Brad "Frickin" Treliving

[Mattman]

As a fan there's always going to be a trade or signing that your GM makes that you will ultimately not be pleased with. And while I'm sure we could all point out and rip on the mistakes made by the management team in constructing this roster in the last 5 years.

However, for me personally, bringing in Brad Treliving was the most important move that this team has made in the last 10 years. Sure he's made some questionable moves since they hired him in the spring of 2014, but I am beyond excited for this next season and for the future of the Calgary Flames.

Above all I feel like it's very hard to argue the fact this team is trending upwards and that's in due part to Treliving.

I pulled this depth chart from a Sept. 2014 thread about pur current roster at the time.

Glencross - Backlund - Hudler
Raymond - Monahan - Colborne
Setoguchi - Stajan - Jones
Bollig - Bouma - McGrattan
Gaudreau - Bennett - Hanowski

Giordano - Brodie
Russell - Wideman
Smid - Engelland
Cundari - Wotherspoon
Sieloff - Ramage

Ramo
Berra
Ortio

Compared to today's depth and skill set just 4 years later..

Gaudreau - Monahan - Neal
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Bennett - Jankowski - Lindholm
Mangiapane - Ryan - Brouwer
Lazar - Dube - Czarnik
Klimchuck- Hathaway - Foo

Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Valimaki - Stone
Kylington - Andersson

Smith
Gilles
Rittich
Parsons


Say what you want about Brad Treliving, but his management team has built us a team for the future that has barely scratched the surface, and their potential is sky high.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

^ Don't you like Kulak? Why exclude him?

[ForeverFlameFan]

By far the best offseason I’ve seen a Calgary Flame GM do in a while.

He owns up to his mistakes, and makes sure he fixes them if he has to.

Hamilton, Brouwer, GG not wanted by the majority of the team? That’s okay, Brad will get rid of all 3.

Hamilton’s value was still high, but Treliving never mentioned that he’d be tradeable. He did say he’d simply listen to offers. My guess was once he heard Lindholm was on the market, he’d be able to capitalize on a deal with Carolina by gaining not only Lindholm but Hanifin to eventually grow into an all star on the Flames.

Brouwer and GG were given one more year to see if they could improve... they didn’t. So, out the door they went.

Sure, we didn’t get to get a Wahlstrom or Dobson in the draft. But, we did essentially trade 2 pending UFA’s with 4 years total and an unsigned prospect (Hamilton 3 - Ferland 1 - Fox) in exchange for 2 RFA’s with 12 signed years total (Hanifin 6 - Lindholm 6). Just simply magic by Treliving.

Projected 2018-2019 lineup
Gaudreau - Monahan - Neal/Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm/Neal
Bennett - Ryan - Frolik
Mangiapane/Klimchuk/Rychel - Jankowski - Czarnik
Lazar Hathaway

Gio - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Kulak/Andersson - Stone
Andersson/Kulak

Smith
Rittich

Coach: Peters
AC’s: Ward and Huska —> HUGE IMPROVEMENT

Signing Neal, Ryan, and Czarnik really shapes out this roster. That bottom 6 looks like a middle 6 on most NHL teams. That squad looks versatile.

There are no distractions. No more excuses. It’s time for this team on paper to produce results on the ice. I have no doubt it will.

What Treliving has always done with me is give me greater hope each and every year. I’m excited for the new team he’s constructed.

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

By far the best offseason I’ve seen a Calgary Flame GM do in a while.

He owns up to his mistakes, and makes sure he fixes them if he has to.

Hamilton, Brouwer, GG not wanted by the majority of the team? That’s okay, Brad will get rid of all 3.

Hamilton’s value was still high, but Treliving never mentioned that he’d be tradeable. He did say he’d simply listen to offers. My guess was once he heard Lindholm was on the market, he’d be able to capitalize on a deal with Carolina by gaining not only Lindholm but Hanifin to eventually grow into an all star on the Flames.

