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National Post
28 minutes ago
- National Post
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 On the work-ethic list incident involving Babcock and Marner, initially revealed by us in the Toronto Sun: 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
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Thunder's Lu Dort to have NBA title parade in Montreal next week
While visiting his hometown, Luguentz Dort, the NBA champ with the Oklahoma City Thunder, says he thinks Montreal has what it takes to have an NBA franchise.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘No appetite' for municipal tax dollars to support new Sens arena: Sutcliffe
A rendering of what a new Ottawa Senators arena on LeBreton Flats could look like. (Capital Sports Development Inc.) Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says he does not believe local taxpayers want city funds to go into a new NHL arena. The Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission jointly announced on Monday that they had signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of about 11 acres of land in LeBreton Flats, which the Senators plan to use to build a new hockey arena. Neither the Sens nor the NCC would comment further on the deal, but in previous discussions, Senators President Cyril Leeder said a new arena, if one is built, would take several years to complete. Mark Sutcliffe Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says he does not believe there's public appetite for city money to go toward a new arena for the Ottawa Senators. (CTV News Ottawa) In the meantime, Sutcliffe says the City of Ottawa has other priorities for its tax dollars. 'I don't think there's an appetite for public dollars to go into an NHL hockey arena. There are other priorities that we're working on right now to invest in public assets, including recreation facilities, including Lansdowne Park, including roads and sidewalks and bike lanes,' Sutcliffe told CTV News Ottawa on Tuesday. 'There are many, many other priorities that we're focused on right now and I don't think the public wants us to write a cheque to support the construction of an NHL arena.' The City is notably in the process of the Lansdowne 2.0 revitalization, a nearly half-billion-dollar project to rebuild stands at the city-owned TD Place Stadium and tear down and construct an entirely new arena for teams such as the Ottawa 67's and the Ottawa Charge. The City of Ottawa has estimated the price-tag for the new 5,500-seat event centre and a north-side stands at $419 million, but a report from the auditor general warned construction cost estimates could be understated by $73.4 million. The City of Calgary and the City of Edmonton have put municipal dollars toward NHL arenas in their respective markets. Sutcliffe says the news about the land purchase agreement is a 'big step forward' for the Sens and for the city, and he's excited to see more details once the team develops its plans more formally. 'Right now, I think the ball is very much in the Senators' court. They've secured a piece of land in the centre of Ottawa. They want to build an arena. So, I think the next step is up to them in terms of how quickly they want to move and what they want to do next,' he said. 'It's so early in the process. We've not been asked for anything. The Senators have not made any requests to us. We don't even know what the plan is going to look like… it's all very early.' While city tax dollars might not go into building the arena itself, the city will still be involved in the infrastructure surrounding the site, Sutcliffe said. 'With any development in the city, when there's something exciting happening, we're ready to be partners and ready to work with the proponents in order to make sure that it's moved forward as quickly as possible and the city's doing everything it can to support it,' he said. Canadian Tire Centre The Canadian Tire Centre will remain the home of the Ottawa Senators as the club takes the next step in building a new arena at LeBreton Flats. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) If the Senators do build a new arena, moving the team out of the Canadian Tire Centre would have an economic impact on Kanata, Sutcliffe added. 'The Canadian Tire Centre has been a major economic driver for Kanata and for the entire west end of Ottawa for 30 years now. It's a major employer, it drives a lot of economic activity in the area for restaurants and other businesses, so we need a plan for that site to make sure that the economy in the west end of the city and in Kanata is sustained and preserved,' he said. With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle
