Kyle Dubas has long said that the Penguins' goal is to return to long-term, sustained success "as urgently as possible."
After a third consecutive season of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs, and spending the past 15 months loading up on young players, prospects, and the most draft picks in the entire league over the next three years ... what now?
Is next season when there'll finally be a push to return to contention?
Dubas held his annual season-ending media availability this morning here at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, where he shared his thoughts on plans for the summer, positional needs, Mike Sullivan's future and much more. And while the plan is to shift away from the current plan of stocking up on picks and prospects, it still might be too early to expect a playoff team a year from now.
Could there be short-term fixes, some big-name free-agent signings, and probably sneaking into the postseason? Sure. But that's not the goal. Dubas sounds content with waiting a little bit longer to become a playoff team, as long as it means that, when they get there, they're primed to make a real run.
"Next season would be a tremendous accomplishment for the players," Dubas said. "When I say as urgently as possible, I try not to put a timeline on it, because I don't want this to be a perpetual and evergreen conversation where we come in and we say we're just a year or two or so away. We're pushing because I think that's what the organization here is used to, what the fans want. We just have to stick to a very concise plan and then execute our butts off."
Some of that executing will involve players already in-house taking the next step.
Dubas cited both Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist as players to be in the mix for the goaltending positions, competing with Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic for the two spots at the NHL level. He cited the "good potential" of defense prospects Owen Pickering, Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany, with the next wave of Finn Harding and Chase Pietila being on their way, too. Up front, Dubas cited the same young forwards who finished the year in Pittsburgh to push next year, with the addition of Tristan Broz, who Dubas said could have come up at the end of the NHL season too, but they thought it was best for his development to remain in the AHL.
The Penguins are going to have ample salary cap space, though, especially if several players on low-cost entry-level deals are on the roster next year. And he expects most of that space to be used on acquiring players via trade, not through free agency.
The nature of free agency dictates that any significant signing will be older. Players don't become unrestricted free agents until they're 27 or have seven years of experience, or, in special cases, if they're 25-26 with very few NHL games played. If the Penguins are going to be getting younger, Dubas said, they don't want to be going after the guys likely in their 30s, who are probably going to end up commanding high salaries, too.
In order to accomplish that goal of getting younger, Dubas pointed to the possibility of trading for restricted free agents whose current teams can't afford to re-sign them, and signing the player themselves. That way, the Penguins will be dealing with players who are closer to 23-24 years in age, and have the option to sign them to longer-term deals, including potential for an eight-year deal that isn't possible un unrestricted free agency.
Dubas pointed specifically to left defense as a "problem" they'll have to address externally.
When it comes to Sullivan's future, Dubas was somewhat noncommittal, but not in the sense that he'd consider firing Sullivan. Dubas suggested that Sullivan would be back as long as he wants to be back, a desire Sullivan expressed in his own season-ending availability.
"He's an elite-level coach as he's shown throughout his time here, and as he showed for Team USA," Dubas said. "There's always the point that very few coaches who are in that realm often want to see a team through this, but he's been very open about this is what he wants to do. We'll just continue to reaffirm that, and as long as he's on that side of it, then we'll roll with that."
Sullivan is on board, as he stated clearly last Friday: "My intentions are to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sidney Crosby has been kept in the loop when it comes to the direction of the team, but Dubas doesn't expect him to be too happy about it until the plan is seen through.
"Sid is going to want to win every single thing he does," Dubas said. "He wants to win everything he does every single day that he does it. So until we are back contending to win the Stanley Cup, I expect him to be grumpy, and I expect him to express the toll that he explained to everybody in the room. That's who he is. That's what makes him able to perform the way he does at 37, 38 who knows, for how, however many years. ... We have to just execute the plan as we have been, really, since last March."
The NHL Draft is June 27-28. Free agency opens July 1.
