The Calgary Flames surprised many of their fans on Monday morning when they announced that they had mutually parted ways with longtime general manager Brad Treliving.
It’s true that the Flames failed to make the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs in spite of high expectations on their team, but nonetheless Treliving was heralded as a hero just last summer when he turned lemons into lemonade when both Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk made it clear that their futures were not in Calgary.
The language used by the Flames, a mutual parting of ways as opposed to a termination or a non-renewal of a contract, was also curious and according to NHL insider Frank Serravalli there may be good reason to be curious.
On Monday, Seravalli revealed that a major contributing factor to Treliving’s departure may have been the status of head coach Darryl Sutter. Seravalli reports that Sutter will remain with the Flames, and “that fact played a role on whether or not Treliving would remain at his post.”
This would appear to indicate that Treliving felt Sutter was not the right coach for the group of players that he had assembled under the Flames banner, with ownership seemingly seeing things differently.
Given that Sutter is under contract through the 2024-25 season it’s not hard to see why ownership was reluctant to replace him, but the reaction to this news from fans in Calgary has not been positive.