Brouwer and GG were given one more year to see if they could improve... they didn’t. So, out the door they went.

Sure, we didn’t get to get a Wahlstrom or Dobson in the draft. But, we did essentially trade 2 pending UFA’s with 4 years total and an unsigned prospect (Hamilton 3 - Ferland 1 - Fox) in exchange for 2 RFA’s with 12 signed years total (Hanifin 6 - Lindholm 6). Just simply magic by Treliving.

Projected 2018-2019 lineup
Gaudreau - Monahan - Neal/Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm/Neal
Bennett - Ryan - Frolik
Mangiapane/Klimchuk/Rychel - Jankowski - Czarnik
Lazar Hathaway

Gio - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Kulak/Andersson - Stone
Andersson/Kulak

Smith
Rittich

Coach: Peters
AC’s: Ward and Huska —> HUGE IMPROVEMENT

Signing Neal, Ryan, and Czarnik really shapes out this roster. That bottom 6 looks like a middle 6 on most NHL teams. That squad looks versatile.

There are no distractions. No more excuses. It’s time for this team on paper to produce results on the ice. I have no doubt it will.

What Treliving has always done with me is give me greater hope each and every year. I’m excited for the new team he’s constructed.

Agreed, it's now up to the players to prove that they belong here and are capable of making a significant run. There are, as you say, no more excuses, and if the current group fails to make some noise, it's on the players alone.

[metroneck]

^Great Post^

Most excited I’ve been for the season I have been in a long time.

Game Center renewal - check
New Apple TV for the app - check
New 65” and chair in the unfinished basement to watch in peace - check

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

Agreed, it's now up to the players to prove that they belong here and are capable of making a significant run. There are, as you say, no more excuses, and if the current group fails to make some noise, it's on the players alone.

What? So, if the GM fails to build a successful team enough times, at some point it stops being his fault?

There are really big question marks hovering over the team currently. We don't know if Smith has another good season in him, and we have no idea whether Peters is any good. Both question marks are 100% on Treliving. If either fails, we can kiss the season goodbye again.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by Itse

What? So, if the GM fails to build a successful team enough times, at some point it stops being his fault?

There are really big question marks hovering over the team currently. We don't know if Smith has another good season in him, and we have no idea whether Peters is any good. Both question marks are 100% on Treliving. If either fails, we can kiss the season goodbye again.

Every team has question marks. Will Washington be as good under Reardon as they were under Trotz?

The Flames today are a much stronger team than they were when Treliving was hired and probably the half decade preceding his arrival. No GM is batting 1.000. That said, nearly all of his decisions have been defensible at the time they were made, even the Gulutzan and Brouwer moves. He consulted with the leadership group who advocated for a coach who communicates and thinks the game in a more modern way. Rumours were they had a list of 40 candidates. Ultimately GG's downfall appeared to be his inability to make adjustments to his roster on a day to day basis. Brouwerwas coming off multiple 20ish goal seasons and a strong playoff performance. Sure some regression was to be expected, but falling off a cliff wasn't & likely speaks to the player and where his head was at after signing his 'retirement' contract. I think Brouwer's failing is on himself.

As for the goaltending issue, Treliving has been in on Murray, Anderson, Bishop, & Fleury. It is not as though he hasn't been present and active in trying to address this need. Whether the cost of the asset was deemed too high (Bishop) or the other organization was not interested in trading the player to a direct competitor (Ducks/Anderson) you can't say Treliving isn't well aware long term goaltending needs to be addressed.

In my opinion, Treliving is in the upper third of the GM's in the league today. His internal asset management has been exemplary. His trading also deserves to be commended & the organization's drafting has also taken a significant step forward.

[FlamesFanTrev]

Originally Posted by TOfan

As for the goaltending issue, Treliving has been in on Murray, Anderson, Bishop, & Fleury. It is not as though he hasn't been present and active in trying to address this need. Whether the cost of the asset was deemed too high (Bishop) or the other organization was not interested in trading the player to a direct competitor (Ducks/Anderson) you can't say Treliving isn't well aware long term goaltending needs to be addressed.

