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

[2020 Cup Champions]

I am one of those dumb as bricks posters who doesn't understand the appeal of Dubas. Maybe a fake pair of glasses will help me come to terms with my own mental limitations.

That guy's post is an old meme (if it wasn't clear).

 

[Frank Drebin]

That guy's post is an old meme (if it wasn't clear).

I did not know it was a meme but I could recognize the sarcasm in it

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

I did not know it was a meme but I could recognize the sarcasm in it

As far as I'm aware, it was originally a meme intended to mock hyperfans of Rick and Morty.

 

[Donnie740]

Dubas has such an ardent Fan Boi Club because so many guys in their 20’s and 30’s identify with him.

Too small and too frail to even play rec league sports, bookish and nerdy types who embrace their sensitivity to curry favour with special interest groups while spewing obscure mathematical calculations to appear as savants.

If A guys like that can “succeed” as a GM in the NHL then there’s hope for all the other meek betas like him to be NHL executives too.

 

[Zbynek]

I was skeptical on this the past week or so but I'm warming up to it already. Dubas knocked the press conference out of the park.

Breath of fresh air after the Sleepy Ron Hextall era.

 

[tom_servo]

FWIW, Kyle Dubas today said his wife gave him the mandate to "get me the hell out of Hamilton Ontario, even if it means moving to Pittsburgh, which I've read is a comparable city in some respects"

 

[Sky04]

Good hire for Pittsburgh, Toronto is a gongshow

 

[biturbo19]

Definitely a radical polar opposite sort of direction from the incompetent staff they just moved on from. It's a bit of a peculiar fit though, in terms of Dubas not having demonstrated whatsoever, that he can be that "finisher" GM who takes a team that's on the cusp and gets them over the hump. Which is where Pittsburgh currently are. They've got an old core that still has those key pieces to be a contender...but badly needs a substantial overhaul of the rest of the roster around them.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I think he’ll make an excellent Head of Hockey Oops!

 

[tom_servo]

I think he’ll make an excellent Head of Hockey Oops!

Thanks, well I also...Hey!

 

[Haatley]

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?

Second round once.

 

[Josey Wales]

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?

SOOO Beavis is Shanahan his boss & therefore had to OK everything he did ?? Right ??

 

[danny90]

Smart guy.

He took a team who lost in the first round 3 consecutive years before he was GM and traded 3 1st round picks only to lose in the first round 7 consecutive years. He then doubled down and traded another 2 1st round picks in his final year for a second round exit.

He's never proven any success at the NHL level - and now never has to because he's not the GM.

There's very few people who can obtain a high level position with zero results, Dubas seems to be one of them.

This screams jealousy, he’s had success everywhere he’s gone.

 

[didimentionlarseller]

Dubas looks like a real weasel doing this right before the Toronto announcement imo kind of petty

 

[Hockeylife2018]

Most President's have won, either as players or GM's.

Winning as a player matters also - because it shows you know what it takes to win, in the locker room culture, etc.

This is the biggest crock in hockey...would you happen to be willing to hire maroon and his 3 cups as your president? Hiring players bases on their playing credentials has done wonders for the oilers...

 

[SjMilhouse]

Definitely a radical polar opposite sort of direction from the incompetent staff they just moved on from. It's a bit of a peculiar fit though, in terms of Dubas not having demonstrated whatsoever, that he can be that "finisher" GM who takes a team that's on the cusp and gets them over the hump. Which is where Pittsburgh currently are. They've got an old core that still has those key pieces to be a contender...but badly needs a substantial overhaul of the rest of the roster around them.

I couldnt give 2 shits about Toronto or Pittsburgh but this is such a tired take. There are not a lot of GMs out there that have won a cup so if that's the bar what do you want a team to do?

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

He mentioned how it was important to have his stars with a high competitive level twice. I wonder why he stressed that so much.

 

[Donnie740]

Dubas knocked the press conference out of the park.

Did his wife proofread the speech and approve it on behalf of the Dubas Family before the press conference?

 

[Chips]

What has he done to earn president of hockey ops?

Ridiculous.

So will he be making the decisions or whoever the GM is. Assuming he isn't the gm.

