Kyle Dubas should have been named president of the Toronto Maple Leafs

Former GM Kyle Dubas is one of the smartest executives in hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs screwed over the future of their franchise by letting him walk.

It's been just over one year since the Toronto Maple Leafs let Kyle Dubas walk away from the organization and the more I think about it, the more I realize that it was one of the worst moves they've ever made. Brendan Shanahan deserved his six-year contract extension back in 2019 because he hired Dubas as GM, but because he fired him in 2023, it should be the reason he's not extended after this season.

On one hand, I can understand a fan's dissapointment in Dubas because the team only won one playoff round during his tenure as GM, but on the other hand, he's the only GM since 2004 to actually win a playoff round. Fans and executives quickly forget just how good they have it sometimes and Dubas was our best chance at current and future success.

Dubas Should Have Been Named President of Hockey Operations Last Year

Sure, they lost more playoff rounds than they won, but at least they got there. This organization went 12 years without making the playoffs (in a true 82 game season, sorry 2012-13 doesn't count), but when they finally did, it wasn't good enough. I'm sorry to break it to you, but this organization isn't a winner. We haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967, so when you finally get something good, you should probably hold onto it for as long as you can, but Shanahan got scared and fired him, as he saw him as a threat for his position.

It's like that friend of yours who finally dates a nice girl and then breaks up with her because he thinks he's the man and can find someone better. Fast-forward one year later and he finally realizes that he's not a 10 and he made the biggest regret of his life.

It wasn't a fluke that Dubas was the youngest ever certified agent by the NHLPA, hired as an OHL GM at 25-years-old or that he was hired by an NHL team at 28-years-old. And with that being said, it wasn't shocking that he got hired as the President of Hockey Operations by the Pittsburgh Penguins, immediately after getting let go by the Leafs.

Good executives are hard to find and Dubas is one of the most respected GM's in hockey, as shown by his recent hire by Team Canada at the World Championships and upcoming Winter Olympics. In due time, Dubas will be named the GM of Team Canada and he'll eventually be a Stanley Cup champion.

He constructed one of the best teams we've ever had during that 2022-23 season and would have eventually got over the hump in Toronto. It's an absolute shame that he couldn't have handled the core-four contract extensions again, because I think he would have got it right and put this team in the right direction.

Instead, we have a scared GM who's wasting Auston Matthews' prime and has set this franchise back years. Sorry to be such a die-hard fan of an executive, but letting Dubas go will end up being one of the worst decisions in the history of the Leafs and part of me hopes he wins a Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh before the Leafs finally get their's.