from Mick Kypreos at the Toronto Star,

In golf, there’s always a chance your friends will let you take a mulligan if you shank one off the tee. It’s really a shame NHL general managers don’t get the same courtesy when making trades.

Certainly Kyle Dubas could have used a few.

Even if it wouldn’t have saved the former Maple Leafs GM his job and earned him the autonomy he was desperately seeking last off-season, it would have left his replacement, Brad Treliving, more cards to play going into Friday’s NHL trade deadline.

Leafs fans have been on quite the transaction ride since Brendan Shanahan took over as president in 2014.

Four GMs — five if you include Mark Hunter’s brief stint as co-interim GM — in the last 10 years have had a crack at shaping the Leafs roster, but no one has had a bigger impact than Dubas.

Before Dubas became the 17th GM in Leafs history, Shanahan’s first few years as president played out as expected. He was there when Dave Nonis dumped key veterans like Cody Franson and Daniel Winnik for significant picks in 2015. Then, with Lou Lamoriello at the helm in 2016, the first significant addition was made to the Shanaplan by trading first- and second-round picks for 27-year-old goalie Frederik Andersen, a move that helped them get back in the playoffs in 2017.

But things took a turn for the worse the day Shanahan put all his faith in Dubas.

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