Brad Treliving: ‘At the end of the day, we’re done in the first round’

In the wake of the third first round playoff exit in four seasons, Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving held (virtual) court with local media on Monday. The topics of discussion? A disappointing finish to the season, missed opportunity, and the path foward.

Treliving waxed poetic a bit about the team’s progression, but also about the level of disappointment felt by the club.

“I felt there was more we could achieve,” said Treliving. “You always want more. I certainly think there was some progress, whether that be collectively, whether that be certainly with some individuals. And I think in time we’ll look back and there’s definitely some things that we’ll take out of this season… Certainly there was steps taken and there was some growth in our group, but the reality is we are where we are, and so there’s more work to be done and there’s certainly more steps to be taken.

Was there growth? Yeah! But he also felt they didn’t achieve what he thought they could or should have achieved. He felt they should still be playing and that the loss to Dallas was a missed opportunity.

“At the end of the day, we’re done in the first round.”

Following the much-discussed decision by Geoff Ward to yank Cam Talbot in Game 6 – and then Talbot being briefly absent from the bench as David Rittich took on water – Treliving was asked about his take on the move. He didn’t get into a ton of details.

“The beauty of pro sports is we all get a chance to sit back after the fact and scrutinize all the decisions that are made. And certainly, not necessarily just talking about that decision, but that’s what we do now.”

He ultimately backed his staff, sharing his confidence that the coaches made the best decision they could with the info they had.

Elaborating on the coaching discussion overall, he noted that the decision to promote Ward mid-season was through a desire to stabilize the team during a chaotic situation. He also alluded to what could be construed as some performance issues with former coach Bill Peters.

“It was a good team that, in my opinion, had lost its way,” said Treliving. “This was a team that had a very successful regular season the year before, we went through the playoff where we under-performed, but there was a belief in this group.”

He felt that the coaching change released the team mentally and allowed them to play freer. He praised the group for how they went through all the tumultuous times in 2019-20. He shared that the team is putting together a coaching plan going forward, but since they have time to work with they’re not going to rush it. (He declined to commit to a specific timeline.)

Yes, Treliving has heard all the chatter about Johnny Gaudreau. And no, he’s really not paying much attention to it. He noted that the level of scrutiny that Gaudreau faces is part of being a top player.

“When you’re a top player in an organization, or a top player in the league, with that comes responsibility,” said Treliving. “When the team does well, you’re going to get all the praises. When the team doesn’t do well, you’re gonna take your share and probably more than your fair share of the bullets. That’s pro sports. When the team doesn’t do well, start with the manager and then go down the list.”

Treliving didn’t seem terribly worried about Gaudreau’s commitment to the club.

“What’s speculated outside of our dressing room,” said Treliving. “You’re never going to control those things and you’re going to go crazy trying to control them. I know what’s in his heart and that’s being the best possible player he can and leading this team to success. That’s never, ever buried in my mind.”

Finally, uh, the cap will be stuck at $81.5 million next season. And probably for several more. While the Flames do have eight prominent pending unrestricted free agents to decide on, and a new deal needed for pending restricted free agent Andrew Mangiapane, he noted that generally they don’t have a lot of contract work to do. (This is certainly true compared to other seasons.)

The cap? Yeah, it’s a bit of a challenge. But Treliving seemed unphased – noting the potential for a full year of Juuso Valimaki in 2020-21 – and went back to his hallmark phrase: they’ll see what they can do to improve the team going forward.