Player agent Dubas was the youngest
player agent ever certified by the
National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA). He worked with Uptown Sports Management and represented
Kyle Clifford and
Andrew Desjardins. Dubas set up offices in Europe; however, challenges with clients leaving for other agents resulted in Dubas looking for alternate careers in ice hockey.
Team executive Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Dubas was hired as the general manager of the
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL in 2011. He attended his interview with a detailed plan to improve the team, which had struggled in recent years. The Greyhounds initially were looking for an experienced candidate for the general manager position, but Dubas' interview was so impressive, that he was the board's unanimous choice. During his tenure with the Greyhounds, this plan became known as "The Rising" after the
Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. Dubas had been involved with the Greyhounds organization since he was a child, starting out as a stick boy and dressing room attendant when he was 11. The Maple Leafs organization deflected concerns about his age at the time he was hired, with general manager
Dave Nonis saying "...Age was never a factor. It's whether or not you can do the job, and it was clear to us quickly that he's going to be good at it." As an assistant general manager for the club, Dubas played parts in many aspects of the organization, including personnel management and analytics, through the team's research and development group. won the
2018 Calder Cup Final After Shanahan hired
Lou Lamoriello to serve as the team's general manager, Dubas and Hunter both took roles as assistant general managers. During his time as assistant general manager for the Maple Leafs, Dubas also served as general manager of the
Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs'
American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate team. He was instrumental in organizing a system that developed players for the Maple Leafs team, while also being competitive in their own league. After the
2017–18 season, Shanahan decided not to renew Lamoriello's contract as general manager, sticking to his original plan to have a fixed term on his time in the position before he transitioned into an advisory role. Dubas and his co-assistant general manager Hunter were considered top candidates for the position. Shortly after Dubas was named general manager, both Hunter and Lamoriello left the organization. One of Dubas' first tasks in the new position was the
2018 NHL entry draft. He traded the team's first-round selection at 25th overall to the
St. Louis Blues in exchange for their pick at 29th overall and an additional draft pick at 76th overall. The Maple Leafs drafted Swedish defenceman
Rasmus Sandin who played in the OHL for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Dubas' former team. In his
first season as general manager, the Maple Leafs fell to the
Boston Bruins in the first round, losing in seven games. During the season, Dubas and the team engaged in a well-publicized contract dispute with restricted free agent forward
William Nylander, which lasted two months into the season. Nylander and the team eventually agreed to a six-year contract, just minutes before the deadline for teams to reach agreements with restricted free agents. He also re-signed star centre
Auston Matthews to a five-year contract extension. Notable moves in the
2019–20 season, his second in the position, included trading
Nazem Kadri to the
Colorado Avalanche in exchange for
Tyson Barrie and
Alexander Kerfoot, clearing
Nikita Zaitsev's and
Patrick Marleau's contracts in separate deals, and re-signing
Mitch Marner to a six-year contract after another contract dispute which lasted through the summer and into the opening day of training camp. He also fired head coach
Mike Babcock after a poor start to the season, promoting Marlies head coach Keefe, who he had previously worked with on the Greyhounds and Marlies, to replace Babcock. However, during his second season, the team fell in the qualifying round at the hands of the
Columbus Blue Jackets and failed to make the playoffs. Off the ice, Dubas hired
Hayley Wickenheiser to serve as assistant director of player development. When hiring scouts, Dubas introduced a system of blinded reviews, where scouting reports by potential hires were submitted anonymously, to remove
bias from the process. One of the highest scorers during this stage was
Noelle Needham, who was hired as an amateur scout to cover the Midwest region of the United States. Dubas has expressed a belief that increasing the diversity of the Maple Leafs staff will result in improved performance, saying "Research shows the more diverse your organization, the better your decision-making and the better your operation in general. If you're only hiring white males – and I'm saying that as a white male – you're probably leaving a lot of good people, in terms of where your organization can go and how it can think and how it can evolve and develop." In December 2019, when
Ilya Mikheyev suffered a laceration on his wrist and was removed from an away game with the
New Jersey Devils and had to undergo surgery at
University Hospital in
Newark, Dubas and assistant athletic trainer Jon Geller cleared their schedules so Mikheyev would have familiar people around in the three days between his surgery and flying back to Toronto. With his contract expiring, Dubas departed the Maple Leafs after the team's elimination from the
2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Pittsburgh Penguins Dubas was hired as president of hockey operations for the
Pittsburgh Penguins on June 1, 2023, replacing
Brian Burke, and subsequently assuming the role of interim general manager. Dubas then promoted himself to permanent general manager on August 3, officially replacing
Ron Hextall. On April 10, 2025, he was named general manager of the
Canada men's national team for the
2025 World Championship.
Management style During his time with the Greyhounds in the OHL, Dubas believed that data could provide a way for smaller teams to close the gap with the league's traditional powerhouse programs. ==Personal life==