Darren Ferris says he spoke to Leafs GM Brad Treliving about other clients in free agency

NHL player agent Darren Ferris says he and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving have spoken about a client of his who is currently available in free agency.

He made an appearance on the 100% Hockey Podcast with Daren Millard and John Shannon on August 25th, where Ferris was asked if his relationship with Treliving had changed in the wake of the Mitch Marner saga coming to a close on June 30th.

“It’s still cordial. I’ve known Brad quite a while; he’s a good man. He’s got a tough job in front of him, and Toronto’s not an easy organization to work in with all the noise on the outside, but he seems to weather it. Everything’s fine between us,” he said. “We were talking about a free agent that I have currently that’s still out there, just recently acquired. We had a discussion, and we continue to. It’s business as usual.”

It makes sense why there wouldn’t be any bad blood between the GM and the player agent, since they have worked together over the years on contracts for the likes of Sam Bennett and Nazem Kadri back when Treliving was with the Calgary Flames. While Marner is easily Ferris’ biggest client, Treliving did what he could to make it work for all parties and ultimately was able to nab Nicolas Roy in a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Treliving always likes to do his due diligence by looking over all of the options available, so, logically, he would get in touch with Ferris about a client of his who is on the open market. According to PuckPedia, there are three of Ferris’ clients who remain available at the time of filing: Matt Nieto, Andreas Athanasiou, and Matt Grzelcyk.

The possibility of Treliving and Ferris talking about Nieto or Athanasiou is low since both are more of a bottom-six forward, who the Leafs already have plenty of, and each spent parts of last season in the AHL. It’s more likely that the conversation was on Grzelcyk, who is one of the best players remaining in free agency apart from Jack Roslovic.

As far as why Treliving may be inquiring about Grzelcyk, perhaps he foresees one of his defencemen currently on the roster being dealt away to improve the top-six, and the free agent blueliner could replace one of the bodies departing. Alternatively, he is concerned that he may lose one of his depth defencemen on waivers and bringing in Grezlcyk could help mitigate the loss.

The Leafs acquired Henry Thrun from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Ryan Reaves on July 10th, who will be competing with the likes of Philippe Myers and Simon Benoit for playing time. There’s also Matt Benning, who still sees himself as an NHL defenceman and hopes to have a good camp to make his way back to the top flight. Add in the likes of Dakota Mermis and Marshall Rifai, and you can see why there’s a decent chance some of them may not remain with the Leafs by the time the regular season starts.

Grzelcyk may not seem like the kind of blueliner Treliving prefers as he stands at 5’10” and weighs 180 pounds, but he is a strong puck-moving defenceman who is extremely mobile. The Leafs struggled with cleanly getting the puck out of their end during their series against the Florida Panthers, and that stemmed from their blueline not being the most fleet of foot. Getting more guys who are better at starting the breakout while also being involved offensively when necessary is how the Leafs can get more out of their back end.

That last part is what Grzelcyk can also provide, especially given that he is fresh off the best season of his career where he produced 40 points in 82 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year. If not for his size, there’s a good chance he would have already been inked to a deal by now since there weren’t a lot of quality blueliners who could produce who were up for grabs this summer.

“We’re always looking. I don’t think you ever stop. Whether it happens or not, we’ll see,” Treliving said to Sportsnet’s Eric Engels on Tuesday. “We’ve got a lot of bodies right now, so we’ll see. More than likely, unless something changes, we’ll go with what we’ve got and see where it all sorts itself out.”

Treliving likes to keep tabs on everything happening in the hockey world, so it’s unclear if the Leafs are going to seriously pursue Grzelcyk before training camp starts. At the very least, it is nonetheless interesting that he has recently spoken with Ferris about the blueliner who remains on the open market.