Confirmed with Link: Kyle Dubas Not Returning

[Ginger Papa]

Mixed emotions.

I did not like the Dubas hire, and wanted an established GM.

Hated his obsession with small skill, moving out Marchment and bringing in Malgin and Petan.

Never should’ve hired Keefe to begin with, and should have been jettisoned after losing to Montreal.

Completely botched the Seattle expansion draft and Kadri trade, as well as the Foligno and Murray trades.

He did show some astute drafting and under the radar trades such as Timmins and Bunting.

This TDL was excellent, with the exception of trading Sandin and not adding a LW that left us reliant on Kerfoot, who should have been traded.

I see he has evolved as a GM and is putting it together. I was open to him him coming back provided Keefe was gone and he hammered out deals with Matthews, Marner, and Nylander that were more team friendly for us. I think he had earned that respect from them all for the lumps he took after their last deals.

I hate that he did his training here, to realize his full potential elsewhere, at our expense.

Having said that, work-life balance comes first, always. No one can know what he and his family were feeling and going through. Nothing is worth your mental health, and your family’s happiness. If there was trouble with that balance, then stepping away is absolutely what he needs to do and everyone needs to STFU about it.

So much we don’t and probably won’t know. He’s done some things I liked, some things I didn’t like, and honestly some things I’ve hated, but no one can say he didn’t try and didn’t care.

I wish him and his family well, and if this is what needed to happen for him to have that, then so be it. We will move forward.

Great Post!

Best of luck, my Leafs friends. Hope you’re able to land a person who can take you to the next level.

 

[Notsince67]

Ugh! Can't be successful in the NHL giving kids envelopes full of money like they do in the OHL.

How do you know?

 

[binop7]

I am just curious if he inherited a good situation or not... it looks like he inherited a bad one based on the threads from last week, but he inherited a good one this week.

He inherited something with potential to be great and didn't get it there. Whatever you want to say about the specific players is irrelevant. He had extremely valuable assets on ELCs

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I can agree with that. However I trust Kyle way more to make that trade than Lou. I think Kyle is better at trading. But I do agree Lou may have recognized the flaws in the core earlier.

I highly doubt Lou would have been bent over at the negotiating table, too.

 

[rojac]

On to Prindham. Funny how it says the Leafs decided to move on from him. 100% Chance that Keefe is fired as well after all this, GM will always want to bring his own coach in.

To be honest, I read that as Dubas deciding not to sign an extension which would leave his as GM until June 30. The Leafs are removing him now so they can put a new or interim GM in place before then.

 

[mcleex]

The fact that Shanahan has a presser at 3 PM pisses me off too

Quite frankly, he should also be canned

 

[DarkKnight]

Does this mean Denis Malgin gets one more chance?

 

[sxvnert]

The fact he was voted best GM by agents always irked me, I’m fine with “biggest asshole”. His sense of morality was great on one level, but this sport, not politics.

Voted best GM by agents = biggest sucker

 

[Twine Tickler]

How the f*** does Shanny get the privledge of staying but not Dubas? makes no sense. Why let Dubas walk, but keep his HC in Keefe? like what is going on in this organization right now??

We have massive massive decisions that need to get done. Some of which need to get done ASAP if they are going to get done (ie. trading marner, matthews, both).

These guys better have a plan, because right now this is looking like we are headed into a train wreck IMO.

 

[keonsbitterness]

How do you know?

I have my sources.

 

[geo25]

Who is the right GM? Cup wins right? Holland looks like he is on the hot seat, we can snag him.

No thxs

 

[notbias]

Went farther with Isles team that lost their franchise C than the guy who inherited 16, 34, 88, 43, 44, 31. Dubas will have to buy a ticket to see Lou in the HHOF.

just so I can understand the talking points... did Lou inherit that team that went that far with the Islanders or not?

I am getting confused as to this.

 

[ULF_55]

If it was about family, then obviously, that comes much much before your job.

You can't get those years back, when the family is growing / aging and you aren't there.

Whoever it is comes in with a loaded cupboard, just the ingredients might not make the best all around meal.

Ruthless is welcome.

