Treliving has completely retooled the team he started to build back in 2014.
He inherited a team that had to duo or Gaudreau-Monahan at 21 and 20 respectively. In addition the core of that team was Giordano, Brodie, Backlund, and the freshly drafted Sam Bennett. Ferland emerged as a potential key piece. Over the next couple of years he added Hamilton, Frolik, and Tkachuk to that mix and after a playoff sweep he went all in to add Hamonic to that mix.
The first major portion of the retooling came in 2018 where Hamilton, Ferland and top prospect Fox were moved for Lindholm and Hanifin. James Neal, and Derek Ryan were also brought in to help the team get over the hump. The results were solid the team finished 1st in the west but got spanked by the emerging juggernaut and current champs the Avalanche.
Over the next 2 years much of the retooling was done in free agency. Neal was swapped for Lucic in a trade of bad contracts. Brodie, and Gio would be lost for nothing while Markstrom, Tanev, and Coleman were added. Bennett never panned out and was dealt for futures which were used in part to land Toffoli and Jarnkrok in 2022. The 22 team was back on top in the regular season and won a round of playoffs before Gaudreau walked and Tkachuk advised he wasn’t coming back.
The core Treliving wanted to push all in on in 2017:
Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, Bennett, Backlund, Brodie, Giordano, Hamilton, Hamonic
The core of the team today:
Huberdeau, Lindholm, Mangiapane, Hanifin, Andersson, Weegar, Tanev, Markstrom
Only Monahan and Backlund remain from the day Treliving took over. It appears Tkachuk and Hamilton brought back key core pieces in their deals and while some have been lost for nothing others have been added in free agency.
I like the look of the team right now and believe they are still positioned to contend despite losing many of the core pieces and basically all the top 6 picks being traded or relegated to a bit part.
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