Boy, the last season of GOT and Ted Lasso turned out to have a fair bit in common.

I wouldn't go quite so far about Lasso, but I get your point.

Jamie Tartt and Roy Kent carried the best of the final season, though.

Don't get me wrong, it was still a good show and held my interest, but the pacing was terrible, just like GOT. It's almost like they were debating another season up until the last few episodes.

Case in point-  at the beginning of the season, the team was willing to throw a game by running up red cards because Nate was the opposing coach, and then, one episode before the end, the same players show up to ask him to come back to the team, which I was sure was a dream sequence because it made so little sense, until it was made clear it wasn't.

For no reason other than they have to wrap up the redemption arc, which is was really one of the main ones of the entire series, and they gave it the "poochy had to go back to his home planet" treatment.

It was so overly fluffy and saccharine. I enjoyed most of it but there is such a thing as adding way too much sugar to the cake.

I don't know to what degree people said he wasn't "allowed" but I can easily see why it's bad optics to many.

Given that it's only seems to be read as bad optics by people who already seem determined to paint Dubas in a pretty bad light here I'm not sure I'd read much into that. Nearly all of the "This looks bad for Dubas stuff" seems to boil down to people not thinking that circumstances can change and/or wildly overreacting to something Dubas might have said during a professional lowpoint that may not be an entirely true reflection of his less emotional self. This really isn't any different.

My point though is I think people can understand that circumstances can change, and people can change their mind, but saying what he said to the media, then negotiating in the manner he did made him look foolish and in a lot of ways led to his dismissal, so I can understand why people can feel sour about it. I'm not saying it's right or that I agree with it, but I think it's understandable.

The thing I keep coming back to: who is the biggest loser out of this situation after the chips have fallen and the drama fades away? With Dubas taking this job in Pittsburgh, it cements for me that it's not Kyle Dubas. Whatever rationale the Leafs made their decision with, and whether or not we like the way either Dubas or the Leafs went about it, there is more risk in the approach taken by the Leafs than that taken by Dubas.

Dubas has already landed on his feet. The Leafs... have a lot of work to do.

Hopefully Treliving proves to be a better GM. Given the rush in which he was (and had to be) hired, it'll be serendipity if it does.

It's hard to compare an organization to an individual, and it's hard to say who made the right decisions, especially when two franchises are at much different places. I do have mixed feelings about how I think Trelivings tenure will go, but I'm not so sure about Kyle in Pittsburgh either.

If there is anything to take away from the Cup finalists this season, it's playing fast and as a unified group. Simple games at a strong pace can really let your offensive talents flourish. Slow, methodical and too easily disrupted games wastes your goalscoring skill in DZ efforts.

I get that to a certain degree (maybe a large degree) Carolina got goalie'd in the 3rd round, but watching a team that was considered by many to be the most structured team in the league both offensively and defensively just fall apart against whatever the heck system Florida was playing made me question some of my beliefs about hockey a little bit.

At this point I've just come to terms that it's probably the flukiest of most team sports...

This one's not that deep.

At the time he only saw two options for himself: Leafs or take a step back. Dubas decided against the option to take a step back, and then Shanahan/MLSE took away the Leafs option. To think that he's then not allowed to look at a 3rd option at that point is bizarre.

I don't know to what degree people said he wasn't "allowed" but I can easily see why it's bad optics to many.

I think they're going to evaluate Keefe over the next little bit while also taking a glance at the options available to replace him at the moment. I haven't exactly been a big Keefe guy for awhile, but I do think there's an argument to make that there's not exactly anybody out there who is a definite, 100% improvement.

Treliving's conversations with Matthews and what his opinion's on Keefe are could also sway things. On the one hand this team might need a bit of a stricter coach in order to succeed. On the other hand if Matthews has a favourable opinion on Keefe him staying might, at least in a small way, help push him to an extension this offseason while if a new coach comes on board he might elect to push the decision down the line a little bit.

Yup, right now it's basically sign AM to an extension (or try to get complete clarity on what he/agent want to do) and go from there. It's all important but that's the first priority.

Whatever happened or however it happens going forward, it will always reinforce our individual preconceived biases.

