Confirmed with Link: Kyle Dubas named President of Hockey Operations

[IcedCapp]

If you are a woman traveling alone in Canada you 100% WILL get murdered.

Or your money back

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It's quite the bit to pop onto another team's board all smug and compensating for your frustrations as a Leafs fan just to be like "oh my god my idiotic post was met with push back, I've been murdered!" like Terry from Reno 911.

 

[Pancakes]

I liked his comment about being knowledgeable about the Pens NHL/AHL rosters already just as part of his responsibilities as GM of Toronto.

It makes sense. If you're the GM of a team in the East you should thoroughly know every roster situation in your conference at the very least.

Dubas should already have a good idea of this team's strengths and weaknesses. And it sounds like he does.

 

[Peat]

The D largely worked when healthy.

People ignore the injuries we suffered to Pettersson and Rutta.

The biggest issue with our defense last year was Dumo. If he walks, we good.

That Pettersson injury at the end of the season depressed the hell out of me. Made everything so much harder. Possibly season altering, which I wasn't expecting to say at the start.

Agreed that Dumo was a big issue,

 

[Power Surge]

If you are a woman traveling alone in Canada you 100% WILL get murdered.

He had a bad day.....

 

[WickedWrister]

Fair to say that pretty much the only legitimate "scoop" we got in the whole process was Taylor Haase reporting that Dubas and Sid met in Pittsburgh last week?

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Man, watch granlund and petry get traded, capnspace gets set aside for next offseason, Matthews signs in pittsburgh and the city of Toronto burns itself to the ground in response.

Uhh, you do know who Doobler is, don’t you?

The Leafs were in the running for the most cap-strapped team of the past half decade with him at the helm.

 

[Power Surge]

Matthews is kind of like Mario.. Destined to step in and save a franchise. For him I'm sure that would be something else for it to be personal and save his home team.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Fair to say that pretty much the only legitimate "scoop" we got in the whole process was Taylor Haase reporting that Dubas and Sid met in Pittsburgh last week?

Don't forget that Rob Rossi was kind enough to let us know that every team dinner is as dramatic as the desk standing scene in Dead Poets Society.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

I like how the bar is set so low for the Pens management that just being able to have actual answers to questions seems transcendent.

Maybe it’s just because of my line of work, but results matter and BS doesn’t. We’ll see if he actually can do what he’s talking about.

A-f***ing-men.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Penguins hire Kyle Dubas as president of hockey ops

Dubas spent the past five seasons as the Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager but parted ways with the team on May 19.

theathletic.com

What this means for the Penguins

Dubas will inherit a powerful coach in Mike Sullivan, who has four years remaining on a contract that was extended last August. Sullivan, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Penguins, is a Massachusetts native and has considerable clout with Fenway Sports Group, which is Boston-based.

Sullivan and Hextall did not click as a GM-coach partnership, but Sullivan did work well with Jim Rutherford when he was GM in Pittsburgh (2014-2021). Sullivan’s preferred style of play — an attacking, speed-skill approach — would appear to be a fit with the teams Dubas built in Toronto. Again, Dubas’ title will give him full oversight of hockey decisions.

Beeston said on April 14 that FSG’s expectation is for the Penguins to compete for the Stanley Cup with a core that consists of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang — all of whom are contractually tied to Pittsburgh for at least the next two seasons. Malkin and Letang signed extensions last summer, and Crosby can negotiate an extension after the 2023-24 season. Dubas will have to quickly decide if Tristan Jarry is his goalie of the future, as Jarry is set to become an unrestricted free agent.

Another big decision for Dubas will be whether to keep, trade or extend Jake Guentzel, Crosby’s longtime winger, who is set to enter the last season of his contract. — Rossi

This is a huge win for FSG. Dubas was clearly the guy for the Penguins, who went through weeks of GM interviews before hiring Dubas as president of hockey operations. They still need a GM, but in Dubas, FSG gets an executive whose traits remind the ownership group of Theo Epstein.

The Penguins now boast a power combo with Dubas and Mike Sullivan running the show. — Yohe

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I got it. This is your song cause it's so you

You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around

Your posts have always lacked substance, research and logic here. Always in need of correcting. And yet the arrogance never faded over the years. A fundamental lack of humility.

I appreciate that you're trying to at least contribute through comic relief now, since the hockey aspect isn't working out.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Aight... well... Yohe just kinda tossed a wet blanket on my enthusiasm for the day, there.

 

[Power Surge]

Your posts have always lacked substance, research and logic here. Always in need of correcting. And yet the arrogance never faded over the years. A fundamental lack of humility.

