A Toronto Maple Leafs ex-general manager could be taking over a similar role with Team Canada moving forward.
Doug Armstrong, who served as Canada’s GM during the 2026 Winter Games, will be retiring at the end of this season. Parallel to leaving the role he held with the Canadian Olympic team, Armstrong will also be stepping down from his role as GM of the St. Louis Blues.
Armstrong gets a much-deserved ovation for his lifetime connected to the game.
But that situation also opens the door to the search for a new voice to run Team Canada in the next international cycle. And that new voice could be former Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas.
Insider Jeff Marek made a fantastic point about the current Pittsburgh Penguins GM taking over for Armstrong, citing his body of work as well as Hockey Canada’s desire to get younger. Also, the leadership will be looking to bring in new ideas to counter the rising dominance of the United States.
“Right now, I think Kyle Dubas would have to be considered a frontrunner, and knowing what I know about Hockey Canada… they probably want to start skewing younger, with younger, newer, fresher ideas for this next generation of hockey.”
That next generation of hockey likely begins with the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. Canada will want to return to its dominance on the global stage. Dubas, who led the Maple Leafs to multiple playoff appearances, has the track record to back up his candidacy. Since leaving Toronto, Dubas took over the Penguins and has turned a declining team around into a playoff contender.
But that’s not all that Hockey Canada is looking at.
Dubas’ Track Record Goes Beyond Maple Leafs and Penguins
Dubas’ track record goes well beyond the Maple Leafs and the Penguins. He’s already held the general manager post for Canada during the World Championships. Plus, he was an assistant GM at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
That shows that Hockey Canada trusts Dubas. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see the organization avoid an extensive search. In fact, the easiest path forward would be to anoint Dubas GM and give him roughly two years to start working on the next iteration of Canada’s international squad.
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Team Canada to Get Makeover under New GM
Team Canada, much like the Maple Leafs, needs a makeover. The loss to the United States in the men’s Olympic gold-medal game, while painful, wasn’t an abject failure. The defeat, nevertheless, proved that it’s time for a makeover.
19-year-old Macklin Celebrini made the best case for going younger. That situation could mean bumping down some of the older players from this year’s Canadian roster and including much younger players.
As such, players like Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty would not have made the squad. In fact, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon might be question marks for the 2030 Olympics.
That’s probably getting a little ahead of things. But there’s no question that, if the former Maple Leafs GM gets the nod, the 2028 World Cup of Hockey roster will have plenty of new faces. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just a sign of the changing times.
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