Confirmed with Link: Kyle Dubas named President of Hockey Operations

[Extra Texture]

Few little nuggets of potential interest

"Other teams believe Dubas will also attempt to bring over Leafs head scout Wes Clark and members of Toronto’s analytics department, although the complicating factor is many of them are under contract.

If the contracts of some of these staffers are structured in such a way that they can leave for a promotion, the Penguins may be able to make inroads that way."

"One thing I recall being really interesting in reporting out that story [in 2017] was that people close to Dubas believed he would be happy to go to a place like Colorado, where he could do more of the “weird” things he wanted with a roster and front office than it felt would be possible in Toronto. That sort of unfettered ability to exact change, without the heavy scrutiny in a large market and a somewhat overbearing ownership situation, always appealed to Dubas, even six years ago.

Now, Pittsburgh isn’t exactly a tiny hockey market. There is going to be prying eyes. But FSG is new to hockey, and they’re going to be turning over the keys in full here. In the president role, Dubas finally should have closer to the total control that he’s long wanted and that he wasn’t going to get by staying in Toronto.

...

So, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on what Dubas does with the Penguins as he builds out that front office and roster. Some of his hiring in Toronto was unorthodox, and some executives with other teams have been critical of the unique four-person AGM set up he put in place, but that may have been only the beginning."

Mirtle: Get ready for a Maple Leafs-Penguins rivalry — on and off the ice

With Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh and ready for battle in the Eastern Conference with his old team, a heated new rivalry has just been born.

theathletic.com

That angle is very interesting. Not going to claim to know for sure that he was constrained in Toronto, but we all know the scrutiny of that market.

If the plan is to come here and get "weird" with unconventional ideas on how to build the team and ways to approach a declining core, then that might be exactly what the doctor ordered for this franchise. Certainly seems alot better off than just saying "we need moar size" and "we want to add veteran leadership", like that is going to magically work to turn a trend around.

As much shit as we deservedly gave JR over the years, the one thing he did almost from the start was buck the Shero-era trend of sitting on ones hands and waiting to see what names popped up on the waiver wire. That was a welcome change to actually get new blood in that weren't just some post buyout veteran left on the draft table floor.

At this point, if someone wants to try moves that are outside of the box, we're now approaching "nothing to lose" time.

 

[Josey Wales]

The Leafs, as we know, are the league’s most important franchise in its biggest market. & this right here is what is wrong with Laff Fans & Media, You are as important as a cheese fart in an EF-5 Tornado

 

[Turin]

Good lord, I'm not exactly here to drink the Dubas kool aid, but that is an awful article.

-Spends most of the article tearing Dubas down, and then near the end "most would agree that Dubas did good work in Toronto"
-Intimates that Dubas ousted Babcock in a power struggle for control, like some Machievallian game. By all accounts, Babcock was a worthless dinosaur, living on past glories who took pleasure in gaslighting his players. If Dubas ousted him, he should be commended.
-Talks about the PGH media fawning over Dubas. As if the Toronto media wasnt calling him a genius for the better part of the last 5 years (or more)

All in all, reads like an "Actually, I'm better off" letter from a scored lover. Just because outside hockey media arent sycophants/lunatics like Yohe, Rossi or Madden, doesnt make these "legacy" mouthpieces like Cox, Simmonds, Garrioch, or Larry Brooks any better.

Just gonna point out that there is a very large correlation between the media that ripped Kessel and the media now ripping Dubas

 

[FlightlessBird]

Didn’t know where else to put this.

 

[Pancakes]

Certainly seems alot better off than just saying "we need moar size" and "we want to add veteran leadership", like that is going to magically work to turn a trend around.

"We need moar speed" - Mike Sullivan

 

[Jaded-Fan]

That angle is very interesting. Not going to claim to know for sure that he was constrained in Toronto, but we all know the scrutiny of that market.

If the plan is to come here and get "weird" with unconventional ideas on how to build the team and ways to approach a declining core, then that might be exactly what the doctor ordered for this franchise. Certainly seems alot better off than just saying "we need moar size" and "we want to add veteran leadership", like that is going to magically work to turn a trend around.

