'Being a contender for the Stanley Cup' remains Penguins president Kyle Dubas' long-term focus
It’s likely Kyle Dubas isn’t surprised he was staging his second end-of-season news conference as the Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations in mid-April instead of May or June.
Given how he constructed the team’s roster last offseason, Dubas didn’t anticipate his squad to be slugging it out in the first round of the ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs.
Perhaps there was optimism. But not expectations.
That doesn’t mean Dubas is happy with where things are.
In fact, he even used some salty language to explain where the team is after going 34-36-12 in 2024-25.
“You can go into the mass tear-down rebuild and hope you get lucky with the (draft) lottery and hope that all this happens,” Dubas said. “But you can hope in one hand and (expletive) in the other.
“See which one fills up first.”
The Penguins have had their fill of unsatisfactory results having missed the postseason three consecutive seasons. And there’s no guarantee that slump won’t extend to a fourth campaign.
But Dubas maintains his goals are far loftier than simply qualifying for the postseason. It just may take more time to get to that grand terminus.
“As we talked about previously, that’s really our goal is to build the team back to being a contender for the Stanley Cup,” Dubas said Monday in Cranberry. “It’s not trying to find a way just to sneak into the playoffs. It’s trying to find a way to arrive back there and then remain back there in contention.
“And we continue to (be) committed to our plan and program to return there as urgently as possible.”
Dubas is ambiguous on that level of urgency, however. That’s to say he is hesitant to lay out a specific due date for the Penguins to get back to being a championship contender.
“When I say as urgently as possible, I try not to put a timeline on it because I don’t want this to be a perpetual and evergreen (comment) when we come in and say ‘Ah, we’re a year or two or so away.’
“We’re pushing. That’s what the organization is used to and what the fans want. We just have to stick to a very concise plan and execute our butts off. That’s for sure.”
Dubas addressed a number of topics Friday.
• Incumbent goaltenders Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic are expected to remain with the team by the time training camp opens in September.
Jarry, who endured a poor 2024-25 season in which he was waived, will be entering the third year of a five-year contract. Nedeljkovic, whose numbers were far from impressive, will have another season remaining on his two-year deal.
They will be pressed for playing time by promising prospects Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov, however.
“The goaltending room is one that I think has good depth, and it’ll be a robust competition come camp,” Dubas said. “The message that we’ve given to (Jarry and Nedeljkovic) is that they’ve been through this in their career, and they’re going to be competing for their spots in camp. The two younger guys, they are still in competition (with the minor-league affiliates’ postseasons). Those are two massive developmental opportunities for the two of them. And they’re very important development opportunities for us to continue to watch.
• On Friday, coach Mike Sullivan said his intention was to remain with the Penguins. Dubas stopped short of guaranteeing Sullivan, who has two years remaining on his contract, would be back but strongly suggested it.
“(Sullivan) is under contract,” Dubas said. “I think he was very clear with his intentions last week and what he’s expressed in our conversations. I’ll meet with Mike (on Tuesday) and sort through everything. … He’s an elite-level coach as he’s shown through his time here and as well as for Team USA (in the 4 Nations Face-Off exhibition tournament). There’s always the point that very few coaches who are in that realm often want to see a team through this. But he’s been very open about this is what he wants to do, so we’ll just continue to reaffirm that and as long as he’s on that side of it, we will roll with that.”
Dubas was asked if there would be any changes to the coaching staff as a whole and indicated his meeting with Sullivan would address that.
• Nearly two years after acquiring Erik Karlsson in a blockbuster trade, Dubas would like to see the superstar defenseman perform at a much higher level.
At the same time, he sees Karlsson as being part of the Penguins making a return to contender status.
“I had a long meeting with Erik on Friday,” Dubas said. “My push to him would be that his actions have to match his ambitions. That’s in consistency, preparation, training like every other player on the team. He’s shown throughout the year that he has another level to him, at times playing for us, certainly playing for Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off. He was a player that you would watch and say, ‘This guy can help any team, not only contend but probably win.’ It’s emblematic of the rest of the group as well. There were moments of great play with too many inconsistent (instances).
“We have to push him to get there. That’s the expectation that’s dictated by his talent level and the impact he can make. It’s a joint venture. So, yes, some of it is on the team. Part of it is on Erik. We have to find our way through.”
• Dubas sang the praises of top-six wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, each of whom set career highs in goals this season. But he didn’t rule out potentially moving them if it could benefit the team.
“Both have set great examples,” Dubas said. “Both of them are excellent players and people and members of the community. We value both of them very highly. But if there are moves that are going to make our team significantly better in the short and long run, we’ll look at anything with anyone. That’s just where we’re at.”
• The left side of the team’s blue line needs to be spruced up, and that could entail adding players via trade or free agency. He also offered a frank assessment of how ready left-handed defensive prospect Owen Pickering is for the NHL.
“The left side of our defense, it’s been a problem,” Dubas said. “There’s just no other way (to put it). Especially moving (defenseman Marcus Pettersson in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 1), I think the trade will serve us a great purpose in the future, but it hurts the left side of the defense corps now. So, (rookie) Owen Pickering is there, and he played for the team this year, but is he ready to step into one of those roles? I don’t think so.
“We’ve got Ryan Shea, Ryan Graves, (Vladislav) Kolyachonok on the roster, all of them have had opportunity. Vlad less so than the two Ryans. Ryan Shea, we need to push him. We want him to take steps. (Graves), I think it’s been well-documented, we talked about it last year — he was very open, from what I read and observed. He knows he has to be a lot better.
“All that said, you can’t just wish that all of them are going to improve and all move up into 1-2-3 (on) left side of the defense. So, that’s an area I think, externally, that we have to (improve). So, we’ll be on the lookout for that as we go through here.”
Dubas indicated the team will have discussions on pending unrestricted free agent Matt Grzelcyk, arguably the squad’s most consistent left-handed defenseman.
• Trades will likely be the avenue Dubas will try to improve the NHL roster this upcoming offseason as opposed to pursuing unrestricted or restricted free agents.
“With the (salary cap rising), I think the areas that you probably would see us spend more would be acquisition by trade, and then signing players that other teams might not be able to fit,” Dubas said. “It’s going to allow us to maybe trade for players that other teams can’t afford that are restricted free agents, and then sign them longer range ourselves, using that cap space that way. … I think that would be the more likely route.”
• Fenway Sports Group, the entity that owns the Penguins, continues to give Dubas a blank check with regard to spending on players, within the NHL’s salary cap parameters. But Dubas isn’t going to cut checks recklessly.
“The owners have been excellent there,” Dubas said. “There’s no limitations on the player budget and spending. We need to use it in the right spot and not just say we were a cap team, but to use it towards getting us back to our goal.”
• The Penguins finished the season with a number of players sidelined by injury. Dubas does not expect their ailments to prevent them from being unable to enter training camp with limitations.
Per Dubas, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Emil Bemstrom, an All-Star at the American Hockey League level, will miss the rest of that team’s season after surgery for an undisclosed injury. Additionally, goaltender Filip Larsson is sidelined indefinitely by an undisclosed malady.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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