Rumor: Dubas has told other teams "everyone is available, except 87."”

Gaylord Q Tinkledink

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Apr 29, 2018
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A retained Malkin would be a very tempting add for lots of teams.

The playoff pedigree is tremendous!
I just meant I can't see them actually getting dealt and breaking up the trio.

Malkin 100% would be wanted. Letang a decent amount, if they retained, then he'd be gone, too
 

Barsky

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Jun 22, 2010
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I don't think he is. Look at how much cap San Jose had to facilitate Pittsburgh dumping to move him after a Norris level season. He isn't having a Norris type season the last two years.

The list of teams he will go to won't be very big because he has a NMC. Based on what we know about him, he will only want to go to a contender, or to a team geographically close to Ottawa. His wife is from Ottawa, and they still apparently still live here outside of the obvious time Karlsson has to be in Pittsburgh. His list of teams will be limited because of that.

Montreal seems like the best match to me because they are close to Ottawa, they have bad contracts to offset Karlsson, and they need to start thinking about adding players to take the next step. They have both Anderson and Gallagher as bad contracts. Anderson+PIT 2nd for Karlsson (4.5M Retained). Pittsburgh can buyout Anderson next year. It saves them a lot of real cash and it gives them a lot of cap to work with when it comes to taking bad contracts that are paired with assets.

Looking at Ottawa, I don't think they are a fit. The only way I could see it happening is if they flame out this year and need something to appease the season ticket base, who still might get excited about the idea of seeing Karlsson as a Senator again. Otherwise, it doesn't fit the team build at all.
They only kept 1.5 mil and though I would love to see him in Ottawa again, you're right, the puck movers shoot left in Ottawa. I would not like to see him in a Habs jersey and though you make a reasonable argument for it, I just can't see Hughes doing it. Maybe he'll sign here to retire for cheap, once he's done as a Pen, but I won't hold my breath
 

GKJ

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Isnt that why he said he left Toronto? Too much stress over not having the control he wanted? So he goes to a new team, assumed president AND GM role.. but still has no power? Seems like and he decided to take a job that was even more "stressful".
Something like that. I think he'd still be there if it wasn't for seeming innocuously non-committal about continuing. Now he's in a place where he can't even fire the coach, and he hasn't hired his own GM like he was going to do.
 
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SteveCangialosi123

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Dubas really has fooled so many people. He’s made a killing doing very little in terms of success

Hiring Keefe was a huge mistake. The leafs, if they had a coach that taught a better defensive system and held players accountable, the leafs would have had so much more success
Keefe’s defensive system has been very good in NJ. Don’t see much evidence that he was holding that group in Toronto back. It’s not as though they had much talent on the back end in his time there.
 

CapspaceKiller

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Aug 10, 2020
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This is what happens when you don't know what you're doing Dubas.

Didn't know what you were doing in Toronto and now doing more of the same with the Pens.

The old guys won't want to waive...idiot.
 
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Baksfamous112

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Jul 21, 2016
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True Dubas hasn't been good so far but he will ultimately be judged by how the rebuild goes. He's in year two of a seven year contract.
He’s been given a very bad team with very little to work with in terms of assets and prospects. He hasn’t been « wow » but it’s too early to judge. We know a rebuild is incoming and he need to get at it asap.
 

HockeyVirus

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Nov 15, 2020
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True Dubas hasn't been good so far but he will ultimately be judged by how the rebuild goes. He's in year two of a seven year contract.

FWIW, my read on Dubas was always he would do best as a building GM but is not good at being the GM to put a team over the top. He has obviously failed twice now in his young career at that, but once he had his supporting cast in he seemed to be pretty good at drafting with the picks he actually kept.

I think Dubas will make the right draft picks esp with Wes there. Eventually, they will be ready to take the step to a playoff team / contender and my guess is at that point he either needs to step back and hire a GM who is good at that or be fired.
 

frightenedinmatenum2

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Sep 30, 2023
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They only kept 1.5 mil and though I would love to see him in Ottawa again, you're right, the puck movers shoot left in Ottawa. I would not like to see him in a Habs jersey and though you make a reasonable argument for it, I just can't see Hughes doing it. Maybe he'll sign here to retire for cheap, once he's done as a Pen, but I won't hold my breath

They only kept 1.5M, but instead of retaining they facilitated a substantial amount of cap dumped from Pittsburgh. Petry, Granlund, Rutta, an DeSmith were all moving parts in the trade.

The only way I can see the Sens trading for Karlsson is if we crash and burn, and Brady leaves. At that point, something like Karlsson for Norris makes sense for both sides if there is no market for Karlsson, because Norris fits better with a rebuild in Pittsburgh, and Norris being overpaid subsidizes Karlsson being unmoveable.

Chabot for Karlsson was a popular suggestion last year, but since adding Jensen, Chabot has been much better.

I simply don't see Karlsson to Ottawa as a fit outside of some really crazy circumstances.
 
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Tie Domi Esquire

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FWIW, my read on Dubas was always he would do best as a building GM but is not good at being the GM to put a team over the top. He has obviously failed twice now in his young career at that, but once he had his supporting cast in he seemed to be pretty good at drafting with the picks he actually kept.

I think Dubas will make the right draft picks esp with Wes there. Eventually, they will be ready to take the step to a playoff team / contender and my guess is at that point he either needs to step back and hire a GM who is good at that or be fired.

What has he ever built?
 

Barsky

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Jun 22, 2010
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They only kept 1.5M, but instead of retaining they facilitated a substantial amount of cap dumped from Pittsburgh. Petry, Granlund, Rutta, an DeSmith were all moving parts in the trade.

The only way I can see the Sens trading for Karlsson is if we crash and burn, and Brady leaves. At that point, something like Karlsson for Norris makes sense for both sides if there is no market for Karlsson, because Norris fits better with a rebuild in Pittsburgh, and Norris being overpaid subsidizes Karlsson being unmoveable.

Chabot for Karlsson was a popular suggestion last year, but since adding Jensen, Chabot has been much better.

I simply don't see Karlsson to Ottawa as a fit outside of some really crazy circumstances.
I somewhat agree, and ya Norris will never be an 8mil player and should be traded the second it can be done with him as a positive asset, if that ever actually happens. So in that case a Karl for Norris trade makes some sense, but ya, outside of my homer nostalgia, Karl isn't really a fit
 

666

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Jun 27, 2005
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The Pen have a long road ahead of them. It feels a bit like Chicago 5 or 6 years ago but the Pens guys are even older.
 
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Pancakes

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Dubas saying this doesn't really mean a whole lot. Everyone on the team worth acquiring has a NMC, so guys like Geno or Letang aren't going anywhere unless they want to.
 

eco's bones

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Jul 21, 2005
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`You look at in perspective. The Pens won 3 cups with Crosby. My Rangers have won one Cup in the 52 years I've followed them. A lot of teams never ever win. Be grateful for getting what you got even if you got only one. So the Pens win 3 cups after the Crosby draft and it buys some of these guys loyalty from the franchise and as the team gets older and older and to keep hopes alive and the team competitive you mortgage a lot of young guys and draft picks.....though a team that's towards the top of the standings picks later in rounds anyways and also having a very good team and keeping it together costs more in cap numbers and maybe you give guys an extra year or three past their sell by dates. Most teams have a contract or two or three like that. None of that is unusual.....it's kind of the cycle of life. You can get mad at some of the players.....you can get mad at the coaches but the real problem is your best players are too old and you don't have all that much in terms of developing players or prospects. It's kind of back to the drawing board to try to rebuild it all again. No one stays on top forever.
 
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