Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving has taken a lot of heat over how he has managed the club since joining the organization, in particular from Kyle Dubas supporters as he has the complete opposite mindset of how a hockey club should be made up.
While there were mistakes in his first summer when he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs, specifically signing David Kämpf to a four-year $9.6M deal and Ryan Reaves to a three-year $4.05M contract that are eating up camp space where there was much cheaper and better options; Treliving can be directly tied to some of the best moves in the league since July 1, 2024.
After years of abysmal goaltending, there is not a better tandem in the NHL than Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll. While other team's have the luxuries of Connor Hellebuyck or Andrei Vasilevskiy, if either of those goalies went down with the injury their replacement could not jump in with the skill level of either Maple Leafs goaltender. The Maple Leafs entered last summer with one year left on Woll's contract and no other help, however, in the matter of a couple hours Treliving solved this concern. Stolarz was identified as a goaltender with a lot of potential and signed to a two-year deal carrying a $2.4M cap hit, while Woll, who has progressed year after year was handed a three-year extension that doesn't kick in until next summer with a cap hit of just $3.67M.
Both goalies sit top 20 in save percentage with Stolarz sitting in second at .922 and Woll trailing behind at .907. While many teams are close to $10M in cap space on their goaltender duos, the Maple Leafs are spending just under $3.5M this season and just over $6M next year.
Best Defense Since the Pat Quinn Years
Despite the drastic fall off of Morgan Rielly, the Toronto Maple Leafs are boasting the best blue line since Pat Quinn was running out Brian Leetch, Bryan McCabe, Tomáš Kaberle and Ken Klee. Treliving can thank Dubas in part for the back end as he left a great parting gift in Jake McCabe who has quietly become one of the top shutdown defenseman in the Atlantic Division.
Entering last summer, Treliving had a back end of McCabe and Rielly as bonified NHL defenseman with not much help and now boasts, when healthy a safe and simple group that does not give up many high danger chances. The first stage in changing up the back end was when Chris Tanev signed a six-year deal with a cap hit of $4.5 Million. While the term may be a little long for a 34-year old defenseman, the cap hit is relatively small especially for the clubs top shutdown defenseman. The Toronto, Ontario native is a coaches dream as you do not notice him because he does not do anything wrong, while not flashy he plays simple, uses body position and moves the quickly smoothly. Tanev is playing nearly 20-minutes a night with 75% of his zone starts in his own end. While the last two years of his contract are suspected to being a little dicey, his cap hit at that time is likely only going to be 4%.
The next adjustment to the back end was signing veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson (OEL). The response from some had you believing him to be a 50-year man, however, many failed to realize he is just two and a half years older than Morgan Rielly. OEL signed a four-year deal at just $3.5M and has been worth every penny as he is playing with over 21-minutes a night, provides offence and has a nasty style to his game the club has desperately needed in the playoffs.
As stated above, McCabe has become a high level shutdown defenseman and Treliving made sure to lock him up long term and at a modest $4.5M cap hit. The final big add, which I believe could be as good as the Tanev signing was acquiring Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins.
As minutes counted down at this past NHL Trade Deadline, Treliving acquired the 6'5", 220 lbs right handed shot defenseman for prospect Fraser Minten and a first round pick. While some argued that was too much giving up for the former second round pick, the move could end up being the general managers best move of the year. The first round pick is equivalent to a pick in the mid 40s and while Minten is a nice prospect, he is capped out as a third line center and I've watched the team enough to see the Joe Colborne's and Frederik Gauthier's come through the organization to know these types of players should be traded when their value is at it's highest.
The key part of the trade was getting Boston to retain a portion of the salary bringing Carlo's cap hit under $3.5 Million. Treliving was able to completely revamp the top four defense in one season and at a cap hit under $16M going forward.
While you can argue Treliving failed adding a third line center or a #6 defenseman, but revamping your goaltending and defense in one season earns you some acknowledgement as GM of the Year.