Brad Treliving has been on the job as Maple Leafs general manager for nearly four months now.
It’s early days still, though we have clues about his plans for the Leafs. During a recent one-on-one conversation, we were able to dig into his team-building philosophies, his offseason visit with Auston Matthews, why he believes a noisier, more energetic dressing room will translate to the ice, and whether the Leafs will hold onto William Nylander without an extension.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
You mentioned going to visit Auston in Arizona after you were hired this summer. What do you do when you go visit Auston? A general manager goes and visits the star player, what do you do?
My wife asked me the same thing. It was more of just getting to know you. You don’t want to be that uncomfortable house guest. We went for dinner. Basically, I went in there, we met for lunch, got a suite at one of the hotels where we could just get together. Went to dinner a couple times. Just spent some time together. Initially, it’s really trying to give him a little background (on me).
I’ve known (Auston’s agent) Judd (Moldaver) for a long time. It would be different if there was no relationship with Judd, no relationship with Auston where you’re like, OK,…
