Kovacevic: Dubas' trash Guentzel trade mirrors other work here to date

"It’s an awful feeling right now," Lars Eller was telling me at his stall Thursday night in the Penguins' locker room, which was as silent -- no, sullen -- as I've ever experienced at PPG Paints Arena. "For a lot of our players, it’s the first time in decades to be in a situation like this. It’s a difficult reality to face, but it is the reality. The sooner we get over that and make the best of it …"

He paused. Couldn't find the right words. Which I'd also never witnessed.

"Tonight was awful," he'd simply reiterate. "I don’t know what to say. It’s embarrassing."

Uh-huh, because first came the game that fit all those criteria:

Final score: Nationals 6, Pirates 0

Sorry not sorry, as the cool kids say. Because then, a bit before midnight, Kyle Dubas and the Hurricanes completed a trade so awful, so embarrassing that, until this day, it only could've been believed coming from the local baseball club.

Going to Carolina:

• Jake Guentzel, perennial scorer of 30-40 goals, 29 years old and still producing as much as ever, longtime linemate of the local living legend, eager to spend his entire career here, and affordable for years to come by passive virtue of age/attrition on the roster

• Cash to cover a quarter of Jake's salary, or $1.5 million, and even out the immediate cap hits

• Ty Smith, an erratic defenseman with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL

Coming to Pittsburgh:

• Michael Bunting, perennial scorer of less than half of Jake's goals, at 28 years old a whole year younger than Jake, longtime linemate of ... no one, really, since he'll now join his fourth team in as many seasons, in addition to being overpaid -- three years, $13.5 million, carrying through this season and the next two -- and owner of a team-worst minus-15 rating for the Hurricanes, one of the NHL's stingiest operations

• Forward prospects Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen and Cruz Lucius, none of whom ranked among the top four prospects in the Carolina system, per NHL.com -- ranked out of the top six by another service, and were roundly panned by others who’d know:

• Two conditional NHL Draft picks, one of them a second-rounder in 2024 that'd become a first-rounder if the Hurricanes make the Stanley Cup Final, the other a fifth-rounder but only if the Canes win it all ... and this conditional nonsense taking place in the same span that the Flyers just got a true first-round pick for 29-year-old rental defenseman Sean Walker, and the Ducks just got a true first-round pick for 34-year-old rental forward Adam Henrique

So, Kris Beech, Michal Sivek and Ross Lupachuk, anyone? Or is this exchange all the uglier since Craig Patrick's hand was forced on Jaromir Jagr, and that wasn't the case with Dubas and Guentzel at all?

Wait, how about Colin Moran, Joe Musgrove, Michael Feliz and ... man, I can't even remember the fourth player the Pirates got for Gerrit Cole? Some outfielder. Or is this exchange all the uglier since at least Musgrove could pitch a little?

See, that's how these things go. Almost without exception, the teams that get the obvious best player in any high-stakes trade -- and this'll be one of the higher-stakes trades we've seen around here in some time -- wins that trade. And on top of that, the teams that operate with the sharpest focus, confidence and awareness will always strive for quality over quantity.

This was neither. The Hurricanes get Jake, and the return could only be viewed as being about quantity and, worse, about crossed fingers. It's all about hope. All about pinning the franchise's future on the same scouting/analytics whiz-bangs who not so long ago spit out a recommendation to guarantee $27 million to Ryan Graves.

As I'd been writing for months, this never needed to happen. None of it.

And please, don't be grading Dubas on any curve. This isn't college.

I'd been in favor, enthusiastically so, of seeing what's out there for Jake in the sign-and-trade context. That would've brought a better return, because the team getting the best player knows he'll be around a while. This didn't happen. That's understandable.

OK, so don't trade him.

I'd been in favor, enthusiastically so, of trading almost anyone, Jake included, if it'd make the organization stronger overall, while also being in line with fair value. So my stance, while acknowledging sentimentality and specifically doing right by Sidney Crosby, it hasn't been founded on either. I very much get what's gone on here. I've covered the same season everyone's watched. It's been -- how'd Eller word it again? -- awful and embarrassing.

But this Jake-as-two-month-rental scenario was never going to make anything better and, to be blunt, it's made matters worse. Bunting's a downgrade. Precedent shows having even one of the three prospects become an NHL mainstay -- never mind Jake -- to be a complete crapshoot. And the Flyers' second-round pick'll probably be in the mid-50s.

OK, so don't trade him.

Unless there was pressure from Fenway Sports Group to cut costs moving forward, which can't be ruled out given how they've butchered their beloved Red Sox in Boston in part by cheaping out, then Dubas was under no duress. None whatsoever. He could've instead invested all this time, all this energy into working out an extension with Jake's representatives, as opposed to there being no meaningful talks on this front forever, from what I've heard.

Is it possible Jake would've wanted too much for too long?

