The Penguins' search for a new head of the hockey operations department ended on Thursday with the hiring of Kyle Dubas as the team's president of hockey operations.
There's still work to be done this summer, though.
The Penguins are still without a general manager and could still potentially hire an assistant general manager this offseason as well. Dubas said in his introductory press conference on Thursday that he's expecting to handle the general manager duties himself until at least July.
Last week the Penguins fired three other members of the hockey operations staff in Kerry Huffman (director of professional scouting), Teena Murray (senior vice president of integrated performance) and Alec Schall (director of hockey operations), creating some additional vacancies that could also be filled this summer.
There's reason to believe that Dubas may be interested in bringing over some of his former employees on the Maple Leafs' hockey operations staff to the Penguins' front office.
Who are some of those staff members that might make sense to make that move? Let's take a look.
BRANDON PRIDHAM
Pridham has served as the Maple Leafs' assistant general manager since 2018. He served as special assistant to the general manager for four seasons before being promoted to his current role.
Something Dubas mentioned in his introductory press conference regarding the search for a potential general manager is the desire to add someone with a complementary skill set, a skill that might not be Dubas' strong suit himself. Knowing that, it might mean that someone like an Eric Tulsky in Carolina is no longer a good fit, given that both individuals have strong backgrounds in analytics.
Pridham's specialty is salary cap analysis and interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement. The salary cap specialist under Ron Hextall was Schall, so there is now a void in the hockey operations department for someone with that kind of background.
Before Pridham joined the Leafs' front office in 2014, he worked in the league office. He started work for Central Scouting in 1999 as a coordinator. He later worked in Central Registry, where he served as the contact person for the league's general managers and other executives regarding issues with the salary cap, collective bargaining agreement and Central Scouting.
Pridham right now seems to be the favorite for the general manager role, and it would make sense that Dubas would need to wait until July to make that happen, given Pridham's current involvement with the Maple Leafs' draft and free agency preparations.
RICHARD ROTENBERG
Rotenberg has worked with Dubas for quite some time.
When Dubas was named general manager of the OHL's Soo Greyhounds in the 2011-12 season, one of his first hires was Rotenberg as the head therapist and strength coach. In 2015-16, Dubas' second season as the assistant general manager of the Maple Leafs and general manager of the AHL's Marlies, Rotenberg followed as the Marlies' director of athlete performance. When Dubas was promoted to general manager of the Maple Leafs in 2018-19, Rotenberg followed as the Maple Leafs' director of high performance, a position he still holds now.
Rotenberg has a Bachelor of Kinesiology from McMaster University and a Master of Science degree in physiotherapy from Queen's University.
Obviously, Dubas and Rotenberg have a longstanding connection, and there's a clear track record of Dubas bringing Rotenberg along with him on every new stop in his career. But Rotenberg could also fill the void left by Murray after she was fired last week.
The senior vice president of integrated performance was a new position created by Hextall for Murray last summer. In her role Murray oversaw the strength and conditioning staff, rehabilitation, sports science and medical staff. She made recommendations on when to sit players from games or practices and led their rehab processes.
Rotenberg makes a lot of sense to step into that role.
JASON SPEZZA
Spezza was Dubas' right-hand man in Toronto, and so it's not surprising that he's already submitted his resignation.
Dubas signed Spezza as a player in the 2019-20 season, and Spezza played his last three seasons in Toronto before retiring. Not long after retiring last summer, Spezza was brought onto the Maple Leafs' front office as the special assistant to the general manager.
Spezza submitted his resignation to the Maple Leafs on May 19, the same day that the Maple Leafs informed Dubas his contract would not be renewed this summer.
If Dubas wants to add individuals with different skillsets than his own to his front office, then Spezza is an easy choice. With 1,248 NHL games over 19 seasons, he brings a perspective that Dubas himself doesn't have. And seeing how closely they worked in Toronto -- Spezza was often seated right next to Dubas in the press box -- Spezza would make a good option for the assistant general manager role.
WES CLARK
Clark has been with the Maple Leafs since 2018, serving as the team's assistant director of player personnel. He's also in his second season as Toronto's director of amateur scouting.
Clark is another Soo Greyhounds connection. Dubas named Clark the Greyhounds' director of hockey operations in his first season as the Greyhounds' general manager, and later promoted him to the Greyhounds' director of player development.
When Dubas joined the Maple Leafs in 2014-15 as assistant general manager, Clark followed as an amateur scout and player evaluation consultant. He then joined the Panthers for two seasons as an amateur scout before coming back to Toronto.
The Penguins still have their director of amateur scouting -- it's Nick Pryor, who is in his second year in the role. Pryor is the son of Chris Pryor, who was fired from his position as the Penguins' assistant general manager when the season ended. Nick's prior work experience was eight years as an amateur scout for the Flyers and was initially hired when his father was the director of scouting and Hextall was assistant general manager.
Pryor was another example of a Hextall nepotism hire, but he seemed to fare well in his first year overseeing the Penguins' amateur scouting efforts. It's still early, but the Penguins came away from last summer's draft with a draft class that seems pretty strong, especially with a fourth-round gem in goaltender Sergei Murashov. In speaking with Pryor at the draft, he also comes off as someone pretty intelligent.
Still, Dubas might want to bring in his own people to lead the amateur scouting efforts. Obviously, no team is going to fire their head of amateur scouting four weeks out from the draft, and no team is going to give their head of amateur scouting permission to interview elsewhere, either. This swap might be something that would make sense later in the summer.
