After the first day of free agency, General Manager Brad Treliving discussed Mitch Marner’s departure, the new contracts for Steven Lorentz and Matthew Knies, the additions of Matias Maccelli, Nic Roy, and Michael Pezzetta, and the holes that still need to be filled this offseason.
How do you feel about the way things played out with Mitch Marner in the end, and what you were able to get in return?
Treliving: It’s become apparent for a while now that Mitch was going to move on. When a player of Mitch’s magnitude moves away, it is never a fun day, but we were able to recoup a player who I think can really help us. In a situation where a player was walking away this morning for nothing, we were able to recoup a player who fits a need for us.
We are excited about Nic. He is a big centerman who has a Stanley Cup ring to his name and fills a need for us right now. He is a penalty-killing player and a right-shot centerman. We were able to fill a need with Nic joining us.
Marner was one of the best players to ever play for the team from this market. His jersey might be in the rafters someday. How did it get to this point?
Treliving: That is probably for another day. I would agree that Mitch is going to go down as one of the great Leafs. The statistics prove it.
Ultimately, the player has a choice. I am not going to get into discussions. I don’t think it is proper to get into personal discussions that I have with players.
Certainly, we approached Mitch to engage him on a contract. As is his right, Mitch and his representative wanted to wait until the year was done. As it became clearer and clearer to us that the potential may not be there, we tried to look at alternatives, right? Obviously, as is his right and was negotiated, Mitch has a full No-Movement Clause. He controlled the process. But that is really where we got to here.
I concur with you. Mitch’s time here… I have had two years with him, but I was able to watch for a long time from afar. Tremendous player. Talented. He did a lot for this team over the time that he was here.
Did you offer Marner more than the $12 million AAV he signed for?
Treliving: I am not going to get into any negotiation talk.
There was a report over the weekend about potential tampering between Marner and Vegas. Can you speak to that?
Treliving: No, I am not going to. Any reporting… I am not going to comment on any of that.
Are you frustrated with how the process played out?
Treliving: I don’t know if I am frustrated. Mitch is a really good player. With where he was in his contractual obligation, he had the right to control what he wanted to control. That is his right.
We move forward. We were able to secure a player in Nic, and our job now is to look forward to how we address the roster concerns. When I say concerns, obviously, Mitch was a top-six forward, and we haven’t replaced that hole.
We have been really busy, and we were able to get some good work done leading up to today, but that is really where our focus is — on moving forward.
How do you go about filling that hole?
Treliving: We were looking at it, and in terms of that role, you are not necessarily going to go and find a player to replace Mitch. In that type of role, the market was limited in terms of those players. Now, you have to look at other avenues. We will continue to do that.
How difficult was it to acquire Nic Roy from Vegas, and what role do you envision him playing for you?
Treliving: He was an important player for them, I know that. Craig and I have talked a lot about it, so it is probably a better question for him. I think it is probably similar to what he has done in Vegas.
Now, they had tremendous center depth in Vegas, but he is a guy who can match up. One thing that he probably doesn’t get enough credit for is that there is some sneaky skill with him. He has good hands. He can play in tight. He can kill penalties. He gives you a right-shot option in the faceoff circle. He can play against good players. He can play with good players.
There is versatility to the player. That is kind of a broad overview of the player, but we think he can be a really important player for us.
What was the thinking behind the acquisition of Matias Maccelli?
Treliving: He was a player whom our staff had been excited about for a while. He is coming off a down year in Utah. He is a dynamic playmaker. When you look at some of the areas we need to address, playmaking ability was one of them.
We think there is a bet here on a player we think can rebound from the season he had this year. With some of the players we have, ultimately, it will come down to the fits and matches and where they all go. You play around with it on the board, but we just felt that at the price it cost us, this was a chance for a young player who has some dynamic skill and ability. It was certainly worth the bet.
With Matthew Knies signing the extension, is it reassuring to still have two-thirds of your top line?
Treliving: That was a big piece of business for us. We think Matthew is just scratching the surface in terms of what he is capable of. Certainly, he was very committed from the outset to being here and wanting to be here.
There was a lot of reporting on it. They take time. A lot of the time, RFA files can go well into the summer. But I commend Matty, his representatives, and Brandon Pridham. We all dug in on it here for the last number of weeks. We were able to come to a good conclusion there. Happy to get him signed.
