Although the Calgary Flames and general manager Brad Treliving agreed to part ways earlier this offseason, the Flames are reportedly not allowing the Pittsburgh Penguins to contact him in the search for their vacant GM job until his contract expires on Jun. 30.
“I was also told the Penguins wanted to include Brad Treliving as part of their first wave of Zoom interviews but the Flames denied them permission, apparently telling Pittsburgh it would have to wait until Treliving’s contract expired,” wrote The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun on Tuesday.
“Which, well, is a little bizarre of the Flames if you ask me. Treliving is leaving the organization, so why would they care?”
It's certainly a petty move from the Calgary front office, who have absolutely no good reason to deny Pittsburgh the chance to include Treliving in interviews if LeBrun's reporting is correct.
Although Calgary is paying the 53-year-old for the next six weeks or so, he and the team agreed to part ways in mid-April after an extremely disappointing season for the club. Don Maloney took over as president of hockey operations and interim general manager shortly after.
As for Pittsburgh, they fired GM Ron Hextall, as well as president of hockey operations Brian Burke just days before Calgary and Treliving went official with their breakup.
“The [Penguins] chatted with a dozen or so people via Zoom in the first round of GM interviews and are cutting down the list to a shorter group for in-person second-round interviews, according to league sources,” wrote LeBrun. “Some of the first-round candidates were informed Tuesday that they are no longer in the running.”
The Pens are, according to LeBrun, interviewing 10-12 candidates in their first round of discussions for the vacant GM position. They have the 14th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft at the end of June. The Flames will select two picks later at No. 16 overall.
Both the Flames and Penguins will find the new names for their front office openings in due time, but it's certainly puzzling why Calgary wouldn't let Pittsburgh include Brad Treliving in their search.
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