As much shit as we deservedly gave JR over the years, the one thing he did almost from the start was buck the Shero-era trend of sitting on ones hands and waiting to see what names popped up on the waiver wire. That was a welcome change to actually get new blood in that weren't just some post buyout veteran left on the draft table floor.

At this point, if someone wants to try moves that are outside of the box, we're now approaching "nothing to lose" time.

Weird.

Analytics as an important part of the evaluation process.

Not hiring all your friends and drinking buddies from the good old playing days to the front office.

Not having an obsession of bringing back players from the past to the team or front office.

Prioritizing skill over a bigger size obsession than .... well, you get the idea.

Prioritizing a guy who knows that skating away and focusing on the scoreboard takes more cajones than dropping the gloves or taking a swing at a guy and putting your team shorthanded.

Yes, the above is all weird for the NHL.

 

[Ugene Magic]

So does this give the Pens another Iginla notch in their belt?

Personally, I could give two rats asses about the Dubas signing. A failed concept is a failed concept.

He has a lot to prove, this is not the same situation as Toronto save the star power, much older star power.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

So does this give the Pens another Iginla notch in their belt?

Personally, I could give two rats asses about the Dubas signing. A failed concept is a failed concept.

He has a lot to prove, this is not the same situation as Toronto save the star power, much older star power.

Sully will refuse to play Dubas on Crosby's wing. Just wait and see.

 

[td_ice]

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A reference before your time posting here. Goes back to the Karlsson incident, when he was on the Senators. When he got cut, and Crazy Pants Owner vowed to investigate.

 

[Josey Wales]

A reference before your time posting here. Goes back to the Karlsson incident, when he was on the Senators. When he got cut, and Crazy Pants Owner vowed to investigate.

I know all about it It was about The Damien COCKS article

 

[td_ice]

I know all about it It was about The Damien COCKS article

Ohhhh, gotcha.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

The more things change the more they stay the same…

When I saw “…will work with Mike Sullivan” to make this team better for him, lmao. Right.

That angle is very interesting. Not going to claim to know for sure that he was constrained in Toronto, but we all know the scrutiny of that market.

If the plan is to come here and get "weird" with unconventional ideas on how to build the team and ways to approach a declining core, then that might be exactly what the doctor ordered for this franchise. Certainly seems alot better off than just saying "we need moar size" and "we want to add veteran leadership", like that is going to magically work to turn a trend around.

As much shit as we deservedly gave JR over the years, the one thing he did almost from the start was buck the Shero-era trend of sitting on ones hands and waiting to see what names popped up on the waiver wire. That was a welcome change to actually get new blood in that weren't just some post buyout veteran left on the draft table floor.

At this point, if someone wants to try moves that are outside of the box, we're now approaching "nothing to lose" time.

He can hire 10 assistant gm’s and a f***ing Giraffe as an emotional support animal and I won’t give a flying f*** as long as he fires Mike Sullivan.

 

[farscape1]

There doesn't even need to be a conversation.

Dubas is a fairly intelligent guy. If he's sitting at home with his wife in late March, wondering about his future with MLSE, and sees the unrest in Pittsburgh, he can easily put two-and-two together.

"Gee, if FSG fires Hextall, there would be an opening and I'd bet they'd be interested in a guy like me."

Five minutes of research by anyone would have put Dubas at the top of FSG's wishlist.

All Dubas had to do was visit this Pittsburgh Penguins board and or read Maddens stuff on Twitter to know the Pens were interested in him.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

All Dubas had to do was visit this Pittsburgh Penguins board and or read Maddens stuff on Twitter to know the Pens were interested in him.

I am not sure who has less actual inside information on the Pens. Madden or this board.

Correction. Madden has less. But only because a couple here have proven actual inside information by breaking it a handful of times in the past.

Madden consults his cheeseburger and fries.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

Dubas must be trash because nobody called me for the GM job yet.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Dubas must be trash because nobody called me for the GM job yet.

My sources within the Pens told me that you were a close second and if Dubas had taken the Sens' job instead the job was yours. Same terms.

