[Calgary4LIfe]

I agree with Moustache in that Treliving walked into a really good 'dream job' of sorts.



1) Cap space. Not having to dump contracts and find enough wiggle room is a big deal. Half the pressure is trying not to look bad in getting value if your ownership group mandates that you cut costs. Treliving didn't have to do any of that. Feaster did a god-awful job at it with the Regehr (wasn't cutting salary, but making room for the luckily-failed Brad Richards offer), Iginla and Bouwmeester contracts, which played a huge part in his dismissal. There were no bad deals, no mandate from his bosses to save money, nothing of the sort. That's a huge stress relief.


2) He came in as a 'GM in training'. Burke insulated him. While that might not sound great for an experienced GM, having someone really experienced in that role as a mentor can be extremely helpful, no? Imagine if Darryl Sutter had a mentor to lean on and stop himself from making the worst mistakes. After all, it was Sutter's first (and last) crack at GM duties too.


3) No, this team was not a young team poised to win the cup. Absolutely not. However, there was some really nice pieces (including Bennett who was selected shortly after his hire). Though some pieces didn't work out, Poirier was a very good prospect, Klimchuk was an 'Eberle-light', great looking goalie prospects, etc., etc. Gaudreau, Monahan, Brodie, Giordano, Backlund, Hudler (who was fricken amazing for the most part on the Flames during that time), a Wideman that would play huge minutes that same season and did it well for a long time (he was great that year, including on defence miraculously!)... there were a lot of decent pieces on that squad. Lots didn't end up working out, but maybe that's partly on the organization as well. It is hard to say how much responsibility an organization has when a prospect didn't work out. For instance, in Porier's case, did they have a sit-down with him and address his issues, or did they just more or less ignore them? I don't know the answer to that (I hope they did). Point is, they did have some very solid pieces there.


4) Absolutely no pressure! Flames just entered the rebuild. They weren't coming out of one. There was no rush to trade anyone. There was no rush to turn this team into a cup winner. We loved that 1st year of the rebuild, even if we finished in the bottom 4. It was digestible. It was entertaining. It gave us hope. It was ok finishing 4th worst that year. Nobody was complaining (and if you were, you were unreasonably impatient).



Flames went and became a playoff team in Brad's first year. That team stepped up. Players were stepping up all over the place. This team didn't know the meaning of quit. Hard working team, fun to watch team, were lauded everywhere they played - what GM doesn't want to enter a market like this?


Most GMs don't enter a situation like this. They usually enter a team that has failed to meet expectations - usually on the downturn of their cycle, and they are usually saddled with long and ugly contracts that are hard to move, but must be moved. They are 'selling' - selling both the players to other teams, and the idea of a rebuild to the fans.



If not the situation above, then usually they enter a high-pressure environment where they are trying to win, but maybe don't have enough pieces. That's a tonne of pressure where the GM has to jump in and figure out what is missing from the team, and then go try and find it. Not an easy job to do, and often there is very little patience shown by the media and the fans alike.


Treliving had a 'soft entry' into the world of GMs. Not tasked with anything right away. Insulated. Not a team that needed to be torn down, and not a team with pressure to win right away, even when considering it is a Canadian market.


That's a soft landing spot as there ever is in the NHL. That's as close to a 'dream situation' as there can be, unless you are a GM with experience who somehow finds himself hired on a team that basically just needs a small piece or two (that's Feaster on the Lightning).