When the Pittsburgh Penguins dismissed GM Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke in April 2023, it created a vacancy that needed to be filled by an individual with a clear vision. The Penguins arguably had the least desirable job in the NHL, and there was no extensive list of candidates capable of stepping in and transforming a struggling franchise.
Pittsburgh had missed the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons, had an aging, costly roster, lacked prospects in the pipeline, had very few draft picks, and had minimal cap space. Despite all the negatives linked to the role, Pittsburgh leveraged its considerable resources at the time to attract Kyle Dubas to lead the organization, offering him a lengthy, substantial financial commitment and full autonomy to run the team as he deemed fit.
It was a significant gamble, and one that appears to be paying off nearly three years later.
Make no mistake: during the first two months Dubas was in charge, he did almost nothing right. The Ryan Graves contract remains a complete disaster; the Tristan Jarry deal was a major failure; and the other contracts he signed that summer did little to benefit the Penguins the following season.
The only positive from that summer was acquiring three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, who hasn’t been his usual offensive self but has become a more complete defender this season.
But during the 2023-24 season, when it became clear the Penguins were out of contention, they shifted to a retooling approach that resembled a rebuild. At the deadline, Dubas traded pending UFA Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Michael Bunting, a second-round pick that would become defenseman Harrison Brunicke, forward prospects Ville Koivunen, Vasiliy Ponomarev, and Cruz Lucius, along with a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick.
It was a significant haul for Dubas, although it lacked top-tier assets and was viewed as a move focused on quantity rather than quality. Nevertheless, the move sparked a run for Dubas that allowed him to avoid a full-scale rebuild, despite widespread belief that he was rebuilding the Penguins.
Dubas started dismantling the Penguins’ roster by trading away several veterans. At the same time, he added draft picks and young players who hadn’t panned out elsewhere, along with veterans on overpriced contracts that their former teams needed to shed for salary-cap reasons.
Dubas was happy to acquire these types of players in exchange for draft picks, as shown in his trades for Kevin Hayes and Cody Glass, in which he received second-, third-, and sixth-round picks for taking on their contracts. He also made short-term bets on players with potential upside, signing forward Anthony Beauvillier to a one-year deal and defenceman Matt Grzelcyk for just one year.
During the first part of the 2024-25 season, Dubas’ decisions seemed disastrous. The Penguins were out of playoff contention by January and began selling off pending UFAs, starting with Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor, whom they traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a first-round pick and several other veterans who were eventually moved out.
Dubas kept retooling, moving on from Glass to acquire more assets, including Bunting, who eventually helped the Penguins land Thomas Novak and additional draft picks. He also traded Beauvillier for a second-round draft pick at the deadline and acquired Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins for a fifth-rounder.
It all seemed like a video game. Dubas was wheeling and dealing as if he had a controller in his hand, but on-ice results were underwhelming at best.
The Penguins missed the playoffs for a third straight year, and fans and media alike began questioning whether Sidney Crosby should remain in Pittsburgh, since Dubas wasn’t building a strong team around him. Despite missing postseason hockey, the Penguins weren’t building for the here and now, as Dubas was adding draft picks and younger assets – something many believed was impossible without a full rebuild.
Aside from the asset acquisition, another big story was brewing. Dubas had pulled the Penguins out of an awful cap situation, and they had flexibility on the horizon.
Pittsburgh has over $47MM in cap space available this summer (per PuckPedia) and won’t have a ton of holes to fill, as they finally have a youth movement coming.
Then there was the mastery Dubas showed during the summer of 2025, first drafting Benjamin Kindel with the 11th overall pick, which most people thought was a reach. He then traded down with his second pick and ultimately left the first round of the entry draft with Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff.
Dubas then spent the rest of the summer acquiring castoffs and second-round picks, taking on Matt Dumba’s contract and the sweetener from the Stars, as well as Connor Clifton from Buffalo. By late summer, the Penguins had more draft capital for the next three NHL drafts than any other team, all without a full-scale rebuild.
Dubas also went bargain-hunting among free agents last summer and found great success, signing Anthony Mantha to a one-year deal that has been a significant bargain, as well as defensemen Parker Wotherspoon and Justin Brazeau, who fill top four and top six roles on the Penguins for just $2.5MM combined and are signed for another season.
