Jason Spezza's tenure as a member of the Maple Leafs' front office was short-lived, yet incredibly eventful. The assistant to Kyle Dubas and former Leafs player joined the front office for a season full of ups and downs, which saw the Leafs go all in at the deadline, yet still come up short. Since his departure, many have wondered about the exact reasoning for his early exit, and we might now know the truth.
Spezza Offered GM Role?
A recent report by Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast theorized that the reason for Spezza's departure from Toronto may be due to his loyalty to Kyle Dubas. Friedman stated that he thinks Spezza was offered the GM role in Toronto following Dubas' firing, but due to his close ties to Dubas, rejected the offer and tendered his resignation.
"The timing of his resignation in Toronto has people wondering if he was initially the plan, the organizational plan to take over as interim general manager after Dubas left. I don't know if we will ever get confirmation on that, but certainly that is one of the theories." - Elliotte Friedman
Dubas and Spezza were close, seeing as Dubas brought Spezza into the Leafs' front office almost immediately after his retirement announcement, and then promoted him to AGM. It would've been wrong fro Spezza to take his close friend's role as GM right after his firing, and so Friedman thinks that's why Spezza resigned.
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Who's to Blame?
With all of the rumors flying around, one man seems to be at the center of the blame: Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan not only fired Dubas but attempted to get Spezza to fulfill Dubas' role after the fact. Shanahan should've seen that Spezza would be upset by that and was likely to leave.
Without two of the brightest young minds in the hockey world, Shanahn now has to find a competent replacement for Kyle Dubas, and it looks like his list of candidates will be fairly short.
As Seen on Hockey Patrol
| POLL | ||
29 MAI | 264 ANSWERS The True Reasoning For Spezza's Departure From Toronto Has Been Revealed Should Spezza have taken the GM role? | ||
| Yes | 133 | 50.4 % |
| No | 131 | 49.6 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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