Maple Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas addressed the media after trade deadline passed, discussing new additions Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell, the leaked trade talks around Marc-Andre Fleury that didn’t come to fruition, how his team stacks up in a competitive division after the deadline moves, his decision to ultimately stand pat in net, and much more.
The Leafs‘ final deadline picture in terms of player movement is as follows:
IN: D Mark Giordano, F Colin Blackwell, D Ilya Lybushkin, G Carter Hutton, WPG’s 2022 third-round draft selection, future considerations (NSH)
OUT: F Nick Ritchie, D Travis Dermott, D Kevin Biega, TOR’s 2022 second-round draft selection, TOR’s 2023 second-round draft selection, TOR’s 2024 third-round draft selection, TOR’s 2025 second-round selection in 2025 or TOR’s 2023 third-round selection, future considerations (to ARI)
Kyle Dubas on the Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell additions, his approach to the trade deadline, and hanging onto his top prospects
What excites you most about bringing Mark Giordano into the group?
Dubas: The quality of player he still is — that is the most exciting part of it for us. Just in watching him throughout the year, and we played against him a lot last year with the division being what it was in Canada… Watching him in Seattle, and the variety of different partners they had him with, we still feel like he has a lot left to give as a player.
With his intelligence with the puck, his ability to move the puck up the ice, and his ability to defend, that is first and foremost. He is still a very quality player in the league. Secondly, it’s just his competitiveness, the way he defends, his ability to play against good players still, play both special teams, and be versatile. It was very important to us.
We are very excited about that. All of the subjective leadership, experience, and competitiveness stuff is important, but first and foremost, we brought him in because we think he is a very good player and is going to help us a lot as a hockey team.
Giordano stated that he wanted to come home. You have all of these GTA and Ontario guys on the team. Do you think it gives him a boost? Do you think it intensifies the spotlight on him?
Dubas: I am not sure. I think we have had cases where it has worked out and cases where it hasn’t.
In a veteran player like Mark’s case… I don’t know him very well. I spoke to him yesterday for the first time ever. To me, it seems to have its advantages. He is playing for a lot. He wants to win. He still has a lot left in the tank and a lot left to give. I think he can give a lot in our locker room and give a lot on the ice.
As to how it affects different players, when I first stated here, there was a narrative that local players didn’t want to come and play here; that the scrutiny and pressure were too much on them and their families. One of the great things that has happened — and I can only speak to my time here — is that the narrative has been soundly defeated.
A lot of local players want to come and play here. I think they find it to be a great place for their families and that the community is very supportive. There are moments — like in any place, business, or walk of life — where it probably doesn’t go as well as you want, but I think the positives… We have a lot of players from the area that love it and enjoy playing here.
That has been a real positive — not only for the Maple Leafs but for the city — to have those players from the area want to be here.
Sheldon Keefe and a number of the players were encouraged by the addition of Colin Blackwell as an under-the-radar guy. What was your thinking there?
Dubas: We tried to get him a few times in free agency, and it just didn’t go our way. With his versatility, he can play both wings, but he can also play both special teams and up and down the lineup.
The thing that has really impressed me over the last number of NHL stints with the Rangers, and more so with Seattle this year, is his tenacity and how hard he plays every single game. That was the thing that jumped out, especially when they moved him on to the penalty kill this year and he showed his value there.
The other part is that he is not just a pure energy, run-around, forecheck, pressure kind of player. He can also make a lot of plays. He showed that against us earlier in the year. He has that component that lets us move him up and down the lineup.
We are really excited about him. He is not tall, but he is a very strong winger with great speed and tenacity. We are excited.
On the note about the playoffs, there wasn’t a trade for a large, bulky power forward. Will that toughness have to come organically?
Dubas: I think our top players have shown that throughout the season. In the game on Thursday against Carolina, there were two specific players: Mitch Marner and Ilya Mikheyev. In terms of their physicality in a game that required it, both showed that. There have been a number of different examples. That is just the most recent one that jumps to mind for me with our guys showing the way they are going to have to play at those times.
