Ranking Dubas' best transactions - #1

[francis246]

That was the worst thing to happen to this team. It started the domino effect. Led to overpayment of our RFA's, Kadri trade, couldn't afford to sign Hyman, not being to create a deeper lineup.

That single signing is the biggest reason why this group has failed. Not because JT isn't a good player but because of everything else that happened as a result of that decision.

I’d say maybe the worst thing to happen to the team is that the core players they drafted have skill but not grit. They veered too much to one side. In hindsight, maybe it would have been best to trade down from 4 in 2015. Maybe you end up with Rantanen and a defenseman.

 

[AvroArrow]

I’d say maybe the worst thing to happen to the team is that the core players they drafted have skill but not grit. They veered too much to one side. In hindsight, maybe it would have been best to trade down from 4 in 2015. Maybe you end up with Rantanen and a defenseman.

Maybe. It's also still extremely early, if this group manages even 1 cup win all will be forgiven.

Tampa fans were pretty pissed off with the failures of their core guys earlier on (Hedman/Stamkos) a few years later, they win 2 cups. They had a finals appearance in 2015, that was Stamkos 7th year.

 

[Magic Man]

That was the worst thing to happen to this team. It started the domino effect. Led to overpayment of our RFA's, Kadri trade, couldn't afford to sign Hyman, not being to create a deeper lineup.

That single signing is the biggest reason why this group has failed. Not because JT isn't a good player but because of everything else that happened as a result of that decision.

The RFA's shouldn't have gotten away with using a UFA as a contract comparable, they were RFA's with a long way to go before it was their turn. JT's contract was max term, they didn't come close to max term on theirs which was the major issue.

They didn't have to trade Kadri because of Tavares. Dubas didn't like that Kadri couldn't be relied upon because he kept head checking people in the playoffs. They could have kept him as 3C or moved him to top-6 left winger.

Those moves didn't happen because of Tavares, they happened because Dubas sucks at being a GM. Tavares signing is his best move. Those moves discussed above are his worst moves.

 

[Mess]

My favorite move of his was counter-offering Shanahan/MLSE

That was by far my favourite Dubas move as well and its not even close.

​

From my personal satisfaction meter as a Leafs fan of the team finally winning a playoff round after 19 years, and Dubas tenure as a Leafs GM mercifully coming to a end as pretty close as high points.

Now with a real GM I have much higher hope & expectations for future success. That was a painful 5 years I wish I could have back and have a do-over.

 

[Clyde Brewer]

I'm not sure how much influence Dubas had with the Knies pick, so I chose the Schenn trade.

Schenn was an absolute beast for us this past playoffs and he filled a void we very much needed filled. I look at our d-core now and it could sure use a guy like Schenn.

 

[ACC1224]

That was the worst thing to happen to this team. It started the domino effect. Led to overpayment of our RFA's, Kadri trade, couldn't afford to sign Hyman, not being to create a deeper lineup.

That single signing is the biggest reason why this group has failed. Not because JT isn't a good player but because of everything else that happened as a result of that decision.

It didn't have to though. He could have taken Marners early offer and/or bridged the others instead of completely blowing his load.

 

[AvroArrow]

The RFA's shouldn't have gotten away with using a UFA as a contract comparable, they were RFA's with a long way to go before it was their turn. JT's contract was max term, they didn't come close to max term on theirs which was the major issue.

They didn't have to trade Kadri because of Tavares. Dubas didn't like that Kadri couldn't be relied upon because he kept head checking people in the playoffs. They could have kept him as 3C or moved him to top-6 left winger.

Those moves didn't happen because of Tavares, they happened because Dubas sucks at being a GM. Tavares signing is his best move. Those moves discussed above are his worst moves.

If we never had Tavares, Kadri is our default 2C. No chance they trade him, he became expendable because of Tavares. Dubas thought he was getting a stud D-man in Barrie (idiot) and pulled the trigger on the deal for a more balanced approach.

The RFA's for whatever reason went with Dubas to negotiate the Tavares contract, not sure why. They then demanded the same money AFTER Tavares got his 11M. No other RFA got double digits.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

The Mrazek trade is a serious option here? Lol

This list just goes to show you how f’ing awful this guy was.

 

[The Best Leafs Everr]

It's a toss up between Acciari, RoR trade and Knies. The former are gone so I voted Knies.

 

[danny90]

Except he didn't do that because they never had that success

They had the two most successful regular seasons in franchise history under Dubas.

 

[Primary Assist]

Tavares contract was more bad luck than anything. The year we were best poised to go deep is the same year he suffered what in a different era could have been a career ending head injury. With Tavares the Leafs likely beat the Habs and there's a decent chance they go all the way to the Cup Finals. Add in the flat cap and that contract looks much worse than it was at the time of signing, when nearly every GM would have made the offer

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Tavares contract was more bad luck than anything. The year we were best poised to go deep is the same year he suffered what in a different era could have been a career ending head injury. With Tavares the Leafs likely beat the Habs and there's a decent chance they go all the way to the Cup Finals. Add in the flat cap and that contract looks much worse than it was at the time of signing, when nearly every GM would have made the offer

People keep saying this but even with the cap going up if COVID didn't happen, we still were overloading our forward group in terms of salary when we really needed to add some quality and depth.

