Former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas shares biggest regret, comments on Mitch Marner and Mike Babcock
'I don't think it's because of the pressure of the marketplace or the fans. That was my impression. Maybe the players would disagree, but I don't think it was ever a factor to the group not reaching its potential.'
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On the difficulty of building a team when the Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander contracts were a significant portion of the Leafs' finances:
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'I think the thing that handcuffed it was the salary cap was flat. That's life. No one could have predicted (the COVID impact) and we just had to adapt. After 2021, I thought we started to become much better at identifying what we needed to support the group and give the team a better chance.
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'We took a lot of shots in 2020 and 2021 and weren't as successful. It was on us to make the right decisions around that group of players and I think everyone wishes the team would have performed better as a group and individually and in the playoffs. I don't point to any one situation or one thing, but we didn't get it done and that's as simple as I can put it.'
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On the tenure of Mike Babcock, who was hired as coach in 2015 and fired in 2019, 4 1/2 years into his eight-year contract:
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'The reason why the team was able to get into the playoffs in 2017 and stay there, and maybe people don't want to give the credit to (Babcock) in retrospect, but he brought in a tremendous amount of accountability, a tremendous amount of detail, and his work ethic and what he was willing to put in to be prepared, was … I still haven't seen anything quite like it.
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'At the end, it just became clear that the group wasn't going to take the next steps with him … it was clear we were going to have to try to find another voice to push us ahead both in the regular season and the playoffs.
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'Lou (Lamoriello) was the GM. Nobody else with the team really knew that. Lou handled it with Mike. The fact it was never a topic again until I think the few days after Mike was fired, I think speaks to Lou's ability to handle everything.
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'It never came up again in my time there and when I read the story, it was the Toronto Sun, I remember (assistant GM) Brandon Pridham and I saying we didn't know that it had happened.'
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'You've seen the evolution as a leader and the evolution on the defensive side as well. Everyone knows about the goal scoring. To see him named captain there, captain of Team USA, he puts a lot into his craft. His (biggest) pressure is probably internal in trying to be the absolute best.'
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'We could talk forever about Lou and how great a mentor he was for me and how great our relationship still is and how close he is with my family. He's the best. That was a great experience. I leaned on him a lot. (In his first meeting with Lamoriello), I was 29 years old. I was scared s***less.'
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Toronto Sun
19 hours ago
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Letters to the Editor, Aug. 14, 2025
Thursday letters Photo by Illustration / Toronto Sun DUMP SHAPIRO This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account I recently watched a Mark Shapiro interview where he touted the Blue Jays' success. He also confirmed that he was in Cleveland for 25 years, confirming there was no success for the city. He said he wants to stay in Toronto. He is now in year 10, still without a championship. I don't have faith in his skill at picking a winner, as this year's Jays' success is not because of him, it's despite Shapiro. The acquisitions he made at the beginning of the season were 'no names' with no measurable stats. Shapiro just lucked out. Edward Rogers should not renew his contract and Shapiro must go! Gary Megaffin Kitchener (A bit of playoff success may just save him) SAVE YOUR PENNIES Looks like the only way to save our country is to seriously get a good, decent group of common-sense people together and start a new party! I vote Conservative but think of myself as centre-right. In other words, I want everyone (those who put in the work) to do well and I believe most good people understand that the status quo is not working! When I say centre-right, our social programs and health-care system must be preserved and most agree. But fiscally, we are headed to disaster. So, people, do we do something or let our country go down? Dr. Steve Starkman Toronto (Years of Liberal overspending and fiscal mismanagement have left this country in a sorry state) OIL SLICK Re 'China escalates Canada trade spat with more canola levies' (Bloomberg News, Aug. 12): I would bet my last dollar that Donald Trump is colluding with China, telling them that if they stick it to Canada, Trump will give them a better deal. Prime Minister Mark Carney is right. Trump is trying every trick in the book to break us. Lynn MacDonald (Wouldn't put it past him) Editorial Cartoons Columnists Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists Toronto & GTA
Edmonton Journal
a day ago
- Edmonton Journal
Former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas shares biggest regret, comments on Mitch Marner and Mike Babcock
Article content 'I don't think it's because of the pressure of the marketplace or the fans. That was my impression. Maybe the players would disagree, but I don't think it was ever a factor to the group not reaching its potential.' Article content On the difficulty of building a team when the Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander contracts were a significant portion of the Leafs' finances: Article content 'I think the thing that handcuffed it was the salary cap was flat. That's life. No one could have predicted (the COVID impact) and we just had to adapt. After 2021, I thought we started to become much better at identifying what we needed to support the group and give the team a better chance. Article content 'We took a lot of shots in 2020 and 2021 and weren't as successful. It was on us to make the right decisions around that group of players and I think everyone wishes the team would have performed better as a group and individually and in the playoffs. I don't point to any one situation or one thing, but we didn't get it done and that's as simple as I can put it.' Article content Article content On the tenure of Mike Babcock, who was hired as coach in 2015 and fired in 2019, 4 1/2 years into his eight-year contract: Article content 'The reason why the team was able to get into the playoffs in 2017 and stay there, and maybe people don't want to give the credit to (Babcock) in retrospect, but he brought in a tremendous amount of accountability, a tremendous amount of detail, and his work ethic and what he was willing to put in to be