Kyle Dubas retrospective

[Ozzie]

A lot of hockey media this past week has been examining the performance of Kyle Dubas. His short stint in Pittsburgh is already showing a number of signs of failure.

And now pundits are re-examing his tenure in Toronto.

By the Foligno trade, I started realizing Dubas is Fugazi. Which brought a new light for me on his prior moves and signings.



He reminds me of the old saying "You can fool some of the people some of the time....."

 

[Guilt Trip]

Overall Dubas was good here. Like Keefe, didn't work out, and they moved on. When he took the job in Pitt, the organization was a disaster. The plan from ownership was to keep trying for a few years and if it didn't work, rebuild/retool time. That's the phase they're going into now. He didn't ruin them, like he didn't ruin the Leafs. Every GM makes both good and bad moves. When the Leafs got Foligno and ROR there weren't too many complaints from anyone. Most "experts" applauded the moves because those were the players the Leafs needed. It didn't work out. It only works for 1 team every year.
Anyway I wish him well in Pitt. He's a quality human being and that trumps everything for me at the end of the day. Same with Keefe who I think is a great coach. It just didn't work out here.

 

[Joe S.]

Note: I moved this out of the other thread. No reason to bring back a 4 year old thread for this discussion.

I’m love this age of hyperbole we live in.

JFJ quite literally ruined the leafs, as did Floyd Smith way back. Burke and Nonis made several moves that set the team back.

Dubas made good moves and bad moves like every GM in the league, all he did was preside over one of the more successful (regular season in any case) eras in leafs history.

Dubas did not ‘ruin’ the leafs in any real measure of the term. Did some moves set them back? Yes, sure. But show me any GM that hasn’t made bad moves.

 

[Ozzie]

The greatest most talented drafted roster ever in the history of the Leafs was over the past decade. The Matthews Era.


Dubas inherited a playoff qualifying team, and the greatest drafted Leaf roster ever. He delivered 5 of 16 wins in the playoffs. To me, this is the main metric measuring success.

Not great. Not good. Mediocre, at best.

I encourage watching the first 40 seconds of the third video link I posted above which sums it up. The best drafted talent and chance to win squandered with mediocre results. Watching the Leafs blow an easy walk to the finals in the "Canadian Division" on Amazon All or Nothing sums it up with more detail.

 

[Guilt Trip]

The greatest most talented drafted roster ever in the history of the Leafs was over the past decade. The Matthews Era.


Dubas inherited a playoff qualifying team, and the greatest drafted Leaf roster ever. He delivered 5 of 16 wins in the playoffs. To me, this is the main metric measuring success.

Not great. Not good. Mediocre, at best.

I encourage watching the first 40 seconds of the third video link I posted above which sums it up. The best drafted talent and chance to win squandered with mediocre results. Watching the Leafs blow an easy walk to the finals in the "Canadian Division" on Amazon All or Nothing sums it up with more detail.

I'll pass thanks and for my final response on this topic.
Dubas was a good GM and as I stated made good and bad moves like every GM. He was GM for 3 of the top 4 regular season pts % finishes in Leafs history. They were .02% away from having the top 3 in history. A history that spans over 100 years. That's an amazing accomplishment. The team's lack of success in the playoffs can be attributed to some bad breaks, bad luck, injuries whatever. Ultimately it is on THE PLAYERS. The core 4 have not got it done yet......l8r

 

[lamajama]

I’ve said it before many times so I apologize but the Cap remaining flat due to Covid just killed the ability to add good support players. Most deadline deals were “decent” and the usual bad luck (Leaf fans know all too well) with injuries etc also dealt a blow.

 

[ZBBM]

I didn't bother with any of the videos because of the first one's teaser: "When will Kyle Dubas by held accountable?" What does that even mean? And who is going to hold him accountable, and under what authority? Are we fans going to haul him into court and charge him with negligent homicide because he killed our cup dreams?

 

[Zee]

Dubas's mistake with the Leafs was betting that the NHL was allowing for more skilled players/smaller players to excel. Problem is when the playoffs start it's still caveman hockey where a 6'5" player who can barely skate is allowed to drag your players down without any penalty call. I think he started to realize this as the years went on but then wasn't allowed to finish the job after the power struggle with Shanahan.

Also, using Pittsburgh as an example of his bad moves is just lazy. Dubas went into a situation where he's not allowed to rebuild because ownership still thinks they have a Cup shot with Crosby/Malkin/Letang and won't give up that dream. His mistake was taking that job to begin with under those conditions, but then who among us would turn down $50million or whatever the hell they paid him? Not me.

 

[IJustLurkHere]

Ignoring the hatchet job of the source material here, the problem with trying to do a Dubas retrospective right now is that this in a substantial way, the current Leafs roster is really still Dubas' team. As long as the team's fate is decided by the core 4 + Rielly, we're still operating in a structure Dubas built.

The question on this year's team is the same it has been since Taveres was signed: has the team spent the rest of their cap money well?

• Is the (retooled by Treliving) defense good enough?
• Are Woll (a Dubas player) and/or Stolarz (Treliving signing) good enough?
• Are supporting players like Knies (Dubas), McMann (Dubas) and Domi (Treliving) the background characters to propel the core 4 to playoff glory?

At some point in the future, a retrospective of this era will be really compelling. Once the era is actually in retrospect.