Kyle Dubas course corrected with Nick Ritchie trade, Leafs fans should move on

Maple Leafs fans have mostly saluted the trade that sent Nick Ritchie to Arizona, and brought defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin to Toronto but some have used the opportunity to critique Kyle Dubas for contracts that didn't work out. On the latest episode of In the Mentions, Omar says that Lyubushkin will be a significant addition ahead of a highly-pressurized post-season, and that Dubas deserves a break for correcting his mistakes and making the team better.

Video Transcript

- Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of "In the Mentions." I'm @TicTacTOmar. And the Leafs made their first big controversial-ish trade of the season over the weekend. Obviously, we all know the details, and the big thing is whether this was a good trade or a bad trade.

I think, when it comes to the overall perception of it, I think the majority of Leafs fans do agree that it was a good deal, not only for the player that the Leafs added, but also just for the cap gymnastics that took place. Now, on the other hand, there are Leafs fans who are not enjoying the trade that much, actually are kind of poking fun of some aspects of the deal.

You know, I'm seeing a lot of tweets like, oh, the Leafs, you know, made this huge move for a defenseman that only has seven points in 180-- 180 games. And if you have that perspective, I just want to level with you for a second. That's not the point.

When it comes to a defenseman of this caliber, we're not focusing on his points. Leafs already have defensemen that can score, Morgan Rielly can score. Rasmus Sandin can score. Timothy Liljegren can score when he's in the lineup. Even Jake Muzzin has a great shot, right?

We're not getting this defenseman to help with scoring. We're getting this defenseman to help with the defense, with clearing the front of the net, with actually adding some physicality, some snarl to the back line. You know, it's something that a lot of us have been complaining about that the Leafs really need.

His offensive stats don't really matter here. To be honest, the fact that, if you're just, you know, a big body-- which he is-- that can stand in front of the net-- which he does-- and clear people from the front of the net-- which I hope he can do-- then I think that's the replacement that we need.

I mean, when you look at Justin Holl and Timothy Liljegren, those have been some instances this year when we kind of said, hey, I wish we could have somebody who could do that more consistently. And hopefully this player can do that.

Now, this whole thing has kind of led to other conversations. Oh, you know, well, what about Ryan Dzingel? You know, the Leafs let him go on waivers, and he was part of the trade. I mean, cool. Great. Ryan Dzingel's gone. That's more cap space for the Leafs to work with.

And then, also, other people are saying, like, oh, well, this is another bad deal. What about the Denis Malgin for Mason Marchment deal? Or how about the fact that the only reason the Leafs are in this situation is because Kyle Dubas chose to keep Justin Holl and let go Jared McCann?

I mean, like, what GM is perfect, all right? Like, every GM has good moves and bad moves. And, yes, Dubas is going into this year with a whole lot of pressure. But, like, let's not crucify him over correcting a mistake. The Nick Ritchie contract was a mistake. Kyle Dubas fixed it.

And not only did he fix it, to the point where the team didn't really have-- didn't have to retain any salary on it, they also addressed a need. Now, the positive aspect of this is that now we can wait and see if this defenseman helps. And then maybe if there are other moves-- other moves ahead of the deadline that need to be made.