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The one move that likely gets Dubas fired

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Dubas just never got it into his head that regular season success does not necessarily translate to the post-season. The stuff that smaller guys get away with in the season is taken away in the playoffs, there's no room to dipsy doodle and you have to fight for every inch of ice.

In that situation, a bigger/stronger player with will to compete will always win. The Leafs don't have any of these players except maybe a past his prime Simmonds.

What do they do at the draft? continue to draft tiny skill guys (Knies being the exception). The current roster as it is constructed just doesn't have enough character players, the leadership is lacking and anybody wearing a letter is not it.
 
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RoadWarrior said:
Dubas entire philosophy of "moneypuck" has been an abysmal failure. Thankfully it's soon coming to an end.

The idea that you could just ignore heart and character in hockey players in building a winning team was asinine from the start. How Shanahan got roped into this nonsense is beyond me.
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Dubas’ philosophy is extremely thin and naive when you break it down.

We’re going to out skill everyone to such a massive margin that they won’t be able to do anything about it. It won’t even matter if we have just average everything else. No one will have a game plan to counter.

I mean even your 90s Mighty Ducks movies worked in timely goaltending, a shot from the point and some muscle to protect the skill.
 
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I don't think it is Dubas neck on the line. It is Keefe.
Changing GMs mid season = nothing.

Maybe coach Q is ready for another run...
 
Signing Tavares was a mistake, but he was highly sought after and other GM's tried to do the same.

However, no other GM in the world was lining up to pay Marner $11 million per season.
 
DuklaNation said:
Signing Tavares which led to Kardi trade. That has been the biggest mistake. JT was really a $8M player. Same with Marner. These players are using the Leafs and its fanbase to max out deals.

Average top 6 scorers are accumulating large bankrolls while accomplishing little except posting nice fantasy stats.
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average top 6 scorers? average top six scorers put up multiple 90+ point seasons. They are better than average, they are elite players. But they just aren't going to be guys who you can lean on to guide you to a cup.
 
Why would they fire him when he's "passed all the tests" ?

Despite major challanges, Kyle Dubas has passed the tests

He was put in charge at a tough time where he had to sign his star rfa's. The person he replaced which we were told was a major mistake had the chance to sign Nylander the summer before but decided the priority was near retirement Marleau at 6.5. He also had to improve the D core which again...
forums.hfboards.com forums.hfboards.com
 
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stickty111 said:
I said it before but it's the Marner contract. It was just a terrible deal and there was no comparable too it. He's also been the worst playoff performer in the playoffs from the core. It's kind of disgusting people go on after Nylander, but Marner's mistakes are a lot worse however because "he works hard" so he doesn't get criticized as much.

He also went after the fans. Just a disgrace to the jersey and his dad too
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Weird post. One second Dubas passed every test, now this was always the fatal move from day 1? Sounds like revisionist history.

It's "disgusting" people go after Nylander? But it's not disgusting with Marner/his dad?
 
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Puckstuff said:
12+ million in dead money between Murray, Muzzin and Engvall. 2 LTIR'd and Engvall does nothing.

Could have signed Danault + Hyman + Lindgren for that amount of money. Or Marchment, Perron, Lindgren.

That's the difference between winning and not. The margin for error in this league is just too small to be wasting cap on guys like Murray.
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That's right. The margin for error is just that small and Dubas blew it on several calls. He's a wreck and still here for some reason. It's strange.
 
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Where do we start:

- John Tavares signing - I don't fault Dubas for making this signing tbh, but in theory I think the Leafs would be in a better position right now if they didn't sign him.

- Nylander signing - He should have been traded or sit out. This was too important of a negotiation to overpay him (he was overpaid compared to ehlers and pastrnak who were good comparables).

- Marner signing - Again he should have sat out for some time or have been traded. It's easy to say this now, but really the Leafs should have been the ones in control of this situation. They already had 3 first line forwards, they could afford to play a couple months without Marner. Saying "We can and we will (sign all three of Matthews, Marner and Nylander)" was a huge mistake.

- Kadri trade - Barrie was a horrible fit, and Kerfoot is a significant downgrade. This one is probably the most obvious blunder because I think a strong GM would know that the Leafs did not need Barrie.

- 2021 deadline (Foligno/Rittich/Hutton) - Leafs needed scoring depth - also by watching the Amazon Prime series, it looked like Dubas traded for Rittich for no reason (Andersen was ready to come back). He wasted way too many assets at that deadline

- 2021 Expansion Draft (Choosing Kerfoot and Holl over McCann) - I understand why he wanted to keep Holl, but McCann is a pretty good player and would have been so useful in last playoffs.

- Mrazek/Ritchie signings - bad signings but you always win some and lose some in FA

- Murray trade - Still early, but looking like it was a bad trade. Though I don't know what the alternative should have been (other options also could have been bad)

- Not trading Nylander or Marner - I know it's easy to say this now, and you likely don't win the trade, but in reality the core was too top-heavy and forward-heavy. You got Tavares for free in free agency so if you have to take a loss in a trade of nylander or marner then you do it. (Otherwise don't sign Tavares)

- Player management - We don't really know what goes on behind the scenes, but there has clearly been issues with the team's compete/effort/drive and ultimately he is the GM so he is partially to blame for this.

