The innocent climb appears over, and the safety net removed. We’ll have to wait and see whether the Leafs fall again, or finally rise. And so will they. Opinion by Bruce Arthur
president Brendan Shanahan first met Kyle Dubas, he expected to meet for an hour or two; the two men spoke for nine. When Shanahan made Dubas the Leafs’ general manager over Lou Lamoriello, the GM from 2015 to 2018, and Mark Hunter, it was because Shanahan had listened to all three debate for three years, and Dubas was most often right. Lamoriello was Shanahan’s first GM as a player. He chose Dubas anyway.
They may not have always seen the game the exact same way, but Shanahan and Dubas were aligned: Invest in superstars, play fast and skilled and aggressive hockey, listen to analytics, and make intelligent — if not always correct — attempts to see into hockey’s near future. Even as they fell short, that ethos has defined this Leafs era.
The Leafs are stacked. Three teams finished with better records than Toronto last season and two — Colorado and Florida — lost depth pieces, and in Florida’s case made a blockbuster trade that may or may not make them better. With decent goaltending, a Presidents Trophy isn’t out of the question. If Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov are actually good? This space does not encourage gambling in this economy, but you could bet on a hell of a year.
“I thought we had a very good regular season, but I consider that a significant difference between us and the team that won our division in Florida,” Dubas said at the beginning of training camp. “So to me, there’s still a lot of room for us to grow in that regard and … our goal has to be to win our division. That’s where we compete most. You know, I understand that’s not going to placate anybody; everyone’s going to say, OK … then it’s going to shift to, let’s get it done in the playoffs.
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