Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas
Last summer, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas and the Penguins facilitated the first successful offer sheet in years when they redid their trade with the St. Louis Blues. Originally, St. Louis attached their second-round pick to Kevin Hayes to complete the salary dump.
However, as the summer dragged on, a few restricted free agents remained available. St. Louis essentially redid their trade with Dubas, reacquiring their 2025 second-round pick for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2025 third-rounder.
Dubas joined the Cam and Strick podcast, which dropped Tuesday, and talked a wide range of new topics, though he didn’t break new ground on rebuilding or trading the veterans. Instead, we got some interesting nuggets on Evgeni Malkin, a different type of Penguins trade talks, and his origin story.
You can listen to the full podcast and Dubas’s hour-long segment here.
Penguins Trade Talk
Let the latest round of Penguins trade talk begin as Dubas said the phone is ringing, but not just for the veteran players everyone has discussed.
Dubas admitted to hosts Andy Strickland and Cam Janssen that teams are calling him this summer trying to reacquire their second and third round picks. While he doesn’t exactly know why, it’s common sense.
“We dealt with (those types of calls) a lot this summer, as well. Teams were calling for picks back in the 2026 Draft. And you know why,” Dubas said. “So that’s their business. If they want to pay a fair price, we probably talk about it.”
For the record, the Penguins own the St. Louis Blues’ and Winnipeg Jets ‘ 2026 second-rounders, and the San Jose Sharks’ third-round pick.
Dubas Origin Story
A bit of luck, a bit of destiny, and hitting puberty late propelled Dubas into hockey.
Of course, his skills for the jobs he had a bit to do with his meteoric rise through the hockey world, as well.
“So I would volunteer (with the Soo Greyhounds) during training camp, and then when I was 11, they asked me to stay on during the year and keep doing all that stuff during the year while I was playing,” Dubas told the hosts. “I just went to high school, my grandmother or grandfather would pick me up. If I didn’t have my own practice, I would go to the rink for practice, which in junior is at 3:30, because the guys are in high school, I would do my work at the rink at 7:00 or 7:30. One of my grandparents or my parents would pick me up. I’d go home, do my homework, and then just do the same thing the next day.”
While Dubas toiled in the shadows of the Greyhounds, he was able to sit in on coaching meetings and management meetings. His grandfather was a coach, and he came from hockey stock, but he was only a stick boy.
However, when bad luck befell him, the path to being one of the most high-profile GMs began to unfold, like a Marvel Comics origin story.
“You look back, and at the time, you think it’s awful. I was really small, like when I was in grade nine, I was like 5-foor-4, or 5-5, 110, 120 pounds. And you know, you’re playing with 14 and 15 year olds and and so I had three concussions during the year. I hadn’t hit puberty yet,” said Dubas. “I wasn’t cleared to go back and play–at that point, I started working for the team all the time. I didn’t have my own games to play in. You think it’s terrible at the time.”
Craig Hartsburg gave Dubas his first break, allowing him to travel with the team and sit in on meetings. Hartsburg is now a scout with the Columbus Blue Jackets and was the former head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. Dave Torrey, who is now the head of scouting with the LA Kings, became the Greyhounds GM and made Dubas a scout at just 17 years old.
After college, Dubas became an agent, but admitted he pretty much hated that job, “it wasn’t for me.”
After his time of being an agent, he became the GM of the Soo Greyhounds, and then everything kept moving forward, though his first job in the big time was under Toronto Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello, a notoriously rigid and detailed leader.
Lamoriello quickly warmed to Dubas after the junior employee learned to meet Lamoriello’s standards, but that doesn’t mean Dubas wasn’t intimidated at the start.
“I was 29 years old. I was scared shitless. Like, the first day he walks in and, very quickly, my job was kind of doing a little bit of everything, from very specifically running the (Toronto) Marlies and our ECHL affiliate in Orlando, our minor league operation, and player development operation,” said Dubas. “For the first year, every single thing we did, he would he would question me on it. He was hard. But you very quickly realized, looking back, and especially now when you’re in charge of mentoring people as they’re coming into it and guiding those operations, it was just so that you got so dialed in on the details and that you didn’t ever discount any single detail at all.”
Evgeni Malkin
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin prepares to take a face-off during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Pittsburgh. P Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Dubas had very kind words for his star center, Malkin.
“(He’s) much more aware than I think people give him credit for,” said Dubas. “Especially at the end of last season in his (exit interview), just a lot of very deep thoughts about just the game in general that he doesn’t really talk about too much publicly, that I thought was very interesting.”
Malkin has one year remaining on his four-year contract, and turned 39 years old on July 31. While reports swirled that the Penguins would not offer Malkin a contract after this season, PHN was able to report through team and player sources that neither side had made decisions regarding the future.
Dubas later confirmed that conversations will happen after training camp and in February during the Olympic break.
Read More: Sources: Malkin’s Penguins’ Future Beyond Next Season Remains … Undecided.
“I think everyone focuses on that he’s probably the most underrated player, maybe to ever play. I think just because he has always kind of been a little bit in the shadow of Sid,” Dubas began. “But at his best, he is one of, if not the best player in the league. And he’s won everything you can win. He’s way more competitive, even at his age, than I think most people would ever give him credit for. I think especially in those games when he gets a little heated, you see that kind of vintage form. He just turned 39 a week ago, but is still capable of some very special moments and still a very good player.”
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