Confirmed with Link: Kyle Dubas named President of Hockey Operations

LOGiK

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Nov 14, 2007
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I haven't been around penguin news... is Sullivan still here?
Are there any mentionable changes week by week?
Thanking you in advance...
Back to summer.
 

SEALBound

Fancy Gina Carano
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Jun 13, 2010
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Hiring Spezza as a AGM before hiring the GM seemed like a weird choice to me.

Either a) the GM will be more figurehead and it will be Dubas pulling the strings (or Dubas will just take the GM responsibilities altogether) or b) Dubas knows the GM will get along with Spezza.

Pridham would likely satisfy b). Maybe a) as well.
I wouldn't read much into it. That's merely "I want Spezza here but he's not ready to be a GM". There's something to be said about a GM getting to have his own AGMs but I do think Dubas as POHO will be a little more active in the day-to-day than say, Burke.

I can't imagine a new GM coming in that would get the job is going to find major issues Spezza. How much responsibility you give him is another story. But at same time, starting off a job with tension between a GM and AGM because he's not "the GM's guy", yeah I don't see it.
 
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Peat

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Jun 14, 2016
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Hiring Spezza as a AGM before hiring the GM seemed like a weird choice to me.

Either a) the GM will be more figurehead and it will be Dubas pulling the strings (or Dubas will just take the GM responsibilities altogether) or b) Dubas knows the GM will get along with Spezza.

Pridham would likely satisfy b). Maybe a) as well.

Probably elements of yes to both.

We already know that Dubas is POHO because he was sick of being on the wrong side of a power struggle and wants the final say on everything. There's a lot of room as to just how much power a GM has under that, but it's not the same level of power Rutherford or Hextall had as a GM.

But I don't really see any problem for a GM - any GM - in working with Spezza *except* the worry that their AGM will have a louder voice with their boss than they do. GMs inherit staff all the time and Spezza is a big time hockey person. Any GM who isn't excited about tapping Spezza as a resource is a GM I don't want anyway.

The worry over Spezza having a louder voice is legit... but then so too is the worry over a GM wanting more power than they'll get. I think any GM who is cool with the latter is cool with the former too. And I don't think Pridham is the only possibility for that happening.
 
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pistolpete11

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Apr 27, 2013
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I wouldn't read much into it. That's merely "I want Spezza here but he's not ready to be a GM". There's something to be said about a GM getting to have his own AGMs but I do think Dubas as POHO will be a little more active in the day-to-day than say, Burke.

I can't imagine a new GM coming in that would get the job is going to find major issues Spezza. How much responsibility you give him is another story. But at same time, starting off a job with tension between a GM and AGM because he's not "the GM's guy", yeah I don't see it.

Probably elements of yes to both.

We already know that Dubas is POHO because he was sick of being on the wrong side of a power struggle and wants the final say on everything. There's a lot of room as to just how much power a GM has under that, but it's not the same level of power Rutherford or Hextall had as a GM.

But I don't really see any problem for a GM - any GM - in working with Spezza *except* the worry that their AGM will have a louder voice with their boss than they do. GMs inherit staff all the time and Spezza is a big time hockey person. Any GM who isn't excited about tapping Spezza as a resource is a GM I don't want anyway.

The worry over Spezza having a louder voice is legit... but then so too is the worry over a GM wanting more power than they'll get. I think any GM who is cool with the latter is cool with the former too. And I don't think Pridham is the only possibility for that happening.
I think it has probably been Dubas' plan from the start to poach Pridham from Toronto.
 

Ryder71

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Nov 24, 2017
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Disagreeing with the almighty Sully are grounds for termination on this team.
If you think Sullivan and though he does have a lot of power can match the passion, the intellect and the clout that Kyle dubas has here you are sadly mistaken, and about a great many things! KD has no peer here. They are paying him an absurd amount of money put a quality product on the ice. I don't even think any members of the core would garner more clout than kd. You think about that now!
 

hockeywiz542

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May 26, 2008
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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.”

................

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.”
 

FlightlessBird

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Nov 5, 2005
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Pittsburgh

That tweet is pretty misleading (shock!) and was posted for clicks, which Leafs fans apparently were happy to oblige. His article on The Athletic said: He referred to Toronto as a “great city” but said smaller Pittsburgh is remindful of his native Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and “feels like home.”

edit: and if you read his full quote in the post above, it makes it even more “just posted for drama.”
 

Turin

Registered User
Feb 27, 2018
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The more I hear about two pronged task, the unhappier I feel.
I hope it's just jargon for "we're trying to win but by actually being smart about utilizing cap space and assets" and not actually "we're trying to win but like, not super hard"
 

Peat

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Jun 14, 2016
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I hope it's just jargon for "we're trying to win but by actually being smart about utilizing cap space and assets" and not actually "we're trying to win but like, not super hard"

I hope Dubas is going to offer me an AGM job tomorrow too.
 

Deport Ogie

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Jun 30, 2014
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Seems to be a highly regarded and respected mind for the numbers game. Sounds like a solid hire.

If he's hired to be the "cap guy" which all indications seem to acknowledge than I wonder if that slows some of the Pridham is inevitable talk since cap nerd was also his noted attribute.
 

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