What went into the decision not to qualify Pontus Holmberg?
Treliving: It wasn’t necessarily a situation where we didn’t like the player. We did.
He had arb rights. When you see players go free, sometimes, people don’t understand the rights that are associated with certain players. Up until 5 p.m. yesterday, if we were to qualify him, he then kicks into arbitration mode or is attached to an arbitration filing. That elevates the number.
Between us and Pontus’ side, we weren’t able to find a number that we felt fit for us. Now, once you get into UFA, a lot of times that number will come down because you are not attached to the arbitration.
We like Pontus. We had discussions and talked to each other prior to us not qualifying him.
What intrigues you about Michael Pezzetta?
Treliving: Well, it gives us more depth. He has a skill set in terms of physicality and good foot speed. He is able to get in on the forecheck. Excellent teammate. Those are the boxes he checks. Happy to have him with us.
What made you comfortable signing Steven Lorentz for three years?
Treliving: We have been wrestling that one for a while. Stevey came in and fit really well with our group. You see where the numbers have gone today. There is a little bit of inflation when you look at the cap increasing.
The fit is good. He is happy here. What’s the saying? “Don’t [something] with happy?” I am glad it worked out.
In his one year here, he really fit in with the group. It is good to have Stevey back.
It is a rarity for any Leafs GM to have salary cap space after July 1st. How does it feel? How are you going to use it?
Treliving: A little change in my pocket!
Again, we would’ve liked to have used that earlier today, but if there is not a fit or there is not the right fit to use it on, we will take the flexibility right now. You certainly want to find players. We have lots of time in front of us before we start the season, so we are certainly going to be looking to add. Right now, it gives us some flexibility with the space that we have.
How do you view this July 1 compared to other July 1s you’ve experienced? So many names came off the board before the bell rang.
Treliving: I would say that was our expectation, just talking around the league and to other GMs. There wasn’t as much pressure financially in terms of the space teams had. With the caps rising, it gave everybody more space to retain their own players.
When you evaluate it, even going back several months, because of the depth of the free agent class… For instance, for us, if you are looking for a top-six forward, there wasn’t a long list of them. If you are one of those teams that has a top-six forward and you are not going to sign your own guy, you are looking at the same list. It really steers you to a point where the anticipation was that a lot of those guys were going to sign back with their teams, which ended up happening.
Are you looking to still sign a top-six forward in free agency? Do you still see that as a path, or does it have to be a trade?
Treliving: It is looking thinner and thinner in that marketplace.
There is a glut of bottom-six or bottom-seven forwards on the team. Are you looking at potentially moving one or two of them out?
Treliving: We are looking at all sorts of things. The bell goes off at Noon today, but this is a project that you work on throughout the course of the summer. We’ll jump back up there today, each day going forward, and continue to look at it, whether that is the trade route or the available free-agent list.
What we are trying not to do: If we have a box there — we’ll call it a top-six box — we are trying to give ourselves as much flexibility, rather than spending and not addressing that need, if an opportunity comes up later down the road, whether that be trade or otherwise. That is probably the path we are looking more closely at.
Is there a door open for Max Pacioretty?
Treliving: Yeah. We talked about it the other day. We wanted to get through the first part of free agency here and see where it went. I certainly haven’t closed the door on Max, but I haven’t spoken to Allan Walsh on that today.
Were you surprised that Florida was able to keep all of their big-name UFAs, or have you become accustomed to what they are able to do?
Treliving: No, we anticipated there was a path there.
Listen, they have done a great job and are a really good team. They’ve won. I think guys enjoy that.
We know what kind of hockey team they are. They have been to the finals three years in a row and have won it the last two. They are not going anywhere anytime soon.
We are not in their meetings, but when we look from afar, the anticipation was that those guys would be back.
Do you think you are a better team now than you were at the end of the season?
Treliving: We are at July 1st. We don’t play July 2nd. We plan on continuing to work on the roster.
As we go deeper into the summer and you look at potential trades, would you rather have a top-six center or winger?
Treliving: We will see. I know everyone wants to talk about second-line centers, but there are probably, by my count, 27 teams looking for them. The ones that have them are not giving them out too quickly.
Obviously, the top six of our lineup is the area we are focused on right now. We will see how things play out from here.
