The Pittsburgh Penguins: last in the *East* after *9* games.

[Trade]

It is frankly hilarious that people finally see the flaws of Dubas' team building now that he's in PIT, despite the Leafs having exactly the same problems for years but people claiming it's "the blueline" that was the problem.

Penguins have also had the same problem for years. What could that mean?

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Update the title:

Last in the East after 9 games

I'm going to add many of these PIT issues to my "Poor Starts!" thread.

I must say that I am surprised. I thought maybe they would be hovering around sub .500 going into American Thanksgving. An .893 SV% by Jarry is surprising as well.

(I did not say "shocking")

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

I'll say exactly what you just quoted. "Inheriting Hextall's mess isn't an easy gig and the bottom was going to fall out eventually on this team. No GM can stop our descent."

I'm of the opinion that Dubas was handed a live grenade.

The Story of Dubas' career - always 'inheriting' someone else's problem.

 

[Peasy]

Penguins have also had the same problem for years. What could that mean?

Maybe dont blow 10m and assets on a non-issue while leaving the current issues present?

Attempted to fix the bottom 6 by *check notes*
Signing Lars Eller and Noel Accari.

Not to mention the still awful D and goaltending.

 

[Bust]

Maybe dont blow 10m and assets on a non-issue while leaving the current issues present?

Attempted to fix the bottom 6 by *check notes*
Signing Lars Eller and Noel Accari.

Not to mention the still awful D and goaltending.

Crazy the parallels to when he was TOR’s GM to what he’s doing now in PIT.

Having an already established, top paring offensive guy (Reilly/Letang). Bring in another one to “fix” the D (Barrie/Karlsson), essentially wasting assets (kadri/1sts) on essentially a luxury, while already having one.

Speaking on karlsson specifically, also crazy to look at what happened in SJ with Burns/Karlsson and think, “let’s do that here”.

Karlsson is sick, but seems rather redundant considering PIT has quite a few weapons.

 

[Fatass]

Must say the bad start for the Pens isn’t too unexpected. EK has already been called out by his coach for needing to play the right way. The drama around the Pens is going to louder.

 

[Leaf Fans]

It is frankly hilarious that people finally see the flaws of Dubas' team building now that he's in PIT, despite the Leafs having exactly the same problems for years but people claiming it's "the blueline" that was the problem.

Maybe you finally seen the flaws, but he was a constant feature on these boards while GM of the Leafs. Especially, after poor starts, and pretty consistently there after.

 

[TooManyHumans]

That's true, but he is now responsible for keeping Sullivan here.

I know Sullivan is still owed a ton of money, so it's potentially a risky move for Dubas if he pulls the plug on Sullivan and the team doesn't improve. The owners wouldn't be happy paying two coaches for no reason. But that is now his call.

I seriously doubt that it is Dubas' call at all.

 

[ijuka]

It is frankly hilarious that people finally see the flaws of Dubas' team building now that he's in PIT, despite the Leafs having exactly the same problems for years but people claiming it's "the blueline" that was the problem.

Dubas has always been bad at this. The difference is that Leafs had Nylander, Marner, and Matthews(none drafted by him, of course) to bail him out. So by default Leafs would do more or less well.

With Penguins, he doesn't have a similar safety net, so his lack of ability in teambuilding will come into full view. I still don't know what merits he even had to receive the GM job, but hey.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Who has a softer landing? Washington or Pittsburgh?

Washington appears to be adding some blue chip prospects.

Washington for sure as of this moment. Dylan Strome has been terrific for Washington, is still just 26 and is playing like a 1C, and is signed to a terrific deal the next four seasons. McMichael has bloomed into the top six forward they expected when they drafted him. Miroschnichenko, Leonard, and Cristall all look like top six forwards. There are some solid defensive prospects like Iorio and Chesley. And they have some young NHL talent like Sandin, Protas, Fehervary, and Malenstyn.

Washington’s low point will likely be the next two seasons while Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Mantha, and Oshie are sucking up valuable cap space but I think they could have a short rebuild. All of this is of course subject to change.

Pittsburgh should bounce back this season though I never did get the EK acquisition. A stud 3C like they had with Jordan Staal made more sense to me given how awful their depth is. Crosby, Malkin, EK, Letang, and Guentzel is a really fun NHL 24 PP like but when you acquire the corpse of Lars Eller to anchor your bottom six you’re going to have a bad time.

 

[JKG33]

Must say the bad start for the Pens isn’t too unexpected. EK has already been called out by his coach for needing to play the right way. The drama around the Pens is going to louder.

Ahaha but I was told the Pens are just as bad as the Sharks in terms of unstructured play? Why would the coach call out poor EK like that??

 

[ijuka]

Must say the bad start for the Pens isn’t too unexpected. EK has already been called out by his coach for needing to play the right way. The drama around the Pens is going to louder.

This is a bit of an issue.

The thing with Karlsson is, he can't play "the right way". You pretty much need to just let him do whatever, and deal with the consequences. Otherwise he won't do anything for you. You don't get Karlsson for him to "play the right way".

If this is the attitude, then it's no wonder Karlsson's having a bad season.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Lmao dubas is such a conman. Tricked the leafs and pens into thinking hes smart because of his scooby doo glasses

 

[bossram]

Maybe you finally seen the flaws, but he was a constant feature on these boards while GM of the Leafs. Especially, after poor starts, and pretty consistently there after.

