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Kyle Dubas Appreciation Thread - Mad Man Edition

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theathletic.com

Who are the Maple Leafs? Kyle Dubas has changed the answer

Kyle Dubas knew the Leafs had a vulnerability and he’s now addressed it in hopes of finding a better result.
theathletic.com theathletic.com

In: Luke Schenn, Erik Gustafsson, and a first-round pick.

Out: Rasmus Sandin and Pierre Engvall.

All told, the Leafs have injected six new players into their lineup over the last couple of weeks.

What’s easily missed in the flurry of movement is the connective tissue of all the deals. The Leafs front office tried, specifically, to tweak the identity and character of the group for the playoffs, so that when the pressure rises this Leafs team will finally get over the hump — and not, as in past playoffs, wilt when the moment gets largest.

The Leafs have changed who they are at the trade deadline.

“I think every guy we’ve brought in is a guy that we’ve got great confidence (in) that when the temperature rises they’re gonna continue to push and continue to play and continue to be themselves,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

Competitiveness was admittedly a top priority for Dubas. From McCabe and Lafferty to Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari and Schenn (Gustafsson brings other elements), the Leafs targeted players who were scrappy, full of fire and push-back.

O’Reilly is the ultimate big-game player.

As Dubas said before the deals for Schenn and Gustafsson, “That’s been the goal here (with these trades), something we feel like in those big moments that we’ve needed and maybe we’ve lacked a little bit of.”

They didn’t have enough of that last spring when they failed to close out Tampa in Game 6 (or 7) or the year before that when they failed to drop an inferior Montreal team with a 3-1 series lead.

More fight in the big moments was required, and not just from the Leafs’ best players (though more was required from those guys as well and will be again this spring). It needed to permeate throughout the lineup.

“I think Kyle’s looked at our team and has been really honest about it in trying to figure out ways that we can get better and he’s been aggressive with it,” Keefe said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’ve improved in our depth and our competitiveness at both forward and defence.”

“And that’s what you want to have as a team.”
 
Havoc said:
O'Reilly trade was A+ the rest are Meh relatively speaking.

Boston and Tampa added support players who actually help elevate their teams. Hathaway and Jeannot are top tier options for forward grit. I'm unsure how we made any gains physically, again relatively speaking based on the fact these two guaranteed opponents were more physical than us to begin with before these adds.

Rangers and Devils got the best offensive options.

Sandin trade is a F.

Genius was starting to show again with O'Reilly the rest is just desperately trying not to fall further behind. Imo should have topped off with kane who wanted to come here and just skate circles around everyone with the best top 6 ever
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This makes very little sense. They added toughness, but because they may not yet be the toughest, that means we will derive no benefit from getting tougher?
 
I'd be interested in hearing what Spezza's role has been throughout this process. I mean, he was part of this group not even a year ago. He's likely brought some incredible insight into the day-to-day and moment-to-moment work habits of his former teammates.

I wonder if what we, the fans, witness while watching Engvall play was similar to what he experienced in the room or on the bench playing last year. Or if it is as simple as, they needed to offload someone due to cap reasons and the Islanders were interested.
 
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Toronto and Dubas have done a great job of putting this team in a position to win a Cup. Add another goalie and you really can't ask for more.

Options:
Reimer
Stolarz
Vejmelka
Allen
Greiss
Lindgren
Hellberg
Nedeljkovic

Or do you just roll with Murray and Woll?
 
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Leafs started the season with no cap space and a 20 man roster. NOW the Leafs have a full 23 man roster with depth all over and almost $1M in usable cap space. Which is enough to add MATHEW KNIES at $950k.

WOW Kyle Dubas is putting on a masterclass in asset and cap management.

Screenshot 2023-02-28 225734.jpg
 
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81Leafs50 said:
Leafs started the season with no cap space and a 20 man roster. NOW the Leafs have a full 23 man roster with depth all over and almost $1M in usable cap space. Which is enough to add MATHEW KNIES at $950k.

WOW Kyle Dubas is putting on a masterclass in asset and cap management.

View attachment 659883
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The one thing is they need a roster spot for Knies and I can’t figure out who they would waive or trade to fit him in.
 
