Former Leafs GM declines to meet with the media following his dismissal
For a little over a week, most rumours were circulating around the likelihood that Sheldon Keefe was going to get canned after another disappointing playoff appearance. Kyle Dubas' contract was looming over the Toronto Maple Leafs like a dark cloud but the verbiage from general manager and president made it sound like a deal was on the horizon.
Earlier today all the Keefe rumours were swept under the rug - for the time being - after the Leafs revealed that Dubas would not be returning next season. The Maple Leafs now have a general manager vacancy, could have a head coaching coming and who knows where Brendan Shanahan currently sits right now, since he created this mess?
Shanahan mentioned that he approached Dubas in mid-March about coming back and signing an extension to stay in Toronto and according to the President of Hockey Operations, the general manager verbally agreed and would allow his agent to continue on his behalf. After the playoffs had ended, he then presented Dubas with a framework to an offer to which Dubas was pleasantly surprised that it came so quickly after the season had come to a close.
Shanahan said he would not address the media on the Monday and he had asked Dubas - and had hoped that he would follow the same train of thought - to do the same. Unfortunately Dubas decided to speak and based on what he said and how he acted, Shanahan knew that there was a "dramatic shift" and that he had legitimate doubts that he'd be the general manager of his hockey club moving forward.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, the media would love to get their hands on some interviews and quotes from Dubas, but when presented with a request, Dubas respectfully declined for the time being. Pierre LeBrun was one of the media members who had reached out, to which Dubas said there would be a time and a place for that.
For now we will have to speculate on why the shift happened so suddenly and what the next steps are in filling out a new front office. Dubas spent 5 seasons in Toronto as GM, 9 years in total, and went through the ringer for his moves that seemingly bared no fruit as the Leafs finished out his tenure with 4 first round defeats and a second round defeat - the first time they advanced past the first round since 2003-04.