prepared, was … I still haven't seen anything quite like it. Article content 'At the end, it just became clear that the group wasn't going to take the next steps with him … it was clear we were going to have to try to find another voice to push us ahead both in the regular season and the playoffs. Article content 'Lou (Lamoriello) was the GM. Nobody else with the team really knew that. Lou handled it with Mike. The fact it was never a topic again until I think the few days after Mike was fired, I think speaks to Lou's ability to handle everything. Article content Article content 'It never came up again in my time there and when I read the story, it was the Toronto Sun, I remember (assistant GM) Brandon Pridham and I saying we didn't know that it had happened.' Article content 'You've seen the evolution as a leader and the evolution on the defensive side as well. Everyone knows about the goal scoring. To see him named captain there, captain of Team USA, he puts a lot into his craft. His (biggest) pressure is probably internal in trying to be the absolute best.' Article content 'We could talk forever about Lou and how great a mentor he was for me and how great our relationship still is and how close he is with my family. He's the best. That was a great experience. I leaned on him a lot. (In his first meeting with Lamoriello), I was 29 years old. I was scared s***less.' Article content
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
As Summer McIntosh shines, Canada's aging public pools face a wave of closures
Suggest: Finding the next Summer McIntosh and keeping Canadians safe in the water is getting harder as pool closures spread across the country. Municipalities and universities strapped for cash, and neglecting upkeep on aging pools, now face hefty renovation or rebuild costs — or closure. More than half of Canada's publicly owned indoor pools are at least 25 years old, and less than half of the country's 25-metre pools are rated in good physical condition, according to a Swimming Canada report released this year. 'The reason why these pools are closing; they're not serviced. They are not serviced until they break,' said Swim BC president Jeannie Lo. Outdoor pools take pressure off their indoor counterparts in summer, but space in the water is about to get tight in some parts of the country. If McIntosh, a recent winner of four world championship gold medals at age 18, inspired youngsters to try competitive swimming, St. James Seals head coach Josh Koldon is worried he won't be able to accommodate them. With the Winnipeg club's St. James Civic Centre pool closed until next year for repairs, and the University of Manitoba's pool out of commission indefinitely, Koldon's 85 swimmers will be searching for lanes this winter. 'It's a big challenge. It definitely puts a hard cap on our numbers because we don't want to cram everybody in like sardines,' Koldon said. 'We still want to offer a high level of instruction and opportunity for kids.' The Seals shared their pool with Manitoba Bisons junior swimmers after the university's 60-year-old Joyce Fromson Pool sprang a leak in April. But the civic centre's pool closed in June for repairs. The university has just begun exploring options for replacing a pool where Olympians Kelsey Wog and Chantal Van Landeghem once trained. St. James Civic Centre is one of four city-run indoor pools in Winnipeg currently closed for renovations or repairs, although three are scheduled to reopen this year. Mary-Sophie Harvey, who took world championship bronze in the 400-metre freestyle behind winner McIntosh, spoke of driving to four different pools in Montreal to train because Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard closed for renovations last year and won't open again until 2026. Among other pool reductions in Canada: • The University of Victoria shuttered its 50-metre McKinnon Pool last year. The 50-year-old facility requires more than $1.5 million in upgrades, according to the university. • Laurentian University's pool in Sudbury, Ont. — the only 50-metre pool in the region — has been out of commission since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the university's 2021 insolvency, from which it is still recovering. • The Vancouver Aquatic Centre's 50-metre pool will be reduced to 25 metres in an upcoming renovation to the half-century old facility. Vancouver's Park Board won't rebuild an Olympic-sized pool at VAC, although the board has committed to constructing a new 50-metre pool elsewhere 'in the next ten years.' The Canadian Dolphin Swim Club, with 350 swimmers, will shift during VAC's three-year renovation to the Hillcrest Aquatic Centre, which Lo says is already over capacity. 'The math doesn't make sense to me,' said Lo, who is also the swim club's president. 'The impact to our club is that we potentially have to shrink our program in order to deal with the limited space.' Vancouver's park board said in a March report that 8,000 people were on a wait list for fall swim lessons, and that Hillcrest operates at 113 per cent capacity. 'The overarching challenge for swimming across Canada is, how do we identify the next Summer Macintosh when we don't even have pool space to teach people how to swim, let alone train?' asked Lo. She says the federal government needs to take the lead on pool investment to bring other levels of government on board. 'I believe this is an issue that needs to be escalated to the federal level in order to prioritize pools and prioritize aquatic sport,' Lo said. A 50-metre pool is the standard for Olympic, Paralympic and world championship competition. Fewer than 70 publicly owned ones remain in Canada, and 25-metre pools are also in decline, Swimming Canada's report says. Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., shuttered its 58-year-old pool permanently in June. The indoor pool in Weyburn, Sask., closed last year when structural failures in the basin were discovered in the 35-year-old tank. There is one adjacent outdoor pool for the city of 11,000. The mayor has said the indoor pool is unlikely to open this year. 'Every province is dealing with this on different levels,' said Swimming Canada's associate director of sport development Jocelyn Jay. 'Saskatchewan's dealing with small communities that are losing pools. Acadia University in Nova Scotia … it serviced a university and a club team, but it also serviced four local communities.' Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. There are cities and towns committed to renewing or replacing their aging pools, but large renovations and new construction cause shutdowns that are months and years long because of feasibility studies and bureaucratic hoops that precede the actual work. Not only are recreational and competitive swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming interrupted, but so are swimming lessons and lifeguard training, Jay points out 'What we need to keep in mind is drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental death for children in Canada,' she stated. 'If we're not paying attention to our facilities and just what's going on with this facility crisis, it's a scary thought to see what the long-term implications are there.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2024.
