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Kyle Dubas of Maple Leafs will interview with Avalanche: Report

Elliotte Friedman dropped a bombshell during coverage of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final: The Toronto Maple Leafs have given permission to assistant general manager Kyle Duba to interview with the Colorado Avalanche.

Dubas, 31, was hired as an assistant general manager by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014 by team president Brendan Shanahan. Formerly the GM of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, Dubas earned high marks for his work with analytics, helping to create a department dedicated to advanced stats within the Leafs organization.

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Joe Sakic is currently the Colorado Avalanche’s executive vice president and general manager. Could this be a situation where Dubas comes aboard as general manager of the Avalanche, and Sakic moves up to some kind of president of hockey operations role?

Avalanche team president Josh Kroenke gave Sakic a vote of confidence after the team’s disastrous season, in which they posted a 22-56-4 record.

“Joe’s leash hasn’t changed at all. Nobody wants to get the Avalanche back to where they were, where we all expect them to be, more than Joe Sakic,” he said. “We’re going to continue to give him every resource at his disposal and I’m going to help him in any ways he sees that I can. At the end of the day, Joe wants what’s best for the Colorado Avalanche. Whether that’s him in his current role or something else, it doesn’t matter. Joe Sakic is committed to making the Avalanche better.”

That apparently includes bringing in one of the NHL’s brightest young managerial stars to see if there’s a fit with Colorado.

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Now, why would Dubas want to leave the slow build to a championship in Toronto? Speculation is that assistant GM Mark Hunter might be ahead of him in line to become GM Lou Lamoriello’s successor.

So if Dubas wants to run a show, he might need to look elsewhere.

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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