When the 2011-12 Toronto Marlies progressed to the Calder Cup Final only to be swept by the powerhouse Norfolk Admirals, their roster was largely made up of older professionals — Mike Zigomanis was their leading scorer — with the only NHL regular to emerge a kid by the name of Nazem Kadri.

Fast forward six years, a younger and more prospect-laden — though far from veteran-free — Marlies roster stands on the precipice of achieving something special in the 2018 Calder Cup championship series.

A good deal of the credit for that should be placed at the feet of their outgoing General Manager, as well as President Brendan Shanahan for taking a ‘gamble’ on the young man from Sault Ste. Marie, who has certainly grabbed his opportunity with both hands since arriving in Toronto in the summer of 2014.

Recently appointed General Manager of the Maple Leafs, the 31-year-old Kyle Dubas never shied away from making the difficult choices or implementing new ideas during his time at the helm of the Leafs‘ AHL affiliate.

The right bench boss

Dubas’ first move as Marlies GM was one of his best: He took the bold step of demoting the long-tenured Gord Dineen to an associate coach after just one year as head coach and put former Soo Greyhounds colleague Sheldon Keefe in charge behind the bench.

Under Keefe’s guidance, the Marlies have won 152 of 228 regular season games and have finished with the AHL’s best regular season record twice in three years. Numerous team and individual franchise records have been set in the process, but Keefe’s ultimate task — the head coach will tell you this himself — has been to develop players capable of making an impact in the NHL.

To that end, William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, Travis Dermott, Andreas Johnsson and (to a lesser extent) Nikita Soshnikov have all successfully made the step up to the big club. Future NHLer Timothy Liljegren has made excellent strides during his rookie season, while Keefe has helped turn Trevor Moore into a prospect of interest looking forward to 2018 pre-season camps.

The most impressive aspects of Keefe’s makeup as a coach are his player management skills and ability to walk the fine line of balancing winning and development.

Mason Marchment, Jeremy Bracco and Adam Brooks were all handled with kid gloves in the initial stage of their rookie year. Marchment and Brooks, in particular, spent ample time working in the gym and one-on-one with skills coaches. Both players and the organization are currently reaping the benefits of that patient, calculated approach to player development. Marchment is fresh off of signing an entry-level contract with the Leafs; Adam Brooks has taken noticeable strides late in the year and into the playoffs.

Bracco, meanwhile, was eased into his first season as a professional after contracting mono last year. Despite finishing the season as one of the hottest forwards on the roster after being carefully managed throughout the 2017-18 campaign, Bracco has had to sit in recent playoff series due to Toronto’s plethora of options at wing following the addition of Andreas Johnsson. There is no doubt it’s a big disappointment for the rookie forward, but Bracco needs to look no further than the example of Trevor Moore, who endured the same fate in last year’s playoffs and is currently a key performer with a rising profile in the organization.

A level-headed character, Keefe is never too high or too low. No matter the result, the Marlies head coach is frank about performances from individuals and the team, with one eye always firmly fixed on the bigger picture. Rookies and veterans alike know exactly where they stand with the coach; as brutal as Keefe’s honesty may appear at times, it provides the strong foundation and open communication needed for an excellent working relationship. When you consider Keefe has managed around 50 players this season alone, that’s no mean feat.

The value of the right veterans

Piecing together an AHL roster isn’t the easy task some might think. Throwing your prospects together with bit-part veteran pieces is not always a recipe for success (just look at the 2017-18 Laval Rocket for supporting evidence).

Instead, Dubas has sought out talented, hungry and proven AHL veterans — some with a point to prove — to help make up the core of his current roster.

Thanks in part to the leadership of their departing GM, the Marlies are now one of the most respected organizations in the AHL and provide their players with resources that are unrivalled throughout the league. “The 32nd NHL team”; from nutrition to fitness, skills and video coaching, the Marlies are able to go the extra mile in developing their prospects. That also makes Toronto a highly attractive option for AHL veterans so key to the overall process.

The signing of Ben Smith looked curious back in May, but it was made for two reasons: 1) It provided some insurance for the expansion draft; 2) It was clear that Dubas wanted the forward’s experience on the Marlies (the AHL part of his contract is worth $650,000).

Smith did not receive a sniff of an NHL call-up throughout the year, but he was consistently one of the Marlies’ top producers, finishing with 27 goals and 59 points over the regular season. There were plenty of candidates for the Marlies’ captaincy this year, but Keefe and Dubas kept their cards close to their chest and monitored the situation patiently before handing Smith the ‘C’ in early January.

The 28-year-old has the respect of every player on the roster, but tellingly, it’s the rookies that speak most glowingly of Toronto‘s captain, who has registered 11 points in 13 playoff games to date.

Rich Clune may not have featured in the lineup as much as he would have liked this year, but Dubas convincing the left winger to stick around was a fillip for the club. Clune is an inspirational character who demands as much of everyone around him as he does of himself. Having proven a beloved mentor to the likes of William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen, he is now providing the same type of leadership to Adam Brooks, Jeremy Bracco and Mason Marchment.

Colin Greening, Chris Mueller and Vincent LoVerde have also all been around the block and have been integral to Toronto’s success.

