Kyle Dubas has been fired as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The team said Friday that she and the 37-year-old hockey player were “going to go separate ways.” Dubas’ contract was due to expire on June 30.
The Maple Leafs won a series for the first time in nearly 20 years this spring, when they eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning, before packing up for the underdog Florida Panthers after a disappointing second-round showing.
Very emotional, Dubas had declared during the balance sheet of the team that he was not sure if he wanted to continue as general manager, citing in particular the stress imposed on his young family.
“I would like to thank Kyle for his dedication over the past nine seasons with the organization, including the last five as general manager,” Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan said in a statement. Kyle has established a great culture within our locker room and among our hockey staff, in addition to constantly seeking to improve our team season after season. »
Dubas joined the Leafs in 2014 as assistant general manager at the age of 28. He led the Toronto Marlies of the American League to the Calder Cup at the end of the 2017-18 season.
He replaced Lou Lamoriello as chief executive in May 2018, a succession plan then drawn up by Shnahan.
The Leafs have enjoyed unprecedented success in five years under Dubas, seen as a brilliant hockey mind, open to advanced statistics.
The club set records for wins and points in a season and compiled a record of 221-109-42 over those five seasons. These successes have not carried over to the playoffs, except this season.
The Leafs lost in seven games to the Boston Bruins in 2019, lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2020 qualifying phase, shattered a 3-1 lead against the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, before losing in seven games in a hard-fought series to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022 before finally advancing to the second round this season.
Dubas offered unconditional support to the core of four Leafs players, namely Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander.
Tavares had also made his first big move in the free agent market, signing him to a seven-year, US$77 million contract just months after taking office.
He then had tough negotiations with Nylander — the winger missed the first two months of the 2018-19 season — before the winger signed a six-year contract for $45 million.
This paved the way for a five-year, $58.2 million contract extension for Matthews, signed in February 2019. Seven months later, it was Marner who went to the bank, initialing a six-year, $65 pact. ,4 million.
These four players receive roughly half of the club’s payroll.
Dubas also made several trades and was not afraid to change direction when necessary.
Notably, he reshaped his roster at the trade deadline this season, acquiring Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, Luke Schenn and Jake McCabe, sacrificing draft picks in the process for immediate input.
But he also had a few hiccups, like the hiring of goalkeeper Petr Mrazek or the acquisition of Matt Murray, more often than not sidelined by injuries.
Trading Nazem Kadri, twice suspended in the playoffs with the Leafs, to the Colorado Avalanche seemed justified at the time, but he became a key player in Denver’s Stanley Cup conquest last June .
Regardless, Dubas seemed to have the numbers right after his team’s six-game win over the Lightning this season, a win that cast out the demons of an entire generation. But the elimination in five games at the hands of the Florida Panthers in the second round quickly brought discontent among the fans.