Toronto Maple Leafs: Kyle Dubas Wants More Toughness

During the Toronto Maple Leafs Coaches Open House last weekend, Kyle Dubas had a lot to say about the toughness of this team.

It’s been a long time since the Toronto Maple Leafs won a playoff series, let alone competed for a Stanley Cup. In fact, it’s been so many years that most of the team’s core was probably too young to even remember it.

The organization is committed to winning and the team has more than enough talent to do so. Led by Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander, the team has never had so much young skill at one time.  So far it hasn’t translated into winning.

Is this because the team wasn’t tough enough? Probably not, since it took the all-time highest save percentage in playoff history to prevent them from getting buy Columbus, but it’s been a constant narrative either way, and apparently the GM agrees.

Toronto Maple Leafs Need More Toughness

After failing to win a playoff round, the toughness of this team was questioned once again. Many people think that fighting and hitting describes the definition of toughness, but in today’s NHL, it’s more about your compete-level, rather than knocking someone out.

No matter how much talent the Toronto Maple Leafs have, they seem like they don’t want it as much as their opponent.  Although, the Leafs should have been done after losing six straight games last November, and they came back from that.  Then there was the game four comeback this summer.  It could be that this is a complicated team that doesn’t easily fit into a convenient narrative.  Still, it couldn’t hurt to get tougher.

They were hands-down the better team on paper against the Columbus Blue Jackets last qualifying series, but the Blue Jackets wanted it more. Or maybe it just seems that whoever wins wanted it more.

Regardless of why the other team won, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Kyle Dubas have finally addressed that they need to get tougher and what that toughness means.

Here’s what Dubas said during the Leafs Coaches Open House last weekend:

"“When we talk about toughness with our group, it’s very simple the way that we define it…It’s if there’s a 50-50 puck, do you desperately want to win that puck every single time? And are you willing to be the first one on the puck? Are you willing to go to the difficult areas of the ice with and without the puck and be successful? Are you willing to endure the physical duress that’s going to come on to you if we’re going to go as far as we want to go? And do that every single night through the regular season, but more importantly, in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs, and be able to score the way you have to score in the playoffs and defend the way you have to defend in the playoffs, and that gets built over time.”"

John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman and Jake Muzzin are four leaders on the Leafs that I can see buying into Dubas’ approach immediately. Hyman is hands-down the best at it already, because whenever he goes into the corner or is in a battle, he always seems to come out with the puck.

So although this quote by Dubas excites me, it also terrifies me. The young G.M. addressed these concerns by adding Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds and Zach Bogosian, but they’re not going to be playing 20 minutes a night in the playoffs.

If Dubas’ quote can get engrained into each player’s head every time they step onto the ice, this team will be in a much better situation than last year. However, if they go back to their old ways, a similar result of the past 15 years will ensue.