If Brad Treliving lands Leafs GM job, we could see one major subtraction on the blueline this summer
With the Leafs' GM search in full swing, we could have an official announcement this coming week on who will fill that seat in the Leafs' front office. At this point, most signs are pointing to ex-Flames GM Brad Treliving as the favourite for the gig, but if the Leafs like their current defense corps, Treliving might not be the best option.
As we well know, Treliving was the GM of the Flames for the past 9 seasons. During that time, he made some solid moves and he made some not-so-solid moves, as any GM does. Treliving drafted all of Rasmus Andersson, Andrew Mangiapane, Matthew Tkachuk, Adam Fox and Sam Bennett. He did, however, lose 3 of them in Tkachuk, Fox and Bennett - all via trade. Thanks to Treliving though, the Flames do have some very promising young prospects on the way in Jakob Pelletier, Connor Zary, Matthew Coronato and Dustin Wolf.
The Matthew Tkachuk trade (even though Treliving made the best of a bad situation) was a tough look for the veteran GM and the Johnny Gaudreau contract debacle is a very dark cloud over his tenure in Calgary. Another one of the moves that he decided to make during the summer of 2020, however, is a pretty good indicator that bringing him to Toronto might result in a huge subtraction on the blueline for the Leafs.
In the summer of 2020, Treliving elected not to extend T.J. Brodie, instead allowing him to enter the free agent market, where he signed a 4-year, $20M with the Leafs. Can you see where this is going? Well, in case it's not entirely clear, I'm referring to Treliving landing in Toronto likely costing the team T.J. Brodie in any one of the following ways: 1 - Treliving may come in and decide to trade Brodie in one of his first orders of business this summer. 2 - Treliving may just allow Brodie to play the year out to build up some trade value and trade him at the deadline. 3 - Treliving could allow Brodie to play out the final year of his deal and send him back to the free agent market next summer.
Aside from a pair out outlier seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16, Brodie has never really been an overly productive player offensively. His bread and butter is and always has been his play without the puck. For those of us in Leafs Nation who have been watching intently, Brodie is the team's best defenseman without the puck. The number of plays he kills coming the other way - especially those odd-man rushes where he is able to take away the pass and force the shot from the outside or completely break up the rush by knocking a cross-ice pass down - is impressive. Make no mistake about it, Brodie is an important piece on the Leafs' blueline.
Now, obviously, players change over time and GMs change over time, so there's certainly a possibility that Brodie has shown something to Treliving that he hasn't quite seen before and perhaps Treliving's opinion on Brodie has now changed. However, it's a pretty reasonable assumption that if Treliving wasn't prepared to spend big on Brodie in Calgary, that might not change in Toronto.
I don't want to overreact, because quite honestly, we don't even know who the next Leafs GM will be yet. If Treliving ends up being the guy, we can also assume that President Brendan Shanahan will want to retain a certain element of control over the roster, as was one of the sticking points during his negotiations with Kyle Dubas - so there's still a chance that Brodie could wind up being extended even if Treliving does come in. Conversely, if Treliving does come in and does move Brodie or allow him to walk away as a UFA again, maybe there's a better, younger option he brings in who helps the Leafs in a similar way, but who still has more wax left on the candle. We'll have to wait and see.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 435 ANSWERS If Brad Treliving lands Leafs GM job, we could see one major subtraction on the blueline this summer If Treliving is hired in Toronto, do you think we'll be able to keep T.J. Brodie around? | ||
| Yes | 183 | 42.1 % |
| No | 252 | 57.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
