News Article: The Athletic: Shanahan blocked Dubas from completing trades that "could have improved the Leafs’ ability to advance further in the playoffs"

[trellaine201]

I hope Robertson gets a chance to play next year. And Knies.

 

[ULF_55]

Tht Chicago GM leaked the trade dude so yes he was in the mix

I do believe the fluery free agency thing however

I still never got first hand data that it was an offer or an ask.

We can speculate either way.

I think Dubas wanted Kane included, but would have had to send Kerfoot back, and Shanahan said Kerfoot and Holl have to be in the line-up.

 

[sxvnert]

Mirtle was also pushing the "Dubas may not be allowed to move firsts at the deadline" because of his contract. We all know how that ended up.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

This is a quote from Jonas/Mirtle podcast:

"If you're a leaf fan, why should you trust Shanahan to make the right move now?"

I suppose there are two things going on here:

1. Mirtle/Jonas loved Dubas
2. Now that Dubas is gone, the heat is finally on Shanny

 

[centipede2233]

all Dubie’s and shanny’s presser’s did was reaffirm to me how incompetent they are at their jobs. it makes no sense why shanahan just after the trade deadline said to himself “ok I’ve seen enough time to finish this 5 yr contract extension to dubas”. So I guess playoff success isn’t a high priority for good ol shanny, dubas and dumbass

 

[Tedd]

Mirtle telling Dubas' side of things. What a shock.

Yeah I listened to Mirtle's podcast (with Jonah) after the story broke and they were definitely Pro Dubas. It's like they were both about to cry, That was so embarrassing to hear.
Same for Chris Johnson. CJ obviously had inside access to Dubas and got all the scoops which really helped his career. These guys were beholden to Dubas almost like they owed him something for the preferential treatment.

 

[Boxscore]

This is a quote from Jonas/Mirtle podcast:

"If you're a leaf fan, why should you trust Shanahan to make the right move now?"

I suppose there are two things going on here:

1. Mirtle/Jonas loved Dubas
2. Now that Dubas is gone, the heat is finally on Shanny

I think it can be both 1 and 2. And Shanny deserves to be in the hot seat. After all, he was the one who endorsed nuking Lou and Babcock for a boy band who can't win a second round.

 

[Squiffy]

A certain group of people dismiss anything/anyone that might say something positive about dubas or paint dubas more in a positive light so yea. It's like the republicans in the states that dismiss everything that doesn't come from fox news.

I do hope that Shanahan shit isn't true though, not many GMs especially experienced ones who want to a puppet for the puppet master.

I'm quite sure it is true, president is above Gm and gets to have input in to decisions. Look at the Raptors, it's Masai's team, does anyone mention (Googles it) Bobby Webster as the guy in control? No, because he's not. It's Shapiro, not Atkins too. MLSE is probably too big for the president and GM role, although if Shanny's next kick at the can here doesn't work maybe you think about it, it's not uncommon in hockey. But it's not here, now, and it's not something to get concerned about.

Worth getting concerned about is the Board interfering despite Shanny running interference, that is a problem. If that is going on we're f***ing f***ed.

 

[Donnie740]

Sounds like Dubas and his granny have been crying the blue to some media shill who’s desperate for some “inside information” because he doesn’t have the ability to just watch the games and formulate his own assessments.

I’d expect tomorrow’s “breaking story” will be that Dubas had a trade lined up with Calgary last summer to acquire Matt Tkachuk for Kerfoot and Amirov but that mean Mr Shannahan bullied the helpless little stick boy and blocked the deal.

 

[CelticDruid]

Are fans going to go down this path where they imply that Dubas was "abused" by Shanny? Or that Dubas was "never truly autonomous"? Come onnnnnnnnnn!


Just to add:

I'm listening to their last "leaf report" podcast. Both Jonas and Mirtle are reeling after Shanny's decision.

They both sound like little bitches.

Such an embarrassing display by all involved in this SOAP series.

And to top it all off we had our GM and President airing their dirty laundry out for all to see.

Fire Shanahan and cut the snake's head off.

 

[Jmo89]

all Dubie’s and shanny’s presser’s did was reaffirm to me how incompetent they are at their jobs. it makes no sense why shanahan just after the trade deadline said to himself “ok I’ve seen enough time to finish this 5 yr contract extension to dubas”. So I guess playoff success isn’t a high priority for good ol shanny, dubas and dumbass

I said in a previous post that the Leafs lucked into firing Dubas. Thankfully Dubas exposed himself a week too soon.

Now it's fully on Shanahan's shoulders. I'd have been fine if he was fired too, but if he's staying his leash should be very short.

 

[Gabriel426]

What trade did Shanny blocked?

I really want to know.

Personally I don’t think it is the Hagel trade bc it is too small of a trade unless Shanny thinks Knies is the next coming of him. I highly doubt that since Knies was just a prospect then.

Think it might be Willie bc Willie is Shanny first draft pick and Dubas was not with the Leafs at that draft.

 

[Niagara Bill]

This is a quote from Jonas/Mirtle podcast:

"If you're a leaf fan, why should you trust Shanahan to make the right move now?"

I suppose there are two things going on here:

1. Mirtle/Jonas loved Dubas
2. Now that Dubas is gone, the heat is finally on Shanny

There are so many talking heads in TO, they divide up the possibilities for entertainment content, nothing to do with fact, just speculation.

