Kyle Dubas is the best GM the Leafs have had in 20 years; it sounds wild, but it's based in fact
Look in the comments section under any post on this website and you'll find fans calling for Kyle Dubas' job. It doesn't even have to be a Dubas related article. Matthews goes rollerblading? He should be training! Dubas has lost control.. Fire Dubas. Jack Campbell signs with another team? Fire Dubas. The Leafs win! Not a playoff series win.. Fire Dubas.
It's gotten to the point where "Fire Dubas" has become the Leafs fan version of the "Thanks Obama" meme. It seems half the fanbase wants the Leafs' GM gone, especially the older generation of fans who grew up on clutch and grab hockey - who witnessed multiple fights in every game. The fact is, Dubas doesn't deserve to be fired. Another fact is that he's actually the best GM the Leafs have had in 2 decades.
To back this up, we'll have to look at Leafs GMs over the past 20 years. Kyle Dubas, Lou Lamoriello, Dave Nonis, Bryan Burke, Cliff Fletcher, John Ferguson Junior and the late Pat Quinn. In the Last 20 years, those 7 general managers have managed to win 1 playoff series. Yes, that's it. One series win in the last 20 years. The bar isn't exactly sky high at this point, and while Dubas has yet to win a series, the goal is not to win a series.. it's to win a Cup.
We'll start with Pat Quinn's 2002-03 season, his last with the Maple Leafs. The Leafs' core included names like Sundin, Mogilny, Kaberle, Tucker and Roberts, they also had Ed Belfour between the pipes. This was the best Leafs team in recent memory until now.
Quinn acquired Phil Housley for a 2nd round pick. Housley was, and still is a household name, but he only played 1 game for the Leafs. Not a great deal. The team finished 2nd in their division that year, unfortunately the Leafs would bow out in the first round after a 7-game war against the Philadelphia Flyers. Quinn would relinquish GM duties, but stayed on as head coach until 2006. The General Manager title was then passed to John Ferguson Junior.
JFJ's Leafs tenure started fairly well in 2003-04. Ferguson signed Joe Niewendyk and traded for Ron Francis and Bryan Leetch. The Leafs once again finished 2nd in the Northeast division and were able to win a 7-game series against the Ottawa Senators, but once again couldn't get past the Philadelphia Flyers. Under Ferguson's leadership, the Leafs would miss the playoffs every single season until his firing in 2008, effectively wasting the last 5 years of Mats Sundin's career. Honestly, the Rask for Raycroft trade is enough on its own to disqualify Ferguson from being the best GM of the last 20 years. After his firing, Cliff Fletcher took over the GM job on an interim basis.
Less than a year into Fletcher's interim GM career, he was replaced by Brian Burke in November 2009. Burke promised to make the Leafs a bigger, meaner team. The "Truculence Era" Leafs. Burke was responsible for some horrific Leafs trades in his 5 years as Leafs GM. The deal to acquire Phil Kessel handed both Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin to the Bruins. He also traded away the draft picks that became Philip Grubauer, Brandon Saad, Rickard Rakell, John Gibson and Josh Manson. None of the players the Leafs received in those trades are even worth mentioning. Burke was fired in January of 2013 and immediately replaced by Dave Nonis.
When Nonis took over at the start of the lockout shortened 2012-13 season he rode the emergence of James Reimer to a playoff berth. The Leafs erased a 3-1 series deficit against the Bruins, and looked to have game 7 wrapped up before blowing a 4-1 lead in the final 10 minutes of Game 7. After that, the Leafs went downhill fast.
First, Nonis cratered Reimer's confidence by trading for Jonathan Bernier. Then he signed the god awful David Clarkson contract. I challenge any one of you reading this to find a worse signing Dubas has made. No, Nick Ritchie and Petr Mrazek were not worse. They weren't worse even if you combined them.
The Leafs mercifully fired Nonis after the 2015 season and Lou Lamoriello became GM. This was also the beginning of the Shanahan era in Toronto. Lamoriello tore the team down to the studs before beginning to build the foundation of the Leafs current team. He brought in the Leafs first legitimate starter since Ed Belfour in Frederik Andersen and began building the Leafs through the draft. Lou brought the Leafs from the basement to back to back playoff appearances, but unfortunately the Leafs still couldn't win that elusive playoff round.
Lamoriello made a few blunders during his time in Toronto, but his 2 huge mistakes as Leafs GM were the Patrick Marleau and Nikita Zaitsev deals. The Marleau deal was a massive error, as it ended up costing the Leafs a first round pick to move on from. Lou left for the Islanders after the Leafs promoted Kyle Dubas to the GM position.
Dubas is heading into his 5th season as Leafs GM. In that time, the Leafs have steadily improved, despite spotty goaltending. The defense corps is the best we've seen in recent memory. He's managed to sign each of the Leafs' young stars to long term contracts and avoid giving out bad contracts for the most part. Under Dubas, the Leafs have been a playoff team in 4 straight seasons. Of the 4 teams the Leafs have lost to in the first round since Dubas took over, 3 have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Has Dubas been the perfect GM? No, not at all -- but over the last 20 years, the Leafs haven't had a better one. Admittedly, the bar isn't very high here, but the Leafs team we have now is arguably more complete than any in the last 20 years thanks to his work.
This begs the question, why are Leafs fans so quick to write off the best GM the Leafs have had in 2 decades? It may be that he's too young, or that he wears glasses. Maybe its the fact that he couldn't get 8-year deals out of his star players. Maybe its just because of the disastrous Nazem Kadri trade. Personally, I think he's a good GM. I don't think his job should be on the line this season. There simply isn't a better candidate available at the moment. Until there is one, Dubas should absolutely keep his job. He could be better, but without him, things could be a lot worse in Toronto.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 28 | 702 ANSWERS Kyle Dubas is the best GM the Leafs have had in 20 years; it sounds wild, but it's based in fact Is Kyle Dubas the right man for the job in Toronto? | ||
| Yes | 490 | 69.8 % |
| No | 212 | 30.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
