TORONTO – Change was on the mind, but Brendan Shanahan wasnt looking explicitly for a new assistant general manager. The Maple Leafs president was combing the hockey world, trying to pick out the innovative thinkers, the rising stars, the great minds. One name kept coming up: Kyle Dubas, formerly the 28-year-old general manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and now assistant general manager to Dave Nonis in Toronto. Such was the latest shift in direction of the newly minted Shanahan era, one that has seen a coaching staff plundered, a roster reconstructed, a July 1st pass quietly (and prudently) by, and now a management team altered – Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle fired Tuesday. “I like to surround myself with people that challenge ideas, that think differently,” Shanahan said. “The more I got to know Kyle the more I realized that this was somebody that obviously was an extreme talent.” Through extensive conversations with Dubas over the past few weeks, Shanahan, who accumulated nearly 700 goals and three Stanley Cups as a player, kept coming away with fresh thoughts and perspectives about the game. In Dubas, he appears to have found someone willing to think differently, a rising front office prodigy known for his openness to new ideas, including analytics. “I just found him intriguing,” said Shanahan, standing alongside Dubas at an introductory press conference from the Air Canada Centre. “I was learning things I didnt know and just wanted to learn more.” “Ive got the impression in talking to Brendan and talking to Dave that theyre certainly open to any and all ideas. That was one of the things that was most enticing about the situation here for me,” said Dubas, particularly enthused to work alongside Nonis, himself once a young assistant general manager in Vancouver. In just three short years in Sault Ste. Marie, Dubas – hired at age 25, mind you – helped steer the Greyhounds from the playoff wilderness to a West division title. He was once a teenage scout for his hometown junior team and later the youngest player agent to be certified by the NHLPA. Rising fast through the hockey ranks, he is known to be thoughtful, respectful and innovative in his thinking, a breath of fresh air to a game thats often remained engrained in old habits. Though not an all-out stats guru as portrayed in some corners, hes shown a willingness to consider the merits of analytics, employing them where suitable to help his team in the Sault. The Maple Leafs, previously led by noted analytics opponent Brian Burke, have been slow to adjust to the “Money-Puck revolution,” which has crept louder and louder into the game in recent years. And if not a voice for that community, Dubas should, at the very least, open up Nonis, Randy Carlyle and the entire group in Toronto to some different ideas. “Its really about learning as much as I can and getting as much information as I can,” Dubas said. “I havent run the team in Sault St. Marie based solely on statistics, its been a good size part of what weve integrated in, but the rest of it is just hockey. Its evaluating players, scouting reports, dealing with the personalities on the team, trying to hire the best scouts and people. And certainly the analytics, Ive found it to be a major help to me personally in the way that I view the game and just create a better level of certainty to decisions.” “Information is power,” Shanahan added. “Its about eliminating some of the noise and seeing what information works best for you, your team, and the direction you and your team want to go with. “Hes obviously got a great appreciation and understanding of analytics, but hes also married that to the complexities and instincts you have to have when youre putting a product on the ice. Hes not just talked about it, but hes done it.” Todd Reynolds, formerly a colleague in the agent business, says Dubas is not some analytics guru, but rather a well-rounded hockey mind on the rise. “I dont think its all about analytics like people have wanted to make it out to be today,” he told TSN.ca. “Hes not a computer nerd. Hes not sitting there crunching numbers and bringing sheets of paper into the GMs office with recommendations. Hes much more complete than that.” Reynolds firm, Uptown Sports Management, hired Dubas fresh out of the Brock University sports management program. They had known him to be “mature beyond his years” from past dealings with the Greyhounds organization. Dubas, they believed, was sensible, trustworthy and related well to people senior to him. “It really wasnt as much of a stretch or a leap of faith on our part as people thought it was at the time,” Reynolds said. “He held his own. [His age] was used against him at times – as you can imagine our business is competitive, the industry is – and people would say ‘Really, youre thinking about going with him? The kids 20-year-old. So it was used against him successfully at times, at other times he overcame it. “We encouraged him ‘just continue doing what youre doing and people wont talk about your age theyll talk about your track record.” And so they werent surprised at the Burlington headquarters of Uptown Sports to learn a few years down the road that Dubas had earned the GM job in hockey-mad Sault Ste. Marie – as one of the youngest GMs in OHL history – nor taken aback on this day when he rose to the NHL. “We all knew this was coming,” Reynolds said. Shanahan claims he never set out to hire an assistant general manager, but planned on assessing the various levels of the organization over the offseason and instilling change from there. He expected more hires to the management team, likely needing a replacement for Loiselle as it pertained to contract negotiations, the CBA, and