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Around the League - 2022-23 Season Edition

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Hopefully they change their mind (but doubt it). Draft lists probably havent even been finalize yet and the leafs only have a few picks.
 
www.thestar.com

Opinion | The boy wonders: Does Kyle Dubas know what he’s getting into with the Penguins?

Pittsburgh has an old, tired group and the cupboards are bare.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

In Pittsburgh, the team essentially has no top young prospects. The Penguins haven’t had a top-20 pick in a decade. When they had the No. 8 and No. 22 picks in 2013, the Penguins screwed up both, taking Derrick Pouliot and Olli Maatta, passing on the likes of Jacob Trouba, Filip Forsberg, Tom Wilson and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Pittsburgh’s cupboard is bare. The Penguins have the No. 14 pick next month in the draft, and no second-rounder. That pick was dealt to Nashville for veteran Mikael Granlund, one of the last of the pointless moves made by the Brian Burke/Ron Hextall regime.

The good news is that Crosby, Malkin and Letang are all still very good players, if no longer what they once were. Crosby was 16th in league scoring this season, while Malkin was 26th. Jake Guentzel, meanwhile, had 36 goals, Rickard Rakell had 27 and Jason Zucker scored 26. Still, the team missed the Stanley Cup playoffs in the final week because it couldn’t beat awful Chicago or horrible Columbus.

As Burke and Hextall could tell Dubas, the new owners of the Penguins aren’t interested in a teardown or a rebuild. They want whoever is running the team to take another run at a Cup, as unrealistic as that might be to everyone outside of Pittsburgh. That probably means more moves like the Granlund deal, and no possibility of moving one of the stars for some badly needed futures.

Dubas has no experience with this type of situation. With the Leafs, he had to take a young group, augment it with other players, and try to get the team to a level of success it hadn’t experienced in 20 years. Outside of the regular season, he failed.

Obviously the Penguins saw in that failure glimpses of brilliance that convinced them Dubas was the best choice to take over their hockey department. His age, expertise in analytics and preference for a puck-possession style of hockey may have been what made the Penguins believe he is their future.

He has already won over the local media, which went gaga over his hiring on Thursday, calling him “one of hockey’s most famous people” and a “genius.” Perhaps those qualities were obscured somewhat in Toronto while his teams were losing in the first round six years in a row.

It’s interesting that the common element between Toronto and Pittsburgh is that, in both places, Dubas didn’t get to pick his own coach but instead inherited an experienced head coach with a record of championships. In Toronto, that was Mike Babcock. In Pittsburgh, it’s Mike Sullivan.

We know Babcock and Dubas weren’t on the same page, and Dubas won that MLSE political battle. Sullivan, however, is a more formidable personality on the Pittsburgh scene, and he is extremely well-connected inside the organization and throughout the sport.

Maybe he and Dubas will see eye to eye, although this perception that they embrace exactly the same style of hockey may require further analysis. If the team stumbles next season, Sullivan shouldn’t count on more support than Babcock got. At least Sheldon Keefe isn’t waiting in the wings. Not yet, anyway.

Most people would agree Dubas did good work in Toronto. But the job ahead in Pittsburgh looks to be much more complex and difficult, even if the glare of the spotlight is less. As well, Dubas no longer has a buffer between himself and ownership like he did in Toronto with Brendan Shanahan.

Dubas must meet the expectations of immediate success set down by the Fenway Group and simultaneously start restocking the team’s depth chart with talented young players. Plus, he may have to find a goalie, never his strong suit in Toronto.

Maybe he is a genius. In Pittsburgh, he’s going to have to be.
 
tmlms13 said:
Sid and Geno both played 82 games last year. Like they couldn't make the playoffs with their stars having their best years in a long time.

it's not going to be pretty in Pitt this year let alone the next 5
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Dubie said he will focus on defence and goaltending.

TLDR: he will get 3rd and 4th pairing dried up defencemen and a backup goalie from the Soo to help Sid and Gino out.
 
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tmlms13 said:
Sid and Geno both played 82 games last year. Like they couldn't make the playoffs with their stars having their best years in a long time.

it's not going to be pretty in Pitt this year let alone the next 5
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Weird move for him to go to Pittsburgh, if the idea is to compete now. There were far better landing spots for him. Bad move.
 