I appreciate that you're trying to at least contribute through comic relief now, since the hockey aspect isn't working out.

That's mostly why I'm here and on "occasion" pass my hockey knowledge..Thanks

Also I think my arrogance and my lack of humility makes me unique in my own way, again thank you

 

[Empoleon8771]

The Dubas-Sullivan duo is so powerful that it will be sent to Third World countries to topple their governments and implement FSG friendly leaders and policies.

 

[IcedCapp]

It's quite the bit to pop onto another team's board all smug and compensating for your frustrations as a Leafs fan just to be like "oh my god my idiotic post was met with push back, I've been murdered!" like Terry from Reno 911.

Also, like, I get it, no one on this board plays for the penguins, but for a leafs fan - who probably was not alive when his team last won the cup - to come here and tell us to prepare for misery…

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

The ol “championship contender” line.
FSG ready.

 

[Gurglesons]

Yohe and Rossi have been losing so much lately I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose their gigs at the Athletic lol.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

The Dubas-Sullivan duo is so powerful that it will be sent to Third World countries to topple their governments and implement FSG friendly leaders and policies.

Bay of Pens Invasion?

The Dubas/Sully wetworks team would have come up with WAY better ideas than exploding cigars and tuberculosis-lined diving suits.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Their bottom-6 in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 were both extremely solid. Last year was the first year where their bottom-6 was actively hurting them.

There was production, but I think in hindsight that neither one was built for the long haul.

 

[Gurglesons]

There was production, but I think in hindsight that neither one was built for the long haul.

The forward group was great the last two years and I'll give Sullivan his props for that.

The issue was largely the defense in the playoffs not the forward group which Hextall tried to fix and I would say probably would've worked much differently if Sullivan didn't have a hard on for Dumoulin and there weren't as many injuries as there was.

 

[Freeptop]

My thoughts:
It's basically impossible for him to prove anything on Day 1.
He gave good answers to most of the questions, though he was pretty careful to keep a lot of things rather vague (he didn't really answer the question about what kind of players he looks for, as one example). Still, better that he gives good answers than him not doing so.

But, as others have said, actions speak louder than words. And on that score, the next, oh, 35 days should give us a pretty good indication of what things will be like with him. That gets us through the draft and into the first few days of Free Agency. He may not have a full roster built at that point (there can always be deals that take a while to come to fruition, whether in trades or free agency), but we should certainly have an idea of where he's trying to go at that point.

One final thought: It was rather interesting that while he talked about long-term building, it was all about building the organization rather than the pipeline. Unlike when Hextall came in and all the talk was about rebuilding the prospect pool, Dubas was talking about Hockey Ops staffing. Which is really a better way to focus on the long-term while still trying to maintain a playoff team in the short-term, anyway. It will be very interesting to see how that works out, though I don't expect that to start taking shape quickly.

 

[Power Surge]

Yohe and Rossi have been losing so much lately I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose their gigs at the Athletic lol.

Hoadies needs to go on Locked on too, that squeaky voiced mofo.

 

[Peat]

There was production, but I think in hindsight that neither one was built for the long haul.

When you say not built for the long haul, what do you mean?

 

[DesertedPenguin]

The forward group was great the last two years and I'll give Sullivan his props for that.

The issue was largely the defense in the playoffs not the forward group which Hextall tried to fix and I would say probably would've worked much differently if Sullivan didn't have a hard on for Dumoulin and there weren't as many injuries as there was.

The injuries hampered things.

I know you're higher on Petry than I am, but I really don't think he was as effective exiting the zone and using breakout passes. He provided some offense, to be sure, but compared to someone like Matheson, I felt that was missing. And I think Rutta just didn't get on track. He was starting to look good until his first injury and then it never clicked again.

I like Rutta. I understand the concept of Petry. I think Pettersson jumped forward until the injury setback. But if the Pens were to move on from any or all three as part of hockey trades and reshape the defense, I wouldn't object like I would if they tried to move Guentzel.

When you say not built for the long haul, what do you mean?

I think the players who had success are players who have lacked consistency in their careers. In 2021-22, for example, you had a career year from Evan Rodrigues, solid half year from an aging Jeff Carter, a surprising offensive performance from Brian Boyle, and Danton Heinen rediscovering his scoring touch.

It shouldn't have been a surprise that Carter continued to age, Rodrigues priced himself out, and Heinen came back to earth. We were all counting on there to be some carryover when that wasn't necessarily likely.