How Dubas’s Soo upbringing put him on good path

After seven weeks of searching, the Pittsburgh Penguins last Thursday finally introduced their new president of hockey operations.

The former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager is considered one of the National Hockey League’s best young executives.

Sitting between his new bosses, Kyle Dubas admitted this is not his “dream job.” He actually landed that a dozen years ago, at age 25.

Dubas explained that growing up in a hockey family in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., all he hoped to do one day was run the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. .

At age 11, Dubas got his first job with the Greyhounds. Quickly and incredibly, the wunderkind ascended their ranks, ultimately outgrowing the OHL outfit.

But it was lessons he learned in the Soo that eventually brought him to Pittsburgh.

“I could talk about Sault Ste. Marie and the Greyhounds forever,” said Dubas, now 37. “Looking back, it’s tough to put into words exactly how much it means, other than it probably means everything to me getting started on this path.”

His late grandfather, Walter, was inducted as a player into the Soo Greyhounds Hall of Fame. Walter also coached the Greyhounds during the 1960s.

Kyle’s father, Mark, also worked as an intern for the Greyhounds at one point.

“The Dubas family has deep roots in the community,” Greyhounds president Tim Lukenda said. “Kyle just grew up around the game and enjoyed going to hockey with his grandpa. And that led to him getting involved with the team.”

Dubas started as a stick boy at age 11. He was soon promoted to dressing room attendant. He picked up hockey tape and sweaty socks. He helped the equipment manager sharpen skates and repair gear. He went on coffee runs.

He also watched and listened closely, observing how the organization operated, what coaches scribbled on a whiteboard, what made the players tick.

“Kyle was a curious kid and an observant kid, right from the beginning,” Lukenda said. “He was the kind of kid who wanted to make a contribution. I think what it really did was it gave him a chance at a young age to truly see a hockey organization from the ground up.”

Early signs

By the time Trevor Daley arrived in Sault Ste. Marie in 1999, Dubas had already earned responsibilities in hockey operations. Daley, a former Penguins player and current Pittsburgh executive, couldn’t believe how much he knew.

At that time, the internet was in its infancy. Not much was known about opponents. Daley remembers Dubas, two years younger than him, walking to the back of the team bus and giving him scouting reports on each opposing player.

“He never played (at a high level), but he was just dialed in,” Daley said. “To see where he is today, I’m not surprised.”

Daley and his teammates often joked that Dubas would be running the team one day. Lukenda recalls a similar conversation with Dave Torrie, who served as GM at the time. But, as the years went on, it did start to feel inevitable.

Torrie saw that Dubas was something special and sought to shepherd him.

“I wanted him to be around because I liked him. And he wanted to be around because he wanted to learn the game and just hang around, maybe hear me have a phone conversation,” Torrie said.

Scouting ahead

At 17, Dubas headed to Brock University to pursue a sports management degree. First, Torrie approached him with an opportunity to become a scout.

Assigned to the Golden Horseshoe region in southern Ontario, Dubas would finish his classes then hop in his car to go scout AAA teams.

Perhaps his biggest scouting success was one late-round long-shot in 2004.

Torrie recalls Dubas, 18, pushing hard for the Greyhounds to draft an unheralded defenceman named Andrew Campbell. Round after round after round passed. Finally, in the 15th, Torrie relented.

Most late-round picks never play. Campbell went on to be an assistant captain and an important player for the Greyhounds. He later played NHL games.

“There’s times I look back and I say, ‘Man, I should have listened to him way more often,’ ” said Torrie, who is now a pro scout for the L.A. Kings.

Dubas would part ways with the Greyhounds for a few years, getting his degree and becoming an agent, at the time the youngest ever certified by the NHL Players’ Association. But, in 2011, Torrie and the team were unable to agree on a new contract, leaving the GM chair open. Dubas inquired about his “dream” position.

Lukenda said Dubas “blew our socks off” in his interview. He walked in with a thick binder that outlined his plan for success, from his vision on the ice and building a winning culture to training, player education and business matters.

The Greyhounds made Dubas, 25, the second-youngest GM in OHL history.

“I made a lot of mistakes every step of the way, and what it really taught me was how to handle the pressures of the job,” Dubas said. “The team is everything in the city, so the media scrutiny and the pressure was high and the criticism was a lot, especially the first season. It taught me how to deal with that.”

Dubas made a blockbuster trade early in his first season at the helm, giving up two players and six draft picks to get future NHL goalie Jack Campbell. Campbell took over the crease from a young goalie named Matt Murray. Murray was disappointed by the deal but moved past it to have an excellent OHL career.

Eleven years later, Dubas made a deal with Ottawa to bring Murray to Toronto.

‘A hockey guy’

Dubas has a reputation as being “an analytics guy.” And he was indeed one of the first in the OHL to implement the use of advanced stats, charting shots and scoring chances to help shape team strategy and player development.

“But, at the root of it, Kyle is really a hockey guy who understands the importance of building relationships,” Lukenda said.

Even after acquiring Campbell, the Greyhounds missed the playoffs in Dubas’s first year as GM. They got in the following season, after he fired former Penguins player Mike Stapleton midseason and installed Sheldon Keefe as coach.

Keefe, whom Dubas later tabbed to be Toronto’s head coach, was unproven at the time and a bit of a controversial hire. Some in the Soo thought Dubas should have hired an experienced OHL coach.

The Greyhounds got back into the playoffs in Dubas’s third and final season. They won one series before falling to Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters.

That summer, the Leafs came calling, hiring Dubas, then 28, as assistant GM.

Dubas spent nine years in the Toronto front office, the last five leading the Leafs as the second-youngest GM in NHL history. The Leafs had a regular season record of 221109-42 over that span and won one playoff series, in 2023.

Dubas is looking to build around Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and put the Penguins in position to win the Stanley Cup once again.

If he pulls it off, it certainly won’t be a surprise to anyone back in the Soo.