Today marked the official start of the season with the Pittsburgh Penguins hitting the ice for training camp for the first time. Before the players took to the ice Kyle Dubas took some time to speak to the media so let’s go through what he had to say
Unfortunate situation for McGroarty
It is unfortunate to see Rutger McGroarty miss time during training camp and beyond. This should be a big year in his potential development as a player and now he is going to have to play catch up when he gets back which can be a tall task for a player still learning the ropes of the NHL.
Players like McGroarty are super important to how fast this rebuild is going to go. Dubas targeted him in a trade because he thought his timeline would be faster than Brayden Yager’s. Injuries like this can push that timeline back, which is really unfortunate. We are going to have to wait and see how this setback plays out.
As for the other younger players they rightfully will be given every chance to make the big roster even if it comes at the expense of veterans already under contract
This is great to hear. There’s no sense in placating veteran depth players who have minimal impacts in both the short term and long term. This opens the door for a player like Harrison Brunicke, among others, to make the roster out of training camp if he does indeed earn it. This is how a rebuilding team should function. This is why Mike Sullivan didn’t want to be around anymore and both parties had to go in different directions.
Same mantra extends to the goaltending situation
Merit based roster building is the theme, a good one at that.
Speaking of goaltending
Good, I want nothing to do with any of those players involved in that trial. Let them be another franchise’s PR problem. Even if you took away Carter Hart’s off the ice baggage (which we shouldn’t) there is no reason to add a goalie who hasn’t played since January of 2024 to take time from Silovs, Blomqvist, and Murashov on a rebuilding team.
Dubas on Crosby
Dubas responded directly to Pat Brisson’s comments about Sidney Crosby and where the Penguins are as a franchise:
And he’s right. His job is to focus on building up the Penguins the proper way. Everything else is just noise. Sidney Crosby trade rumors are the low hanging fruit of a completely dead offseason for content creators.
I appreciate Dubas being steadfast in understanding that there are no shortcuts in what he is trying to do. You cannot pivot from the path he chose to go down when he traded Jake Guentzel. You are asking for mediocrity and ask the Buffalo Sabres if they’ve loved their mediocrity for the past 15 years or so. Half measures are a recipe for mediocrity. As for being in contact with Pat Brisson daily, I really hope Dubas misspoke because that would be insanely annoying. The job is hard enough as it is without coddling a super agent.
So what’s the deal with Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell?
You can’t just trade them for the sake of trading them. As I said yesterday, there is value in these three being at camp for the younger players to learn from. The trades will eventually come. Pittsburgh has cap space to eat some of the money in any trade and none of these players are on expiring deals. While it might be annoying to wait for this process to play out the key is getting the right return. Dubas has time to make that happen. It is a must he makes that happen.
Dubas on Malkin
If you are someone like me who is not quite ready to let Evgeni Malkin head into the sunset you will gravitate like I did to the end of Dubas’ quote here
I would love it if Evgeni Malkin was willing and able to play more NHL hockey. The second part of that is the important one. He has to be able. We are going to have to see if Malkin can hold off the aging curve from taking anymore from him in 2025-26. He’s still a pretty good NHL player. If he maintains last year’s caliber of play I see no reason why they can’t give him a short term extension. Hell, move him to Crosby’s wing and see what they can do together now that Mike Sullivan is gone. He doesn’t have to keep playing center up until the end of his career. If a move to wing can extend his NHL usefulness I’d love to see it.
Here’s another angle of a potential short term Malkin extension: What better way to neuter Pat Brisson being all up in the Penguins business than to extend Malkin and dare Sid to leave his buddy behind? I don’t think he would. I would think it would be worth it for Dubas to not get those daily conversations.
For this to happen he is going to have to pitch gems all season long like Paul Skenes this year. There is little room for error and despite whatever the team’s success is in 2025-26 he is going to have to make sure the things he is doing are on point and without room for error. It is a tall ask, but it can be done.
Dubas on Marc-Andre Fleury
So that’s what the GM had to say this morning. Let the season begin.
https://hockeyhotstove.com/forums/topic/things-to-look-for-at-penguins-camp
