Maple Leafs’ Brodie May Be Odd Man Out with Treliving as GM

NHL Insider Frank Seravalli made an interesting statement when talking about possible buyouts on the podcast Daily Faceoff Live, recently. After mentioning some potential candidates for buyouts from various teams including Matt Murray, Seravalli stated the following:

“There’s a couple of sneaky buyouts out there and one that I have in the back of my mind is T.J. Brodie of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

Seravalli Caught a Lot of People Off Guard

That statement seemed to have caught a lot of people off guard and created a bit of a buzz. Was Seravalli just spitballing, or does he know something the rest of us don’t?

THW writer Jim Parsons‘ post “Maple Leafs Should Avoid Big Rumored T.J. Brodie Buyout Mistake” pretty much summed up most people’s feelings about Seravalli’s comment. Buyouts are a “worse case scenario” plan when there are no other options for severely overpaid and underperforming players. Brodie is neither of those. 

While he is not a flashy player, Brodie is an effective defenseman for the Maple Leafs. He can play either side equally well and usually makes whoever he is playing with better. He might not have had the greatest series versus the Florida Panthers, going minus-4 in the five games, but he did play an integral role in the Maple Leafs finally getting past the first round of the playoffs with the key assist on the Auston Matthews 1-0 goal in the deciding 2-1 game. 

Is Something Else Going On Between Treliving and Brodie?

Seravalli’s comment has made us wonder if Brodie might be deemed expendable by the new Maple Leafs general manager (GM) Brad Treliving.

Treliving and Brodie do have some history together. Brodie was on the last season of a two-year deal when Treliving was hired by the Calgary Flames in 2014. One month into the 2014-15 season, Treliving signed Brodie to a five-year $4.65 million extension. But, when that contract ran out in 2020, Treliving did not re-sign him. That summer Brodie signed a four-year $5 million per season deal with the Maple Leafs.

Treliving Gives Interesting Answers at His Introduction to Media

When Treliving was being introduced as the Maple Leafs’ new GM, he was asked the following question:

“Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie and what kind of a resource they might be for you?”

His answer was interesting:

“It is good to see those guys. It is good to see Gio still playing at 75. Not a lot of guys do. I was with them for a long time. They are good men. They are good players. They are good people. They have good families.”

Then Treliving added: “I have been texting a little bit with Gio. It will be good to connect with him.”

While it could be considered that Treliving did encompass a reference to Brodie in his use of “those guys,” he didn’t mention his name specifically. At the same time, he was specific to say it would be good to connect with Giordano. 

Are We Reading Too Much Into Treliving’s Comments?

Are we reading too much into that? Maybe. But there’s also reason to believe something else might be happening.

If we look back at Brodie’s usage under Treliving in Calgary, he led the team in ice time the first two years they were together. By 2020, his ice time had slid to fourth on the team behind Giordano, Travis Hamonic, and Noah Hanafin.  

Treliving let Brodie walk in the summer of 2020 and replaced him with Chris Tanev. There was obviously something in Brodie’s game then that resulted in Treliving not having the same trust in him that he did in the past. That was when Brodie was 29. Now, at the age of 33, does it make sense that Treliving would have more trust in Brodie?

With that in mind, it is reasonable to expect that Brodie might find himself with a lesser role in whatever direction Treliving wants to take the team. If that is the case, he might figure Brodie’s $5 million cap hit might be better used somewhere else. 

Could Brodie be on his way out of Toronto? We will have to see how all of this plays out over the next few weeks and, perhaps, months.

[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs’ fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]