Q&A: What GM Brad Treliving really thinks about where the Flames are at

Brad Treliving isn’t ready to give up on the idea of an Oliver Kylington return this season.

“I’m not,” said the Flames GM when asked about the defenceman who has remained in Sweden all season, dealing with personal issues.  “We’ve purposely not talked about that, and wanted to support Oliver and give him his space, but I’m not there yet.

“You hope you get him back, but we’re going to give him his space until told otherwise. ... We’ve missed him all year.”

The hope, of course, is the 25-year-old will be able to re-join the team with which he had a breakout last season as a productive mainstay alongside Chris Tanev.

Treliving has said little about Kylington’s status since training camp when the GM announced Kylington was dealing with a family issue, adding it wasn’t substance abuse.   

Questions about Kylington’s status are pertinent as the Flames approach the midway mark of the season and the team starts to map out how it might approach the Mar. 3 trade deadline.

In a wide-ranging chat with Sportsnet.ca, Treliving spoke of everything from his ongoing desire to augment his top-9 group of forwards and his first-half takeaways, to the team’s most pleasant developments and his own contract status.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Sportsnet.ca: If you had a new year’s resolution for the team, what would it be?

Brad Treliving: That’s a good one. You always hope for health. We want health and our team to play to the capabilities they’re capable of, and we’ve seen that the last month.

SN: You went into the season being public about your desire to add help to your top 9 up front, but given the fact you’re scoring at the same clip as last year has your wish list changed?

BT: No I don’t think it has changed.

That’s still an area, if you look at our group and the way it has performed, another forward in that top 9 group is something we could use. Whether that’s internal or external is yet to be seen.

SN: Given the summertime departures, I would have thought the hallmark of this team would have been being one of the stingiest teams in the league. Is being tidier defensively a focal point for the team?

BT: Yes. For sure, 100 per cent.

That is going to be our calling card. We’ve seen it in spurts, but we’ve still got a ways to go there. It’s been integrating.

You lose a top 4 guy like Oliver and bring in new people. We’ve had some injuries on the back end. Defence isn’t just the six guys who play, it’s a group effort.

The goaltending has been a lot more consistent the last month. All those things play a part, including how we manage the puck. When we’re on we’re not giving up a whole lot. In the last month (8-4-4), we’re getting back to that.

You can have scoring throughout the roster, but make it real difficult and not give up a whole lot -- that’s how it’s supposed to look here. We’ve got some work to go there yet, but I’ve seen some encouraging signs.

SN: Has there been a pleasant development in the first half you might not have expected.

BT: There’s been a few.

I know everybody wanted everything to go perfectly from Day 1, but we had significant change and knew it would take time.

I don’t think there’s been a team that’s changed two top players we had coming off the year they had. So you lose those two guys, and a top-four defenceman (Kylington) who ate a lot of minutes, and you bring new guys in.

We’ve seen growth on a monthly basis. Starting in net, Dan Vladar has taken a big step. Marky (Jacob Markstrom) has really gotten back to his form the last 9 or 10 games.

On our blue line we’ve seen MacKenzie (Weegar) really fitting in with Tanny (Chris Tanev), who didn’t really have a training camp. There’s chemistry forming there after some injuries. Rasmus (Andersson) has taken a big step and the evolution of Z (Nikita Zadorov) has been big too.

Up front Jonathan (Huberdeau) keeps getting better, and we’ve seen Adam Ruzicka keep taking a bigger bite of the apple. Naz(em Kadri) came as advertised. He came out hot and fell off it a little bit, which is normal, and has been good of late.

We’ve had one of the top American league teams for years and there’s good things happening there.

There are certainly some areas we need to get better at but I’ve seen some encouraging signs and lines that are building chemistry and stability.

SN: How would you describe the first half Huberdeau has had?

BT: I think there’s been a lot of adjustment for him in a lot of different ways, but I think he’s building.

I don’t care if you are 18, 20 or 30, a big part of this game is confidence and you’re seeing him build his confidence on a daily basis.

He’s changed a lot, especially the way our team plays compared to what he played in the past. His whole world was flipped upside down. I think we’re just seeing him more comfortable as we get going. 

The guy is an elite player and we’re starting to see some of those plays getting made. You’re seeing him settle in with linemates – the chemistry between him and Naz is building,

We’ve had challenges with him and our group as we put all those pieces together, but I’ve seen growth there.

SN: What do you think your team’s identity is, and what do you want it to be?

BT: I think that gets overblown a little bit, but I think we do have an identity as a team. We’ve had one for a while.

I think it’s a team that checks hard. I think we’re a hard team to play against. We’ve got depth, strong goaltending and we check for our chances. When our team is going well we don’t give up a whole lot. We’ve seen it more this year than last year.

The story all last year was, ‘we need depth scoring – we’re only getting scoring from one line.’ That refrain was constant.  

When you look through our lineup we don’t have the high-end production yet we had last year, but we’ve seen more depth scoring than we had last year. Not just here, but we have guys pushing too. And I think we’re seeing all of that on a more regular basis of late.

SN: Have you started talks on your contract, which expires at season’s end?

BT: We’ve had some conversations. We’ll see where it gets to.