Brad Treliving addressed the media after acquiring Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo on trade deadline day.
How much sleep did you get in the last 24 hours?
Treliving: I don’t know, but my all-nighters back in the day were a lot more fun than that.
Did you get all that you wanted accomplished today?
Treliving: We wanted to improve the team. Specifically, we wanted to look at the areas down the middle and on the blue line—specifically on the right side—and see if we could upgrade ourselves there with some experience and the profile of a defending D and someone who can help on the PK.
With Tanev out the last week or so, we just wanted to make sure we had that type of profile and try to spread those minutes around a little bit more. I think the D has done a really good job this year. We wanted to add some help with some experience as well as at the center-ice position and give us some depth there. Both players do (add depth).
Before I talk about the new players, it is important to first thank Conor Timmins, Connor Dewar, Fraser Minten, and Nikita Grebenkin. Obviously, both Connors have been with the NHL team longer than the young guys. That is the tough part about today. You have to, in some cases, say goodbye to real good people. All four were great Leafs.
The two kids… Nikita’s personality sort of captured everybody there. I said to him, “More backcheck, and they’ll be a greater paycheque.” You can’t say enough about Fraser. He is just a wonderful, wonderful young man.
To get good players, you have to give good players. We are certainly happy with the additions of Scott and Brandon. We wish the two Connors and Fraser and Nikita all the best.
When did you start zeroing in on Brandon Carlo? How difficult was it to get him from a division rival?
Treliving: It is a good question. When did we start zeroing in? He has been on our radar for a long time. You don’t know when players are going to become available. [Don Sweeney] and I had talked for a while. Donny made a decision that he was going to go in a certain direction.
As far as the rival thing, that is why Donny is a good GM — one of the best GMs in the league — and why he has had so much success. He is going to try to find the best deal for him. We were able to find a deal.
It is the profile of him. He is big, long, has a great stick, defends the blue paint really well, is excellent on the penalty killer, and has tremendous character. In talking to both him and Donny today, he has been a big part of the success that has gone on in Boston, and they have had a lot of it.
He has been on our radar for a long, long time.
It’s been a crazy 24 hours across the NHL. How would you describe the deadline for you and your team?
Treliving: It was business as usual. It is busy. Deadline day is always busy. Deadlines force decisions in some cases. I thought it was a busy day. You saw a lot of activity in the league.
When we talked last, we were trying to find who was going to be available. You’ve still got a lot of teams in the race. It was difficult to try to decipher who might become available. It came down to the last few days for some teams in terms of making decisions on which way they were going to go.
You have to do your work ahead of time. Credit to the staff. We were prepared. I executed the plan.
When Florida and Tampa made their trades, did it put added pressure on you?
Treliving: You are aware of what is going on in the neighbourhood. You are aware of it. But you have to be careful of just reacting, right?
You are trying to make your team better. You want to get as many good players as you possibly can, but you have to be careful about just saying, “One team did this, and now you have to do that.” You are aware of what is going on, obviously, around the league and in your division and conference, but ultimately, the job is to do what is best for you and address the areas you need to address within your team’s setup, cap-wise and roster-wise.
There are all sorts of variables that come into play in terms of trade protection and that sort of stuff. You try to navigate that.
It is a long way of saying that you pay attention to the league, but you have to be really focused and disciplined about executing the plan that we set out back in January when you have your meetings and talk to your scouts and follow the team. Chief and I speak daily.
That is what we tried to do today.
How important was acquiring players with term on their contracts as you set out your game plan?
Treliving: I have said before that there are times to do everything in terms of rentals, but you have to be careful of what is going out the door for potentially very short-term. We were around the rental market to see what was going on, but as I said before, as a group, we were focused on seeing if there were players with term.
The retention piece is important. It costs, right? You take all of that into consideration.
Certainly, finding players who were going to be here beyond this year was something we attempted to do.
Are you expecting both players in the lineup tomorrow night?
Treliving: That is the expectation. The weather looks okay, so travel permitting. Both are excited. Both will be in tonight.
Scott Laughton’s character seems to be a big part of who he is and his game. How important was it to you?
Treliving: You look at all of that. It is a piece of it. You are looking for really good players, but I always find that good character people tend to follow success and success follows them.
I have been watching Scotty Laughton since he was in Oshawa. He has been a captain wherever he goes. If you look and see some of the things being said about him in Philly today, he is just a character guy.
As hard as it was for him — he has been a Flyer his whole life — he was emotional talking about coming home and playing for the Leafs. He is excited. That was a really important chapter in his life in Philly, but he is excited to start one here.
Were you surprised how high the prices were for buyers this year?
Treliving: That is the old supply-and-demand, right? Yeah. When there is not much, you can charge more. That seemed to be the case here. You are navigating it. Certainly, that was the sense coming into today.
You always like to try to get things done as early as you can, and I was hoping that the blue-light specials would come on. They didn’t come on as quickly as I had hoped.
You are dealing with managers who are really good at their jobs. Everybody is trying to do their best for their teams. Again, the market dictates supply and demand. You saw some teams who were selling get good returns.
How significant was it that you were able to keep Easton Cowan in the organization?
Treliving: Yeah, Easton, Fraser… You want to keep all of your players, but at the end of the day, sometimes, you have to make tough decisions.
I’d put it two ways. It is my job to look at everything. Nothing is ever off the table, but certainly, we think Easton is a terrific young player. It would’ve had to have had a significant impact for us.
Our job is to make this team better every time we can. I am glad today that Easton is a part of it and still with us. I figured that was going to be the case, barring something unforeseen.
There must have been some interest in Matthew Knies. What has he shown you this season to make him someone you want to hold onto?
Treliving: Matthew is still a young player, right? We forget it is his second full season, right? For those players who come at the end of their college career, you always feel like they have been around a couple of years longer than they have.
He is just maturing into his body. His game is maturing. I think Matthew is just realizing how big and strong he is. He is getting more comfortable. He has sort of grown right in front of our eyes.
He is a big part of our team now. He will continue to be moving forward. He is a unique player. He is a big, strong man at 22 years old. He is developing different parts of his game. You see what he has done on the power play at the net front. He is developing an edge to his game. He added the element the other night (with the fight vs. Zach Whitecloud) to his game.
You can see a power forward developing right in front of us.
What is the plan for Ryan Reaves? Is he going to play for the Marlies?
Treliving: We’ll see. That was a difficult conversation. Ryan is a true pro. This isn’t goodbye. Ryan is still a big part of our locker room and a part of our team. Those are hard conversations. He is a good, good man.
He has been assigned to the Marlies today. I am going to speak to him later. He and I are going to get caught up. We will keep him going here. My hope is that we can get him back here sooner rather than later. Obviously, you have to work within the guidelines there.
I was glad that Ryan didn’t go anywhere today.
