New Maple Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas: 'There's no quick fix'
Freshly minted Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas, 28, faced the media at a press conference hosted in the Maple Leafs dressing room shortly after his hiring was announced on Tuesday.
A former player agent and general manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, Dubas has long been an outspoken advocate of analytics, something one couldn't say about the organization that now employs him.
Dubas' hire is being hailed as a major "culture change" for the Maple Leafs, which is probably fair, though Dubas himself rejected the notion on Tuesday:
Dubas says "culture change" is just a buzz phrase that he doesn't put a whole lot of stock in. "There's no quick fix."
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) July 22, 2014
While Dubas was reluctant to accept the "culture change" narrative surrounding his hire, Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan was explicit about the impact he hopes Dubas can have on how the organization views "words" and "ideas" about hockey:
Shanahan says there have been words and ideas people in the organization have been afraid of and Dubas can help change that.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) July 22, 2014
On Tuesday, Shanahan detailed the process that led to the club hiring Dubas. Shanahan told reporters that he'd "polled the hockey world" in search for up-and-coming, talented hockey minds. The name "Kyle Dubas" was one that came up repeatedly, according to the Maple Leafs president.
"I'm just looking for talented people," Shanahan said. "He's not tied to any old ideas. I found him intriguing."
Shanahan was so intrigued by Dubas that an initial meeting between the two colleagues, which was only supposed to last for a couple of hours, extended into a marathon session:
The first meeting between Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas lasted seven hours. "I had to beg him to go to dinner," said Shanahan.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 22, 2014
In discussing Dubas' tender age, Shanahan explained that the 28-year-old's relative youth didn't matter to him.
"I don't really care about someone's age," Shanahan said. "He has a work ethic [...] What he lacks in experience he makes up for with his willingness to pursue new knowledge."
"[Dubas has] come up a different way," the Maple Leafs president continued. "[He] has a great appreciation for analytics."
Shanahan on Dubas influencing his thinking with new ideas: "Information is power."
— Lance Hornby (@sunhornby) July 22, 2014
As for the odd timing of the hire - the man Dubas is replacing, Dave Poulin, had appeared on the radio in Toronto earlier in the day and discussed the club's plans for next season - Shanahan hinted that an NHL team was likely to hire Dubas shortly if the Maple Leafs hadn't. Sportsnet's Greg Brady reports that the Maple Leafs were hoping to wait a year before hiring Dubas, but accelerated that timeline because a rival club also had interest.
As for the analytics angle of the Dubas hire, the new Maple Leafs assistant general manager described "advanced stats" as "very primitive," and expressed an eagerness to leverage the vast resources of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to find new inefficiencies and expand the club's base of proprietary statistical knowledge.