Goaltending, defence on Treliving’s mind heading into big week in the NHL

Defencemen and goaltending top Brad Treliving’s list of priorities as the Calgary Flames general manager prepares for a busy business week in the NHL.

The entry draft and the start of unrestricted free agency occur in a four-day span starting Tuesday.

Treliving has made draft-day headlines with showy deals during his six seasons as Calgary’s GM.

He points out every NHL general manager is prepping for an important work week in unusual conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, however.

“It’s really new frontier here, where you’ve got a lot of things in play,” Treliving said Friday during a conference call.

The flat salary cap at $81.5 million because of the pandemic’s economic effect on the NHL, and not knowing if the 2020-21 season will actually start on Dec. 1, has GMs proceeding with caution, according to Treliving.

Next year’s expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken is another consideration for moves made next week.

“I see a clogged market right now,” the Flames GM said.

“A lot of it is hesitation on people not knowing what the market is. I think there’s a real hesitation right now to take on excess money.”

Calgary owns the 19th pick in Tuesday’s opening round. Whether the Flames take that selection or trade it, what Treliving does via trades or free agency will be the buzz in Calgary’s off-season.

The Flames (36-27-7) were eliminated from the first round of playoffs in a six-game series with the Dallas Stars, who in turn lost the Stanley Cup final in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We’re a good team and we had an opportunity to put that team on the ropes,” Treliving said of the Stars. “We didn’t. You look at the run they had so that shows you how close you are, but you can’t get lost in that. We need to get better. We weren’t good enough to win that series.”