EDMONTON — It’s perfectly fitting that the Pittsburgh Penguins’ next game is in Vancouver — because Kyle Dubas is on a Jim Rutherford-esque heater.

Seemingly, everything Dubas has done over the past year has been on the money.

Dubas has been in Pittsburgh for just two and a half years, but his fingerprints are all over the team that is suddenly chugging toward the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Let’s look at the roster as it currently stands, man by man, and Dubas’ impact on each player.

Kyle Dubas has given Sidney Crosby a legitimate shot to make the playoffs this season. (Leila Devlin / Getty Images)

Sidney Crosby

Dubas signed him to a two-year contract extension in September 2024, his $8.7 million annual cap hit remaining. How has that worked out? Dubas knows a Crosby trade could have expedited a traditional rebuild, but he also understands the captain’s value and bet on him to maintain his greatness well into the future.

Rickard Rakell

Remember when everyone wanted to trade Rakell at this time last season? Dubas took a beating for not trading him. In retrospect, keeping Rakell has helped this team. He hasn’t played as well as he did last season, and he missed a good chunk of time with a broken finger, but Rakell has started to play his best hockey now. And the Penguins are better with him still on the roster.

Bryan Rust

Dubas’ phone rings daily as opposing general managers inquire about Rust’s services. Dubas could surely receive a significant return and has in fact received healthy offers, but hasn’t pulled the trigger. The Penguins would not be the Penguins without Rust, who remains one of their most important players.

Evgeni Malkin

This one is tricky, and it’s to be determined, but Dubas hasn’t done anything wrong here. The same people who say Dubas has to bring back Geno are the same who call it a masterclass after every trade he makes. Maybe Dubas knows what he’s doing. Should he bring back Malkin for another year? Yeah, probably. Will he? The plan wasn’t to bring him back last summer. Malkin’s performance may well be changing things. Either way, Malkin is playing high-level hockey, and he’s doing it for the Penguins. Dubas never entertained moving him, and he was right for that.

Tommy Novak

His season didn’t start splendidly, but it’s coming along now. Novak is a crafty, interesting player who is really clicking on the second line. Dubas traded for him last winter in the days leading up to the NHL trade deadline, with Michael Bunting going to Nashville. Novak is better than Bunting, and that trade was a win for the Penguins.

Egor Chinakhov

Have you been watching for the past couple of weeks? Chinakhov is a talented player. I don’t know what was going on in Columbus, but it couldn’t have been good. Dubas identified that Chinakhov could help this team now and into the future. He has legitimate star potential.

Ben Kindel is making the Penguins look extremely smart. (Brett Holmes / Getty Images)

Ben Kindel

The experts said the Penguins reached for Kindel with the 11th pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. I’m not hearing any of that commentary now. Kindel was one of the steals of the draft. He’s already an important member of the Penguins at 18 and is only going to get better. What a player, and what a draft pick.

Anthony Mantha

He’s on pace for 26 goals this season. Dubas signed him for $2.5 million last July. I believe we refer to that as being a tidy bit of business.

Justin Brazeau

Brazeau is also on pace to score 26 goals this season — in only 68 games. The Penguins were not the same team when he was out with an injury. Dubas signed him at $1.5 million annually. For two years. It may go down as one of the best free agent signings in Penguins history. He’s only 27 and appears to have found a home.

Blake Lizotte

Dubas signed him two years ago at $1.85 million annually. Lizotte has since been rewarded with a three-year extension, which carries an AAV of $2.25 million. The Penguins are 24-9-8 when he’s in the lineup this season, and that isn’t a coincidence.

Connor Dewar

Dubas traded for him at the last minute — almost literally — before the NHL trade deadline last season. It was under the radar. No one talked about it at the time, but Dubas knew his former team, the Maple Leafs, was having cap issues, and he pounced on Dewar, who has 11 goals and is one of the NHL’s best fourth-liners right now. His cap hit is a mere $1.1 million. What an exceptional acquisition.

