As expected, the Toronto Maple Leafs have promoted Kyle Dubas to general manager to replace Lou Lamoriello.
Dubas, who had been one of the team’s assistant general managers, takes over the day-to-day leadership of the hockey department. He got the nod over Mark Hunter, another assistant Leafs GM, from Toronto team president Brendan Shanahan.
The club will formerly introduce Dubas in his new role during a news conference Friday.
Meanwhile Lamoriello, 75, moved aside into an advisory role . . . for now. NHL insiders insist he isn’t satisfied with such a role and will eventually land elsewhere as a general manager or president of hockey operations.
The New York Islanders have been shopping for a high-level hockey executive and Lamoriello’s son Chris is assistant GM there. So that is one distinct possibility.
A VICTORY FOR ANALYTICS
Dubas, 32, is still another rising NHL executive with a strong background in analytics. He has been managing the Leafs’ innovative research and development department.
But he also built player development credentials in the ranks of major junior hockey. After spending three seasons as general manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League — after hiring on at the age of 25 — Dubas joined the Maple Leafs in 2014.
His oversight of the Leaf’s farm team in the American Hockey League, the Toronto Marlies, led to two regular season league titles in three years. During that span the Marlies graduated several players to the Maple Leafs, one of the NHL’s up-and-coming teams.
Other franchises, including the Colorado Avalanche, took note of the progress Dubas made with the long-struggling Leafs. But Shanahan denied the Avalanche permission to discuss a director of hockey operations post in Denver.
Instead, he held on to Dubas and then promoted him after the GM portion of Lamoriello’s contract expired after this season.
WHAT BECOMES OF HUNTER?
Hunter, 55, joined the Leafs in a player development role in 2014. He was promoted to assistant GM in 2016. He is a former NHL winger and the co-owner of the OHL’s London Knights with his brother Dale, another NHL veteran.
He could stay on with the Leafs, jump to another NHL franchise or return to his junior hockey franchise to await a better opportunity at the next level.
