Before Tuesday’s game in Tampa Bay, Kyle Dubas discussed a whirlwind past 48 hours that included dressing ATO backup goaltenders, signing Matthew Knies to his ELC, and the Leafs’ communication with the league over the emergency recall of Joseph Woll.
Kyle Dubas on his roster maneuvering, signing of ATO goalies
Dubas: There is a lot going on with the club, and I felt it is probably right for me to come out and explain the different processes we have gone through to get here and what has all transpired so everyone has a deeper understanding rather than make Sheldon [Keefe] continually come out and answer for it when it is largely my decision-making.
To give you a brief background on it: At the trade deadline, we constructed our roster in a way that we would have 12 forwards, nine defensemen, and two goalies. That would leave us the space and flexibility to potentially leave room for Matthew Knies, or another free agent, or another player on the Marlies that earned a spot on the roster. We have used a litany of different forwards and given them opportunities in those spots.
As happens in the league, injuries do occur. Unfortunately, Matt Murray was injured. We only had six games left. We weren’t eligible for any LTI relief. Every single decision we have made since then has been about what is best for the Maple Leafs in the short run, what is best to get us set for the playoffs in the long run, and what is best for the health and safety of the players.
That has been what has guided all of our decision-making: Who is in the lineup, who isn’t, and for anybody who has been facing any sort of injury, we have tried to preserve them.
We set a goal at the beginning of the season to challenge for our division. Boston has run away and hid with that. When we locked in our position, that gave us the ability to rest some guys and do right by other guys that we had.
Over the course of the last week, since we have locked in the second seed in our division and home ice in that matchup, it has made it a little bit easier to be a little bit more flexible — not that the games are meaningless because they are preparatory for the playoffs, but we feel it has allowed us to do right by certain players, do right by Matt Murray, do right by Ilya Samsonov, and get ready to roll for the playoffs.
It is not something we would necessarily want to do — continually run out ATOs — but we feel we are in a spot where we are able to do that and be able to function, run out a good lineup, and roll from there.
I am happy to answer any questions that anybody may have on it. I understand it is not always clear and it is somewhat ambiguous. Sometimes, because of some of the day-to-day nature of some of these injuries, we don’t have the direct answers. Certainly, Sheldon doesn’t either.
Q&A: ATOs, communication with the league office, Matt Murray’s injury, and the Matthew Knies contract
How did the plan for the game against Tampa come together?
Dubas: The league informed us early this afternoon that Joseph Woll is eligible for the 50-10 exemption to play. Ilya Samsonov is out. We need to take care of him and where he is at.
Our whole thinking shifted to that we felt last night — with the competition and what it meant for the whole league — we owed our best. That included playing Ilya in the game and giving him one more before he was tested and ready to go for playoffs.
We viewed the Florida game, because of what it meant for Florida, Pittsburgh, the Islanders, and Buffalo, we owed it our best lineup last night, including playing a couple of guys who are a little dinged up.
It is a tough one. If we did just what was best for our team, given our situation, we would’ve probably done differently. Sheldon and I had a lot of discussion about it. We just decided it would be best. If we were in the spot of those teams, that is what we would want, so that is what we did last night.
What is the injury Ilya Samsonov is dealing with?
Dubas: I am not going to get into it at this time of year. I appreciate the question, but I am not going to get into the specifics other than it is something he has dealt with and will deal with.
He is probably unlikely for Thursday. Joe will come in on emergency.
Why couldn’t you call up Joseph Woll on Monday but you could a day later?
Dubas: The reasoning of the league was that because of our decision — which I would agree with the league on — to send Joe [Woll] down rather than play short a forward on Saturday, we were ineligible for emergency recall for Matt Murray.
We knew that when we did it on Saturday. That is when Jett Alexander came into the group.
Were you permitted to bring up Woll once it was clear Samsonov wasn’t going to dress in Tampa?