The full session today:
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
9:16 pm - 04.21.2025Cranberry, Pa.Dubas: The goal isn't just to make the playoffs
Kyle Dubas has long said that the Penguins' goal is to return to long-term, sustained success "as urgently as possible."
After a third consecutive season of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs, and spending the past 15 months loading up on young players, prospects, and the most draft picks in the entire league over the next three years ... what now?
Is next season when there'll finally be a push to return to contention?
Dubas held his annual season-ending media availability this morning here at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, where he shared his thoughts on plans for the summer, positional needs, Mike Sullivan's future and much more. And while the plan is to shift away from the current plan of stocking up on picks and prospects, it still might be too early to expect a playoff team a year from now.
Could there be short-term fixes, some big-name free-agent signings, and probably sneaking into the postseason? Sure. But that's not the goal. Dubas sounds content with waiting a little bit longer to become a playoff team, as long as it means that, when they get there, they're primed to make a real run.
"Next season would be a tremendous accomplishment for the players," Dubas said. "When I say as urgently as possible, I try not to put a timeline on it, because I don't want this to be a perpetual and evergreen conversation where we come in and we say we're just a year or two or so away. We're pushing because I think that's what the organization here is used to, what the fans want. We just have to stick to a very concise plan and then execute our butts off."
Some of that executing will involve players already in-house taking the next step.
Dubas cited both Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist as players to be in the mix for the goaltending positions, competing with Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic for the two spots at the NHL level. He cited the "good potential" of defense prospects Owen Pickering, Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany, with the next wave of Finn Harding and Chase Pietila being on their way, too. Up front, Dubas cited the same young forwards who finished the year in Pittsburgh to push next year, with the addition of Tristan Broz, who Dubas said could have come up at the end of the NHL season too, but they thought it was best for his development to remain in the AHL.
The Penguins are going to have ample salary cap space, though, especially if several players on low-cost entry-level deals are on the roster next year. And he expects most of that space to be used on acquiring players via trade, not through free agency.
The nature of free agency dictates that any significant signing will be older. Players don't become unrestricted free agents until they're 27 or have seven years of experience, or, in special cases, if they're 25-26 with very few NHL games played. If the Penguins are going to be getting younger, Dubas said, they don't want to be going after the guys likely in their 30s, who are probably going to end up commanding high salaries, too.
In order to accomplish that goal of getting younger, Dubas pointed to the possibility of trading for restricted free agents whose current teams can't afford to re-sign them, and signing the player themselves. That way, the Penguins will be dealing with players who are closer to 23-24 years in age, and have the option to sign them to longer-term deals, including potential for an eight-year deal that isn't possible un unrestricted free agency.
Dubas pointed specifically to left defense as a "problem" they'll have to address externally.
When it comes to Sullivan's future, Dubas was somewhat noncommittal, but not in the sense that he'd consider firing Sullivan. Dubas suggested that Sullivan would be back as long as he wants to be back, a desire Sullivan expressed in his own season-ending availability.
"He's an elite-level coach as he's shown throughout his time here, and as he showed for Team USA," Dubas said. "There's always the point that very few coaches who are in that realm often want to see a team through this, but he's been very open about this is what he wants to do. We'll just continue to reaffirm that, and as long as he's on that side of it, then we'll roll with that."
Sullivan is on board, as he stated clearly last Friday: "My intentions are to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Sidney Crosby has been kept in the loop when it comes to the direction of the team, but Dubas doesn't expect him to be too happy about it until the plan is seen through.
"Sid is going to want to win every single thing he does," Dubas said. "He wants to win everything he does every single day that he does it. So until we are back contending to win the Stanley Cup, I expect him to be grumpy, and I expect him to express the toll that he explained to everybody in the room. That's who he is. That's what makes him able to perform the way he does at 37, 38 who knows, for how, however many years. ... We have to just execute the plan as we have been, really, since last March."
The NHL Draft is June 27-28. Free agency opens July 1.
The full session today:
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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