Quote:
Originally Posted by jayswin
Brad has a been a really good rookie GM, imo. He's outperformed many vets with years of experience, but this coach hire is where I genuinely feel he made a rookie mistake and I'm confident he will learn from it.
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I think this claim of being a "really good GM" warrants more analysis. In my opinion, Treliving has made more bad moves than good and the moves fans point to to back up the "good GM" claim are a wash at best.
Where I think Treliving is really weak as a GM is his ability to read his team and make adjustments before it is too late. Last offseason he had to acquire a starting goalie, and going with the known commodity paid off. But when the need wasn't staring him in the face, he goes out and acquires "a better Engelland" in Hamonic, instead of seeking out more offensive threats upfront and let the Flames logjam of defenceman prospects sort things out on the bottom pairing.
Then there's coaching. He fires one coach after setting him up for failure by not acquiring a goalie after Ramo went down with injury and Hiller fell apart, reportedly because vets on this team complained that Hartley was "too tough" or whatever. He then replaces him with a "player's coach" who has an average to below-average track record at the NHL-level and watches the team slowly and methodically lose all confidence playing a style that doesn't suit the personnel at all. The team makes the playoffs at the hands of two streaky performances by Johnson and Elliott and then are swept. Now a "good GM" would have identified a problem here already. A "good GM" would have started lining up a new coach if things didn't drastically change 20 games into the next season, but instead our "good GM" just continues to be inactive in any capacity that might actually help the team. Apparently the coach isn't the only stubborn one here.