scoring 20 points in 44 games this season.
2018 NHL Draft
Notable Players: None
This is where Treliving’s draft history seems to start to fall-off. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what happens from here on out but in 2018 specifically, they didn’t have a draft selection until the fourth round. Emilio Pettersson seems to be the most promising of the bunch though and could still develop into an NHL player given he’s only 23.
2019-2022 NHL Drafts
Notable Players: Jakob Pelletier, Dustin Wolf, Connor Zary, Jeremie Poirier, Yan Kuznetsov, Matt Coronato, William Stromgren, and Topi Ronni.
This list would likely be smaller with more hindsight in a few years but as of right now these are some of the Flames top prospects. Of this group that has played NHL games it is: Dustin Wolf, Jakob Pelletier, and Matt Coronato. On the bright side, Coronato seems to be on track to become a decent top-six forward. If Dustin Wolf’s AHL dominance is any indication, he could become a great starting netminder for the future.
It’s tough to say given these players are all still prospects but all-in-all the Flames pool seems to be well positioned for the future. Especially taking into consideration that the Flames are in consistent playoff contention.
Looking at his draft record in totality, Treliving has done well at hitting on first rounders and identifying talent to fill out the roster in the later rounds. Even finding players like Mangiapane, Andersson, Kylington, Dube, and Fox to be reliable everyday NHLers to varying degrees.
As I mentioned before, his draft performance did seem to fall off after 2018. His draft picks have played a total of 26 combined games since then and only three players have played at least a single game. For context, the Leafs have gotten 386 combined games out of their picks since 2018 and have had nine players play at least one game. As well, there have only been two first round picks since 2018 for the Leafs and the Flames had three.
Signings
Every July 1st, many general managers spend large amounts of money to overpriced unrestricted free agents and Brad Treliving was no exception.
His list of free agency mishaps begins at his first off-season as Flames GM. Treliving signed a trio of Jonas Hiller, Mason Raymond, and Deryk Engelland. He committed $4.5 million for two years, $3.15 million for three years, and $2.9 million for three years to these players respectively. (cap info from capfriendly.com).
Hiller worked out well the first season, playing in 52 games and posting a .918% save percentage with a GSAx of 8.0 (18th in the league) according to moneypuck.com. However, the following season the wheels would fall-off as Hiller would play in 26 games with a .879% save percentage and would rank second last amongst all goalies in GSAx.
Mason Raymond on the other hand, was a flop from the very beginning. He played a total of 86 games and tallied 28 points from 2014-15 until 2015-16. He was bought out of the final year of his deal.
Engelland played out his deal and was a reliable bottom pairing defenceman throughout his time in Calgary.
Outside of this trio, there were some fairly ugly contracts that Treliving handed out. Like; Michael Frolik, Troy Brouwer, and James Neal.
Frolik signed a five year contract with a $4.3 million annual average value (AAV) on July 1st, 2015. In his time with Calgary, he never eclipsed 44 points in a single season. By the end of it, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres for a fourth round pick and was out of the league the following season.
Brouwer signed on July 1st, 2016 for four years and $4.5 million per season. He played 150 games for the Flames, scoring 19 goals and 47 points. His contract was bought out in August 2018.
James Neal signed his deal on July 2nd, 2018 for five years and $5.75 million AAV. He spent one year with the Flames playing 63 games and tallying seven goals and 19 points. He was then traded that next off-season for Milan Lucic (12.5% retained) and a 2021 3rd round pick.
In recent years, Treliving has signed Jacob Markstrom for six years with a $6 million AAV, Chris Tanev for four years with a $4.5 million AAV, Blake Coleman for six years with a $4.9 million AAV, and Nazem Kadri for seven years with a $7 million AAV.
These are all bad deals, more or less. Paying goalies big money with term never works out, and neither does giving players who aren’t slam-dunk superstars money and term as they approach 30.
Markstrom’s performance has been up and down posting a .904%, .922%, and .892% save percentages for the last three seasons. He still has three years remaining and will be 36 when his contract finally expires.
Tanev has been a great acquisition and despite his usual injury issues has been a solid top-four defenceman for the team. This was his best signing, but its still not great.
