The Toronto Maple Leafs have “parted ways” with Kyle Dubas and he will not return as general manager, the team announced on Friday.
Dubas’ exit, following the team’s second-round exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, ends his five-year run as general manager of the Maple Leafs – a stretch that had lots of regular-season success but consistent playoff woes.
“I would like to thank Kyle for his unwavering dedication over these last nine seasons with the organization, including his last five as general manager,” Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said in a release. “Kyle fostered a great culture within our dressing room and staff, and consistently pushed to make our team better season over season. We wish Kyle and his family the best moving forward and thank him for his valuable contributions.”
He signed a five-year deal back in 2018 after he was promoted to general manager in place of Lou Lamoriello. Dubas was hired to be Toronto’s assistant GM back in 2014 by president Brendan Shanahan at the age of 28 after a three-year run as GM of his hometown Soo Greyhounds of the OHL.
Now 37, and with his contract up, Dubas moves on from the Maple Leafs. He said Monday during a post-season press conference he was not interested in going to another team.
The Maple Leafs enjoyed a strong 2022-23 regular season, and Dubas built a team that won the franchise’s first playoff series in 19 years after they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
However, the playoff success was short-lived, as Toronto was bounced in the second round by the eighth-seeded Panthers.
In five years with Dubas at the helm, the Maple Leafs have gone to the post-season every year, but have won just a single playoff series. Every other year they were bounced in the first round, or the one-off qualifying round in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Dubas has made a number of big splashes, including this season when he traded for the likes of Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn and Jake McCabe prior to the deadline to try and push his team over the hump. They did help the team snap its playoff drought, but still wasn’t the end many in Leafs Nation were hoping for.
The young GM also has some moves on his resume that may not have worked out as he intended, most notably when he traded Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and a 2020 third-round pick to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Tyson Barrie, Alex Kerfoot and a 2020 sixth-round pick.
Kadri went on to help the Avalanche hoist the Stanley Cup in 2022.
The Leafs have a roster full of question marks, as they currently have 10 unrestricted free agents on the roster, including both O’Reilly and Schenn.
There is also the major decision of what to do with Toronto’s “Core Four,” who will all gain no-trade protection if they are not moved by the team before the calendar turns to July.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner will both gain a full no-movment clause at that time, the same clause that John Tavares already has. Meanwhile, William Nylander will get a 10-team no-trade clause at that time, which will severely limit the options the Maple Leafs’ front office has at its disposal.
Whoever the team decides to bring in to replace Dubas, they better be ready to hit the ground running.
