Jan. 23rd: Adding more weight and credibility to LeBrun’s reporting yesterday, Penguins’ general manager Kyle Dubas put even more cold water on the recent speculation. In an interview with team broadcaster Josh Getzoff and later expanded upon by Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dubas was quoted saying, “To say that it’s a fire sale and we’re willing to retain money on very long-term deals — you know, I understand how that stuff starts to get out and take on a life of its own, but it’s not accurate. We’ve had lots of conversations. But are we telling teams that everything must go? No, we’re not.”
Jan. 22nd: Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic provided some context to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ plans leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline. Reports earlier in the week stated that the Penguins were headed for a fire sale before the deadline, but LeBrun writes that the Penguins intend to acquire young NHL players, prospects and draft picks but aren’t likely to orchestrate a massive fire sale. As LeBrun points out, Pittsburgh simply doesn’t have many pending unrestricted free agents, and trading players with term in season is quite difficult.
LeBrun notes that pending UFA Marcus Pettersson will be talked about and likely traded based on previous reports from Josh Yohe of The Athletic. But beyond that, most of the Penguins’ best trade chips have term remaining. These trades can prove difficult if you are looking to add futures because teams don’t typically have enough cap space to add the player, and as LeBrun points out in the article, it may force Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas to wait until the offseason when he will have more suitors and there will be more flexibility.
Chris Johnston of TSN clarified the Penguins’ situation further on Insider Trading, saying that they aren’t looking to retain salary on any long-term deals, which would further complicate trading a player with a term. However, he did add that there were very few untouchables in Pittsburgh outside of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, which certainly means that the Penguins are open for business and willing to move almost anyone on their active roster.
While LeBrun and Johnston poured cold water on the reports of a fire sale, LeBrun acknowledges that Dubas and Penguins management will be doing their best to get a lot done before the deadline, but reality might make those plans fall by the wayside.
Pittsburgh is certainly stuck in an unusual place as they continue to roster Crosby, who has not lost a step despite playing in his age-37 season. The Penguins likely can’t bottom out in the standings but do appear committed to re-tooling on the fly in an effort to be competitive once again before Crosby retires. While the plan makes sense, it has not been successful for many teams. Although, one could point to the Washington Capitals as an example of a team that re-tooled on the fly around a veteran core.
Dubas is certainly giving it his best shot, having taken the Penguins prospect pool from 27th in the NHL to 20th in just one year based on Scott Wheeler’s rankings in The Athletic.
So it’s reported that they will be buyers. Then you guys say they will fire sale at the deadline. Now you’re saying they won’t. Which is it? It’s a different narrative every day with the Penguins.
It could be both: RG’s source might be right that Dubas would like to orchestrate a fire-sale, but Lebrun might also be right that it won’t be an easy thing to pull off. (And Johnston saying Pitt would rather not retain salary can be accurate as well.) PHR is a news aggregator so they report what the pundits are saying, they aren’t necessarily signing off to the affirmative on every article.
They are sellers, just not retaining money to get everyone out the door. Which means nothing because they only have one spot left for retention and it will most likely be used on Patterson so the Canucks will over pay haha.
What is dubas supposed to say here in an interview? Yes we are in full blown fire sale mode which will further drive down morale and not to mention further diminish any trade leverage he may have?
Sometimes these guys get stupid questions and have to answer with the business first response
Karlsson > Guentzel
Dubas > Hextall
Honestly haven’t missed Jake all that much. Wish we had gotten more for him, though.
Karlsson was a grand slam swing. Striking out was always the likeliest outcome. BUT, man, seeing him up close now, I understand why he’s never won. The other guy cares more.
A few stars are aligning to make this the perfect time to churn this roster.
A) The team is stale and even if, on paper, we trade better players for lesser younger players that alone might still make the team better (while still gathering assets).
B) If it doesn’t, there are only a few teams at the bottom this year and at least 4 really, really good players at the top of this year’s draft. The kind of guys you could add to a revamped, slightly younger lineup with cap space to add in July and be right back in the mix for a few years before passing the torch to them full time.
So, they should try to ride Ned and Blomqvist back to contention for now, but if there are only a few teams between them and Schaefer/Hagens/Misa/Martone come deadline, go for it.
Dubas sunk himself in his first moves
1. Jarry
2. Graves
3. Karlsson
Granted he shed some contracts in the Karlsson deal but his first off season was tragic. And how Sullivan is still in charge of this team is beyond me. Just shows you how hands off ownership is.
Private equity ruins everything.
No it shows you how hands on they are. They stated publicly that they like Sullivan and he was given an extension. Dubas is just spinning it to sound good.
Sullivan is NOT a problem
For being so hands on haven’t seen much come directly from them. If anything it shows how cuffed management is in my opinion.
That’s how they handle the red sox too. They definitely pull the strings but you’ll never see them, specifically Henry, actually say anything.
Dubas somehow gets hired as Pittsburghs president, He then appoints himself GM, He then goes out and acquires Erik Karlsson. Clearly he’s being told what to do by ownership, And clearly ownership is interested in the bottom line, They could care less about winning. Glad I’m not a Pens fan.
This is completely wrong. Dubas is making the calls, but he knows he’s in charge of the rebuild. He took a shot at giving Crosby a chance and it didn’t work. It was always the likeliest outcome anyway.
not clear at all
Crosby is the elephant in the room. Nobody in the management even knows what they should do.
Remove Crosby though and the smoke clears. Everyone will immediately see what they need to do.
Here is the thing, if Crosby wanted to be removed he would be. I don’t think this is just the Pens holding onto hope of winning another cup with Sid. If Sid wants another cup he’s smart enough to know it’s not coming in Pittsburgh. Maybe they are both guilty of being overly loyal
There are no smart guys here. The entire organization is a ship of fools. This is because they all believed that as long as they have Crosby/Malkin they will automatically be Cup contenders. They have been winning for so long that it never occurred to them that they might start losing year after year.
When a team keeps losing year after year, it gets ugly. Ugly for everybody.
Dubas is a fool because he thought that he’ll be walking into a situation where the team would make the playoffs comfortably until Crosby retires, and then he’ll be rebuilding. Acting on this basis, he walked the team into an ugly mess that is getting uglier every year.
Crosby is a fool because he thought exactly the same. Instead, he’s now in an ugly mess and the uglier it gets, the more people will realize that he’s the real culprit.
The ownership are fools because they keep on living in the past and consider it their duty to pay back to people who have made them successful in the past. They wouldn’t even let Sullivan go and would hold on to Crosby until it gets really ugly, the fans start screaming abuse, and maybe even after that.
It’s going to get really, really ugly. The team will become a laughing stock. Those associated with it will look a failure – Dubas, Crosby, the ownership, and everybody else by extension.
This is because they are all fools.
If Dubas had gone to Boston University all of his bad contracts would be gone.
Sid would look great in a Panthers uniform!
Malkin would have looked better about 5 years ago