We also probably needed another year of growth. We went all in too early.

 

[The Iceman]

Its tough because some of his poorer moves muddy the water. It also depends if you want to take luck out of the equation or not. Muzz and Campbell seemed like great gets until their respective medical problems took them out. But for that they could still be performing well for the club today. How would this playoff have looked with 2020 Campbell and Muzzin? Sorry if I don't agree that Sammy's star power got them past the Bolts this year.

The Hyman acquisition was kind of fluky where he traded for a guy who showed nothing until his last year of college but you can't ignore how well it turned out just because there wasn't a lineup of other clubs looking to make that deal. Unlike most the amateur drafting I think he was pretty familiar with the guy's game. I probably give unfair weight to some of the other acquisitions because there were other suitors.

So for me its Muzz, Brodie, Hyman, Campbell, Spezza, Gio. We might yet be talking about Samsonov if he doesn't take a dip this year and get let go. That would be funny if if Dubas's weakest area yielded a solid #1g for the club.

Its kind of sad that after 6 years he doesn't have any enduring personal success stories except for Hyman on another team but if we dug around there are probably quite a few GMs with the same gap in their resume. I still have hope that Timmins can be a top 4 guy and earn that distinction.

Dubas was an agent/advisor for Hyman back in Hamilton/the early days.

Dubas knew what he was getting.

 

[francis246]

The RFA's shouldn't have gotten away with using a UFA as a contract comparable, they were RFA's with a long way to go before it was their turn. JT's contract was max term, they didn't come close to max term on theirs which was the major issue.

They didn't have to trade Kadri because of Tavares. Dubas didn't like that Kadri couldn't be relied upon because he kept head checking people in the playoffs. They could have kept him as 3C or moved him to top-6 left winger.

Those moves didn't happen because of Tavares, they happened because Dubas sucks at being a GM. Tavares signing is his best move. Those moves discussed above are his worst moves.

Finally someone who gets it

 

[Jmo89]

Mrazek trade shouldn't be on there considering Dubas is the one who signed him to the horrible contract. This being his list of good moves just shows how bad of a GM he actually was.

IMO his best move was the Muzzin trade. It was solid and Muzzin is sorely missed. The McCabe/Lafferty trade is also solid IMO.

Signing Bunting was a good move but isn't really something other GMs don't do all the time.

Kapanen trade is ruined by the fact that Dubas didn't trade him (and Johnson) sooner and instead gave away a 1st round pick to unload Marleau.

He loses points on both ROR and Schenn for having one foot out the door and giving up alot of assets for the former. I hate when GMs give up a bunch of draft capital before leaving, and in the case of Schenn it sounds like he could have been resigned if the team acted sooner and didn't waste time finding a new GM.

 

[Notsince67]

It didn't have to though. He could have taken Marners early offer and/or bridged the others instead of completely blowing his load.

Getting cheap on Marner was brutal given the known grievance of schedule B bonuses. Not only did they give Marner a fu prove it message despite his strong point trend over the last half of the season and a known situation of pairing him with a ppg center the next year, he did prove it in spades. They played hardball from the start and then put him into a driver's seat with nothing to worry about like injuries. There was no way he wouldn't have earned 8.5mm with JT on the lowside when he was trending 1.13ppg with Kadri. Such an idiot move for a play on pennies.

 

[Arzak]

The best move by far was telling his boss he might not re-sign via media. I swear he should teach balls at Harvard.

It's also the best thing we could hope for, it's up there with drafting Matthews. We'll benefit from this brilliant move for years. Thank you Kyle

 

[JKG33]

This is a laughably bad list of "best" moves for a GM to have made.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Going against Shanny's advice and holding an end of season press conference.

 

[Jozay]

The Muzzin trade, easily.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Muzzin trade was excellent.

The timing was slightly off but if his prime had lined up with the current group, they would have been a much stronger team.

 

[Lauro]

Muzzin

 

[danny90]

If that was his best move wouldn't it have translated to actual success?

He set the team up with all the tools to win, which they did in the regular season having more success each season. The players and the coaches have to perform in the playoffs as well as the regular season.

 

[notDatsyuk]

A lot of the trades listed brought in pretty good players, but cost a lot, and they played briefly and left. Feels more like desperation giving away the future to try to save his job.

Even though his connection to Knies is iffy, that has to be his best, at least until they add "getting himself fired"!

 

[LeafGrief]

Muzzin trade was excellent. That, followed by the Brodie signing turned what was once a porous defense into a very solid blueline. Shame that fell apart and every day that we don't have a Muzzin replacement is a mistake on whoever is in the GM's chair.

Knies is an outstanding pick and I tend to think Dubas drafted well, but drafts involve a fair share of luck.