Brad Treliving's best and worst moves as Flames GM

The Toronto Maple Leafs have found a replacement for Kyle Dubas and it's Brad Treliving.

The former Calgary Flames general manager is expected to be officially named the 18th GM in Maple Leafs history on Wednesday, according to Sportsnet's Elliott Friedman who confirmed the news.

The Flames and Treliving announced in mid-April the two sides had agreed to mutually part ways as his contract there was set to conclude, ending his nine-season tenure with the club.

Calgary earned two Pacific Division titles under Treliving’s watch, but missed the playoffs four times, including in 2022-23, and never advanced beyond the second round in the five years they did qualify for the post-season.

One summer ago, Treliving was faced with the daunting task of trying to replace Johnny Gaudreau who chose to leave Calgary in free agency and Matthew Tkachuk who requested to be traded.

Treliving’s first off-season with Toronto should be an intriguing one too with the team potentially set to lose a slew of pending unrestricted free agents, including February trade acquisition Ryan O’Reilly. Not only that but the Maple Leafs have several key roster spots to fill ahead of the 2023-24 campaign with roughly $9.1 million in projected salary cap space, per CapFriendly, as both Auston Matthews and William Nylander enter the final year of their respective contracts.

With the Maple Leafs franchise set to begin its next chapter, let’s look back at some of Treliving’s most notable moves with Calgary.

NOTABLE TRADES & SIGNINGS

The Flames had missed the playoffs in five consecutive seasons at the time Treliving was hired in late April of 2014 and he was relatively quiet on the trade front during his first season as GM.

His primary moves were adding two second-round picks and an additional third by trading Curtis Glencross to Washington and Sven Baertschi to Vancouver ahead of the 2015 deadline.

The off-season heading into the 2015-16 campaign was a different story. Treliving pulled off his first blockbuster with the Flames when he sent a first and two seconds to Boston for Dougie Hamilton, then a few days later inked the standout blueliner to a six-year, $34.5-million contract.

Treliving had extended T.J. Brodie the off-season prior and two months after adding Hamilton, he extended then-captain Mark Giordano to solidify a blue line that was the envy of many teams around the league at the time. One key piece of that defence corps, shot-blocking stud Kris Russell, was sent to Dallas ahead of the 2016 deadline for a package that included the pick that eventually turned into Dillon Dube.

The team had inconsistent goaltending in 2015-16 as the Flames missed the playoffs yet again. Treliving traded a second-round pick to St. Louis (who used it to select Jordan Kyrou) in exchange for veteran netminder Brian Elliott. Troy Brouwer was the team’s biggest UFA acquisition in the summer of 2016, but more importantly Treliving signed Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan to long-term deals and Matthew Tkachuk signed his entry-level contract. Treliving also added goalie Chad Johnson in free agency and the tandem of Johnson and Elliott helped backstop the team to a playoff berth, albeit a brief one, in 2017.

Johnson was part of a trade package the following summer when Calgary acquired goaltender Mike Smith from Arizona. A week later he sent three high draft picks to the Islanders for defenceman Travis Hamonic, who only spent three seasons with the team.

Hamilton finished top-10 in Norris Trophy voting in his second year with the Flames and top-15 in his third but was traded to Carolina following the 2017-18 campaign, another year in which the Flames finished fifth in the Pacific and missed the playoffs.

That move was a blockbuster with the Flames getting Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm from Carolina. Hamilton and Micheal Ferland were the roster players that went to the Hurricanes, but the deal also included the rights to Adam Fox, who would eventually go on to win the Norris Trophy as a member of the Rangers. Treliving granted Hanifin and Lindholm each six-year contracts with AAVs slightly less than $5 million.

The summer of 2018 also saw Treliving sign winger James Neal, who had never previously scored fewer than 21 goals in a given season, to a lucrative six-year deal on the open market. Neal scored seven goals and had just 19 points in 63 games with the Flames and was traded to Edmonton for Milan Lucic the following summer.

Calgary went back to playoffs in 2018 after finishing first in the Pacific only to be eliminated by the Avalanche in five games in the opening round.

Treliving was quiet during 2019’s free-agency period but one key move he made was signing Tkachuk to a bridge deal instead of inking the forward long-term, which in hindsight ended up being regrettable.

Goalie Jacob Markstrom was added in free agency in 2020 on a six-year, $36-million deal. He had a career year in 2021-22 as the Vezina Trophy runner-up but struggled this past season. He has three years remaining on his deal and has a no-movement clause.

The 2021-22 campaign and subsequent off-season ended up being the most memorable of Treliving’s time in Calgary. That’s because he was put in the unenviable position of having his two best players, Tkachuk and Gaudreau, unexpectedly leave following career years.

Nikita Zadorov and Tyler Toffoli were trades that worked out in Calgary’s favour overall in 2021-22 but it didn’t make up for the overall loss of star power.

The Flames got nothing for Gaudreau, who walked in free agency and signed with the Blue Jackets, while Tkachuk requested a trade.

Treliving did all he could to replace the 82 goals and 219 points Tkachuk and Gaudreau had combined for in 2021-22 by acquiring Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar from Florida in the Tkachuk trade and signing Nazem Kadri, who was fresh off a Stanley Cup run with Colorado. He also traded Sean Monahan to Montreal later that off-season.

Those moves were praised at the time given the circumstances, but the results this past season speak for themselves. Kadri, Huberdeau and Weegar combined for only 142 points in 242 total man games played during 2022-23. Disappointing results, especially considering they will be the three highest-paid Flames players once Huberdeau’s and Weegar’s lucrative extensions take effect.

COACHING CHANGES

Consistency is key to long-term success, so one contributing factor to the Flames’ inability to make the playoffs year-over-year was the frequent coaching changes under Treliving’s watch.

Bob Hartley was the head coach when Treliving was initially brought on and, despite having missed the post-season the previous two years, Treliving kept him behind the bench. The Flames had a 20-point turnaround in the standings from 2013-14 to 2014-15 and Hartley became the first coach in franchise history to win the Jack Adams Award.

Hartley, though, was let go after the team missed the playoffs in 2016. He was replaced by Glen Gulutzan, whose tenure lasted two disappointing seasons. Gulutzan’s replacement, Bill Peters, ended up resigning early in his second season after it was alleged by multiple former players he had conducted himself unprofessionally earlier in his career.

Assistant coach Geoff Ward replaced Peters on an interim basis before Treliving turned to a familiar face and hired former Flames coach Darryl Sutter, who had previously coached Calgary to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2004. Sutter became the second Flames coach to win the Jack Adams after the Flames finished first in the Pacific in 2022.

DRAFT PICKS

Treliving took Sam Bennett with the No. 4 pick in 2014 at his first draft with Calgary, but the other five players selected that year by the team have not played any regular season NHL games. Bennett has played 546.

His second draft for the Flames had a much higher hit percentage despite not having a first-round selection. He took defencemen Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington both in the second round then had a nice sixth-round find with Andrew Mangiapane, who has played 342 games -- all with Calgary.

Treliving’s most successful draft was undoubtedly in 2016 when he took Tkachuk sixth overall, Dube in the second round and selected NCAA standout Fox in Round 3.

Since that 2016 draft, though, only a handful of Treliving’s picks have seen any NHL action and none have made a huge impact on the Flames. That’s not to say there isn’t promising talent in the organization.

Matt Coronato, Dustin Wolf, Jakob Pelletier, Connor Zary and Jeremie Poirier are among the prospects Flames fans should be encouraged by as they’ll be counted on to inject some youth back into the lineup and help get the franchise back on track in the years to come.