Leafs GM Dubas confident process will serve team well

When Kyle Dubas was named Leafs General Manager in May, he reached the pinnacle of the job pyramid in professional hockey. And with his first training camp as the steward of the storied club now underway, he is confident the process that helped him ascend to the job will benefit the team now as it focuses on a blossoming into a true Stanley Cup frontrunner.

"I haven't changed the way that I am - whether that's right or wrong, time will tell," Dubas said Thursday at the opening of Leafs' training camp. "This is me, it's worked in the past, and to change and try to develop and have it work in the future, I'm not going to change who I am or how I operate. I think I owe that to our staff and the players that we have here. In terms of challenge, this is the highest league that you can work in, so the other general managers are very astute, they've been at it, most of them, a lot longer than I have in their role. So I think there's a lot I can learn from them, and a lot I can learn from our staff."
Dubas, who joined the Leafs in 2014 as an assistant GM, has watched the growth of the team's depth in all on-ice positions. In an ultra-competitive league like the NHL, that's no small feat, but by staying with the organization's core principles along the way, it's a plain fact that terrific results have followed. The franchise now has competition at every position, and that extends all the way down to the American League's Toronto Marlies.

DUBAS SAYS LEAFS' SUCCESS 'A GROUP EFFORT'

But you won't catch Dubas claiming credit for the development that's taken place; rather, he defers to the entire organization for the success that's made Leafs fans so excited for team to begin competing.
"(T)he organization, thanks to the efforts of a lot of people - not just the management group, but our player personnel department, our development department, our (research and development) department, everybody - it's been a group effort," Dubas said. "Because the process has gone the way that it has, and we've been able to install that, it's allowed for the team to develop people and players and to progress them along, and it gives the coaching staff and myself and our management team a greater selection to pick from.
"In 2014 when I started, we were not where we are now, but it's through the efforts of our whole staff - and the players themselves; they're the ones that put the work in and the ones that play, and they've been able to really push things ahead. So it's nice to have that competition, and we're looking forward to it certainly come Fall."

BIG EXPECTATIONS FOR LEAFS 'AN OPPORTUNITY' THEY'VE EARNED

"Expectations, you can look at them two ways: you can look at them as pressure, or you can look at them as an opportunity that you've earned," Dubas said. "Our players, they've earned the respect of their peers through their performance to date… So I don't think they should shy away from it or let it inundate them or cause pressure to them. They should be excited about it. And I think in anything that you do in life, if people have expectations of you, it means that you've earned them and you have the talent, and they believe you can reach a certain potential. So I think that's a testament to the players that we have and their talent, and the work that they've put in so far."

SUSTAINED SUCCESS THE GOAL FOR DUBAS, LEAFS

On the NHL's recent media tour - where top players from teams around the league weigh in on the season to come - the Leafs were mentioned often as a dangerous group. But Dubas doesn't want those kind words to be directed to his team just this year - as head coach Mike Babcock said in his media session Thursday, he and Dubas want this core of players to have a lengthy run at the Cup and be in a frontrunner's spot for years and years.
"It's nice to have those things said about you, but we still have a lot to prove as a group," Dubas said. "We haven't won a playoff series yet, so we need to start by focusing on that today and tomorrow, and giving ourselves the most chance we can, year-in and year-out, to contend."