I just wanted to respond to the people suggesting Treliving should be fired. If he should be fired, it is because of the coaching hires he has made, not his roster construction.
I think he has assembled a playoff-caliber roster.
If you ignore the injuries to the bottom six and goaltending position and don't play putrid players like Chris Stewart (Shore was the much better acquisition), here is the roster:
Gaudreau - Monahan - Bennett
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Versteeg - Jankowski - Ferland
Stajan - Shore - Brouwer
Giordano - Hamilton
Brodie - Hamonic
Kulak - Stone
Smith
If that roster does not make the playoffs, it has underperformed. In my view, injuries cannot fully explain the underperformance.
The coaching staff has made some brutal decisions and I think these decisions explain the majority of the underperformance.
--It took them too long to put Dougie Hamilton and Matthew Tkachuk on PP1 while it floundered for large parts of the season.
--The coaches chose to ice Matt Bartkowski.
--I trust that the coaches will stop playing Stewart once Ferland and Versteeg return, but if they do not, that will be a decision as bad as playing Bartkowski.
--Employing mostly passive formations on the PK.
Treliving is responsible for both roster construction and coaching hires. My point is Treliving should feel the heat, but for his coaching hires, not his roster construction.
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