from Howard Berger of Between The Posts,

Any person that has followed the Maple Leafs though the years has seen batsh** crazy. It’s the hallmark of the franchise in the post–1967 era. But, never has the club gone quite as bonkers as during the Kyle Dubas era. This shooting–ducks–in–a–barrel approach to somehow escaping the toughest division in the National Hockey League is absolute bananas. Here is a general manager in whom ownership did not have enough confidence to extend beyond the current season. Yet, ownership is allowing him to systematically destroy the future of the franchise. I’m telling you from years of close observation: This could happen only in Toronto.

In my previous blog, I wrote “… the current GM hasn’t yet unloaded his first–round draft picks beyond 2023. Given, however, that survival is a primal instinct, how much longer can Dubas hold off before relinquishing whatever remains of the club’s immediate future?” The answer: two days — the time required for him to piss away yet another opening–round selection, this one in 2025, likely long after Kyle is an employee of the Maple Leafs. Jake McCabe is a decent blueliner, still in the prime of his career, yet will never be mentioned among Norris Trophy candidates. Additionally, he underwent a cervical–spine operation last September, hardly the equivalent of a sprained ankle. Any person that thinks adding another mid–range component to the underwhelming Toronto defense will lift the club past Tampa Bay and Boston this spring is whistling past the graveyard. If the Leafs were in the wide–open Western Conference, I could marginally comprehend the madcap dispersal of first–round picks. But, in the East? Having to almost certainly get past the Lightning, Bruins and either Carolina or the New York Rangers for a shot at the Cup? McCabe is going to offer that level of assurance? The franchise has gone batty.

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thanks for a pointer tweet from Spector's Hockey for the above