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My thoughts on the early-November criticism of Brad Treliving: Let me start off by saying this: I see what you see. I am not satisfied with the team's performance, much less their style of play. I am not here to speak in defense of the status quo. I do, however, have a few quick disclaimers: 1. If you supported Treliving's moves in July and are now criticizing Treliving with the benefit of hindsight, you are the worst. 2. We have limited data after only 13 games. If the Leafs were 13-0, a great many would be suggesting Dubas was the problem, we've got our guy, Treliving's a genius - and that would be a mistake, too. Many fans are rushing to evaluate the season as though it's already over and there's nothing more to learn about this team. I think this is a poor assessment, but that doesn't mean what we've seen to date isn't relevant or important, either. 3. This one's going to hurt, but if there's one message I could get through to the Leafs X crowd who make most of the noise when things go wrong, it's this: Being an NHL GM is nothing like being an NHL GM on your Xbox. You can't just make all the trades you want because the salary lines up. Your time spent between CapFriendly and HockeyDB does not make you as qualified as you think you are, nor should you allow yourself to be puzzled as to why Treliving hasn't made what you deem to be "an obvious move" - or any move, for that matter. There is more to player evaluation than stats and salary. It isn't easy to manage all the dynamics at play, and if you're truly a fan of the Leafs, you should know that you are not making it any easier to do anything in this city - for the players, GM, or coaches - by contributing to the pandemonium with calls for heads to roll, let alone in November, with an above .500 record. Moreover... Brad Treliving joined the Leafs on May 31st, takes a nap and it's June - he doesn't know his coaches, his scouts, his players, his assistant managers, and the club is deep into preparing for the draft and for free agency. This is not an excuse - there's no need for excuses. This is context. It goes without saying that free agent signings Reaves, Klingberg, Bertuzzi, and Domi have not met expectations, to varying degrees. But how should we assess this? Were these terrible signings? Are the players not as good as believed? Do their contracts have poor value? Is Treliving the only idiot in the world who thought this group could help this team? Will our opinion today hold true in 2 months, or by the end of the season? If we trade Bertuzzi and he scores 10 goals in 15 games somewhere else, how should this change our assessment of Treliving signing him in the first place? In my opinion, the case for acquiring each of these 4 players was clear and strong at the time of signing (yes, even Klingberg - happy to elaborate on popular demand). Perhaps more importantly, but far less appreciated, Treliving mitigated the risk of a poor fit by signing Bertuzzi, Domi, and Klingberg to one-year deals. The exception, of course, is 36-year-old Ryan Reaves who signed a 3-year deal at $1.35 million per season, but it's rarely mentioned that $1.125 million of his AAV can be buried by sending him down and his contract allows him to retire early without any cap penalty. Minimal risk. I'll also say that while I believe the case for each signing to have been clear and strong, not everyone agreed. For example, signing Reaves was polarizing from the jump and so far, those who suggested his intrinsic value was heavily inflated have been proven correct. So far, Brad Treliving was wrong about Ryan Reaves. So far, so was I. Alas, broken are the fragile hearts who swore this GM would be the first to bat a thousand. Anyway, here's the bottom line: If you want to call Treliving a failure after 13 games without giving the players an opportunity to turn things around in the next 69, without giving Treliving an opportunity to make trades in-season, without awarding any significant points for risk management, or without awarding any significant points for re-signing Auston Matthews to an extension through 2028 before he opened the season with 13 goals in 13 games... who are you, anyway? We'll find out what Treliving can do with the Leafs, but we haven't found out yet. #LeafsForever