If our best players lead the way as they have with their continued growth and that element — physicality, competitiveness every night — everyone else on the team has to go with it. If those guys are playing that way… As we have seen from other teams in the playoffs, that is what makes life hard on the opponent: When the best players are the ones who are the most competitive.
Our guys are continuing to develop that. Nobody has that right away at that level of player. That has been the most encouraging part for me.
Blackwell is someone we wanted to add for that part. We brought Clifford back for that during the year. We have Wayne Simmonds here. All of those types of players are important to us. Our best players and our guys all throughout the lineup taking that step is equally as important, if not more.
Did you feel more urgency to get the move done knowing what the rest of the division had done?
Dubas: We had our plan going in. Certainly, you go into every trade deadline knowing you are competing against those other teams. You are expecting every team is going to do all they can to improve themselves.
Everything we did was just to abide by the plan that we had going in and not be too reactive or feel that because other teams were spending more or evaluating players differently that we had to react to that. Just stick with our plan, roll, and we feel we stack up well against those clubs.
What gives you faith that your team can match up against your division rivals?
Dubas: I think the way that we have played throughout the year gives me faith as well as the way we played last week. I understand that there are ups and downs in a season. Things happen. To me, the key is that we have been a good team the whole season.
We have had our ups and downs, but as we went into the weekend in fifth place in the league, I know the division looks ominous, but I think that level of competition is great. You know who you are going up against every single night.
You have Tampa, Florida, Boston, and ourselves that have separated themselves from the pack this season. You have teams that are pushing to come and join. We have had a tough time with Buffalo. We have had interesting games with Detroit, who have a great young group of players. Ottawa is coming along as well, and Montreal is starting fresh. They will be quick to turn it.
The division is very difficult. For us, that is the best thing for us. It would be great if it was easy, but a big challenge forces our group in the final stretch to get our game in order.
We had those games against non-playoff teams that we spoke about at the press conference before the Heritage Classic. We needed to be better against them and not leave points on the table. We didn’t play well.
We came back last week against Dallas and Carolina, and especially in the Carolina game — no Auston, no Muzz, no Campbell, no Mrazek — we showed what we are able to do as a team in how we played defensively, how we checked, how we capitalized, made life tough for them, and competed.
It is nights like that — and really, if you take the season as a whole, with the way that we played, everything underlying, and what it says — that makes me feel confident.
We have some of the top players in the league on our team every night. Those guys have become more and more competitive. They have become great two-way players in addition to just scoring. Sometimes that gets lost in the ups and downs of the year, but that is what we come in with every night.
With the way that those players have matured — Auston, Mitch, William, Morgan — and then you add Giordano and Blackwell to it, in terms of the competitiveness of the group, it makes me excited about the next stretch into the playoffs.
How important was it to get through this not just adding as you have but also maintaining the first-round pick and the top prospects?
Dubas: I think it is nice. If there were moves that came along that would’ve made us better in the long run and not just as rentals, we would consider anything.
It is more so the prospects than the picks that were important for us to keep. We didn’t want to take away from our group of A-list prospects. We have had one very unfortunate health situation with one of those players this year. On the human side of it, everyone knows how I feel about it. On the hockey side, I think it just makes it even more difficult to deplete that group.
How much did the Rasmus Sandin injury factor into things? Did you consider keeping Travis Dermott?
Dubas: With the Sandin injury, those other two moves were already well in motion. We got word of his results following the trade calls there yesterday or right in between. It was quite a hectic afternoon. When, exactly, we got the results of the scan on his knee, I am not sure, but those two trades were rolling prior to that.
Dubas on his show of faith in Jack Campbell by standing pat in goal: “He thrives when there are doubts and when things get rocky”
Is what you did or didn’t do show faith that you think the team can get Jack Campbell back up to the level he showed in the past?
