AN ODD DAY OF HIRINGS AND FIRINGS IN TORONTO
After fairly successful seasons, Leafs name new GM while Raptors fire head coach
On a bittersweet day in Toronto sports, there was a hiring here and a firing there and a whole lot of unknowns in between. Kyle Dubas is the new general manager of the Maple Leafs. That is a surprise to no one. His appointment came out of a first among equals front-office battle with fellow assistant general manager Mark Hunter. Dubas holds the big chair now. He won the only vote that mattered, the determination of club president Brendan Shanahan. Hunter, clearly disappointed at finishing second in a two-horse race, isn’t saying whether he’s staying or going with the Leafs. Neither Shanahan nor Dubas were clear about Hunter’s future in the front office, which is, to say the least, slightly troubling. Today, the Leafs’ front office can be described as deeper and stronger and more vastly experienced than most in the NHL. Tomorrow, meaning next month, or September, or when the new season begins, Lou Lamoriello will be a consultant. Hunter could be gone, the boys he brought with him, Jim Paliafito and Lindsay Hofford, could be gone also. We just don’t know. Dubas has some work to do, unless the Maple Leafs already know more about Hunter’s plans than they’re saying.
Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri’s firing of head coach Dwane Casey sounded the nicest, kindest firing of all time. It was more eulogy than dismissal, and after hearing everything nice (and true) Ujiri said about Casey, you could have thought he was handing out a five-year contract — which is what Dubas got — and not a see-you-later pink slip. Ostensibly, Casey was fired because he took the Raptors as far as they could go. He averaged 52 wins in his five seasons with Ujiri; the first year was supposed to be the trade-Kyle Lowry-and-tank season. Instead, it was a playoff year, which was followed by a playoff year, and another one, and this year, he will likely win coach of the year after he has signed on with a new NBA team.
That’s part of what made Friday such an odd day for MLSE. This is a company with a longterm record of lousy teams. But the Leafs won their most games in history, and recorded the most points, and have more promise than any Leafs team in decades. After that, Shanahan decided it was time to change general managers, and potentially disrupt his front office, when he could have stayed with Lamoriello, who has a distinguished track record. The Raptors, too, had a record season for wins, finished first for the first time in the conference, and for the first time were put in a favoured position come postseason play: These are the kinds of numbers you raise banners for. Casey engineered a team to a record 59 wins in what was supposed to be a reset year, an adjustment year.
He did that and lost his job. There have been almost 50 head coaches in Toronto over the last 30 years. The Leafs have had 12. The Raptors have had eight. Of all those men, few distinguished themselves with victories, with improvement, with deportment, with pure class, with dignity and with distinction the way Casey did.
Ujiri seemed near tears in talking about his coach. He called firing him “the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. I’ve never met anybody that classy in my life. I don’t know if I’ve worked with a better person.”
That was after he began his search for a replacement. Dubas inherits one of the youngest, deepest rosters in hockey, a team he has played a part in building. He is young of age at 31 but not young on experience, having kicked around arenas for more than 15 years. He was a teenage scout in Sault Ste. Marie, then an employee, then GM of the Greyhounds, the OHL team in that city. Dubas was getting married when he thought one of his groomsmen was playing a trick on him. The wedding party guy told him Brendan Shanahan called and wanted to meet. Previously Shanahan had asked Dave Branch, who was the youngest, smartest guy in junior hockey. Branch gave him a few names. Dubas was one of them. Shanahan and Dubas met and Dubas thought the meeting would help him run his junior franchise. Not long after that, Shanahan hired him.
The dream job for Dubas was not being named Leafs general manager, which is usually the dream job for most hockey executives. The dream job was getting the Sault GM job, the big hockey job in his hometown, with the team his family cared most about.
This is a good-news appointment, with possibly bad-news implications. But Dubas did get some sound advice from his latest mentor, Lamoriello. “Lou’s always said to me, when it comes to your time, you can’t imitate me and be successful. You have to be yourself. You have to have your own way of doing it.” Right to the end, Casey had his own way of doing it. He was one of the most successful, most memorable, most unforgettable coaches in the sporting history of this city. He will be missed.