Confirmed with Link: Wes Clark leaves the Leafs for promotion with the Penguins

[Tie Domi Esquire]

100% because of Dubas, not because in the first two drafts he ran (this year's is too soon to see if anyone is trending well) he picked up multiple players who look like they'd go much higher in a re-draft and have some real NHL potential.

Cowan - 28th
Greb - 135th
Minten - 38th
Hildeby - 122nd

Absolutely nothing to do with those players having great years and improving their stock.

Jerry D'amigo is gonna be on the top 6 next year with Mikhail Stefanovich and Nick Robertston!

 

[notbias]

Jerry D'amigo is gonna be on the top 6 next year with Mikhail Stefanovich and Nick Robertston!

What does this mean?

Are we supposed to pretend that prospects all trend the same until they make the NHL?

 

[Peasy]

To me it lacks imagination and looks like nepotism. Like how could all your NHL needs be filled by personal connections from a rinky dink OHL organization you were once a stick boy for? Based on analytics?

Exactly. Show me some other executive that acquires/re-hires dudes from ties way back to their junior days. He even sign Hollowell again in Pitts lol.

 

[francis246]

To me it lacks imagination and looks like nepotism. Like how could all your NHL needs be filled by personal connections from a rinky dink OHL organization you were once a stick boy for? Based on analytics?

I don't get why you're taking this so personally? Treliving had a boner for his Calgary dmen and his calgary players. It's just how it goes in sports. You have your guys that you believe in.

again for the 5th time today, this isn't new.

Jim Rutherford went to Vancouver as the president and hired basically everyone from Pittsburgh and brought that entire front office and coaching staff from Wilkes to Vancouver. No one is complaining about that. Brian Burke brought Dave Nonis everywhere he got hired.

 

[Stringer Bell]

Dubas has hired or acquired the following Soo alumni in his time in Toronto:

Sheldon Keefe
Wes Clark
Jack Campbell
Matt Murray
Jake Muzzin
Joe Thornton
Michael Bunting
Wayne Simmonds
Rasmus Sandin
Jared McCann
Max Hollowell
Conor Timmins
Nick Ritchie

I think it's considerably more if you include Marlies/ECHL signings.

Brett Findlay
Alex Gudbranson
Tyler Gaudet

...probably more?

 

[Lauro]

Oh, this is sad news, I thought he made very good picks the last few years. But I guess we all knew that he'd follow Kyle.

 

[Jmo89]

He seemed decent but replaceable. It'll be fun to see the same 3 posters glaze and mourn him for the next several months.

Hopefully his past picks continue to benefit the team.

 

[aingefan]

We have no real picks next year and that 2nd will likely go at TD to replace Bert. Anyone drafted in 2026 will be outside our window and Tre may even be gone by then. Wes would have had nothing to do next year anyway. The timing for him to leave was good. A bunch of 5ths to 7ths will likely never play.

Maybe Thommie gets the job for now.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I don't get why you're taking this so personally? Treliving had a boner for his Calgary dmen and his calgary players. It's just how it goes in sports. You have your guys that you believe in.

again for the 5th time today, this isn't new.

Jim Rutherford went to Vancouver as the president and hired basically everyone from Pittsburgh and brought that entire front office and coaching staff from Wilkes to Vancouver. No one is bitching about that. Brian Burke brought Dave Nonis everywhere he got hired.

Those are indictments of Treliving/Rutherford/Burke, not a defense of Dubas. Just because it may be commonplace doesn't mean it's good, we should expect our top executives to be better than having to lean so heavily on familiarity in hiring/procuring players. Dubas takes things to an extreme level and it hasn't led to good results

 

[Leaf Fans]

He seemed decent but replaceable. It'll be fun to see the same 3 posters glaze and mourn him for the next several months.

Hopefully his past picks continue to benefit the team.

Are there three posters doing that now?

 

[The Shadow]

If management is smart they are planning ahead already about what other holes may need to be filled and developing their management team and leaders to fill those spots. One potential is Pridham who will leave at some point

 

[-DeMo-]

don't really understand why people feel the timing is weird, I would expect this time of year to be prime time for scouts to move. the draft is the end of there year, once that's past they would move on/up

 

[Fonzieleaf]

Maybe now we will actually get someone who picks prospects where they are ranked. You know, kind of what everyone else does?

 

[notbias]

Maybe now we will actually get someone who picks prospects where they are ranked. You know, kind of what everyone else does?

Why do we need scouts? Just use the draft board.

This way we won't end up with dumb picks like Cowan.

 

[Fonzieleaf]

Why do we need scouts? Just use the draft board.

This way we won't end up with dumb picks like Cowan.