 

[Menzinger]

I suspect that Spezza's time in the Leafs' front office has probably come to an abrupt end today.

He was definitely tied to the hip with Dubas.

It'll be a shame if he goes though - I think he has a promising next stage career ahead of him in a front office capacity

 

[DarkKnight]

Voted best GM by agents = biggest sucker

Matthews going to free agency at 26 is inexcusable, given what we paid him, up front too.

 

[trellaine201]

It’s a results based job and unfortunately he couldn’t get the job done despite his passion and his attempt to try almost everything to get it done.

 

[AvroArrow]

The Bobcat was right all along

 

[ShaneFalco]

He couldn't get them past regular season success and shuffled the deck many times - but wouldn't touch the core or future legend Keefe

 

[francis246]

Malkin is cooked bro.

You guys say that about every guy in their mid 30’s. JT is cooked, still puts up 80 points.

Malkin is cooked but put up 83 points in 82 games this year. Yeah he isn’t great defensively but he’s going to help you put the puck in the back of the net when it matters.

 

[1specter]

Mixed emotions.

I did not like the Dubas hire, and wanted an established GM.

Hated his obsession with small skill, moving out Marchment and bringing in Malgin and Petan.

Never should’ve hired Keefe to begin with, and should have been jettisoned after losing to Montreal.

Completely botched the Seattle expansion draft and Kadri trade, as well as the Foligno and Murray trades.

He did show some astute drafting and under the radar trades such as Timmins and Bunting.

This TDL was excellent, with the exception of trading Sandin and not adding a LW that left us reliant on Kerfoot, who should have been traded.

I see he has evolved as a GM and is putting it together. I was open to him him coming back provided Keefe was gone and he hammered out deals with Matthews, Marner, and Nylander that were more team friendly for us. I think he had earned that respect from them all for the lumps he took after their last deals.

I hate that he did his training here, to realize his full potential elsewhere, at our expense.

Having said that, work-life balance comes first, always. No one can know what he and his family were feeling and going through. Nothing is worth your mental health, and your family’s happiness. If there was trouble with that balance, then stepping away is absolutely what he needs to do and everyone needs to STFU about it.

So much we don’t and probably won’t know. He’s done some things I liked, some things I didn’t like, and honestly some things I’ve hated, but no one can say he didn’t try and didn’t care.

I wish him and his family well, and if this is what needed to happen for him to have that, then so be it. We will move forward.

Good post and most reasonable take IMO. He will likely thrive elsewhere which sucks for us.

 

[notbias]

I highly doubt Lou would have been bent over at the negotiating table, too.

Exactly! As shown by the Horvat deal and his immediate comments after signing it.

 

[Racer88]

The 3 moves, in my opinion, that killed this teams chance to win under Dubas. The JT signing, the Kadri trade, the Marchment trade.

We should have let Matthews and Kadri grow into the 1-2 punch down the middle. We could have used a big body like Marchment on the wing. Hindsight and all of that but those were glaringly bad moves at the time.

Too much over thinking and too much overreacting in Toronto. We need a GM whos comfortable with the Toronto pressure. Dubas' end of season presser, to me anyway, indicated he was not.

100% agree with this. The Kadri deal took one of the few heart and soul skilled guys from the team

 

[TMLAM34]

Dubas was handed the GM position one year too soon. Being an unexperienced GM and having to re-sign Nylander, Matthews and Marner shortly after set him up for failure. Could never recover really from tying up way too much money into the core four. The sad part is, he put everything on the line and constantly stood and backed up this core four only to be let down year after year.

 

[TheProspector]

Kyle Dubas was the best GM this team has had in most of our lifetimes. Flawed, yeah, but he also assembled the best Leafs teams in most of our lifetimes, too, and made few unforced errors. The mistakes he made were largely deliberate bets -- some went his way, some didn't. The decision-making quality was definitely top-5 in the league for most or all of the run.

This ain't good.

 

[keonsbitterness]

The fact that Shanahan has a presser at 3 PM pisses me off too

Quite frankly, he should also be canned

The board loves him. Or is conned by him.


Have we hired a new GM yet?