The Penguins will hold their pro scouting meetings next week, where the front office and the new head coach, Dan Muse, will sit down over a period of three days and make decisions regarding the direction when it comes to free agency and trades.
Kyle Dubas answered my questions one-on-one about the team's future while I was here for the NHL's scouting combine Saturday.
The Penguins are shifting to the "execution" phase of this retool and working toward utilizing all these picks and prospects they've accumulated over the past year and a half. Dubas said that the team will "investigate everything" when it comes to the kinds of trades they'll pursue, and that the lone thing he'll rule out is adding "longer-term veteran players on the back end."
"I think we look at younger guys that maybe are blocked out elsewhere or are having contract standoffs elsewhere," Dubas said. "We’ll also look and see if there are players that are available because the cap situations of their respective teams and if we can provide them a good opportunity. I wouldn't say the focus is shifting away from picks. I think our focus will continue to be on acquiring future value, whether that be younger NHL players, prospects or picks.”
As far as their own pending free agents go, Dubas acknowledged having discussions with the representatives of pending restricted free agents P.O Joseph, Conor Timmins, Connor Dewar and Phil Tomasino. But Dubas said that they'll have to wait for their scouting meetings to "stack those guys up versus what's going be available on the market, and for how much, and make the best decisions for the club.”
Matt Grzelcyk, a pending unrestricted free agent, is in the same category. The Penguins haven't made a decision one way or another yet and will assess what they have and what's out there in their scouting meetings.
There's one pending unrestricted free agent the Penguins already know they want back, no meetings needed, and that's Boko Imama.
"With Boko, we made it clear to him and his agent that we'd like to bring him back," Dubas told me. "It's just a matter of whether we can work something out with Allan Walsh and Boko.”
MORE FROM DUBAS
• The Penguins have Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, Joel Blomqvist, Sergei Murashov and Filip Larsson under contract for next season. I asked Dubas if he thinks they need to alleviate the goaltending logjam to get the younger ones more playing time, and he said he doesn't think that's needed.
"I think we showed last year that we are willing to give the younger guys great runway," Dubas said. "It's important that we develop them, and there are a lot of games between the two levels that need to be played. All the young guys will get a great chance coming out of camp if everybody's healthy. Maybe we'd feel a little bit differently about it, but Filip Larsson and Joel Blomqvist both ended the year injured, and so you need five or six goalies at least to get through it. We'll do what's right for the Penguins and for the development of all of the goaltenders.”
• On where Filip Hallander fits after signing a two-year deal this summer to return from Sweden to the organization: “I think Filip is coming off of an excellent season. He has to come to camp ready to roll in terms of his power and strength and conditioning, and we would expect Filip to do that. We have high hopes for him and hope he can work his way up the lineup. He’s very responsible defensively, can play all three positions, and our hope is that he can certainly be a mainstay in lineup coming out of camp and then move his way up.”
• There's zero indication whether the Rangers will transfer this year's first-round pick or next year's, Dubas told me. The Rangers don't have to decide until 48 hours before the draft.
"They need to let us know within the next 19 days or so," Dubas said. "From our perspective, it really doesn't make any difference. We're picking No. 11, so if we have No. 11 and No. 12, the preparation isn't any different at all. I think more than that, the way that we project it out at this current stage, if the Rangers play to expectation next year and they're picking in the late 20s, we kind of see the 12th pick this year and that later pick next year probably being about equal in value, perhaps, just because of the projected strength of the different classes. So, whatever the Rangers would like to do is fine by us. It's no sweat either way, and once they decide, everyone will know.”
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
7:21 pm - 06.07.2025Buffalo, N.Y.Exclusive: Dubas on plan for free agents, trades
The Penguins will hold their pro scouting meetings next week, where the front office and the new head coach, Dan Muse, will sit down over a period of three days and make decisions regarding the direction when it comes to free agency and trades.
Kyle Dubas answered my questions one-on-one about the team's future while I was here for the NHL's scouting combine Saturday.
The Penguins are shifting to the "execution" phase of this retool and working toward utilizing all these picks and prospects they've accumulated over the past year and a half. Dubas said that the team will "investigate everything" when it comes to the kinds of trades they'll pursue, and that the lone thing he'll rule out is adding "longer-term veteran players on the back end."
"I think we look at younger guys that maybe are blocked out elsewhere or are having contract standoffs elsewhere," Dubas said. "We’ll also look and see if there are players that are available because the cap situations of their respective teams and if we can provide them a good opportunity. I wouldn't say the focus is shifting away from picks. I think our focus will continue to be on acquiring future value, whether that be younger NHL players, prospects or picks.”
As far as their own pending free agents go, Dubas acknowledged having discussions with the representatives of pending restricted free agents P.O Joseph, Conor Timmins, Connor Dewar and Phil Tomasino. But Dubas said that they'll have to wait for their scouting meetings to "stack those guys up versus what's going be available on the market, and for how much, and make the best decisions for the club.”
Matt Grzelcyk, a pending unrestricted free agent, is in the same category. The Penguins haven't made a decision one way or another yet and will assess what they have and what's out there in their scouting meetings.
There's one pending unrestricted free agent the Penguins already know they want back, no meetings needed, and that's Boko Imama.
"With Boko, we made it clear to him and his agent that we'd like to bring him back," Dubas told me. "It's just a matter of whether we can work something out with Allan Walsh and Boko.”
MORE FROM DUBAS
• The Penguins have Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, Joel Blomqvist, Sergei Murashov and Filip Larsson under contract for next season. I asked Dubas if he thinks they need to alleviate the goaltending logjam to get the younger ones more playing time, and he said he doesn't think that's needed.
"I think we showed last year that we are willing to give the younger guys great runway," Dubas said. "It's important that we develop them, and there are a lot of games between the two levels that need to be played. All the young guys will get a great chance coming out of camp if everybody's healthy. Maybe we'd feel a little bit differently about it, but Filip Larsson and Joel Blomqvist both ended the year injured, and so you need five or six goalies at least to get through it. We'll do what's right for the Penguins and for the development of all of the goaltenders.”
• On where Filip Hallander fits after signing a two-year deal this summer to return from Sweden to the organization: “I think Filip is coming off of an excellent season. He has to come to camp ready to roll in terms of his power and strength and conditioning, and we would expect Filip to do that. We have high hopes for him and hope he can work his way up the lineup. He’s very responsible defensively, can play all three positions, and our hope is that he can certainly be a mainstay in lineup coming out of camp and then move his way up.”
• There's zero indication whether the Rangers will transfer this year's first-round pick or next year's, Dubas told me. The Rangers don't have to decide until 48 hours before the draft.
"They need to let us know within the next 19 days or so," Dubas said. "From our perspective, it really doesn't make any difference. We're picking No. 11, so if we have No. 11 and No. 12, the preparation isn't any different at all. I think more than that, the way that we project it out at this current stage, if the Rangers play to expectation next year and they're picking in the late 20s, we kind of see the 12th pick this year and that later pick next year probably being about equal in value, perhaps, just because of the projected strength of the different classes. So, whatever the Rangers would like to do is fine by us. It's no sweat either way, and once they decide, everyone will know.”
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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