NHL management experience is overblown

First off, let me just start this by saying I think Kyle Dubas should be the next full-time general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. You might disagree, but ask yourself, would you be alright with Shanahan naming himself to that title after what you’ve seen over the last year? If the answer is yes, you should also be okay with Dubas taking over.

Shanahan and Dubas are a force, and the latter has no doubt been the driver behind the Leafs’ balanced and well-thought-out approach since last August. Have you questioned any of the moves the team has made since then? I haven’t. And I just sat through three years of Nonis, so I’m wary of everyone. 

Look, there’s been a lot of words written and junk spewed about how the Leafs can’t go forward without an experienced general manager because…well…you know what? I’m not sure if I’ve seen or heard a sound argument for it besides “Well they just need one.” There are people just throwing ideas in the air like “Oh, these rival GMs are like sharks in the water around the youngster Dubas.” 

Well guess what? A lot of these supposed “sharks” evidently aren’t the brightest hockey minds, so hold up. 

You know who has NHL general manager experience? This guy.

Another person with even more NHL general managing experience and a much, much better track record? This fella below, perhaps known as one of the top executives in the entire league for about a trillion years.

Thanks for the pick and prospect David Poile, maybe next time you deal with the Leafs you can fire up the ol’ internet and figure out WHICH WAY THE PLAYER SHOOTS before trading for him.

The point is, yes, the general manager job in the NHL probably entails a lot more than you or I think it does, but in terms of making the majority of these roster moves, how mysterious can it be? Dubas has shown in the past he’s simply a sharp hockey mind who goes into things with an open approach and is willing to learn and use all tools at his disposal. You can’t ask for more than that. Behind him there’s an army of analysts for crying out loud. There isn’t a general manager in the league who’s going to know something about a player that he doesn’t, at least performance and cap-wise. There just isn’t.

Hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the Leafs do need someone else in the room, a guy who has that all-important front office experience. I hear Gord Stellick is looking for work. Hell, he’s still GM-ing from home.

Lock it down! The defence rests! No need to look into it any further. Statistics? Scouting? Forget all that shit. 

Stellick, like Nonis or Milbury or whoever, has general manager experience at the NHL level. With the Leafs, no less. Should he run a team? Just think about how insane that would be.

But seriously, Kyle Dubas has been with the Leafs for almost a year and it’s the first time I can remember them making much sense since the lockout. No, not 2013, the one before that. There’s absolutely no reason to believe he, with the backing of Shanahan and/or Hunter, is going to get swindled or tricked or fleeced by any general manager league-wide. There’s simply nothing to suggest it.

If this summer goes down as a disaster and the Leafs make a boatload of mistakes, crippling the rebuild and sending us back to the darkest times of Nonis, come back here and call me an idiot. Do it now if you want. But as far as I’m concerned the Leafs aren’t in need of a general manager with NHL experience. Dubas has said all the right things to indicate he’s smart enough, and if anything, it’s rival managers who should be making sure they do all their preparation and research before dealing with him, or else they might soon be out of a job and taking data management courses from Gord Stellick. 

The defence rests!