TORONTO -- Kyle Dubas said it's Toronto Maple Leafs or nowhere when it comes to his future as an NHL general manager.
Trouble is, he's not sure if he even wants to stay in his current role.
On a day when Dubas was noncommittal on where coach Sheldon Keefe and the team's "Core Four" of forwards Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares fit into the organization's plans next season and beyond, he took the same stance about himself.
"What I would say to that is, I think it takes me having a full family discussion," the 37-year-old said. "My family is hugely important to what I do. For me to commit to anything without having a fuller understanding of what this year took on them, is probably unfair for me to answer where I'm at.
"We haven't had those discussions yet. But it was a very hard year on them."
By the end of that answer, Dubas could be seen fighting back tears. It was as emotional a press conference he's had since being named the 17th GM in Maple Leafs history on May 11, 2018. He said his plan was to speak with his wife, Shannon, in the next day or so. They have two children, a son and a daughter.
After that comes a meeting with ownership and team president Brendan Shanahan this week. Shanahan is expected to address the media in the near future and was not on hand to sit beside Dubas for the team's annual end-of-season press conference, causing the GM to be asked if anything should be read into that.
"I'm responsible," Dubas said. "The decisions on trades, roster anything, that's on me. I feel like should sit and take responsibility for them. I don't need anybody else to be shielded with me."
The fallout from the elimination by the Florida Panthers in five-games in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round was expected to be significant. Part of the narrative focused on whether Shanahan and ownership would bring Dubas back, especially when they decided not to extend his contract last summer and left him working on an expiring deal this season.
If those above him opted not for him to return, that's one thing. But for him to potentially remove himself from the equation, well, that was an unexpected bombshell, to be sure.
There has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks that he might end up with the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Rangers. His response?
"I definitely don't have it in me to go anywhere else," he said. "So, it'll either be here, or it will be taking time to recalibrate and reflect on the seasons here. But you won't see me next week pop up elsewhere.
"I can't put [my family] through that after this year."
Just more questions for an organization that faces no shortage of them in the coming weeks.
Will he be back after a run in which the Maple Leafs are 1-5 in Stanley Cup Playoff series since he took over? If not, will it be his decision, or that of those above him?
There should be clarity on that situation later this week.
If he does return, will Keefe, whose team is 1-4 in playoff series since he was named coach Nov. 20, 2019, do the same?
Unlike previous locker cleanout days, Dubas did not give his longtime friend a strong endorsement, only saying that a decision on the coach right now would be "too hasty."
As for the roster, Dubas also changed his tune from the past.
He's always been a big supporter of the "Core Four," even when they'd struggled in the postseason. He always defended the model of building a team around four forwards who chewed up more than $40 million in salary cap space, even though he was heavily criticized that a successful roster could not be constructed like that.
But this time was different. This time, there seemed to be a belief within that this would be Toronto's year, especially with the shrewd moves prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 3 that landed forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues, forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe from the Chicago Blackhawks, and defenseman Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks.
It was Dubas's attempt to adapt to playoff hockey, to add muscle to a team full of hustle. And in the first round, it worked; the Maple Leafs won a playoff series for the first time in 19 years by eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
Then came the next round against Florida. Expectations rose. The level of his team's play did not.
"Narratives in past years about getting over the hump and 'if we can only win a round,' well, I never viewed it as such," he said. "The view throughout was try to win four and try to win a Stanley Cup. And the team, I thought, was capable of that.
"It's easy to say, 'Why didn't you do it?' which is what the question is. And that's where the disappointment happens. Yes, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in the fact that we scored only two goals a game for the last seven games in a row. And we have to find a way to convert on those chances. And we have to find a way to fill in different offense principles that will allow us to produce more at those key moments."
Simply put, Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares haven't.
Matthews, Marner and Nylander are 1-7 in playoff series since they first started playing together with the Maple Leafs in 2016. Tavares, who signed a seven-year, $77 million contract ($11 million average annual value) on July 1, 2018, in one of Dubas' first moves as GM, is 1-5 since then.
Matthews, who has one year remaining on his contract, said Monday he'd like to stay long term. Tavares also said he wants to remain and indicated he would not waive his no-movement clause if approached.
Clearly, the Maple Leafs must still consider shaking up the roster. Tavares and Matthews, for example, did not score a goal against the Panthers, a series in which Toronto scored 10 goals in five games.
Dubas pointed to Florida's template from last summer as a potential blueprint of how to make such a significant move. The Panthers acquired forward Matthew Tkachuk, a finalist for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, from the Calgary Flames for forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.
"If you are going to do something like that, that's got to be very thoroughly done," Dubas said. "I think the team we just played serves as a great template for. They won the Presidents' Trophy [last season], they lost in the second round, they were disappointed, they get to the summer, they trade two of their core guys for a great young player, younger player. That's a big move. But I don't think it was hastily done. I think it was done late July that they make the move.
"Whatever the answer is, I will consider anything with our group here that would allow us a better chance to win a Stanley Cup. I'll take nothing off the table at all. And I think everything would have to be considered in terms of anything that would have to do with the Leafs."
Whether Dubas will still be around to make those decisions, either on his own accord or those of his bosses, remains to be seen.
