Kyle Dubas admits his biggest mistake in his time as Maple Leafs GM
In an excerpt from a book by The Athletic's Craig Custance, former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has admitted his biggest mistake in Toronto.
Kyle Dubas had his supporters and detractors during his time in Toronto and many of his moves were criticized no matter the eventual outcome.
After being fired by Brendan Shanahan last off-season, Dubas joined the Pittsburgh Penguins and recently revealed his biggest mistake and regret when he was GM of the Leafs, and as The Sun's Lance Hornsby wrote, it wasn't the John Tavares contract, but the other aspects that surrounded it.
By lifting the ceiling, it seems Dubas is referencing the exuberant cost to eventually re-sign Matthews, Nylander and Marner after Tavares had signed.
It's not rocket science and Leafs fans everywhere have said from the beginning that not getting the trio to at least sign for eight years was the worst thing he could've done. That brings us to this off-season with Marner and Tavares eligible for extensions and Matthews and Nylander having theirs kick in, leaving Brad Treliving with little wiggle room.
Could you imagine if Dubas had gotten Matthews and Marner well in advance of the Tavares deal? It may very well have saved the Leafs an extra $3-5M combined had Dubas gone after both players on 8-year deals prior to bringing Tavares in at his $11M.
This was always the biggest risk hiring an unqualified greenhorn GM that had no real understanding how contracts and internal team salaries work.. Anybody with 1/2 a brain would understand from the start that Tavares contract would act as magnet once signed and all other internal contracts would get drawn up to it. By signing JT first to $11 mil AAV he all but assured himself based on timing and signing the others
AFTER that it would
DESTROY the Leafs salary cap. Also forcing useless trades like a 1st to remove Marleau, upon signing JT because now you couldn't afford your own RFAs re-signing thereafter.