Kyle Dubas has been on the job as the Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations for approximately three weeks. He’s still getting familiar with his new surroundings, but he likes what he has seen so far. Pittsburgh reminds Dubas — previously the general manager of the Maple Leafs in...
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Kyle Dubas has been on the job as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ President of Hockey Operations for approximately three weeks.
He’s still getting familiar with his new surroundings but he likes what he has seen so far.
Pittsburgh reminds Dubas — previously the general manager of the Maple Leafs in hockey-mad Toronto — of his hometown, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, another city with industrial roots.
“I think the thing that’s really impressed me has just been the quality of the people here and … how comfortable it’s been in the city already, not just for me, but for my family,” Dubas said during a press conference at the team’s facility in Cranberry on Friday. “I’m from Sault Ste. Marie. Toronto, the city is much larger. It’s a great city, but here it just feels a little bit more like home and what it was like growing up.”
Dubas did offer one caveat regarding his idyllic existence in Pittsburgh thus far.
“We haven’t lost any games yet.”
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The most intense portion of that task will take place in the coming week as the NHL gathers for its draft in Nashville on Wednesday and Thursday then opens the floodgates on the free agent signing period July 1.
Dubas has the two-pronged task of retrofitting the Penguins into being a playoff-caliber squad after they failed to reach the postseason this spring while also refurbishing a pool of prospects that is barely ankle deep.
He acknowledges he’ll have his hands full. With the salary cap expected to rise by $1 million to $83.5 million for the 2023-24 season, the Penguins are projected to have approximately $20 million of cap space to operate with.
“The roster, it has a lot of experience,” said Dubas, who is filling the duties of general manager until — or if — that position is filled. “But there’s lots of cap space. Without depleting where we’re going in the future, how are we going to best utilize the opportunity we have in terms of cap space — with other teams kind of crunched — to best support this group and have it move ahead?”
”And so, you know, it’s starting to kind of work its way towards a conclusion here as we get towards the draft. But until you actually execute on those moves, you always have that doubt that it’s not going to go perfectly according to plan.”