Video emerges of Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and President Brendan Shanahan galaxy-braining McCann deal

The Toronto Maple Leafs certainly had an interesting offseason after dropping a 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens and washing out of the first round of the postseason for the 5th-consecutive year.

There were no moves made in the offseason by Leafs GM Kyle Dubas that you could classify as overly "sexy". No flashy names, no substantial upgrades at any one position and some may argue that the Leafs may have gotten worse on paper over the summer, losing Zach Hyman, Frederik Andersen and Zach Bogosian.

In fact, the one move that Leafs GM Kyle Dubas did make that was looked at as a resounding win was the addition of top six forward Jared McCann from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for prospect Filip Hällander and a low pick, which appeared to get plenty of Maple Leafs fans excited.

The problem was, the trade was made prior to the Seattle Expansion Draft. The Leafs had appeared to be going into the Seattle draft protection 4F, 4D and 1G prior to the McCann trade, so when the trade occurred, Leafs Nation immediately assumed that the Leafs had elected to go the 7F, 3D, 1G protection route.

What we know now is that they did not. The Leafs elected to protect Justin Holl and, in turn, lost McCann for nothing - which seemed to upset a lot of fans. But was this all by design? Apparently it was.

On Friday, a video surfaced of the Toronto Maple Leafs' brass, including GM Kyle Dubas and President Brendan Shanahan, talking about the possibility of acquiring McCann from Pittsburgh for a prospect (Hällander) and a late pick to possibly retain Alex Kerfoot.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the Kraken were going to take McCann, as they were long-rumoured to have had interest in Kerfoot before McCann was acquired.

In the end, the theory that the Leafs were simply hedging their bets and acquiring McCann as Kerfoot insurance proved true after all.

Now the real test begins. Can the Leafs, who appear to have downgraded on paper this summer, turn their apparent misfortune into good fortune on the heels of hard work and a success by committee approach? We'll find out this season.

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