Toronto Maple Leafs: Brian Burke Is Wrong About Kyle Dubas

Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burk criticized Kyle Dubas on his blueprint.

The Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, Kyle Dubas, once spoke the mesmerizing words that filled the hearts of every hockey fan that bears a warm heart for the Toronto Maple Leafs when asked the question that wondered on everyone’s mind back then;

"Can you keep all four of them; Tavares, Nylander, Marner, and Matthews? “We can, and we will.” (Kyle Dubas on the 31 thoughts podcast)."

Easily a slogan that could bring you to some form of government office somewhere. In the case of Dubas, words that could have been like a millstone around the neck of a drowning man, boldly spoken barely 2 months in his position as general manager.

On September the 13th, 2019, Dubas came through on his word, signing Marner to a new six-year deal. And so, Dubas pulled off the Houdini act no one thought possible and signed all four stars under the salary cap.

The Toronto Maple Leafs blueprint was set for years to come. Brian Burke, however unsurprisingly, wasn’t impressed.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Blueprint

The blueprint of the Toronto Maple Leafs is one likely admired throughout the league. Perhaps to a lesser extent now, due to the current situation with the flat cap, bud admired nonetheless when Dubas managed to pull it off back in 2019.

Carved within this blueprint is the simple philosophy of skill; quality over quantity. It’s the reason Dubas traded Johnsson and Kapanen, not Nylander.

It raises the fair question, however; can you win with the majority of your cap space (nearly 50%) spent on your 4 top forwards? Burke surely doesn’t think so;

"“No. They’ve got half their cap, $81.5 million dollars, $40 million dollars in four guys. So guess, what? The math doesn’t work.” (Brian Burke on the Spittin Chiclets Podcast)."

Well, the math seems to work so far, tight-knit, I admit. Working, nonetheless.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Kyle Dubas

Granted, there’s a viable sense to the deduction made by Burke.

Though, my suspicion is it’s merely scoreboard journalism, followed, of course, by the infamous one-liner that will likely fill the hockey void that is Toronto for the remainder of Nylander’s tenure in Toronto;

"“They’ve got to trade Nylander and get a defenseman.” (Brian Burke on the Spittin Chiclets Podcast)."

There you have it, folks!

This is where Burke is just plain wrong. Trading Nylander won’t bring the league-wide coveted shutdown right-handed defenseman. The most likely scenario is one comparable with the infamous Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson scenario.

Nylander makes this team better, a (mediocre) defenseman wouldn’t improve this team more than giving up Nylander would hurt the team.

With the often forgotten fifth piece of the blueprint, Morgan Rielly, the Toronto Maple Leafs have all the key components to reach the success the team, city and fanbase crave and Dubas should not stray from this course.