How will Kyle Dubas reshape the Penguins' roster? He's given a few hints
Kyle Dubas is bullish on what he has to work with as the newly appointed director of hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I heard a lot of people that were highly skeptical of the team’s ability to contend here,” Dubas said during his introductory news conference at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday. “And the way I view it is that if people want to bet against Mike Sullivan, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and others, they can go ahead and do so.
“But I’m going to bet on them.”
Wagering with a handful of future enshrines into the Hockey Hall of Fame isn’t all that risky.
But gambling with the likes of Jeff Carter, Mikael Granlund and Jeff Petry? Well, those are some long odds.
Dubas has a little less than a month to reconstruct the Penguins’ roster as two of the high holidays on the NHL calendar quickly approach: the NHL Draft (June 28-29) and the start of the free agent signing period (July 1).
He faces a number of impediments in that pursuit, namely in the form of several no-movement or no-trade clauses to incumbent contracts. And he has a handful of significant players who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents by the end of the month.
Here’s a look at the areas of the roster he’ll have to figure out.
Forwards
Dubas drew a clear line of delineation with regard to his forward group. The top six is nice. The bottom six could use some work.
“You have Jake Guentzel and Crosby on one (line),” Dubas said while describing his top two lines. “You’ve got Malkin centering the other. Wherever you want to put the other pieces around, you’re going to have a good group there.”
Right wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust figure to continue to mix and match on the top two lines. The only real question mark is pending restricted free agent left winger Jason Zucker, who had a renaissance in 2022-23 by simply staying healthy and posting 48 points (27 goals, 21 assists) in 78 games.
Zucker has been vehement in his desire to remain with the Penguins, but, at 31, this could be his last chance to cash in a major contract.
Dubas said the bottom six forwards are a work in progress.
“Those players are going to have to be super, super competitive,” Dubas said. “But they’re also going to have to be good. And so being able to find those types of players is going to be very important over this next stretch. … It’s really getting the read and digging in more on film on the players.”
Few of the incumbent members of that group truly met those parameters in 2022-23.
The most notable member of the bottom-six is the 38-year-old Carter, who has one year remaining on his contract at $3.125 million. More importantly, his contract contains a no-movement clause as well, and because it was signed after he turned 35, a potential buyout or retirement would not bring any salary cap relief.
Another prominent player in this realm is Granlund, who has two years remaining at $5 million. A versatile player who posted 64 points in 80 games as recently as the 2021-22 season, Granlund offered little in 21 games with the Penguins after he was acquired just before the trade deadline in March.
Pending restricted free agents Drew O’Connor and Ryan Poehling took incremental steps forward this past season and figure to remain in the mix. Spare parts such as Josh Archibald, Nick Bonino and Danton Heinen are pending unrestricted free agents and easily could be jettisoned.
Alex Nylander, who was re-signed to a one-year contract, is something of a “tweener” in that he hasn’t quite found a role as either a top- or bottom-sixer.
Below the NHL roster, prospects such as Jonathan Gruden, Sam Poulin and Valtteri Puustinen figure to get a look but are hardly guarantees.
Defensemen
On the blue line, Dubas was fairly vague.
“On defense, it’s going to be going through and determining what exactly we need,” Dubas said. “Or what are some of the younger guys that have played a little bit more last year, what they’re capable of and stepping up and decisions there as well.”
Letang, a franchise pillar, appears to be the only guarantee to return, though Marcus Pettersson certainly improved his standing in the organization with something of a breakthrough season and even looked good as a sporadic partner with Letang.
Letang’s longtime partner, Brian Dumoulin, is a pending unrestricted free agent. After a handful of seasons in which his play declined in segments, he seems bound to wear a different jersey in 2023-24.
A great deal of financial flexibility could be attained if Petry, who had the second-highest salary cap hit on the roster at $6.5 million, were moved. But that is easier said than done considering he has no-movement and modified no-trade clauses in his contract (to say nothing of his underwhelming play in 2022-23).
Youngsters P.O Joseph and Ty Smith seem bound to get every opportunity to line up behind Pettersson on the left side of the pairings. Each has a high pedigree as a first-round pick. And most importantly, each player is still under contract control and will be cheap.
Right-hander Jan Rutta is a suitable bottom-pairing defensive defenseman. But at a salary cap hit of $2.75 million, he’s a luxury that could be jettisoned as he has no clauses in his contract that would prevent a potential trade.
Reserves Chad Ruhwedel ($800,000) and Mark Friedman ($750,000) have one year remaining on their contracts, and trade deadline acquisition Dmitry Kulikov is a pending unrestricted free agent.
Below the NHL roster, Smith is the only prospect who appears remotely ready to make the jump.
Goaltenders
Starting goaltender Tristan Jarry, a pending unrestricted free agent, was the member of the roster Dubas addressed most at length Thursday.
“It’s a big decision for the club,” Dubas said. “It’s going to be doing a very thorough evaluation of Tristan, where he stands in the marketplace, get a real scope of who’s going to be available, whether that’s in free agency or trade. And then if Tristan is at the top of that mix, we’re in that mix … it’ll be to try to establish a concept that can get done with he and his agent.”
The free agent market for goaltenders is expected to be lean, and Jarry, for all his malfunctions in 2022-23, could be among the best options available.
Backup Casey DeSmith has one year left on his contract with a salary cap hit at $1.8 million. Though he is cheap, an upgrade easily could be found.
Beyond that, none of the franchise’s goaltending prospects are ready to graduate to the NHL.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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