A Comprehensive Review of the Kyle Dubas Era

[All Mod Cons]

Kyle did so much damage, so early in his tenure. Quite remarkable really.

 

[Antropovsky]

Dubas style could be described as patching up holes instead of just taking the time and cost to fix them properly.

He's lucky he inherited a team in excellent shape with lots of assets and depth. He certainly left it in 10X worse shape then he got it:

Out: Kapanen, Johnsson, Hyman, Brown, Kadri
1sts: 2019 (Muzzin), 2020 (Marleau), 2021 (Foligno), 2022 (Mrazek), 2023 (Oreilly), 2025 (McCabe)
2nds: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026
3rds: 2023
(definitely missing some)

In: Alex Kerfoot, McCabe, 39 year old Giordano

rid himself of: Zaitsev and Marleau

Total series wins: 1


Nice work!

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Da biggest SINGLE issue is da one which killed this team ... 4 FORWARDS as da CORE 4 and then paying those 4 FORWARDS 50% of CAP .. bottom line this was hill Dubie died on .. this was a MASSIVE STRATEGIC error in thinking .. and it highlights why you don't send ur kid to Brock .. you can make mistakes around edge (every GM does) but you can't get da STRATEGY wrong .. but then again we have Shanny in charge so Dubie looks like a bright light compared to him

 

[Superstar]

Luke Schenn came in dirt cheap this year and became a superior D to Holl right off the hop - Rielly played his best hockey of the season with Schenn at his side.

Holl was very easy to replace - management was just too stupid to see what he was as a player.

It's because they thought they got a $4 million dman for $2 million in Holl, lol, or they're out to prove Babcock was wrong...McCann has turned into a 40 goal scoring LW for $5 million per year, and only 26 years old...he's exactly the type of top 6 forward the Leafs need...there were many upset Leaf fans that knew better than exposing McCann.

 

[ULF_55]

Dubas carrying the freight for 2 players making $23mm who combined for 2 (1 each) goals over 12 playoffs (Montreal - Florida).

He never drafted them, so they had no loyalty to him.

Kind of hard to win when you're bottom feeders have to do the heavy lifting.

He should have drafted/signed players who don't fold under pressure.

 

[robertmac43]

The first 2 years were horrendous, the middle year was ok, the last 2 years were very good. O'Reilly, McCabe, Schenn, Acciari was a historic deadline imho.

Shows Dubas's ability to grow and learn on the job. An aspect of this that is often lost on people.

 

[Superstar]

Shows Dubas's ability to grow and learn on the job. An aspect of this that is often lost on people.

Does that somehow make him special? Those of us who's been watching NHL hockey knew from the start that you need to have grit and toughness to win in this league, especially the Cup...yet Dubas thought he knew better and built the softest Leaf team we've seen until it didn't work and he had to pivot...but the damage was done because while he experimented, he had squandered years with little playoff success.

 

[ACC1224]

Shows Dubas's ability to grow and learn on the job. An aspect of this that is often lost on people.

For sure but that was also the problem many had.
Grow and learn somewhere else and come here when you're ready.

 

[socko]

You have to make sure that grit doesn't already have a broken back.. ****cough****** Foligno ******cough****** Before you trade for it. Like say for example, they missed the game with Columbus the day before you traded for them because they have a bad back, that might be a clue.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

It was a good deadline, but I wonder how much of it was influenced by shanahan. I’m not sure those deadline acquisitions happen with a dubas full autonomy. But even if crediting dubas for the deadline moves, they are good grit and experience but the problem was that because the top players (Matthews, marner, taveras, nylander, Reilly and Brodie) bring zero grit, O’Reilly,McCabe, Schenn and Accari were asked to do too much, especially McCabe and Schenn. These deadline moves didn’t correct the main problem, adding grit or in Burke’s terminology, “truculenc” to the core. Like a Tom Wilson, or Brayden Schenn, or tarasenko,. If you look at past cup winners they had some sort of grit and resiliency. Stamkos , kucherov and point are not huge heavy players, but they are all highly skilled guys who have an element of grittiness. Toronto does not have that, something they desperately need. Adding grit at the trade deadline is great but in Toronto’s case, it was like putting lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.

The big question which will be answered in the next year or 2 is: Did Shanny want these zero grit high skill type of players or did Dubas. I have a feeling it might be Shanny even though to most it won't make much sense. Dubas had some pretty tough players in the Soo...and then he does an about face and just wants skill? It is possible he was following his own "Undervalued" mantra to an extent...but it is also possible that Shanny was in love with the possession-skill type player no matter what.

Shanny in the documentary about the Detroit teams does mention several times how he was in awe by the skill of the Russian 5 on his team. What he left out was that they never won anything until a player like Shanny came along...

I just don't see it as cut and dried that Dubas wanted only skill...I am happy he is gone TBH...but lets see what kind of players we gravitate to with the new GM.

