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Kyle Dubas addressed the media after a quiet trade deadline day that saw the team reacquire Calle Rosen and finalize the Jake Muzzin contract extension without any notable additions or subtractions via trade.


Why did you end up having a quiet deadline day today?

Dubas: I just think that things change as the season progresses. The way you operate at the deadline is a byproduct of a number of things — cap space being one function, the performance of the team being another, and then how different player injuries and their return to their lineup will impact the cap space in the remainder of the year, thus how we have to manage that.

The confluence of all three of those things led to just some depth moves. More than that, we kind of took our shot a little bit earlier in the month with the Campbell and Clifford transaction. That, unfortunately for everybody [in the media], isn’t as exciting as maybe you’d like. Sorry about that.

How did the losses to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Carolina play into the decision to keep quiet today?

Dubas: I think it goes back before that. Let’s just call it what it is. I don’t think there is any reason to dance around it in here. Everybody watches the team and is around the team every day. We were in the lower part of the league when we made the coaching change. We made a great run there through the middle of January. Since then, we’ve been a little bit uneven. It is easy to look at the recent past and look at Saturday, in Pittsburgh and in Buffalo, and make things a little bit brighter to look back at Pittsburgh here on Thursday, but the reality is you take it all in its totality rather than react to one or two games.

We’ve shown enough throughout our run and since Sheldon has been at the helm to give you a great sense of optimism. We also have some games where we rightfully, I think, draw the doubts of a lot of people. The best way to put it is to use a Jekyll and Hyde way to describe it. I think it is up to our entire program — starting with me on to Sheldon and onto the players — to find our way out of it and be the best version of ourselves that we can every single day for our organization and our fan base in order to get where we want to go.

Why do you think the team doesn’t bring the best version of itself on a more consistent basis?

Dubas: It is a good question. The truthful answer is we don’t know. If we knew, we would go about it. It might draw some criticism to say I don’t know, but I am not going to come up and bullshit and tell you I have some magical solution. We have to go through this and we have to find a way to be our best on a daily basis.

You can go back and look at different teams in different sports and there are very few that, right from the minute that they acquire good talent through the draft, just suddenly reach their potential and win championships and play at a consistent level every day. We are clearly not there yet, but we also show signs of what we can be when we get there.

It’s not really what people want to hear, but it is the truth. We have to keep at this every day. We can’t waver when things don’t go well. We have to keep marching toward the way we want to go. We know. What everybody sees on the ice are the problems that we face. We have to be more consistent with our focus, with our mindset, with our effort every single night to get to where we want to go.

I know we have the character and the leaders on the team. Some of those guys are still young and they are finding their ways as leaders within the group as well. We have to help them get there. In time, we will. It just may not be as quick or as easy as everyone wants. This is not the type of business that is as quick and easy as you want.

Did you have anything with Tyson Barrie on the front burner?

Dubas: There was nothing on the front burner. I talked to Tyson this afternoon following practice and just kind of updated him. I’ve been in touch with his representation on Thursday at our game against Pittsburgh. The reality is, because of the way that things have gone, we started to get some interest in him.

Because of the way things have gone, I felt it was at least good practice to listen and start to envision what the return would look like from our end. Because of the position we are in — we acquired him and he has played very well, especially since the coaching change — we were totally fine with him running it out and continuing to grow as part of our group.

I know it has been a stressful couple of days for him, which is not something we ever want to put anybody through. I talked to him about a half an hour before the deadline. He was on the way to the airport. We had a good discussion about where things are at and where we want to go. We are excited to have him as part of it.

We were under no rush because of where we were at or any impetus to have to do something with him.

Do you anticipate he will be a part of his team after July 1?

Dubas: That is a question I don’t have an answer to right now other than to say: We will use the time we have remaining together to see if there is a fit. As you know with our cap situation, it is never so simple. I wish it were. It’s not. We will see where it is at and where he is at. He is a great member of our program off the ice and adds a lot, as I think the players communicated to everyone in here throughout the last number of days. We really value what he brings on the ice and off. As Sheldon spoke to today, the way he conducted himself today when he was injured in the game and had to come back in the game speaks a lot to what he is all about and how he values being here as well as we value having him.

How would you describe the market for a defenseman with term on his deal over the last few days? Was there one?

Dubas: We were in an interesting situation, right? As you saw today with Morgan and Cody back skating, it looks like they are going to be back well before the end of the year. How soon? We don’t know yet. They are still a ways away. That kind of complicates the amount you can bring without a big number of dollars going out. We didn’t feel compelled to really act on the things that were out there. Frankly, I think they are more things that are closer to the draft. We’re going to see how our own guys develop. In a perfect world, your own guys develop and quell all the concerns you have about the roster and that people on the outside may have about them as well. We will continue to be on the hunt for that and on the lookout, and roll from there.

With the Calle Rosen deal, did it help knowing what you were getting in the player?

Dubas: It is a big help knowing the player and the person. We didn’t really want to give him up in the first deal, but we did. Once Hutchinson cleared waivers a few weeks ago, we started to have some discussions with them. We also wanted to do right by Michael and get him into a good situation. It has not been an easy one for him here. He is a quality person with a good family. We thought that was good.