I don't think Dubas is a bad GM and he has definitely had quite a few wins:
- Zaitsev trade (sucks to lose Brown, but Zaitsev's contract was an anchor)
- Muzzin trade
- Campbell trade
- Bunting/Kampf/Spezza/Brodie signings
 
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The Iceman said:
I don't think it is Dubas neck on the line. It is Keefe.
Changing GMs mid season = nothing.

Maybe coach Q is ready for another run...
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Why would that be the case? Firing a GM mid season can absolutely be effective. For one it stops a negative trend and acknowledges that a change in direction needs to happen. The question is whether Shanahan has an idea of a replacement.

I don't see the point in hanging on to a GM if the team has no intention of keeping him long term. and i HIGHLY doubt Dubas is going to be here beyond this season. He's had his time here to prove himself. He's had 4 years and hasn't done anything to really improve the team if we're being honest. It's crazy to think that we have had generational talent... the type that we have dreamed of since the days of Mats Sundin and it's being squandered. what a waste.
 
Stephen said:
"Time to regroup, rethink" sounds like he needs a vacation from his vacation.
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Last week it was:

The Maple Leafs have a day off Tuesday in Las Vegas and will practice here Wednesday before flying to San Jose for the California leg of their road trip.

"It's gonna be great. It's gonna be a nice time for everyone kinda get together have some fun here and just relax. Enjoy the sun, enjoy the heat," Marner said.
"Get our mindset ready for San Jose."
 
fancy lad said:
Why would that be the case? Firing a GM mid season can absolutely be effective. For one it stops a negative trend and acknowledges that a change in direction needs to happen. The question is whether Shanahan has an idea of a replacement.

I don't see the point in hanging on to a GM if the team has no intention of keeping him long term. and i HIGHLY doubt Dubas is going to be here beyond this season. He's had his time here to prove himself. He's had 4 years and hasn't done anything to really improve the team if we're being honest. It's crazy to think that we have had generational talent... the type that we have dreamed of since the days of Mats Sundin and it's being squandered. what a waste.
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The issue with the mid-season firing, is that it would likely just put in place and interim GM, who's not going to be allowed to make any major moves, not that one would want a temporary one making t moves either.

At the moment they're simply aren't many strong candidates available, who aren't already under contract (Trotz is one of the few people I can think of who would be available). The offseason is when the team will have a lot more flexibility If they're looking to hire a new front office staff.

If Shanahan was going to change GM's it would/should have happened in the recent offseason. Now he's just going to have to ride it out throughout the course of the year and either he, or the MLSE board will make a new decision in the summer of 2023
 
In terms of the past, no move mattered or else upper management would have fired Dubas by now.

So we're left with the future, which means losing in the 1st round, missing the playoffs, or a poor stretch (a bad November?) leading to a mid-season firing.
 
egd27 said:
Last week it was:

The Maple Leafs have a day off Tuesday in Las Vegas and will practice here Wednesday before flying to San Jose for the California leg of their road trip.

"It's gonna be great. It's gonna be a nice time for everyone kinda get together have some fun here and just relax. Enjoy the sun, enjoy the heat," Marner said.
"Get our mindset ready for San Jose."
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Shambles in our brain.
 
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Menzinger said:
The issue with the mid-season firing, is that it would likely just put in place and interim GM, who's not going to be allowed to make any major moves, not that one would want a temporary one making t moves either.

At the moment they're simply aren't many strong candidates available, who aren't already under contract (Trotz is one of the few people I can think of who would be available). The offseason is when the team will have a lot more flexibility If they're looking to hire a new front office staff.

If Shanahan was going to change GM's it would/should have happened in the recent offseason. Now he's just going to have to ride it out throughout the course of the year and either he, or the MLSE board will make a new decision in the summer of 2023
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I think it’s painfully obvious there needs to be a GM firing for all the small errors that added up, all the misplaced faith in the core. But you have to protect the next era by doing so in a professional manner too at a timing that works for the Leafs.

Right now, Dubas is basically Dave Nonis 2014-15 to me.
 
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It was extremely disheartening when Rantanen, Point, Barzal all got bridged but then also made significantly less even after their bridge.

I mean people are hmming and hawing about Pastrnak potentially getting 10m. He's better than Mitch. 10x8 AFTER he was on a long sweetheart deal.

Every similar deal basically makes Marner's look terrible.
 
Dubas should never have been hired. He was never been qualified to handle the job. IMO

A greenhorn President thought he was making a good decision deploying the OHL's Soo Greyhounds management team to manage a fortune 500 NHL flagship team, because he was sold a bill of goods that "advanced analytics" was the wave of the future the would end Leafs 1967 Cup winning drought.

To think the Leafs wasted the best years of the young core by overpaying and mismanaging the cap, that now it will take 5 X lost in round #1 under Dubas to declare the experiment over, when his starting point was a 105 point record setting team that lost in game #7 in round #1 back in 2018.
 
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Ewe will start playing better but we aren't build for the playoffs.
All our players are careless with the puck
Brodie being the exception.
 
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