Confirmed with Link: Kyle Dubas Not Returning

[binop7]

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.

If you don't see the cliff coming on his career my friend then you need to look closely. That cup window is shut.

 

[sxvnert]

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

He should have held out on Nylander the entire season instead of caving first. The rest would have thought twice about holding out.

 

[notbias]

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.

May want to check how Marchment is doing.

it's better to do your own research than just listen to the loud people on this board.

 

[mikeyz]

"We got canned and we wilted!"

LMFAO OMG l am stealing this!!

 

[Beaumaris]

Shanny should go too.

Should have been first out the door.He‘s accomplished nothing ,in his time with the Leafs.

 

[Da Mash]

Never mind the rules "changes" between regular season and the playoffs - they can't even call their rule book in a SINGLE playoff game !

Close game late in the third, or OT ? Good luck getting calls that aren't blatant. Meanwhile, late 1st period soft push? CROSSCHECK

Fans ignore this. It makes no sense why this is happening. I call it the Don Cherry effect. We have been brainwashed to think playoff hockey is supposed to be like 70’s hockey.

Hockey equipment is like armour now compared to back then when they had cloth elbow and shoulder pads

But a lot of fans love to see MMA on ice. Nothing is wrong with a good body check but in the playoffs it’s elbows and crosschecks all the time while refs pull out their hand book.

 

[Jmo89]

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

That's the only part that bothers me. Otherwise I think it's time to move on.

Not saying it would be a good thing, but any chance Shanahan takes over as GM?

 

[AvroArrow]

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

The JT signing also forced us to walk away from Hyman. We lost Kadri and Hyman because of Tavares.

 

[HandshakeLineRespect]

Im so happy

 

[Martin Skoula]

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

He bent over for Kovalchuk so hard that the league fined him lol. Same with Zaitsev, Marleau, Lee, Horvat..

Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.

 

[mapleleafs34]

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.

Agreed. However, a once in a lifetime pandemic really made those contracts look worse than they should have been.

 

[CincoHolio]

Not trying to insult a guy on his way out, I think overall he's a good GM. But the hardest thing to do is turn a good team into a great team, and he was not able to do that. He had way too much loyalty for people who had never given him a reason to believe they could win a championship and it cost him. A fresh set of eyes is needed at this point

Just a shame many of us fans that saw the mis-laid loyalty years ago and wanted it dealt with then. Now the team is in a very uncompromising situation and it feels like we'll be starting from scratch, again.

 

[DarkKnight]

Someone do a wellness check on that Zeke guy, I envision him in the fetal position under a life size Dubas statue.

 

[notbias]

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

Serious question, if Kadri got suspended another time after keeping him would you have been happy to still keep him? Because he got suspended again in the playoffs after we traded him.

 

[notdoneyet]

Jeff gorton will be our next gm

 

[francis246]

If you don't see the cliff coming on his career my friend then you need to look closely. That cup window is shut.

That window ain’t shut. They missed the playoffs by two points because of bad goaltending. It would not surprise me with some tinkering if they sneak into the playoffs again next year and then all bets are off anything can he open.

 

[Funk21]

Guy has practically no NHL experience. Is that really what this franchise needs (again)? I would prefer an established, experienced, respected option.

Wasn’t Hunter the guy who picked Korskov with the 31 pick the year we got Matthews?…a guy who wasn’t on anybody’s draft board. We could have had Kyrou, Hart, DeBrincat. Being a GM in the OHL very different that NHL.

 

[Racer88]

Who ever is the new GM he is going to have his work cut out trying to navigate some really tricky extensions or trade of the top 3. I didn’t include Tavares because we all know he is not going anywhere

 

[trellaine201]

Hmm why didn’t they mention Keefe wasn’t coming back? Seems strange.

 

[613Leafer]

Dubas took over at an awful time, as he was too inexperienced to handle the contract negotiations with the big forwards (even if he otherwise was a really good GM).

He now leaves at a similarly awful time, ~6 weeks before Matthews/Marners NMCs kick in during the period where a new contract with Matthews needs to be discussed. We know the players really like Dubas and can reasonably assume that Dubas staying longterm makes Matthews more likely to want to stay.

It pretty much has to be Pridham as interim GM to get us through the next few months of big decisions, and we need to hope that he has a similarly positive relationship with Matthews. There's no time to do a thorough search and hire someone else, and no time for a new person to thoroughly review the organization before big decisions need to be made.

Whatever happens, it better not result in Matthews walking in free agency, which is why this time period is so critical.

 

[DarkKnight]

He should have held out on Nylander the entire season instead of caving first. The rest would have thought twice about holding out.

Exactly, and that’s why you can’t parsebthsy contract out now as good value. At the time it was a total cave job, he even flew to NY to meet with his agent.

 

[Cleetus]

Someone do a wellness check on that Zeke guy, I envision him in the fetal position under a life size Dubas statue.

Definitely a few more in that position right now lol!

 

[binop7]

That window ain’t shut. They missed the playoffs by two points because of bad goaltending. It would not surprise me with some tinkering if they sneak into the playoffs again next year and then all bets are off anything can he open.

You have far more faith than I do. But we'll see what happens. Regardless it's not a better situation than what he walked into with Toronto. Even if sid and geno tip that scale, their best days are behind them not in front like our core was.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Someone do a wellness check on that Zeke guy, I envision him in the fetal position under a life size Dubas statue.

I haven't seen Zeke around much in general this year. He usually has a couple month break after the enviable playoff exit though

 

[Morgs]

I think the interesting question as of right now is who will be staying in the org? Shanahan hopefully picks the next GM. He picked Dubas, so there's obviously a chance he'll pick another good one. Here's my guess in the "big" positions (only Leaves/Stays, no guess if fired or not).

Stays - Pridham, Wickenheiser

Leaves/fired - Hardy, Metcalf, Morrisson, and Clark (but Clark deserves to stay)