In the tip, Kyle Dubas received what he wished. Now he has to ship, and it gained’t be straightforward.
Just minutes earlier than his former staff the Toronto Maple Leafs’ introductory press convention for brand spanking new GM Brad Treliving, the Fenway Sports Group’s Pittsburgh Penguins introduced that they’d employed Dubas.
Meow.
But the curiously timed announcement was to not say that Dubas was employed for the vacant GM’s job however reasonably that he’s the brand new President of Hockey Operations and that he’ll be interim GM till he hires somebody for the job (i. e. one other analytics-minded “progressive” candidate he can inform what to do).
If Leafs head hockey honcho Brendan Shanahan thought that Dubas was after his job, or an excellent chunk of his energy, who may blame him?
But leaving all the ability play drama apart, one factor is obvious. The job that Dubas has in entrance of him goes to be much more troublesome than the one he left behind, even with out the frenzy that accompanies all issues Leafs.
When Dubas was named Toronto GM by Shanahan in 2018, the constructing blocks of an excellent staff had been in place. In the years previous to his ascension, they’d drafted Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. In his first free company interval as a GM, Dubas beat out, amongst different groups, the Bruins to signal prized free agent John Tavares, whose need to return dwelling was robust.
But none of that introduced post-season success. The Leafs lastly broke the primary spherical curse this 12 months by beating the weakened three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning in six video games, however promptly received bounced by the Florida Panthers in 5.
He by no means fairly received the goaltending or depth proper. It seemed like this is likely to be the 12 months, when he added former Selke Award winner Ryan O’Reilly and hit machine Noel Acciari, plus defenseman Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe from Chicago. But the win over the Bolts proved to be his first and final playoff victory.
Now it’s on to Pittsburgh, the place he inherits an excellent coach in Mike Sullivan (neatly given an endorsement by the brand new man) and a trio of getting older greats in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, plus a few respectable youthful gamers in Jake Guentzel and Rickard Rackell. On Friday, Sullivan confused the necessity to enhance the staff velocity, and it actually sounds just like the coach and Dubas are consistent with one another.
The protection corps, led by Letang and Jeff Petry, is simply not excellent. Like the B’s, Avalanche and Lightning, the Pens’ prospect pool ranks close to the underside of the league, due to years of going all-in on the commerce deadline. The goaltending is a big query mark. They have to determine if Tristan Jarry, a UFA-to-be, is their man or not. Casey DeSmith seems to be an honest back-up however not the man you need carrying the load. Sullivan hinted that they may very well be trying to go along with extra of a 1A-1B state of affairs.
It all provides as much as fairly a problem. In his time with the Leafs, fixing the protection and the goaltending was not precisely Dubas’ robust go well with. We’ll quickly see what and the way a lot he realized whereas working within the Toronto fishbowl. …
Turmoil in Toronto
As for Treliving touchdown in Toronto, it was hardly the daring selection that the Leafs made once they elevated the then 31-year-old Dubas to the position of GM again in 2018. That doesn’t imply it was a foul selection. Time will inform on that, however Treliving’s run in Calgary was a combined bag.
Treliving, B’s followers will keep in mind, made a splash in the summertime of 2015 when he facilitated recalcitrant defenseman Dougie Hamilton’s escape from Boston by handing over the Flames’ first-round decide and two second-round picks in a deep draft. Just three years later, Treliving had seen sufficient of Hamilton and determined to ship him, ahead Michael Ferland and the rights to future Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox to Carolina for ahead Elias Lindholm and defenseman Noah Hanifin.
Last summer time, he was hit with a one-two punch when UFA Johnny Gaudreau determined to signal elsewhere and Matthew Tkachuk knowledgeable him that he had no plans to signal long-term.
Put in a foul spot, Treliving made essentially the most out of it, getting set-up man supreme Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman Mackenzie Weegar. With Tkachuk’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, many have crushed Treliving, however he needed to do one thing, particularly within the wake of Gaudreau bolting.
And not that it issues within the general scheme, however the Flames truly completed some extent forward of the Panthers within the league standings, nevertheless it wasn’t ok to get into the Western Conference playoffs. Maybe if he had been simply as proactive in firing old style coach Darryl Sutter when it was clear he wasn’t getting one of the best out of latest star Huberdeau (he went from 115 factors in his final 12 months in Florida to 55 in Calgary), they may have nudged their means into the post-season.
Similar large selections await Treliving in TO. With the destiny of coach Sheldon Keefe twisting within the wind, Treliving’s acknowledged No. 1 precedence is gauging star Auston Matthews’ curiosity in remaining a Leaf past this upcoming 12 months, his final below contract. His no-move clause kicks in on July 1. But Treliving made one factor clear. His imaginative and prescient for this staff doesn’t essentially revolve across the supposed “Core Four” – Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander – if there’s no solution to transfer the ball ahead with that group intact.
Yes, a Matthews commerce can be mammoth. A deal for any of the opposite three may ship out some shockwaves, too. But proper now it doesn’t really feel such a seismic transfer is as unthinkable because it as soon as did. …
Coyote ugly
If you possibly can’t make enjoyable of the Arizona Coyotes, who are you able to make enjoyable of?
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy, who usually says the quiet half out loud, appeared to get in sizzling water with, properly, somebody when he was bemoaning his staff’s puck administration throughout his staff’s collection with Dallas when he determined so as to add – God forbid – a bit shade to his commentary.
“We had 24 giveaways,” mentioned Cassidy. “I’m not sure you’re beating the Arizona Coyotes in January with 24 giveaways. That’s no disrespect to Arizona, but it’s not the right way to play.”
The “no disrespect to Arizona” half ought to have had him lined. But no, Cassidy felt compelled to apologize the following day.
“It was disrespectful,” mentioned Cassidy. “It was a dumb thing to say about puck management, to bring another team in.”
I get it that there are good hockey folks working in Arizona and that there are some good gamers there as properly. But the Coyotes have been propped up by the league for years. They play in a 5,000-seat school area and their city primarily instructed them they might not care much less if the staff moved elsewhere. Someone, someplace is terribly delicate. …
Short summer time for Sweeney
With the calendar turning to June, enterprise will quickly decide up for the B’s and GM Don Sweeney, who has numerous work to do. Presumably, he’ll have an concept by the July 1 begin of free company whether or not Patrice Bergeron and/or David Krejci will probably be within the image, and he’ll have to dump some wage simply to fill out his roster, by no means thoughts making sufficient room to signal a UFA like Tyler Bertuzzi, which it’s believed he’d love to do in an ideal world. There are loads of executives and participant brokers alike who’ve their fingers crossed that wage cap bump will probably be larger than anticipated, however Sweeney will nonetheless need to make some strikes.
He did make one non-move final week, opting to not signal his 2019 sixth-round decide, Finnish ahead Matias Mantykivi, thus giving up the staff’s unique signing rights. With Ilves Tampere, Manykivi had 12-21-33 totals in 60 video games final season.
Source: www.bostonherald.com