Dave McCarthy of NHL.com: Newly named Toronto Maple Leafs GM, Brad Treliving stated that signing Auston Matthews to a contract extension is a precedence for him.
“Auston is without doubt one of the elite gamers on the earth,” Treliving stated. “We’re not speaking a few good participant within the League. We’re speaking about an elite participant on the earth. Attending to Auston is a precedence. However outdoors of the contract stuff, primary is simply getting to construct a relationship. It’s not strolling down and attempting to arm wrestle about contracts, it’s me getting an opportunity to satisfy him, however extra importantly having Auston get an opportunity to satisfy me and know what we’re about.”
Treliving added that he’s been texting with Matthews already and that he has a great relationship with agent Judd Moldaver.
Treliving provides that you just don’t at all times need to make modifications for the sake of creating modifications, particularly if you find yourself speaking concerning the core 4 of Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares.
“Having these gamers excites me. They’re world-class gamers,” Treliving stated. “We’re going to assessment the whole lot. I need to stress strongly I’m not about coming in and making a press release. You possibly can throw a physique onto the tarmac and it’d look good for a headline, however are you getting any higher? It’s about getting higher, and simply being completely different doesn’t essentially make you higher.”
Maple Lefas Sizzling Range: Treliving when requested what his greatest priorties are over the following few days and weeks.
“Clearly, we now have some contractual points that we’re going to take care of. We’re going to construct these relationships. We’ve Sheldon’s state of affairs. We’ve to get to know the workers. We’ve a draft to organize for.
There’s the communication amongst the supervisor group. I’m a bit of bit behind right here now. Individuals have been speaking and determining what they need to do. We are going to go pedal down right here fairly rapidly. This isn’t the relationship recreation. We’re going to get proper into pushing onerous.”