Poll: If you had to decide now: Would you extend Kyle Dubas or let him walk ?

[Confucius]

The better team on any given day doesn't always win, and the better team doesn't always play better on any given day.

Welcome to the playoffs are a crapshoot team. Lol! So true the best team rarely wins.

 

[A1LeafNation]

I think that's disingenuous to the fans that wanted moderate changes all along. I seldomly ever read people calling for the trade of AM WN MM JT etc. They did call to shore up the net and the D. They also pushed for getting some elements that make us tougher to play against. That's been the more mainline traditional fans opinion that I have observed here.

It's been a long and tiresome process of losing in the first round with a core that should be winning most 1st rounds and at least a second round or two. Simply put, Kyle Dubas mismanaged the cap and the roster delivering a product that did not achieve any success come the playoffs for over 5 consecutive years.

I will not support an extension to a man that's team does not hit the ECF. That's the bar for me personally.

Who would you replace him with?

 

[thewave]

Who would you replace him with?

There are always GMs coming available. He should have been let go after the loss to Montreal tbh. Who was available that year?

 

[Rude Dog]

Let him walk of course. Not only has he had zero postseason success with the core he inherited and built around, he may have screwed the team in the long run trading picks for rentals that may not make much difference come playoff time (and that he won’t be able to resign in the offseason). We can and we will!

Screwed the team by giving them a better chance to win now? And do you think they would have much of a problem restocking the draft picks amd prospects if they decided to unload guys from the roster. Completely disagree with your post.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Who would you replace him with?

Don Waddell

 

[ShaneFalco]

Who would you replace him with?

I'll consult with my senior advisors, scouts, contacts around the league, presidents of other teams and get back to you .

 

[Rude Dog]

Losing to Tampa and announcing a Dubas extension will go over so well with Leaf nation. I am sure it will give Leaf fans more comfort and hope than the respect they gained in the handshake line last year. Then again, it is MLSEL.

Good old respect in the handshake line. Instead of ridiculing Keefe for that line which opened him up to guys like you. Maybe applaud the fact that it was just that. A incredibly hard fought series decided by one shot To the two time defending cup champs. their next two rounds didn’t go 7. And if reports are true they lost in 6 to an amazing cup team after a lot of their guys shouldn’t have been playing. TB has some warriors. And the leafs were one shot away. But yep. Dubas is a bad GM.

 

[Osmows OReilly]

Screwed the team by giving them a better chance to win now? And do you think they would have much of a problem restocking the draft picks amd prospects if they decided to unload guys from the roster. Completely disagree with your post.

IDK what you’re trying to say.

Good old respect in the handshake line. Instead of ridiculing Keefe for that line which opened him up to guys like you. Maybe applaud the fact that it was just that. A incredibly hard fought series decided by one shot To the two time defending cup champs. their next two rounds didn’t go 7. And if reports are true they lost in 6 to an amazing cup team after a lot of their guys shouldn’t have been playing. TB has some warriors. And the leafs were one shot away. But yep. Dubas is a bad GM.

Maybe applaud the fact you have low standards.

 

[ToneDog]

Good old respect in the handshake line. Instead of ridiculing Keefe for that line which opened him up to guys like you. Maybe applaud the fact that it was just that. A incredibly hard fought series decided by one shot To the two time defending cup champs. their next two rounds didn’t go 7. And if reports are true they lost in 6 to an amazing cup team after a lot of their guys shouldn’t have been playing. TB has some warriors. And the leafs were one shot away. But yep. Dubas is a bad GM.

He is a bad GM. I mean doing a 180 from the vision he has claimed for 4+ years would win us a cup with this core pretty much tells me he wasted 4 runs with the $40m quartet. He has and is again this year mortgaging the future in an attempt to save his job with questionable goaltending. The results speak for themselves. What further proof do you need ??

