Curtain comes up on Dubas at draft
The new hierarchy of hockey in Eastern Canada is still relatively new, but it is only deepening as events unfold. The Montreal Canadiens are lost between ideas, chasing bad bet after bad bet, destined for nowhere. The Ottawa Senators are imploding on so many fronts that it is frankly difficult to keep track, but the wife of your best player filing an order of protection against the girlfriend of one of your leading scorers is a good place to start. Both franchises are almost creative in their sorrows.
And then there are the Maple Leafs, at the outset of their next stage. Kyle Dubas was named GM five weeks ago; he has already reordered the front office with sharp thinkers like Brandon Pridham and Laurence Gilman, and overseen the Marlies’ Calder Cup run. He got to celebrate a championship for the first time in his professional life; he got, a little famously, to scream.
“I’ve certainly seen the photos and the footage,” said Dubas, of his trophyaccepting howl. “I don’t know how to describe it other than it was an emotional evening, and an emotional game, and it’s a long season, and when you go through a journey of a season with not only those people but their families, those people I’ve worked with for a long, long time, going back to the time in the Soo, I think all that just came together.”
“I’m not like that all the time, but when you have moments like that, it’s certainly OK to show that side of you.”
But now Dubas, 32, gets to show the side of him that has been only briefly glimpsed: He gets to show what he can do with everything he has accumulated since leaving Sault Ste. Marie four years ago. The NHL draft is Friday, with opportunities for strategy, trades, wheeling and dealing. The free-agency window opens June 25.
The Leafs don’t have a pick before No. 25, but they have $22.3 million (U.S.) in cap space, before signing William Nylander. They have many assets, a few liabilities, and holes to fill. When he was sharing interim GM duties with the since-departed Mark Hunter back in 2015, you could see signs of Dubas’s creativity, and willingness to steal smart ideas from other sports. Now, Dubas gets to run his own show.
“Yeah, what we’re going to try to do is what every team does, which is use everything we can to improve our team, so I don’t know if creativity is the best way to put it,” says Dubas. “I really like our staff and our operations in all regards, and we want people’s ideas and we want their insight and thoughts into how to improve our team. And some of it will be very, very conventional, and some of it you might call it creative.
“But I think every team will be creative to improve itself. In 2015 we traded down (in the draft to net multiple picks), (but) we were at a different stage of our franchise at that time: We were looking to add more picks to add more prospects, because that’s where we were at. Now we’re at a different stage. We traded a first-round pick, Lou (Lamoriello) did, for (goaltender) Freddie Andersen two years ago, and that’s been an excellent move for us so far, and will continue to be, no doubt. So I think we are very open-minded. Our vision and our plan is not as concise as it was back then, but when we were a non-playoff team.”
In other words, it’s not that he will be pinned down to one strategy. Saturday, Dubas was asked a series of questions by reporters. How much value did he put in positional selection when it comes to the draft? Zero, which is the correct approach. Would he necessarily replicate that New England Patriotslike, trade-down-the-draft strategy? Not necessarily. Does Dubas feel pressure to make a big move, with John Tavares and Erik Karlsson and other significant players edging towards either free agency or the trade market? No, he said.
“We have a group of very good young core players, and we expect them to improve, and it’s not always a straight line.” KYLE DUBAS
But he didn’t rule it out. He makes absolutely no move toward confirming any reported interest in Tavares should the Islanders centre leave Dubas’s predecessor, Lamoriello, empty-handed, and actually reach free agency. But Dubas says that even with extensions to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander — the latter of whom has to be signed this year — he is open to being active in free agency.
“I think so. We’re in a good cap situation, and we have the cap space, that’s an asset for us,” said Dubas. “We have a group of very good young core players, and we expect them to improve, and it’s not always a straight line ... and with our cap space for this year, because of where we’re at, we’re open to use it in any way that can improve our organization and our program.”
All doors are open. All calls will be received. Before it begins, all things are possible. Kyle Dubas has spent four years in the NHL, he has spent some time sharing the wheel, and some time in the back seat, and he has a head full of opinions and ideas and philosophies. It’s time for Kyle Dubas to begin to show why he got the job, and what he will be. He’s smart. How smart? We’ll see.