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Kyle Dubas says he “will roll from here” in his first public comments since getting fired by the Maple Leafs.
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But where? Down I-90, with a hard left at Erie towards Pittsburgh? To another team? Another sport?
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Some finality has at least descended on his sudden exit with a touching Tuesday tweet that reflected on his nine years with the hockey club, five as its general manager. While it was headlined “onward,” there is no tracker beam on where he’s headed, while between the lines, it was clear the 37-year-old didn’t like having the timeline of his dismissal revealed by club president Brendan Shanahan.
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“While I understand there is interest surrounding the circumstances of my departure, I will not get into the specifics of what I consider to be reasonable, consistent, but private discussions,” Dubas said on his rarely used personal Twitter account. “In the days that I felt I needed to assess and evaluate my own view to the future, both with respect to the necessary direction of the club and ensuring that I had the full support of my family for what I knew would be required in the off-season and in the years to follow, the organization, as is their right to do, decided to go in a different direction.”
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For the buttoned-down Leafs, who’ve rarely make Dubas or Shanahan available to the media in the past few years, last week was an extraordinary breach of protocol. Dubas led it off at Monday’s season-ending session with heartfelt feelings about how hard the past season had been on himself, his wife and young family, saying he might not take an extension if offered by the Leafs before June 30.
His wavering tone ruffled Shanahan, who had yet to hear Dubas address that issue with him behind closed doors. Matters worsened when Dubas – according to the prez – stated he definitely wanted to come back, but under different terms than his agent had first presented to Shanahan and by extension the MLSE board. Could it have been a request for more money and less interference from above?
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That led to Friday’s firing, with the whole blow-by-blow negotiation spelled out by Shanahan on live TV, much to the chagrin of Dubas, judging by Tuesday’s tweet.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have permission to speak to Dubas about either their president of hockey operations opening, or just as GM or amid speculation they have another job for him in their larger Fenway Sports Group family.
Dubas did not address that Tuesday nor his role in the rumoured power struggle with Shanahan and the board on hockey-related decisions.
Shanahan, meanwhile, is scrambling to find an experienced GM with several front-burner contractual issues and very likely, the task of replacing Sheldon Keefe as coach.
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Brad Treliving, who was officially replaced as GM in Calgary by Craig Conroy on Tuesday, is the most conveniently available executive, with Shanahan facing a much harder process to free up a contracted GM who’d be attracted to the job, such as Doug Armstrong in St. Louis.
The former GM completed his message, which was signed “The Dubas Family,” thanking “an extremely passionate fan base” and the Leafs for nine years of employment, everyone from the board to the ushers at Scotiabank Arena, as well as players, coaches and staff.
“It was a tremendous pleasure to work alongside you. We will roll from here.”
There was no specific mention of Shanahan or Keefe in the farewell.
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2023-05-23 22:07:17Z
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