The Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to extend Kyle Dubas this summer.
Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs players, franchise, and fans, the team did not foresee that Dubas would try to leverage his contract negotiations into stealing Brendan Shanahan’s job.
The Board sided with Shannahan and the rest is history.
The Leafs were forced to panic-hire Brad Treliving without seeming to put much thought into it.
But though he wasn’t their first choice, Treliving walked into a sweetheart of a situation.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Very Few GMs Ever Walk Into a Better Situation
The reason the Leafs wanted to re-sign Dubas is because despite not winning in the playoffs, the decision makers for the billion-dollar+ know enough not to base their future on the results of high-variance tournament.