[Friedman] Pittsburgh hires Kyle Dubas as President of Hockey Operations

[Frank Drebin]

This has been a bizarre thread. Pens fans seem genuinely happy by the hire and a significant number of posters are mad that Pens fans are happy by the hire.

Because Dubas is an unlikeable, phony fella and posters, like myself, would be happy to see him fail.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Please, tell me what he's done that makes him so great?

I hope you follow him to Pittsburgh

I'm a leafs fan till I die.

What did he do to attain this level of credibility? He inherited all his key players in Toronto and they made the second round twice. Who are all these great players he added?

There have been many over the years. I think one of his first was finding Hyman for McKegg and then signing him to a steal 2.5 AAV deal. HIs first draft picks Liljegren and Sandin are coming along nicely and Sandin was even being called a top pairing dman after the trade by these main boards. He has lots of quality depth pieces coming up on ELC's who will be making their NHL debuts this year or establishing themselves as such. He found nice prospects like Knies, Niemela, Robertson, etc in 2nd and later rounds. Also not his fault that Amirov gets brain cancer a year after being drafted 15th OA (which was highway robbery as well in that trade).

He also lost a few firsts because he had to move Zaitsev monstrosity, got rid of Phaneuf for cheap, moved Marleau's last year of that contract, etc.

Overalll, I admit he made mistakes particularly early. But the GM at the end was polished and operating extremely intelligently. We trained a guy and then when he showed his potential fired him. Not even for performance reasons but for ego

 

[Nothingbutglass]

I'm a leafs fan till I die.



There have been many over the years. I think one of his first was finding Hyman for McKegg and then signing him to a steal 2.5 AAV deal. HIs first draft picks Liljegren and Sandin are coming along nicely and Sandin was even being called a top pairing dman after the trade by these main boards. He has lots of quality depth pieces coming up on ELC's who will be making their NHL debuts this year or establishing themselves as such. He found nice prospects like Knies, Niemela, Robertson, etc in 2nd and later rounds. Also not his fault that Amirov gets brain cancer a year after being drafted 15th OA (which was highway robbery as well in that trade).

He also lost a few firsts because he had to move Zaitsev monstrosity, got rid of Phaneuf for cheap, moved Marleau's last year of that contract, etc.

Overalll, I admit he made mistakes particularly early. But the GM at the end was polished and operating extremely intelligently. We trained a guy and then when he showed his potential fired him. Not even for performance reasons but for ego

Hyman and Sandin are long gone and Lijlegren was unplayable in the playoffs? Is that all the "good" stuff?

 

[AvroArrow]

I'm a leafs fan till I die.



There have been many over the years. I think one of his first was finding Hyman for McKegg and then signing him to a steal 2.5 AAV deal. HIs first draft picks Liljegren and Sandin are coming along nicely and Sandin was even being called a top pairing dman after the trade by these main boards. He has lots of quality depth pieces coming up on ELC's who will be making their NHL debuts this year or establishing themselves as such. He found nice prospects like Knies, Niemela, Robertson, etc in 2nd and later rounds. Also not his fault that Amirov gets brain cancer a year after being drafted 15th OA (which was highway robbery as well in that trade).

He also lost a few firsts because he had to move Zaitsev monstrosity, got rid of Phaneuf for cheap, moved Marleau's last year of that contract, etc.

Overalll, I admit he made mistakes particularly early. But the GM at the end was polished and operating extremely intelligently. We trained a guy and then when he showed his potential fired him. Not even for performance reasons but for ego

Imagine we just paid Hyman instead of Murray lmao. We decided Murray + Holl/Kerfoot > Hyman, essentially. The Sandin trade was a mistake, I get it we had a lot of LD but play the guy. I love Gio to death he's a warrior, but man the game has passed him he's way too slow. I'd much rather have Sandin for the next 5-10 years vs another year out of Gio.

Dubas made some really good moves, but some horrendous decisions as well.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I'm a leafs fan till I die.



There have been many over the years. I think one of his first was finding Hyman for McKegg and then signing him to a steal 2.5 AAV deal. HIs first draft picks Liljegren and Sandin are coming along nicely and Sandin was even being called a top pairing dman after the trade by these main boards. He has lots of quality depth pieces coming up on ELC's who will be making their NHL debuts this year or establishing themselves as such. He found nice prospects like Knies, Niemela, Robertson, etc in 2nd and later rounds. Also not his fault that Amirov gets brain cancer a year after being drafted 15th OA (which was highway robbery as well in that trade).

