Toronto Maple Leafs: Ranking All 32 NHL General Managers
By Jeff Borsuk
The 14th Ranked GM – Kyle Dubas (Toronto Maple Leafs)
In May of 2018, Kyle Dubas became the 17th GM of the Maple Leafs. At that time, he was the second youngest person to have the role in the NHL. Dubas was just 32 years old. The youngest was John Chayka of the Coyotes who was just a month away from his 29th birthday.
Dubas took over for Lou Lamoriello, beating out his co-assistant GM Mark Hunter. Helping Dubas elevate himself above Hunter to earn the GM job in Toronto was both his work with the Calder Cup winning Toronto Marlies as well as his forte in using data and analytics.
The Good – There is a lot to like about the way Dubas has managed in Toronto. He has done extraordinarily well at signing free agents. His biggest UFA acquisition would have to John Tavares, who would later be named the team captain. Dubas has a number of excellent signings including hockey hero Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds, T.J. Brodie, and Joe Thornton.
Dubas has also shown that he can be quite crafty. For example, one of the first trades Dubas ever made as GM was in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He sent pick number 25 to the Blues in exchange for pick 29 and 76. St. Louis used their selection to take Dominik Bokk who has yet to reach the NHL. Meanwhile, Dubas and the Leafs used their new slots to draft Rasmus Sandin and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev.
The Bad – What keeps Dubas stuck in the middle of the pack of NHL general managers is his team’s inability to win playoff rounds. Their lack of success has crushed Leafs fans for years. In all his different roles with the organization, Dubas hasn’t able to help the Leafs win a single playoff series.
The Ugly – There is no uglier stain on Dubas’s tenure than his contract negotiations with both William Nylander and Mitch Marner, both of whom were restricted free agents at the time.
Nylander’s camp and Dubas went back and forth for a long time but weren’t able to come to a decision prior to the start of the season. Their negotiations actually lasted two months into the season and were finally settled on Dec. 1, 2018, mere minutes ahead of the NHL deadline to sign RFAs.
The Marner negotiations weren’t quite as dramatic and their dispute didn’t last nearly as long. The two sides came to an agreement at the start of training camp on Sep. 13, 2019. Many speculated at the time that Dubas was gun shy after his experience with Nylander, which is why he gave Marner such a massive contract. The winger was signed to a six-year $65.408M deal, which carries an AAV of $10.903M.