Toronto Maple Leafs: Brad Treliving Off to Rough Start As GM

Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving was hired about a month or so ago, and so far he’s had a rough start.

So far, as GM he has made some head-scratching moves.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Treliving, there were mixed feelings in the hockey community. Treliving is an experienced GM for sure, but experience isn’t everything. Treliving has a history of signing elderly players to expensive long-term contracts and there doesn’t seem to be anything to set him apart from your typical NHL executive.

Despite his experience, Treliving hasn’t had much success when it comes to winning. He’s given out some terrible contracts (ie: Nazem Kadri), made some terrible trades (ie: Jonathan Huberdeau), and while he did put together some solid Calgary teams, not one of them ever got past game 5 of the second round. 

Toronto Maple Leafs: Brad Treliving Off to a Rough Start As Gm

With the Leafs, at least so far, his questionable decisions have continued.

First off, he has opted to keep Sheldon Keefe as head coach. While this isn’t the worst move in the world, it is definitely a move that has many Leafs fans scratching their heads as Keefe made some questionable lineup changes down the stretch and it seemed like he’d follow Dubas out the door.

Secondly, he gave out a massive contract to David Kampf. Now I like David Kampf as much as most Leaf fans do, he’s a strong penalty killer and bottom-six forward. The problem is Treliving gave him 4 years and a $2.4 million AAV. The price isn’t terrible, but it’s about $1 million too much. It is far better to overpay a star than to overpay a player that is easy to acquire, and these mistakes tend to add up and hurt you in the aggregate.

Further concern was raised when the Leafs signed Ryan Reeves for inexplicable reasons. The 37 year-old enforcer brings no value as a skater and is exclusively there for toughness.  He’s overpaid and will take a lineup spot from a much better player.   The Leafs have been down this road countless times and never seem to learn their lesson.

Next the Leafs signed John Klingberg coming off an absolutely brutal campaign, and the jury is still out on this move.

One good move that Treliving has made is bringing back Pontus Holmberg. He recently signed the Swede to a 2-year deal with a very reasonable $800k AAV.  Holmberg has shown to be a strong player for the Marlies and will more than likely be a full-time member of the Leafs.

However, even with that solid move, most of his decisions so far have not been great.

To be fair, it’s still early in the offseason and lots can change. And who knows, maybe David Kampf scores 30 goals next year. [Editor’s Note: not happening].

But so far Treliving has been a little disappointing as Leafs GM.

We’ll see how he handles Matthews’ and Nylander’s contract extensions.