When they were willing to put Rosen into the deal, for our depth purposes and knowing him and what he can bring and how far he came with us in the previous two seasons before he was part of the deal with Kadri, Kerfoot and Barrie, we were very excited to bring him back. It just eases any transition back. He knows our people. He knows what we are all about. He hasn’t been gone for very long.

What about Jake Muzzin is something that made you want to keep him around? How did you arrive at the four-year term?

Dubas: The term was a byproduct of just where he is at. He did just turn 31 years old. Brandon Pridham and Joe Resnick worked on it, mostly, and did a great job on it. Joe is a very staunch advocate for his clients but also someone who is really realistic and great to deal with. Brandon and he did a lot of the work over the last number of months to find something that Jake was comfortable with and we were comfortable with.

Jake’s importance here, especially as things haven’t gone well, is immense — on the ice and off. It was very apparent when he was out of the lineup that we missed him deeply. That was just at the time that we started to really kind of come out of the stretch where we were playing well coming out of the Christmas break. He got hurt in New Jersey. I think it was one of the key points to us starting to get out of the form we were in there. He adds a lot for us. We are thrilled to have him for what he brings on the ice and off.

How have you managed your emotions during this tough stretch of games?

Dubas: Every single description you could bring up probably describes it, but that is also one of the great things about the business that we have chosen — the realism of the fact that it is not going to be easy, it is not going to be overnight. We’ve put ourselves into a position that I don’t think we want to be in, which is battling for our lives.

Regardless of how it all plays out this season and moving forward and how it impacts me and this team, our group here has to go through this. We have to develop the ability to weather the storm when it comes and to thrive going through it. That is the only way we are going to be at our best.

I think a lot of people are right when people look at the team in Buffalo or on Saturday and say, “What is the matter with them? They just don’t have it.” On those nights, they’re right, but on Thursday night, or when we go into St. Louis and St. Louis comes here, we also show what we can be. It isn’t a zero-sum thing where we are no good or we’re great. It is in the middle, and we are trying to get to that point where we are great every night.

The only way I know to get there is to go through it with great lessons learned and with our players and our staff and everybody around our program knowing this is what we have to go through in order to reach our full potential. I fully believe that, when you look at countless other teams in other sports, it is necessary. As much as I know people don’t want to hear that and people will roll their eyes at that, it is the truth. It is exciting for us to find out where we are at and it is exciting to see the response of our guys — not just tomorrow night, but the rest of the way through April 4th.

Was the media spectacle around the loss on Saturday a huge confidence crush for the guys? What was the response? Is it a turning point?

Dubas: I don’t know the answer. I know that everyone here has to be in the very binary zero-sum game of thinking the next day, but we really are not. I don’t know how it is going to impact us. It was an embarrassing night — not because of David Ayres. Everyone here loves David Ayres. It is a wonderful story. He is a wonderful person. He shows up here every day, and as Sheldon says, he shows up here every day and faces 100 shots from our guys. He comes out and he is great.

If we had won the game, it would be embarrassing as well. You’re down 4-1 and it would be a whole other set of controversies that would come up. “Oh geez, the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s their own employee.” I think everyone can imagine what that would have been like as well. We were in a no-win situation in that game, and we were in a no-win situation because we put ourselves there. We did that in three of the four games last week.

I don’t know what the outcome is going to be. My hope, and what we are working towards, is that we are going to use not just that game but three of the four games last week, see how embarrassing it is, and also the game that we played great — and work towards being great three out of four times instead of being poor three of our four times. We have to get there eventually.

That is what we are working towards and what we hope the outcome will be. To sit here today and say I know I can project my optimistic version or a pessimistic version… we don’t know. It is going to be on the players to respond in the absolute best way. It is going to be on myself, our staff, and Sheldon to lead them in the right direction. In the end, if we don’t get there, it is on me, as it always is if things don’t go well.

We heard the team talk about growing and becoming stronger from its experiences in the playoffs against the Bruins and at other times. We haven’t seen it. How would you determine why the group is where it is considering what the expectations were before this season?

Dubas: I think the group is in a challenging spot, but with that comes the opportunity to do something special and something great. Let’s speak bluntly about it: There are a lot of people writing the obituary for this team and putting the team into the ground right now. That is fine. That is fair. When you play that way, that is what you get, especially when you play in a market like this with the following that we have. That is what is going to happen. You can go meekly into the night and build the excuses that you want for why it didn’t work out the way you wanted it work out, or you can fight your way back.

It is not a prove-people-wrong thing. I think the criticisms that are levied are fair. But is a chance to show what your best self can be. We show it in flashes. We are capable of it in long stretches as we showed in December. We are capable of it in very difficult games as we’ve shown in various difficult games during the year. But it is getting to that point now, when there is a large amount of doubt around the team — largely earned — that we can do something special as a group and really earn some of the experiences and some of the lessons we want in the end. That is what we are excited about now, for sure.