Leafs GM Kyle Dubas on Black Lives Matter: ''It's not just enough to say 'I'm not racist'''
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas is about as well-spoken as they come, as far as NHL executives go. Becoming a GM for such a formidable franchise at such a young age certainly could not have come easy to Dubas, but his body of work as well as the various messages he has chosen to send while in his position have been nothing short of admirable. His latest set of comments, relating to Black Lives Matter, though, may be his most important to date.
During Black History Month, Sportsnet host Donnovan Bennett took centre stage in covering the cultural and historical event and interviewed several sports personalities, from athletes to executives to other members in sports media and everything in between. One of those interviews was with the Maple Leafs GM, and Dubas not only represented the team well with his contributions, but also his family, his community and even his country as well.
With Bennett beginning the session by commenting on the photos of the Leafs players wearing Black Lives Matter shirts throughout training camp prior to the start of the playoffs, he was curious to know what Dubas thought of the reactions to the whole situation.
While Dubas pointed out that there were plenty of supporters as well as detractors, he also shed a light on the fact that the organization really had no involvement in the decision to have the team wear the shirts, and that it was the players themselves made that decision.
"Well, there was many different reactions... there were people that were extraordinarily supportive and then there were another segment of people that were very critical, which I think we can live with, and that's fine.
"It was led by the players, which I think is the most important part of the entire thing. It wasn't the organization saying 'Hey, you guys have to do this. This is the right thing to do'.
"Because of who we are and the demographics of our team at that time, being mostly white professional athletes in a very privileged group, including our staff, we needed to also take a stand and support the others in our organization and in our community. I thought that the support was great and if we could change the minds of one, two, three, or a thousand people, that's great - but it was also very valuable for our staff and our players to see what the negative side is of it so that we know a tiny slice of what some people have lived their entire lives."
Since that time, obviously, the Leafs have made some changes and have welcomed a veteran forward in Wayne Simmonds to the mix who has dealt with these issues for most of, if not all of his life. Bennett was curious to know whether Dubas has had a chance to sit down with Simmonds and discuss some of these issues with him.
Dubas stated that the team has taken much more of a group approach in having these discussions, and not singling out Simmonds as the lone representative of the team to shoulder the burden of making the impact in these areas, with inclusion and support being the teams' areas of focus in helping its only Black player carry some of the weight.
"That's a large burden for Wayne to carry," Dubas said, "and we look at it as our responsibility to make a difference and not just put it all on Wayne to be doing everything in this arena every single day. We have to support him, we have to take how passionate Wayne is about it and use it positively.
"Having somebody as respected and established as Wayne, and as loved as Wayne is by his teammates in the room is certainly a major benefit to our group as we look to continue to advance ourselves in this area."
Bennett suggested at the end of the interview that, as a Black man, on the subject of Black Lives Matter may not have as easy of a time changing minds as someone as influential as Dubas, in his position. Bennett thinks that some may not want to hear that message from a member of the Black community, but that Dubas may have a voice that those same people might listen to. In saying that, Bennett was curious as to what Dubas would interpret "Black Lives Matter" to mean.
Dubas had a very thoughtful response to the question, offering his opinion that it really is "not just enough to say I'm not a racist".
"We have to be doing more, openly, to help Black, Indigenous... really anybody in our lives, in our community that faces any type of systemic barriers, systemic racism or injustice."
When asked how the league can make changes to move forward in breaking down some of these barriers, Dubas suggested that making the game more accessible to members of all the different sub-communities that exist within the overarching community would be a step in the right direction. Dubas believes that having more players from different backgrounds would make for a more culturally diverse league with figures that other young people in the community could look up to and identify with would likely lead to positive change within the sport.
As with any broader issue, it's not up to just public figures to address these issues within the community and within society. It is our responsibility as a whole to identify these barriers and these issues and to condemn things like systemic racism and similar injustices. We all have to do our part if we hope to effect real change.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||