Friedman: MLSE thought they were going to reach a deal with Kyle Dubas

“What we don’t really know at this point in time is if it was [the team’s] decision or if it was [Dubas’] decision. Let me go back through the timeline, as I understand it.

I think that, late in the season, the Leafs went to Dubas and said ‘look, you’ve done a really good job here and we want to talk about an extension.’ And so they continued working towards it and they were on the precipice of getting it done. I don’t know if it was miscommunication or exactly what happened but here’s where I think things went off the rails a little bit this week.

Kyle Dubas’ plan and something he always said ‘at the end of the season, I’m going to sit down with my family and I’m going to talk with them about how they feel.’ And he told them that, and I think they understood that.

But as the negotiations and the conversations continued, I think MLSE thought that this was all going to work out and they didn’t have any reason to believe that this won’t get done, especially as they continued in the playoffs.

They got knocked out on Friday, he had the conversation with his family, we all now know publicly what happened, and I think the Maple Leafs were surprised, because their position was that ‘if we’re going to work this far on it, then we assume everything is okay.’

Whatever the case was, they found out late. Dubas was in all week, he did the exit interviews, it wasn’t like he was away from the office, and I think some people thought that was a good sign. But obviously we are where we are today.”