How Could This Happen? Flames Cap Penalty

With the news breaking that the Flames are facing a cap penalty for the upcoming season due to bonus overages, a lot of us were left scratching our heads and wondering how Brad Treliving could let this happen. For some insight into how Treliving operates I took a few minutes to ask Arizona Coyotes fanatic and Five For Howling writer sarahhowling a couple questions about Treliving's time in Arizona. Here's what she had to say:

Brad Treliving was the Assistant General Manager of the Arizona Coyotes before becoming the General Manager of the Flames. What were his responsibilities in that role?

Treliving was mostly in charge of the AHL team during his tenure with the Coyotes. He was the GM of the San Antonio Rampage and Portland Pirates. He worked within the budget that was given to him for the AHL team and worked to make the teams competitive with the prospects and other signings.

Arizona has a notoriously tight budget but somehow ices a competitive team every season. How much of an impact do you think Brad Treliving had on this consistent performance with such a low budget?

He had an impact on the AHL’s side of the budget but not the NHL side. He was able to ice a full AHL squad and keep them, at least moderately, competitive. He only had one year under the new owners before the Flames snatched him up, meaning, he was working with League budget for quite a while.

Coming from a background that clearly places a lot of importance on financial management, both cap wise and with real dollars, how would it be possible for such a blunder to occur with the Flames?

The Flames cap situation definitely has some… interesting pieces. My thought is that even though Treliving is the GM, Brian Burke still has his hands in how this team is being built and how the money is being spent. Brouwer doesn’t seem like the type that Treliving would throw money at. Either the scouting staff isn’t been spoken to, Treliving has forgotten how to actually handle money or Burke is controlling everything and only approving what he wants to happen.