Noel Acciari

This would probably qualify as a rare mistake from Dubas, though it took place during the summer of 2023, when Dubas made a few errors. The three-year contract worth $6 million for Acciari was not a great deal. Still, you can’t deny that Acciari has played a crucial role in this season’s success. All’s well that ends well with this deal.

Kevin Hayes

He is past his prime and making too much money, yes. Still, the primary reason Dubas acquired him was that the Penguins received a second-round pick to get him. Those second-round picks turn into players like Chinakhov when you have a really good general manager running the show. Therefore, it was a smart trade.

Erik Karlsson

Ah, speaking of the summer of 2023 … Karlsson’s first two years in Pittsburgh were a disaster. Dubas could have moved him last summer. While I have no doubt he considered it, Dubas opted to keep Karlsson, who has been magnificent this season. The decision to trade for Karlsson is finally paying off.

Parker Wotherspoon

He’s been one of the NHL’s steadiest defensemen all season — a real revelation. Dubas signed him at $1 million annually for two years, making it another candidate for one of the best free agent signings in Penguins history. Wotherspoon has legitimately played at a $5 million level this season. That’s how good he’s been.

Kris Letang

He was signed before Dubas arrived, and he remains. He’s one of the rare players on this roster whose presence hasn’t really depended on Dubas one way or the other.

Brett Kulak was a nice pickup in the Tristan Jarry trade. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

Brett Kulak

More on this trade later, but the long and the short of it is that Dubas traded an overpaid, underachieving goaltender to Edmonton, and one of the players he received in return is a solid defenseman. There is no question that Kulak’s presence has made Letang a better player.

Ryan Shea

Dubas signed him to a one-year, $900,000 extension last season. How has that worked out? As with Wotherspoon, Shea isn’t going to blow you away with his physical gifts, but he’s emerged as a very reliable NHL defenseman who plays on a very team-friendly contract.

Connor Clifton

Perhaps he’s a bit overpaid at $3.3 million annually, but in recent weeks, we’ve seen what he can bring to the lineup. He’s a hitter. He brings energy. He brings depth. He’s right-handed. He’s a great presence in the locker room. Not a bad guy to have around.

Ryan Graves

Graves is the poster child for all that went wrong in the summer of 2023. He remains overpaid ($4.5 million AAV). However, even Graves has been considerably better this season. You don’t cringe when he’s on the ice anymore. He gives the Penguins depth, at least.

Jack St. Ivany

He’s signed for another season at $775,000 annually. That’s what we call good value.

Stuart Skinner

He’s allowed 11 goals in his past seven starts. What else needs to be said? Dubas successfully ridded himself of a previous mistake in Tristan Jarry’s contract, added Kulak and a second-round pick. Adding Skinner to that is highway robbery.

Artūrs Šilovs

He’s been terrible in shootouts, sure. The rest of his body of work has not been bad. A worthy trade, without question.

Others

We haven’t even mentioned players such as Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Harrison Brunicke, Bill Zonnon, Will Horcoff and many other young players who appear on the verge of helping the Penguins in varying capacities.

Times are good for the Penguins. If they do indeed reach the playoffs and Crosby gets to 100 points, he’ll receive deserved MVP buzz.

First-year coach Dan Muse will rightfully receive Jack Adams Award consideration. The Penguins were supposed to be a bottom-five team in the NHL, and they’ve looked well-coached almost all season.

Of course, let’s not forget that Dubas hired Muse. Dubas constructed this team. And Dubas is doing what Ron Hextall couldn’t do — which is to say, he is successfully rebuilding on the fly while still seeing his Penguins push for a playoff spot. It’s not supposed to work this way — but it is.

Dubas is on his way toward winning general manager of the year. Everything he touches is turning to gold.

The trade deadline is less than two months away. If I were another NHL general manager, I’d be afraid to trade with him. If I were Dubas, I’d be tempted to stand pat and ride the stellar work already done over the past year to bolster the Penguins’ present and future.