Yesterday was a busy news day for the Calgary Flames, and they made an announcement many say coming. On Monday morning, the Flames announced that they had mutually agreed to part ways with General Manager Brad Treliving, ending his nine-season tenure with the club. The legacy he leaves is quite plentiful, with organizational revamps, a lot of core players leaving, and a few big trades. Let’s take a look at it from start to finish.
Treliving’s time with the Flames
Treliving got to work right away as soon as he was given the reins and has made a lasting impact on the franchise. Here’s a timeline of his body of work.
2014–15
Personnel:
- Brad Pascall hired as Assistant General Manager
- Craig Conroy promoted to Assistant General Manager
- Extended T.J. Brodie (5 years, $4.65M AAV)
Draft:
Sam Bennett (1st), Mason McDonald (2nd), Hunter Smith (2nd), Brandon Hickey (3rd), Adam Ollas-Mattsson (6th), Austin Caroll (7th)
Can’t fault Brad Treliving much for the 2014 NHL Draft, as he was on the job for a very short time and didn’t have full control. But that draft looks really bad, especially the second round.
Notable Trades:
- CGY acquires Brandon Bollig from CHI for a 2014 3rd (Matheson Iacopelli)
- CGY trades Curtis Glencross to WSH for a 2015 2nd (Jeremy Lauzon) and a 2015 3rd (Jens Looke)
- CGY trades Sven Baertschi to VAN for a 2015 2nd (Rasmus Andersson)
Free Agency:
- Mason Raymond (3 years, $3.15M AAV)
- Jonas Hiller (2 years, $4.5M AAV)
- Joe Colborne (2 years, $2.55M AAV)
2015–16
Personnel:
- Re-signed Mark Giordano (6 years, $6.75M AAV)
- Extended Mikael Backlund (3 years, $3.575M AAV)
- Re-signed Lance Bouma (3 years, $2.2M AAV)
- Extended Dougie Hamilton (6 years, $5.75M AAV)
Draft:
Rasmus Andersson (2nd), Oliver Kylington (2nd), Pavel Karnaukhov (5th), Andrew Mangiapane (6th), Riley Bruce (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades 2015 1st (Zach Senyshyn), 2015 2nd (Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson), 2015 2nd (Jeremy Lauzon) to BOS for Dougie Hamilton
- CGY trades 2015 3rd (Jens Looke) and 2015 3rd (Adin Hill) to ARI for 2015 2nd (Oliver Kylington)
- CGY trades Jiri Hudler to FLA for 2016 2nd (Tyler Parsons) and 2018 4th (Demetrios Koumontzsis)
- CGY trades Kris Russell to DAL for Jyrki Jokipakka, Brett Pollock, 2016 2nd (Dillon Dube)
- CGY trades David Jones to MIN for Niklas Backstrom and 2016 6th (Matthew Phillips)
Free Agency:
- Michael Frolik (5 years, $4.3M AAV)
2016–17
Personnel:
- Bob Hartley fired
- Glen Gulutzan hired
- Sean Monahan extended (7 years, $6.375M AAV)
- Johnny Gaudreau extended (6 years, $6.75M AAV)
Draft:
Matthew Tkachuk (1st), Tyler Parsons (2nd), Dillon Dube (2nd), Adam Fox (3rd), Linus Lindstrom (4th), Mitchell Mattson (5th), Eetu Tuulola (6th), Matthew Phillips (6th), Stepan Falkovsky (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades 2016 2nd (Jordan Kyrou) to STL for Brian Elliott
- CGY trades 2017 3rd (Stuart Skinner) and 2018 5th (Akira Schmid) to ARI for Michael Stone
- CGY trades Jyrki Jokipakka and 2017 2nd (Alex Formenton) to OTT for Curtis Lazar and Michael Kostka
Free Agency:
- Troy Brouwer (4 years, $4.5M AAV)
2017–18
Personnel:
- Lance Bouma bought out
- Extended Mikael Backlund (6 years, $5.35M AAV)
- Re-sign Sam Bennett (2 years, $1.95M AAV)
- Re-signed Michael Ferland (2 years, $1.75M AAV)
Draft:
