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Interest in analytics expert Dubas |
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Rick Sadowski
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It sure looks like the Avalanche are making a serious attempt to turn things around with plenty of stuff happening behind the scenes.
The departure of assistant coaches Francois Allaire, Tim Army and Dave Farrish was followed by a report by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada that the Avalanche have requested and been given permission to talk to Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas for a front-office position.
Joe Sakic is currently Avalanche GM, and they already have two assistant GMs in Craig Billington and Chris MacFarland. The Avalanche's only comment, not surprisingly, is that they have no comment.
Dubas, 30, is considered an up-and-coming executive by many in the NHL. Leafs president Brendan Shanahan hired him in July 2014. A former player agent and an analytics expert, Dubas was GM of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. He's now also GM of the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.
"After polling the hockey world pretty much the entire time I've been hired about who are the great minds out there -- the innovators, the rising stars -- one name that kept coming up was Kyle," Shanahan told reporters after hiring him.
Dubas became GM of the Greyhounds at age 24, a position he held for three years. His grandfather, Walter Dubas, was Greyhounds coach from 1960-67.
It was thought by some that Dubas eventually would succeed Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello, but the team also has another assistant GM, Mark Hunter.
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The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that the Avalanche have interviewed former NHL goalie Dwayne Roloson for the vacant goalie coach position. He previously was goalie coach in Anaheim.
According to Friedman, the Avalanche are interested in Jussi Parkkila, who previously worked with Semyon Varlamov in Russia.
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