Kyle Dubas Pittsburgh Penguins
CRANBERRY Twp., Pa. — Anthony Mantha, Stuart Skinner, and Noel Acciari are pending unrestricted free agents, and teams in a rebuild mode cannot afford to lose players for nothing. But that was not Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas’s strategy Friday at the NHL trade deadline.
It seems he likes his team and decided to ride it out Friday.
Evgeni Malkin is also a pending UFA in a much different situation who has voiced his frustrations, shown them, but also produced a magnificent season at what could be the end of a Hall of Fame career.
It has been a week of franchise-altering news and moves, but ultimately, what didn’t happen will be the defining moments.
Not only does the Malkin contract situation hang over the team, but now so, too, does his potential suspension. And Dubas’s tone belied his words Friday, furthering the likelihood that the situation will not have a satisfactory ending for at least one of the parties.
Friday, Dubas made only one trade before the 3 p.m. deadline, but it was a conscious effort born of months of effort and wins.
The Penguins are not necessarily a normal rebuilding team. In a wide-ranging press conference that lasted more than 20 minutes, in part because of a passionate and lengthy answer about goaltender interference, Dubas explained why the Penguins held onto pending UFAs, again dodged the Evgeni Malkin question, though did so with a hint of a rebuff for Malkin speaking to the media, and laid out the goaltending plan for the rest of the season.
The news items were bittersweet. The team will soon recall winger Ville Koivunen to fill the spaces created by injury, a likely suspension, and simply to give Koivunen another go at the NHL level.
The team also signed organizational goalie Taylor Gauthier, who became the Wheeling Nailers’ all-time winningest goalie, to an NHL contract as insurance against injuries in the playoffs.
But the unfortunate news was Dubas admitting that prospect Tristan Broz would have been called up this week to resume his NHL career if he had not been injured Saturday in Cleveland. Broz is out week to week as his golden chance for an extended NHL run is gone with an upper-body injury.
League-wide, the NHL trade deadline was more like a Kathleen Kennedy-produced Star Wars movie. There was hype and high hopes, but in the end, the action dissipated into a sullen and sad disappointment.
According to the NHL tracker, there were only 13 trades on Friday, and most of which were background noise, even to the home fans, as depth journeymen such as Nik Deslauriers, Vinnie Hinostroza, Derrick Pouliot, and Tanner Pearson found new homes.
Elmer Soderblom
The Penguins acquired very large winger Elmer Soderblom from the Detroit Red Wings. The 6-foot-8, 246-pound winger is not a great skater, nor is he a physical player, but he’s 24, under team control, and Dubas believes the Penguins can continue his development.
“And I think the things that have stood out to him throughout this year have been his ability to forecheck, get in on the forecheck, disrupt pucks, and win pucks back. And I think for us, that’s one thing that we’d identified is … having a little bit more of that throughout the lineup would be good.”
Standing Pat, No Trades
The biggest takeaway from Dubas’s press conference was his deadline strategy and how the current team’s success altered his thinking. Rather than hiding behind clichés and or shrugs that the market didn’t produce quality offers for his players, especially the pending UFAs, Dubas honored his team and their success this season.
In short, Dubas decided to allow the team that charged into a playoff spot with exemplary play and stacked wins since the holiday break to go for it. Dubas kept the band together, Mantha, Skinner, and the rest, to give the team the best chance at a playoff run.
After all, the point of their job is to win games, and they have earned the right to stay together.
“The way this season has gone, versus the prior two seasons, I think the contributions from some of the younger guys throughout–whether it’s been (Egor) Chinakhov, Mantha, (Justin) Brazeau, and the rise of the (Blake) Lizotte line, that’s led us to have success and give the team the chance to see it all the way through,” Dubas said.
“I think especially since we’ve come back from Christmas, it’s not just been the wins, but the way that the team has gone about winning. That shows that when we’re at our best, it’s a very good team. And I think any time we all get into this is because we want to have a chance to win, and when the team shows itself consistently, to be able to play at that level, even when things aren’t perfect … they can sustain it … and we just didn’t feel like right now was the time to begin to take that apart.”
And so, Dubas figuratively tipped his cap to Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, and the veterans who have played so well this season. Instead of arming the team with rentals, the Penguins GM is letting fate take control. If the team loses those players for nothing, it was worth the gamble and the show of respect.
If the team does win, even better.
Goaltenders
Dubas stood pat, keeping Skinner in net, essentially blocking rookie Sergei Murashov for the remainder of the season. However, that didn’t seem to be much of a concern to Dubas, who instead heaped praise on the performance of the Penguins’ goalies this season.
And, they’ve earned it.
Until a loss Tuesday in Boston, Skinner was 8-1-2 in his last 11 games. Until the loss Thursday, Arturs Silovs was 5-1-0 with a 1.68 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in his last six.
“I think Stu came in, our team was not going very well in the stretch of time when he came in, and he was a big part in helping the team to have success,” said Dubas. “And I think both have played well out of the break and continue to give us a chance each game.”
In fact, Dubas didn’t seem in any hurry–in tone or in words–to bring Murashov back to the show right now.
“We have confidence in the two (at the NHL level); confidence in the two guys up top, and then we have confidence in both guys down below, both Sergei and Joel (Blomqvist),” said Dubas. “They both continue to play well. Sergei, after being here, had a tougher stretch late December, and then just rectifies it and gets on rolling. So we’re happy with that, and feel we have the good depth.”
Evgeni Malkin
The answer to Malkin’s future lies not just in what Dubas has said, but what he hasn’t said.
“In the end, we have to do what’s best for the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Dubas said Friday.
There is little doubt that Malkin’s outburst Sunday after the Penguins’ 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Rangers plucked a nerve with Dubas. With a little head tilt and grimace, there’s just the slightest bit of scoff when Dubas has acknowledged, both on his radio show Wednesday and again Friday, Malkin’s public comments.
“And so we’ve communicated with (agent J.P. Barry). We’ve communicated with Geno. Geno has obviously communicated with the public, which is his right, and he’s earned that, but I don’t think it serves as much as I think everyone in the room and perhaps the public would like for me to comment on it further,” said Dubas. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the Penguins for me to do so. It’s all been communicated to Geno and J.P., and we’ll just continue to stay in those conversations with them and continue to do what’s best for the team.”
However, you’ll note that at no point has Dubas committed to negotiations. Neither has he expressed a desire to talk about a new contract, nor does he otherwise seem open to the possibility.
Dubas could say–they’ll sit down after the year to assess the situation. He could say he doesn’t want to talk contract until after the season because the team is in a rebuilding phase, and as they go through the process, a lot could change.
There are a number of answers Dubas could give if Malkin were a realistic possibility for next season. Instead, he seems like a person trying desperately not to deliver bad news that could have rippling effects within the team.
After all, Malkin’s temper tantrum Thursday was a costly moment in the game and his over-the-top reaction (no pun intended) could deeply cost the Penguins for a few more games.
Dubas admitted he was angry in the aftermath of Malkin’s penalty, which probably didn’t endear him to the GM any further.
“I think you probably go through the same reaction–just to be very open–that anybody that follows a team every day does, which is, at first, you’re a little emotional about what the impact on the team would be, and then think it’s my job to immediately get away from that and get back to, okay, what’s the plan? What do we have already?” said Dubas.
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