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"A boring choice": Leafs fans aren't too excited by expected Treliving hire

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
May 31 2023, 2:05 pm
"A boring choice": Leafs fans aren't too excited by expected Treliving hire

Nobody could ever accuse Toronto Maple Leafs fans of not having passion for their team.

But it appears the days of the fanbase’s general belief in their front office are currently a thing of the past.

Late on Tuesday night, word broke that the Leafs are expecting to hire Brad Treliving as their next general manager, after weeks of rumours that he was the top candidate for the job.

It’s safe to say Leafs fans aren’t exactly inspired by the expected hire.

In his end-of-season press conference, Leafs President Brendan Shanahan spoke about the desire for an experienced general manager, limiting Toronto’s list of candidates to just a few options currently without a job.

Treliving offers NHL experience, having spent nine years at the helm of the Calgary Flames, where he established an array of contacts and relationships around the league.

But like Toronto’s last general manager in Kyle Dubas, Treliving’s teams often had high expectations they never quite lived up to.

Treliving’s Flames made the playoffs five times in nine seasons, but won just two seven-game playoff series (as well as a best-of-five qualifying round in the 2020 playoff bubble).

On paper, it’s not much of a better resume than Dubas, who won his first playoff round with the Leafs this year after being in charge of the team for five seasons.

There’s also worry about Treliving’s history with star players, with Toronto forwards Auston Matthews and William Nylander both seeing their contracts set to expire in Summer 2024.

In 2022, Treliving’s Flames went through a massive roster overhaul, losing forward Johnny Gaudreau to Columbus in free agency while undergoing a blockbuster deal that sent Matthew Tkachuk to Florida in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar.

Less than a year later, Tkachuk’s Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Final, while the Flames missed the playoffs and fired both Treliving and head coach Darryl Sutter.

In short, there’s hope that Treliving might be able to right Toronto’s ship, but nobody seems particularly all that inspired by the move.

Here’s some of the reaction from Leafs Twitter about the news:

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