Just over a year after being fired from his position as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas looks back on the ups and downs of his decade within the organization.
In his new book Franchising: The Business of Building Winning TeamsESPN reporter Craig Custance, now at The Athletic, rounds up interviews with some of the NHL’s biggest names, including Dubas.
While the book is only due to be released in October, an excerpt with comments from the 38-year-old is already circulating online.
In it, the current Pittsburgh Penguins general manager addresses his “biggest mistake” in his previous role with the Leafs.
“I think the biggest mistake I’ve made in my time here has been not taking care of the three contracts that are still on,” Dubas told Custance, according to Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun. “(William) Nylander was up, (Mitch) Marner and (Auston) Matthews could have been done with July 1 extensions.”
Despite wanting to close deals during the 2018 and 2019 offseasons, Dubas ultimately signed all three players to big contracts.
He signed Nylander to a six-year contract worth $45 million in December 2018 after the forward missed a third of Toronto’s 2018-19 campaign due to protracted negotiations.
Dubas gave Mitch Marner a six-year, $65.408 million contract ($10.893 million cap hit through 2024-25) in September 2019.
Ultimately, he was unable to retain Matthews for as long a period as he would have liked, and signed him to a five-year, $58.2 million contract in February 2019.
With Nylander and Matthews signing new deals over the past year, the Leafs’ “core four,” which includes John Tavares, accounted for 54 percent of Toronto’s cap space last season.
Now in Pittsburgh, Dubas has a chance to redeem some of his past mistakes while captain and franchise player Sidney Crosby awaits a contract extension of his own.
Includes conversations with a variety of hockey executives, including current Leafs GM Brad TrelivingFranchising: The business of building winning teams can It can be pre-ordered on Amazon and will be in bookstores on October 15th.
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