Kyle Dubas secured the bag.
According to James Mirtle of The Athletic, Dubas’ contract to be the Pittsburgh Penguins’ President of Hockey Operations is worth around $40 million over seven years.
Dubas joined the Toronto Maple Leafs’ front office in 2015 following a successful run as the general manager of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds. He served as the assistant general manager under Lou Lamoriello for three seasons and was named general manager ahead of the 2018-19 season.
The Leafs had a considerable amount of regular-season success with Dubas as the team’s general manager. The 2021-22 Leafs own the highest single-season points percentage in franchise history while the 2020-21 and 2022-23 teams rank second and fourth on that list respectively.
The playoffs were a different story. The Leafs were edged out in seven games by the Boston Bruins in 2019, they were shocked by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens in 2020 and 2021, and they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022. The team finally advanced past the first round of the playoffs in 2023 for the first time since 2004 but wound up losing in the second round in five games to the Florida Panthers.
The expectation following this spring’s playoff win over the Lightning was that Dubas would sign a new contract to remain as Toronto’s general manager. Instead, the Leafs announced in May that they had opted to part ways with Dubas. Not long after, word came out that Dubas had sought to have Brendan Shanahan removed from the decision-making process in hockey operations.
The new role that Dubas has with the Penguins offers him the autonomy he was seeking in Toronto and it might also see him earn more money than Shanahan. The Leafs hired Shanahan to be their President and Alternate Governor in 2014 to a five-year contract worth a reported $2.5 million annually. Shanahan signed a six-year contract extension to remain in his role with the Leafs in 2019 but there hasn’t been a confirmation in regards to what he’s being paid.
