CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Kyle Dubas spent about 20 minutes speaking with the media on Friday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. It was the first time he did so since being introduced as president of hockey operations on June 1.
"We haven’t lost any games yet, so the people (of Pittsburgh) have been very, very kind," he said with a smile.
The offseason is about to ramp up with the NHL Draft less than a week away and the beginning of free agency following shortly after its conclusion.
The Penguins find themselves in a peculiar spot.
In most cases, the Penguins' situation would warrant the start of a rebuild, resulting in several rather uncompetitive seasons before looking to contend again. But with three aging franchise legends still near the top of their respective games, Dubas is tasked with supplementing them with a proper supporting cast in the immediate term without mortgaging the future.
That'll start with identifying and obtaining more talent and skill.
"In terms of the NHL roster right now, I think No. 1 is, we need to add talent to the forward group," Dubas said. "Last year, the group here got great performances out of its core players and still missed (the playoffs). So, we need to have players at the bottom of the lineup or on the third and fourth lines that can add certain utilities — talent being some, penalty-killing being others. Competitiveness, speed, youth would be a wonderful thing for us to add with where we’re at."
On top of retooling the bottom six, the Penguins are currently in need of a top-six left winger, a top-four, left-handed defenseman and a No. 1 goalie.
Don't expect them to make any major waves in free agency to address those positions.
"I don’t think they’re going to be the big, splashy type of UFAs," Dubas said. "If that’s what we go into, they’ll probably be more subtle bets, and we’ll need to hit on them in order to have success. But I don’t think you’ll see us in the market for the long-term, highly-expensive, forwards especially, in free agency."
That shouldn't come as a huge surprise considering this year's crop of unrestricted free agents leaves quite a bit to be desired. Rather than overpaying the top free agents just because they're the best players available, Dubas believes the Penguins will have the opportunity to weaponize their available cap space against teams looking to clear cap space of their own.
"The asset that we do have right now is, we have cap space — nearly $20 million in cap space, or slightly more," he said. "Obviously we have some big needs that we need to fill using that, but what I’ve seen in the marketplace is that also puts us in position to acquire players from other teams that are looking to shed salaries, either to become cap compliant, outright, or different players they want to re-sign of their own, or they have different needs that they’ve identified.
"The market has been that way, I think, since the pandemic began and the cap went flat, where each summer teams pay a premium to offload people, or they can try to find a fit where maybe there’s a team that believes it’s close to contending or wants to contend, can take on players that can still bring in good value without giving up a lot of it and without giving up their cap space."
Such trades unfolding would massively benefit the Penguins in the sense that they wouldn't have to ship out a boatload of their most valuable futures assets. Dubas doesn't envision trading away top picks or prospects without a young, talented, NHL-ready player coming back his way.
"I don’t believe, unless we’re adding a very impactful younger player, that we’re going to part with our younger assets, meaning the Owen Pickerings of the world or our first-round picks as we move ahead here. I think we have to build up the system. But that said, I think we’re in a good spot and fortunate that the cap has remained flat, because it allows us to take on people from other clubs that can bring us good value and have us push to contend."
MORE FROM DUBAS
• Dubas left the door wide open as it relates to the 14th overall pick in next week's draft. He knows the player selected with that pick isn't going to be ready to contribute in the NHL for several years, which is why, if the Penguins keep that pick, they'll be drafting the best player available instead of drafting for positional need. However, he's open to utilizing that pick in a trade to move up for a more talented player, or to move down and obtain additional selections.
"I don’t think anybody that we draft, especially at 14, is going to make an impact on the roster, speaking just in probabilities, not for another couple of years. Two or three years, at least," he said. "The goal in the draft and the needs of our team, if you start to project two or three years out, are totally different. Especially where the organization is in terms of the prospect pool and where the roster’s at, you cannot worry about how a player may fit in two or three years.
"We have to get the best player we can at 14, or we can move up and acquire somebody that’s really gonna make a difference. We can move back to collect more draft capital and really add to the quantity of our prospects, but they have to be the best players available."
• The NHL's buyout window is currently open until June 30 at 5 p.m. The Penguins could add even more cap space for next season -- $4,166,667, to be exact -- if Mikael Granlund is bought out, but that doesn't sound nearly as likely as it did a week ago after Dubas insisted there are finer ways to get out from under poor-value contracts.
"I just think there are more creative ways and better ways, especially in this environment where, if you have contracts that you view as problematic or you’re not getting great value from them, you can move them on," he said when asked about the possibility of buyouts. "With regards to buyouts, I’ve always believed that you try to find a more creative solution and it’s a last resort, and I don’t feel that we’re at that point right now."
• Being brand new to the organization, Dubas felt it was important to touch base with each of the Penguins' pending unrestricted free agents to get a gauge on where they value themselves within the marketplace. He didn't shed much light on which way things are leaning with Tristan Jarry, Jason Zucker, Brian Dumoulin, Danton Heinen and others, but expects to know whether or not each of them will be re-signing by sometime next week.
"The dance is ongoing right now, with all of them," he said.
• Jason Spezza was hired as assistant general manager last week after spending last season with Dubas in Toronto's front office as the special assistant to the general manager. Dubas thinks he'll be a valuable component of hockey operations, especially as it pertains to his ability to bridge the gap between management and the players.
"The amount of work that he put in on all fronts to try to learn as much as he could and advance himself as quickly as he could through the year was very impressive," Dubas said of Spezza. "He has a certain way about him that he’s close enough in terms of his playing experience that he can help and relate to the players, but provide that conduit between management and the players where he can hold them accountable, push them, but then also provide us some feedback of where we can help them without crossing any lines of confidentiality or conflict of interest."
• There was an apparent disconnect between Mike Sullivan and Ron Hextall on how the Penguins should be constructed. Dubas admits he and Sullivan aren't always going to see eye-to-eye on everything, but there's no reason to believe the two of them aren't largely aligned right now.
"There’s no short conversations. They’re all rather lengthy," Dubas said of his talks with Sullivan. "But it’s been great. When you’re working in this job and running the organization, the more communication and feedback you can get from the coach, the better. … The relationship and the communications with Sully have been really, really great and enjoyable so far. He likes to talk about hockey."