 

[alliuk12]

Dubas is gone now. He made this a p***y team and when i mean p***y I don’t mean women i just mean this team is to soft to make it into the playoffs because they don’t have players who are willing to stand up for their own players. If they did bennett would have been a marked man for the rest of the playoffs

 

[egd27]

2 main issue IMO

Signing Tavares was great for his ego, but led to

• The contracts for 34 & 16 were inflated since JT became a simple comparable
• NO ONE else in history, or ever again will have a 2nd line player at an almost 14% cap hit
• Made the bad Marleau contract, worse
• Forced almost constant turnover in order to remain cap compliant
• etc. etc.

Sheldon Keefe

• A proper search should have been done to replace Babcock rather than the closet warm body / buddy
• When they blew the 3-1 series lead to MTL, it was obvious he wasn't the guy but Dubas stuck with him

 

[Donnie740]

Kyle did so much damage, so early in his tenure. Quite remarkable really.

All five years of the Dubas Debacle were equally terrible.

He learned absolutely NOTHING - - as evidenced by continuing to stick with Bozo the Keefe as coach and bringing in an overpaid, injury prone, piss-poor goalie to replace last year’s overpaid, injury prone, piss-poor goalie.

 

[thewave]

All five years of the Dubas Debacle were equally terrible.

He learned absolutely NOTHING - - as evidenced by continuing to stick with Bozo the Keefe as coach and bringing in an overpaid, injury prone, piss-poor goalie to replace last year’s overpaid, injury prone, piss-poor goalie.

No progress in any year leading up to the year that the rumors are that Shanahan and Pridham were preparing some things. Imagine our shock when we get tough to play against players like Schenn or ROR on the team.

Unreal stuff!

 

[Notsince67]

Da biggest SINGLE issue is da one which killed this team ... 4 FORWARDS as da CORE 4 and then paying those 4 FORWARDS 50% of CAP .. bottom line this was hill Dubie died on .. this was a MASSIVE STRATEGIC error in thinking .. and it highlights why you don't send ur kid to Brock .. you can make mistakes around edge (every GM does) but you can't get da STRATEGY wrong .. but then again we have Shanny in charge so Dubie looks like a bright light compared to him

If if the core was composed of McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews and Makar, you would suggest a trade because it is too much skill that the team can't afford for plugs.
Got it.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Kyle Dubas was a very good GM during his tenure. He resigned the core immediately before the pandemic forced a flat cap upon the entire league. He was then forced to get creative in ways he may not have had to.

The team consistently got better year over year, but they also underperfomed when it mattered the most.

He drafted well, and was always willing to adapt or admit failure. Something that is not common at all in professional sport.

Never at any point in his tenure did I feel uneasy with his direction. He always seemed to have a future focused mindset. The one thing he has done better than any other Leafs GM in the past is that he has left us in a better position then he inherited. We have no contracts that are terrible, or need moving aside from Matt Murray. We also have a healthy amount of cap space going into the offseason. Not to mention a decent selection of next wave prospects that seem destined to make the NHL in the near future (Knies, Robby, Niemela, Woll, Hirvonen, McMann...etc)

I am genuinely going to miss Kyle as our GM. Which is something I've not been able to say about any former Leafs GM.

Best of luck Kyle. Your hard work never went unnoticed with me (and many others). I got no doubt in my mind he will be very successful for plenty of years to come

 

[The Best Leafs Everr]

Garbage

 

[Mitch nylander]

Woll was a Hunter draft pick.

Dubas and Hunter co-ran the 2015 draft.

Hunter ran the 2016 and 2017 draft on his own. As much as I hate those two drafts, Woll and Liljegren are Hunter's picks so we have to give credit to Hunter for that. That being said, we had 18 picks in two drafts and only four players of significance were produced: Matthews, Woll, Liljegren and Grundstrum who was a piece in the Muzzin trade.

Dubas handled the development of all prospects from 2014 onwards though. People don't give him enough credit for the Marlies becoming a development factory.

NHLers with 100 games played produced by the Marlies between 2005-2014: Jiri Tilusty, Korbinian Holzer, James Reimer, Josh Leivo, Nazem Kadri, Gregg McKegg, Sam Carrick

Same list but with Dubas: Connor Brown, Andreas Johnsson, Pierre Engvall, Travis Dermott, Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren, Trevor Moore, Mason Marchement, Carl Grundstrum, Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Carrick, Zach Hyman, William Nylander, Justin Holl.

I'm willing to bet actual money that at least two of these guys end up on this list in the near future as well: Joseph Woll, Matt Knies, Nick Abruzzse, Topi Niemala,

I'd also add in: Pontus Holmberg (36 games) and Nick robertson (31 games) meet that 100 games mark.

