Dubas highlights a major mistake during his Leafs tenure
Kyle Dubas might not have won much in the playoffs during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it appears he has some theories as to why.
The former Leafs general manager and current executive for the Pittsburgh Penguins met the local media in Pittsburgh on Monday ahead of the 2024-25 season. Unprompted, Dubas brought up a lesson from his days in Toronto before his firing in 2023.
Dubas mentioned Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and Evgeni Malkin as four of the Penguins’ key leaders, and felt that Toronto was lacking the right veteran core for its growing stars during his early days with the team.
“One of the items that contributes to [young players having NHL success] is the example that’s set by the group of core guys that are here,” Dubas said. “Those guys provide just provide such a great example for those young players.”
Dubas then touched on his first season in Toronto, when he was in the assistant GM role he held for four seasons before being promoted to general manager.
“If I go back to my experience in Toronto, when we went there in 2014-15, that group hadn’t had [success],” Dubas said. “There was wonderful players on the team and wonderful, you know, people on the team but the team hadn’t had that same level of success, and so when the younger guys came up we didn’t have those players to set that example for those younger guys.”
During Dubas’ tenure in Toronto, the franchise won its first playoff series since 2004 but lost seven other postseason series. Meanwhile, the Penguins missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, after making it for 16 years in a row, but have publicly stated their desire to try to reverse that course.
“[In Toronto], we didn’t have those players to set that example for those younger guys. In the end, I would say we didn’t do a good enough job bringing in the right people to help that,” Dubas added. “Here we have those players and I learned in the past how important it is to have those guys.”
Dubas’ claim is interesting, but perhaps an indirect shot at certain players. During his time in Toronto, there were no shortage of veterans on the Leafs with a good resume: Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Jason Spezza, Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, James Van Riemsdyk, Jake Muzzin, Wayne Simmonds, and many others who were brought into the organization to help lead young talents.
While Toronto failed to have much playoff success under Dubas, it didn’t seem like it was due to a lack of elder leadership. In any case, we’ll see if he’s able to avoid the issue with the Penguins, and if Toronto’s current leadership group will have a different fate than its past ones.
Dubas’ full media availability is available below:
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