Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
Are the Flames worse now since Treliving took over, or are they better? I think they are better.
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Obviously they are better because when Treliving took over, Gaudreau had one game played in the NHL, Monahan had one season as a 19 year old, Backlund was just emerging, we didn't yet use the 6th and 4th overall picks to draft Tkachuk and Bennett, Jankowski was still developing in college, Ferland was developing in major junior and not nearly the trade piece he was this offseason.
The vast majority of Treliving's moves, whether Hamilton, Hamonic, Byron, Brouwer, Smith, Raymond, Lindholm/Hanifin have not been clear improvements to the team's long term outlook. They've been "safe plays" for "proven" performance at the expense of serious potential. It was "safe" to trade for Hamilton because he was "proven", but there was serious talent on the table that our scouting staff had clearly identified based on reports (Connor, Boeser, probably Barzal too). It was "safe" to trade for Hamonic because he's a veteran defenseman, but his ceiling and future trade value will only decline. It was "safe" to acquire Mike Smith rather than try out Anti Raanta or someone else just coming into their prime. It was "safe" to sign Troy Brouwer than take a pricier swing on an actual top six forward like Backes or Okposo. It was "safe" to risk losing Byron because he was "unproven", even though he clearly had more to give offensively based on his terrible luck the prior year on breakaways.
That extends to his contracts too. He could have signed Gaudreau to a 7.5-ish x 8 on the spot, but trying to save a few hundred thousand dollars that he would go and spend on the Tanner Glasses of the world anyways shrunk the size of his contention window by a full two years.
That's really the theme with Treliving. Seemingly lateral moves with emphasis on trading high potential for present mediocrity.
I give him credit for not giving up on guys like Brodie, Jankowski, and Bennett when it would have been easy to - but he also set Brodie up to fail the last two seasons by forcing him on the left (people talk about GG's LR fetish but it's really Tre acquiring all these right D up until now, finally). He's the one who actually thought Troy Brouwer was what Bennett needed to become a good center, not GG. He exposed Jankowski to potential UFA by electing to send him back for his fourth year when Janko wanted to turn pro.
The best thing Treliving has done is draft well - and we don't know how much input he even has into drafting other than his move up for Kylington a few years ago (which was great). How much of that credit goes to Feaster and even Sutter for shoring up our amateur scouting is un-knowable.
Overall, saying we're a better team now than we were when Tre took over is disingenous. Of course we are - that was the beginning of year two of a rebuild. But the rebuild itself was cut short by some real impatient moves and our overall organizational depth and value isn't as high as it should be. The only trade assets we seem to have are the ones Tre inherited from the previous regime, plus Tkachuk who fell to us. No one is looking to swing a trade for Frolik, Hamonic, Brouwer, Lazar, Stone. IMO we didn't gain value in this year's big trade, and while people are convinced Lindholm will blow up into a 55+ pt forward it's just as possible he plateaus as a .5 ppg guy like Frolik at which point I think Ferland would have been a more rare and valuable piece.
I also suspect the decision of Fox to not sign had a lot to do with the Stone signing and Hamonic trade. You gotta make room for a guy like Fox, not tell them they'll play in the AHL until they force an open spot. I doubt Gaudreau would have originally signed if we saturated our LW position right before he arrived. Instead Hartley directly told him there was a roster spot available for him on Day One and it was his to lose. But Tre, as well as a lot of our fanbase, seem to have illusions that earning roster spots is a successful path, when time and time again talented players would rather have opportunity rather than the opportunity for opportunity.
Frankly I think Brad Treliving is an unambitious GM and I don't see him ever making us into a true cup contender. Contrast him with Kevin Cheveldayoff who spent years amassing assets with a long term vision in mind (forget Laine - that was a lotto win, but Hellebuyck, Ehlers, Connor, Morrissey, Scheifele, Trouba, etc were all the product of a team being truly patient when I'm sure "Hamonic" type trades were in their wheelhouse too.). Tre as far as I can see bleeds draft picks and he constantly signs mediocre players to bloated contracts in UFA. His over-activity is not always a positive in my eyes.