Penguins GM Kyle Dubas “left a reasonable hockey club behind when he essentially fired himself” as GM of the Maple Leafs last June, but he also “left behind a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces missing, which coincided with a salary-cap conundrum that seems to forever haunt” the Maple Leafs, according to Steve Simmons of the TORONTO SUN. The Maple Leafs have four players (C John Tavares, C Auston Matthews, RW Mitch Marner and RW William Nylander) that earn “just a touch under” $40M a season, leaving GM Brad Treliving to inherit a hockey team “facing financial challenges for the ages.” Simmons noted if the team’s “Core Four” stay together next season, the salary dedicated to them “will reasonably begin” at $46M. Most of the best NHL teams have “found a way to be competitive with their best players” and “not putting the team at risk by signing them to expensive extensions.” But Dubas put the Maple Leafs in an “impossible situation” when he first signed Tavares for too much, then Matthews for too much, and then Marner for too much (TORONTO SUN, 11/26). In Toronto, Dave Feschuk wrote Dubas “had an undeniable knack for filling the role-playing holes on a jammed salary-cap sheet.” His “neophyte work at the negotiating table inflated contracts in a way that made player agents smile with glee.” Which is one of the reasons why there “never seemed to be enough money to build a playoff-worthy blueline” (TORONTO STAR, 11/25).
Kyle Dubas' fingerprints remain all over the Maple Leafs roster following his departureGetty Images
