Kyle Dubas isn't ready to rule out a potential Jake Guentzel return to Pittsburgh.
"I don't think (the door) is closed," Dubas told me when I asked about a potential Guentzel return at the NHL's Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y. on Saturday. "If the player is interested, I think he knows the situation pretty well."
Guentzel seems unlikely to come to an agreement to re-sign with the Hurricanes this offseason. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported this week that Carolina has made it known that Guentzel's signing rights are available for a mid-round pick, allowing the acquiring team to negotiate with Guentzel prior to free agency opening on July 1. Dubas did rule out that avenue though, saying, "I just don't know that we're the type of team right now that needs to be trading any draft picks for player rights."
The Penguins have some of their own decisions to make before free agency opens too -- namely who their other goaltender will be next season. Alex Nedeljkovic remains unsigned, and will become an unrestricted free agent if he remains unsigned on July 1. Dubas said that "the door is definitely still open" for Nedeljkovic to return.
"Because of how close the end of the draft is to the opening of free agency, we're not doing our pro scouting meetings until two weeks from now," Dubas explained. "So we'll go through all that. But Ned and his camp know where we stand and we'll just leave it at that, so we don't make it into anything more public."
When Dubas held his season-ending media availability after the Penguins failed to qualify for the playoffs, he said that Joel Blomqvist's performance in the upcoming AHL playoffs would give them more information on how to proceed with Nedeljkovic -- suggesting that if Blomqvist impressed enough at that level, he could enter the conversation for the No. 2 role in the NHL next season.
Wilkes-Barre's playoff run ended in two games, getting swept by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the best-of-three first round after Blomqvist recorded a 3.49 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage. Blomqvist looked good in the first loss, a 2-1 Phantoms win in which he stopped 30 of 32 shots. The players in front of him just couldn't generate much offense. Wilkes-Barre was eliminated the next game with a 5-4 overtime loss, and Blomqvist stopped 29 of 34 shots. That's not much of a sample size, but it sure sounds like he's not expected to start the year in the NHL.
"I don't want to read too much into it," Dubas said of Blomqvist's playoff run. "I mean, obviously, I think if they had gone on a long run, we'd have more to go off of. But he had a great year. You know, the two games at the end, I didn't think the team played overly well. The first game they didn't generate much, the second game they were in control and kind of gave it away. But he had a great season, and he's a great prospect. At some point next year, we expect he'll make a strong push, whether that's earlier or midway through the year."
In addition to Blomqvist and Taylor Gauthier in the minors and Sergei Murashov in Russia, the Penguins' goaltending pool got even deeper this year with the signing of 25-year-old Filip Larsson to a two-year, two-way contract out of Sweden. Penguins director of goaltending John Elkin scouted Larsson all year, and was impressed with what he saw.
"He's a guy that you're familiar with," Dubas said of Larsson. "He played at (University of) Denver, then he was a Detroit draft pick, then didn't have a great year once he turned pro here. He went back to Europe and built himself back up. Last year in Sweden, he had a great season, wanted to come back to North America, and we were able to get that done for a two-year, two-way deal. He'll have a chance to compete in camp. We're just trying to build that up with Blomqvist, Larsson and Taylor Gauthier. So we feel like on the prospect side, that's a strength for us. We need to build up the rest of the prospect base. But in goal, we feel pretty good."
Dubas dipped into the European pool to bolster the Penguins' group of defense prospects this summer as well, signing 24-year-old left-handed defenseman Filip Kral to a one-year, two-way contract. Kral was initially drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by Dubas and the Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs didn't qualify Kral in 2023, making him a free agent, and so Kral spent the last year in Finland.
"Obviously, very familiar with him," Dubas said of Kral. "We drafted him in Toronto, and then he turned pro and made his NHL debut there. In 2023 he went back and played in Finland last year and had a great year after being kind of up and down in the American League. And so we watched him all year. Great character person, good size (6-2, 198), strong play, power play, played the penalty kill, moves the puck. We just expect him to kind of battle with John Ludvig for those last spots on defense and try to push his way up the line. He's still young at 24, we hope he can take steps this year with us."
Left-handed defensemen who are both under contract with the Penguins right now and could conceivably see NHL time to start are Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Graves, Ludvig and Kral. That doesn't include P.O Joseph, who remains a restricted free agent. But Dubas expects Joseph to be in the fold shortly as well.
"(Director of hockey operations) Vukie (Mpofu) and his agent have had some conversations already," Dubas said of where things stand with Joseph. "So I think we'll try to get that wrapped up, if we can. He's got arbitration (eligibility) if not, so it'll come to a conclusion one way or another. But he'll definitely be somebody that will qualify."
The Penguins didn't need much time to re-sign defenseman Jack St. Ivany to a three-year, two-way contract this offseason. St. Ivany, who was a second-year pro last season, earned that contract despite playing just 14 NHL games late in the season. Dubas thought the growth St. Ivany showed was enough to lock him up for the next three seasons.
"We just thought the progress he made last year, from here at the rookie tournament through to the end of the season where he played really well for us down the stretch, in combination with how much he bought into the development program that we put in place, and combined with the quality of character and work ethic that he has, he's the type of guy that we want to bet on," Dubas said.
As things stand, the Penguins don't exactly have many openings to fill in free agency. Other than Nedeljkovic, the only pending unrestricted free agents who spent much of the year in the NHL are two forwards in Jansen Harkins and Jeff Carter, the latter having already retired. Given the situation, Dubas thinks that the Penguins are in an OK spot cap-wise as they near the opening of free agency.
"I think we probably have more flexibility than is publicly thought," Dubas said. "I mean, we don't have a ton of positions to fill, and we have a lot of guys internal near the minimum. But I also don't think we're going to be big into the big, long-term, high-money guys. Just with where we're at, we need to try to find players on shorter-term that can come in and and help, but also continue to keep our focus on young players, prospects and draft picks, and trying to get those into the system and expedite things that way."
There are a couple other pressing vacancies behind benches that need to be filled first.
The Penguins are still in the process of replacing assistant coach Todd Reirden and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach J.D. Forrest after both were let go this offseason. Dubas expects those vacancies to be filled soon.
"The Wilkes-Barre hiring, we're just into the final stretch," Dubas said. "We'll have the final round of interviews this week and maybe next weekend or the week after. Certainly before the draft, we hope to have that wrapped up. And the same on the assistant coaching side. (Mike Sullivan) and I have been working together on that. We'll dig deeper into that this week, and then hopefully by the draft, we will have everybody in place and be ready to roll."
