TORONTO – Change was on the mind, but Brendan Shanahan wasnt looking explicitly for a new assistant general manager. [url=http:/

TORONTO – Change was on the mind, but Brendan Shanahan wasnt looking explicitly for a new assistant general manager. Vapormax Plus Ale . 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.” Vapormax Flyknit 3 Suomi . -- Stanley Johnson scored all 18 of his points in the second half, T. Nike Vapormax Tukku . The time off didnt slow them down. Tyler Zeller scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 14 points and the Cavaliers pushed their winning streak to five games Tuesday night with a 114-85 victory over the skidding Philadelphia 76ers. http://www.vapormaxsuomi.com/vapormax-flyknit-3-ale.html . -- Terrelle Pryor took the opening snap of the game, put the ball in Darren McFaddens belly and saw LaMarr Woodley crash down.RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dunk City is long gone. Make way for the next bunch of bracket busters from the little-known Atlantic Sun Conference: Mercer. The 8,300-student school from Macon, Ga., delivered the biggest shocker in an already topsy-turvy NCAA tournament on Friday, going into Dukes backyard and knocking off the No. 3 seed Blue Devils 78-71. "This," Atlantic Sun player of the year Langston Hall said, "is what March Madness is all about." The 14th-seeded Bears -- with a starting lineup of five seniors -- came back from five points down in the last 4:52 as Dukes offence collapsed. They sent home one of the true blue-blood programs, coached by Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski and starring freshman Jabari Parker, sure to be one of the top NBA picks this year. Mercer is coached by former Oklahoma Baptist player Bob Hoffman, who has banged around the coaching ranks from womens teams to the American Basketball Association to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Developmental League. Next up: 11th-seeded Tennessee, which upset sixth-seeded Massachusetts 86-67, on Sunday in the third round. Jakob Gollon scored 20 points and Daniel Coursey scored 17, helping the Bears overcome a season-high 15 3-pointers from Duke. Mercer qualified for its first NCAA tournament since 1985 by winning the Atlantic Sun conference championship over Florida Gulf Coast, nicknamed "Dunk City" for the teams above-the-rim offence. A year earlier, the Bears lost that game and watched FGCU advance to the Sweet 16. "When they were going on their run, we were sitting at home thinking, Man, that could have been us," Anthony White Jr. said. Now it is. Mercer scored 11 straight points during the late 20-5 run that clinched the biggest victory in school history and sent the Blue Devils to their second first-game exit in three years. Quinn Cook scored 23 points and Rasheed Sulaimon added 20 for Duke. But their defence -- an uncharacteristic weakness all season -- did them in again while all those Mercer seniors simply got any shot they wanted. The Bears shot 56 per cent -- 58 per cent in the second half. "Theyre a team thats been together a long time," Duke forward Rodney Hood said. "They sliced us up. Theres no other way to put it." Duke weent up 63-58 with 4:52 left after Parker converted a three-point play and Tyler Thornton hit three free throws. Vapormax 2020. The Blue Devils didnt score again until the final minute. "I dont know if we panicked," senior Andre Dawkins said, "but we didnt do the things we needed to do." Like score. Or defend. Coursey countered by rattling in a jumper in the lane, and after two empty possessions for Duke, some slick ball rotation by Mercer set up Whites open 3 that tied it at 63. Hood picked up his fourth foul on the Bears next possession and Gollon hit two free throws to put Mercer ahead for good. By that point, Duke could do nothing right. Parker missed a 3-pointer in traffic before Hood was called for walking, leading White to give a fist-pump to those noisy Mercer fans who stood all day. The Bears hit 12 of 14 free throws in the final 2 minutes to seal it. After the buzzer sounded, the Bears players formed a circle on the sideline and danced. In the middle was guard Kevin Canevari, a Charlotte native whos one of the seven seniors on the roster. "We were confident all week," Canevari said. "We dont really look at it like were an underdog in this tournament. Obviously, everyones a great team, theres already been so many upsets." White finished with 13 points, and A-Sun player of the year Langston Hall and Ike Nwamu added 11 apiece for Mercer. Watching Florida Gulf Coast upset Georgetown and San Diego State last year gave the Bears an off-seasons worth of fuel. Hoffman said his players "worked harder than any team in the country individually to get a chance to get back to the same moment." Mercer has 1,176 wins as a program -- only 191 more than Krzyzewski has all by himself. Parker, one of a long list of high school All-Americans on Coach Ks roster, finished what might have been his final college game with 14 points. Hood -- a redshirt sophomore who also could be headed to the pros -- had just six points. Duke has been to 11 Final Fours and has four national titles under Krzyzewski, but his Blue Devils have lost their first tournament game five times. Parker said he doesnt know what his future plans are. Hood said he also was undecided because "I thought Id be playing after today." ' ' '