People are significantly overplaying the Treliving comments in his interview with Mackenzie. Treliving didn't volunteer that on his own, he didn't offer it up. Mackenzie asked him a question, at the end of a very positive interview, that discussed - extensively - why the Flames were a top team. To finish the interview, Mackenzie asked the question 'what keeps you up at night?' to balance the interview.
Treliving could not answer with 'nothing, we're good'. That would have been stupid and arrogant. What he did was the right thing... he thought about it, and the came up with what he believed to be the weakest part of the team overall: goalscoring.
He did not say 'our lack of goalscoring keeps me up at night' as some people like to spin it. Anyway...
He also addressed the issue in the offseason. It's not like all he did was go out and get Hamonic (which was a great move) and completely ignored goalscoring. And even though Goaudreau, Monahan, Ferland, and Tkachuk have had great years, it's not like there haven't also been disappointments.
Here's how I see their thought processes at the start of the season:
1) I think they expected a big improvement from the top line. I did. Last year was an off your for both Gaudreau and Monahan. And I saw Ferland as an upgrade over the carousel we saw last year. They have been great, but I think an improvement was definitely expected.
2) They expected more progression from Bennett.
3) They expected more offense from the D. This is the most talented D core we have had over the last 4 years. And yet, here are the points from the D:
2014/15: 195 points
2015/16: 203
2016/17: 176
2017/18: 150 (pace)
Despite the D getting better and better over that period, the production has plummeted. Not all of the problems on this team are coaching, but this one is almost entirely a systems issue.
4) They recognized the weakness on RW and tried to improve it, bringing in Foo, resigning Versteeg (who plays both sides),and bringing in Jagr. Not an optimal solution, but also not ignoring it.
But the biggest thing for me (other than lack of production from the backend), is the overall disappointment of so many of the players. Who could have predicted this? And I mean ALL of this - any one or two guys could have bad years, but that typically means chances for others. This is an epidemic:
Frolik: 10 goals
Bennett: 9
Versteeg: 3
Jagr: 1
Brouwer: 4
Lazar: 2
Hathaway: 2
Stajan: 3
Fill ins (Mangiapane/Hrivik/Glass/Hamilton/Stewart): 0
That is almost not possible. We're talking about 3 lines of RW, plus some C, some LW, some PP time - probably 40-50 minutes a night of ice-time. And getting almost zero production. With Frolik out for a while, other guys got opportunities on Backlund's line. Someone had to play on the 3rd line. Some of those guys have gotten PP time. Someone, somewhere, has to get some goals at some point- they're getting opportunities.
The RW position, other than Ferland, has produced less than 20 goals for the entire season - from 3 lines! That is insane to the point of being almost impossible. Management would have penciled in at least 15 from Frolik alone. Never mind all RWs other than Ferland in total.
Yes, the team could use more scoring - we are a middle of the pack team offensively. But I don't think anyone could have predicted the complete lack of production from the bottom half of the roster. Or from the D.
Again, I circle back to the same point: the Flames should have gotten more offense from these players. And I think systems and coaching has had a big part to play in it.
In other words, I don't blame Treliving, or think he built a fundamentally flawed team.
|