18 Reasons Maple Leafs’ Fans Want Kyle Dubas Fired

Day after day after day, Toronto Maple Leafs’ fans simply go after the team’s general manager Kyle Dubas. Reason after reason is given why the young general manager should be driven out of town. In this post, I thought I would try to reconstruct some of the things that I’ve heard over the past offseason – short as they are.

Here’s the list to the best of my memory. Probably the fact that I offer them without commentary is commentary itself. The fact is that I don’t believe they are accurate in the sense that I don’t believe that it’s Dubas’ fault (for example) that his team doesn’t translate regular-season success to postseason success.

Still, as I wrote this post, I wanted to get all of the ideas out there.

Related: Maple Leafs Commentary: Figuring Out Dubas’ Game Plan

Reasons Why Maple Leafs Fans Believe Kyle Dubas Should Be Fired

Reason One: So far, general manager Dubas’ teams have won zero playoff series (let alone won the conference finals).

Reason Two: Dubas has signed his stars to questionable (high-dollar-figured) contracts. Other players he refused to re-sign to big enough contracts. Picks the wrong guys.

Reason Three: Dubas has made terrible trades. He brings in bad players and lets good ones get away for nothing.

Reason Four: Dubas has not helped the organization improve its terrible farm system.

Reason Five: When the games count the most (during the postseason), Dubas’ teams don’t show up. They are soft and weak. Won’t go into the corners or battle for pucks. Run away from hits.

Reason Six: Each offseason Dubas brings in more different players. They perform great in the regular-season, but regular-season success is overrated. The playoffs are where it counts and his teams haven’t been unsuccessful.

Related: Time for Maple Leafs Rasmus Sandin to See the Bigger Picture

Reason Seven: Dubas brings in different players but nothing seems to be changed. Year after year, it’s the same result.

Reason Eight: Every season seems to bring a new and revived hope with the quality of his teams, but somehow the team hasn’t improved enough to win one playoff round. He lets fans down.

Reason Nine: Maple Leafs’ fans just need to wait for nine months after the season starts to be disappointed again and to find out that nothing has changed. He tricks us!

Reason Ten: Dubas inherited a very good team when he took over, but he’s run it into the ground (or at least he hasn’t improved it).

Reason Eleven: Dubas makes horrible goalie choices. He let Frederik Andersen walk. Then he let Jack Campbell walk. He keeps gambling on the wrong players.

Reason Twelve: Dubas also keeps gambling on the bottom six and hopes someone will excel.

Related: DON’T BET MAPLE LEAFS TRADE JUSTIN HOLL, BUT THEN … THEY MIGHT

Reason Thirteen: Dubas’ teams win when the other teams don’t care (during the regular season). In the postseason, when the teams come to play and bare down, the Maple Leafs’ weaknesses show up.

Reason Fourteen: Dubas thinks he’s smarter than everyone else.

Reason Fifteen: Kyle Dubas isn’t Lou Lamoriello.

Reson Sixteen: Dubas is young. He came into his first NHL general manager’s job with no experience.

Reason Seventeen: Dubas avoids signing physical players. He likes small players who are smart, but then these players go hide from the action.

Reason Eighteen: Dubas gets run over by player agents. He gets tricked into signing awful contracts.

What If, Just What If?

What will happen if the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup this season? Will it be because the team overcame his ineffective leadership?

Related: Maple Leafs’ Fans Must Stop Blaming Dubas for the Team’s Problems

[Added note: As readers can see when they look at the comments to this post, I got called out for writing it. I admit the reader is correct. I have been reading these critiques by fans (which I think is a nice word for what they are). And I gave in to the temptation to just sit down and list them. I should have just done my job in covering the Maple Leafs. I’ll try not to let it happen again. Thanks to readers who tell me when I mess up.]