 

[Dreakmur]

Carolina - Andersen, Skjei, Kotkaniemi = 14.6m
Seattle - Dreidger, Oleksiak, Bjorkstrand = 13.5m
NYI - Varlamov, Romanov, Bailey = 12.5m
LA - Petersen, Roy, Iafallo = 12.2m
Pittsburgh - Desmith, Dumoulin, Zucker = 11.4m
Vegas - Quick, Martinez, Roy = 11.2m
Winnipeg - Rittich, Schmidt, Niederreiter = 10.9m
Edmonton - Campbell, Kulak, Foegle = 10.5m
NJ - Blackwood, Graves, Tatar = 10.5m
Colorado - Francouz, Johnson, Eller = 10.4m
Boston - Swayman, Carlo, Coyle = 10.3m
Etc.

Almost every defenseman listed is a top-4 on their team, or would be on many teams.

 

[ToneDog]

I'd like to know why some think the Leafs did not extend Dubas if he is such a good GM?? I know for a fact that Shanny, Keefe, and Kyle's jobs were safe before the playoffs. Yet after losing to Tampa in 7 by a single goal, management was not impressed enough to extend him. Something does not add up.

Almost every defenseman listed is a top-4 on their team, or would be on many teams.

Yes, but agenda.

 

[LeafsFan89]

Cliff Fletcher and Pat Quinn both had better times as Leaf's GMs within the past 35 years. I'd also add, most of the success for Dubas was built under Lou with the Matthews and Marner picks, while inheriting Rielly, Kadri, and Nylander from Burke/Nonis. No other Leaf GM has walked into as good a position to start their tenure as Leaf's GM. He inherited a playoff team with 2 franchise players, and some other high-end pieces under 25 (Rielly, and Nylander).

Dubas has always been a divide around here and the boards in general. Some give him way more praise than he deserves, others will never give him the benefit of the doubt. It's like that with GM's or managment in general, but with Dubas it tends to be extreme, and often driven by some divide between fans who want to go all in on analytics and those who want a team of Wendel Clark's.

And, if the players fail again, I don't think Dubas has done his job. Look at Masai, he saw he was never gonna improve his team's ceiling with Derozan/Lowry as the foundation and shook things up and took a gamble for the ages. Pat Gillick traded Fred McGriff, and a beloved player in Tony Fernandez for Alomar and Carter, while also replacing a high-quality manager because the Jays couldn't take that next step. Both were rewarded for boldness, even while trying lynchpin's to the team by winning it all. He's a GM, he's in charge of the overall roster, if the players/coach can't do it, than that's on him at the end of the day. Outside of guys with NTC's (and the only guys on the team currently with NTC's are ones he's given in deals), he can adjust his chess pieces as he sees fit.

I mean Cliff and Pat did not have a salary cap. They were GMs during the time when the Leafs literally abused their financial resources, and they still didn't win a cup. I could make the argument that they did worse given the situation.

I agree with some things that Dubas has done, other things I don't agree with. But at the end of the day, if the current roster does not pull through because of mental fragility, I think the blame rests both on Dubas and the players.

 

[Dragao6]

It is on Dubas, it’s sort of like the stock market, when to buy when to sell. My opinion his timing is incorrect, he didn’t improve enough to beat Boston, so it was a useless trading away future potential for not enough now anyway.

Fair enough
All I say again is…replace with who?
Let’s just focus on beating Tampa which I think is very possible and go from there

 

[Leafs87]

Regardless of playoff outcome he deserves an extensions. I was one of his harshest critics but I feel he has finally learned how to build a proper playoff team.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Don Waddell

I'd he available, why is he better?

I'll consult with my senior advisors, scouts, contacts around the league, presidents of other teams and get back to you .

Sound like you want the mystery box...it could even be a boat!!!

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Yeah that is how they gloss it over, it’s not correct though. If the team manages to get 1st round picks as they did get 1 back. The point still is they should be collecting 1sts not giving them up. It’s still a swing of 6 1st round picks. Because he got one back it just means we would have had 7 instead of the 1.

Do you not want to compete for the cup? Every contender gives up picks in order to add depth or impact players at the deadline to get ready for playoff runs. Boston did it last year with Lindholm. They did it this year with Bertuzzi, Orlov and Hathaway. Tampa has done it for their last 3 or 4 runs.

1st round picks aren't helping us win the cup for at least another 1 or 2 yrs best case scenario.

 

[Confucius]

Do you not want to compete for the cup? Every contender gives up picks in order to add depth or impact players at the deadline to get ready for playoff runs. Boston did it last year with Lindholm. They did it this year with Bertuzzi, Orlov and Hathaway. Tampa has done it for their last 3 or 4 runs.

