There's one mistake that Kyle Dubas cannot afford to make at this year's deadline
Everyone knows that this is a very important year for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but for Kyle Dubas, what he does at this year's deadline may decide his future as the team's GM. Dubas is in the final year of a 5-year deal and does not currently have an extension in place. Prior to the start of the year, Dubas revealed that, in his mind, he'd rather be evaluated on the full 5-year term of his deal before sitting down to negotiate a new contract with the Leafs. That's either incredible smart or incredibly stupid.
On one hand, Dubas may be betting on himself here. If he was being evaluated based on his body of work so far, it may have impacted his salary on his next deal, since he has never been beyond the 1st round of the playoffs. One good playoff run might boost his salary by a few hundred thousand dollars - possibly even a million or two per year, which is not insignificant. On the other hand, it might have made more sense for him to take the deal he could have had rather than the one he hopes he might have. Anyway, I digress..
This year's trade deadline is arguably the most important one of Dubas' career to date. In years past, the young GM has been hesitant to part with substantial picks and prospects, or going "all-in", as he didn't see the value of mortgaging the team's long-term future for a slim chance to win while his team was still on the upswing. Now, with Auston Matthews and William Nylander coming to the end of their current deals, the time may have finally come to push the chips in and hope for the best possible outcome.
The mistake that Dubas and the Leafs simply can't afford to make this year would be to only make fringe adds and carry largely the same roster they have now into the playoffs. We've seen this team exposed on a number of occasions this year by inferior opponents. We've also seen them rise to the occasion against really tough opponents. In my opinion though, it would be far more of a gamble to stand pat and hope that this Leafs team was capable of running through the likes of Tampa, Boston and Carolina to emerge from the East than it would be to deal a few future pieces for a substantial add to help push them over the top - even if the piece they bring in is a pure rental.
We saw Tampa basically empty the cupboards, dealing a lot of their top prospects and a lot of their high picks and reaping the benefits. Well, suffice it to say, the Leafs are not all that dissimilar from the Lightning in that they have several bona-fide superstars who can absolutely take over a game. Now what they need is the proper pieces to come in and properly augment the current group. The question is; who could the Leafs add that would have a similar impact for them that players like Ryan McDonagh, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow and Nicholas Paul have had?
The idea that Matthew Knies is an untouchable is a bit of a reach. A prospect can be an exciting piece coming up, there's no argument there. However, until they reach the NHL and begin to produce, they're just a prospect and every prospect is a bit of a gamble as well. There's just as good of a chance that Knies comes in and ends up being more of a bottom six guy, playing limited minutes every night than there is that he comes in and can have an impact in the top six. In my opinion, if you can turn what essentially amounts to a lottery ticket into a proven asset with a good amount of playoff experience, doesn't that improve your odds of winning? And if the goal is to win a Stanley Cup, should we really be so focused on retaining all of these picks and prospects when the time to win is now?
If it was up to me, I'd put both this year's and next year's 1st round picks on the table as well as Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson and just about any other piece in the pipeline just to see what type of player the Buds could acquire - rental or otherwise. If the Buds can manage to snag another superstar player, even if only for a limited time, the idea of rolling an All-Star lineup in the playoffs is probably worth the risk. Standing pat and hoping this current group can get it done on their own, however, would be an enormous mistake and will undoubtedly result in Kyle Dubas interviewing for new jobs this summer.
| POLL | ||
3 FEVRIER | 198 ANSWERS There's one mistake that Kyle Dubas cannot afford to make at this year's deadline Should the Leafs put this year and next year's 1st round picks and their top prospects on the table in order to go "all-in" this season? | ||
| Yes | 90 | 45.5 % |
| No | 108 | 54.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