the cap, and someone to assume Poulins duties, which included management of the Marlies. Tuesdays proceedings were ultimately another step in the remaking of the Leafs in Shanahans vision. That vision started to take shape with the early May firings of the coaching staff and the retaining of Carlyle. It continued with the selection of William Nylander at the draft, varied roster pursuits in and around July 1st – quiet for Toronto standards – and a pair of new hires (and voices) to surround Carlyle, including the youthful Steve Spott. In Dubas meanwhile, Shahanan will look for a different voice, a fresher perspective that may have been lacking. “Im just an assistant GM,” said Dubas. “Ill do what Im asked and go from there.” Fake Football Jerseys Free Shipping . Lexie Lou earned a commanding 4 1/2-length win Sunday in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks. 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Lefty was 11 strokes behind leader Steven Bowditch, the Australian who had a 67 to reach 8-under 136.LOS ANGELES -- The Staples Center crowd threw garbage onto the ice in the final minutes when a key call went against the Los Angeles Kings. The Anaheim Ducks dodged the debris and kept moving toward the post-season with a gritty win over their biggest rivals. Patrick Maroon scored the go-ahead goal, Frederik Andersen made 37 saves, and the Ducks beat the Kings 2-1 on Saturday night for their third straight win in the Freeway Faceoff. Andersen and the Pacific Division leaders barely held off the Kings, who had a 38-20 shots advantage. An apparent tying goal by Anze Kopitar was waved off with 6:23 left because of incidental contact with Andersen, prompting Kings fans to litter the ice. The Ducks still showed remarkable resilience in another bruising chapter of this rivalry. Tim Jackman scored an early goal for the Ducks, who won back-to-back games at Colorado and Los Angeles after a four-game skid knocked them from their longtime perch atop the overall NHL standings. Anaheim leads San Jose by two points in the division standings, and the Kings are well back in third place. "Its going to be tough for the Kings to catch us now," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Were up 15 points on them with 14 games to play. They were playing so well. We didnt think they were going to lose another game all year. It was important for us to come in here and show we could measure up to them." Tyler Toffoli scored a power-play goal and Martin Jones stopped 18 shots for the Kings, whose eight-game winning streak was snapped Thursday by Toronto. Los Angeles had won each of Anaheims last five visits to Staples Center since November 2011. The late-game controversy added to the lively rivalry in the Southern California clubs first meeting since their outdoor game at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25. Kopitars shot through traffic hit Andersens crossbar and apparently rattled in, but the officials immediately waved off any goal, later announcing Andersen had been hit. "The puck was in, but there was some contact," Andersen said. "I couldnt really stop the puck. The ref did the right thing and made the right call." Replays showed the puck barely crossed the goal line while Marian Gaborik and Anaheims Jakob Silfverberg were next to Andersen. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter leaned onto the ice to disagree, and the crowd made its displeasure known. &"They called it that I touched the goalie before the puck went in," Gaborik said.dddddddddddd "But I dont know, I havent seen the replay." Dozens of fans threw drinks, water bottles and concession items on the ice, prompting a short pause in play while employees with snow shovels removed the garbage. "I dont know why everybody is getting wound up about that," Boudreau said. "They ran into our goalie. I thought it should have been a penalty, frankly. ... Ive seen a lot less things get called for penalties." Jackman put the Ducks ahead late in the first period with his fourth goal of the season, coming out of the corner to score on a slick pass from Mathieu Perreault. The Kings evened it on a power-play goal midway through the second period when Jarret Stolls shot hit Andersens pads and went straight to Toffoli for just his second goal in 26 games since Dec. 19. "I think we didnt play the best that we could," Toffoli said. "But I think we know now that the rest of the season here we have to play hard and play the right way." Los Angeles hadnt scored against Anaheim in more than 148 consecutive minutes, going scoreless against their rivals since Kopitars first-period goal early in their last meeting at Honda Center, two days before Jonas Hillers shutout in Chavez Ravine. Maroon put the Ducks back ahead on the games next shot just 1:09 later. Sprawling Kings defenceman Jake Muzzin deflected the puck past Jones for Maroons first goal since Jan. 30. The Kings scratched captain Dustin Brown, who played sparingly against Toronto on Thursday after Sutter said Browns entire line looked tired. The U.S. Olympian missed practice Friday with what Sutter said was an illness. Anaheim scratched U.S. Olympic defenceman Cam Fowler, who incurred a lower-body injury Friday in Calgary. The Ducks also played without 43-year-old forward Teemu Selanne, who has sat out the back end of several back-to-back sets this season. NOTES: New Anaheim D Stephane Robidas took the pregame warmup, but didnt make his Ducks debut. The veteran blue-liner, acquired March 4 from Dallas, is nearly recovered from a broken leg. ... Jones started for the second time in three games after Jonathan Quick missed practice Friday with an illness. ... Anaheims power play went 0 for 3, dropping to 2 for 42 in its last 13 games. ' ' '