Did Kyle Dubas actually dig at Brendan Shanahan in his official statement? One reporter believes he did
It took Kyle Dubas a few days to absorb the news before he finally broke his silence and released a statement following his dismissal in Toronto. Finally, Dubas issued a statement via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday and, for the most part, his message appeared to be all class, as usual.
In case you missed it, here's what Dubas had to say:
"While I understand there is interest surrounding the circumstances of my departure, I will not get into the specifics of what I consider to be reasonable and consistent but private discussions. In the days that felt needed to assess and evaluate my own view to the future, both with respect to the necessary direction of the club and ensuring that I had the full support of my family for what I knew would be required in the off- season and years to follow, the organization, as is their right to do, decided to go in a different direction.
In the nine seasons since being afforded the opportunity to work in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, we have had the chance to learn a lot and have grown significantly through the ups and downs. We have watched our family double in size while developing meaningful relationships which will last a lifetime. It was an honour to be able to work in such an inspiring place, with dedicated, loyal people and an extremely passionate fan base. The impact of that and the relationships with all of the people at MLSE, from the board of directors through to the ushers at Scotiabank Arena, will forever hold a dear place in our hearts. To the players, coaches and staff at the facility each day, past and present, thank you for your passion and commitment at every step of the journey together. It was a tremendous pleasure to work alongside you each day. We will roll from here."
Following the release of this statement, it didn't take long for one reporter, ESPN's Greg Wyshynski, to notice something about the specific wording of Dubas' statement. In particular, 3 words stood out to Wyshynski; "reasonable", "consistent", and "private".
In a quote tweet of Dubas' statement, Wyshynski elaborated on what he felt were shots from Dubas towards Shanahan - whom he didn't mention by name even once in his statement.
Consistent = "Shanny wasn't blindsided by the new offer"
Private = "He talked. I'm releasing a vague tweet"
With how calculating and slick Dubas can be, it's no wonder why so many people missed this on the first pass. However, once you read it over a couple of times with this added context, it appears as though Dubas was indeed delivering a subtle slap to the face of Brendan Shanahan.
| POLL | ||
MAI 23 | 93 ANSWERS Did Kyle Dubas actually dig at Brendan Shanahan in his official statement? One reporter believes he did Did Dubas intentionally slip in some shots at Brendan Shanahan in his statement? | ||
| Absolutely and I love it | 53 | 57 % |
| No, I think that's a reach | 28 | 30.1 % |
| It's probably just a coincidence | 12 | 12.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
