This season absolutely is a crucial one for the Toronto Maple Leafs and general manager Kyle Dubas in particular. As you know, he's without a contract for next season, and he'll certainly be judged by how the team that he's assembled performs in the upcoming postseason.
So, what are the chances that he elects to make a big splash acquisition in an effort to put his team over the top?
"With where we are at as a team and where we sit as a franchise, we look at everything," Dubas said. "Whatever way we can improve the team, we would like to do that with the exception of our goaltending."
"Up front and on defense, if there is a way we can improve the team and give ourselves a better chance to make a run at it, we will do that."
"Some of the larger focus is always on the bigger names, but we have to look at the people who may improve us overall and not just the big names per se," he continued.
How about using a top prospect like Matthew Knies as a trade chip? According to Dubas, he "can't see" that happening in exchange for a rental player, but admitted that his answer could sound "deceptive".
"The answer I might give to that question might sound a little deceptive," he explained. "With every single trade discussion that we have, we are at the point with the franchise where you don’t want to necessarily say no to anything right off of the hop. Having said that, there are some players and some draft capital that we have that are extremely valuable and would be hard for us to move on from — not just the one player you mentioned, but the whole group of prospects and younger players off of our roster."
"In regards to rentals, I can’t see that happening. With regards to other options, I don’t think you say no off the hop to anything, but those are very important pieces to us now and in the future."
Meanwhile, last year's Calder Trophy runner up in Michael Bunting is in need of a new deal, along with goaltender Matt Murray and a handful of other names. What is Dubas' outlook on their future with the Leafs?
"We want to see what the rest of the year brings before we commit to anything necessarily," Dubas said.
