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

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.