Ex-Toronto Maple Leafs GM Dubas opens up about issue that held team back
For as long as he’s in the public eye, Kyle Dubas probably will never be able to avoid talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The former Leafs general manager and current Pittsburgh Penguins exec was a guest on the Cam and Strick podcast with NHL insider Andy Strickland and former NHLer Cam Janssen in an episode released on Tuesday.
Despite making the playoffs seven times in eight seasons while he was with the organization, Toronto won just one playoff series in Dubas’s entire time with the franchise.
“I think everyone wishes those players who have performed better as a group and individually in the playoffs, and I don’t point to one situation, but we didn’t get it done,” Dubas told the hosts.
A key talking point throughout Dubas’s tenure was the hefty contracts dealt out to Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander. The four forwards totalled US$40.5 million in cap hits this past season (although both Matthews and Nylander were on contracts signed after Dubas’s departure).
“We basically used the template of what a lot of other teams had done that had the fortune of having high picks, and we added John [Tavares] in 2018, then that first year with all the extensions, then COVID, trying to keep the league rolling, and they worked to keep things flat.”
Dubas said that the league’s decision not to raise the salary cap as anticipated in 2021 and 2022, due to revenue losses in the COVID-19 pandemic, hampered the Leafs’ ability to improve the team.
“I don’t wanna say [those players] handcuffed us because of needing to pay them; what handcuffed us was the salary cap being flat.”
Were the Leafs dealing with unique issues?
While the other 31 NHL teams had to deal with similar issues to Toronto, Dubas hinted that the Leafs were dealing with a higher concentration of salary in four players than any other team in the league.
“That’s life. No one could have predicted [the pandemic], and we just had to adapt. I think in some cases we adapted poorly… We took a lot of shots in 2020, 2021 that weren’t as successful, and we adapted from that.”
Dubas also pointed out that the front office’s inability to properly supplement their top talents was a key reason why Toronto faced repeated issues in the playoffs.
“We didn’t get to where we wanted to be, but that’s not on them, it’s on us to make the right decisions around that group of players,” Dubas said.
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