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Insider reveals shocking reason behind Brad Treliving’s departure.

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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.

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GM Brad Treliving out in Calgary!

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The Calgary Flames have made some major changes at the top levelings of their organization this morning.

According to an official announcement from the Flames organization, the team has mutually agreed to part ways with general manager Brad Treliving. Furthermore Don Maloney has been promoted to president of hockey operations and will also serve as the organizations interim general manager.

Maloney has experience as an NHL general manager having previously served as the general manager of the Arizona Coyotes, and was acting as vice president of hockey operations for the Flames prior to being promoted today.

Update: NHL insider Frank Seravalli has shared more details on the motivations behind the split.

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Milan Lucic reveals just how bad things got for him in Calgary.

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The Milan Lucic saga in Calgary may finally be over, and quite frankly it may even put an end to the Milan Lucic saga in Edmonton considering the Edmonton Oilers originally signed him to his much-maligned contract and were still paying him $750,000 this season due to the salary retained in the trade that sent him to the Calgary Flames.

It brings to an end a period in the career of Lucic that drastically altered the reputation he had as a player in the National Hockey League. Lucic would go from having the reputation of a dominant physical forward with the Boston Bruins, perhaps even among the most feared men in the entire league, to that of a largely overpaid and ineffective forward with the Oilers and Flames.

While it might be easy to suggest that Lucic can brush it off with the millions he has earned in the process, there’s no doubt that all of the controversy surrounding his play and his contract had to have taken a toll on the man, and following the conclusion of the 2022-23 NHL regular season, Lucic admitted as much.

“You want to live up to the expectations of what you’re getting paid and all that type of stuff… and I’m a proud person,” admitted Lucic.

Speaking to the media following the conclusion of the season, a “glassy-eyed” Milan Lucic admitted that it had been a struggle for him during the low points of his tenure with the Flames, and he thanked the fans for keeping his love of the game alive with their chants of “Looch” every time he touched the pucked.

“I gotta say [the fans] made it fun for me again, and I thank the people here for that,” said Lucic.

In fact, things would get so bad for Lucic at some points during his tenure in Calgary that the bruising forward admitted he contemplated stepping away from the game altogether at times.

“It wasn’t fun… and it got to a point for me when it wasn’t fun coming to the rink anymore and all that type of stuff,” admitted Lucic. “It was tough at one point… but that’s why I’m thankful and grateful to have the people around me that I’ve had here in Calgary.”

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Sutter credits 1 player for keeping the Flames’ playoff hopes alive.

The Calgary Flames are barely clinging onto their playoff lives with the team 2 points out of a playoff spot with only 6 games remaining on the regular season schedule, but they are still in the hunt.

That came in large part thanks to a huge comeback win for the Flames on Friday night when they overcame a third period deficit for the first time all season long, after previously going 0-18-3 when trailing after 2 during the regular season this year.

Following the game Darryl Sutter, the usually reserved head coach of the Calgary Flames, had a ton of praise for one of his players in particular when he was asked about the play of Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli, who had a major impact in the comeback with a pair of goals against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, was cited by Sutter as the only reason the team has remained competitive following the departure of 2 of the team’s top stars in Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk last summer.

“What’s he got? 33? Take those two 40s out (Gaudreau and Tkachuk) and that’s exactly why we’re still in it, those guys who are scoring big goals for us,” said Sutter when asked about Toffoli.

Toffoli has quickly endeared himself to fans in Calgary and his comments following the comeback on Friday night will no doubt only add to that. Toffoli expressed how desperately he wanted the comeback win, a sentiment that was no doubt echoed by every single Flames fan that tuned in for last night’s game.

“It’s about time we came back and won a game,” admitted Toffoli. “We needed it, obviously feels good.”