Rate Brad Treliving's TDL

[The Management]

Tough to evaluate the trades someone didn't make. Usually when I think of a bad trade deadline, I think of a general manager spending like a drunken sailor on players that should've fetched less, or selling low on a player that should've fetched more. That didn't really happen here with this team, even if I didn't personally see a need for two fringe depth defenseman.

What top four RD did we miss out on? Tanev went early, and didn't seem like the Flames wanted to negotiate in fair terms with Treliving. Sean Walker might have fit the bill. The Avalanche paid a first round pick for him, but who to say the same the Leafs didn't try something similar and the Flyers elected to sent him out of the Conference? That's the one guy I wonder about. The other options were Dumba, Peeke? One with poor defensive instincts, the other a regular scratch. Savard, Jensen? Probably marginal upgrades, but with term and no doubt at an elevated cost. Parayko probably wasn't available and Carrier is still on the Predators, which have rebounded late in the season and are making a playoff push.

If Brad didn't think any of the available options on the market would've been enough to push this team through a playoff series, then he probably did the responsible thing staying put (for the most part). Edmonton was looking for a top four RD and didn't get one either. The Bruins, Red Wings, Kings didn't make big splashes either.

So overall, pretty neutral. The frustration with this team has been, year over year, the failure of our star players to take us to the next level. If they put in yeoman's work in the postseason maybe I'll re-evaluate what happened or didn't happen yesterday, but as it stands, it's up to the guys in that locker room to live up to their billing.

 

[Menzinger]

I don’t disagree with you at all. We just probably disagree on how you get a top 4 defenseman with term.

I’d rather they went after petro, and I’d have moved Marner if I had to, or Nylander to get him.

But that’s the point, with the cap you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You need to move cap from the forwards into the defense.

In order to do that, you need to either put Tavares on LTIR or you have to let Marner walk in the off season. Those are the only real options left for this team to address the defense in the right way

If you really believe what you’re saying, you have to be willing to let Marner go

Stuff like this is easier said then done though. Take Pietro for example played in the US his whole career, has an American wife and kids. Is he going to really opt to sign in Toronto over Nevada's warm winter weather and lower tax rate? I don't think so.

We saw this past summer that just because you have capspace and a desire to change things, doesn't always mean you can transform that into quality depth or a better team

 

[Strangle]

Stuff like this is easier said then done though. Take Pietro for example played in the US his whole career, has an American wife and kids. Is he going to really opt to sign in Toronto over Nevada's warm winter weather and lower tax rate? I don't think so.

We saw this past summer that just because you have capspace and a desire to change things, doesn't always mean you can transform that into quality depth or a better team

That’s absolutely true. Its hard to discuss this because none of us have all of the information.

Any discussion on specifics has to be almost metaphorical and the implication is that it’s more of a philosophical idea of what to do with the team, instead of getting into the weeds on specifics.

For all I know, both Marner and Nylander agreed to waive their NMC in January but no other team in the NHL wanted to pay the price to trade for them, or couldn’t fit their salaries under the cap

 

[JamieG19]

Tre knows what he's doing. He's added playoff performers in Bertuzzi and Domi. Made the D harder to play against.

And most importantly he didn't panic and give up Easton Cowan for a rental. That kid is going to be Leafs Legend in the coming years. Calling it now.

 

[Gabriel426]

It boggles my mind how many people are willing to give Treliving a pass simply because he didn't trade the first.

He traded away five picks, almost a full draft's worth, and Lagesson. All gone for bottom of the roster scrubs who might not even be back next year. But he didn't trade away the first.

And for that he gets a passing grade.

Have standards really dropped this low? I suppose next we're to congratulate him for not trading Matthews for Perry. Even though some fans would welcome that move I'm sure.

Treliving should be judged by what he did not by what he didn't.

And what he DID do wasn't enough. Which means he wasted all those assets - almost a full draft's worth of picks and Lagesson. All gone in half assed effort to negligibly improve this team.

But at least he still has the first round pick.

There is a very good chance all the guys Tre traded for will be back with the Leafs as long as the Leafs want them back.
Most importantly, these trades addressed Leafs needs. Now they might not be the sexy names but as many had already mentioned, the Leafs will only go as far as the big boys leading the way in the playoffs. No amount and quality of supporting players can overcome another series where JT, AM, and MM combined for ONE goal in the series.

