Confirmed with Link: Kyle Dubas named President of Hockey Operations

[DesertedPenguin]

Pyror is gone literally seconds after the draft ends. No chance nepo baby is kept. Also, did the article mention who the other two employees were?

Hours after the hire, the Penguins’ ownership group made more waves. Following Dubas’ media availability, the Penguins cut ties with three employees Hextall had hired. Alec Schall (director of hockey operations and salary cap management), Kerry Huffman (director of pro scouting) and Teena Murray (senior VP, integrated performance) were all fired, said team sources, who spoke under the condition of anonymity. All had at least one more year on their contracts.

Yohe: The Penguins get their man and Fenway Sports Group makes its mark

Fenway Sports Group got its man in Kyle Dubas and, along the way, showed a serious commitment to the Penguins.

theathletic.com

 

[Malkinstheman]

Man, Hextall really made his cronies the Directors of amatuer and pro scouting. Huffman had a couple years as an AHL assistant and then Director of pro. He somehow has less experience than even Pryor

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Man, Hextall really made his cronies the Directors of amatuer and pro scouting. Huffman had a couple years as an AHL assistant and then Director of pro. He somehow has less experience than even Pryor

"This is not the way the Penguins do things!"

 

[Pens x]

I think the "Sully is secretly the GM" thing comes from that video where he says "He's going to score us a lot of goals" when they were signing E-Rod (and then proceeding to kill L1's production by forcing him on there). I think that was JR's attempt to get on the same page after the Reaves debacle.

But really, other than that offseason or 2, the issue in my mind is the exact opposite. The issue is that the players brought in do not match Sully's vision and he tries to force them into those roles anyway.

Hextall signed Archibald and Simon. Qualified ZAR. Sully has influence over the roster construction.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Oh and dont forget about Brett Hextall as a development coach. Ron really got his son and his Buddies son jobs lol.

 

[eXile3]

In terms of analytics what current NHL coaches are the most open to them? My impression is Hakstol and Keefe are generally the most accepting, and Gallant is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Montgomery is big on the simple stats like getting big leads in shots and hits and faceoffs. Sully seems like he’d be kind of in the middle. Which, I think, is what you want in a coach.

It feels like he should be somewhere in the middle but then he gives his 3rd line 80% dzone starts. So his either ignoring a pretty intuitive stat or he just never trusted the personnel.

I was a big Sully guy until this season and now I just can’t figure him out.

 

[Turin]

Hiring a female GM would be a f***ing disaster for discourse. Hell no, please no. Instantly every move becomes about that fair or unfair. Like any other title would be fine, but if they hire “the first female GM” that becomes the team identity. Please mean hockey progressive and not socially.

 

[Pens x]

Pryor is gone literally seconds after the draft ends. No chance nepo baby is kept. Also, did the article mention who the other two employees were?

Another reason to trade the pick. Don’t let these idiots make the pick - they are soon to be goners.

Oh and dont forget about Brett Hextall as a development coach. Ron really got his son and his Buddies son jobs lol.

And a large majority on this fan base put on blinders, pretended it wasn’t a big deal, Hextall was a builder and you just need to have patience.

 

[PensandCaps]

They should have kept ERod to begin with. Letting him walk was just stupid by Hextall.

Gaudreau too. Sullivan seemed to love him too.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Per Taylor Haase, Mike Sullivan says he wasn't very involved in the search process for a GM. It was only within the last week, Fenway's Dave Beeston asked him to speak with Kyle Dubas.

Does this kill the conspiracy theories about Mike Sullivan being the overlord of everything or we gonna ignore this

No, it just proves they sought Sullivan's final say on the matter before hiring Dubas.

 

[Pens1566]

It's still a little wild to me that Poehling was clocked as the team's fastest skater.

Gotta love this "speed and skill" team that seems to very little of either one.

I think it was even the fastest in the entire league at some point.

 

[pistolpete11]

He had a better season in '23 than he did in '22. Given his age, experience, and ability to make big jumps in ability, it's reasonable to expect he might be better again.

I'll agree that Poehling has a ton of interesting tools. I don't see a toolbox or identity. At his age it's possible he can form one but when a guy seems to be going backwards in his 2nd and a bit NHL season, and seems to lack outstanding physical or mental traits, I don't bet on it.

edit: I just saw what you posted about him being clocked as the fastest skater in the league. That blows my mind. It also reinforces my belief that he doesn't have an adequate toolbox if that sort of speed isn't super apparent with him.

So yeah. I see a potentially meaningful ceiling for DOC. I see similarities in his arc and willingness to use his athleticism to Tanev and Coleman. Not an awesome NHLer, but a meaningful one of the type teams overpay for when they can't develop them themselves. Poehling... could switch it on and be a great middle six tweener by the end of next season, but last season was the season I'd have expected to see the switch.

Dude, you're really splitting hairs or putting way too much stock in Poehling having played 60 more games.