He also lost a few firsts because he had to move Zaitsev monstrosity, got rid of Phaneuf for cheap, moved Marleau's last year of that contract, etc.

Overalll, I admit he made mistakes particularly early. But the GM at the end was polished and operating extremely intelligently. We trained a guy and then when he showed his potential fired him. Not even for performance reasons but for ego

Who are these picks in later rounds?

 

[zoA]

Smart move by Pittsburgh. Dubas learned on the job in Toronto and by the end it sounded like he had figured things out. If you can believe his words, he was willing to trade one of the core four, which to me meant a lot. Along with that, he got more passionate as the years went on and developed a bit of aggression, which I view as a good thing. They’re gonna end up getting his prime years after Toronto suffered through his learning curve.

Not sure about POHO, but from my standpoint he has continued to improve and he’s earned some respect around the league.

Mean while, Shanahan wants to keep the core four and run it back with Keefe… we should have gotten rid of the entire three headed monster in Toronto.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Who are these picks in later rounds?

It's literally the same sentence as a I said it. I know I know, all the Leafs picks are busts so they aren't top but 99% of prospects drafted after round 1 show potential and take time to develop to show it.

Knies just showed it this playoff

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Lets not forget that Theo Epstein left the FSG in 2011. Current Red Sox boss is Chaim Bloom who has guided the Sox to 2 last place finishes in the last 3 years.

 

[Golden_Jet]

It's literally the same sentence as a I said it. I know I know, all the Leafs picks are busts so they aren't top but 99% of prospects drafted after round 1 show potential and take time to develop to show it.

Knies just showed it this playoff

I guess I meant after round 2, no one to speak of playing. Since you said round 2 or later.

 

[Canadian Finn]

Ya a really live-able city that’s has a great sports history. Ooo the humanity. Whatever will he do.

his wife used to teach in Hamilton, and made it known she didn't like this city.

Pittsburgh is the closest US city to Hamilton.

See the connection?

Ummm your Tears a way way to salty

tears of joy are even saltier than normal tears.

I agree!

You live in Hamilton....

whoa. you are quick.
that's the point junior.
his wife was a teacher here, in HAMILTON.
she openly let her feelings know about what she thought of Hamilton...

that's why it's awesome she's living in Pittsburgh.

(you catching up yet?)

 

[jcs0218]

How on Earth did Kyle Dubas manage to get this job?

What is it about him? Is he okay being a doormat and that is why he was an attractive target (this assumes Penguin ownership likes hiring puppets)?

He certainly wasn't a good GM in Toronto.

Grossly mismanaged the salary cap by paying 4 forwards half the allowable cap room. This left him resorting to bargain-bin players to fill the bottom half of the roster and the all-important goaltender position. Has a team ever won the Stanley Cup with a $10.0+ million dollar player on their team? Not many, if any at all. And Dubas had THREE such players. It would be one thing if those players were McDavid, MacKinnon, and Kucherov. Even that would be an excessive amount of money tied into a forward core. But at least that would be better than Matthews, Marner, and Tavares, none of who has proven to be impact playoff players.

Moving forward. he witnessed the same core of players failing for many years in a row, and refused to make any changes during the entire time. Normally in a business when you choose your core business strategy and that strategy fails, then you make adjustments to the core business strategy. You don't keep the same strategy for years and years when it is failing every single year. Dubas should have been fired from Toronto for his refusal to even consider making any changes.

Poor signings and trades for players such as Mrazek, Murray, etc., forced him to burn draft picks in order to fix his own mistakes. This is brutal in the current era of NHL hockey, where having your own drafted players on the roster is very important because they are salary-controlled and cost-controlled.

He hired his buddy Sheldon Keefe, who I think we can all agree is mediocre at best and subpar at worst. How was Sheldon Keefe at all qualified for the job that he was gifted by his friend Kyle Dubas?

The list of Dubas failure and mistakes goes on and on.

So how does such a person get a President of Hockey Operations job?

