Fifteen minutes after the Pittsburgh Penguins hired former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas as their new president of hockey operations, the Maple Leafs president held a press conference to introduce the club’s 18th general manager in franchise history, former Flames GM Brad Treliving.
It is important to note that for these press conferences, most of the time they are set up in such a way as to make the subject look good. Treliving and Brendan Shanahan both had the last 24 hours to come up with talking points while meeting the media today, so these points should not be taken and dealt with at face value. However, if you’re a Leafs fan, you probably felt better today than you did yesterday hearing about his priorities as a GM.
My colleague John Steitzer did an article earlier this morning highlighting the 16 things to do on Treliving’s default checklist in his first summer as the Maple Leafs GM. Even though Treliving didn’t sit down at his press conference and release a 16-point checklist, he made some of his priorities early on very clear — and those were priorities every Maple Leafs fan wanted to hear, starting with Auston Matthews and extending his contract.
Treliving has already opened the door for dialogue with Matthews, Judd Moldaver
Many fans panicked when Dubas and the Maple Leafs parted ways. Not even precisely because of his departure, but of a ripple effect on Matthews, who has one year left on his deal before he is due for a new contract. He paid tribute to Dubas in his exit press conference while stressing that he wanted to stay in Toronto. So, with the old GM out of the picture and everyone left wondering what would happen next, the situation looked even bleaker than it did the day after the playoffs ended.
What people may have failed to realize is that a) Matthews is not physically fit to put pen to paper until July 1st, and b) there would be no dialogue going on without the GM in the picture. It’s funny, because somehow the second point wasn’t entirely accurate; According to an excerpt from Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, Treliving Connect it to Matthews to open up the conversation before he signs his own contract.
In his own words, the number one priority is to meet Matthews, and not just get to know him, but more importantly, allow his new No. 1 position to get to know him. Given how much of Dubas’ brand consists of creating a transparent work environment, it’s heartening to see Treeliving approach negotiations in a similar way that I imagine Dubas would be.
Sheldon Keefe’s assessment of his “unique” situation
Immediately after ending questions about Matthews, the focus shifted to head coach Sheldon Cave. I think everyone was a little shocked to see Dubas show the door before it was Keefe, but Shanahan basically shut the door on the possibility of him getting the ax before hiring a new GM, saying he’d leave it to whoever it was.
Well, we now know who he is, and as Treliving hinted at in his press conference, he will have to sit down with Keefe and discuss their respective prospects before deciding on a bench coach for next season. He broached the subject for a few minutes, but the gist of what he said was that to get a real sense of whether or not he’d be the right guy to lead the Maple Leafs, he’d have to work with him. .
However, I wasn’t expecting Keefe to be going anywhere anytime soon. Treleving chose his words carefully, but he also made a point of acknowledging the current bench coach’s usual success in the season (I know… we all get tired of hearing those words), and also recognized that he made his best players improve. Both the physical side of the game and the defensive side of things.
Draft, staff and build relationships
It’s no secret that the Maple Leafs’ senior season doesn’t begin and end with Matthews and Kev. But those two are definitely the biggest priorities. After that, Treliving touched on focusing on the draft (which he wouldn’t be able to participate in due to restrictions placed by the Calgary Flames when he interviewed with the Maple Leafs), getting to know the personnel on the team, and building relationships.
All of these may sound like clichés. Of course, the new general manager will want to start building relationships with the people who work in the franchise he’s hiring now. But, when I hear him stress that word on more than one occasion, he tells me that he looks forward to maintaining the similar workplace culture that has been established over the past five years (and no, that doesn’t mean that the “country club” culture will remain. But having a GM who is transparent And friendliness is something that can pay off in earnings for assignments like the Matthews extension.
It would be hard to judge Treliving until he made some moves for this organization, but he made his priority list crystal clear while keeping the details down, and for me, what he said was exactly what the city of Toronto needed to hear.