Dubas: Jack has always done that. It has not always been a straight path for Jack Campbell. He has gone from being a star player at 16-17 for the U.S. World Junior team, to struggling in the OHL, to struggling to find it as a pro. The one thing about him is that he always finds a way to bounce back. He is a competitor. He thrives when there are doubts and he thrives when things get rocky. For me, being a goaltender here in Toronto, you have to have that quality. He has it.
You never want a player to get injured, but I think it may come at a very positive time for him to get back working on his game, get things stabilized, and get ready to roll for the stretch run and the playoffs. It is good to see him back on the ice the last few days. It looks like he is getting close. We are excited for that and excited for the way Erik Kallgren has stepped up in the interim. It has been a positive week on that front for us.
What was the conversation like with Petr Mrazek when you told him he was going on waivers?
Dubas: Those are never fun conversations. The thing about Petr that is most impressive is that regardless of what anyone says or the way things are going, he has a strong belief in himself. It is not an arrogant way or anything like that. It’s just that he has been a good goalie in the league for a long time.
If his confidence was starting to waver or his belief starting to waver, I would be really concerned, but he just has to come and work, find his game, and get better. Nobody wants to do that more than Petr.
It was done for salary-cap reasons and to give us the greatest flexibility possible. I hate to do that to anybody, but you have to do what you have to do to give the team the best chance to be as flexible as possible and have different players return during the year. That is why we did it.
Having signed him to a fairly substantial contract, how surprised are you by how his season has gone?
Dubas: Whenever you make any decision on any player, it comes with the risk that it is not going to be… I’d love for them all to come in, play at their best every single game, and all look like brilliant signings, trades, or draft picks. Unfortunately, in this business that we chose, it is not always how it goes.
The onus comes onto me to set the tone in the organization and help him get back to where he needs to be. If he had no record or a short sample size of being a quality goalie in the league, I would be more concerned.
The other thing that keeps me optimistic about Petr is that he has been able to come through stretches like this in his career before and battle and bounce back. Like I said with Jack, when playing in a market like this where there is a greater amount of scrutiny and a greater amount of attention paid to it, having that confidence that you have gone through something like this before and come through it is vital. He has.
Now it is just about putting the work in and finding himself. I think he will.
How seriously did you explore the goalie market? Once Harri Sateri was claimed by Arizona, did you revisit it in the last hour?
Dubas: Every position — not just goalies — we are always trying to explore and see is any way we can improve our roster, which we really like. We felt the best path to go forward was to try to sign Sateri after his season ended in the KHL and take our chances with waivers today. If not, we have the goalies down in the American League and in the system that we have belief in.
It didn’t work out, much like a lot of the players we put on waivers. We lead the league here by double since 2018 in the Fall. We have had 11 guys claimed, which I think is double. It is a good advertisement for agents. If you want your players to come to a place in the summer where they are going to get lots of attention and get claimed, it is probably a feather in our cap. But it hurts in moments like this or others when you have guys claimed.
We just didn’t feel there was anything out there for the prices paid that were going to make it worthwhile for us and make it work salary-wise for us.
How far down the road did you get on getting Marc-Andre Fleury from Chicago?
Dubas: I am disappointed that the conversation is public. I am not criticizing [the question], but I have never had that before where the specifics like that have been made public. Frankly, it is probably a conversation to ask Kyle Davidson in his availability in Chicago.
Remarkable moment in our interview with @MapleLeafs GM Kyle Dubas, as @KevinWeekes asked him about leaks out of Chicago on a Marc-Andre Fleury trade. #NHLTradeDeadline @espn
"We rely on other teams to keep that confidential, so it's disappointing." pic.twitter.com/OJMVESEDaf
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) March 21, 2022
Dubas on prospects Nick Abruzzese, Matthew Knies, & Nick Robertson, Jake Muzzin’s injury status
How close were you to signing any of your AHL players with the deadline to sign them today?
Dubas: We didn’t want to use up our contract slots just to save them for the potential college players that we have. We thought about it. We don’t have a whole lot of slots.
Whether it is free agents in college or our own free agents, we’ll see how they do here in the weekend and in the tournament. We wanted to make sure we have some potential space for them. We didn’t want to burn the slots on the AHL guys, unfortunately.