81Leafs50 said:
Leafs have 9 defenseman at the moment. I think thats where the roster spot comes from.
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That seems kinda like the obvious move but none of them would clear waivers and I don’t think they want to lose any of them.
They just traded for Schenn and Gustafsson and Keefe and Dubas love Holl. That leaves Timmons but I think he is in the long term plans.
I wonder if you could park him on another team till the off season for a pick. Like someone trades us a 3rd for him now and we trade back the same 3rd + a 5th to get him back after the season.
 
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After the last two weeks is there any point to watching trade deadline coverage on Friday?
 
Im if fine with him being extended now. I'm confident that in the event of a loss he won't be trying to run back the same core next season. At least come playoff time.
 
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cyris said:
The one thing is they need a roster spot for Knies and I can’t figure out who they would waive or trade to fit him in.
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Maybe they don’t. Maybe Knies has indicated he has no interest in jumping into the hot seat this year.
 
It's impressive that the Leafs still have all their top prospects and a 1st this year and next with all the trades they have made.
 
ponder said:
You look at the net effect of all these moves, and I think we're a much better team, especially for the playoffs. Between ROR, McCabe, Schenn, Acciari and Lafferty we added a tonne of grit, compete and physicality, with excellent defensive ability, without compromising on skill/offence. That's a big win. And didn't even have to pay that much:
- No important prospects
- The picks dealt for McCabe/Lafferty basically balanced by the picks we received for Sandin/Engvall
- So overall, basically a 1st/2nd/3rd/4th to turn Sandin/Engvall into ROR/McCabe/Schenn/Acciari/Lafferty

I do feel there's one move left to make, though - Holl++ for an offence driving 3rd liner. Here's my take on our current lineup, without Holl:

Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Tavares - ROR - Nylander
Kerfoot - Kampf - Jarnkrok
ZAR - Acciari - Lafferty
(Holmberg, McMann, Steeves, Abruzzese, SDR)

Rielly - Brodie
Gio - Lily
McCabe - Schenn
(Timmins, Gustavsson, Benn, Mete)

Samsonov
Murray
(Woll)

It's very strong top to bottom, the main weakness standing out to me is that the 3rd line won't be too potent offensively. If we can package Holl with a bottom 6 forward and a pick/prospect for a quality, offence driving 3rd liner, we should do it. Guys like Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi or JvR (all expiring contracts on bad teams, possibly available for reasonable prices?). Realistically, probably more of a multiple deals (or a multi-team deal), where we ship out Holl and Kerfoot for picks/prospects, then ship those picks/prospects (plus a little more) for a quality 3rd liner.

Lines 1, 2 and 4 are very strong 2-way lines, but that 3rd line, it's fine but I don't see it scoring much. Against teams like Tampa and Boston, any weakness could be an issue, and I think 3rd line offence is the only real weakness. Holl is unecessary on the team now, hopefully Dubas is seeing what he can do to flip him in a package for a piece that helps us more.
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Holl may be the odd man out st this point, only because he is very moveable at $2M and what he brings has been soomewhat replicated. With so many D kn the roster, there is enough depth to trade one for a hard nised, quality winger.
 
81Leafs50 said:
Leafs started the season with no cap space and a 20 man roster. NOW the Leafs have a full 23 man roster with depth all over and almost $1M in usable cap space. Which is enough to add MATHEW KNIES at $950k.

WOW Kyle Dubas is putting on a masterclass in asset and cap management.

View attachment 659883
Click to expand...
It's funny that every year all you hear about is Toronto not having space yet every year, it gets navigated. Meanwhile half the league is in worse shape than Toronto and double down worse shape because they are tight due to underachievers being overpaid (guys that no one really wants).
 
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DarkKnight said:
My grades:

O‘Neil/Acciari A+
McCabe/Lafferty A
Schenn B
Engvall B
Sandin C-

A, changing the culture and prepping us for the playoffs.
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Generally agree. I’d probably call the Sandin deal a B personally. I’d rather have kept him in the long term, but he wasn’t going to play, and we turned a bottom pair D (with upside) into a 1st & a veteran defenseman having a significantly better season than him, who I’d imagine we may flip.
 
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