Dubas has been in charge of the Maple Leafs since 2018 and while he has made dramatic changes on a near yearly basis, it has not yielded much success outside of just qualifying for the post-season. It's been 6 consecutive seasons where Toronto has crashed and burned in the first round and even dating back to 2003-04, they haven't advanced past the first round.
He got a lot of heat for his contract negotiations regarding his 4 star players and while they're being paid a pretty penny, he has done admirably with his depth, defense, and even goaltending to a certain degree - not to mention his drafting seems to be his strong suit over the last few years.
In relation to his contract, nothing will be settled until the conclusion of the playoffs but one has to assume that a playoff series victory will all but guarantee that he will be returning. However, does another first round defeat end his tenure? He has gotten interest from both Pennsylvania teams in Pittsburgh who is willing to offer him a massive deal and in Philadelphia who is considering almost anybody "modern" at this point for their front office.
Elliotte Friedman doesn't believe in the outside noise and has come to the conclusion that he will remain a Maple Leaf:
Dubas went all-out ahead of the trade deadline, acquired several key pieces for his roster - some of whom have term at a very reasonable cost - and managed to keep his top prospects, such as Matthew Knies, Topi Niemela and Fraser Minten, out of those deadlime deals.
The Leafs were favoured before against the likes of the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets, but were very arguably "pretenders" in previous seasons. Now, the 2022-23 rendition of the Maple Leafs looks to be the deepest they've assembled during Dubas' tenure as GM. They're deep at every position and have a nice stable of young prospects developing. Perhaps these are some of the reasons why Friedman believes that Dubas will stay put in Toronto to see this thing through.
POLL | ||
16 AVRIL | 516 ANSWERS NHL insider reveals what he thinks will happen with Kyle Dubas this summer Will Kyle Dubas re-up in Toronto this summer? | ||
Yes | 414 | 80.2 % |
No | 102 | 19.8 % |
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