There could be major changes coming to the hockey ops department in Toronto
The Athletic's Jonas Siegel spoke to a handful of current Leafs employees recently and discussed the departure of Kyle Dubas with them. Speaking with anonymity, some said they were actually in a state of "mourning" after Dubas was let go, among other things. The panel on TSN's OverDrive were not impressed.
"Someone in the Leafs' organization reportedly said that they were mourning the firing of Dubas, and I'm like, are you serious right now?" stated the program's host, Bryan Hayes. Ex-Leaf Jeff O'Neill echoed Hayes' surprise and offered up the sentiment that the job must come first and that life goes on regardless of who is at the helm.
With many in the Leafs' Hockey Operations Department being apparent Dubas fans, the new GM could look to replace many of them simply for that reason alone. Regardless of how well Dubas has built up the sports science or scouting or player development departments, the new GM will very likely want to bring in some of their own people that share the same vision if they cannot get those currently with the organization to buy into their new plan. We've seen it in the past and I'm certain we'll see it again.
Regardless of what happens, the next six weeks will be absolutely hectic within the organization as there are many major decisions to be made. I'm sure that the new GM will meet with everyone in the organization at one point or another over the summer to determine who will be kept and who might need to be relieved of their duties. How soon that happens with the laundry list of items that the Leafs have piling up this summer though remains to be seen.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 14 ANSWERS There could be major changes coming to the hockey ops department in Toronto Do you believe that the Leafs will clean house and build a new hockey ops department around the new GM? | ||
| Yes, tear it down and re-build the front office | 5 | 35.7 % |
| No, many will be retained by the Leafs | 6 | 42.9 % |
| Honestly, I really don't care either way | 3 | 21.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
