CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Kyle Dubas spoke for nearly 45 minutes about his Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
“This season was a rollercoaster,” the president of hockey operations/general manager said.
Some of the topics covered:
• Dubas praised the coaching staff and said the Penguins’ issues were his fault but also stopped short of saying the entire coaching staff will be retained. Rather, Dubas said he will discuss the staff with head coach Mike Sullivan before any final changes are made.
• Dubas said his view on the Penguins’ direction didn’t change simply because they went on a late-season hot streak, explaining that the lows were every bit as powerful as the highs, “which is how you end up in the middle, which isn’t where we want to be.”
• Dubas said the Penguins intend on following the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers as teams that quickly rebuilt back into contention.
• Dubas confirmed he won’t be hiring a general manager but insteead will retain the general manager title along with president of hockey operations for the foreseeable future.
• Dubas said he will talk about a contract extension with Sidney Crosby and his agent, Pat Brisson, but also said he preferred to keep that information private for now.
• Defenseman Kris Letang has been dealing with some injuries and, Dubas said, is consulting with physicians for a “second opinion.”
• Dubas didn’t seem thrilled with how Penguins players handled the Jake Guentzel trade. They lost seven of eight games in a stretch before and after he was traded.
“If we had shaken the doldrums a little bit earlier, we may have been in a different position,” he said.
Dubas also offered some rather biting criticism on a key free-agent pickup who bombed in his first season with the Penguins.
Ryan Graves, quite simply, was not the player the Penguins were expecting.
“With Ryan, there’s no dancing around it,” Dubas said. “He was a very good player in Colorado and New Jersey. He came in (and struggled) from the beginning. I thought, ‘It happens.’ Did I expect it to go on the whole year? No. Part of that is on us as an organization, but it’s as much on Ryan to push and find his way through the summer. It’s a massive summer for him. His strength, which will allow him to be more physical and make stops in the defensive zone. His mobility. He’s going to have to push and really work on that. We have to arm him with the path to get there, and he has to execute it relentlessly, and if he can do that, he will get back to being the player he was when we signed him.”
Dubas was playful when speaking about his other big acquisition last summer, future Hall of Fame defenseman Erik Karlsson. The 33-year-old Karlsson finished the season with 11 goals and 56 points. He wasn’t so much a liability as he was underwhelming for most of the season.
Dubas has no regrets about that trade but would like to see Karlsson play at a higher level next season. He’s hopeful that Karlsson’s late-season push is a sign of things to come.
“I thought, at the end of the year, he showed exactly why we acquired Erik Karlsson,” Dubas said. “He skated, took charge, shot the puck rather than trying to slap pass it through five people every time — which he and I had many discussions about. He’s going to be in his mid-30s, so it’s a massive summer to maintain his level and improve it and start next year rolling. I think he’s going to play at a high level for a long time.”
Reilly Smith is another player who didn’t live up to his billing after being acquired from Vegas. He managed only 13 goals in 76 games with the Penguins.
Dubas liked how Smith started the season but was not blind to his lack of production.
“From mid-November on, I thought (Rickard) Rakell was hurt and (Evgeni) Malkin wasn’t playing as well,” Dubas said. “I think that affected Reilly. Then (Smith) got hurt.”
Still, Dubas expects a “bounce-back” year from Smith.
Dubas, while not always thrilled with some of the players he acquired last season, did come to Tristan Jarry’s defense.
The goaltender last started a game on March 22 against Dallas. Dubas was quick to explain that Jarry’s bout with an illness played a role during the following week and said that the organization hasn’t lost confidence in him.
Also, Dubas shed some light on a conversation he had with Alex Nedeljkovic, the backup goaltender who nearly guided the Penguins to the postseason during his late-season surge. Dubas mentioned to Nedeljkovic that Joel Blomqvist, the talented, young starting goaltender in Wilkes-Barre, is close to being NHL-ready. Dubas said he will be watching to see how Blomqvist performs in the American Hockey League playoffs.
“We have a situation where we have a young goaltender who is pushing,” Dubas said.
Dubas was nothing if not accountable during his meeting with the media.
“It’s my job to have the right people on our staff to get us where we want to go,” he said.
And where is that?
Dubas was asked if making the postseason next spring is a priority. He didn’t say yes or no.
Rather, he explained that he doesn’t want the Penguins in a position like they’ve been in during the past two seasons, when they’ve needed help — and didn’t get it — to simply make the playoffs. He said that teams can get hot like the Penguins did at the end of the season, but that this doesn’t take away the reality that they were “a lottery team” from January through late March.
He wants the Penguins to be long-term contenders and made it very clear that an increase in youth and speed is the best way to get there.
But don’t expect a massive rebuild. There isn’t one coming.
Not as long as No. 87 is still around.
“I think he should finish his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Dubas said.
(Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins)