1st round picks aren't helping us win the cup for at least another 1 or 2 yrs best case scenario.

One 1st round pick certainly won’t help much but 5, 6 or 7, who knows. Anyway as I said I would keep and collect where it is reasonable to do so, until I had a presidents cup calibre team. Then when playoffs were approaching I may trade one to upgrade immediately, to put even more distance between my team and the next couple.

Being pretty good and hoping for an upset is not the way I would do things. Boston lost at home twice in regulation all season. Trading for a few tougher players and one legit good player comes far short of the improvement needed to beat them.

But yeah I get it keep going allin with a pretty good team and hope for an upset seems to be the consensus .

 

[All Mod Cons]

I'd he available, why is he better?


Sound like you want the mystery box...it could even be a boat!!!

I'd imagine he's available to the Leafs. Everyone wants to be with the Leafs right?.

He's better because he's done so much more with so much less. If he was able to work with the resources the Leafs offer, I'd bet my left bollock we'd see an ECF within two years

 

[Jojalu]

He is a bad GM. I mean doing a 180 from the vision he has claimed for 4+ years would win us a cup with this core pretty much tells me he wasted 4 runs with the $40m quartet. He has and is again this year mortgaging the future in an attempt to save his job with questionable goaltending. The results speak for themselves. What further proof do you need ??

Taking a 180 I don't think makes him a bad GM.

In fact any successful person would tell you that you need to be fearless, not afraod to fail,, and adapt.

He had a vision of what a winning team would be and was not afraid to pursue it. Time showed him his plan had flaws he adapted to that and made the moves he thought would address that.

You might be able to call him a naive GM,, or unexperienced, but by no means is he bad.

 

[ToneDog]

Taking a 180 I don't think makes him a bad GM.

In fact any successful person would tell you that you need to be fearless, not afraod to fail,, and adapt.

He had a vision of what a winning team would be and was not afraid to pursue it. Time showed him his plan had flaws he adapted to that and made the moves he thought would address that.

You might be able to call him a naive GM,, or unexperienced, but by no means is he bad.

He's getting a 5th kick at the can. Call him what you want, if they fail to get out of round #1, maybe round #2, they will go in a different direction IMO.

 

[Jojalu]

He's getting a 5th kick at the can. Call him what you want, if they fail to get out of round #1, maybe round #2, they will go in a different direction IMO.

I don't disagree.

I do think though with the moves he has made this year, if he leaves at least he has set up the next GM pretty well.

The D-core is pretty solid next year. There will be some room to resign players. The biggest challenge will be the Matthews/Nylander contracts and or trades

 

[Clyde Brewer]

Depends on this year's playoffs.

Dubas has done a 180 here and it seems he's changed his entire team building philosophy.

It's tough getting over the fact that for year after year we watched these soft, "pure skill" lineups fail in the playoffs.

Dubas was very stubborn, but Shanny let him do it. If there isn't a good playoffs run this year, then I'd consider cutting them both.

 

[ToneDog]

I don't disagree.

I do think though with the moves he has made this year, if he leaves at least he has set up the next GM pretty well.

The D-core is pretty solid next year. There will be some room to resign players. The biggest challenge will be the Matthews/Nylander contracts and or trades

If they can bring back most of this team for more runs, I agree. I don't like all the high picks he has traded and am not as bullish on our prospects. Not a fan of filling out the roster via UFAs. Buffalo, Ottawa, NJ and NYR are closing in. Other than NYR, they are paying their stars much less than we are and they will be able to add at the TDL. They also are bringing in high draft picks while we try to add Holmberg, Steeves, McMann, etc.

 

[All Mod Cons]

I don't disagree.

I do think though with the moves he has made this year, if he leaves at least he has set up the next GM pretty well.

The D-core is pretty solid next year. There will be some room to resign players. The biggest challenge will be the Matthews/Nylander contracts and or trades

How has he set the next GM up well? He's left not.many draft picks and maybe 1.5 prospects

 

[ACC1224]

Who would you replace him with?

No one. It’s impossible to find anyone who could be better.