Brad Treliving sums up a quiet July 1 for the Flames
By Ryan Pike
6 years agoAfter a very busy month of June for the Calgary Flames, general manager Brad Treliving and his crew were rather quiet as free agency opened on July 1. Perhaps Treliving had a barbecue to go, or perhaps he had already gotten his heavy lifting done, but the Flames made zero major moves as free agency opened at 10 a.m. MT.
A few hours later, Treliving chatted with the assembled media to give a few updates on what (hadn’t) happened.
Signed by the Los Angeles Kings in the midst of the signing frenzy, Flames 2016 seventh round pick Stepan Falkovsky was not tendered a qualifying offer to retain his rights prior to June 1 and became a free agent. (He spoke with our colleague Pat Steinberg on Sportsnet 960 The Fan afterwards and clarified that they had some talks about another AHL contract for Falkovsky, but that he wanted to explore the market.)
On not getting caught up in the frenzy of signings:
“You’re always trying to be disciplined on this day. You’re always trying to better your team. I think we’ve said, and a lot of the signings reflect that, today’s not a day you’re building your team. If you can supplement and add pieces and supplement to your roster… If you’re building your team on July 1, you’re probably not having the success you want.”
On his comfort level on going into training camp with the roster (particularly the young players) they have right now:
“That’s always a tough question, because you don’t start camp tomorrow. I’ve said all along, I think we have some young guys coming at all positions, but that’s why you have the rest of the summer. We’re looking at some depth moves that give us a little bit more depth at all positions, but I do think we have some young people pushing. I like where we’re at.”
On how the Flames stack up after the moves they’ve made:
“You’re always trying to make your team better. We think we’ve done that, we think we’ve made some moves to strengthen our team. But you just look around, I haven’t gone through it all today, but I think most teams in the West have gotten better today. So it’s gonna be a dogfight again.”
Treliving hinted that the Flames would be signing a depth forward – which was subsequently revealed to be Marek Hrivik – and confirmed that Spencer Foo’s entry level deal is a two-year deal, per the CBA requirements for a player of his age.
Boredom aside, this year’s opening of free agency was a nice change of pace for Treliving, activity-wise, considering his last few July 1s have seen him be busy with signings:
- 2014: Deryk Engelland, Mason Raymond, Jonas Hiller
- 2015: Derek Grant, Karri Ramo, Michael Frolik
- 2016: Chad Johnson, Troy Brouwer
As he said himself: if you’re building your team on July 1, you’re probably not having the success you want.
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