 

[KMNRB]

In my opinion, Shanahan redeem himself by firing Dubas. The organization should root out all the losers in this organization with 'mental health' issues and hire some grown ups.

Let's not forget, it was Shanahan's arrival in April 2014 that marked the turn of this franchise from more than a decade of miserable management. I still remembered the draft that year when everyone was expecting the Leafs to continue their pattern of drafting big tough "skilled" guys (Nick Ritchie) and the Leafs surprised everyone by drafting Nylander instead (with Ehlers and Larkin as their other options). To me, that draft decision marks the turn toward reasonable management (remember, up to that point in time, the Leafs were infamous for predominantly laughable moves like the Canucks did in recent years).

In retrospect, the choice of Dubas as GM at the time was probably a mistake. I was expecting though, that Dubas has grown in his job and could resign the stars to reasonable deals this time around. We'd never know if that'd be the case, but if he himself asked for the moon in contract talks then it'd be hard to persuade the players to refrain from squeezing every penny out of our cap space. And Dubas may have no other intention than ditching out even crazier contract this time around.

So yes, Shanahan should bear the responsibility of hiring Dubas and the past few years of playoffs failure. But his presence prior to hiring Dubas has made a difference in the organization (including "tanking" to get Marner and Matthews, the first time the Leafs had done so in decades). In fact, I would argue that whether a certain blocked trade turns out to be good or not is rather irrelevant when it comes to the significance of a president. Doesn't anyone feel scared of going back to the good old days of the Toronto Maple Laughs?

 

[Dave92]

What are the odds Shanny must have picked the only trades of Dubas' entire tenure that would have helped.

 

[danny90]

Knies+ mrazek + a first for the flower and Hagel.

Even last summer the SDPN dudes were saying this (so coming from CJ) to tell people that Shanny was blocking trades

Basically the one that the Chicago GM leaked at the last deadline was the one that shanny blocked appearently

Dubas was the one who blocked that trade

 

[thewave]

What are the odds Shanny must have picked the only trades of Dubas' entire tenure that would have helped.

Pretty good. The hard nosed guys we got this year were out of character for Dubas. I mean, is Kyle Dubas thinking Schenn? I could see him thinking ROR perhaps maybe but then again, maybe not if we are being honest.

One thing is for sure in Toronto, they suffer from organizational bloat. There are way too man cooks in that kitchen to effective, I mean, they have probably 3:1 Managers and assistants for every player (I made that number up but you get the point).

 

[AvroArrow]

Mirtle's a little weasel, no shit any trade attempt by Dubas would have been to advance deeper in the playoffs. It also could have been a stupid one like a 1st for Foligno also the Knies + 2 1sts for Hagel and Fleury.

Who are Mirtles sources ? What are these alleged great trades Shanahan stopped ? I'm sure a guy like Dubas knows more about winning championships than Shanahan.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

And so the inevitable finger pointing begins.

Support for Dubas has now degenerated into the speculative. "What if's" and "what could have been's" are the only thing left to back this fraud. Never mind the actual "what was's" and "what is's" that led to his termination.

Shanahan should be shown the door for this mess.

He's clearly not qualified to be president. Anyone with a half brain should be able to figure that one out. If I can, so can everyone else.

I mean, if we're gonna play the blame game, we should hold those who are really responsible accountable.

That's whoever the idiot is that's kept Shanahan employed all these years.

 

[All Mod Cons]

I guess in itself, there is a story in simply having Shanahan block trades at all. Assuming that is true of course.

Would explain why Dubas would have demanded more autonomy and control. It is one thing if Shanahan thought he was doing it for the good of the team, or that Dubas was making a poor decision, but if you are having to block a bunch of your GM's trades for those reasons, why offer him an extension? You clearly do not trust his judgement enough to make decisions on his own at that point. And it certainly would be frustrating for Dubas or any GM in that situation, and we have to wonder if quality GM's will refuse to come here as a result.

Almost seems like Shanahan should just appoint himself to be GM. Put his own neck on the line.

I think you've hit the nail on the head about having to block loads of trades, why offer the extension. I think we both think this report is a load of bollocks.

 

[Forgotusername]

In my opinion, Shanahan redeem himself by firing Dubas. The organization should root out all the losers in this organization with 'mental health' issues and hire some grown ups.

Good idea, firing someone for mental health issues. Just open up the Leafs to a huge lawsuit for unfair dismissal. You're a smart one.

 

[Trapper]

In my opinion, Shanahan redeem himself by firing Dubas. The organization should root out all the losers in this organization with 'mental health' issues and hire some grown ups.

I don’t know, it sounds like Dubas pretty much fired himself.
And then it’s reported that Shanahan tells the core they will all be back.
Finally, no word on the coach.

This smells an awful lot like running it back for an 8th time to me. Only it’s packaged as something different now by accident. Hey look folks, we aren’t running it back…new GM now!

 

[Dekes For Days]

So they not only jerked Dubas around for a year, but they had ownership meddling in decisions. Wonderful.

 

[Nineteen67]

Is he the new Cox (showing age and time on board here lol..)? People hated him too, as a rampant anti-leafer, I always maintained he was shooting straight.. is it like that?

We all still agree Simmons is a tool at least right?

Cox at least watched hockey and knew the league.

 

[Notsince67]

I like Mirtle too but its been pretty clear he's pro Dubas. Highlighting that Shannahan blocked trades that 'could' have improved the Leafs ability to advance further in the playoffs is menacing.

Guaranteed it involved trading knies