21-22
Poehling had 17 points in 57games with 55% O-zone starts
DOC had 5 points in 22games with 65% O-zone starts

22-23
Poehling had 14 points in 53 games with 20% O-zone starts
DOC had 11 points in 46 games with 29% O-zone starts



They both scored at roughly the same pace as they did the prior year while seeing tougher zone starts. I don't understand how that translates to DOC improving while Poehling is stalling. They're also very similar to each other in terms of production and the same age (Poehling actually being about 6 months younger).



Again, I'm not shitting on DOC or pumping up Poehling. I don't think either are anything special but they should both be in the lineup on a nightly basis over the likes of Heinen, Archibald, etc. I've just seen so many suggested lineups with DOC as a lock for L3 and some lunatics even suggesting to put him with Malkin while Poehling is a 13F or sometimes even forgotten altogether. They're the same level of player.


Edit: to your edit, I don't watch him and think "fastest skater in the league", but I think it's pretty apparent the dude can skate. Certainly better than somebody like Sheahan as you mentioned before or Bjugstad or something.

 

[PensandCaps]

Poehling is definitely a better and safer NHL player than O'Connor. O'Connor has better potential though. I think both are fine 4th liners who got put in bad spots by Sullivan. I see no reason why Poehling can't be like 2015-18 Rust in some way, similar styles.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yeah, I don't really think much of either DOC or Poehling but there might be something there, and they're cheap. They should be given permanent spots in the bottom-6 imo.

At worst, they suck shit, just like this team's bottom-6 has for years. Only now they'll be making like $900k instead of $3.5 million apiece.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah I don't really see anyone saying that dudes should be taking shifts on L2 (though for the record I'd prefer that to Granlund and a shocking amount of people seem to think that's alright) but like... what... are we allergic to what is, bare minimum, passable cheap young talent?

You know... it's not MANDATORY to shit a bunch of money every year on what are in the end depth players. In fact GOOD teams develop their own.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Yeah I don't really see anyone saying that dudes should be taking shifts on L2 (though for the record I'd prefer that to Granlund and a shocking amount of people seem to think that's alright) but like... what... are we allergic to what is, bare minimum, passable cheap young talent?

You know... it's not MANDATORY to shit a bunch of money every year on what are in the end depth players. In fact GOOD teams develop their own.

Especially when that extra money doesn't actually yield better players.

If your depth players are going to be replacement level, then at least let them be cheap replacement level players so you have money to spend elsewhere instead of $3 million replacement level players who take up valuable cap space to provide what Joe AHL call-up could do.

 

[HandshakeLine]

My big hope is that Dubas does some serious housecleaning on the vets (and hires someone to fire 100 mph slappers into Jeff Carter’s feet everyday until they crumble and he’s LTIR’d).

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

My big hope is that Dubas does some serious housecleaning on the vets (and hires someone to fire 100 mph slappers into Jeff Carter’s feet everyday until they crumble and he’s LTIR’d).

Dubas should just hire Carter to be one of his assistants, like he did with Spezza in Toronto, to entice him to retire.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Dubas should just hire Carter to be one of his assistants, like he did with Spezza in Toronto, to entice him to retire.

Need to LTIR him, not retire him. So Kyle du Base better hire Carter to move a bunch of pianos up and down the stairs in the Igloo, solo.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Toronto has been pretty good about making bad contracts dissappear. I hope Dubas sends Carter to Robidas island. Hextall really did his best to make that contract indestructible

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

Sure, if he wants to play the system that won the 2016 Cup…we have too many old guys we’d have to move out and younger, speedier guys to move in to accomplish that. We’re not going to be as fast as the top three teams in the Metro over the next two seasons. That’s why I want this guy gone. He needs to develop another way to play with the players he has, not the team he wishes he had and won’t have for a couple years

Who cares if half the team is completely positionally disorganized, on any give play half don't even backcheck....

but Speed....

 

[TimmyD]

Yeah I don't really see anyone saying that dudes should be taking shifts on L2 (though for the record I'd prefer that to Granlund and a shocking amount of people seem to think that's alright) but like... what... are we allergic to what is, bare minimum, passable cheap young talent?

You know... it's not MANDATORY to shit a bunch of money every year on what are in the end depth players. In fact GOOD teams develop their own.

I’ve always been of the belief that the 4th line should consist of multiple guys that are either call-ups or guys who are on 1 year deals. Those types are always hungry to either show they deserve a spot or hungry to keep their spots.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I’ve always been of the belief that the 4th line should consist of multiple guys that are either call-ups or guys who are on 1 year deals. Those types are always hungry to either show they deserve a spot or hungry to keep their spots.

Which is exactly what the cup winning teams had. Kuhnackl, Rowney, Wilson etc. If you sign a veteran (Cullen) you give him cheap one year deals. Not sign him for 3x2 with an NMC

 

[DearDiary]

Has anyone in the media asked Dubas about the mistakes he made in Toronto, what he's learned and what he will do different in Pittsburgh?

 

[Empoleon8771]

You know what's really going to blow your mind?

He wasn't clocked as the faster skater on this team. He was clocked as the faster skater in the league.

View attachment 714688

I think this shows the difference between skating fast vs playing fast. I don't consider Poehling a fast player at all, even if his top speed is very fast.