Juuso Valimaki (1st), Adam Ruzicka (4th), Zach Fischer (5th), D’Artagnan Joly (6th), Filip Sveningsson (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades Chad Johnson, Brandon Hickey, 2018 3rd (Niklas Nordgren) to ARI for Mike Smith
- CGY trades 2018 1st (Noah Dobson), 2018 2nd (Ruslan Iskhakov), 2019 2nd (Sam Bolduc) to NYI for Travis Hamonic and 2019 4th (Lucas Feuk)
Free Agency:
- Kris Versteeg (1 year, $1.75M AAV)
- Jaromir Jagr (1 year, $1M AAV)
2018–19
Personnel:
- Glen Gulutzan fired
- Bill Peters hired
- Troy Brouwer bought out
- Re-signed Noah Hanifin (6 years, $4.95M AAV)
- Re-signed Elias Lindholm (6 years, $4.85M AAV)
Draft:
Martin Pospisil (4th), Demetrios Koumontzis (4th), Milos Roman (4th), Emilio Pettersen (6th), Dmitry Zavgordniy (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades Dougie Hamilton, Michael Ferland, and Adam Fox to CAR for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin
- CGY trades 2020 4th (Juho Markkanen) to LAK for Oscar Fantenberg
Free Agency:
- James Neal (5 years, $5.75M AAV)
- Derek Ryan (3 years, $3.125M AAV)
2019–20
Personnel:
- Chris Snow named Assistant General Manager
- Bill Peters let go, Geoff Ward named interim head coach
- Matthew Tkachuk re-signed (3 years, $7M AAV)
- Rasmus Andersson extended (6 years, $4.55M AAV)
- Sam Bennett extended (2 years, $2.55M AAV)
- David Rittich extended (2 years, $2.75M AAV)
- Michael Stone bought out, then re-signed
Draft:
Jakob Pelletier (1st), Ilya Nikolaev (3rd), Lucas Feuk (4th), Josh Nodler (5th), Dustin Wolf (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades James Neal to EDM for Milan Lucic and a 2021 3rd (Kirill Kirsanov)
- CGY trades Michael Frolik to BUF for 2020 4th (Daniil Chechelev)
- CGY trades 2021 4th (Jackson Blake) to LA for Derek Forbort
- CGY trades 2020 3rd (Wyatt Kaiser) to CHI for Erik Gustafsson)
Free Agency:
- Cam Talbot (1 year, $2.75M AAV)
2020–21
Personnel:
- Re-signed Mangiapane (2 years, $2.425M AAV)
Draft:
Connor Zary (1st), Yan Kuznetsov (2nd), Jeremie Poirier (3rd), Jake Boltmann (3rd), Daniil Chechelev (4th), Ryan Francis (5th), Rory Kerins (6th), Ilya Solovyov (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades 2020 1st (Braden Schneider) to NYR for 2020 1st (Hendrix Lapierre) and 2020 3rd (Jeremie Poirier)
- CGY trades 2020 1st (Hendrix Lapierre) to WSH for 2020 1st (Connor Zary) and 2020 3rd (Jake Boltmann)
- CGY trades David Rittich to TOR for 2022 3rd (Aidan Thompson)
- CGY trades Sam Bennett and a 2022 6th (Gustav Karlsson) to FLA for Emil Heineman and 2022 2nd (David Goyette)
Free Agency:
- Jacob Markstrom (6 years, $6M AAV)
- Chris Tanev (4 years, $4.5M AAV)
2021–22
Personnel:
- Geoff Ward fired
- Darryl Sutter hired
- Nikita Zadorov signed (1 year, $3.75M AAV)
- Dillon Dube extended (3 years, $2.3M AAV)
- Juuso Valimaki re-signed (2 years, $1.55M AAV)
Draft:
Matt Coronato (1st), William Stromgren (2nd), Cole Huckins (3rd), Cameron Whynot (3rd), Cole Jordan (5th), Lucas Ciona (6th), Arseni Sergeev (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades 2022 4th (Tucker Robertson) to SEA for Tyler Pitlick
- CGY trades 2021 3rd (Kirill Kirsanov) to LAK for 2021 3rd (Cameron Whynot) and 2021 6th (Jack Beck)
- CGY trades 2022 3rd (Aidan Thompson) to CHI for Nikita Zadorov
- CGY trades 2022 3rd (Ben MacDonald) to BOS for Dan Vladar
