In his sit down with TSN’s Darren Dreger before the new season, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving discussed Nick Robertson’s push to cement a roster spot, the depth of competition for lineup spots this fall compared to last, Craig Berube’s impact as head coach so far, the scrutiny on Mitch Marner entering a contract year, and much more.
There are roster decisions to make. The cap is always a factor for the Maple Leafs or any cap team. Through the camp and preseason, it is fair to say that Nick Robertson has been a standout. Are you prepared to say that he has made the club?
Treliving: It would be hard to say he has not if anyone has been watching the games. What has really impressed me about Nick is that he has shot it in the net here, which is great, but I look at last night (in Detroit) as the perfect example. The two plays that happened right before the goals were Nick making two really good defensive plays.
Like a lot of young offensive players when they come into the league, it is about offense, and Nick has shown he can score. It is the hardest thing to do in the league, but what he has continued to learn and what he has really made a priority in this camp is showing coaches that he can be trusted in the other parts of the ice.
He has been killing penalties. He has been really good on the forecheck. His checking game has been really good. Couple that with him shooting it in the net. I am not a very smart guy, but I can figure this one out. It probably makes sense that he looks like a player who can help us.
Quite frankly, I know a lot has been made of him over the summer. Some of it got a little more play than most. I talked to Nick regularly throughout the summer. He has been through a lot here. A lot of it has been injuries over the course of the last couple of years. He wanted to be confident he was going to be given an opportunity. He knew he had to pull his end of the bargain.
I look at Nick as a young guy with a really good skill set. They are hard to come by. The business part has to take care of itself, and that played out over the course of the summer. We got a contract done.
Nick has come in and done a really good job. I have been excited about his camp. How can you not be?
When you look at last year’s training camp versus this season, what is the biggest difference for you? It looks more competitive, but is it more competitive than last year?
Treliving: I think we are deeper. From a personal standpoint, I am more familiar with it. When you come in, it feels like you are on the treadmill a little bit last year. I look at our group right now, and our young players are a year older. Nick Robertson, for example, is a year older. We have more people pushing. We are deeper in all positions.
On defense, we have brought in the Tanevs, the OELs, and Hakanpaa—who is working through some health things—but beyond that, we have gotten a push from below. We have some depth. We added eight defensemen over the summer.
We will see how it all shakes out. It is camp. We haven’t played any games yet. I think there is more competition (to come). You don’t come into camp with 10 open spots. That is just not the reality. There is usually a spot or two, but there is also competition within the team. Where are you going to play in the lineup? There is special teams work and what pairs fit.
Craig (Berube), like many coaches, is a big believer in having pairs and then trying to find a skill set that fits with each pair. With a new coach, it is a fresh slate for everybody.
It is a long way of saying I do think we are deeper. I think it has been more competitive. We probably have more bodies than the number of chairs available, which is a good thing. We will get through tomorrow and see where we sit on Wednesday.
At the end of last season, you said that everything needed to be on the table, which was a byproduct of the disappointing end of the season. This is your second full year, but you could make the case this is the first full year of you putting your fingerprints on the team. You changed your coach and captaincy, talked about adding meat, changed the defense, and brought in a Cup-pedigree goaltender. At the end of the year, did you have a checklist that you were able to check off?
Treliving: We were being really honest. Some years, you look back and say you maxed out. Last year, I think we left some on the table. Now, we had some injuries, which are not excuses. Everybody goes through injuries, but we didn’t find a way to get the job done. You have to look at everything.
Looking at everything doesn’t mean making a deal to stand up there and say, “Look, we changed for the sake of saying we changed.” We were trying to get better.
We did make some changes with Craig coming in, and our defense was an area we wanted to address. With Chris (Tanev), Oliver (Ekman-Larsson), and Hakanpaa—when he gets up to speed—combined with the guys we have here and some other guys pushing, I think we are deeper in that position than we were a year ago. I think our checking game from the backend is going to be better while still being able to move pucks.
