Insider reveals that Kyle Dubas finally grew some balls

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Josh tupper
September 29, 2022 (10:18)

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Kyle Dubas had developed a reputation for being willing to overpay players. Agents had begun to use this in their negotiations with the club and it had become a point of contention for fans. It appears that Dubas is looking to change that.

Today the Maple Leafs announced that they'd signed restricted free agent Rasmus Sandin to a 2-year deal with an annual value of $1,400,000 per year. This offer is the exact same offer the Leafs made to Sandin in July when they signed Timothy Liljegren. This is clearly an instance of an agent over playing his hand.

Now Chris Johnston of The Daily Faceoff has revealed just how far Dubas went to confirm that Dubas was unwilling to waver on his offer.

In last days, #Leafs made it clear to Rasmus Sandin's camp that they were not going above the AAV paid to Timothy Liljegren at $1.4m.

After Durzi contract, Sandin ask was $1.6m. They compromise in the end, with 2-year deal: $1.4m AAV and second year at $1.6m for QO purposes.

It's clear Dubas and the Leafs drew a line in the sand and stuck by their word. This is a stark difference from negotiations in the past, but could be a move in the right direction for the Maple Leafs. Dubas issued the following comment this morning.

This morning, Rasmus & (agent) Lewis Gross reached out to us & informed us that after watching our game last night & seeing more injuries accrued by our defence, that they wanted to get this locked in today so Rasmus could get over to Toronto & help his teammates.

It appears Dubas has finally grown as a General Manager, and hopefully it's enough to save his job as he works out the final year of his deal.