CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — When Kyle Dubas took over as the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations, I’m not sure he had a plan.
In his defense, he really couldn’t have. He was inheriting a fabled but old team, one that had barely missed the playoffs and possessed no prospects to speak of. The NHL Draft was a mere three weeks away when he took over the post. Dubas received plenty of wealth and power when he assumed control of the Penguins, but it was going to take him some time before a true path became clear.
Complete rebuild? Reload? Retool? None of the above? All of the above?
I think we now know what the plan is.
Dubas surely has some control freak in him because essentially every person in his shoes does. Interesting enough, though, I truly think he’s letting his team dictate his next move.
Last season, the Penguins weren’t very good. They especially struggled early in the season. While meeting with the media at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Monday afternoon, Dubas said he concluded fairly early into the season that his Penguins were not a Stanley Cup contender.
Thus, a couple of months later, Jake Guentzel was dealt. To Dubas’ credit, that deal now looks like a home run. Losing Guentzel was difficult, of course, but look at what the Penguins received in return:
• Michael Bunting, who has been a wonderful fit on the second line with Evgeni Malkin.
• Cruz Lucius, Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen, all prospects who figure reach the NHL. Ponomarev and Koivunen are already close, and while their ceilings might not be sky-high, there is every reason to believe both will become solid NHL players.
• Harrison Brunicke, selected with the second-round pick the Penguins acquired from Carolina, who might be the most important name of all. He’s only 18 and after a stunning training camp, the Penguins made the tough choice to send him back to the Western Hockey League. In a year or two, however, he’s going to be in the NHL and looks like a very impactful defenseman.
I could envision a similar story taking place this season. If the Penguins struggle in the first half and Dubas doesn’t like what he sees, I imagine he will sell off some more pending free agents. It’s the easiest way to enhance an organization’s system and Dubas, upon looking over the job, astutely realized the Penguins’ system was completely barren of talent. He’s quickly working on that, to his credit.
But if the Penguins exceed expectations? I sincerely think he will help them get better before the deadline, if only with a minor deal or two.
Dubas spent the first 15 minutes of his press conference speaking of the Penguins’ franchise, what an honor it is to work for them and what he believes the organization stands for. He said all the right things. But he didn’t mention one thing: The Penguins, in their essence, are about star power. Mario Lemieux. Jaromir Jagr. Sidney Crosby. Evgeni Malkin. Ron Francis. Paul Coffey. Kevin Stevens. Kris Letang.
We could play this game all day. It’s a franchise of stars and the stars have power. They also still want to win, badly. As best I can tell, there is a general agreement between Dubas and the big guys: “I’ll do right by you if you guys have a chance to win.”
Thus the Penguins aren’t really rebuilding. They’re retooling on the fly. Ron Hextall basically tried the same approach but failed.
Maybe Dubas will be different.
Some of the Penguins’ prized young players made the roster on Monday and will likely be in the lineup against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Dubas is trying to surround Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson with as much talent as possible.
On Wednesday, 20-year-old Rutger McGroarty will presumably make his NHL debut. It doesn’t sound like the Penguins are expecting his time in Pittsburgh to be brief.
“If he wasn’t going to be in the lineup, then I wouldn’t want him to be around as a scratch,” Dubas said.
Jack St. Ivany is a solid young defenseman who looks to have a long NHL future. He’ll play on Wednesday. McGroarty looks like a power forward with considerable potential.
Brunicke looks like a future star. The Penguins are oozing with talent between the pipes. They have a significant amount of draft picks — including all of their first-round selections — in the next few drafts.
Talent — real talent — is on the away. It’s already starting to arrive.
On the other end of the spectrum, Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson can still play. They’re all playing at a high level, particularly Crosby. The goal is for more and more young talent to show up simultaneously to the Big Four still playing at a high level.
Is it ambitious? You bet.
Is it possible? Sure.
More than anything, Dubas now has a plan. The worst thing an executive in his position can do is operate without a clear idea of what is best for his franchise. Dubas probably is intrigued by the idea of a full rebuild — I’m positive he is — but he knows he can’t with Crosby on the roster. It just won’t work that way.
So Dubas is doing things the hard way.
He had a very, very good summer. Progress was made. We’re about to see how much. One way or the other, there’s a guideline for what to do next, based on how Dubas’ team performs. It’s unorthodox, but then so too is the Penguins’ franchise in so many ways. It’s a plan that suddenly makes a lot of sense.
The Penguins want to see improved performance from defenseman Ryan Graves this season. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
It’s no secret the Penguins were utterly displeased with Graves’ performance last season.
After signing a six-year deal with the Penguins, Graves’ play was generally dismal throughout his first season in Pittsburgh. Dubas was bluntly direct following last season, saying the Penguins needed the defenseman to be better in the 2024-25 campaign.
Graves has been shaky during the exhibition season but it appears he will begin the season on the third pairing beside St. Ivany.
“He’s a proud professional,” Dubas said. “He wants to come in and have a good season, and we’ll get going on Wednesday night and he’ll have more than enough opportunity to get moving in the right direction. He’s a wonderful kid, and he’s put the word in, so I’m optimistic that he will.”
Free agent-to-be
Marcus Pettersson, like Guentzel a year ago, is entering the final season of his contract and is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Pettersson isn’t a star like Guentzel, but he is a very dependable defenseman and one of the locker room’s most popular people.
Dubas was asked if a new contract could be on the horizon for the 28-year-old defenseman.
It doesn’t sound like it is. Not yet, anyway.
“With regards to the contract situations of all of our unrestricted free agents, I think the best course for us with where we are right now, we have to look at them all case-by-case and where we are at, and where we are going,” Dubas said. “I think the key is to protect all of our options throughout the year.”
Dubas did indicate, however, that Pettersson and Drew O’Connor are impending free agents he wouldn’t mind keeping around for years to come.
“He and Drew,” Dubas said, “I put in that case of treating a little bit differently.”
Rust, absent from practice for almost a week after absorbing a hit in a preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings, was placed on injured reserve on Monday. This was retroactive from six days ago, however, so Rust could very quickly be back in the lineup. Dubas said Rust is eligible to return to the lineup at any point.
Dubas didn’t sound especially concerned about Rust, explaining simply that Rust has a tendency to race back into the lineup, something that aggravated an injury last season.
“I would rather be more cautious with Rusty,” Dubas said. “If you don’t chain him down, he will play. It is day-to-day, in essence. But I want to be protective of it not developing into something far worse.”
Alex Nedeljkovic (lower-body injury) and Blake Lizotte (concussion) are also on injured reserve while Matt Nieto has been placed on long-term injured reserve. Ponomarev has been designated as injured non-roster player.
(Top photo of Kyle Dubas and Harrison Brunicke: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images)