In my opinion, Treliving is in the upper third of the GM's in the league today. His internal asset management has been exemplary. His trading also deserves to be commended & the organization's drafting has also taken a significant step forward.

Exactly this. Imagine the trickle down effect for having traded assets for bishop or fluery. There is a good chance that Tkachuk is playing somewhere else, and we may not have had the assets to make the trades over the last few years to finally get Hanifan and Lindholm here. If he didn't have Hamonic here, would he be comfortable even trading Hamilton for a fledgling defender? Without those pieces, does Neal see enough in Calgary to want to sign here? If you like the skater roster for this season, but are worried about goaltending situation, you might not have ended up with the same skaters and a different goalie.

Say what you want about Brad T, he has a vision, he is constantly making moves towards it, but he has no interest in paying more for an oppritunity then what he thinks it's worth. Even with Smith, this trade turned out to be a pretty big win for a interim goalie. I think if you asked Treliving today if this was his ideal roster, he would say no, and proceed to get back on the phone to see what he can be doing to make it better. There aren't any flies settling on our GM, and I like that.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I’m not, nor have I been, concerned about Smith. I think he’s going to be great like he was coming out of the gate last year. I did not like how they rode him but Lack wasn’t getting the job done.

Manage his workload and he’ll be a strong point. Play great in front of all the goalies and the team should create a winning environment where individuals (Gillies, Rittich but also Hanifin and young players) will grow.

This roster should be able to recover from mistakes thus making an environment where players shouldn’t play afraid to make them. That’s on the coaches - you don’t want people running around making mistakes but you can’t hammer them when it does happen. Build them up and inspire confidence. But be demanding and intense.

The coaching staff is where I’ll be looking. I want to see a big improvement with special teams and just how they handle themselves.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

I’m not, nor have I been, concerned about Smith. I think he’s going to be great like he was coming out of the gate last year. I did not like how they rode him but Lack wasn’t getting the job done...

Yeah, the way that Eddie Lack faltered in Calgary played a huge part in how Smith was handled last season. Smith started the first three games in six days, and posted two wins, a shutout, and a 0.949 SP. He had just led the Flames to their first win at the Honda Center in Anaheim since 2006. There was little surprise to see him start Game #4 in LA two days later, and he was once again great.

Eddie Lack played in his first game in the next home game, Game #5 against Ottawa, which was a Friday night game, and the first game of the Flames first back-to-back. Smith started the game, but allowed 5 goals on 22 shots. Eddie Lack came in relief and allowed one more goal on six shots. I think there was probably a plan to have Lack play the Saturday night in Vancouver, but his performance in the third period of the Friday-night game probably gave the coaching staff some pause, and they started Smith, who won and posted a 0.931 SP. After that, Lack waited another two weeks to start again against St. Louis on the road. He lost the game, allowing four goals and posted a 0.857 SP. He received one more start in 2017 on 15 Nov in Detroit—a debacle of a game that saw him allow four first-period goals on 11 shots. In the meantime, Smith had started 16 games, posted a 9-6 record and a 0.921 SP.

The combination of Smith's strong early play and Lack's terrible performance really forced the Flames's coaches's hand, and convinced them to start Smith in every game in the first six weeks. David Rittich was recalled shortly thereafter and won his first game in Colorado on 25 Nov. By that time the coaches had basically set their schedule in which Mike Smith would play every game except for back-to-backs. It was a bad call, but also one that was made in the view of how undependable Eddie Lack had been.

Bill Peters has shown a propensity for balancing the workloads of his goalies more evenly. In his four years in Carolina his starter only once played in 60 games. I trust that so long as Rittich—or perhaps Gillies—plays solid, then they will get a few more starts in the first two months of the season.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yeah, the way that Eddie Lack faltered in Calgary played a huge part in how Smith was handled last season. Smith started the first three games in six days, and posted two wins, a shutout, and a 0.949 SP. He had just led the Flames to their first win at the Honda Center in Anaheim since 2006. There was little surprise to see him start Game #4 in LA two days later, and he was once again great.

