CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Kyle Dubas said that he spent a lot of nights staring at his ceiling, losing sleep while thinking of different ways to make an Erik Karlsson trade happen.
"Know the market, which other teams are going to jump in? Who can beat you to it, how can they beat you to it? How can you outdo them?" Dubas said of those late-night thoughts.
Dubas was able to sleep well Sunday night after puling off a three-team trade with the Sharks and Canadiens to acquire Karlsson. He managed to unload a pair of problematic contracts in Mikael Granlund and Jeff Petry, and moved on from Casey DeSmith, Jan Rutta and prospect Nathan Legare. It cost a top-10 protected first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick (though the Penguins did get a third-round pick in return), but the Penguins managed to hang onto all of their top prospects in the process. The combined moves shed about $3 million in salary to get the Penguins cap-compliant.
Avoiding a buyout by finding takers for two tough contracts alone would have been a success. But to get the defending Norris Trophy-winning defenseman back as part of the deal? Wow.
"The reason why we wanted to bring Erik in was when going through our team, one of the things that I had felt talking with (Mike Sullivan) about is we needed to continually improve our ability to move the puck from our own zone," Dubas said. "Erik, I think he's one of the elite players in that regard in the NHL, even though he's in his early 30s. He continues to be one of the top skaters in the NHL, and obviously his production and offense is quite prolific. He's very competitive, very motivated person wants to come here and help our team."
It was first reported that the Penguins were looking into Karlsson back on the opening day of free agency, on July 1. Dubas compared the stage things were in on July 1 to the opening rounds of a championship fight, with both sides "feeling each other out."
The third team was needed in order to take on some of the salary the Penguins were moving out. Dubas said that there were a few teams in that mix, and all had different priorities with what they were able to take on in the trade. When the Canadiens jumped into the mix for Petry, Dubas said that "helped get this across the line."
One other step in the trade was speaking with one of the players who stands to be affected by the move -- Kris Letang. In bringing in another right-handed, offensive defenseman, Karlsson could be competing with Letang for ice time and potentially knock Letang off of the top power play unit. While Dubas said he wasn't seeking approval from Letang, he wanted to keep him in the loop. He got a big stamp of approval from Letang nonetheless.
"Unsurprisingly with Kris, it was very clearly whatever is going to make us better and help us win," Dubas said. "This process is also showing me why it was appealing for me to come here, because suddenly the group of guys that have won here all together, that's all they care about. They're not worried about the power play time, they're not worried about anything other than winning and whatever is going to help the team win."
The way the pairings will actually shake out will be a question for Sullivan to answer once training camp opens on Sept. 21, but Dubas doesn't necessarily see Letang's ice time dropping. He said that in bringing in Karlsson, the Penguins can ensure that they have one of Karlsson or Letang on the ice for "at least 50 minutes of the game."
"I think both are extraordinarily well-conditioned," Dubas said. "Kris' competitiveness is well-renowned in here, and I think Erik's competitiveness will stand out as everyone in the room gets to know him. But both have shown in the past to be able to take on massive minutes. I think we want to be cognizant of that as we go through the regular season."
So, what's next?
There's no knowing what the Penguins' actual salary-cap figure is going to be just yet. Any projections on third-party websites are just that -- projections, based on projected rosters. The projected roster on salary cap site PuckPedia has the Penguins just about $700,000 under the salary cap with 13 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders when healthy. That group could line up something like this:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Drew O'Connor - Lars Eller - Noel Acciari
Matt Nieto - Jeff Carter - Rem Pitlick
Vinnie Hinostroza
Ryan Graves - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic
That wouldn't line quite up with what it sounded like Dubas had planned to start the season, though. Dubas said Monday that he expects to carry 13 forwards, seven defenseman and two goaltenders, which would be one additional player than the projected roster above. The $700,000 in space the above roster allots isn't enough for a league-minimum call up, so there are still some minor moves to be made.
That doesn't necessarily mean trades. Dubas said that he's not afraid to put players on waivers in an effort to gain roster flexibility. If they happen to lose a player in the process, then they'll wish him well with his new team and move on. One way the Penguins could utilize waivers to stay compliant but free up the money needed to take on an additional roster player would be waiving someone like Rem Pitlick, who was acquired in the Karlsson deal and has a $1.1 million cap hit. Pitlick's entire cap hit would come off the books whether he clears or is claimed, and that would give the Penguins enough room to add the extra forward and extra defenseman needed, as long as they make close to league-minimum salary.
Asked if this is the group of players who will be coming into training camp or if more moves can be anticipated, Dubas laughed and said that he wouldn't expect any "major" moves, but can't make any promises. Rather, the Penguins are now starting to look into the more affordable free agents available to see if they can fill any remaining holes.
"I think we always want to try to improve the team," Dubas said. "But I would say now, we're six weeks out from camp starting on Wednesday, five weeks out from the Prospects (Challenge) in Buffalo. I think this will be the group. With Granlund going out and two defenseman going out, I do think we've felt in the last 24 hours of the remaining free agents in terms of whether there's guys who want to sign on or even professional tryouts that think this could be a great, great spot for them to come in. So we're sorting through that. I think if there's anything, it'll be more in that vein than anything big."
The big move, of course, was bringing in Karlsson. Beyond what Karlsson adds to the team himself, Dubas also sees the Karlsson acquisition as a message to the rest of the team that management believes this team still has a chance to contend and compete for the Stanley Cup.
"There's a lot of work that has to be done," Dubas said. "Obviously, the team missed the playoffs last year, there's no dancing around it. But we tried to supplement as best we can. And I know that there'll be lots of people that doubt the group, and rightfully so. I mean, we have to go out and prove it starting on the first day of training camp and building to where we want to get to. So I think the doubts are fair, I think the criticisms are fair. Now we have our belief, and then it's about us to go out and execute. That's on me, to lead the way and get the group and the coaching staff and the players what I think they they need."
He's off to a pretty good start.
