MAPLE LEAFS SNAP SHOTS: Brad Treliving, Craig Berube share new powers
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The Maple Leafs media guide now leaps from Keith Pelley’s page to Brad Treliving’s, without stopping for a bio of any team president.
But general manager Treliving foresees a seamless working arrangement with the CEO above him and coach Craig Berube next door, the latter to be afforded greater say in personnel matters according to Pelley last week before the GM spoke Thursday.
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MAPLE LEAFS SNAP SHOTS: Brad Treliving, Craig Berube share new powers Back to video
“I don’t think anything changes,” Treliving said of the new set-up after the formal part of his post-season remarks. “Keith and I have had a chance to go through things.
“Craig, as I have done it with all coaches (since his days as Calgary’s GM), I don’t go down there one day and say, ‘Oh yeah, by the way, Chief, I just brought two new players, and you’re going to like them, Bob and Fred, they’re right behind you’. We talk all the time.’
“And Craig doesn’t show up and say ‘I’m playing Tanny (defenceman Chris Tanev) at centre’. We talk. You have to as a coach. He’s always involved. I get his opinions.We live in the same building. We have dinner five times a week. It’s a very close relationship. So, there’s always discussion. He’s involved.”
Pelley vowed to stay out of most hockey related decisions when he did not renew Brendan Shanahan’s contract after 11 years as president. While he asked Treliving to report directly to him, he has met with Berube and did expect him to take a larger role in decisions, stating “one of the best sounding boards (Treliving can have) is Craig, who won a Stanley Cup in St Louis. I’m a firm believer that the coach has to be more involved than just the day of the game and in the dressing room.”
Treliving sees nothing wrong in that. What’s interesting is that the three greatest backers of the Core Four forwards (we’ll count Mitch Marner for now), have been Shanahan, previous GM Kyle Dubas and Berube’s predecessor Sheldon Keefe. All are gone.
“At the end of the day, the manager manages, and the coaches coach,” Treliving said of the new hierarchy. “Maybe other people do it differently. You have to have a close relationship with your coach. You have to get his input. You have to know what he likes. That will continue.
“We’re partners and that’s the way it works best.”
Treliving, who thanked Shanahan for hiring him two years ago this Saturday, said Pelley gave him power to re-tool the hockey office if he saw fit. Those ranks grew under Shanahan and Dubas to five people all carrying the title of assistant GM with their primary duties.
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THE NEXT SHANAPLAN
Shanahan’s next job move is unclear.
While the New York Islanders received permission to interview him just prior to Pelley’s decision to cut ties, the Isles’ owners were well down the road to hiring Mathieu Darche as new GM. That was one of a few potential complications for Shanahan, including whether he’d want Patrick Roy back as coach.
The Isles announced Thursday Roy was returning after the team missed the playoffs in 2025.
Shanahan could wait for what he sees as a better fit elsewhere in the league (he’s still revered from his playing days in Detroit where patience is running thin with Steve Yzerman’s rebuild) or work for the league again from his second home in New York City.
MODEL TEAM ON THE CATWALK
Treliving’s description of the Florida Panthers as the ideal depth sounder in the Atlantic Division is bang on.
They’re in their third straight Stanley Cup final, the fifth team in 50 years to do that. That includes Tampa Bay, another of Toronto’s Atlantic rivals, with two four-time repeat champions, the Canadiens and Isles, along with the late 1980s Oilers winning four in five seasons topping the list.
When the Panthers held their 3-2 lead after 40 minutes while eliminating Carolina on Wednesday, it marked the ninth time in NHL history a team won 30 consecutive playoff games when ahead after two periods.
“I want to give a lot of credit to Florida,” Treliving said of losing a seven-game series to the Cats, the second time in three years Paul Maurice’s club ended Toronto’s promising playoff run. “There’s a reason why they’re the champion. They’ve set the bar in our division and they’ve set the bar in the league. That’s what we aspire to.”
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BOTTOM SIX BLUES
As the Core Four’s contributions wavered as playoffs went on, the Leafs looked to their bottom six forwards or more.
There were mixed results and now two of them, Nick Robertson and Pontus Holmberg, are to become restricted free agents with arbitration options. Treliving was also asked Thursday about Calle Jarnkrok, who will make $2.1 million US in the final year of his deal in ‘25-26.
“We’ll see,” Treliving said of the trio. “All do a little bit of different things.
“I like them. Pontus sort of bounced around. We have to determine is he a centre, is he a winger? What’s the contract look like? He has some heaviness, he doesn’t get pushed out of heavy games.
“I give Robbie a lot of credit. He had stretches. He can shoot. The challenge is becoming a regular. You can always debate if you (produce), you’ll get opportunity. We’re early yet (in talks).”
Treliving called it a near write-off season for Jarnkrok, who wasn’t healthy until the closing weeks of the schedule. But he values the Swede’s hockey brain when he is in the lineup.
Lhornby@postmedia.com
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