Why Brad Treliving may see Leafs through a different lens than most

Every NHL executive has different ideas about how to weigh players' resumes, and Brad Treliving has consistently shown that playoff performance means a lot to him.

When he was the general manager of the Calgary Flames, the incoming Toronto Maple Leafs GM showed time and time again that he wanted players with a history of winning deep into the spring.

Not every player he brought aboard during his nine years with the Flames had a Stanley Cup ring on their finger, but Treliving consistently put a premium on guys with postseason bonafides.

The first prominent example was Michael Frolik, who he signed to a five-year, $21.5 million deal in 2015. At the time, that was plenty of term for a middle-six producer with some injury problems in his past — but he'd won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012-13, assisting on the winning goal.

A year later, Treliving signed Troy Brouwer to a four-year $18 million contract when he was fresh off an excellent playoff run that saw him score eight goals for the St. Louis Blues. He also had a Cup win with the 2009-10 Blackhawks. That deal wound up being one of the worst Treliving ever made — and ended in a buyout after two seasons in Calgary.

When James Neal came to the Flames on a five-year $28.75 million deal in 2018, he did so after two productive runs to the Stanley Cup Final with the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights. Neal only lasted a year in Calgary before being traded for another player carrying an overweight contract in Milan Lucic.

In 2021, Trevling paid a hefty sum to bottom-six forward Blake Coleman, giving him a six-year $29.4 million deal entering his age-30 season, largely on the strength of his work in two straight Stanley Cup runs with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The biggest free-agent contract Treliving gave out in his time with the Flames went to Nazem Kadri (seven years $49 million), who had 34 points in 33 playoff games in his Colorado Avalanche tenure and had just played a major role in a Stanley Cup win.

While the jury's still out on the Kadri move, these deals generally haven't worked out for Treliving. Beyond the results, they tell us about the executive's preferences — and it's clear that he likes "winners" enough to outbid other teams for them in the free-agent market.

That's an interesting preference to have when you're taking over the NHL's most notorious group of playoff underachievers. While the Maple Leafs escaped the first round for the first time in 19 years this season, the team and its core is associated with postseason disappointments more than anything else at this point.

As it stands, Toronto projects to have $9.143 million in cap space to play with in free agency, so it's possible Treliving imports some players with playoff pedigree after July 1, but what's more intriguing is how his team-building philosophy applies to his internal evaluation of the Maple Leafs roster.

The Maple Leafs' top forward group of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander may look very different through the eyes of a GM who seems to judge players by what they accomplish in the postseason.

Kyle Dubas's commitment to that group seemed to indicate a belief that, sooner or later, what they accomplished in the regular season would translate to the playoffs.

Treliving may not see it that way. If he doesn't, the Maple Leafs are about to embark on an eventful offseason.