Elliotte Friedman broke the news on the HNIC broadcast on Tuesday night that Assistant General Manager Kyle Dubas has been given permission by the Maple Leafs to speak with the Colorado Avalanche.
“The Avalanche let go of three assistant coaches and they’re looking for replacements, but they also appear to be looking for some help in the front office. They asked and received permission from the Leafs to talk to Kyle Dubas. I don’t know where it stands, but they did get permission to talk with the Avalanche.”
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/867215295131340800
Dubas is in his third year running the organization’s AHL affiliate and overseeing the Leafs‘ hockey research (analytics) department, among other duties on the amateur scouting side. He presided over three consecutive playoff appearances with the Marlies, who exited the playoffs in the Conference Finals in 2016 and the Conference semifinals in 2017. The Marlies graduated William Nylander, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Nikita Soshnikov, Josh Leivo onto the big-club roster this year, as well as Kasperi Kapanen later on in the 2016-17 season.
Speculation has run rampant on Twitter, so let’s start with what we know:
- As a matter of good faith, teams often grant permission to an employee if they wish to explore a potentially career-advancing opportunity. Dubas can’t gauge his own level of interest in a potential position in Colorado without discussing the details and overall fit.
I - Current General Manager Lou Lamoriello is signed for one more season and – when pressed at the end of the season – didn’t confirm or deny that he’ll be stepping down from the GM post after the 2017-18 season.
I - After he was hired in July 2015, Lamoriello more or less earmarked Kyle Dubas as his heir apparent, saying: “If he doesn’t become general manager here, and I’m not going to be here for a lifetime, it’s going to be his fault.”
I - Mark Hunter was promoted from Director of Player Personnel to Assistant General Manager — like Dubas and cap manager Brandon Pridham — last summer as a reward for his work as the team’s head scout and his efforts in the Leafs’ last two drafts. Lamoriello labelled the promotion merely a formality — a recognition of the role and responsibilities Hunter had already been occupying for quite a while in the Leafs front office.
I - The Arizona Coyotes requested permission from the Leafs to talk to Dubas last summer – according to Elliotte Friedman — and Dubas did not have an interest in exploring opportunities elsewhere at that time. The reports at the time were that Dubas felt he had much more to learn and prove with the Leafs.
I - In January of 2016, Dubas spoke to MapleLeafs.com’s Adam Proteau about the collaborative management structure in Toronto and trying to soak up as much as he can from those around him:
There’s so much information and so much for me to learn in general, and I would put (Leafs director of player personnel) Mark Hunter in that group as well, in terms of people who’ve had great success in hockey identifying talent and players and learning from them.
Since Babs arrived in May, I don’t know that I’ve ever learned as much from anyone as I have from him. He’s always on the go, always talking, always searching for new ideas, always willing to share, always willing to value your idea. He has a very unique way of going about it – what you see with him is what you get. What he says in public is what he says privately as well. He challenges you, he wants your opinion, he seeks it out, he’s very collaborative, and I’ve learned a lot from how he thinks about the game, how he explains and teaches it, how he thinks about different players and systems.
I have a daily interaction with Lou, and my tasks now have been the Marlies, our development system and our analytics side. Lou will check in with me every day, I’m able to bounce stuff off Lou, talk about it and so forth.
One guy that doesn’t get a whole lot of things said about him is (Leafs assistant to the GM) Brandon Pridham. I’ve learned so much from Brandon so far, in terms of his knowledge of the CBA and contracts, rulings and the intricacies of it. He kind of flies under the radar, but he really shouldn’t, because he’s great at what he does, not only with the CBA but with scouting and player identification and so forth.
Because I see a lot of AHL games, I’m able to talk to Mark and get his opinion about different players on different teams. And going into the draft last year, it was great working with Mark as we were trying to acquire more (draft) picks for the staff. And last year at the end of the year, I did a lot of amateur scouting – we kind of asked Mark, “Where do you want me to go and who do you want me to see?” He’d give me his insights, and it’s great to talk in meetings with him, it’s very interesting to see how he evaluates players.
My relationship with Brendan has been changing in a good way: when we went through that stretch of four months when there was no GM and we were sharing duties, we’d talk everyday. And he’s around the Marlies quite a bit, and it’s always great to get his insights on the way the team plays from his experience as a player, and as an executive in the NHL and how different things work.
I learn a lot of different things from everybody, and for me, to be able to draw on the unique experiences of those people, it’s amazing. It’s an excellent staff, and Brendan’s done a great job of putting it together. It’s exciting for me to learn from those kind of people. I’m very fortunate and happy to be here, and to just try to pull my weight and do the very best I can with the tasks assigned. I’ve learned a lot and still have so much to learn, but I’m in a great place to do that.
- If Dubas were to leave the organization, it wouldn’t be until after the 2017 draft given the work he’s put in already with the Leafs in that regard.
We obviously have no idea if Dubas, after talking with the Avalanche, would have interest in leaving a Leafs franchise widely considered to be on the rise to join an Avalanche organization that is spinning its wheels and recently dropped to fourth in the draft lottery after a 48-point season (that said, there are some good pieces in Colorado garnered from high draft picks in the past).
We also don’t know the exact role Dubas could potentially interview for. There isn’t a clear advancement opportunity in Colorado with Joe Sakic occupying the GM’s seat, although maybe the Avalanche are looking to restructure their front office (again) and could shift Sakic elsewhere in the organization. It may turn out to not be a fit.
We know money is no object as far as the Leafs ensuring their front office staff is handsomely compensated, but these situations are often an inevitable by-product of the franchise showing real signs of progress. Given the perception that Dubas is a sharp up-and-coming hockey executive — particularly with the growing adoption of analytics in front offices across the league — there was always a strong possibility other teams would come sniffing around at some point during Lamoriello’s three-year contract as General Manager of the Leafs. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
