With the National Hockey League Trade Deadline quickly approaching, there are plenty of eyes on the Toronto Maple Leafs right now and general manager Kyle Dubas in particular to see if he'll be making a move to try and put his team over the top in hopes of finally ending their near two-decade long streak of futility when it comes to advancing past Round 1 of the postseason.
Dubas recently spoke to media members and stated that he doesn't feel that he's going to be needing to part with high draft selections they have or highly-touted prospects just for the sake of acquiring a short-term rental player. And his comments didn't exactly sit well with one certain outspoken member of TSN.
Analyst Craig Button absolutely blasted Dubas for what he feels is a failure to put the players on the ice in the best position to win by acquiring additional reinforcements.
"The team has performed at a high level and they've performed very well, and they've had the difference challenges with the injuries," Button explained. "I've talked about Sandin and Liljegren, and finding out what they're capable of. But I don't think it's so much about what the team n needs to show me, it's about what Kyle Dubas needs to show the team. They've shown him everything they need to show him, in my view."
He continued:
"I'm gonna go back to the end of the season press conference last year: 'We believe in our players, we believe that we're close, we believe that we're in a position now to compete, we think we've learned lots'. They've shown that they deserve that belief - they've shown that. Now go out and help them. So I think this is on Kyle Dubas. I don't think it's on the players showing me anything - I think it's about Kyle Dubas saying 'Ok, what can we do here, what are our opportunities? We can talk about the defensemen or winger, talk about size or talk about depth deeper into the lineup'. That to me is on Kyle Dubas and the management group, nobody else. The players have done everything you could ever ask them to do, in my view. This is now on Kyle Dubas."
Do you agree with Button? Why or why not?
