The Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager, Brad Treliving, had an absolutely terrible first year on the job.
The Toronto Maple Leafs old GM left Treliving with 4 x Franchise Players and $20 million to spend - in the entire history of the NHL, no one, save Dale Tallon, has walked into a better situation.
Treliving, fresh off getting body-slammed by Barry Zito and the Florida Panthers, re-signed David Kampf, signed Max Domi, Tyler Bertuzzi and John Klingberg. He stuck with Ilya Samsonov and the Leafs had the worst summer of any team in the league.
In-season, Treliving was somehow even worse. When Samsonov went unclaimed on waivers, Treliving had a duty to go out and get a goalie for the playoffs, but he ignored it. His team was one of the best in the league, but BT didn't offer any upgrades.
Brad Treliving cannot let Toronto Maple Leafs fans down - AGAIN
At last year's deadline, Treliving basically sat the day out and failed to give his players or his fans any reinforcements.
Treliving only acquired several useless replacement players (Dewar, Edmundson, Lyubushkin) and somehow made the team worse. To no one's surprise, the Leafs lost in the playoffs because 1) they couldn't move the puck from their terrible blue-line that was overstuffed with players who couldn't move the puck and subsequently prevented the team from scoring, and 2) Ilya Samsonov.
This summer, Trelivng chose wrong between Domi and Bertuzzi, didn't get a top goalie, and didn't get a 3C or a number-one defenseman. It looked like a bad summer, but Antnony Stolarz and Chris Tanev have been so good that it's hard to complain about the results.
So now, despite his best efforts, the Leafs look great: The goalies are rocking (full credit to Treliving for this, great job) and the kids look amazing. Tanev and McCabe are playing great and the team is playing so well no one is mentioning that he forgot to sign Marner or add a 3C to the team.
But, with hope comes a responsibility to the fans and the players to improve the team at the trade deadline, if not before. The Leafs are in "win-now" mode more than ever because not only are Tavares and Marner pending UFAs, but Tanev is nearly 105 years old and can't be counted on for long.
Last year, Brad Treliving abdicated his responsibility to Leafs fans and showed he was unworthy of the title he holds by choosing to (all but) sit out the Trade Deadline. This year, he can make up for it, but he's going to have to do the one thing he supposedly hates: making trades.
Treliving hasn't made a single impactful trade in his entire tenure. The Liljegren Trade was his biggest and it was a colossal failure, but it wasn't even really a trade - it was just taking what they could get for a player they didn't want.
So now the pressure is on: The Toronto Maple Leafs current GM has augmented the team left to him by his predecessor with Chris Tanev and Anthony Stolarz, and it's now up to him to find the missing piece. That piece is clearly a number-one defenseman, and to get him, Treliving is going to have to overcome the fear that Barry Zito instilled into him years ago.
The Toronto Maple Leafs fans and players are begging Brad to find redemption. If he does, it will be a glorious spring. If not, well, hey, it was fun and maybe the president and GM will have more success.