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My thoughts on Dubas' thoughts |
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Recently Kyle Dubas sat down with The Athletic and discussed the trade deadline and beyond. Here are some of his quotes and some of my thoughts
On year one being in charge of the Penguins:
“Overall, I’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve enjoyed the city, I’ve really enjoyed the organization,’’ Dubas began during our sitdown interview Monday after Day 1 of the NHL GMs meetings. “I knew going into it, I knew what I was signing up for. That last summer we were going to try to give it a jolt, the team having come off missing the playoffs the previous year with an aging roster, to see if we can give it a jolt and we tried to do that.
“But also we had to keep an open mind about where we were going to have to go in the future and my major focus was going to be in the long run,’’ added Dubas.
Sounds like the idea here was to give it an honest go in 2023-24 with the acquisition of Erik Karlsson and see if the team could rebound. The Karlsson trade helped get rid of dead weight and bring in a solid player in Karlsson. Unfortunately, the other cap space was used poorly and left the team as top heavy as the 2013-14ish era. This year was the year to give the short term focus one more crack at it. Sounds like the retool has commenced.
On Jake Guentzel trade:
“Yeah, and I wasn’t there the whole time with him, but I could feel internally the disappointment in seeing Jake walk out the door,’’ Dubas said. “And I understand that. He was a key member of the last Stanley Cup the team won, as a younger player coming up with the group. He’s a great, character person, everyone knows he’s a tremendous competitor.
“It’s tough when you have to make those decisions,’’ added Dubas. “But you have to always do what you believe is best for the long term of the organization and my sights were set on giving the team as long as possible to assert itself more in the race. The other part was getting back a roster player (Michael Bunting) that could help us as well in addition to the future assets.’’
With the focal point being more long term and how this season has gone it probably was never likely for Guentzel being given a proper offer to stay in Pittsburgh. Given Dubas’ affinity for Michael Bunting it made moving him to Carolina a lot easier. Bunting is not a one to one replacement, but is an effective NHL player. I remain skeptical of the prospect pool they netted in the trade and would love to be proven wrong about it.
On Sidney Crosby
“I think you’d be remiss not to seek his opinion and how he’s feeling,’’ Dubas said. “Obviously he’s done so much for the city of Pittsburgh and for the Penguins. … I want his opinion, I value his opinion.
“We may not always agree and I might have to do things in the short run he disagrees with.’’
I respect the last part. Sid’s opinion at this stage should be valued and I too would seek it out. Some of the hard decisions that need to be made might not jive with Crosby’s vision and by having these conversations you can bridge the gap and lower any potential animosity or tension which would impede him signing his next contract. Speaking of…
“Sure, I think that will be a private discussion with Sid, myself and (agent) Pat Brisson once the season is over,’’ Dubas said.
“But I think everyone’s been pretty clear on where they stand on the fact everyone would like to see him end his career in Pittsburgh and it’s my intention that in those years that we’re back and definitively contending.’’
Penguins will not be looking for a full rebuild. This is the retool method and it can be a tricky one. It sounds like part of the sales pitch will be that the Penguins will not be bottoming out while Crosby is here. Whether they can avoid that or not remains to be seen. They’ll need some of their prospects to hit in order for this to happen. I feel pretty good about Brayden Yager. He’s going to need some help from other prospects, though.
“It’s trying to find our own group of younger players who can come in and support the team, you never know how long that’s going to take,’’ Dubas said of the re-tool in the next few years. “And it’s never certain. Any maneuvers we can take, we want to give ourselves the assets to be able to get into those conversations this summer for good, young players who come available in trades or younger players in free agency.
“That’s our intention at this stage.’’
So the younger players in free agency line is an interesting one. By default there are no younger players in UFA. Could we be hinting at an RFA offer sheet? I’ll believe it when I see it, but I see no other way to interpret that question unless Dubas thinks 27 year olds are young, but I suppose compared to this roster they are.
The coaching change some are looking for just isn’t happening.
“I think if you go down that path that maybe the public wants you to go down (making a coaching change), then you’re back in the market of trying to find Mike Sullivan,’’ Dubas said. “To me, it’s not something… it would probably have to be a mutual thing where he felt that, and I felt that way, and I don’t feel that way at all right now.’’
I’m not very interested in the Toronto drama as it pertains to Dubas, but here is why he doesn’t address it and I respect the reasoning
“I think it’s more that I just simply don’t want to create any waves in my wake because they impact a lot of people who I care about and loved working with (in the Leafs organization) — and I want to see them have success,’’ Dubas said.
“Unloading my personal feelings is what a lot of people want — and it may make me feel good in the short run — but it’s not of any benefit to the Pittsburgh Penguins or the dozens of players and staff in Toronto who I want to see have success.’’
Overall, this upcoming summer is going to be a very important tone setter in how the Penguins will be able to navigate a re-tool on the fly. It is a difficult thing given the kind of roster they have and where the key players are in their age. It will take creativity and boldness. It will also take offensive skill sets. Dubas will need to shed the defense first forward mentality. We’ll see.
Thanks for reading!
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