Up front, it is the same sort of thing. We have some young players who are pushing. Easton Cowan is a better player this year than last year, but there are expectations. He is still a young player. Fraser Minten had a great rookie camp and unfortunately hurt himself, but he is pushing a little bit. Young Grebenkin is pushing a little bit.
We brought in Steven Lorentz and Max Pacioretty on PTOs. They are veterans in the league who have had success in the league.
I like the look of our team right now. Now, 31 other guys are saying the same thing, but there is the imprint that Craig is going to have on the team and the ability to check hard. We have a lot of skill and the ability to shoot it in the net, but we can’t be in a position where we need four or five to win every night.
I like what we have seen from the goaltenders through camp. We are still a work in progress as everyone is, but through 12 days, I like where we are sitting.
Why was Craig Berube the right coach for the Maple Leafs at this point in time? What do you expect will be different on and off the ice with him at the helm?
Treliving: I have said all along that I really enjoyed my time with Sheldon. He is a hell of a coach and will be a really good coach for a long time in this league. Sometimes, it is just time. We made the change.
First of all, going through the interview process, I talked to a lot of players. It wasn’t just the guys who played on the power play. Three things became really clear:
There is a real directness and clarity in his message. There is no grey area.
He has the ability to connect players and hold players accountable.
There is real clarity on team and individual play. Everyone has a role, and there is no confusion about how he wants his teams to play.
When he walks into the room, you don’t have to guess who is in charge. He has a real presence to him. Publicly, Craig keeps his cards pretty close to the vest, but he is a really smart guy. I think he is a motivator, but he is also really dialed into the Xs and Os and the technical aspects of the game. He has a really unique ability to take all of that information in and deliver it in a very concise, clear message both for team play and individual play.
Everyone is going to have a role. Everyone is going to know what their role is and what is expected from them individually. Collectively, as a group, he is really clear on how we want the team to play. That is from player one to player 20 on the roster. Everyone is important. We are not going to be able to achieve the things that we want to achieve without everyone. Whatever the role is, it is absolutely critical to team success.
I have been really impressed. We joked the other day that everybody is happy right now. Everyone is undefeated. The live bullets start on Wednesday. But he is a really impressive guy, and I have really enjoyed not just the camp but the summer we spent together. Watching his interactions with the players, he is an impressive guy.
How did you get to a point when you decided to transition the captaincy from John Tavares — a really good leader — to Auston Matthews, who is no question the leader of the franchise offensively? How did you know the offseason was the right time?
Treliving: There was no real a-ha point. John and I had a conversation at the end of the year. When I say this, it is not just for the public. It is the truth. This had nothing to do with John. John is a terrific captain and a terrific pro. Very few guys look after themselves as well as he does or is as dialed into every part of the preparation as John is.
This was about Auston. Auston is our best player. It was time for him to now grab hold of this team, set the standard, and demand everyone meet his standard. He is such a respectful guy that I didn’t want it to be a situation where he felt he was stepping on anyone’s toes.
That is really the thought process. We talked about it internally—Shanny, Brandon Pridham, Shane Doan, and our management group. Everyone was in alignment.
I can’t commend John enough. It’s a like a breakup where everyone says, “Oh, everything went well?” It did go well. This wasn’t a breakup. It was transitioning the captaincy. John couldn’t have been more professional throughout the process. He understood it.
I said it then, and I will say it again: We still need John. We still need John in a leadership role because of what he means on the ice and off the ice. He is there to support not only Auston but the entire group. He does a great job of it, but now this allows Auston to sort of spread his wings a little bit.
As I said, he sets a very high standard. Not a lot of people know just how committed he is to his craft. It is up to the group to follow him. It is up to Auston to pull the group along.
Mitch Marner has been in the crosshairs of trade speculation over the last couple of years. It wouldn’t seem to make sense to trade him during the season. Why is a major contract negotiation with a player of this significance so difficult?
Treliving: Any and every contract has its own life regardless of the amount of money. It took us a while to get Nick Robertson signed this summer.