Eddie Lack played in his first game in the next home game, Game #5 against Ottawa, which was a Friday night game, and the first game of the Flames first back-to-back. Smith started the game, but allowed 5 goals on 22 shots. Eddie Lack came in relief and allowed one more goal on six shots. I think there was probably a plan to have Lack play the Saturday night in Vancouver, but his performance in the third period of the Friday-night game probably gave the coaching staff some pause, and they started Smith, who won and posted a 0.931 SP. After that, Lack waited another two weeks to start again against St. Louis on the road. He lost the game, allowing four goals and posted a 0.857 SP. He received one more start in 2017 on 15 Nov in Detroit—a debacle of a game that saw him allow four first-period goals on 11 shots. In the meantime, Smith had started 16 games, posted a 9-6 record and a 0.921 SP.

The combination of Smith's strong early play and Lack's terrible performance really forced the Flames's coaches hand, and convinced them to start Smith in every game in the first six weeks. Did Rittich was recalled shortly thereafter and won his first game in Colorado on 25 Nov. By that time the coaches had basically set their schedule in which Mike Sith would play every game except for back-to-backs. It was a bad call, but also one that was made in the view of how undependable Eddie Lack had been.

Bill Peters has shown a propensity for balancing the workloads of his goalies more evenly. In his four years in Carolina his starter only once played in 60 games. I trust that so long as Rittich—or perhaps Gillies—plays solid, then they will get a few more starts in the first two months of the season.

While Peters might do that again, I think Carolina typically had borderline starting goalies (Ward, Darling, Lack, Khudobin). Here, the starter is clear, so I think Smith, if healthy, likely plays 60+ games

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

While Peters might do that again, I think Carolina typically had borderline starting goalies (Ward, Darling, Lack, Khudobin). Here, the starter is clear, so I think Smith, if healthy, likely plays 60+ games

He had better not.

Perhaps the biggest factor playing into the Flames success or failure this season is goaltending, and correctly managing the goalies is crucial. For nearly a decade now we have seen a growing trend in goalie performance that is directly tied to games played—the days of 70+ game workhorse goalies like Martin Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Roberto Luongo are over. For Mike Smith to be effective over the long term and into the Spring, then he should not be playing more than 60 games.

[Bingo]

I'm guessing they are hoping added offence will take some of the pressure off the starting goaltending position ... giving them more leeway in wins and losses to start the season.

Smith's injury was freak and not really a wear and tear sort of event, so I'm not sure he was over used. The bigger indicator of that could be how bad he was just before the injury and then when coming back. Was he exhausted?

The Flames have a good core built but they don't have the goaltender yet to fit the age. So it creates a dichotomy this season between playing your best goaltender most nights and finding a solution from what they have for the next season.

Ideally they get off to a good start and can fiddle with Rittich and Gilllies and hope to find a 40/40 platoon for the next season with Smith on a one year contract.

Not sure how they manage that with Rittich's waiver issues though.

[browna]

If Smith is playing less then 60 games, Rittich or whoever has to be better than last year. In the very controlled situation, both Rittich and Gillies looked fine, but when Smith went down, they played below average and simply not good enough when it mattered the most. It’s not the losses, it that in each games, which were tight, they let bad goals at bad times, and at worst time in the season to stumble, and really didn’t look confident.

Doesn’t surprise me with the rumblings BT is looking for a vet backup. I think a Rittich and Gillies have a very short leash this year if they don’t look to have the confidence when thrown in there.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I'm guessing they are hoping added offence will take some of the pressure off the starting goaltending position ... giving them more leeway in wins and losses to start the season.

Smith's injury was freak and not really a wear and tear sort of event, so I'm not sure he was over used. The bigger indicator of that could be how bad he was just before the injury and then when coming back. Was he exhausted?...

