We recently looked at Brad Treliving’s significant trades as general manager of the Calgary Flames and came to the conclusion that he generally had a keen eye for acquiring better assets than he was trading away.
Today, I assess Treliving’s skill in negotiating with players and their agents. We’ll dive into his significant free agency signings and evaluate his ability to re-sign his team’s pending free agents. Let’s get started!
Treliving’s signings as Flames GM: the good, bad, and ugly
Over nine years as GM of the Flames, you can bet that there were a lot of signings to sift through. I tried to look only at the signings that significantly impacted the organization for various reasons.
Looking at Treliving free agent signings
July 1, 2014 – In his first free agency as GM of the Flames, Treliving committed more than $10 million to three players:
- Jonas Hiller: two years at a $4,500,000 cap hit
- Mason Raymond: three years at a $3,150,000 cap hit
- Deryk Engelland: three years at a $2,916,667 cap hit
Hiller was a stop-gap in goal who had one good and one mediocre season. He was not re-signed when his contract expired and has not played in the NHL since. Raymond was bought out after two years in Calgary. Engelland was the Vegas Golden Knights’ expansion selection from the Flames as a pending unrestricted free agent. Nothing too exciting here, despite a significant financial commitment.
July 1, 2015 – Signed Michael Frolik for five years at a $4,300,000 cap hit. The contract wasn’t bad in theory, but the fact that many believe it hindered the Flames from signing Matthew Tkachuk long-term leaves a bad taste.
July 1, 2016 – Treliving made two signings on the opening day of free agency:
- Signed Troy Brouwer for four years at a $4,500,000 cap hit.
- Signed Chad Johnson for one year at a $1,700,000 cap hit.
Brouwer played two forgettable seasons as a Flame before being bought out. In that span, he barely outscored his season with the St. Louis Blues that made Treliving pay him. This was a horrendous signing. Johnson was another stop-gap who was traded to the Arizona Coyotes for Mike Smith after just one season.
July 1, 2018 – Signed Derek Ryan for three years at a $3,125,000 cap hit. Ryan was a fine Flame, but this is a lot of money to commit to a player who sees 13-14 minutes of ice time per game. I liked him as a Flame, but I’ve always seen this as another big free agency overpayment by Treliving.
July 2, 2018 – Signed James Neal for five years at a $5,750,000 cap hit. Coming off his 10th straight 20+ goal season, this seemed like a solid bet. It really didn’t work out, as Neal would score seven goals in one season as a Flame before being traded away.
July 1, 2017 – Signed Cam Talbot for one year at a $2,750,000 cap hit. Talbot had a very respectable season in Calgary playing backup to David Rittich, but he was seeking a raise that the Flames were not willing to pay. The signing turned out to be a good gamble, as Talbot backstopped the team to a 3–1 series win in the qualifying round of the playoffs that year.
October 9, 2020 – This was the opening day of free agency that year, as it was delayed due to the pandemic. Tre made two impactful signings on this day:
- Signed Jacob Markstrom for six years at a $6,000,000 cap hit. Like the team, Markstrom has been up-and-down throughout the last four years. But Markstrom brought stability between the pipes for the first time since Miikka Kiprusoff retired seven years prior, and that alone is invaluable.
- Signed Chris Tanev for four years at a $4,500,000 cap hit. Tanev is a warrior who I’d take at this cap hit all day. Since joining the Flames, Tanev has averaged 20.5 minutes on ice in a top-four role and blocked over 550 shots—you just can’t teach what he does. Tre cooked with this pair of signings.
July 28, 2021 – Signed Blake Coleman for six years at a $4,900,000 cap hit. This was a monster ticket for a middle-six two-way forward. He’s really starting to live up to it in the third year, though, as he reached the 40-points mark for the first time in his career while averaging over 17 minutes TOI—roughly a minute and a half more than his career average. This deal is aging well.
September 10, 2021 – Signed Erik Gudbranson for one year at a $1,950,000 cap hit. The defensive-minded defenceman lived up to this contract, posting career highs in goals (six) and points (17) while dishing out 145 crushing hits. This was another good free agent signing for Tre.
August 18, 2022 – Signed Nazem Kadri for seven years at a $7,000,000 cap hit. It’s always a gamble signing a 32-year-old who’s coming off a career year to a big ticket like this. The signing looked horrible through the first year, but Kadri leads the team in points this year. That said, the chances are high that this will be looked at as an awful signing when all is said and done.
Evaluating Treliving’s key free agent signings
During his time in Calgary, Treliving showed a brazen willingness to swing for the fences in free agency. More often than not, these swings missed. He did, however, manage to hit a couple of home runs. Overall, I don’t think free agency was Tre’s strength, and it cost the Flames a lot.
Looking at Treliving’s re-signings
October 20, 2014 – Re-signed T.J. Brodie for four years with a $4,650,400 cap hit. Brodie rewarded the team with three of his four most productive seasons points-wise.
