More Questionable Decisions Coming Out From Dubas

It's been a week since the Toronto Maple Leafs relieved Kyle Dubas from his position of general manager of the franchise. It has been a mixed reaction from the fanbase on Dubas' dismissal.

No general manager is perfect and Dubas surely had his faults. Some of the biggest criticisms you could point to are his decision making and being too loyal to some of his players.

Insider Frank Seravalli reported that Dubas had set up a trade that would have brought star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to Toronto, as well as Brandon Hagel. This is when both players were with the Chicago Blackhawks. The return would have been goalie Petr Mrazek and prospect Matthew Knies.

President Brendan Shanahan luckily put the kibosh to this plan. Hagel is a good player on a great contract, $1,500,000 until the end of the 2023-2024 season when he will be a RFA with arbitration rights. Fleury was a great goalie in his day but father time is catching up to him. Knies is four years younger than Hagel, cost controlled for another two seasons and has a good chance of being the better player.



Athletics' reporter Joshua Kloke mentions in his article that forward Alex Kerfoot could have been involved in the deadline deal to acquire Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari to make the $$ work but Dubas decided against it, paying a fourth-round pick to the Wild to eat 50 percent of O'Reilly's salary instead.


Kerfoot receives a lot of hate in Leaf land, he's not very flashy and doesn't provide much offence. He is defensively sound, good at providing energy and very well liked in the locker room. The soon to be 29 year old is a pending UFA with a cap hit of $3.5 million. He will be looking for a similar number on his next deal, one that Toronto simply can't afford to keep.

Kerfoot only produced two goals in the eleven playoff games while averaging 14:10 in ice time. Head coach Sheldon Keefe had Kerfoot playing up and down his lineup never able to find a combination that really worked.

This appears to be another head scratching mistake from the former general manager.