I mean, I get you're trying to get a dig at me. But you're not understanding what I'm actually saying. This isn't a "general Dubas" complaint. It's that the general fanbase misdiagnosed the situation.

The problem with the Leafs, like the Pens now, was never the blueline as everyone complained about. It was the depth scoring.

Dubas has always been bad at this. The difference is that Leafs had Nylander, Marner, and Matthews(none drafted by him, of course) to bail him out. So by default Leafs would do more or less well.

With Penguins, he doesn't have a similar safety net, so his lack of ability in teambuilding will come into full view. I still don't know what merits he even had to receive the GM job, but hey.

This has been the Leafs' flaw the entire time that Dubas was there. Yet most fans continually mischaracterized the problem being strength on the blueline. Dubas actually did a good job upgrading Toronto's defenders.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Must say the bad start for the Pens isn’t too unexpected. EK has already been called out by his coach for needing to play the right way. The drama around the Pens is going to louder.

That "coach" is the numbers 1,2,4 & 6 reasons that the Penguins are in the muck that they're in.

thanks

 

[Gurglesons]

It's hilarious that people are trying to blame this on Dubas, Karlsson, etc when this team has looked exactly the same for literally years under Mike Sullivan.

Even today. Mike Sullivan is in the media defending his team and his decisions. There is no accountability on this team unless you are a 24 year old trying to break in the league.

I honestly wouldn't be shocked to see even Jarry straighten out his play to some degree if they fire Sullivan. He's just an awful coach at this point.

 

[aufheben]

The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t injured?

 

[Sol]

It’s almost like Karlsson has to have the team suck so he can abandon defense freely.

 

[Realgud]

Not sure what Pittsburgh is thinking... they hire the worst GM in history, then allow him to promote himself (lol) as they trade for the only player in the league who's ecstatic to lose as long as he scores points and gets individual trophies. The generational failure that was his tenure in Toronto should have been a giant red flag. Their upside is a first round exit.

 

[BillyOcean]

I can really feel the pain of 1967 with each post added to this thread that is not related to the Penguins at all. Must suck.

 

[Baby Punisher]

This roster has no balls….

Dubas should trade for Reeves. This team needs more Revo!

 

[KrisLetAngry]

It's hilarious that people are trying to blame this on Dubas, Karlsson, etc when this team has looked exactly the same for literally years under Mike Sullivan.

Even today. Mike Sullivan is in the media defending his team and his decisions. There is no accountability on this team unless you are a 24 year old trying to break in the league.

I honestly wouldn't be shocked to see even Jarry straighten out his play to some degree if they fire Sullivan. He's just an awful coach at this point.

Dubas has a lot of haters. Definitely not his fault but they will blame him anyways.

Karlsson has played well also not his fault.


The 2 biggest problems

1. Sullivan.

2. The hemorrhaging of assets in trades this includes players existing on other teams.

Dubas can't really solve 2.
Dubas might be able to solve 1. He should have been fired after we lost against Montreal.

 

[TheDoldrums]

I can really feel the pain of 1967 with each post added to this thread that is not related to the Penguins at all. Must suck.

a lot of these people obsessed with dubas are not leafs fans, just folks who have been arguing against him for years and are very invested in seeing him fail

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Dubas fan club has been dead silent lol. Entire core is over 35, didn't make any sense to try and win again with this team. Adding Karlsson lol if only someone told em that he's one of the worst players in his own end.

Sid and Geno are nearing the end of their career, they've won everything. They should've been looking to rebuild, these guys can't carry their team to a cup at this stage but they could play a huge part in helping another team with a younger core take that next step to win a cup. Don't understand what Dubas was thinking, they should sell off by the deadline and prepare for the future. Sid can still bring in a massive haul but trading for Karlsson is just brutal.

That was a decision made summer before 2022-23 when resigning Letang/Malkin, before Dubas came on board. Honestly, the core is not the problem.

Keeping the core and rebuilding a new one wasn't going to happen as we have been giving away draft picks left and right. We had nothing to rebuild with. Nobody is going to complain about it, after 3 cups + 1 final.

They aren't going to do a wholesale sell. They will instead avoid wasting draft picks on rentals, and keep their draft pics.

Crazy the parallels to when he was TOR’s GM to what he’s doing now in PIT.

Having an already established, top paring offensive guy (Reilly/Letang). Bring in another one to “fix” the D (Barrie/Karlsson), essentially wasting assets (kadri/1sts) on essentially a luxury, while already having one.

Speaking on karlsson specifically, also crazy to look at what happened in SJ with Burns/Karlsson and think, “let’s do that here”.

Karlsson is sick, but seems rather redundant considering PIT has quite a few weapons.

The D was in shambles. I think getting EK/Graves were great moves! Considering also he cleaned up Hextalls moves (ie. Petry/Rutta/Granlund), didn't give up a lot, fit it all under the salary cap, and got younger, all at the same time. I don't know how you argue otherwise here.

Letang/Karlsson is not a problem here.

Dubas's only mistake is...
- resigning Jarry to 5 years.

Dubas's future mistake...
- not getting rid of Sully fast enough

 

[Zbynek]

Pens don't play again til Saturday. Lots of time for Dubas to think about coaching decision