To some extent, but I still think we can try to piece together better versions of what happened than others based on the information given, unless there's a full post-mortem like the Burke/Pens article.

Some elements of that have already been disputed by first hand sources
https://twitter.com/TaylorHaasePGH/status/1661842587752202240

Reality is whatever we perceive it to be

In that case I'm the new GM of the Leafs!

Whatever happened or however it happens going forward, it will always reinforce our individual preconceived biases.

To some extent, but I still think we can try to piece together better versions of what happened than others based on the information given, unless there's a full post-mortem like the Burke/Pens article.

Quite bluntly, the way this entire situation has played out from all parties involved, Dubas comes out looking like a conniving little b!tch.

Well, I wouldn't use that term but what happened to "I absolutely wouldn't take any other job right now"?

Honestly, that fateful press conference he gave was a disaster.  To me, he doesn't come out of all this as a guy who's fully mature, despite his being savvy in so many ways.

I mean, one could argue he meant that he'd be with the Leafs or nowhere if it was his choice. Given he was fired from the Leafs it wasn't his choice, so he's free to do what he wants... even though he likely used a potential Pitt offer as leverage...

Anyway, whatever. What's done is done.

https://twitter.com/atfulemin/status/1664306645315330050

God I love fulemin lol.

Not a shock at all. I had a hunch he was angling for either a President and GM or President role, especially in Pitt as there was already a ton of reporting on that, based on the "streamline" tactic in Toronto, and this all but confirms that Kyle knew he had this in his back pocket.

Good for him, but his presser still makes me laugh.

Doesn't confirm anything. Saw a Burke interview a few days ago and someone mentioned he had a deal in place. Burke basically said no he may have known about interest but no way a deal would be in place.

I didn't say a deal was in place or airtight "proves" anything because there's no way for us to know without more details, but there's a reason why Pitt put everything on hold once the Leafs got bounced. I think that indicates heavy interest, and if we knew about it through the media then Kyle obviously knew about it and thensome. How frequently have we heard "tampering haha" in the last few days? Point being is Dubas knew something enticing was on the table, and once the details were ironed out he went for it.

Pittsburgh does feel a lot like Toronto. They have a pretty solid core. They have a sort of big-4 up front with Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Rust. Their D lacks a stud now that Letang is a little older but him, Petry, Pettersson, and potentially Dumoulin if they re-sign him is certainly above average. Question mark in net with Jarry.

They have a decent chunk of cap space, more if Dubas can find a new home for Granlund and/or Carter. They have all their 1st rounders, so expect to see one or two of those get moved at some point in the future. Pittsburgh will basically be all-in for at least the next 2 years to try and get Crosby another Cup. There's work to be done but they still have contender potential.

I think they have somewhat contender status, but I still think the prudent course of action here is at minimum a retool and if not a full rebuild.

Not a shock at all. I had a hunch he was angling for either a President and GM or President role, especially in Pitt as there was already a ton of reporting on that, based on the "streamline" tactic in Toronto, and this all but confirms that Kyle knew he had this in his back pocket.

Good for him, but his presser still makes me laugh.

Given what I've read and heard so far, MLSE wants to run it back with the same group (but are shielding themselves from the backlash by dropping Dubas).

Can you imagine the circus if Dubas kept Keefe and didn't make a move on the core this offseason?

But now, with Treliving, a vaunted Hockey Man with great relationships up and down the organizations within the league, it just makes no sense to blow up the core and fire a coach before he even sees what he has.

I don't think the firing has anything to do with family or commitment or autonomy. It's "I would consider anything with our group that would allow us a better chance to win the Stanley Cup. I would take nothing off the table at all".

One thing we will probably notice more in the next few years, is that Dubas was a proponent of 'failing fast', while Treliving has a history of holding onto poorly aged deals for too long, resulting in so many buyouts.

I really have a hard time believing Dubas wasn't renewed because he said he'd do anything to help the team. Morbidly I'm waiting for Shanny to be fired to get the full expose now, but I just don't feel like that's likely as it's just a routine thing that many GMs say, just Kyle finally said it out loud.

Lol how much more schticky can BP get? I guess we're going to find out.