Toronto Maple Leafs: the Best of All Possible Situations

The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Kyle Dubas to be their new GM.

The direct result of hiring Dubas was that the Toronto Maple Leafs then lost Lou Lamoriello to the New York Islanders and Mark Hunter to a team to be eventually named.

And the usual suspects would have believe this is somehow a problem.

The Leafs could have kept Lou Lamoriello, but they would have lost Kyle Dubas.  That is not a trade off any sane person would make.  Lamoriello hasn’t been a good GM for about a decade. At best in Toronto he didn’t ruin anything.  But he also didn’t stock his team up for this year’s playoff run when they’ll never have a better chance to game the salary cap.  The Devils were in decline when he left, and I’m not sure he did anything of value in Toronto that anyone else couldn’t have done.  Not to say he was bad, but other than Andersen, he didn’t really do anything spectacular.

Dubas on the other hand, is half his age, and steeped in the exact things (namely data collection and analysis) that the NHL is trending towards.  Even if Dubas is not 100% more appealing than Lamoriello (I think he is) it wouldn’t make sense to trade a rookie with sky-high potential for a vet in his last season, which is, I think an apt analogy.

Hunter

As for Hunter, he ran an OHL team, just like Dubas did.  He’s got a reputation as a great scout, but it will be years before the Leafs or anyone really know how he did during his time here.  His signature move – Marner over Hanifin – doesn’t really tell us anything because Hunter had Marner on his team in the OHL.

Anyway you look at it, the Leafs got the best guy.  And the other two leaving probably helps smooth over the transition by eliminated friction and power struggles.

As for Hunter and Lamoriello, anyone would have picked Marner and Matthews.  But here is a list of players they did not acquire: Nylander, Kadri, Johnsson, Kapanen, Gardiner, Rielly, Hyman, Brown, JVR and Bozak – so about 95% of the Leafs current team.

Not to take anything away from them – the Andersen trade worked out well, Liljegren looks great, the cupboard seems well stocked with prospects and the Leafs are definitely on an upward trajectory.  I think, however, the criticism of the Leafs moves misses out on the fact that Lamoriello really didn’t do much – Phaneuf and Andersen are his only non-minor moves. And that we have no more idea who or what Hunter is than we do with Dubas.

Next: Shame, Anger and Embarrassment

This is an exciting time for the Toronto Maple Leafs and I personally think that everything in the last two weeks has worked out perfectly.

Thanks for reading.