Kyle Dubas much better GM than Maple Leafs fans think

I covered the Toronto Maple Leafs for nine seasons. And it’s amazing how Kyle Dubas keeps being treated like a punchline in Toronto, even though he’s long gone and the Maple Leafs have a brand new mess on their hands. Brad Treliving is now the one running the operation, but somehow Dubas is still the name people spit out when something goes wrong.

Dubas made mistakes in Toronto, just as he did in Pittsburgh

Yes, Dubas made mistakes with the Maple Leafs. Nobody disputes that. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore what he’s doing in Pittsburgh because he’s essentially giving a seminar this season on fixing his own mistakes faster than anyone expects.

And Tristan Jarry’s contract – the one that looked like a boat anchor from the moment he signed it – is the perfect example.

That deal was everything Toronto fans hated about Dubas: a long bet on a player with an uneven track record. Things turned out even worse for the Penguins than expected. Jarry was having a hard time. I got hurt. Apply and clear waivers. Ultimately ended up in the AHL. The contract seemed motionless.

But Dubas doesn’t leave wads of crumpled paper on his floor

But Dubas never sits in the regret pile. He watches for openings. And when Jarry started the year decently, and he saw that the Oilers had had enough Dubas jumped with Stuart Skinner. He moved a goalie no one wanted and somehow turned him into Skinner, Brett Kulak and a second-round pick. Skinner now looks like a long-term starter. Jarry is injured again.

Now the Oilers are trying to explain it all to their fan base. Classic Dubas timing. He gave Stan Bowman a great education.

Today, Dubas doubled his profits to make the Jarry trade even better

And then comes a second part of the trade that few saw coming. He flipped Kulak to Colorado for Sam Girard and another second-rounder. Girard is a true puck mover in the top four, isn’t under contract until next season, is younger than Jarry and is a perfect fit for the Penguins. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh now owns 20 picks in the first three rounds over the next four drafts.

Twenty picks for a team still in a playoff race is a huge number. And all this started with a mistake: a bad contract that Dubas himself signed. The kind of thing most GMs would bury and hope everyone forgets.

Like him or not, Dubas appears to be an intelligent GM

Instead of regretting a mistake, Dubas extracted value from every loose thread until the whole thing turned from a problem to a solution. Skinner. Girard. Two seconds. And possibly even more if he moves Skinner again.

In Toronto, people cling to the belief that Dubas was arrogant and ignorant. In Pittsburgh, corrections are piling up faster than complaints. It’s interesting to see the different perspectives on the same GM.

Related: Penguins return for Tristan Jarry continues to grow after latest trade