Toronto Maple Leafs: Time Vindicates Kyle Dubas on Big Contracts

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think that time has vindicated Kyle Dubas’ performance on the four contracts that he signed as a rookie GM.

John  Tavares was a slam dunk.  You’re never going to get actual value on a big-name UFA, but the team has been a contender since it happened, and Tavares is pretty underrated right now due to all the losing in the first round, and a perceived drop off in performance that has to do with the Leafs goalies more than anything else.

I think everyone involved would happily do the deal over if they had the chance.

William Nylander’s deal is preposterously team-friendly, and at this point the only people who’d even argue against that are working so hard at trolling you that they only deserve contempt.

The two contracts that are up for debate are the Marner and Matthews ones, because whether the shorter terms were worth the value they are now providing is not so cut and dry.

Personally, I think the Leafs have been proven completely right, but the fact is they have not won a playoff series in this time.   That fact skews how people view this team and these players. There is no getting around it.

My belief is that if you put the pieces in place that are capable of winning, that is good enough.  Whether you actually win or not is going to come down to hundreds of variables, the three most important of which come down to luck (injuries, goalies and  the timing of your best players being due for new contracts).

The Toronto Maple Leafs did that.  Since signing their Big Four, they’ve been a Cup Contender and one of the best teams in the NHL.  The contracts are now providing such team-friendly value that I don’t really see how anyone can complain, but of course they will.

What’s even crazier, is that the Leafs made these bets with an eye towards the salary cap going up by a very large amount, and it never did.  The fact that despite that, these are still turning out to be very team-friendly contracts should completely recontextualize how Kyle Dubas is perceived around the league.

Labeled a “bad negotiator” it now turns out that he locked up three RFA superstars and got team-friendly cap hits on all of them. I would say that is not only a huge win, but that in the context of the pandemic and subsequent flat cap, along with the constant losing in the playoffs, it’s even more impressive.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made some errors along the way, but it turns out that the contracts given to Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews are not among them.  As both contracts are now providing team-friendly value, they should be seen as feather’s in the cap of Kyle Dubas.

Despite the shorter than desired length of both contracts, and cap hits that were high when first signed, the Toronto Maple Leafs knocked both deals out of the ball park.