We talk forever and constantly about player trades in the NHL and whenever we want to get whimsical, we even talk about swapping coaches. In a roundabout way, that happened this past offseason — a three-way exchange that saw Jim Montgomery go from Dallas to Boston, Bruce Cassidy from Boston to Vegas, and Peter DeBoer from Vegas to Dallas. Cassidy’s and DeBoer’s teams face off in the Western Conference final beginning tonight, while Montgomery coached the Bruins to the most regular-season wins (65) in NHL history.

So, wins all around.

Which of course leads us to the next logical progression in the NHL trading game — a swap of general managers.

I’m pitching Kyle Dubas, former Maple Leafs GM, for Brad Treliving, former Flames’ GM in a one-for-one deal.

And before you jump to the comments to explain why that wouldn’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t happen, hear me out.

Treliving, if you’ll recall, mutually parted ways with the Calgary Flames soon after their regular season ended in disappointment. They missed the playoffs with 93 points, never quite getting untracked after the significant offseason personnel changes they made, which were largely set in motion when Matthew Tkachuk forced a trade out of Calgary and Johnny Gaudreau left as an unrestricted free agent.

But Treliving was never shy about tackling big problems and finding solutions and that’s a quality the next GM in Toronto is going to need.

As you know by now, an opening emerged in Toronto Friday morning, when the Maple Leafs announced that they would not extend the contract of Dubas once it expires on June 30. That was messy — messier than it looked at first blush after president of hockey operations Brendan Shanahan outlined the timeline of what transpired between the unhappy end of the season and the decision to move away from Dubas.