I think you are right about what the Flames hope to happen, but I also think it is too simplistic to look at Smith's injury as an explanation for what happened. I have said a few times now that in my opinion the biggest problem for the Flames last year was easily the discrepancy between their performance at home and on the road. Mike Smith was no exception to this—he played fantastic on the road and well below average at home. If he is better at home and if the Flames somehow learn to clean up the issues that plagued them at the Dome last season, then everything should be fine.

However, I am also a firm believer that a major key to success in today's NHL is in managing goalies. It matters not which goalie for which team: I think that if a team has designs on competing for the Stanley Cup they are best served limiting all their goalies to a maximum of 60 games in the regular season. I don't think Smith's injury was a result of fatigue, and I am also don't think he was exhausted coming back. I openly worried in January last year that at the current pace he would end up playing more than 65 games, and would then end up struggling with fatigue early in the playoffs. I tend to believe that as an older goalie, this is all the more critical.

So, in short: Smith needs to be better at the Saddledome, and the Flames need to manage their goalies better to ensure that no one plays more than 60 regular season games. The best goalies in the playoffs every year who play the longest each season are those with fewer minutes played before April.

[Saqe]

Show me the results, I'm too old to care anymore how the team looks like on paper.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by browna

If Smith is playing less then 60 games, Rittich or whoever has to be better than last year. In the very controlled situation, both Rittich and Gillies looked fine, but when Smith went down, they played below average and simply not good enough when it mattered the most. It’s not the losses, it that in each games, which were tight, they let bad goals at bad times, and at worst time in the season to stumble, and really didn’t look confident.

Doesn’t surprise me with the rumblings BT is looking for a vet backup. I think a Rittich and Gillies have a very short leash this year if they don’t look to have the confidence when thrown in there.

I personally have no complaints about Rittich's 2017–18 season, and am perfectly comfortable with him moving forward. He was a rookie last year, and it is little surprise that he struggled with a rather sudden increase of immediate expectations. He has been through it now, and I see no reason why he won't be in a better headspace this time around if he is suddenly needed to fill in as the starter. Prior to Smith's injury Rittich was fantastic: he looked consistently prepared, focused, and played a simple game with very few mistakes. He struggled to adjust, but that is to be expected for a goalie playing his first NHL season, and with only three months of on-the-job experience.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by Saqe

Show me the results, I'm too old to care anymore how the team looks like on paper.

This 100%. This fan base, CP in particular seems to only judge Treliving on transactions, divestment, and how everything looks on paper. The reality is the the team has under performed consistently since he took over as GM. I'm hopeful for this season and think he has done a great job all things considered but if it's another underwhelming season all of that won't matter and I suspect he will be let go.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by J pold

This 100%. This fan base, CP in particular seems to only judge Treliving on transactions, divestment, and how everything looks on paper. The reality is the the team has under performed consistently since he took over as GM. I'm hopeful for this season and think he has done a great job all things considered but if it's another underwhelming season all of that won't matter and I suspect he will be let go.

Im gonna disagree here. Trelivings teams made the post season 2 of the first 3 seasons which was above expectations if anything.

Last year was the first really disappointing season where they whiffed on expectations.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by J pold

This 100%. This fan base, CP in particular seems to only judge Treliving on transactions, divestment, and how everything looks on paper. The reality is the the team has under performed consistently since he took over as GM. I'm hopeful for this season and think he has done a great job all things considered but if it's another underwhelming season all of that won't matter and I suspect he will be let go.

The only way a clever owner lets a GM go when it's agreed upon that the moves made each year made the team better on paper is if the coaching hires are the problem.

Otherwise you're just spiting yourself.

Clearly he's admitted as much by letting Gulutzan go, and by his comments in season ticket holder meetings about leadership from behind the bench.

So as a GM I think he's been way above average, but Peters has to bring the ice closer to the paper or it's coaching that would be his undoing.