Ex-Toronto Maple Leafs GM calls out Dubas for mistakes that are still hurting the team
Even though Kyle Dubas hasn’t been in charge of the Toronto Maple Leafs for nearly two full years, it’s not uncommon to still see opinions of the former general manager thrown around.
Dubas had some success in Toronto, contributing to the team’s playoff streak that has now stretched out to nine seasons. But despite overseeing the team’s first playoff series victory since 2004, Dubas was often called out by fans and media for poor contract negotiations and missing out on retaining players that could’ve helped the team.
All the people qualified to criticize him, but fewer people have better credentials to do so than those who literally held the same job prior to him.
In a column for the Toronto Star, former Leafs general manager Gord Stellick addressed a pair of moves that Dubas made in 2021.
Stellick, who ran the team from April 1988 until Aug. 1989 after he resigned due to disputes with infamous owner Harold Ballard, took issue with a pair of players that left the organization in the same offseason. Stellick identified Jared McCann and Stefan Noesen as two players the Leafs should’ve kept, with McCann joining the Seattle Kraken in the NHL expansion draft and Noesen leaving in free agency.
“McCann was acquired from Pittsburgh in 2021 and the belief was that he was going to be picked up in the Seattle expansion draft. But that shouldn’t have been the case,” Stellick wrote.
McCann never played a game for the Leafs after being traded, with Toronto opting to protect players like Alex Kerfoot and Justin Holl instead. Both players eventually left Toronto as free agents, with Kerfoot going to the Arizona Coyotes (and now the Utah Hockey Club) while Holl is a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
McCann, meanwhile, is the Kraken’s all-time leading scorer in his four seasons with the team, putting up 237 points across 309 games. His best season came in 2022-23 when he hit 40 goals and 30 assists in 79 games for a career-high 70 points.
Meanwhile, he referred to Noesen as an “afterthought” in a three-team trade that brought Nick Foligno to Toronto. He played just one game for the Leafs that season before signing with the Carolina Hurricanes that summer on a three-year deal.
Signing with the New Jersey Devils on a new three-year deal this year, the 32-year-old Noesen hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career this season.
While we don’t know how either player’s career would’ve panned out if they’d stayed in Toronto, it’s clear that Stellick has strong feelings about the man who held the same job as him at one point in time.