Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas appeared on the Cam and Strick podcast on Tuesday, reminicising on multiple topics including Mitch Marner, Mike Babcock, Lou Lamoriello and his departure to Pittsburgh.
Say what you want about Kyle Dubas, but there's a reason he's been so successful at such a young age and it's a shame that he's no longer employed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. With so much attention on him as the young "whiz kid," Dubas did a fantastic job, but unfortunately it never transpired into a Stanley Cup.
After watching his interview, it became very clear that Dubas is not only a smart executive but he should still be the team's GM. No disrespect to current GM Brad Treliving, but he's an older hockey mind that has accomplished the same amount that Dubas has and I think this team would have been closer to a Stanley Cup with Dubas at the helm, instead of Treliving.
When Dubas got fired in 2023, change seemed iminent. Mitch Marner didn't have a no-trade clause, and I think he was about to be traded and a new chapter was about to happen. I also don't know if William Nylander would have been re-signed and we could have seen a way different Leafs team that we had in the past.
Within Dubas' interview, one of the biggest things he spoke about which I found interesting was his time with Mike Babcock. When we look back on Babcock's tenure, people usually play him as the villian, but instead, Dubas spoke about him saying that he was one of the most detailed coaches he'd ever worked with and his work ethic focused on accountability is the reason why the team made the playoffs in Auston Matthews' first year.
Kyle Dubas is one of the smartest executives in hockey
I always thought that Mike Babcock's hiring came too soon and he would have been better suited coaching a team that needed to get over the hump, but it was interesting to see how much praise he gave Babcock, although he understood pretty quickly that the team needed a "new voice" in 2019 to help get them to the next level.
Similarly to Mitch Marner and the "core-four", fans viewed that as the weakness of Dubas' tenure but I have never looked at him focusing on Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner as a bad thing. On paper you would want everyone of those players on your hockey team, but instead Dubas' plan got screwed up by a flat-cap and the pandemic which was something that nobody saw coming.
In addition to the core-four, Dubas spoke about the "pressure of playing in Toronto" and mentioned that he didn't feel like that factored in how the team played, which gave me peace of mind. That was a big conversation during Marner's departure, so it was nice to hear that wasn't a reason why they never succeeded.
After watching this interview, it became very clear that I miss Dubas' involvement in the Toronto Maple Leafs and that although some of his philopshies didn't work, it felt like he was willing to change his mind and is truly one of the best hockey executives in hockey. He's going to continue to get a bad reputation in Pittsburgh because the team is in a rebuild and I think it's unfair, but I hope one day we can see him running the Leafs and being the person in charge who eventually helps them win a Stanley Cup.