The Maple Leafs last night began their seventh year of the Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner era, and this season will "act as a referendum" on GM Kyle Dubas, who is entering the final year of his five-year deal, according to Arun Srinivasan of YAHOO SPORTS. It was not long ago that Dubas was “billed as the wunderkind who would propel” the team to a "prosperous new future by shedding the archaic thinking of previous regimes." In his fifth year as GM, the Maple Leafs are “now built entirely in his visage.” There are “no other cards to play.” The rest of the league has “caught up” and analytics are "no longer a concept expertly wielded by younger executives looking to carve out a lane.” Every NHL team has an analytics staff, and while the majority of the league’s GMs are former player, Dubas has “been outsmarted by his non-traditional peers.” But this season the Leafs are “projected by most models to be one of the primary contenders for the Stanley Cup.” The real criticism stems from whether Dubas has “done enough to supplement his core,” given that he paid Matthews, Marner and C John Tavares “top-of-the-market level contracts, bleeding the budget for the rest of the staff.” Dubas, player-friendly as he is, may “be a bit too generous in the boardroom especially if the team hasn’t internally developed prospects at the rate it ought to have” (YAHOO SPORTS, 10/12).
