Marietta Dubas claps back at former Leafs defenseman for calling these Leafs ''Treliving built''
After a dramatic end to his employment with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas landed on his feet, taking over as GM as well as President of Hockey Opterations for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Leafs replaced him with Brad Treliving, who gave the Leafs a minor facelift. Justin Holl, Pierre Engvall, Alex Kerfoot and Michael Bunting were replaced by John Klingberg, Ryan Reaves, Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi. Outside of those moves, the core of the team remains the same as it was during Dubas' tenure.
This morning on TSN 1050's First Up, former Leafs defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo and co-host Aaron Korolnek discussed the differences between this year's team and last year's, calling last year's group a "Dubas built" team and the current squad a "Treliving built" team. Apparently, this struck a nerve with everyone's favourite grandmother, and the biggest loss for Leafs fans in the wake of Dubas' firing, Marietta Dubas, AKA Gramma Dubie.
Marietta does have a point here, for all the changes Treliving has made, this team still has Dubas' fingerprints all over it. The core of the team, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares and Rielly, are still on the deals they signed with Dubas. The defense corps, outside of Klingberg, we're all acquired or signed by Dubas. Samsonov was also a Dubas signing in the summer of 2022, while Joseph Woll was extended under Dubas as well.
With Pontus Holmberg, Nick Robertson, Matthew Knies and Fraser Minten making their way into the NHL ranks already in some facet, Dubas' drafting will be felt in Toronto for years to come.
Having said that, with just a few key additions, and certainly some addition by subtraction, the Leafs are a very different team under Treliving this season. With more emphasis on grit than graphs, the new-look Leafs are better equipped for playoff hockey, at least on paper. The question is, if the Leafs are successful this post season, who gets the credit? Dubas for retaining the core of the team, or Treliving for making the necessary changes to get them over the hump?
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 22 | 389 ANSWERS Marietta Dubas claps back at former Leafs defenseman for calling these Leafs ''Treliving built'' Is this Treliving's team? Or does Dubas deserve the credit? | ||
| Bit of both | 203 | 52.2 % |
| Treliving's done enough, it's his team | 104 | 26.7 % |
| It's still Dubas' team | 82 | 21.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