Coleman has performed relatively well thus far, scoring 72 points in 163 games. He will be 35 when his contract expires. Nazem Kadri has came back down to earth after scoring 87 points in 71 games in 2021-22. In his first season with Calgary he scored 24 goals and 56 points in 82 games. He will be 38 when his contract expires with Calgary.
When it comes to signing free agents, Treliving tends to make the mistake that many GMs make. He uses the free agent market to fill out his roster with middle-of-the-lineup players on inflated contracts. In a cap world, this is one easy way to sink a team and the exact reason he has had to use buyouts and trades to dump bad contracts. It is the definition of shooting yourself in the foot.
Trades
Treliving has an interesting trade history. Like any GM, there are some duds like acquiring Brian Elliott for the pick that became Jordan Kyrou.However, he has a propensity to make bold trades and has clearly won quite a few.
Like the Dougie Hamilton trade, both times. The first time, at the 2015 Draft he traded the 15th, 45th, and 52nd overall picks to the Boston Bruins for Dougie Hamilton. Had the Bruins selected one of Mat Barzal, Kyle Connor, or Thomas Chabot with the 15th pick it would likely be perceived differently. But, the Bruins drafted Zachary Senyshyn instead and thus, the best player Calgary gave up was Jeremy Lauzon in the deal. It is an undeniable slam dunk.
The second Dougie Hamilton trade is much closer but given the context is still a win for Calgary overall.
The Flames traded Dougie Hamilton, Michael Ferland, and the rights to Adam Fox to the Carolina Hurricanes for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. Today, Lindholm is the Flames number one centre and Hanifin is a top-pairing defender for the Flames. Since Adam Fox refused to sign with Carolina and Dougie Hamilton left in free agency, this trade is again a win for the Flames.
In between the two Dougie Hamilton trades in June 2017, Treliving attempted to shore up his defense by acquiring Travis Hamonic from the New York Islanders.
He traded a first and second round pick in 2018 and a second round pick in 2019. Hamonic would play three seasons in Calgary and struggle throughout his time before leaving for the Vancouver Canucks in free agency. On the flipside, the Islanders drafted Noah Dobson with the 2018 first who has developed into a very good top-four defenceman, averaging over 20 minutes of TOI and 50 points each of the past two seasons.
It’s too early to say whether the next few trades are wins or not but there were three big trades made in 2022 that should be mentioned. The first is the acquisition of Tyler Toffoli from the Montreal Canadiens for Tyler Pitlick, Emil Heineman, a 2022 first, 2023 fifth, and 2024 fourth. Toffoli produced career highs in goals, assists, and points (34-39-73) in 2022-23.
One of the other two trades were Matthew Tkachuk and a 2025 fourth to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a 2025 first. So far, Matthew Tkachuk has reached a career high in points with 109 and both Huberdeau and Weegar struggled mightily for the Flames. As well, the Panthers are set to compete for the Stanley Cup later this month. The jury is still out but this trade could prove correct the old adage of “Whoever gives up the best player, loses the trade”.
Finally, Treliving traded Sean Monahan to the Montreal Canadiens along with a 2025 first round pick for future considerations. This was a cap dump, necessitated only by the Flames spending up to that point. Had Treliving worked around the cap more proficiently, the deal would not have been necessary.
Coaching Instability
There was a very large coaching carousel for the Flames under Treliving. When he took over, Bob Hartley was already in place and he kept him there for two seasons. Hartley won the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 2014-15 (Brad Treliving’s first season). However, after failing to make the playoffs the following season, he was fired.
In his place, the Flames hired Glen Gulutzan ahead of the 2016-17 season. In his first season, the Flames made the playoffs but again after missing the playoffs the following season, he was let go.
After Gulutzan, the Flames hired now controversial figure, Bill Peters as the new bench boss. In 2018-19, his first season, he lead the Flames to a division title and their second most wins and points in franchise history. Then in his second season, Peters submitted his resignation on November 29th, 2019 following allegations of abuse and racism.