 

[GoonieFace]

If if the core was composed of McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews and Makar, you would suggest a trade because it is too much skill that the team can't afford for plugs.
Got it.

Unfortunately we have an 11m anchor that can’t skate in Tavares. A shifty, but slow Marner that can’t seem to adapt to the speed of playoff hockey.
It’s not only skill, but there are other elements that are required. Seems like these guys don’t have it in them.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

If if the core was composed of McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews and Makar, you would suggest a trade because it is too much skill that the team can't afford for plugs.
Got it.

No incorrect .. you sign Vasi Hedman MAC and Matty then you've got ur 1G 1D and 2C's u got a chance to win a Cup .. Vasi 9.5M Hedman 7.9M MAC 6.3M and Matty 11.6M .. which one looks way outta place to you? a pro hockey team needs proper balance of roster construction .. 4 forwards will never win playoff hockey

 

[Donnie740]

Kyle Dubas was a very good GM during his tenure. He resigned the core immediately before the pandemic forced a flat cap upon the entire league. He was then forced to get creative in ways he may not have had to.

The team consistently got better year over year, but they also underperfomed when it mattered the most.

He drafted well, and was always willing to adapt or admit failure. Something that is not common at all in professional sport.

Never at any point in his tenure did I feel uneasy with his direction. He always seemed to have a future focused mindset. The one thing he has done better than any other Leafs GM in the past is that he has left us in a better position then he inherited. We have no contracts that are terrible, or need moving aside from Matt Murray. We also have a healthy amount of cap space going into the offseason. Not to mention a decent selection of next wave prospects that seem destined to make the NHL in the near future (Knies, Robby, Niemela, Woll, Hirvonen, McMann...etc)

I am genuinely going to miss Kyle as our GM. Which is something I've not been able to say about any former Leafs GM.

Best of luck Kyle. Your hard work never went unnoticed with me (and many others). I got no doubt in my mind he will be very successful for plenty of years to come

The Dubas Fan Boi Club is always good for a laugh.

This is why I absolutely can’t wait for another team to be dumb enough to hire Dubas to be the GM.

I’m certain that Dubas will be an even bigger disaster than he was in Toronto because there’s no team in the league that has the kind of young core in ELCs that he was handed with the Leafs.

No incorrect .. you sign Vasi Hedman MAC and Matty then you've got ur 1G 1D and 2C's u got a chance to win a Cup .. Vasi 9.5M Hedman 7.9M MAC 6.3M and Matty 11.6M .. which one looks way outta place to you? a pro hockey team needs proper balance of roster construction .. 4 forwards will never win playoff hockey

FYI - - JT is definitely NOT “da real deal”.

 

[Aashir]

I don’t agree with the muzzin trade assessment

It was a good trade even looking back. We got a #2/3 for 3 years and a #4 who played much better come playoffs for last year. His cap hit doesn’t even matter because he’s probably done playing

Grundstrom is a solid fourth liner. Durzi is a poor man’s Barrie. Moore was apart of the Campbell trade. Bjornfot or his pick was the last piece who has still not cracked their lineup

 

[ToDavid]

The Murray contract - Almost as inexcusable as the Tukka Rask trade. When even the majority of the fanbase has it right, you definitely need new management.

That's a tad extreme.

 

[Aashir]

Kyle Dubas was a very good GM during his tenure. He resigned the core immediately before the pandemic forced a flat cap upon the entire league. He was then forced to get creative in ways he may not have had to.

The team consistently got better year over year, but they also underperfomed when it mattered the most.

He drafted well, and was always willing to adapt or admit failure. Something that is not common at all in professional sport.

Never at any point in his tenure did I feel uneasy with his direction. He always seemed to have a future focused mindset. The one thing he has done better than any other Leafs GM in the past is that he has left us in a better position then he inherited. We have no contracts that are terrible, or need moving aside from Matt Murray. We also have a healthy amount of cap space going into the offseason. Not to mention a decent selection of next wave prospects that seem destined to make the NHL in the near future (Knies, Robby, Niemela, Woll, Hirvonen, McMann...etc)

I am genuinely going to miss Kyle as our GM. Which is something I've not been able to say about any former Leafs GM.

Best of luck Kyle. Your hard work never went unnoticed with me (and many others). I got no doubt in my mind he will be very successful for plenty of years to come

Holy f*** did you just use Bobby mcmann as a prospect

The D.D.L at it again with its finest. He’s left us with Matthews and nylander as a UFA next year, gave Marner a 2 year NMC

Only prospects he’s left us with is knies, Robertson and woll. Woll wasn’t getting dealt but fine add him in. Robertson is looking rough with injuries right now

Niemela hasn’t even played a full AHL season and Hirvonen put up LESS points this year compared to last.

He left us 1 top 6 prospect, 1 middle six prospect and mystery box of others

 

[GoonieFace]

I think this sums it up best….