The Maple Leafs' parting ways with Kyle Dubas is likely the beginning of front-office upheaval with the team.
theathletic.com
“You just saw how ruthless Brendan Shanahan can be.”
That was one view from inside the Maple Leafs house on Friday evening, hours after the team president walked away from his GM of five years, Kyle Dubas, and delivered an oddly detailed, day-by-day, almost hour-by-hour recount of a failed negotiation on a contract extension in a short press conference.
Less than a week after the Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the NHL playoffs, the front office has effectively been pulled apart, first with the Dubas decision and then with the news that all three Marlies coaches were fired and special assistant to the GM Jason Spezza had resigned.
It’s also clear that more dismissals and resignations are coming in the near future.
Perhaps a lot of them.
As reported previously in the aftermath of the Leafs elimination, Shanahan and Dubas had been at odds for a while. On Friday, more details emerged on that front. Multiple sources close to the team said that Shanahan had blocked transactions that Dubas wanted to make at key points in the past several seasons, creating frustration in parts of the management group. Shanahan had also at times dictated certain moves he wanted made that Dubas didn’t agree with.
The president, as per his place in the hierarchy, typically won out in those battles. And, in some cases, the moves that weren’t made could have improved the Leafs’ ability to advance further in the playoffs.
Some of those disagreements likely contributed to the disarray Monday, when Dubas delivered an emotionally charged, unusual season-ending press conference during which he declined to commit to coming back as GM.
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The friction in the Leafs front office and the relationship between the two men was still a factor, however, and Dubas’ desire for greater autonomy from Shanahan is believed to have been one of the untold reasons for how things ultimately played out.
Now those remaining in the organization are taking sides. Some on the Dubas side are preparing, like Spezza, to leave. Others are hopeful of moving up in the new world order.
It is, in short, a bit of a mess.
Others connected to the team, however, are simply disappointed that what had been a successful partnership between Shanahan and Dubas for nine years fell apart so quickly and so publicly.
Everyone knew all was not well. But few expected it to implode like this, right before the finish line.
“Really tough on everyone,” said one team source. “Not feeling great about the whole thing today. It should have ended very differently.”
It should have ended, they say, with Dubas remaining the Leafs GM.
One can hope.
