Kyle Dubas made an appearance on Thursday's episode of Sportsnet's 'The Hockey PDOcast.' It's not all Penguins-related, and there's nothing really earth-shattering within the Penguins talk that he hasn't said before. Here are some takeaways:
• Dubas disagrees with the notion that the Penguins are "actively trying to get worse." He says their goal remains "trying to return the team back to being a contender and one that can sustain itself once it's there."
• Dubas says "the way that I look at this season and the coming seasons is trying to identify the players that are going to form that core group. That's both at the NHL level and at the development level, our players in Wilkes-Barre and Wheeling but also that are outside the system, whether that's a Will Horcoff at the University of Michigan or Bill Zonnon in Blaineville or Ben Kindel in Calgary, and Harrison Brunicke in Kamloops on and on down the list."
• On the timeline for returning to contention: "Our push and our goal and everything that we do is about trying to build a team that can be a contender before those (existing core) players go off into the sunset."
• On the importance of Wilkes-Barre being strong: "The way that we view the American League is that it's primarily a developmental league, but it's also a spot where we want to win. We want the players to grow together as a group and learn how to win together."
• On acquiring Arturs Silovs: "Vancouver, they've got two very good goaltenders at the NHL level that are signed in the long range. At Silovs' age, it just sort of puts him up against the waiver clock and everything of that nature. In his case, I think our goaltending department had him circled for a long time. ... Because of where we're at versus where the Canucks are at, we're going to have more of an opportunity and a runway for him to live through the ups and the downs a little bit."
• On opening the season against the Rangers: "We're excited about that. It's an exciting year. Whole new coaching staff. We went through a long process to hire Dan Muse as the head coach, and obviously Mike Sullivan is a legendary figure here and one of the best coaches in the league, and we're very happy that he'll have the chance to go to the Rangers and continue to do his thing there."
• Dubas thinks the Seattle Mariners' upcoming games against the Houston Astros is a "big series, that's the next step for the Mariners."
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
12:34 am - 07.18.2025DowntownDubas on timelines, Silovs, prospects
Kyle Dubas made an appearance on Thursday's episode of Sportsnet's 'The Hockey PDOcast.' It's not all Penguins-related, and there's nothing really earth-shattering within the Penguins talk that he hasn't said before. Here are some takeaways:
• Dubas disagrees with the notion that the Penguins are "actively trying to get worse." He says their goal remains "trying to return the team back to being a contender and one that can sustain itself once it's there."
• Dubas says "the way that I look at this season and the coming seasons is trying to identify the players that are going to form that core group. That's both at the NHL level and at the development level, our players in Wilkes-Barre and Wheeling but also that are outside the system, whether that's a Will Horcoff at the University of Michigan or Bill Zonnon in Blaineville or Ben Kindel in Calgary, and Harrison Brunicke in Kamloops on and on down the list."
• On the timeline for returning to contention: "Our push and our goal and everything that we do is about trying to build a team that can be a contender before those (existing core) players go off into the sunset."
• On the importance of Wilkes-Barre being strong: "The way that we view the American League is that it's primarily a developmental league, but it's also a spot where we want to win. We want the players to grow together as a group and learn how to win together."
• On acquiring Arturs Silovs: "Vancouver, they've got two very good goaltenders at the NHL level that are signed in the long range. At Silovs' age, it just sort of puts him up against the waiver clock and everything of that nature. In his case, I think our goaltending department had him circled for a long time. ... Because of where we're at versus where the Canucks are at, we're going to have more of an opportunity and a runway for him to live through the ups and the downs a little bit."
• On opening the season against the Rangers: "We're excited about that. It's an exciting year. Whole new coaching staff. We went through a long process to hire Dan Muse as the head coach, and obviously Mike Sullivan is a legendary figure here and one of the best coaches in the league, and we're very happy that he'll have the chance to go to the Rangers and continue to do his thing there."
• Dubas thinks the Seattle Mariners' upcoming games against the Houston Astros is a "big series, that's the next step for the Mariners."
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