For the latest Leafs updates or on Twitter
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Colorado Avalanche have asked for and received permission to speak to Toronto Maple Leafs Assistant GM Kyle Dubas,
Dubas was hired by the Leafs in July 2014 and served as GM of the AHL Marlies and shared managerial duties with Shanahan and then Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter after the dismissal of Dave Nonis and until the hiring of current GM Lou Lamoriello.
This is the second known instance of Toronto being approached from another team about Dubas. The Arizona Coyotes requested permission to speak to the now 30-year-old executive about their vacant GM position after the dismissal of Don Maloney, but were denied by the Leafs. The job eventually went to John Chayka.
*******
There have been many narratives tied to the Toronto Maple Leafs in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the Anaheim Ducks led by Randy Carlyle and having goalie Jonathan Bernier on the roster being amongst the most interesting.
The Ducks and Leafs are inextricably linked because they have employed the same general manager (Brian Burke), head coach (Carlyle), assistant coaches, an AHL coach (Dallas Eakins) and have traded many players over the last decade, including current Leaf goaltender Frederik Andersen, Vesa Toskala, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Jhonas Enroth, Joey MacDonald and Bernier.
Carlyle’s demise in Toronto involved many factors, but one of them was the performance of Bernier, who was acquired to take over the starting job from James Reimer after the Boston debacle in 2013 and failed to live up to expectations.
After parts of five seasons as Jonathan Quick’s understudy, the Leafs acquired Bernier from the Kings and he performed well in his first season with Toronto (26-19-7 record and .922 save %) until suffering a sports hernia injury in Los Angeles in mid-March.
His performance fell precipitously over the next two seasons due to lack of defensive support and declining self-confidence.
The Ducks added Bernier as the second part of the Andersen deal, agreeing to take him on after the Leafs paid the $2 Million signing bonus on the final year of his contract on July 1. The bulk of the Anaheim goaltending duties were to be handled by John Gibson, who made Andersen (a restricted free agent at the time) an expendable asset.
Gibson’s injury late in the regular season gave Bernier more work than expected and he exceeded expectations (21-7-4 record, .915 save % and 2.51 GAA), to the point that there was some debate of which goalie would be get the nod for the playoffs.
Anaheim was the beneficiary of things breaking right in the Western Conference, as Chicago and Minnesota took early exits and they faced inexperienced Calgary and Edmonton in the first two rounds.
Youngsters Rickard Rakell, Nick Ritchie and Jakob Silfverberg and a deep, talented defensive corps led by Cam Fowler aided veterans Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler.
Carlyle appeared to be pushing all the right buttons for getting the Ducks to the Cup Final. With the series tied going back to Anaheim and Nashville losing Ryan Johansen and Mike Fisher to injury, the Ducks had the advantage in the series and led Game 5 1-0 after the first, but Gibson suffered a hamstring injury and could not continue.
The wide gulf between Gibson and Bernier became apparent in the final five periods of the series, as the former Leaf allowed two goals on 18 shots to lose Game 5 and followed all-too-familiar patterns to Toronto fans in Game 6, giving up two goals on the first three shots to start the game and two more when the Ducks appeared ready to overtake the Preds.
Coming off a good performance in the regular season and being an unrestricted free agent this summer, it was thought that teams in need of a starter (Philadelphia, Calgary, Vancouver) might roll the dice on a short-term deal, but Bernier just reinforced his inability to be an #1 NHL goaltender and cost Carlyle and the Ducks a chance at the Stanley Cup.
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.*******
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information
click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»