Dubas: I actually don’t have a clear definition of what it was other than we were informed Woll was eligible to play. I would have to get a deeper answer for that. I would probably defer to the league on what exactly their mechanism was.
Brandon [Pridham] called me and told me that Woll was able to play.
Do you think the system needs readjusting?
Dubas: I don’t know. Brandon [Pridham] has spent a lot of time on the phone with [the league]. I would leave it with them other than to say they have been very good for us to deal with.
There have been some difficult conversations as we have gone through it. Our priorities right now are a little bit different than what theirs would be.
I will leave that up to them. I don’t think it is my position to say.
Why was the call made for Jett Alexander to get into that game on Saturday? Sheldon said he didn’t make the call.
Dubas: I wasn’t at the game. All I would say on Jett… I know there has been a lot of discussion about it. I don’t really care what other people think, frankly, and what people say about why he got in, or if we did it because this other team did it, or why we would do that.
The thing with Jett that people should know is that Jett Alexander has been around our program for a number of years as an ATO guy and an emergency guy. He donates a lot of his time to be there just in case. He goes out of his way to be there for practices for other teams and our team.
The University of Toronto and head coach Ryan Medel have been great partners for us. They are always quick to have their people come and be a part of practice — forwards, D, Jett, or other members of their club.
In the end, my reflection on it is that it was the right thing. I thought it was a nice thing to do given what Jett has done volunteering his time and what the University of Toronto program has done for us.
Why was it such a priority to get Matthew Knies in the lineup right away? It seems to be what has caused a lot of this.
Dubas: I would say that because of the fact that their team was so good, it led to them going until Saturday — the very, very end. You then only have a limited runway.
As I outlined at the trade deadline, we always knew that was kind of his goal. His goal was to win a national championship. We were supportive of that. We wanted him to win the whole thing.
I think he just got some great experience throughout the season with Bob’s program at Minnesota and then here this week. It has been pretty impressive the number of big games he has played in.
That said, Sheldon has never coached him. Our staff has never coached him. We just viewed it as important. He has these games. He went back to Minnesota and then back here. The games are there on the schedule. We have the opportunity. Let’s have him go and give it a shot.
It is never going to be perfect at this time of year with that. We just thought it was an option for us. We don’t know what the option is. I don’t want to put any undue pressure on him, but let him fly and see what he can do.
He has the three games this week. We will evaluate it, evaluate our health, and roll from there.
Were there many challenges putting Knies’ contract together?
Dubas: Yeah. I mean, he was at a great program. I never viewed it as a slam dunk. That’s why I was talking about the flexibility of having that slot and space open.
I never viewed it as a slam dunk that he was definitely going to come out. There are a lot of rumours about what each individual player is going to do. In his case, we thought physically he is ready to do it. He played on a really good line there with ery good coaching.
We had some conversations with them leading up — not with him, but with his representatives, trying to give him his space. After the game on Saturday and Sunday, it was sort of decision time.
He had to make his call. The contract — we have a set standard of where we are at, but we did view it as important to get him in and let him roll to see what we’ve got.
How many ATO guys did you bring on the trip?
Dubas: We haven’t really brought them on the trip. It has been touch and go in getting them to each every individual spot, having them fly in, and do different things like that. I don’t even know what number we are at now — and counting.
We kind of knew it was a possibility with Matt going down last week, with it being in the last 10 games, there being no LTI relief, and not knowing his day-to-day status. At that point, we put it to our player personnel department and our goaltending department: “We might need a list of guys here in case we are in this spot.”
Last night, Chenard backed up. Tonight, Mathias Onuska from Windsor will back up. We have Samuel Richard from the University of New Brunswick. He came in today not knowing where we are at. We have him as well as others in the mix in case we need.
How is Matt Murray doing? Is he on the trip?
Dubas: My understanding is that he is continuing to progress.
The discussion on Sunday was that he was trending towards coming, and the decision was made to leave him, let him rehab, and go from there.
Is it fair to say it is a concussion?
Dubas: Yes.
