Treliving looks ahead to Trade Deadline in Q&A with NHL.com

In NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Sitting Down with …" we talk to key figures in the game, gaining insight into their lives on and off the ice. Today, we feature Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving:

CALGARY --Brad Treliving doesn't know if the Calgary Flames will be buyers ahead of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.
The team hasn't told him yet.
"Listen, we'd like to add to our team, but the most critical part is where your team's at, right?" the Flames general manager said. "We've got some work to do to get ourselves into a better position than we currently are. We've been up and down. There's been some inconsistency to our game. It's hard to sit here and start making any proclamations about what you're going to do at the deadline. We continue to watch our team.
"We'd like to help it, but you've got to be careful how far you chase it when you're in the position we're in."
The Flames (24-17-10) are one point ahead of the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, who have three games in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Calgary trails the Vegas Golden Knights by four points for third in the Pacific Division.
"We're not sitting here saying, 'OK, we're in a real solid position to add to the team,'" Treliving said. "We'd like to help. There's certainly some areas we need to improve, but the question always is to improve those areas, there's a cost associated with it. How much do we want to be spending when you're not solidly in a playoff position?
"We've got a month to the trade deadline. That's going to be important to try to answer some of those questions."
Treliving talked his trade deadline plan, expectations for the Flames, and what gives him optimism in a wide-ranging Q&A with NHL.com.
Do you allow yourself to be patient to see how the next two or three weeks play out?
"Every point and every game is important, and you evaluate. Some of it, too, is you're evaluating how your team's playing and sometimes the results lag from the performance. But certainly, for us, coming out of the break and that period of time, there's lots of hockey coming up and that period of time is going to be important for us to determine what we do at the deadline. So yeah, we'll be watching closely."
Adding a top-nine forward was a priority in training camp. Has that list changed at all or have you changed your perspective as to what this team needs?
"I'm not going to go too detailed into what we think we could need or what not. I think we could certainly use another forward. Now, as I said at that time too, people think that's coming from outside the organization. That might be coming from the inside. We've got some people within the organization that have had some good years in the American Hockey League (who is away from the Flames because of personal reasons), do you have clarity as to whether or not he'll be back with the team this season, or do you need to know his status by a certain date to know how to approach the deadline?
"Yeah, certainly we do. Those are things that we work on behind the scenes. Yeah, it's certainly something we want to have clarity on as soon as we possibly can. We want to be supportive, and we have been, but certainly clarity there is going to be required as we get closer to March 3."
The new players that came to the team in the offseason, how have you seen their comfort level grow over the last couple of months?
"I think in the case of [Nazem Kadri], where he's played on other teams, I think that's been maybe easier. It's come quicker. I think with Jonathan (Huberdeau) and MacKenzie (Weegar) it's taken a bit more time. And not surprising. That's not surprising. That's not a surprise to us. When you've been in one place, both those guys have really been in that organization they've been for, and Jonathan for a long time, but I do see both their games building. We've had to move MacKenzie sort of all over with the injuries we've had on the blue line, and he's sort of been on both sides and playing with different people, which is not unusual, but I think both their games are starting to build and have been building for a while. Each day they're more and more comfortable, and certainly they're going to be important guys for us down the stretch."
How busy in general do you think this trade deadline will be?**
"I think it's going to be just like it always is. It'll be busy. There'll be deals that'll be made. Some will get done early, but some that, for a whole bunch of reasons, get done later. We've got a league that's up against the salary cap and lots of teams in [long-term injured reserve] and all the financial stress that's on the system with a flat cap for the last number of years. Those that want to add, for the most part, you've got to figure out how to do it. There are lots of ways to be creative, but I think we'll have a busy deadline as we normally do. There will be deals made. I don't see it being any different than a normal course of business."