But Dubas’s best work this season has been the Jarry for Stuart Skinner swap and the Egor Chinakhov trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Skinner has outperformed Jarry since the trade, playing exceptionally well and helping the Penguins re-enter playoff contention.
Pittsburgh also received a second-round pick and Brett Kulak from Edmonton, who was later traded for Samuel Girard and an additional second-round pick. The Chinakhov trade, on the other hand, has worked out splendidly, as he has fit seamlessly alongside Evgeni Malkin, and the Penguins have been red hot since the trade.
Pittsburgh is now firmly in a playoff race, even without Crosby and, more recently, Malkin. The team isn’t a Stanley Cup favourite, but Dubas has achieved the impossible with this roster in just a few short years.
He made the team younger and faster, overhauled the prospect system, accumulated draft picks, and gained cap flexibility. He managed all of this while keeping the team in playoff contention during the final years of Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang.
Dubas provided the Penguins with direction and made the tough decisions and bold moves that come with having a clear vision. Make no mistake, Dubas had the term and independence when he was hired; he could have torn down the roster and taken the easy route to rebuild.
But he chose the more challenging path of retooling on the fly, one of the toughest ways to build. Dubas took one of the league’s oldest rosters and revitalized it, and for that, he deserves a lot of credit.
Toronto learned the hard way grass ain’t always greener. Treliving has destroyed the Leafs
Just like he destroyed the Flames. I’d like to see the Leafs completely clean house this offseason.
They should hire this Dubas guy. Seems like hes just what Toronto needs.
Dubas somehow traded a worse goalie in Jarry plus poulin for Skinner Kulak and picks, Pittsburgh has had many great trades this year while also staying competitive. i hate the Pens but he deserves GM of the year nominations
Even if Jarry and Skinner are relatively equal in talent, moving off of Jarrys contract for an expiring deal made that worth it enough. The other assets are just gravy on top.
I’m not ready to anoint Wonderboy the second coming quite yet. He got lucky with guys like Brazeau & Mantha having career years (with shooting % in the 20 range) and hit on a rare draft-pick-ready-to-contribute-now in Kindel. Skinner has been better than Jarry (which wouldn’t take much) and is still sporting a sub-.900 save % (as is Silovs.) The moves Dubas has made thus far are fine in the short-term, but once he starts taking on guys with term who are in there for the long-haul we will see how the results shake out.
Who cares how Skinner has performed, the mastery is getting an expiring contract for a guy with term that was literally waived last year. We now have received Skinner, girard and 2 seconds for jarry and a busted prospect. The oilers are dumb.
I think until Crosby and Malkin retire, any evaluation of Dubas is premature. Managing that transition is the crux of the franchise and what this team looks like after that should be the measure of his performance.
What does Chris Drury deserve?
A 10 year extension
Don’t forget he had the guts to fire Sullivan and bring in a guy no one had on their radar and both deserve awards this year.
Sorry to burst your little bubble, but the Pens aren’t going anywhere unless 4-7 playoff games is a huge success.
The fact they aren’t in a lottery position right now is a minor miracle. There should be no playoff expectations.
I hit pause on this just because I saw the Caps have this same sequence of events a year earlier.
Look at the 2024-25 Capitals, you could have said the same thing. I think Dubas saw this too. A lot of things also went right for the Caps that aren’t going right this year (if not terribly wrong), and that could be seen by the metrics folks. I don’t think the 2024-25 Penguins were as bad as their record indicated, nor are the 2025-26 Penguins as good as their record indicates. These things have a way of regressing to the mean.
Anthony Mantha is a prime example. He’s on pace for 30 goals and 60 points and is a force this season. I watched this guy float for 4 years in DC and Red Wings fans were frustrated with the same thing. He could return back to 15 goals and invisibility next year very easily. (He’s shooting 20% so he should really have about 14-15 goals not 23). It would be smart to say this is Mantha’s career year and it shouldn’t be a surprise to see him go back to 15 goals and 35 points next season.
It does buy Dubas a year though and it appears he learned his lesson from 2-3 years ago when he dug the hole deeper with older guys.