Grading Kyle Dubas, Penguins Offseason; The Future vs. Now

There is the chance that Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas earns extra credit after the final grade is delivered, but the gale force winds of the NHL offseason have slowed to a mild breeze. With most of the impact players signed and the trade possibilities drying up, there are unlikely to be more team-changing trades or signings.

There are a couple of possibilities, such as Patrik Laine, still floating about on the NHL trade block and a few free agents still knocking on doors, but the likelihood is the 2024-25 Penguins are as you see them now.

So, now it is time to deliver the grades and report card for Dubas and the Penguins’ offseason.

Penguins Offseason Grade: C

It’s neither been a bad offseason nor a particularly encouraging one. This season will be the first plank on the bridge from here to there, but the changes to the NHL club have been tertiary. The additions by subtraction have been solid, but the free-agent additions were redundant and underwhelming.

The moves could easily become poor asset management.

Signing Matt Grzelcyk was a good move, but a one-year contract doesn’t instill much confidence. Re-signing Alex Nedeljkovic is also a solid play, but it won’t dramatically affect the team’s results.

Dubas also made some debatable decisions, such as acquiring Kevin Hayes and a second-round pick but also signing Blake Lizotte after the trade. With Lars Eller and Noel Acciari already on the roster, one of the moves was redundant.

Dubas wanted to get younger and clear space for some young players but sacrificed 25-year-old defenseman P.O Joseph, who excelled in the final 20 games when placed with Kris Letang on the top pairing.

Since Dubas asserted that he sees Hayes as a center, that probably means Eller is on the trade block; Noel Acciari will move to the wing, but important lineup spaces for young players such as Vasily Ponomarev, Sam Poulin and maybe Brayden Yager are blocked.

Dubas has plenty of time to trim the hedges, but are other teams interested? There was a little bit of scuttlebutt at the Draft involving Eller and the Buffalo Sabres, but they acquired Ryan McLeod from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for supremely talented forward Matthew Savoie.

That probably ended Buffalo’s pursuit.

Signing Anthony Beauvillier could mean that youngster Valtteri Puustinen is out of the lineup, or one of them must flip to the left wing. However, neither of them should be counted upon for the necessary sea change to provide depth scoring. There were plenty of depth scorers on the July 1 free agent market, but Dubas snagged only Beauvillier, who has bounced between four teams in the last two seasons without any success.

Attempts to sign free agent Vladimir Tarasenko were unsuccessful, and the Hayes trade involved accepting a boatload of salary over two years in exchange for merely a second-round pick.

Here’s the rub: If not for the Hayes trade, Dubas would have been able to afford more or higher-quality secondary scoring, and those assets would have been tradeable for the same second-round pick (or more) at the NHL trade deadline or next summer. In the probability that Hayes is not a better player than he was in his final year in Philadelphia and last season in St. Louis, this trade will have unseen but negative impacts.

The subtractions were a net positive. Trading Reilly Smith and most of his $5 million salary for a 2027 second-round pick cleared salary and lineup space. It also moved along a player who, for most of last season, seemed to be a square peg.

Terminating Todd Reirden can only help the Penguins power play. Hiring David Quinn, who has a tight relationship with coach Mike Sullivan, to replace Reirden also gives Sullivan an honest sounding board and one not afraid to push back much harder than others could.

Dubas not so gingerly admitted the Quinn factor when he spoke on July 1.

Finally, the 2024 NHL draft is difficult to gauge, if not impossible to grade. The Penguins passed on several exciting offensive talents, including Teddy Stiga of the US program, John Mustard of the USHL, and Ryder Ritchie of the WHL, to select right-handed defenseman Harrison Brunicke with the 44th pick and Tanner Howe at No. 46.

Howe was an interesting pick who brings a gritty dimension that the current lineup needs more of. He could be in the NHL within two years. Brunicke will not, and there were players with first-round grades still on the board at the start of the third round.

Brunicke isn’t a bad pick, but he’s less exciting and more of an all-around defenseman. He had just 21 points in 49 games last season in the WHL. He’s 6-foot-3 and just under 200 pounds, but it will be two more years before he can turn pro. Also, defensemen are notoriously difficult to develop. See also P.O Joseph, Calen Addison, and Ty Smith.

Get this: the last time the Penguins drafted a defenseman who became an NHL regular for the club was 2012 when they snagged Olli Maatta at No. 22 overall. They whiffed on defenseman Derrick Pouliot with the eighth overall selection. That day was so long ago that Ray Shero was the Penguins’ GM; it was first-term Obama, the beginning of Adele and the We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together era of Taylor Swift.

And I didn’t need shampoo to hide the gray. In other words, it isn’t easy to develop defensemen, even first-rounders.

As of July 9, the Penguins are not a better team than they were on April 17. As awkward as it might seem, signing Beauvillier and eating $1.25 million of Smith’s salary means the Penguins’ net savings is only $2.5 million, and there’s real question if Beauvillier can contribute.

Hayes is not a better third-center than Eller. And if Ryan Graves cannot squeeze himself back into the Penguins lineup, Ryan Shea is the only real option to replace him.

If they remain healthy, the Penguins will be competitive, but unlike direct rivals such as the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and Washington Capitals, they didn’t improve via trade or free agency. Dubas’s biggest move may have been setting up the organization for real changes next summer, but that doesn’t help right now.

In fact, the C might be generous.