 

[Nothingbutglass]

his wife used to teach in Hamilton, and made it known she didn't like this city.

Pittsburgh is the closest US city to Hamilton.

See the connection?


tears of joy are even saltier than normal tears.

I agree!


whoa. you are quick.
that's the point junior.
his wife was a teacher here, in HAMILTON.
she openly let her feelings know about what she thought of Hamilton...

that's why it's awesome she's living in Pittsburgh.

(you catching up yet?)

how did you determine that Pitt was the closest US city to Hamilton?

 

[Gil Gunderson]

This has been a bizarre thread. Pens fans seem genuinely happy by the hire and a significant number of posters are mad that Pens fans are happy by the hire.

Pens fans don't really deserve happiness so I get it.

 

[Canadian Finn]

how did you determine that Pitt was the closest US city to Hamilton?

this isn't something that "I" determined, lol.

hf. never disappoint.

 

[Donnie740]

And where is Dave Nonis today? So if Dave, who didn't win anything with Toronto can still manage to get a high level management job in the NHL, why can't Dubas?

Why does Dubas get all of your blame for the Leafs being inept, yet Shanny takes none of it? Or the fact that Mathews disappears in the playoffs? Why does Dubas take the blame for that?

Nonis is an Assistant Coffee Fetch in the dumpster fire know as Vancouver. Hardly a “high level” position.

Dubas insisted the core could win and proclaimed “we can and we will” sign them at any cost.

Then he built around them with a bunch of finess players who were a combination of soft/slow/undersized.

That’s 100% on Dubas. Total failure.

 

[jcs0218]

Never have I ever wanted someone to fail as badly as I do with Dubas, and I'm not sure why. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way.

I am not a Dubas fan, either.

He has always given me the impression that he feels he is the smartest person in the room.

Look at how he arrogantly kept trying to make his "plan" work, even when it was obvious that it wasn't going to work.

(His "plan" was keeping the core 4 year after year, even when they kept failing in almost the exact same ways every year).

When someone clings to the same strategy, even when it keeps failing and even when people point out why it is failing, it is a sign of arrogance.

He refused to ever admit that his original team-building idea was flawed and wrong. He refused to accept that his original plan was an error, and make changes to it.

This is the sign of someone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else.

 

[Donnie740]

Dubas is the equivalent of Bruce McNall.

McNall fooled people into believing he had money, when in fact he has none.

Dubas fooled people into believing he had hockey acumen, when in fact he has none.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

this isn't something that "I" determined, lol.

hf. never disappoint.

Pittsburgh hasn't been an industrial steel producing city in 40 years.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

this isn't something that "I" determined, lol.

hf. never disappoint.

who did? serious question.

 

[Canadian Finn]

Pittsburgh hasn't been an industrial steel producing city in 40 years.

neither has Hamilton....hence why we are constantly compared.

yet even today both cities are known as "The Steel City".

when you look deeper into it, the cities trajectories have mirrored for over 100 years.

I'm sure mrs dubbie will love her time in Pittsburgh. Karma is a wonderful drug served cold.

 

[Haatley]

This guy is a disaster. Horrible move for Pittsburgh.

 

[brentashton]

Interesting that he will be acting GM through the draft and FA for his new team. I haven’t heard of any limitations being placed on him given the time frame of him changing orgs, as is sometimes done with other GM switches that have occurred between season end and the draft.

Given that he left TML so late, he is privy to all of their scouting information and probably their final drafting focus/lists and where the org was leaning on various prospects. Couple that now with another set of data in Pittsburgh’s scouting department, makes sense that he’d run the GM chair until these 2 events have passed.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

neither has Hamilton....hence why we are constantly compared.

yet even today both cities are known as "The Steel City".

when you look deeper into it, the cities trajectories have mirrored for over 100 years.

I'm sure mrs dubbie will love her time in Pittsburgh. Karma is a wonderful drug served cold.

no idea about Hamilton but current Pitt is great underrated city to visit. i didnt realize the connection

 

[Golden_Jet]

how did you determine that Pitt was the closest US city to Hamilton?

Known as Steel towns in the past, and even today still somewhat.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Probably, I think Kyle will be there a long time, however the last President only lasted 2 seasons.

FSG doesn't mess around. Dubas' will be fired quickly if certain objectives aren't met.