- CGY trades Emil Heineman, Tyler Pitlick, 2022 1st (Filip Mesar) to MTL for Tyler Toffoli
- CGY trades 2022 2nd (David Goyette), 2023 3rd, and 2024 7th to SEA for Calle Jarnkrok
Free Agency:
- Blake Coleman (6 years, $4.9M AAV)
- Erik Gudbranson (1 year, $1.95M AAV)
- Trevor Lewis (1 year, $800K AAV)
2022–23
Personnel:
- Jonathan Huberdeau signs mega extension (8 years, $10.5M AAV)
- MacKenzie Weegar extends (8 years, $6.25M AAV)
- Andrew Mangiapane re-signs (3 years, $5.8M AAV)
- Nikita Zadorov re-signs (2 years, $3.75M AAV)
- Oliver Kylington re-signs (2 years, $2.5M AAV)
- Dan Vladar extended (2 years, $2.2M AAV)
Draft:
Topi Ronni (2nd), Parker Bell (5th), Cade Littler (7th)
Notable Trades:
- CGY trades Matthew Tkachuk and a 2025 4th to FLA for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, 2025 1st
- CGY trades a 2024/2025 1st and Sean Monahan to MTL for future considerations
- CGY trades Brett Ritchie and Connor Mackey to ARI for Nick Ritchie and Troy Stecher
Free Agency:
- Nazem Kadri (7 years, $7M AAV)
- Kevin Rooney (2 years, $1.3M AAV)
So long, Treliving
Ultimately, Calgary got to the playoffs five times in the nine seasons under Treliving’s helm. They got past round one twice, once in 2014–15, and again in 2021–22.
There are a few things that come to mind when looking at those nine seasons. First, the drafting was massively improved under Treliving, particularly the 2015 and 2016 draft classes.
UFA signings were the worst aspect of the Treliving tenure. Both Raymond and Brouwer were subsequently bought out, while Neal was traded for another anchor contract in Milan Lucic. Guys like Frolik, Tanev, and Markstrom have turned out better than the earlier UFA signings, while Kadri is far too early to judge. Although, extending a 32-year-old to a seven-year deal came at a ton of risk.
Contract extensions were generally well done throughout the Treliving regime, but bridging Matthew Tkachuk proved to be a very unwise decision. Who knows how the Huberdeau and Weegar contracts are going to turn out, but they are on the books in Calgary for a long, long time.
There were a few good moves at the draft, where he moved up in 2015 to select Kylington, or moved down in 2020 to recoup a pair of third-round picks.
It is crazy to see how many good defencemen that the Flames had on their reserve sheet during Treliving’s tenure. From Giordano and Brodie, to Hamilton, to Fox, to their current group, defence was always a strong suit in the Treliving regime.
I think Treliving’s tenure can best be summarized as so: In his first season, the team overachieves and even wins a playoff series, leading Treliving and co. to think they have an annual playoff team to build around. But, they weren’t there yet, and miss the playoffs in the following season. Treliving and co. try to rush things to bring them back to the playoffs, leading to some very rough signings and trades, like the Brian Elliott and Travis Hamonic deals. If they don’t rush things in 2016 or 2017, the Flames position likely looks a lot better today. Hindsight is 20/20, of course.
Treliving wasn’t dealt an easy hand last offseason, but did a lot of work to make them competitive again, even though that didn’t quite work out. The position he leaves the next GM doesn’t look great, as they have an average prospect pool, and a lot of aging players on long-term deals.