June 30, 2015 – Re-signed Dougie Hamilton for six years with a $5,750,000 cap hit after acquiring the restricted free agent. Hamilton would be traded midway through this contract, but he provided solid value for those three years, scoring 10 or more goals in each season.
August 25, 2015 – Re-signed Mark Giordano for six years at a $6,750,000 cap hit. This was a significant signing as it set the bench”Mark” for Treliving’s negotiations with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
August 19, 2016 – Re-signed Sean Monahan for seven years at a $6,375,000 cap hit. This was a great move by the Flames to lock down their prized 21-year-old long-term. Ultimately, the final year of this contract would painfully be traded to the Montreal Canadiens along with a conditional first-round pick for absolutely nothing.
October 10, 2016 – Re-signed Johnny Gaudreau for six years at a $6,750,000 cap hit. Treliving wasn’t going to pay Gaudreau more than the team’s captain. After playing a game of chicken all summer, the Flames were able to lock down their 22-year-old leading scorer long-term. Sadly, the last year of this contract marked the end of Gaudreau’s time in Calgary.
June 30, 2017 – Re-signed Michael Stone for three years at a $3,500,000 cap hit. After being acquired just months prior, the Flames liked what they saw in Stone and re-upped him for three years. Treliving bought out the last year of this contract, but Stone chose to re-sign with the Flames for much cheaper.
February 16, 2018 – Re-signed Mikael Backlund for six years at a $5,350,000 cap hit. First off, I love Backlund. Tre overpaid him on this deal, though; I’ve always maintained that Backlund is a top-notch third-line centre, or a low-end second-line centre. They paid him for the latter, and the extra money could have been better spent, for example, on signing Matthew Tkachuk to a longer deal.
July 16, 2018 – Re-signed Elias Lindholm for six years at $4,850,000. After being acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes nearly a month prior, Tre locked up his new top centre long-term at a very team-friendly deal. The signing paid immediate dividends, as Lindholm would post career highs in goals (27) and points (78) in his first year in Calgary.
August 30, 2018 – Re-signed Noah Hanifin for six years at a $4,950,000 cap hit. After being acquired with Lindholm from the Hurricanes, Tre locked Hanifin in long-term to another very team-friendly deal. Hanifin has been a fixture in the Flames’ top four ever since, averaging over 21 minutes on ice per game.
September 25, 2019 – Re-signed Matthew Tkachuk for three years at a $7,000,000 cap hit. This is a great deal for a 22-year-old who just scored 34 goals and 77 points. Unfortunately, it walked him right out the door. Tre needed to give Tkachuk a blank cheque to keep him long-term, and he whiffed on that. For that reason, I classify this as a massive loss.
January 8, 2020 – Re-signed Rasmus Andersson for six years at a $4,550,000 cap hit. This is an absolute steal for a player of Andersson’s caliber. He’s emerged as a top-pair two-way defenceman. Over the last three seasons, he’s racked up 129 points and 1.8 blocked shots per game while averaging 23.5 minutes a game. The bang for your buck on this deal is just outstanding.
August 2, 2022 – Re-signed Andrew Mangiapane for three years at a $5,800,000 cap hit. Coming off a season where the 25-year-old scored 35 goals and 55 points, this seemed like good value. Mangiapane has yet to score 35 goals in the season and a half since, and the deal is aging like milk.
August 4, 2022 – Re-signed Jonathan Huberdeau for eight years at a $10,500,000 cap hit. After being acquired in the trade for Tkachuk, locking Huberdeau up long-term—he had one year left on his contract—seemed like a good decision. He was coming off a year where he historically recorded 85 assists and 115 points in Florida. His fall-off was historical as well, and he’s only recently started looking more like his old self. This albatross of a contract is only in its first year and is already looking like a terrible investment.
October 7, 2022 – Re-signed MacKenzie Weegar for eight years at a $6,250,000 cap hit. The other player acquired from the Panthers for Tkachuk; Weegar has had a good start to his career in Calgary. This year, he’s hit another level. He’s been relied on heavily, logging over 22 minutes TOI this year, and the payoff has been a career-high in goals and likely a career-high in points by the end of the season.
Evaluating Treliving’s key re-signings for the Flames
Tre’s re-signings can only be explained by sorcery. The number of times he convinced core players to commit long-term for under $5,000,000 is just inexplicable in today’s NHL. He managed to save a lot of money when re-signing players that he could later blow on overpaying free agents. Obviously, there were a few signings I’m not too fond of, but overall, he did an excellent job retaining his own players.
Treliving was a pretty good GM, all things considered
I may be looking at Tre with rose-coloured glasses, but I think he gets a lot of undeserved hate. I also remember the Flames’ GMs who preceded him, and Tre was a breath of fresh air. He was unafraid to make bold moves and generally fared well in trades and retaining his team’s players at team-friendly deals, but his free agency signings suggest he seriously struggled in that aspect. Is that simply the cost of convincing players to come to Calgary? I sure hope not.
How do you see Treliving’s tenure in Calgary?
