Brad Treliving’s hire in Toronto didn’t have the best reception when it was first announced. His biggest move was the infamous Jon Huberdeau/Matthew Tkachuk trade, and that clearly didn’t work out too well. Coming into Toronto, Brad made it known that he wasn’t afraid of anything, and that meant moving on from the “Core 4”.

Now in his third full offseason with the Maple Leafs, he has decided to finally move off from one of the core four. Now, whether that is totally on Treliving or not remains to be known, but the fact still remains, Mitch Marner is no longer a Toronto Maple Leaf.

As mentioned, Brad Treliving isn’t a scared man. He shipped out his star forward for Jon Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, who both had career years with the Florida Panthers. In hindsight, obviously it didn’t work out as well as anyone once thought, but the point still stands that Treliving took a risk and made the blockbuster trade that many general managers wouldn’t.

Brad Treliving in his short time as Maple Leafs GM, has put his own mark on this team. In his first season, he signed guys with a little more of an edge to them, guys like Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and Ryan Reaves to name a few.

Treliving’s first season in Toronto wasn’t the brightest, but his second offseason made up for it, when he signed Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Anthony Stolarz, Max Pacioretty, and Steven Lorentz among others. Tanev, who was 34 at the time of the signing, is someone who Leafs fans have wanted for years. He is the true defender that the Leafs have been missing for years. In his first year with the Maple Leafs, Tanev did not disappoint. Treliving also signed 3 players off the recent Stanley Cup winning Florida Panthers, one being Anthony Stolarz, who was a backup to Sergei Bobrovsky. Stolarz’s first year with the Maple Leafs was spectacular. He ranked near the top of every goaltending category, being a fan favourite in Toronto in no time.

Not only did Brad sign stellar free agents, he was able to resign Max Domi to a calm 4-year deal worth $3.75MAAV, and he was able to swing a deal with defender Jake McCabe, who has been an amazing addition since being traded to Toronto, worth $4.51M annually for an additional 5 years.

The following deadline saw Toronto trade for a player who many look at and immediately think he’d be a good fit, and a player who spent years terrorizing Leafs fans.

Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo were brought in by Brad Treliving to give the team even more of a physical presence, with both men being very strong defensively and being able to also contribute offensively.

With this offseason having been underway for multiple weeks, Brad Treliving is comfortable in his chair as Leafs GM, as he was able to sign extensions with numerous Leafs, all of them being great deals for the Maple Leafs. Treliving signed John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and Steven Lorentz to four year, six year, and three years deals respectively. While Lorentz isn’t nearly the player that Tavares or Knies is, Lorentz is a great spark of energy on that fourth line, and the hometown kid loves wearing the Blue and White. In other words, Lorentz has the passion.

Regardless of how the Maple Leafs perform in the playoffs, you can’t say that Brad Treliving hasn’t done his part in trying to make this team better. With the departure of Mitch Marner, Brad Treliving not only has money, but opportunity to find a better fit for this Maple Leafs team, in hopes of making a deeper postseason run over the next few years.