Lamoriello approves hiring of Dubas as Maple Leafs GM

TAMPA --On the day Lou Lamoriello was named president of hockey operations for the New York Islanders, he took time to pay the ultimate compliment to his successor with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Asked if Kyle Dubas, 32, was ready to handle the rigors and spotlight of being the Maple Leafs general manager in the fishbowl that is Toronto, Lamoriello voiced his faith in the young prodigy he mentored for the past three years.

"Yes, definitely," Lamoriello said during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. "I think the Toronto organization] ought to let him do his job and go forward."
***[RELATED: [Lamoriello named Islanders president of hockey operations\]*
Lamoriello, 75, said he chatted with Dubas as recently as Monday and offered to provide advice any time he needs.
"I've spoken to him multiple times in the past week," Lamoriello said. "And I hope that he would feel comfortable if there's a question that needed to be answered or there's something I can help him with, he'll make that private call. No one will ever know he made it and no one will ever know from me he made it.
"That's the type of relationship I think we have and I feel very comfortable saying that."
Lamoriello was making his first public comments since Dubas was promoted from his assistant's position May 11.

Lamoriello's three-year tenure as Toronto GM ended when his contract ran out after the Maple Leafs were eliminated in seven games in their Eastern Conference First-Round series against the Boston Bruins last month. Lamoriello had a deal in place to be an advisor with Toronto but was wooed by the Islanders, who offered him the chance to run the team with complete autonomy.
Lamoriello's hiring sparked suggestions that his split with the Maple Leafs had been acrimonious, an idea he immediately rejected.
"My relationship with Kyle Dubas, both professionally and personally, is exceptional," Lamoriello said. "There was a learning process throughout the first year I was there [2015] which people seemed to think was a problem. I didn't.
"I knew what I thought was right for Kyle's growth and what he should do. And he's done that in the past couple of years. The working relationship could not have been any better with him as far as communication, as far as talking every day on the things you have to talk about."
Lamoriello has even spent time "trying to sway Kyle's little son Leo from being a Blue Jays fan to a Yankees fan."
"I have nothing but good things to say about the Maple Leafs organization," Lamoriello said. "They were good to me."
Lamoriello was not the only member of Toronto's front office to part ways with the organization Tuesday. The Maple Leafs issued a statement announcing they'd mutually parted ways with assistant GM Mark Hunter.

For the past three seasons, Lamoriello and assistants Dubas and Hunter had served as the three-headed braintrust that guided the Maple Leafs to escalating point totals (69 in 2015-16; 95 in 2016-17; 105 in 2017-18, a single-season record).
At the same time, Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan admits he knew all three were vying to be Toronto GM for the 2018-19 season; Lamoriello via an extension; Dubas and Hunter, 55, by promotion. When he made the decision to go with the younger Dubas, he suspected Lamoriello and Hunter would look elsewhere to fulfill their aspirations.
"Look, as much as you'd like, you can't always keep the band together. It's impossible," Shanahan said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
"When I opted to go with Kyle as GM, I suspected both were likely outcomes. Lou got a great opportunity with the Islanders. And with Mark, he was definitely my No. 2 choice, but after conversations in the last little while we decided it was probably best if both parties moved on."
With Hunter out of the mix, expect Dubas to run the Maple Leafs draft in Dallas on June 22-23. Shanahan said he will look for candidates inside and outside the organization to bolster the management team.
Shanahan also wanted to dismiss the notion that has been popular on Toronto talk radio recently that coach Mike Babcock, 55, would have difficulty working with Dubas.
"Mike and Kyle have exchanged ideas for a long time," Shanahan said. "The idea that Mike demands things is wrong. He suggests things. And the way I look at it, the more voices we hear, the better.
"I also want to address the erroneous reports going on out there that Mike reports directly to me. Mike has a standard coach's contract. He reports to the GM, not me."