Listen, Mitch Marner is a star in this league. What does he have to do? He just has to be himself. I have been here for a year. In every market, there are players who are more scrutinized than others. Mitch does (get that) here.
He is a terrific player and a star in the league. Our failings, or our falling short last year… I can’t speak to the previous years—I wasn’t here—but I can speak on last year. It doesn’t lie solely on Mitch’s shoulders. Mitch had come through a high-ankle sprain at the end of the year. Again, he would be the first not to use it as an excuse, but we need Mitch just to be Mitch. He doesn’t have to do anything more than that. He is a terrific player.
There are very few players in the league who can produce the offense that he does, kill penalties, and be in the Selke Trophy conversation. I am a huge fan.
We will handle the business side quietly and away from the spotlight, and hopefully, when we have something to report, we will report it. Our focus is just to get the year started, get off to a good start, and for him to be the player we know he can be.
We rely heavily on him—any team would. He is a star in the league. He has had a great summer and is refreshed. I am looking forward to seeing him and the rest of the group come Wednesday.
Your colleagues, including player agents, often say, “Tre is around everything — signings, trades — and leaves no stone unturned.” That is not just as the GM of the Maple Leafs. That has been your M.O. as a manager over a number of years. Is that fair? It seems like you want to stay in tune and don’t want to miss an opportunity if there is something there.
Treliving: I know I got criticized for “Always the bridesmaid” and stuff, but you are not involved in every deal. I think the job of any GM in the league is to know what is going on in the league. Our job is to try to help our team whenever we can. Sometimes, deals are not feasible for whatever reason, or the price doesn’t fit, or the cap doesn’t fit. But our job is to know what is going on.
You try to stay as engaged as you possibly can to see what is happening. If a deal is happening in the league and you are not aware of it, shame on you.
We try to communicate. It is a good group of managers. There is a lot of communication. Everyone is trying to do the same thing, and everyone is competitive in trying to help their team, but to me, that is the job: to make sure you are engaged, in the conversations, and aware of what is happening.
All of these deals—or a lot of them—require weeks or months of dialogue, but that is the job: be aware of what is happening, and if something makes sense that can help your team, you certainly want to be involved in it.
You just experienced all of the shenanigans in the Leafs vs. Canadiens matchup earlier in the preseason. You lived through the Battle of Alberta. Which is more intense?
Treliving: First off, what happened last week is really unfortunate. You never want to see any player injured ever. At this time of year, there are players trying to make an impression, players trying to make a team, and there are NHL players who are just trying to get up to speed. What happened with Patrik (Laine) is really unfortunate, and you never want to see it with any player.
I can speak to Cedric (Pare) and say there certainly was no intent. It was an unfortunate play. Sometimes, in our sport, unfortunate plays happen. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Listen, the Toronto vs. Montreal rivalry — I don’t know if there is one more storied. You are right that the Edmonton-Calgary Battle of Alberta is special. There is a hatred between the two cities, so there were some great rivalries there.
These are forever rivals. It is a (Montreal) team that has been building for a while. They have a tremendously talented young team. It is a great rivalry and one of the best in the history of our sport.
I am not necessarily focused on just those rivalries. I look at our division, and I think it is the toughest division in hockey. You have the Stanley Cup champions here. You have Tampa, who won it all the years before. We mentioned Montreal. Buffalo and Detroit have been building and are on the come-up. Boston is an elite team year after year. Every team in this division is difficult. Ottawa is on the cusp.
We said at training camp that we just have to focus on today. As cliche and motherhood-ish as it sounds, that is what we have to focus on. We have three or four days to finish off camp and prepare for opening night. Wednesday in Montreal is going to be a challenge, as will the 81 following it. We are just going to focus on ourselves each day, get better, and hopefully, it leads to good results.
What does success look like to you at the end of the year?
Treliving: We are not focused on that. We think we have a good team here, but we are a collection of players right now. We are trying to build a team.
We have internal goals we are not necessarily going to speak about other than to say that each day is a day to get better individually and as a group. That is our plan.