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Antropovsky said:
I thought he was president... Shouldn't he let the GM deal with roster moves?
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According to Freidman's 32 Thoughts:

This has been a superb spring for NHL conspiracy theories. The latest: that this is what Kyle Dubas, Brendan Shanahan, Brad Treliving, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs wanted for months. Dubas made the decision on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning to accept the Penguins job, and there were immediate changes in the organization as the transition began. He made it clear that he will keep the GM job into July, but make no mistake, he will not be ceding the role even if someone else gets the title. Dubas could have taken a slight step back, as there were several teams who reached out about joining them in advisory positions — either short-term or with the idea of an eventual bigger position. But he dove into deep waters. The most interesting reaction to his move is how many people thought it was very “personal,” how other execs think he is driven to immediately prove Toronto made a mistake. 
 
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The good news is that Crosby, Malkin and Letang are all still very good players, if no longer what they once were. Crosby was 16th in league scoring this season, while Malkin was 26th. Jake Guentzel, meanwhile, had 36 goals, Rickard Rakell had 27 and Jason Zucker scored 26. Still, the team missed the Stanley Cup playoffs in the final week because it couldn’t beat awful Chicago or horrible Columbus.
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I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before. The 2023-24 Penguins are going to be the 2005-06 Toronto Maple Leafs. They're going to make some big veteran signing splashes in the off-season that will make them the toast of hockey media everywhere. They've got $20M in cap space and Dubas is going to be like a kid in a candy store. Names to watch are Patrick Kane, Ryan O'Reilly, Klingberg, maybe Tarasenko, maybe Pacioretty, definitely some former Leafs.
 
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Fogelhund said:
Weird move for him to go to Pittsburgh, if the idea is to compete now. There were far better landing spots for him. Bad move.
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By the tone of your post it appears as if you're surprised Dubas would make a bad move.

While I'm sitting here wondering how long us fans here at Leaf Nation should wait before we should realistically expect Matt Murray to end in Pittsburgh as Dubas solution to address their goaltending. :wg:

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Leafs May Part Ways with Murray in the Off-Season​

According to Sportsnet's Luke Fox, the Leafs might consider cutting ties with Matt Murray during the off-season, be it through a trade or a buyout.

This will be the second time the Leafs need to dump a goaltender, as Kyle Dubas' free agent signing Petr Mrazek was another terrible decision.

Murray could be traded or even be bought out at a reasonable price.

The Leafs had Petr Mrazek on their roster for just one season before trading down in the draft and shipping him off to Chicago. Murray could potentially face a similar fate, especially given the substantial pay increase Ilya Samsonov is anticipated to receive.

The real question is, will Kyle Dubas be able to fix his foolish offseason move?
 
3blizzard4 said:
Reading Pits forum, they are damn happy they got Dubie. The big fish they call him.
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Some people feel the same way on the Leafs forum about Treliving.

en.wikipedia.org

List of Calgary Flames seasons - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

...

I don't influence who gets hired where, I can just be happy or happier that there is always next season.

I just wonder if the GM's of both teams look at their coaches and give a thumbs up?
 
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Isn't this what we need to see written about Matthews ... while he's still with the Leafs?

I suppose, I put too much on marner, he was top 4 in his draft but he wasn't 1st. or 2nd. overall.
His contract is the issue when it comes to perception. He's making more than Eichel, so some (me included) might think these comments should be written about him (marner). We shouldn't be reading where the dynamic dual once again fail to perform (real accomplishments not pretend "expected" accomplishments) in a playoffs series.

www.tsn.ca

Jack Eichel making most of 1st postseason as Golden Knights prepare for Stanley Cup Final | TSN

Jack Eichel didn't know what to expect when the NHL playoffs began in April.
www.tsn.ca www.tsn.ca

Need a change, and realistically the easiest and most impactful change is behind the bench. We have to believe the capability and talent they show in the regular season is still there in the post-season. While the players are always the ones who accomplish, if coaching didn't matter they would not have several of them on every team.

If the same coach is run out there this year, without major changes to the roster ... there's always next year.
 
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ULF_55 said:
Sniff test

Realistically, how much money is Babcock owed in the last month of his contract?

Is Shanahan really that petty and manipulative and controlling that he'd block Babcock from getting a new job right now?
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I don’t think the Leafs are blocking, I’m pretty sure it’s Babcock who would like the contract to run out. I remember reading something months ago where it was stated that Babcock will not do anything before the end of his contract with the leafs. Might just be an old school thing and honouring the contract.

Shanny and MLSE let Kyle go, so I’m sure they would have done the same for Mike should he have wanted that.
 
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francis246 said:
I don’t think the Leafs are blocking, I’m pretty sure it’s Babcock who would like the contract to run out. I remember reading something months ago where it was stated that Babcock will not do anything before the end of his contract with the leafs. Might just be an old school thing and honouring the contract.

Shanny and MLSE let Kyle go, so I’m sure they would have done the same for Mike should he have wanted that.
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Sounds unreasonable and anal.

Not the type of person I'd want in charge of developing players.
 
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