The Toronto Maple Leafs Top Priority: Re-Sign Kyle Dubas

The Toronto Maple Leafs should have one priority right now, and that is re-signing their GM to a contract extension.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a grave error by not already taking care of business, and now will have to compete with other teams in order to bring Dubas back, but there is nothing in the organization that is as important.

Dubas should get as many years as he’ll sign for.

Additionally, he should have full autonomy and absolute power.

Toronto Maple Leafs Top Summer Priority

A lot of people will want to blame the Leafs playoff failings on Dubas, but the fact is he’s been excellent and that isn’t on him.

The Toronto Maple Leafs out played Florida in four of five games, and would easily have rolled over the Paper Tigers if Auston Matthews’ hadn’t shot zero percent in the series.

As is a well kept secret, but yet, an indisputable fact, NHL players have no control over their shooting percentage.

Matthews scored five times in six games vs Tampa, and against Florida he played even better. He constantly created offense, but he hit the post or was robbed repeatedly by Sergei Bobrovsky.

You can’t help it when a goalie gets hot at the right time.  If you don’t believe me, go watch the highlights package from each game and count the times Matthews should have scored.

This includes overtime in game five when he easily could have ended the game three or four times.  He just didn’t get lucky.

The entire point of analytics is to make decisions independent of results, because results are subject to variance and making decisions based on variance leads to bad decisions.

The Toronto Maple Leafs clearly have a team that is among the best in the NHL, and as their system develops NHL players, as it is starting to, they will be even better.

Dubas’  best feature is how good he’s made the Leafs farm system, and it would be a shame to lose him before it’s even started to bear fruit.

Whether it’s keeping his superstars together, continuing to manipulate the cap to max out the talent available to them, drafting, or trading, Kyle Dubas is among the best in the NHL at doing it.

On top of which, he’s turned Toronto into a top destination for players because no team is as player friendly, or treats it’s player or their families better.

Also, he’s an awesome guy – he’s cool, funny and smart as hell.   The most important off-season move the Leafs can do is sign Kyle Dubas to an extension.

And , as a bonus, if they want to make a Hall of Fame move, they’ll make Dubas President and make Brandon Pridham their GM.