Dubas gets carved by media and fans as he refuses to take responsibility for Leafs' failure

The Toronto Maple Leafs players, staff and management group held their season ending media availability today to break down just exactly went wrong for the team in their best of five Qualifying Series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.To start, a lot went wrong at least in most people's assessment, but don't tell that to general manager Kyle Dubas. The sophomore GM flat out refused to take any responsibility for the team's lack of playoff success and, frankly, he sounded a bit petulant in his dealing with the media this afternoon.

When asked if he potentially misjudged the talent on his team's roster, Dubas had a simple one-word answer:

Kyle Dubas, asked if it's possible he's misread the potential of the #leafs core group: "Nope."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) August 12, 2020

Steve Simmons: "Is it possible your core group isn't good enough?"
Dubas: 'Nope' (Translation - 'Go fuck yourself, Muppet')
— Dean Blundell (@ItsDeanBlundell) August 12, 2020

When challenged about his over-reliance on analytics and his management style, Dubas took exception and essentially through out the "You guys just don't get it..." defense.

Check it out:

“You all think I have one way of going about things and that it’s never changing," said Leafs GM Kyle Dubas. "The vision for me is always changing."
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) August 12, 2020

That may very well be true Kyle, but your vision to this point has delivered nothing but disappointment so far. So unless your future vision includes trading for McDavid, Crosby, Ovechkin, Hedman and Price I don't think your vision is going to work.

Things got even weirder when Dubas defended winger Mitch Marner whose play was pretty underwhelming through 3 of his team's 5 games against the Jackets.

Kyle Dubas: "I don't get the criticism of Mitch Marner one bit. I really struggle with it. He's a guy that plays his ass off every night."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) August 12, 2020

Serious question: Does Dubas even watch these games or just read the post-game analytics? Anyone with any hockey sense at all could see that Marner was a non-factor for well over three quarters of this series.

Tyson Barrie, a major offseason addition last summer, was also a non-factor for the Leafs. Dubas chalks that up to Barrie "not being comfortable" after arriving in a trade for Nazem Kadri. Seriously?! Seriously... you just can't make some of this stuff up.

Check it out:

Kyle Dubas on the Tyson Barrie trade: "The lesson I take from that is better aiding players with their adjustment into the organization."

Wants to see players become themselves a lot sooner, think same principle applied to Alex Kerfoot.
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) August 12, 2020

Call me crazy but when you're getting paid millions of dollars to play in the NHL it shouldn't be anyone's responsibility to make sure you're "adjusted" to a new environment. Be a professional. Acclimate yourself. Put yourself in the best possible position to help your team win. It's literally the only expectation of the job. Good grief...

Sorry Leafs fans... more excuses from management to carry you through the offseason.

Personally, I think this sums things up pretty well:

Brutal exit interview for Dubas.

Defensive, petulant and made things unnecessarily personal.

Get this day must be hard & no one expects him to bury his team or publicly admit to specific future roster changes, but this was a tone deaf showing.
— JD Bunkis (@JDBunkis) August 12, 2020