Not many predicted Greening sticking around after a difficult 2016-17 campaign, but Dubas saw the value in keeping him around and was rewarded by a stellar showing from the St. John’s native all year long. The 32-year-old — who wears an ‘A’ on his jersey — may still harbour ambitions toward playing in the NHL, but he certainly hasn’t begrudged his role in the AHL. His line alongside Pierre Engvall and Frederik Gauthier has proven highly reliable for Keefe and a nightmare for opponents during this Calder Cup campaign.

With a severe lack of depth at the center position, Dubas also moved quickly to sign Chris Mueller, who is as proven as they come in the American League. With family in Buffalo and the extra year of job security, Mueller was more than happy to commit for two years in Toronto. After a third consecutive AHL season with 50+ points, Mueller’s experience — he’s a Calder Cup winner with over 650 games to his name — has helped provide consistency and stability down the middle at a position where the Marlies have struggled depth-wise in past seasons.

Perhaps the most underrated signing was that of Vincent LoVerde, who was the captain of Los Angeles’ affiliate the previous three season. The 29-year-old defenseman provided a great deal of veteran stability to what was a very young blue line core to begin the season and is now showing the value of his vast playoff experience (which includes a Calder Cup championship) in the playoffs.

Dubas may be well known for his view on analytics, but it’s obvious he appreciates and values the intangibles that aren’t always easy to weigh up outside the locker room.

Late-Season Depth Additions

Late in the 2017-18 campaign, the Marlies roster was decimated by the reassigning of Kasperi Kapanen, Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson to the big club, while Kerby Rychel, Rinat Valiev and Nikita Soshnikov were all traded away for little in return.

Dubas, needing to act swiftly to reinforce his roster, scoured to bring in players from unconventional places, with Toronto‘s great expanse of resources put to good use.

Before Carl Grundstrom arrived and Andreas Johnsson was reassigned, a whole host of players arrived on ATOs, and although not every dart you throw is going to hit the target, Dubas uncovered some diamonds in the rough from the NCAA and Europe to shore up the roster.

Josh Kestner (University of Huntsville-Alabama), Derian Plouffe (Niagara University), Scott Pooley (Church of the Holy Cross) and Brady Ferguson (Robert Morris University) combined for nine points in 23 games, but more importantly gave the Marlies some competent depth down the stretch when fatigue was certainly an issue (the Marlies finished the season with 18 games in 37 days).

And then there is Pierre Engvall, who few remembered from his previous appearance in one AHL game the previous season. A seventh-round selection in 2014, it was now or never in terms of whether or not Engvall was going to be part of the organization’s plans going forward. Dubas certainly didn’t have to take a shot at the Swedish winger, knowing he had just recovered from an injury and Toronto was well-stocked at the wing position.

The rest is now history, as Engvall flourished in his second go-around and recently signed an entry-level contract with the Leafs.

Summer signings Max Novak and Jean Dupuy also provided more than adequate depth for the Marlies at various stages and — along with Cal Heeter, Martins Dzierkals, Kristian Pospisil, Josh Winquist and J.J. Piccinich (also Dubas signings) — helped the Orlando Solar Bears to a successful season.

This hasn’t just been a one year deal for Dubas, who has previously acquired the likes of Seth Griffith and Mike Sislo (through AHL trades) to great effect and was the architect of bringing Justin Holl and Byron Froese into the fold.

Leveraging Resources, Implementing New Ideas

It’s almost a given now that Toronto’s prospects will join the Marlies ranks once their junior or European seasons have concluded, but this is something Dubas has fully implemented during his three years as GM. Though not all are signed to ATOs, they compete in scrimmages, practices and receive dedicated time with development coaches, all in the aim of giving them a leg up for the next season and beyond.

Dubas hasn’t been shy about taking shots at undrafted or unsigned NCAA players come April time, making use of the vast scouting network at his disposal while bolstering the Marlies roster at a time when fatigue starts to play a role. The communication between GM and head coach is key here in order to find a balance between seeing what you might have in borderline prospects while also looking to tally up wins and carry momentum into the post-season. Under Dubas and Keefe, the Marlies have successfully done both.

Depth has been key to the Marlies handling what is a rigorous AHL schedule heavy on back-to-backs and three-in-three weekends. It’s been commonplace for the Marlies to leave fresh players in Toronto during a Friday night on the road with a fixture the following afternoon or evening at Ricoh Coliseum.

The luxury of limitless resources has allowed Dubas to build out a medical and training staff that includes a Head Athletic Therapist, an Athlete Performance Director,

a Strength & Conditioning Coach, a Medical Director, an Orthopedic Doctor, a Team Dentist, and a Team Doctor.

This, allied with the depth of the roster, has reaped rewards during the playoffs, where the Marlies have been very healthy — barring one injury to Andreas Borgman — while their second and third round opponents in the Syracuse Crunch and Lehigh Valley Phantoms were a long way short of 100% fitness, including some key absences.

During his tenure as Marlies GM, Dubas has forged a closer link with the team’s ECHL affiliate than any of his predecessors, with a vision of creating a baseball-style prospect pyramid to provide depth cover and also opportunity/reward for excellent play. Players and coaches have regularly split time between Orlando Solar Bears and the Marlies during their affiliation, with the ECHL staff spending time in Toronto throughout prospect camps and pre-season tournaments.

***

Having won nine straight games including sweeping the Syracuse Crunch and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Toronto Marlies are now four victories away from a first Calder Cup championship if they are able to overcome the Western Conference champion Texas Stars.

That would be a fitting end to the tenure of Kyle Dubas.