This is debatable; treliving’s done a mediocre job up front. Hasn’t brought in much there but done a better job on defence/goalie. But need to score in this league. Look at the jets and Tampa forward lines. We’re a long ways off from that which means more middle of the pack seasons likely.
/Rant
So...
- Treliving shows up looking at a roster that is supposed to be joining the Connor McDavid sweepstakes. We're talking our best RW are David Jones and Brian McGrattan. The guy patches the team to the best of his capabilities of a ROOKIE GM. Ownership mandate is playoffs. We make playoffs.
- Brian Burke's finger prints are all over Treliving's first draft and part of Treliving's second draft. Treliving shakes him off and begins doing things his way. Dougie Hamilton, Andersson, Kylington etc. prospects begin entering the cupboard.
- Mason Raymond is bought out. Something many older fans thought nearly impossible for ownership to approve... but Mason Raymond is bought out after year ONE of his three year contract showing Treliving admits mistakes.
- Rumor is Ken King meddles. Treliving supposedly shakes him off and signs an extension.
- Farm team situation is a mess. Treliving supposedly cleans it up, makes it far better than what it was before to essentially no fanfare.
- Trades with Vancouver getting pretty decent value at the time for Granlund and Baertschi. This proves no ego, and an ability to navigate things like "inter-conference premiums" without breaking a sweat or getting ripped off. Yeah, yeah, Jim Benning... I guess.
- Makes a killing on trades early in his tenure, then overpays on some minor deals in recent time. Hamonic, Lazar and Smith were/are considered bad deals by some. Dougie, Glencross, Russell and Hudler was pure robbery.
- Fills a major hole every off season with a decent piece. Frolik, Dougie, Brouwer, Elliott, Johnson... Yeah, some of those didn't work out. But at the time, they were all considered respectable attempts to fill major holes.
- Contracts that are envious: Brodie, Dougie, Gio (vs the ask), Gaudreau (vs the ask), Monahan, Backlund...
- Somethings from nothing moves: Poulin, Chiasson, Prout, Lack, Forward Hamilton, Shore (both), Schlemko (sorta), Tom McCollum (major for expansion draft), Jones/Backstrom = Phillips
But...
- Paul Byron. Optional waived WITH Mason Raymond due to him having a horrible preseason due to recovery from prior season high ankle sprain, wrist surgery and other misc bang ups caused specifically by Hartley's style. He probably would have cleared if Montreal did not suddenly find a bizarre opportunity to acquire him by shedding a contract to acquire him (Kassian). Reportedly Treliving wanted the flexibility to send Byron down to the AHL on a sort of conditional stint to recover from his injuries and felt it was a relatively safe bet as most teams were over the contract limit. Good idea, bad result. I think Montreal was the only team that was interested in Byron at the time.
- Troy Brouwer. MM has repeated his comments over and over. No need to rehash it, but the options that off season was abysmal.
- Glen Gulutzan. But in all seriousness, who else was even available that we had a chance at? Timing obviously didn't work for Boudreau. IMO Gallant is just a slightly superior version of Hartley. Look at the injury numbers in Vegas. I would bet it's unsustainable. IMO firing Hartley a year early put the Flames in the position where the coach pool was shallow. This season, it is ridiculously deep options wise if GG is not considered the guy to go forward with.
- Goalie graveyard: Hiller, Ramo, Elliott, Johnson, Ortio, Backstrom... The first 3 had high highs and back breaking lows. On paper it wasn't supposed to be as bad as it was. Hiller/Ramo failed arguably failed due to system. Treliving fixed it. Elliott and Johnson arguably succeeded AND failed irregardless of system. Treliving replaced it. Treliving was aggressive and targeted guys like Matt Murry and Bishop. Smith was our guy, but MAF wasn't too far off from what I hear as well. Both doing very good this season.
- Still no top line RW.
Brad Treliving has been a GM since April 28, 2014. He's done pretty damn good for a rookie. I think we could have done far worse than Tre. He's not infallible, but I honestly think he does a ton a little things right that are just as important. The comparison to both Winnipeg and Tampa are insane when you look at the top round picks those two organizations have added to their roster.
Seriously, Brad Treliving is IMO metaphorically like a guy who has done a fantastic job renovating a dilapidated inner city house that the owner refused to knock down. The structure obviously has its problems based on the foundation it was built on (mediocrity). However, rather than consider the fact he over came the odds, many criticize him for not knocking down the damn thing to put in an infill.
I seriously think that secretly, Treliving is sort of in a situation similar to Vancouver and Ottawa in terms of ownership meddling. Treliving has done exceptionally well all while fending off ownership. Look at the other GMs. The top ones often always have 100% ownership support. Treliving reportedly had to demand no Ken King meddling in his extension AND he was a rookie GM when he showed up.
He's not a messiah, but he's sure as hell not mediocre.