After Peters, the Flames promoted assistant Geoff Ward as interim coach and later making him the full-time head coach. He would only coach a total of 66 games as head coach, however. In 2019-20 he only coached 42 games due to the covid-shortened season. He was officially named head coach in September of 2020 but was relieved of his duties on March 4, 2021 after a record of 11-11-2.
Immediately after Ward’s firing, the Flames hired the final head coach of Treliving’s tenure, Darryl Sutter. He was unable to right the ship in 2020-21 and the Flames missed the playoffs going 15-15-0 under Sutter. The following season, Sutter would guide the team to a 50-21-11 record and a second round appearance. As a result of their major standings surge, Sutter won the Jack Adams award in 2022.
Unfortunately, Sutter presided over a near mutiny, and when ownership wouldn’t let Treliving fire him, Treliving quit, only for Sutter to get fired anyways.
Team Record
As previously mentioned, Treliving spent nine season as the Flames general manager. Under his guidance, the Flames played 700 games finishing with a record of 362-265-73. That’s a total winning percentage of 51.7%. For context, Dubas had a winning percentage of 58.9% in five years with the Leafs.
Outside of the regular season, the Flames had a mediocre post-season showing under Treliving. The Flames failed to qualify for the playoffs four times, losing in round one three times, and then losing in round two, twice. This left him with an overall record of 16-26. (nhl.com).
Development issues
Although Treliving has had quite a few draft picks outside of the first round find success in the NHL, there seems to have been an issue with some players finding their game during his tenure.
This could be a combination of factors with blame to go around between the development staff, coaching staff, player, and management. However, it is notable that there were some high draft picks that weren’t able to find their game in Calgary but immediately after leaving find success.
The most notable case of this is Sam Bennett. Playing in 402 games for the club, he scored only 67 goals and 73 assists for 140 points.
Nowhere near the production you would expect from a fourth overall pick. Especially given his resurgence in Florida (104 points in 144 games), Bennett failing to pan out is a major black mark of Treliving’s tenure.In Calgary, Bennett appeared to be a bust. He was traded along with a sixth round pick to the Florida Panthers for Emil Heineman and a second round pick in 2022.
Since joining the Panthers, Bennett has become one of the league’s better powerforwards. In Florida, unlike Calgary, he is being used in a top-six role and is one of their most lethal weapons.
In Calgary, he was misused as a bottom-six forward. It is hard to say who is exactly at fault but he is the exact type of player that a team like Calgary could use, especially with the loss of Matthew Tkachuk, Bennett’s teammate once again. Had Calgary properly utilized Bennett, he could have kept them from making the Blake Coleman or Nazem Kadri signing.
Another notable first rounder that wasn’t properly utilized in Calgary was Juuso Valimaki. Valimaki was the Flames 16th overall pick in 2017.
He played 82 total games as a Flame between 2018 and 2022, and played 35 games with their AHL affiliate the Stockton Heat in 2021-22. He was claimed off of waivers earlier this past season by the Arizona Coyotes in October and proceeded to have a break out campaign. He averaged 18:11 TOI this season and produced 34 points (via hockeyreference.com).
You could make the argument that Valimaki wasn’t needed on the Flames blueline but losing a valuable young player to waivers shows very poor asset management. He could have been used in a trade to make the team better or used on the roster to again, make a team that missed the playoffs better.
Brad Treliving had a tenure in Calgary reminiscent of a roller coaster.
There is plenty of blame to be passed around but he was the ultimate face of the decision making and bears the brunt of that role.
He was the one who endorsed contracts, made trades, and signed off on draft picks.
Many people pointed to an ownership that had a hands-on approach to hand wave his failures but that likely isn’t much different than the situation he faces in Toronto with Brendan Shanahan, Larry Tanenbaum, and the MLSE board.
Another wrinkle as well that has been pointed out is the difference in either team’s financial might.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have no shortage of money to invest in their hockey operations department.
It will be interesting to see what Treliving can do with a budget that MLSE affords him.
Next. Leafs Top 10 Prospects. dark
He has also shown the ability and willingness to pull off bold moves and given the stakes of the 12 or so months in Toronto, he will need to use that when he takes over as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.