Insider reveals that we have Mike Babcock to thank for Dubas being named GM over Mark Hunter

Analytics was just starting to take over the NHL, and the Maple Leafs had one of the brightest young hockey minds in Dubas waiting in the wings for his opportunity. He was hired as the assistant general manager for the 2014-15 season and with teams sniffing around, they had to act fast. Lamoriello was let go and they replaced by Dubas not long after and and he remained GM in Toronto for 5 long seasons.

Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek broke down the events that essentially anointed the then-32-year-old as GM. Spoiler alert: we may have Mike Babcock to thank for Dubas being named GM in Toronto.

Mike Babcock understood the situation at hand and told the Maple Leafs front office that if they don't want to lose him, they need to act fast and make him the general manager as soon as possible. The Avalanche had something similar happen to them a few years prior when they were interested in Ron Hextall before the Flyers were forced to relieve Paul Holmgren of his GM duties in 2014-15.

The rest is history of course. Dubas remained GM from 2018-19 to 2022-23 before walking away and joining the Pittsburgh Penguins as President and GM. The Maple Leafs struggled in the playoffs in his tenure and only won one playoff round, but assembled a dangerous young team under his watch.

Had it not been for Babcock's insight, the Maple Leafs might have kept Lamoriello around - who is still kicking with the New York Islanders - and the Avalanche might have replaced Sakic with Dubas. Hindsight being 20/20, Colorado might have lucked out by sticking with Sakic.

At this point, we cannot confirm nor deny whether Babcock wanted to see Dubas' phone before he went to bat for him with upper management and ownership.