Toronto Maple Leafs: Is assistant GM Kyle Dubas on his way out?

It was reported on Tuesday night that the Toronto Maple Leafs were contacted by the Colorado Avalanche to speak with assistant general manager Kyle Dubas about a role in the organization.

At the end of last season, Kyle Dubas told reporters he was not ready to take on a job as a general manager in the NHL. Has another year of experience with the Toronto Maple Leafs suddenly changed all that? Well apparently there are reports suggesting that it could be so, with the Colorado Avalanche knocking on the Leafs’ door.

The 31-year old joined the Leafs in 2014 after four years with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds as their general manager. He was brought in to help build the Leafs’ analytics department and assist on the player development side as the general manager of the Toronto Marlies. Now it looks like his talents are attracting attention from around the league.

With Lou Lamoriello at the helm for the time being, does Dubas see an opportunity to run a team on his own? Considering the way Mark Hunter, the Leafs’ other assistant GM and director of player personnel, is respected by the organization, he is probably next in line to take over for Lamoriello when he is ready to retire. Considering the Leafs are going to let Colorado talk to Dubas might indicate they do not want to stand in his way of a promotion.

He and Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe have built a strong developmental path for the Leafs’ young prospects and it has shown with the likes of William Nylander, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Frederik Gauthier and Nikita Soshnikov. The Avalanche have struggled in their rebuild under Joe Sakic and are a team that could desperately use Dubas.

The team lost Patrick Roy late in the summer and the team finished with a 22-56-4 record. It is an organization that needs a structured development system in place.

The question is where Dubas would fit in the organizations plans after they cleaned out their assistant coaching staff? Sakic holds the title of general manager, with Chris MacFarland and Chris Billington as his assistants.

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Would Dubas leapfrog both assistants for the GM job? The report does not say what role he is being interviewed for, but it is likely a promotion because that is the only way he leaves a good situation in Toronto for an uncertain one in Colorado.

Before Leafs fans get worried about potentially losing an important member of the front office, they have to remember a couple of things. There is no guarantee Dubas will be hired after the interview or he may not want the position at all.

The other thing to remember is that a team like the Leafs, who have a lot of quality people working in its front office, will lose some of them to teams with better opportunities. Just ask the Toronto Raptors. 

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If this means that Dubas’ time with the organization is coming to an end, it would be a loss considering the work he has done since joining the Leafs, especially when they were without a general manager. Who knows, if he takes the job in Colorado, he could make his way back to the Leafs one day and with more experience to his résumé. It is too bad the NHL took away the compensation rule, because the Leafs would have at least gotten something if Dubas were to land a job with the Avalanche.