i have posted before on this theory I had when dubas had his monday presser. Keep in mind this was before he was “fired” and way before news he shares the same agency as matthews.
my theory is Dubas realizes he screwed up the matthews contract. Dubas being the green naive executive believed matthews would resign and likely had reassurences when matthews signed he would resign in Toronto. But time changes players feelings, especially if you’re an American star in a Canadian market. At some point likely this past year maybe even leading up to dubas presser, dubas lsought out from matthews or his agent a frank answer if matthews would resign. In a confidential conversation, dubas gets the bad news. So now dubas plays sabotage. Mondays presser was step #1. Use the family as his “excuse” to the public. When shanny offers him his offer 4 mil per for 5 yrs, dubas sends back a counter that is not only unreasonable, but outright ridiculous. Rumours were he wanted 6-7 mil per and total autonomy. Dubas sent this back knowing full well it would be rejected and subsequently fired.
dubas sabotaged himself not accidentally and coming off as greedy, but imho he sabotaged it on purpose because he doesn’t want to be here when matthews walks.
so your next question is why wouldn’t dubas just trade him? Simple, he can’t or likely doesn’t want to. I will elaborate. Have you looked at dubas’s trade history, it’s like the same 5 teams. trading matthews, who had a down year, played with a chronic injury, and has one year left and is owed a massive bonus on July 1 is not an easy trade to make. Add in the fact dubas is making this trade and he knows full well he will lose his shirt. dubas knows full well he will not get anything close to value back. this was dubas’s way of ducking out and letting the next gm take the fall when matthews walks or is traded.
I think this was a calculated play on dubas’s part and I predicted this was matthews related, when news just came out that he shares the same agency as matthews, connecting the dots became even clearer.
if I have posted anything ever on this board, let me say this once, and one time only,with How this is played out with dubas and matthews generic “intention” reply, Auston Matthews is NOT resigning in Toronto. Max money won’t be matthews priority #1, it’ll be geography. Kind of like a JT and Gaudreau situation, take a bit less to work and play where you want. superstars like JT, AM and JG would rather make a bit less to play where they want, matthews will follow suit.
