Mark Madden: Matt Dumba trade makes sense for Penguins and is probably just the start

It’s time for refreshing sports notes at the speed of sound! Climb on my back and we’ll go for a ride in the sky!

• The Pittsburgh Penguins’ acquisition of right-handed defenseman Matt Dumba indicates that Erik Karlsson’s exit is pending and promising 19-year-old prospect Harrison Brunicke won’t make the team. Dumba, 30, is splendidly mediocre and has one year left on a deal carrying a $3.75 million cap hit that Dallas needed to dump. A second-round pick in 2028 accompanied. Big win by president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas. He can likely flip Dumba at the 2026 trade deadline for another draft choice.

• If Brunicke won’t make the Penguins, he should play big-time college hockey. If Brunicke stays committed to major junior, that’s where he’d be required to return upon getting cut by Pittsburgh as per NHL rules. Brunicke has outgrown major junior. So has phenom Gavin McKenna, the definite No. 1 pick in next year’s NHL Draft. McKenna committed to Penn State. You play against men in college hockey. You practice and train more. You get NIL money. (McKenna will reportedly be paid $700,000.) You don’t ride the bus. It’s a better experience than major junior at every level.

• Getting Dumba feels like the first domino. Dubas is primed to make a flurry of trades.

• Finishing as low as possible to get the best shot at winning the draft lottery and picking McKenna should be the Penguins’ first priority. Sidney Crosby won’t like that. Unless the Penguins get McKenna.

• Dubas said he would consider re-upping center Evgeni Malkin if Malkin wants to play beyond this upcoming season, the final year of his contract. Dubas had better be lying by way of being polite. Malkin’s speed is gone. His shot is a cream puff. He’s erratic defensively and in the neutral zone. He’s too slow to forecheck if he moves to wing. No more nostalgia. Move forward.

• Defenseman Ryan Graves has been horrific during his two seasons with the Penguins. But don’t be shocked if he plays better under new coach Dan Muse. It was one size fits all under Mike Sullivan: Every defenseman was expected to activate and pinch. Graves was ill-equipped, especially to do the former: He didn’t have the feel or skill to execute, nor the speed to race back defensively. Graves did better at previous stops Colorado and New Jersey, which provided structure more defensively inclined. Muse might do the same.

• An ESPN poll of NFL executives, coaches and scouts proclaimed the Steelers’ T.J. Watt the NFL’s No. 2 edge rusher. Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, Watt’s obsession and nemesis, is No. 1. The notion that Watt is better than Garrett might not extend beyond Pittsburgh and Watt’s family. Watt nonetheless wants paid more than Garrett.

• Rookie Kaleb Johnson should be the Steelers’ No. 1 running back. At 6-foot, 225 pounds, Johnson has power like the departed Najee Harris but possesses better vision and acceleration to a hole. But here’s betting the Steelers start the season with 5-8 Jaylen Warren as the starter. Veteran respect, rookies have to earn it, blah, blah, blah. But if Warren could start, he already would be. He’s a change of pace, nothing more.

• Fanboy projection of rookie quarterback Will Howard as anything better than a career backup is absurd. He’s a sixth-round pick with a popgun arm. But Ben Roethlisberger thinks Howard and Mason Rudolph should legit compete for the Steelers’ No. 2 QB spot. That’s absurd. Rudolph is a proven backup. Roethlisberger just likes taking shots at Rudolph.

• A Kansas City radio host blasted Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for having a dad bod. I feel the opposite: Mahomes has glamorized and immortalized the dad bod by winning three Super Bowls. I also love Mahomes’ fauxhawk.

• Oneil Cruz might be the first strikeout victim in the Home Run Derby. He’s hitting .204 on the season, .180 since May 1. But Cruz hits homers that fly high and long, as evidenced by his 458-foot shot into the fountain beyond Kansas City’s right-field fence Tuesday. The Home Run Derby isn’t about the most homers, although that’s who wins. It’s about blasting tape-measure bombs that draw a pop.

• All-time Pirates great Willie Stargell was tailor-made for the Home Run Derby. From 1909-1970, 18 homers were hit over the 86-foot-high right-field roof at Forbes Field. Stargell hit seven. From 1970-2000, 13 homers were hit into the upper deck at Three Rivers Stadium. Stargell hit four. He was the first player to hit a ball out of Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. Stargell had major launch angle and exit velocity. (lol)

• Tommy Pham got new contact lenses recently. He’s hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games, posting a .455 batting average (20 for 44) with three home runs over that span. He’s also posted several great plays in left field recently. Who knew that seeing better would mean improvement at baseball? Pham should have seen the eye doctor before spring training. Full credit to Pham. He was a lightning rod for criticism when he started the season poorly but has spectacularly righted himself.

• Kansas City swept three games from the visiting Pirates earlier this week. Kansas City is a smaller market than Pittsburgh. But the Royals won a World Series in 2015 and, after losing 100 games three times since, got back in the MLB playoffs last year. The Royals draft and develop better than the Pirates. When a window opens, the Royals spend more. When the window closes, the process begins anew. It’s not hard to decipher. The Pirates are incompetent and cheap. As evidenced by wasting Paul Skenes.

• If the Pirates deal from their pitching surplus before the July 31 trade deadline, they need to get MLB-ready bats to make better use of whatever time they have left with Skenes. They won’t. More prospects will be acquired by way of kicking that can down the road. The Skenes window will give way to the Bubba Chandler window, then the Konnor Griffin window, then the Hunter Barco window. The Pirates will slam each of those windows shut on your fingers.

• Paul McCartney plays PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 11. Two blasphemous opinions: McCartney’s work after the Beatles was superior to what the Beatles did, and Led Zeppelin was far better than the Beatles.