 

[Headshot77]

However this turns out, a couple of things that you have to love about this move regarding FSG:

They are willing to spend significant capital to secure who they obviously perceived as the very best out there. And suppress their egos enough to give him all the power to implement his vision without interference.

They show that they have the patience of the best part of a decade to give that vision a chance to work.

We have good ownership. Thank God we aren't Canucks or Flyers fans.

 

[cookthebooks]

wonder if more housecleaning gets announced tomorrow

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Dubas must be trash because nobody called me for the GM job yet.

Sullivan doesn’t like your lack of sticktoitiveness

 

[Honour Over Glory]

wonder if more housecleaning gets announced tomorrow

More scapegoats while Sullivan remains.

 

[Pens x]

wonder if more housecleaning gets announced tomorrow

Hopefully. Not sure why Brett Hextall and Pryor are still here. They are constant reminders of the previous braindead ownership group.

No one’s job is safe.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

We have good ownership. Thank God we aren't Canucks or Flyers fans.

Born and raised in Vancouver. I had a 50/50 choice between Pens and Nucks at 5 years old. My older bro followed the Pens. He tried to convince me to follow the local team. I declined.
Well...thank god for that decision.

 

[Josey Wales]

More scapegoats while Sullivan remains.

Don't know how to break this to ya, But Sullivan isn't being fired. SO GET OVER IT!!

 

[IcedCapp]

We can only fire so many people without hiring new ones. Unless Dubas has perfected AI and fully automated the front office, I don’t think he can do it all literally by himself

 

[hockeywiz542]

Learning from the drafting of Toronto under Kyle Dubas

What does the past say about what Kyle Dubas likes to do (and avoid) in the NHL draft?

www.pensburgh.com

Now that Kyle Dubas is getting to work in Pittsburgh to shape and guide the future of the Penguins, what better time to look back at his history in Toronto? Today we’ll dive into the history and performance of Dubas in the NHL draft and later on in the week dig into the trades and free agency signings that he has done in the past.

Dubas was the full general manager from 2018-2023, so we will concentrate mainly on that, though it is worth pointing out that he is often credited in his stint as assistant general manager to help make decisions to select players like Mitch Marner, Travis Dermott, Joseph Woll, Timothy Lilejgren and others in the years prior while he was an assistant GM for the Maple Leafs.

As GM, Dubas made 35 total draft picks for Toronto over the years, an average of 7.0 per draft. This amount is skewed higher from the 2020 draft, when the Leafs had six total picks late in the draft’s final two rounds.

................

While his tendencies can be all over the board, some trends and tenets of Dubas to boiled down into nice, little bite-sized bullet points would be:

• Heavy on forwards early in the draft, with no particular preference in what area in the world they come from

• Lots of right handed defensemen

• Eventually an emphasis on US players later in the draft

• Probably drafting a goalie at some point, but only during Round 4 or later

• More of a European haul (especially in Russia) than most other NHL teams in the modern era

• Lack of frequent first round picks, but keeping second rounders

• Despite a willingness to get a big guy like Matthew Knies, general forward profile of draftees trends towards smaller, higher-skilled type of players. Pittsburgh kid Ty Voit (fifth round pick in 2021) could be perfect example of that- has blossomed into the OHL’s second-leading scorer in 2022-23 with 105 points, despite being listed at 5’9 and 151 pounds. Not all Toronto players are that small, but under Dubas they’ve definitely been looking for the “next Jake Guentzel” types who might be small on draft day but have high ceilings for the future.

• Generally defensively, Toronto was compiling puck moving defensemen (Sandin, Durzi) with skating/IQ qualities over physical profiles.

• Trading down to accumulate more picks has been common for Dubas with examples in 2022 (moving back in the first round to ditch Petr Mrazek’s bad contract and again dealing back in the third round), and again 2020 (when he traded back in the second round), 2018 (in the first round) and as an interim GM in 2015 Dubas traded down twice in the first round. Save for dealing a 2023-fourth rounder to get back into the fourth round in 2022, trading up hasn’t been a strategy often used.