In their regular seats just inside the blue line at the Sault Memorial Gardens, Dubas’ grandfather, Walter — steel worker by day and, between the years of 1960-67 coach of the local OHL team by night — would tell Kyle, “Listening to the press and the fans is your first step toward sitting with the press and the fans.”
My guess is Dubas has been thinking a lot about those words since the Leafs’ exit from the playoffs this past August. He may have even repeated the quote to himself before the yesterday’s draft, where Leafs brass assembled a 2020 class with more than its fair share of 5’9-11 winger talent.