The Toronto Maple Leafs lack of playoff success has led to speculation that this might be the last season for Kyle Dubas and his hand-picked coach, Sheldon Keefe. But that is nonsensical.
Why in the world would the Toronto Maple Leafs look to fire either Keefe or Dubas right now?
I know they haven’t won a playoff round in their tenure, but nobody employed by the organization has done that in 19 years. Nobody since 1967 has won a Stanley Cup or even been to a Stanley Cup Final, so what’s the rush to push these two out the door?
I’m not sure if you know this, but winning is incredibly hard in professional sports.
There’s only one winner every year, which means there are 31 losers. There aren’t too many professions where you’re almost guaranteed to lose, despite doing a fantastic job.
Since 1997, there’s only one general manager who has more playoff appearances than Kyle Dubas and that’s Pat Quinn. In five seasons as GM (he also coached), Quinn made four playoff appearances and made two Conference Finals appearances, but then was ultimately fired and replaced by John Ferguson Jr.
As you can see, the grass isn’t always greener, as “JFJ” was one of the worst GM’s in hockey history and sent this team back years, after being employed for five seasons.
Toronto Maple Leafs Aren’t Changing Tactics Any Time Soon
If Ferguson Jr. can be given five years on the job, Dubas should automatically get 10 years of a leash.
Whenever Dubas gets fired, Keefe will more than likely go with him because those two seem to be a package deal. Ever since their days with the Soo Greyhounds, the duo win wherever they go. They may not have won an OHL championship together, but they built an incredible foundation and turned a struggling team into one of the most competitive in the league.
From there, the two won a Calder Cup championship together with the Toronto Marlies and built a development program that continues to be competitive every year.
Now, the two are together with the Toronto Maple Leafs and all they do is win (except in the playoffs). The last two seasons have provided the two highest winning percentages in Leafs history, which is pretty impressive, for a team that’s been around for 103 years.
Hired as the full-time General Manager in May, 2018, after a stint as co-GM with Mark Hunter and as an assistant under Lamoriello, Dubas inherited a Lou Lamoriello team that was good, but needed some overhauling. The team hasn’t succeeded in the playoffs, but overall, he’s done an amazing job with the roster.
Though some may think he’s “overpaid” for some of the top-talent on the roster, William Nylander’s contract is a steal, while Matthews and Marner are paid fairly, as two of the top-10 players in the NHL.
A strategy built on “stud’s and dud’s” is a tough one to execute, but he’s continued to find diamonds in the rough and has gave Leafs fans a team they should all be proud of. Obviously, the playoff success hasn’t happened yet, but it’s going to happen eventually.
This is is the most pressure-packed season of Keefe and Dubas’ career, but if history shows us anything, they will make the playoffs and they will be really good in the regular season, again. Whenever the playoffs start, you roll the dice and see what happens, but one of these days, they’re going to win a round and they may even win a championship.
But even they don’t, you shouldn’t fire competent people, because as previously mentioned, winning is so damn hard.
I’d rather take my chances with the duo that have given us the best two regular seasons in team history, over someone else, so let’s continue to ride this wave and see what happens.
If this team misses the playoffs and falls apart, then maybe we can look at a restart, but at this current moment, even if they lose in seven games again in the First Round, I trust this duo to give the Toronto Maple Leafs the best opportunity to win on a nightly basis, over some old-school hockey mind who is living in the past.