Dubas details his 'biggest mistake' as Leafs GM in new book

[GirardSpinorama]

I honestly think that impact is exaggerated (I agree there was an impact, but I think it was pretty minor). All of our other signings over those flat cap years would have been more expensive had the cap been going up. So it's not as simple as saying we'd have the exact same roster + $5-10M extra capspace if the cap had risen ~$5-10M. Instead, take your pick of Kampf, Jarnkrok, Liljegren, Giordano, Simmonds, Samsonov, Engvall, Holl, Mikheyev, Rielly, etc - they each would have cost ~$100K-500K+ more than they did had the cap been rising.

His decisions around Tavares and those RFA contracts were highly problematic, regardless of the flat cap.

Teams didnt get screwed by the cap. Its the players who did, especially ones who didnt get artificially inflated contracts that anticipated a cap bump.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

He was a pushover in the Nylander negotiation when Nylander held out to Dec 1. Larkin, Pasta, and Ehlers good comparables, but he gave in and Nylander at the time did not merit to be paid more than any of the players mentioned, he then put up a 27 pt season off of that contract. That was the biggest Dubas mistake because it set the table for other team unfriendly contracts. You can also criticize him moving on Kadri, Hyman, Brown, Bozak, amongst many too numerous to list here, some that have gone on to cups or cup finals as valuable support players. Not to mention him trading high picks for Nick Foligno types. Or his fascination with acquiring subpar goalies. Lots to chose here, he was an awful GM in Toronto, and probably still is an awful GM/President. Don't respect him much, tried to an end around on another dummy Shanahan. Not a fan of backstabbers even if the one being backstabbed is the politician Shanahan who one can say is the architect of the Dubas charade as a NHL Exec.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

How do busy people write books? Too many people write books

Spooky ghosts

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Blame dubas!!!! Not the 4 ppg players who get clowned every year and do nothing and get completely clamped in the first round

 

[frederixx]

Yes, that and also:

Trading Durzi + 1st for Muzzin
Getting rid of Marleau with a 1st (Seth Jarvis)
Campbell for Trevor Moore and 2 picks
Trading Marchment for Malgin
Losing their 1st to get rid of Mrazek

And many more...

 

[K1984]

In hindsight, yeah, dumb signing overall. But at the same time, imagine the backlash if he DOESN'T sign Tavaras. Imagine the Toronto fan and media reaction: O.M.G. you have a 1ov talent like Tavaras that wants to play for his boyhood team! OMG how could you not sign him! That's the kind of 1C franchise player you MAKE ROOM FOR! Huge opportunity missed! OMG if they don't win, it will be because of this!

I think for Tavaras, he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

This is the buried headline.

The entire Toronto market was watering at the mouth to sign Tavares. "He is demanding too much money and doesn't fit with our team/plan" simply wouldn't have been an acceptable answer to 99% of people in Toronto.

 

[Zbynek]

The guy hasn't got a clue

 

[LOFIN]

What I really wonder, is that did Dubas have a choice with the Tavares contract? Or was that basically Shanahan telling him (and MLSE telling Shanahan) "get this guy signed".

 

[Zbynek]

Blame dubas!!!! Not the 4 ppg players who get clowned every year and do nothing and get completely clamped in the first round

Why not both?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Why not both?

For sure

 

[zizbuka]

Could've just said "My biggest mistake was being Kyle Dubas".

 

[AvroArrow]

Yes, that and also:

Trading Durzi + 1st for Muzzin
Getting rid of Marleau with a 1st (Seth Jarvis)
Campbell for Trevor Moore and 2 picks
Trading Marchment for Malgin
Losing their 1st to get rid of Mrazek

And many more...

Kadri for Barrie + Kerfoot is the worst one

Broken Foligno for a 1st

Muzzin was actually great for us, unfortunate injuries but that one isn't an L.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

He needed to write a book of excuses?

 

[Golden_Jet]

They ere multiple teams in the running to sign him, including the Sharks who offered $13 million/year.

That was even dumber than Dubas.
JT was overpaid, so the rest wanted their money.

 

[Oilslick941611]

So I take it you've never had a mortgage before...lol

Hindsight certainly makes a lot of people look smarter than they think. Dubas gambled on the rising cap, it didn't happen, and his plan failed. MLSE didn't adjust quick enough either IMO

I mean, I used the word play... a Mortgage is a different thing entirely because it provides shelter and it's one of 2 ways to get a house. paying 11m for a players you don't need or doesn't help team is a poor decision.

