The Toronto Maple Leafs, specifically GM Kyle Dubas is not incredibly happy with the Chicago Blackhawks and their GM Kyle Davidson. During an interview talking about the moves made by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dubas was asked about news leaking that he’d been in contact with the Chicago Blackhawks about trading for Marc-Andre Fleury. He wasn’t happy that the news got out.
The conversations between the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks were never meant to be public knowledge. Dubas expressed his disappointment that the information was shared and he took a not-so-subtle jab directly at Davidson, suggesting it was Chicago who let that information get out. “I’ve never had that happen before where the specifics like that have been made public.” He added, “We rely on other teams to keep that confidential, so it’s disappointing.”
Davidson was asked about Dubas’ comments and acknowledged that he had heard them and said he would address that privately with the Leafs GM.
It would make sense that Toronto wouldn’t want that information getting out there. Not only does it tell the goalies you do have that you lack the confidence in their ability to take the team into the playoffs, but it also reveals strategies to over 30 other teams. It’s one thing to use the leverage of an offered trade or conversations as a way to up value on a trade, but to share details of a conversation between two GMs in the media isn’t something GMs typically do.
Two Conflicting Stories
Dubas added that ultimately the Leafs weren’t willing to part with the assets required to make the deal to acquire Fleury. Meanwhile, it was leaked that Fleury wasn’t interested in joining the Maple Leafs and waiving his unofficial no-trade clause to go there.
It will be interesting to see if this little squabble slows down any potential for these two teams to do deals in the future.
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