When Kyle Dubas learned he was receiving an honorary doctorate from Brock University, his mind began to whirl about what he would say to the Class of 2023.
That message became clear on May 19, when the Sault Ste. Marie native was fired as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
During his Convocation address today, the 2007 Brock Sport Management grad — who has since become president of hockey operations with the Pittsburgh Penguins — explained why some of the hardest days of his professional career are what drew the most inspiration.
People often say if you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. However, Dubas said, no matter how much you love your job, there will always be days that feel like work and there will always be days that are difficult.
“Find something that you really still love when it gets incredibly hard,” he told the graduates, according to a news release from the university. “When you fail, when you lose, when people tell you that you aren’t very good, when people doubt you: that’s what you’re probably meant to be doing. If you can find that thing you still love when it becomes hard, that’s for you. Invest in yourself when you get there.”
Dubas learned to invest in himself from his late grandfather, Walter.
A former coach of the Soo Greyhounds when the team was still part of the old Northern Ontario Hockey Association, Walter Dubas would later take his grandson to Hounds games when he was a little boy. Young Dubas soaked it all in.
As a teenager, Dubas would go on to work as a change room attendant for the Hounds, one of the early steps on his way to becoming GM of the team — and eventually GM of the Leafs.
At 18, Dubas was offered a promotion from the change room: to work as a scout for the Greyhounds, a job that offered minimal pay and required a car, meaning costly car insurance for any teen driver.
Many people told Dubas to turn the job down because the cost was simply too much, he said in his speech. But his grandfather brought another opinion to the table.
“He said: ‘Everyone is looking at it as a cost. Look at it as a bet,’” Dubas recalled. “I never looked at that opportunity as a cost. I looked at it as an investment in myself. Without that investment and without that advice, I wouldn’t be here today.”
If the right opportunity comes along, even if everything is not perfect, “look at it as an investment in yourself and what you really want to do,” he said.
Following his time with the Greyhounds, Dubas spent nine seasons as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, including the past five as general manager. At the time of his hiring in 2018, he was the second-youngest general manager in NHL history at age 32.
When his career pivoted and he had to determine where to head next, the people he relied upon most to “help me make that decision and to help me get back up on my feet” were his close friends — fellow graduates from his 2007 Brock class.
“I was able to reflect back and realize that along the way when you fail… when you lose, when you don’t reach your goal, every time when you make a bad trade or a bad signing or you don’t hire the right people, it’s always the same people that are there to help you and lift you up,” he said, adding that many of those lifelong friends are made in university.
“Attending Brock University changed my entire life. There’s just no other way to put it,” Dubas said. “It opened the door for me to the greatest personal and professional opportunities that I could ever have.”
He encouraged Brock’s Class of 2023 to “always invest in yourself when you can. Always be there for your fellow graduates along the way, especially when they stumble and fall. And always be proud that you graduated from Brock University.”
Brock University’s 113th Convocation continues Thursday and Friday. About 3,500 grads from seven faculties will receive their degrees this week.