But sure, take my thoughts out of context and extend them to houses!

 

[GirardSpinorama]

So I take it you've never had a mortgage before...lol

Hindsight certainly makes a lot of people look smarter than they think. Dubas gambled on the rising cap, it didn't happen, and his plan failed. MLSE didn't adjust quick enough either IMO

Maxing out your credit card to go after the gold digging girl and end broken hearted is a better comparison here.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So I take it you've never had a mortgage before...lol

Hindsight certainly makes a lot of people look smarter than they think. Dubas gambled on the rising cap, it didn't happen, and his plan failed. MLSE didn't adjust quick enough either IMO

Every team was up against the same thing,

only getting them to sign for 5-6 years, while giving them 95% in signing bonus was caving in.

 

[Idiot Stick]

common Dubas W

 

[GOilers88]

But did he learn though? He just acquired Erik karlsson, another big name piece as one of his first moves. A statement making splash. That contract isnt gonna end well. I dont at all believe his intentions, he seems arrogant as hell and doesnt deserve any excuse as a "young GM" of a big market. Wow, its a tough market but guess what, that also means he has the most resources in the NHL to be able to offer front loaded deals with bonuses.

Again I don't entirely disagree with you. The acquisition of EK maybe does show that he didn't learn anything. Pittsburgh has also fallen into the same cycle that most long term successful teams fall into with having elite core players still playing and essentially needing to keep pushing until they retire. Caps are doing the same thing.

But when he first hit the scene in Toronto as a rookie manager, I can honestly understand how some of those mistakes may have happened. We see plenty of long tenured GM's make equal or worse errors for their team.

All that aside I'm still not a fan of the guy, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little happy about how he played out in Toronto, but that's just lighthearted ribbing from me.

We can say he deserves no benefit of the doubt being a rookie GM in a hugely scrutinized market, but I just don't think it's a realistic critique. Young managers, employers, and workers make mistakes all the time. That's how you learn. You can't expect anyone to just step into any situation as a rookie and not make any errors. The fact that they work for millions of dollars doesn't negate that, at least not for me.

 

[rojac]

His biggest mistake. Taking a job he was/is totally unqualified for.

So, having served as a GM at the junior and AHL level (where the team won a championship) and spending 3 years as an assistant GM to a top NHL GM does not make one qualified to serve as a NHL GM?

Please note that I am not making any judgements on how well Dubas performed as Leafs GM just on whether or not he was qualified. It's quite possible to be qualified or even over-qualified for a job and still not do it well..

 

[KevinRedkey]

Literally everyone knew that except him lol.

"When you can sign a player like that for free - you do it every time" is a comment less and less Leafs fans make, but I've seen it a few times as recent as this past season.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Everyone said this but leaf fans loved the move haha

 

[CupsOverCash]

This is the buried headline.

The entire Toronto market was watering at the mouth to sign Tavares. "He is demanding too much money and doesn't fit with our team/plan" simply wouldn't have been an acceptable answer to 99% of people in Toronto.

Shiny ufa is hard to pass up in Toronto

 

[rojac]

Again I don't entirely disagree with you. The acquisition of EK maybe does show that he didn't learn anything. Pittsburgh has also fallen into the same cycle that most long term successful teams fall into with having elite core players still playing and essentially needing to keep pushing until they retire. Caps are doing the same thing.

But when he first hit the scene in Toronto as a rookie manager, I can honestly understand how some of those mistakes may have happened. We see plenty of long tenured GM's make equal or worse errors for their team.

All that aside I'm still not a fan of the guy, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little happy about how he played out in Toronto, but that's just lighthearted ribbing from me.

We can say he deserves no benefit of the doubt being a rookie GM in a hugely scrutinized market, but I just don't think it's a realistic critique. Young managers, employers, and workers make mistakes all the time. That's how you learn. You can't expect anyone to just step into any situation as a rookie and not make any errors. The fact that they work for millions of dollars doesn't negate that, at least not for me.

To be fair, we do not know what his marching orders are in Pittsburgh. He may well have been told that as long as Crosby and Malkin are still playing, he is epected to try and win with them and bring in top talent. Or he could have complete autonomy as President of Hockey Operations and everything can be completely at his feet. We don't know and, as is typical of many many HFBoards threads, some posters have conviced themselves that they know more than they do.

 

[koyvoo]

Yikes. He needed to learn that it would lift the lid on the entire ceiling.