WWYD Wednesday: Bring back Brad Treliving?

The Calgary Flames’ season ended last week and as of writing, the club’s general manager Brad Treliving remains without a contract for next season. Until now it seemed outlandish that the organization would move on from Treliving just three years after bringing him in to replace Jay Feaster, but here we are.

The Flames have made the playoffs two of the last three years under the current GM and enjoyed a solid step forward this season, despite being ousted by the Ducks in the first round. Then again, like most managers, Treliving’s record isn’t perfect.

Are his errors egregious enough to justify a new voice at the top?

Let’s take a look at both sides of the ledger to get a feel for Treliving’s work so far.

Intermingled with the good and the bad are what I’ll call neutral moves for lack of a better term. Some of them are draft picks that are too early to call and some are trades that were either of little consequence, are still playing out, or were good bets that didn’t quite work as planned (i.e. Brian Elliott).

Aside from the lingering issues in the crease, what we see so far is Treliving’s best moves cluster at the top of the roster (with the exception of Versteeg) and his worst moves cluster near the bottom (with the exception of Brouwer). That’s why the Flames mostly have their core in place, but would do well this summer to trim a bunch of fat off the cap if possible.

Not listed here are moves Treliving DIDN’T make that were probably beneficial. For instance, not trading the sixth overall pick for Ben Bishop or Marc-Andre Fleury in the summer counts as a big win. So does not re-signing Kris Russell or Joe Colborne when they were pending free agents.

Certainly not a flawless record, but arguably more good than bad. Still, is it enough to warrant another contract? Or should the Flames move on and let someone else build around Treliving’s core?