GM waits from cue as deadline approaches
C’mon guys, enough of the mixed messages.
With only two weeks until the NHL’s trade deadline, Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving is hoping for a not-so-subtle hint from his staff on whether he should be buying, selling or simply hiding his cellphone.
After all, this is a tough troupe to figure out.
The Flames celebrated a shootout triumph against the reigning Stanley Cup champs on the road.
They were blown away by a bottom-feeder on home ice.
And that’s just their past two outings.
“You’re always staying in touch with everyone and getting a sense of where everybody is at and what they’re looking for or potentially could be doing, so you have a pretty good sense of what is going on out there,” Treliving said of his approach to the March 1 trade deadline. “But we’re probably like a lot of teams — you take your cue from your team. So you continue to watch and monitor and watch the games and go from there.”
Starting with Wednesday’s faceoff against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Saddledome (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan), Treliving has seven more games to assess his squad’s needs before March 1.
Calgary’s upcoming slate also includes five straight road games and then a home date with the Los Angeles Kings on the eve of annual trade frenzy.
With 25 games to go, the Flames (28-26-3) find themselves one point shy of a wild-card slot in the Western Conference standings, somewhere in the grey area between definite contender and dream-on-pretender.
The Flames, like every middle-of-the-pack outfit, have holes.
A bit more scoring punch would be swell.
T.J. Brodie needs a more mobile sidekick on the second defence pairing.
The long-term puckstopping plan is still not settled.
June’s expansion draft only adds another wrinkle.
Treliving is admittedly not a big fan of rentals and has shown in the past that he won’t be pressured into panic deals as he tries to better his bunch.
“You’ve got short-term view, you’ve got long-term view,” Treliving said. “To think we’re going to go rushing out and start shipping young players and all these types of things out the door for a six-week fix, it’s not going to happen.
“You’re like every manager — you’d like to help your team. But it has to make sense.”