3 things Brad Treliving must do as he becomes GM of Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs officially hired Brad Treliving as their new general manager on Wednesday.

Treliving was the former GM of the Calgary Flames but after the Maple Leafs parted ways with Kyle Dubas they decided to hire Treliving.

Toronto is one of the best teams in the NHL, but work still needs to be done for them to achieve their goals.

Here are three things Brad Treliving needs to do as the new Maple Leafs GM.

#1. Re-sign Auston Matthews

Auston Matthews is eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1 and getting the face of the franchise signed is a pivotal move for Treliving.

Matthews has one year left on his deal and Toronto either needs to know if he plans to re-sign. If he doesn't want to re-sign the next move Treliving needs to do is to trade Matthews as Toronto can't let him walk in free agency next summer for nothing.

Treliving just experienced this in Calgary with Johnny Gaudreau leaving in free agency for nothing and having to trade Matthew Tkachuk to Florida. This came after Tkachuk told him he wasn't going to re-sign.

At this time, Matthews seems like he wants to be in Toronto, so getting him signed this summer is objective number one.

#2. Address goaltending

The biggest weak point throughout Kyle Dubas' tenure as Toronto Maple Leafs GM was goaltending which did cost them several times in the playoffs.

The Maple Leafs have Matt Murray and Joseph Woll under contract for next season, but getting out of Murray's contract to create cap space is huge for Brad Treliving.

Should Treliving trade Murray, he must decide if he wants to re-sign Ilya Samsonov, who is an RFA to be the starting goaltender. Samsonov was solid in the net for Toronto but was injured at times and his history in the playoffs is not good.

As well, it's likely that the likes of Connor Hellebuyck, John Gibson, and Carter Hart could be all on the trade market. Regardless of who Brad Treliving decides on as his starting goaltender, he needs to find the goalie early into free agency.

#3. Revamp the bottom six

Kyle Dubas spent years working on the Maple Leafs' bottom six but unfortunately, they never added enough skill or size to be difference-makers in the playoffs.

Treliving will have plenty of options this summer as Noel Acciari, Zach Aston-Reese, David Kampf, Alexander Kerfoot, Michael Bunting, Wayne Simmonds, and Ryan O'Reilly are all free agents.

Some of those players could be brought back, but if the majority aren't, Brad Treliving will have his work cut out for him to improve the bottom six forwards.