To me this screams that it's Treliving's decision to leave. There have been rumblings his entire duration of GM that he was unhappy with Edwards meddling and wanted complete control, and my guess is that remained his ask as part of re-signing and he didn't get it.
You're not promoting the guy that was Treliving's mentor to PoHo if you weren't a fan of what Treliving did and you would have blown up the entire front office.
Maloney being PoHo isn't an issue in my books, he has a lot of experience in the league and will help with the GM search like Burke did when Treliving was hired. His work from 2010-2016 in Arizona actually isn't that bad, with no money he somehow got that team into the playoffs three straight seasons and into the conference finals once.
(
https://www.capfriendly.com/staff/don-maloney)
Just have to hope it's a young GM, and not some Sutter approved re-tread.