 

[Legion34]

Honestly. I’m not sure I know the answer to this but.

Would Tanev for a late 1st not be better than

3 3 5 6? What’s the value difference?
I’m pretty sure once you get past 20 isn’t it all close?

 

[ULF_55]

You get a B, and you get a B, Everyone gets a B.

Everyone did as well as Tre.

 

[Gabriel426]

Honestly. I’m not sure I know the answer to this but.

Would Tanev for a late 1st not be better than

3 3 5 6? What’s the value difference?
I’m pretty sure once you get past 20 isn’t it all close?

You are assuming Leafs would stop at Tanev.
I think even if they got Tanev, they would still go after Edmundson.
If Gio didn't get hurt, maybe Tre won't. I strongly believe that Gio is not coming back and that was his last game. Hope I am wrong.

 

[saffronleaf]

F

Newgm did nothing

 

[Community]

Contending teams win more than one playoff round in 5 years.

The Leafs have been spending out the arse to "contend" for a quick second round exit.

It'd be great if we could at least accept the fact that the Dubas-era and his way of doing this was an absolute failure but it seems like posters like you aren't quite there yet.

Contending he says

They were a contending team that couldn't figure out how to break through in the playoffs. Were the 2023-24 Bruins not a contending team last year because they lost in the 1st round?

The last 4 years, the Oilers playoff "success" has been:
- Lost in qualifying round
- Lost in 1st round
- Lost in 2nd round
- Lost in 3rd round

Better than the Leafs, but obviously not great. However, they were still a contending team each year.

The Leafs didn't win the cup or make it to the 3rd round a single time during the Dubas years with only one round win, that's obviously a failure. However, that doesn't change the fact that they were undeniably a contending team throughout his entire tenure.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Honestly. I’m not sure I know the answer to this but.

Would Tanev for a late 1st not be better than

3 3 5 6? What’s the value difference?
I’m pretty sure once you get past 20 isn’t it all close?

You're assuming that Calgary was willing to trade with Treliving. There were reports that a first rounder was offered to Calgary for Tanev but they went with the Dallas package. I'm sure they wanted the Leafs to overpay like a first + prospect

Leafs were in on Zadorov earlier but the Flames didn't want to retain salary (allegedly). Yet, they were more than happy to retain on Tanev and Hanifin

Tanev was never a realistic option.

 

[56 Years No Cup]

You are assuming Leafs would stop at Tanev.
I think even if they got Tanev, they would still go after Edmundson.
If Gio didn't get hurt, maybe Tre won't. I strongly believe that Gio is not coming back and that was his last game. Hope I am wrong.

I hope you're right. Gio should have retired for good at the end of last season, and that's being generous.

 

[Buds17]

Honestly. I’m not sure I know the answer to this but.

Would Tanev for a late 1st not be better than

3 3 5 6? What’s the value difference?
I’m pretty sure once you get past 20 isn’t it all close?

I still prefer quality to quantity when it comes to draft picks (a 1st should be more valuable than a 3rd and significantly more valuable than a 5th or 6th). I don't necessarily see the need to have offered what the winning bid did not have to either when Treliving can theoretically just sign Tanev as a UFA if his interest is that strong.

 

[AvroArrow]

Wasted Matthews best year, F. Makes no sense, guys on pace for 70+ goals, Nylander having a career year and he decides to do absolutely nothing ? Waste of a year for this core.

 

[Donnie740]

The players come and go. Don’t fall into the trap of being a fan of the players before you’re a fan of the team.

Dubas was one of them, I think.

Kyle Dumbass is what happens when you put a Fan Boi in charge of running an NHL team.

It was laughable how he insisted on forcing so many useless Soo Shit Marie Greyhound players onto a pro level team. These scrubs belonged in the ECHL at best, but Dumbass wanted to fill the Leafs roster his heroes from when he was a little stick boy for Soo Shit Marie.

Same thing with Erik Karlsson. Dumbass was targeting Karlsson to the Leafs until he got fired.

And then his first order of business in Pittsburgh was to agree on a massive overpay for Karlsson.

 

[Maplebeasts]

D. He made the team worse and paid draft picks to do it. The only thing holding it back from being an F is I genuinely like Dewar on the fourth line.

