With most people under the belief that with former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello out of the picture now, the Maple Leafs are likely to go with their long-time plan of naming GM-in-waiting Kyle Dubas as their next general manager.
However, Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet suggests that may not be the case. During a segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Kypreos says that many executives around the league believe that assistant general manager Mark Hunter may be the better choice. Elliotte Friedman reported on the same broadcast that team president Brendan Shanahan and Hunter met Friday to discuss the opening.
“A lot of executives I’ve spoken with believe that when it comes to the next general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it goes in the favour of Mark Hunter, for no other reason than his resume,” said Kypreos.
The 55-year-old Hunter has quite a different resume than the 32-year-old prodigy Dubas. The 12-year NHL veteran has been a successful coach, owned, and ran the OHL’s London Knights and has been an executive with the Maple Leafs since 2014. Dubas, who also joined the organization in 2014, was the general manager of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
“A lot of executives still believe that Kyle Dubas pales in comparison to the years of experience and multiple Memorial Cups [of Hunter],” Kyreos said. “The issue for Brendan Shanahan going forward is that if he decides to go with Kyle Dubas, he runs the risk of losing Mark Hunter, who would have a tough time answering to Dubas.”
With two solid candidates for the highly-coveted position, however, it’s likely the team will lose one executive at some point if they don’t get the position.