New Leafs GM doesn’t sound like the reset type. That could be for the best

The clock is ticking. Or maybe that’s the timing device on a bomb.

For general managers in sports — ditto for coaches — the countdown begins first day on the job. And so it is for Brad Treliving, even within the generally friendly environment of Thursday’s formal introduction press conference for a pack of journalists assembled at Scotiabank Arena.

General manager No. 18 in the annals of the Toronto Maple Leafs. On my watch, GM No. 14. And it’s always ended the same way: KABOOM. But then I’ve never covered a championship Leafs team, so probably that would be different.

Everyone comes in with high hopes and good intentions and usually solid NHL bona fides. Which wasn’t the case, of course, for the recently deposed Kyle Dubas. He was the Kid Genius, elevated by president Brendan Shanahan from the Soo via the Marlies. And — this is so rich — coincidentally unveiled as GM and president of hockey operations for the Penguins. Which puts Dubas (who just about a fortnight ago was weirdly ambivalent at his post-season presser, four days before he was sacked in Toronto) on a nearly equal corporate footing with Shanahan. If not exactly a putsch bid, desirous of more decision-making autonomy — and money, let’s not forget the 11th-hour mo’ money gambit — it was a betrayal of the man who made him.

Same occasion in which Dubas, doing his Hamlet act, revealed he wasn’t sure he wanted to return with a new contract under his belt, given family considerations. Same occasion in which Dubas assured he wasn’t going to be popping up anywhere else any time soon, Toronto or nothing.

And slam-bang, Pittsburgh. Golly, Pittsburgh. The team which could have knocked Florida out of a playoff berth had they just beaten Chicago on April 11. That butterfly effect led to the stunning first-round elimination of the Bruins, second-round elimination of the Leafs, third-round elimination of the Hurricanes and now a Stanley Cup final versus the Vegas Golden Knights, starting Saturday.

The unexpected rampaging through the playoffs by the Panthers has been driven by Matthew Tkachuk, the hard-nosed phenomenon Treliving traded from Calgary to Florida last summer. Though that can’t be hung on the former Flames GM — Tkachuk had made it clear he was not going to re-sign long term in Calgary. “So you go into the market and there were some challenges, no question,” Treliving said, because naturally revisiting that fate-shifting deal was high on the list of topics Thursday. “You’re playing with a two and a three in your hand and everybody else has got a pair of aces.”

It’s still not clear what hand Treliving is holding as Shanahan’s fourth GM in nine years, including Dave Nonis, whom he fired but didn’t hire. Shanahan can be as ruthless in the front office as he was on the ice — didn’t blink when he canned mentor Lou Lamoriello and ushered in Dubas. Simply not credible is that the Hall of Famer — one of my favourite people, I’ll admit right here — has ever been or will be merely a benign presence above the chaotic fray, the guy who deals with the board of directors at MLSE. Nothing is done without Shanahan’s approval and perhaps, frankly, he should have appointed himself as general manager. Not as if the Leafs have never had a president-GM before. Cliff Fletcher wore two hats handsomely.

“I’ve always believed a GM should have a good, strong process,” Shanahan proclaimed, sitting alongside Treliving. “But ultimately a decision has to be made by the GM and that’s how I’ve always operated. That’s how I will continue to operate … I really do feel that the role and the responsibility has to ultimately come from the GM, so that doesn’t change.”

Pull the other one, Shanny.

Treliving seems like a personable fellow and competent if unflashy hire. What he’s inherited from Dubas is a team of to-drool-for talent that puts up tremendous regular-season accomplishments but just about bupkis in the playoffs. One second-round series in five seasons with Dubas at the helm, less impressive than Treliving’s five playoffs in Calgary in nine seasons, albeit winning just one round twice.

Straight ahead loom urgencies for the new GM: re-signing Auston Matthews to a contract extension by July 1, the same day a no-move clause kicks in; deciding whither coach Sheldon Keefe; settling the issue with Mitch Marner, Toronto’s best player this season, whose no-movement clause is triggered July 1; and locking in (or not) William Nylander on the heels of his first 40-goal season. Nylander’s 10-team no-trade buffer kicks in on the same date.

While Dubas — who overpaid and over-termed for everybody, but most especially John Tavares (he ain’t budging from his no-trade cinch) — claimed earlier that nothing was off the table, he’s no longer at this table. And, as the Star’s Chris Johnston was first to report, Shanahan has already avouched to the Core Four that they won’t be moved.

Have to say, what felt like an imperative course correction in mid-May after Florida bounced Toronto in five games no longer seems so essential.

Matthews, Marner and Nylander are stars who won’t be equitably replaced. So what’s the point? Matthews and Marner admittedly didn’t step up as difference-makers in that second round. But the past — even the frustrating, elongated playoff-bust past those players have endured — is no indicator of the future. And perhaps losing to the surging Panthers wasn’t such a travesty: four games decided by one goal, two in overtime.

Treliving certainly didn’t sound like someone with reset on his agenda. Likely that’s where he and Shanahan converge.

“I want to stress strongly, I’m not about coming in and making a statement,” said Treliving. “You can throw a body onto the tarmac and it might look good for a headline, but are you getting any better? At the end of the day it’s about getting better. And just being different doesn’t necessarily make you better.”

Adding: “This idea of the Core Four, my job is to protect them. I’m fiercely protective about my players. But this can’t be about the Core Four. This is about the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s not about four players, it’s not about two, it’s not about one. It’s about 23 guys that we’re going to have in this organization.”

Echoes of Dubas trying to fix his roster around the edges over the last five trade deadlines. Some moves were brilliant, others not so much.

The draft is rushing up, the GM has 10 unrestricted free agents on his to-do list, and a coach he sounded disinclined to cashier at this time.

“There’s a lot of priorities. There seem to be a lot in the No. 1 spot.”

Hey, welcome to hockey in Toronto.

Which actually was the lure of it. This city, this team: “It’s the Leafs.”

Like that explains everything.

“I know there’s been heartache, there’s been frustration in terms of where we’ve been in the playoffs lately. It’s a hard league. But this team has put themselves in a position and we’re going to try to keep putting ourselves in a position and keep knocking on the door, keep knocking on the door, keep knocking on the door, and eventually push through.”

Knock-knock. Who’s there?

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno