Is Brad Treliving the Right Choice For the Toronto Maple Leafs?

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.