Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
cw said:
No question Shanahan and the board bear some responsibility for where we find ourselves today. However, a significant portion of the responsibility is also on Kyle Dubas.
People are accusing Shanahan of being unprofessional. But it was Shanahan who advised Dubas against doing a presser until the deal was done, but Dubas insisted. He then proceeded to share his personal issues in public ? a very questionable decision and, to many people, including me, an unprofessional one.
Again, I like many things about Dubas but he is by no means a fully polished manager. His set-to with the fans in Tampa was, as he himself admitted, probably foolish.
So I agree with cw here: there's blame to be had on both sides.
My sense of last summer is Shanahan pitched the concept of a contract for Dubas to the board last summer - not insisting on it - floating the idea. He got their answer.
Being forthright is a component of integrity. As business people, we have to weigh what we're told against our confidence in the person who told us. It is natural to have more faith in people who are forthright and straight with us. It is also natural to lose faith in people who are not forthright and not straight with us.
I thought it was professional and thoughtful that Shanahan approached Dubas after the deadline - which was the earliest he practically could given the board's response last summer. It was an early, more humane end to Dubas swinging in the breeze in his contract year. Dubas didn't have to wait to find out if he won a playoff round. Shanahan felt he'd done well through the deadline and wanted closure. I see little wrong with that on Shanahan's part. He's had Dubas' back for 9 years. It had to have occurred well before Dubas' press conference of last Monday because Shanahan would have to get the blessing of the board who rejected Dubas' extension last summer.
Shanahan maintains the understanding began to be developed shortly after the trade deadline - which I find credible. The team would not want to leave this decision to the last moment of his contract with so many decisions in front of them and this decision needed to be the first or one of the first.
On Monday, Dubas claimed he was deliberating family issues. Between Monday & Friday, something changed that caused Shanahan to withdraw his renewal offer. There were no decisions made by the GM pertaining to the club that could cause that change. His last key decisions were made at the trade deadline. Therefore, it is likely that Shanahan's account of Dubas' agent requesting significant changes the previous day is credible as was Shanahan's concern that Dubas was publicly announcing he wasn't committed to return last Monday.
This smells of Dubas not being forthright with Shanahan. There is little question that something substantial changed after Monday that was significant. If accurate, one looking at that could not be faulted for wondering if this was posturing to run down the clock in order to pressure the Leafs into giving Dubas a better deal. If accurate, one could ask themselves "why wouldn't he be straight and up front with me from the outset?" If accurate, not being forthright diminished the perception of Dubas' integrity and their trust in him.
If those contract demands contained, as some have speculated, complete autonomy from Shanahan, one could construe that the demands largely eradicate Shanahan's role at MLSE ... and the primary decision maker on accepting that was Shanahan. Talk about a tough sell.
Further, to have some understanding for some period of time that was very likely presented to the board and suddenly be put into the embarrassing position of having to go back to the board with a sudden demand for substantially different contract demands at the last moment (that potentially eradicate your position) would be a tough sell to a board that had declined to renew last summer and all they'd got was one playoff round victory in five years.
We haven't heard from Dubas. But I'm having trouble imagining any explanation where he comes up all roses.