 

[sxvnert]

Fine with additions but not replacing lily for any rhd with a pulse is unacceptable.

Bruins will exploit him all series long. Keefe will constantly scramble the D pairings to compensate. Series over. Rinse and repeat.

 

[notDatsyuk]

He didn't throw away futures or any of the few high picks Dubas left on rentals.

No big deals, but considering he had very little to work with, not surprising.

B

 

[Bomber0104]

They were a contending team that couldn't figure out how to break through in the playoffs. Were the 2023-24 Bruins not a contending team last year because they lost in the 1st round?

The last 4 years, the Oilers playoff "success" has been:
- Lost in qualifying round
- Lost in 1st round
- Lost in 2nd round
- Lost in 3rd round

Better than the Leafs, but obviously not great. However, they were still a contending team each year.

The Leafs didn't win the cup or make it to the 3rd round a single time during the Dubas years with only one round win, that's obviously a failure. However, that doesn't change the fact that they were undeniably a contending team throughout his entire tenure.

The Oilers also weren’t contending. We aren’t talking about their playoff record we’re discussing the Leafs, so no need for whataboutism, I only care about this team.

A team that only won one playoff round in seven years is not only not a contending team but you can basically start casting them as proven failures which is a 180 degree divergence from what you seem to have think they are/were.

The road to the Cup involves winning four series matchups and the Leafs have a real stage fright of just executing on round one.

In no way can you consider them contending for anything other the biggest disappointments in team history.

 

[Welsh Maple Leaf]

It was absolutely horrific. Gave up on the season.

 

[Peasy]

It boggles my mind how many people are willing to give Treliving a pass simply because he didn't trade the first.

He traded away five picks, almost a full draft's worth, and Lagesson. All gone for bottom of the roster scrubs who might not even be back next year. But he didn't trade away the first.

And for that he gets a passing grade.

Have standards really dropped this low? I suppose next we're to congratulate him for not trading Matthews for Perry. Even though some fans would welcome that move I'm sure.

Treliving should be judged by what he did not by what he didn't.

And what he DID do wasn't enough. Which means he wasted all those assets - almost a full draft's worth of picks and Lagesson. All gone in half assed effort to negligibly improve this team.

But at least he still has the first round pick.

So the past 5 trade deadlines have been a success because we blew assets for a single playoff round win? If Tre would have sent away our first round pick this deadline but still got bounced in round 1 that's a success? Because he "tried"? I'm sorry, but I have a higher standard for my gm than just calling it a win at the deadline because they threw picks at the wall hoping some magic would come from it.

 

[Havoc]

The names left on the board were pretty ass.

Can't cry about Dubas' past trades but also cry the new GM didn't follow suit and blow first or 2nd rounders.

Hanifin was the only guy worth blowing assets on due to his age and our needs and he had no interest playing in Canada.

Also, Treliving looked at his trade chips and said what the mind bloggery did dubas leave me with

 

[Dekes For Days]

Hainsy was able to do just that with Reilly. But we'll have to see if Boosh or Edmundson can repeat that

It's actually concerning because part of our issue in 2019 against Boston was that Boston would constantly throw the puck into Hainsey's corner and then rush him and disrupt attempts to get it to Rielly. He wasn't quick or adept enough with the puck, and there were a lot of fumbles and steals in the defensive zone that got us into some bad situations. I'm worried they'll just do the same thing as we made our defense slower and less able to move the puck again.

 

[Evilhomer]

I wonder if Vegas fans are already missing those draft picks.

 

[Sypher04]

Can you name 2 or 3 Top D that are both age appropriate and come with at least a couple of seasons of term that you think were attainable for Brodie's expiring contract and the scraps Dubas left ?

Why would I be able to name them? The players we see moved or hear/know to be available are always far from what teams are willing to listen on/move, right? I’m not in the room - I don’t know what was possible, but I’d be shocked if there weren’t moves available to us. There’s a discussion we could have around if the specific moves we could have made would have been the right ones, but don’t tell me there’s been no opportunities to trade for top 4 D since Tre was hired back in June. I flat out do not buy that.

Also I never said Brodie and scraps. We have assets that can absolutely get a top 4 defenseman. It’s assinine to suggest otherwise.