Elliotte Friedman reveals what he thinks Kyle Dubas will do at TRADE deadline - It's BOLD

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Ryan
February 8, 2023 (5:20 PM)

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We talk every year about the pressure that a team is under, or the General Manager, or the coach, but no one is under as much pressure in the National Hockey League right now as Maple Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas.

Under his reign, the Maple Leafs have had quite a bit of regular season success, but when it comes to the playoffs, they've managed to choke each and every season. The absolute worse was probably when they had a 3-1 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens and somehow found a way to lose.

With his job on the line this season and the trade deadline approaching, the Maple Leafs have a bit of a benefit this season knowing that the team they are most likely going to play is the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated them in 7 games last season, so they have time to prepare and build a strategy around that series. Which means they also are able to bring in some players that they think will help beat the Lightning.

NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman offered on the Jeff Marek show on his thoughts on what he thinks Kyle Dubas will do:

I think he would like to take a big swing, but I think what he's trying to figure out is how on earth he can do it, and right now he uses the same calculator as everyone else. Unless he has a magic calculator that bends the realities of the cap, it's going to be really hard to do. I think he'd like to do something larger, I just don't know if he's going to be able to do it.

The Maple Leafs have very little cap space to work with, so if Dubas wants to make a big swing, he is going to have to get really creative. They already announced the sad news today that they needed to make an emergency call up to bring in a goaltender as Matt Murray is apparently injured again, so the only move they might be able to make is to bring in some goaltending depth.