The Pittsburgh Penguins have not had a great start to the season. They are currently 9-12-4, and at this point, it does not look like they will even come close to the postseason. Pittsburgh saw a change in leadership last summer when Kyle Dubas took over as president of hockey operations and general manager. Since joining the Penguins, he has made some good decisions, but he has also made some bad ones. Should he be blamed for the Penguins’ current state?
Is Dubas Doing a Good Job?
There is no doubt that Dubas had his work cut out for him when he came to Pittsburgh. The previous leadership of Ron Hextall and Brian Burke left the organization in shambles, and repairing that damage was not going to happen overnight. However, the current GM has had some pretty significant missteps.
Re-signing Tristan Jarry last summer to a five-year contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $5.3 million is probably the worst move Dubas has made so far. He took a gamble on Jarry and made a pretty significant investment in Pittsburgh’s goaltending future. The starting goaltender already had a track record for being inconsistent and injury-prone, which made this a huge risk that the Penguins could not necessarily afford to take.
Jarry’s performance since his contract extension has been as inconsistent as ever. This season, he posted a 5.47 goals-against average (GAA) and an .836 save percentage (SV%) in his first three starts. He was then demoted and sent down to the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on a conditioning loan. Since returning from Wilkes-Barre, he hasn’t been much better, and the Penguins can’t afford to give him too many more chances.
Another extremely questionable decision by Dubas was the Reilly Smith trade. Dubas traded a 2024 third-round draft pick to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Smith in June 2023. He was coming off a Stanley Cup-winning season with Vegas where he played in 78 regular season games and had 26 goals and 30 assists.
Dubas had hoped that Smith would bring his experience and scoring ability to Pittsburgh’s forward group; however, that is not what happened. He scored six goals in his first 10 games of the 2023-24 season, but after that, his performance saw a huge decline. He struggled with consistency and never seemed to gel with the rest of the team. He ended the season with 13 goals in 76 games.
Smith signed a two-year contract with the Penguins at $5 million per year. At the time, the team did not have much breathing room when it came to the salary cap, so spending that amount on a forward was a gamble. Dubas was able to trade him to the New York Rangers in July; however, Pittsburgh did retain 25% of his salary.
Another huge misstep by Dubas was the Ryan Graves contract. Graves was signed to a six-year contract with an AAV of $4.5 million in July 2023. He was supposed to be a solid partner for Kris Letang and a dependable presence on the blue line. He was coming off a strong season with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh was hoping that would continue. However, his time with the Penguins has not gone well. The team doesn’t have many options with him either as there are not many teams interested in a trade. However, benching a $4 million player is not really an option either, so Dubas is going to have to get creative with this one.
Dubas Needs More Time
It is true that Dubas has had some huge misses during his tenure in Pittsburgh so far. However, he has also made more than a few positive moves. The Erik Karlsson trade was a blockbuster move and a win for the GM. Karlsson’s time in Pittsburgh has been wildly inconsistent, but the deal itself was a smart move. The team saved $3 million in cap space and got rid of four bad contracts.
Related: 3 Penguins Players Who Have to Improve
Since bringing Karlsson to the team, Dubas has made several moves on the trade market, including the Michael Bunting, Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty trades. Through all of his trades, he has managed to bring nine draft picks to Pittsburgh. This season may be a lost cause for the Penguins, but their GM is still strategically making moves to set them up for the future.
