At the annual NHL GM meetings, Brad Treliving joined TSN’s Gino Reda to discuss Auston Matthews’ offensive breakthrough vs. the Flames, the importance of winning the Atlantic Division, and whether contract talks with Mitch Marner are a possibility before the playoffs.
Your team needed the win over Calgary on Monday night. Auston Matthews, in particular, needed that. How important is it to see Auston finally receive some payoff or all of the work he has been doing?
Treliving: We have said it for a long time. Auston is an elite goal-scorer. It was a matter of time. I know as much as the public discourse has been around goals and whatnot, Auston’s overall game has been really good. He has led us defensively.
That is what has probably stood out to me more than the goals (vs. Calgary): He was the leader of our team with his competitive approach and setting the standard early, in terms of his checking game. The goals will come. Certainly, it was nice to see a couple go in for him, but he has set the standard for the group to follow.
Auston and Craig Berube both used the phrase “sense of urgency.” How important is it for you guys to go through that sense of urgency between now and the playoffs so that there is a payoff for you at playoff time?
Treliving: We know how tight the standings are. If you go back from December 1st, from first to last in our division — or maybe the top five or six teams — there is like a four point swing. It is that tight. You have to be urgent.
It sounds motherhood-ish and cliche, but you have to stay present and just worry about the next game on the schedule. We have a big test [on Wednesday] with the Avalanche. That is really what our focus can be: It has to be a small picture and focus from game to game. Win, lose, or draw, you have to park it and just focus on the next day. That is what our plan is for [Wednesday].
Certainly, the urgent approach has to be from the start each night. You can use all of the cliches — playing 60 minutes, and all of these things — and that is just the reality. Hopefully, we can take last night and use it moving forward.
You don’t want to look too far ahead, but there are goals that are attainable and really important. That brings us to the standings. Florida, Tampa, and Toronto are all battling for the top three spots, and now the Senators are nipping at the heels as well. How important is it to win the division this season to at least avoid a tougher opponent in the opening round?
Treliving: The comment I would make is that we want to finish as high as we can. We go into each night wanting to win the game and doing everything that we can to win the game. We put the elements together on [Monday night], and we have to carry that forward. 100%, you want to win every game.
If you are starting to get into picking opponents and so on, every team is going to be a difficult matchup. We just have to get ourselves there first. That is really what our focus is. We are going to end up where we are going to end up, but your focus is to try to win every night and finish as high as you can finish.
I don’t care where you finish; you are playing a really, really good team. Our focus is to win each night, but getting your game in order and making sure you are playing the very, very best you can when it matters the most is the most important thing for us.
You came out and said you are aligned with the Mitch Marner camp and want him on the team. Between now and the start of the playoffs, can you continue to negotiate and try to get something done, or is it too much of a distraction to the point where you completely stay out of it now?
Treliving: We are going to focus on the ice. Any updates that we have business wise, we will be sure to share them if and when we can.
As we all know, Mitch has had a terrific year. He is a vital part of our team. He is a big part of what we are going to try to accomplish in the next 14 games and moving beyond that. That is really where all of our focus is.
