Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas talks about life in the NHL 'bubble' and how he and Keefe keep it civil

Up Close and Personal with Kyle Dubas:

To say 2020 has been an abnormal year would be about as big an understatement that you could possibly make. 

The fall would normally be a busy time for any NHL general manager.

If this were any other year, the NHL would be roughly a month into the regular season and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas would be making roster decisions based a myriad of factors.

We know that 2020 has been anything but a normal year. The only thing that has been normal about the past seven months is life continuing to move forward.

The fall has been about the draft, free agency, and exactly what the next NHL season will look like.

We had an opportunity recently to discuss a variety of topics with Dubas.

Among those topics were, naturally, free agency. 

We discussed his working relationship with Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, a man he has worked extensively with since hiring him to coach the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds in the fall of 2012.

Dubas went in depth about how he and Keefe can challenge one another without it affecting their relationship.

The NHL playoff bubble was also a topic of discussion while also talking about how he approached the break between when the regular season was paused, and the beginning of the playoff run.

Dubas also spoke of the life lessons he learned early on in his career when things didn’t necessarily go as planned.

Learning the hard way is something that has helped the 34-year-old adjust his approach as needed put aside the outside noise in order to focus on the task at hand.

This certainly isn’t a typical hockey interview by any stretch. While hockey is a focus, it takes a deeper look into the relationships of the game and in some ways, lessons that can be taken from the sport and applied to daily life.