Yeah and picks like Johansson in the 4th round.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

To me it lacks imagination and looks like nepotism. Like how could all your NHL needs be filled by personal connections from a rinky dink OHL organization you were once a stick boy for? Based on analytics?

Just to add to that. It's a reflection of a person who lacks strength and resources.

 

[Killswitch]

Sheldon Keefe - - most incompetent coach in NHL history
Wes Clark - - mediocre talent evaluator
Jack Campbell - - laughably incompetent
Matt Murray - - his best place is in the LTIR
Jake Muzzin - - terrible acquisition that cost them Sean Durzi plus a draft pick
Joe Thornton - - career loser who brought a loser mentality to the young core
Michael Bunting - - probably his “best” acquisition, but still got benched in the playoffs
Wayne Simmonds - - you don’t “get tougher” by bringing in a washed up fighter who can’t skate
Rasmus Sandin - - terrified of his own shadow, brutal defensively and hopelessly slow footed.
Jared McCann - -a complete mismanagement of the expansion draft
Max Hollowell - - career minor league player
Conor Timmins - - career minor league player
Nick Ritchie - - God-awful waste of money that should have been spent on re-signing Zach Hyman

Keefe- lots of hyperbole here. Not even the worst head coach this century
Clark- Not really, but time will tell. Cowan looks fantastic
Campbell- He traded for him for 2 months of a season in junior. Dallas draft pick
Matt Murray- injury problems. At one time everyone here wanted him
Muzzin- lmao
Thornton- one of the best players this century. Definitely worth the risk. Cost nothing
Bunting- Nice pickup
Simmonds- Agree
Sandin- never liked the pick or the player, but Washington does
McCann- agreed
Hollowell- who cares
Timmins- was a fantastic junior player who Colorado loved, but injuries
Ritchie- Agreed, but mostly because I was terrified we'd take him instead of Nylander and there's lots here who wanted that

Dubas lives rent free here. He's gone and be glad everyone who left with him is also gone. Maybe now we can get some loyalty to the team instead of an individual

 

[Ianturnedbull]

I think back to that presser where Dubas praised the potential and abilities of Semyon Der-Arguchinsev.

I think he was proud that he could pronounce his name.

 

[The Masters]

Wes looked confident in his role. Dubas still a huge phony

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

I don't get why you're taking this so personally? Treliving had a boner for his Calgary dmen and his calgary players. It's just how it goes in sports. You have your guys that you believe in.

again for the 5th time today, this isn't new.

Jim Rutherford went to Vancouver as the president and hired basically everyone from Pittsburgh and brought that entire front office and coaching staff from Wilkes to Vancouver. No one is bitching about that. Brian Burke brought Dave Nonis everywhere he got hired.

To be fair, we made fun of Tre for doing that too. People were jokingly saying we were going to hire Savard and then it happened. I'm hoping the Kadri jokes stay far from reality though.

 

[MarMarSab3]

Who cares, now go get the guy who's viewed as the best.

 

[francis246]

Those are indictments of Treliving/Rutherford/Burke, not a defense of Dubas. Just because it may be commonplace doesn't mean it's good, we should expect our top executives to be better than having to lean so heavily on familiarity in hiring/procuring players. Dubas takes things to an extreme level and it hasn't led to good results

We’ll you should stop watching sports then. Everyone is connected and it drives a lot of what happens in sports. People hire who they work best with. They hire people they trust in this business. Should we be pissed off at Berube for essentially bringing his STL staff to Toronto?

It’s actually crazy that you even care who they hire. It shouldn’t make anyone mad

 

[-DeMo-]

I see alot of people in here praise Prindham for the job he does here, but like he's our supposed Capologist? surely a big part of being in charge of the cap is negotiating the contracts he needs to manage. surely simply managing the cap itself isn't enough work through out the year for him to do and must have other responsibilities so I've long thought he would play a farely big role in negotiating contracts, and if that's the case he should have been one to leave.

 

[francis246]

To be fair, we made fun of Tre for doing that too. People were jokingly saying we were going to hire Savard and then it happened. I'm hoping the Kadri jokes stay far from reality though.

At the end of the day who cares? Most people want to work with their friends in the industry. It’s not like the whole staff is from the Soo. Even in Toronto besides Keefe and Clark no one else was a Soo guy.

Ryan Hardy was from the USHL.

Wickenhiser was a women’s hockey player.

Pridham was a cap guy from the NHL.

Dubas may not be a good GM in any way, but he’s obviously a good organizational leader and knows how to build relationships with those he works with.

 

[RunItBackAgain]

Was he actually in charge when we drafted Knies?

I’ll give him Cowan but until he succeeds at the NHL level it’s all smoke.

Passing on Solberg and others. Risky because if any of those guys between Solberg and #30 pan out we’ll never hear the end of it.