Do you believe you will have Nick Abruzzese and Matthew Knies signing with you at some point?
Dubas: They have bigger fish to fry than signing with us right now. We just wanted to keep that option open. We don’t want to put pressure on either. Neither is a senior. Both play at great programs — Minnesota in Knies’ case, and Harvard in Abruzzese’s case. We want to be fully respectful of their process.
We just wanted to stay flexible in case they are willing to entertain it. We didn’t want to go to that part of the season — or however long that process takes for each player — and not have the ability to bring them in. We think a lot of both of them as prospects.
No pressure from our end if both of them decide they are going to go back. They are at Harvard and Minnesota. Working with those programs — in Knies’ case, this season, and in Abruzzese’s case, the last couple — has been a pleasure for us. Both are great programs for hockey development, and obviously, Harvard is Harvard. It is a tough one to fight against.
How confident are you that Jake Muzzin is going to get into some regular-season games?
Dubas: Very. That was part of our whole strategy this week and one of the things that guided us. We wanted to ensure that if Jake was able and ready to come back, we had the ability for him to do so. We didn’t want to get into the playoffs or anything like that.
I think it would be unfair to a player of his calibre and the way that he plays to tell him, “We don’t have the space,” or whatever — you guys know all of what happens in that regard. We thought it was important to maintain the space and that flexibility. That was the reason for a lot of the waiver stuff yesterday and the various things that we did or didn’t do.
When you talk about additions at the trade deadline, you have a guy in Jake Muzzin who has been an excellent player for us and in the league for a long time. He obviously has had two serious injuries, so especially with that one the go, I don’t think a conditioning stint with the Marlies would be enough for him to find his form.
He is working his butt off every day — on the ice and off — trying to get the clearance to get healthy. He has been in practice a number of times now in a non-contact jersey. He will have to take that next step, and then we will determine if he goes to the Marlies or not as long as he doesn’t have any setbacks.
It is very encouraging with him. He looks good on the ice. He has been able to put in a lot of time with the development staff. Adding him — as well as Giordano and Lybushkin — from the previous time when he was hurt is a very different look for us on the backend — one that we really like and are excited about going into the playoffs.
You had mentioned you didn’t like the yo-yoing of Nick Robertson between the levels in previous seasons. What was the thought process with him during the last stretch?
Dubas: I think we wanted to get him up and get him into a large set of games to see where he was at. We knew, at the deadline today, we would have to flip him back for the NHL transaction purposes so that he was papered down, onto the Marlies, and eligible efor them for the playoffs.
He didn’t play on Saturday night. We just viewed it as a great opportunity to have him come in and play yesterday for the Marlies, which he played a great game for them — a great chance and a great goal.
For us, it is about continuing to see growth. We had an opportunity over a decent stretch for him to come in and be able to see him play and give him the chance to be at his best.
I was impressed with him. It didn’t necessarily go in a lot for him. He also created more chances this time than any previous time up. They just didn’t go in the net, so the stat line doesn’t look great, but I think he continues to show progress, continues to improve, and continues to develop.
We are very happy with where he is at right now. You can take some real positives. You always worry when you send a player down about how they are going to react when they are down there. I have done that job where you receive the players and they are unhappy to be there. He went yesterday and turned in a great performance for the Marlies.
They have a whack of games here coming up. It will be another case of taking what he learned here — Sheldon was very specific with him on where he wants him to work — and then get rolling.
How big do you think Auston Matthews hitting 50 goals would be for the team in terms of its morale — to see him finally hit that number after he was sort of robbed of it in years past?
Dubas: That is true — he has been robbed of it. Probably a better question for the players. Our guys are great at celebrating the accomplishments of the other players on the team all the time. I assume it will be a big deal and a great deal for our fans as well to know that we have a player of that calibre and stature within the league.
He is obviously up for a number of awards right now, as should a number of our guys on the team. Having that calibre of players is great for us, especially with how he is playing at both ends of the rink, with his value to us and his value throughout the league.
