At the start of 2025 training camp, Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving discussed his camp roster, the reports of possible interest in Dillon Dube, the progress on an Anthony Stolarz contract extension, his goaltending tandem, and much more.
Ahead of the Q&A, Treliving announced that Max Domi is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and will not be a full participant in the first practice of training camp on Thursday.
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How do you feel about how you were able to fill the void after Mitch Marner left? What is the potential for the full group now moving forward?
Treliving: We have talked about it. For us, now, we have turned the page. We are moving forward. We wish Mitch all the best, but our focus is on our team, not what was. It is about what is now.
As I said at the time, you are not just replacing him. We can all break it down however you want, but to me, it is not “replacing 100 points.” Someone is going into that spot, right? They are going to have production and all of the rest of it. To me, it was about rounding out the roster.
I feel good about it. The reality is that we will see. We are going to watch now. We will see where everybody fits. We have 100 napkins with a lot of stuff written down on them. That will change after tomorrow, and you will start to build chemistry and see who fits with whom.
I like the depth of our center ice — not just the four guys down the middle, but we have lots of guys with the option to play into the middle. I like the depth throughout the lineup. I like the bottom of our lineup. I think we have increased the depth there.
We have lost a player who touched a lot of parts of the game, so the guys we have brought in can kill penalties and handle some different jobs, but I will say it again: We will see how everything fits as we go forward here.
It is going to be a process of building our team.
The team is a veteran team in win-now mode. Younger players have a more difficult time breaking through in that situation. What chance does a young player like Easton Cowan have to break through in this camp?
Treliving: At the end of the day, we talk about our players and our team every day. At the end of the day, he gets to fill out the [lineup] card.
There is an opportunity here. If you look at our roster right now, there are more bodies than seats. That, to me, is a good thing.
Let’s be honest. You can write in some of the names — we know what the names are — but a lot of times, you will come into camp, and all of the seats are full.
There is competition. If you can help us win, whether you are 20 or 35, we don’t really care what your birth certificate says. If you can help us win, you are going to get an opportunity.
Easton is at the point now — and it happens with a lot of young players — where we all get excited for the 18 or 19-year-old. It takes time to develop physically. It takes time to develop your game.
Going back to London last year was 100% the right move. He had an exceptional year. He won a championship. He got to experience a lot of things, including the World Juniors. He experienced a lot of things, not just on the ice but off the ice.
I think he is ready now to try to push to be on the team. Is that now? Is that October? Is that December? Is that a year from now? The players will decide.
It really comes down to that: the players tell us. They tell us each day. They will tell us at the end of camp. That is what the next three-ish weeks are for.
You have a history with Dillon Dube from Calgary. What calculus would an organization have to go through in potentially signing one of those former World Junior players, especially in Canada?
Treliving: I heard there was some noise out there. I would say a couple of things. First of all, we are not focused on that right now. We are focused on the 72 players we have here right now and figuring out where it all fits.
As a general statement, I don’t talk about any player who is not either under contract or is a potential free agent. Let’s all be clear: There are special circumstances around those players. You’d have to be very comfortable.
At the end of the day, it hasn’t been a focus of ours right now. The league has put in some guidelines for when those players are eligible and all of the rest of it. But you would have to be very comfortable.
I had Dillon as a player. I know Dillon. But, in all honesty, our focus right now is sorting through. We have too many guys for too few chairs. That is going to be our focus.
With any player you bring into your team, you have to be comfortable not only on the ice but off the ice and be familiar with history, background, and all of the rest of it. Certainly, in that case, we would have to go through a process, given everything that has happened.
That really hasn’t been a focus of ours right now. We are trying to sort through the guys we have.
There are some pretty big names around the league who haven’t signed extensions yet and are entering the final year of their deals. How much attention are you paying to it? In that context, how do you balance, with your cap flexibility this year, adding in-season and also keeping your powder dry for next summer?
Treliving: History has shown that there are a lot of players who don’t sign right now who usually get signed. We are focused on our group right now.
It is a good segue into Anthony Stolarz. Anthony has a year left. We have been engaged with Anthony and his representatives. There is nothing to announce today. Well, there is nothing to announce right now; we will see what the day brings.
We are hopeful to find a good outcome there. I don’t get into a whole lot of discussion about contracts. We are seeing if it can fit. It has to work for the player; he has to feel comfortable. It has to work for us.
I am confident, until proven otherwise, that we can find something that is going to work. Hopefully, we can do that in short order.
What gives you confidence in the goaltending tandem of Stolarz and Joseph Woll? If you can get a deal done with Stolarz, why do you want it to be a locked-in tandem for years to come?
Treliving: Number one, they played really well together. We were sitting up here last year, and that was a big question mark for our team, if you remember. Neither had taken the ball and run with it before for 40-plus games. In both cases, they had good years last year. They supported each other well.
Again, in the league, there are a handful of guys left who are going to play 55-60 games. They are getting fewer and fewer. It is more of a tandem league.
This season specifically, I think we lost nine calendar days from this year’s schedule to last year’s schedule because of the Olympic break. It is compressed. With the travel, the back-to-backs, and the three-in-fours, you need two goaltenders. We are fortunate to have two.
We saw it last year. Both are really solid goaltenders. I would like to see if we can continue to keep them both here. That is going to be the focus in the next little bit.
Mark Giordano was working for the team in the summer and was at the prospects showcase as well. Is he joining the staff?
Treliving: We haven’t sent anything out yet, but we will have an announcement. Mark will be joining the group, primarily on the Marlies side. There are some other changes and promotions, and we have added some pro scouts and different folks like that. We will get that out. I don’t want to break all the news here.
Is it still your desire to add a top-six forward, as you mentioned in the summer?
Treliving: Yeah. It has not been for a lack of trying. There are just not a lot of them out there that anybody is willing to hand over to you.
Today is no different than yesterday or the day before, and it is going to be the same tomorrow. You are always looking to try to improve your team, right?
League-wide, it was a slower summer. We can all come up with our reasons. We looked at it a couple of weeks before the draft, and there were a lot of teams with cap space. There wasn’t a ton of movement. In most cases, teams kept their players.
The general statement: It is a cliche, but wherever we can try to improve our team, we are going to try to improve our team.
We would like to add in that location, but again, trying to find that player who is A) available, and B) at what cost… We will keep seeing where that lies.
Right now, we will start getting more information as far as where our group fits. Certainly, we talk a lot about offense. We brought in some players, and Chief has talked about some guys who can bring offense. But the less you give up, the less you have to score.
That is going to continue to be a focus of our team: making sure we are solid defensively, as we did last year.
What have you noticed about Morgan Rielly, the offseason he had coming in, and some of the discussions you’ve both had with him about his role and expectations?
Treliving: Probably the biggest cliche this time of year is when you walk around and talk about guys who have gained 15 pounds and how everyone is in the best shape of their life. It is that time of year, right?
Morgan and I had a real good chat — and an honest chat — about where his year was at and what I think he is capable of. I’ll just say that it was something he took to heart. I don’t know if there were many days when he wasn’t in this facility, from about a week after the end of the season.
I am really proud of the summer he has put in. He has taken it to heart. He is a big piece for us. Getting Rielly back to the level we know he is capable of will have a big impact on our team.
We will see. We start tomorrow, but he has certainly put the work in. It has been noticeable.