He played a big part in revamping the coaching and management teams in the Leafs org and their minor affiliates, had a sort of unorthodox set up with his assistant GMs etc and played a big part in making the leafs one of the better orgs for spreading the management out and hearing different ideas. Their approach to analytics, their adding of a skills development program etc. He modernized the org, and that’s probably exactly what the Pens organization needs after that last management group making decisions based on who was good in 2017.

The leafs lost multiple 1 goal games in the 2nd round with their stars not scoring. The team has been built to play a solid team defense despite not having the greatest defenseman core, and there was enough scoring depth there that if the stars actually showed up they could have been a challenging team to eliminate.


It’s weird the narrative / teams apparent approach seems to have somewhat quickly shifted from “it’s the players and coach, it’s the room more than anything” back to “okay let’s keep the core 4 and coach and run it back”

I bet if the leafs win the cup this coming year with 95% the same team Dubas built, the biggest difference will be the already present stars finally showing up, and half this board will be giving all the credit to the new management lol.


The GM can provide the assets, provide the tools to have success and Dubas did a really good job of that. It’s on the team (stars) to actually perform and the coach to bring out the right mindset on his players.


The stars have to get over whatever the hell their mental block is, and or they need a fresh voice behind the bench even if Keefe is a great coach.


Meanwhile Dubas new job sounds like it will be about managing management, affect the structure of the org and bring more people into the fold if I had to guess. Some of what he did in Toronto.

 

[biturbo19]

I couldnt give 2 shits about Toronto or Pittsburgh but this is such a tired take. There are not a lot of GMs out there that have won a cup so if that's the bar what do you want a team to do?

I don't think it necessarily requires a Cup-winning GM. But a guy who at least has some sort of track record of taking a team and finishing it with those last pieces to make them a true contender.


Like Mike Gillis didn't ever win a Cup...but i'd categorize him as a "finisher" sort of GM. Terrible at drafting and development and building a core. But excellent at assembling the sort of depth and supporting cast to make a serious run at the Cup.

That's where Pittsburgh currently are. They've got Croz/Malkin/Letang and a few others as a "core". They need somebody who has a proven ability to tweak the rest of the roster around them to get them at least in the vicinity of the finish line.


I'm not convinced Dubas is that guy. Though he did make a lot of big moves this year with the Leafs that suggested he might be able to do it.

 

[jcs0218]

SOOO Beavis is Shanahan his boss & therefore had to OK everything he did ?? Right ??

The tacky insult you sent me, calling me "Beavis", notwithstanding....

Dubas was the GM at Toronto.

Nobody can say for certain that Shanahan had to approve everything, as these are simple rumors at this point.

Normally it is the GM that takes the heat and takes the criticism for bad moves and mismanagement of the team.

Shifting the blame to Shanahan is allowing Dubas to escape the normal and usual accountability and responsibility that 99.9% of other GMs are all held to.

Blaming Shanahan is letting Dubas off the hook, and that is unfair since anything suggesting Dubas wasn't at fault is simply rumors at this point. Rumors that are being spread by journalists that have always been pro-Dubas.

Nobody allows Mike Milbury to escape blame for poor GM work, even though it was rumored that the former Islanders Owner Charles Wang was involving himself in trades and signings.

So if Milbury is forced to take blame, then Dubas should be forced to take blame too.

 

[HockeyVirus]

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

Again, Niemela 3rd round pick, Woll 3rd, Holmberg 6th who plsyed 37 games for us this year. Rest is too early.

And in my other post I didn't mention Durzi was a 2nd either. He's legit at drafting

 

[toddkaz]

Very surprised he chose to go there given that is a team heading for a rebuild or maybe that was why he was intrigued by it.

Either way, congrats Pens fans y'all are in good hands.

Such good hands like how the leafs were early exits every year.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Again, Niemela 3rd round pick, Woll 3rd, Holmberg 6th who plsyed 37 games for us this year. Rest is too early.

And in my other post I didn't mention Durzi was a 2nd either. He's legit at drafting

Set your bar higher I’d suggest.

 

[Josey Wales]

Have a Great life watching the Laffs Laff