Of course that's possible. But in the same breath, I'm comfortable saying that's not the humble son of a hockey coach I've come to know, the one who, as Kris Letang would say after this game, "comes to the rink with a big smile every day and works hard," the one who sat alone on the home team's bench an hour before this game just gazing around at the place, the one who achieved all this:

pic.twitter.com/jShBRg37kd

— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) March 8, 2024

Besides, think about it: If Jake wanted out, then why would Sid and several other veterans be taking this so hard?

Right. They'd just wish him best of luck and say farewell.

They're aware that wasn't what happened, though. They're aware, and they're upset. Richly upset. And I dare say they've got every right to be. It doesn't take Toe Blake to see that these 2023-24 Penguins weren't dragged down by Sid, Evgeni Malkin and Letang but, rather, by a Dubas-assembled supporting cast that's been sickeningly nondescript for months. Setting aside the wonderful acquisitions of both Eller and Alex Nedeljkovic, all he's added is an out-of-place Erik Karlsson and a whole slew of Reilly Smith, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto, Jansen Harkins, Colin White and other time-killers, not to mention handing out a mega-extension last summer to this human shorty-waiting-to-happen:

✋👁️💯 pic.twitter.com/Q6RYoZMC4U

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 8, 2024

There's also how, despite all that authority that Dubas demanded from Fenway upon taking the job, he didn't use it to order Mike Sullivan to plant Jeff Carter in the press box and clear space on this roster that, as Dubas put it himself recently, needed to "get younger." It's needed that from the outset. Even if that'd mean sacrificing some skill.

Sid, Geno and Letang didn't make that mess. Jake didn't make that mess. Dubas did.

Again, don't be grading on any curve. I don't care in this context what a far bigger mess Ron Hextall and Brian Burke made. All those names I just listed, except for Carter, are Dubas buys. Anyone who can accept the title of president of hockey operations and then name himself GM, I'd assume he's able to absorb twice the accountability.

Dubas did put forth a statement in the team's press release on the trade, a welcome development unto itself in that he's now communicating with fans in Pittsburgh as opposed to media in Toronto: “The decision to trade Jake Guentzel, with his contract set to expire this offseason, was one of the most difficult decisions that I have had to make in my time in management. In my first season with the Penguins, it has become quite clear why Jake means so much to his teammates, all Penguins staff and the City of Pittsburgh. Jake’s competitiveness, tenacity and spirit, combined with his talent, have produced some of the greatest moments of this era of Penguins hockey. A born and bred Pittsburgh Penguin, Jake has become a pillar in the community and fan favorite for all the right reasons. We cannot thank Jake and his family enough for their contributions to the Penguins since he was drafted in 2013 and wish him our very best.”

I'd let that stand without further comment, other than that it sure was slick to insert that conspicuous clause, offset by commas, into that opening sentence. Talk about Pirates-like. Could've been crafted by Bob Nutting himself.

I asked Sullivan, in his postgame session, to what extent the Jake process affected his team's terrible effort on the ice:

“Obviously, we weren’t at our best," he'd reply. "Obviously, we didn’t do a good enough job handling a lot of that noise that’s going on around the team. Jake means an awful lot to these guys. When you win championships together, there’s a certain bond there that’s hard to put into words. These guys are human. As much as we preach, ‘Stay on task here and focus,’ obviously, I have to believe some of that had impact on what went on the ice tonight. It’s not an excuse. We still need to do our jobs. That’s our business. That’s what we signed up for. We’ve gotta be better moving forward.”

In the locker room, Sid looked like he'd just lost ... well, Jake.

“He’s a great player, great teammate, a friend,” the captain would say. “Did everything he possibly could in his time here. Just privileged to play with him for the course of that time. Some great memories. It was just a privilege, and that’s all I can say.”

His expression spoke so much louder, though, both while being interview and for the extended period he'd then sit at that stall alone, rather than right away popping up toward the showers as he usually does.

This doesn't just stink. It reeks. Something's off here, and I'm not yet to the stage where I've sniffed it all out. Maybe it really was the Fenway people. Maybe Dubas had his mind made up on this for months. Maybe this was his way of flexing muscles he was never allowed to flex in Toronto. Maybe this was how a visibly emotional executive hoped to either build up some bonus ego or bury other egos in the environment that might've been infringing on his own.

I'll say this for now: I'll bet the crowd's bigger at a certain establishment on Fifth Avenue, Downtown, at noon on this particular Friday ...

... than what'll show up for this team's practice, with the same start time, up in Cranberry.

Maybe Dubas could take a stroll down and pick up a little Pittsburghese. Corporate-sounding, ego-based crap doesn't float here for long.

• The NHL trade deadline's at 3 p.m. Friday. Here's hoping an eighth-rounder can be culled for someone.

• Pie Traynor days till the for-real Pirates take the field in Miami.

• The Michael Bunting Era of Pittsburgh hockey launches Saturday in Boston. I'll be there.

• Thanks for reading!

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