Penguins
‘We Aren’t Favorites’: Lengthy Kyle Dubas Presser, What Did He Say?
CRANBERRY, PA — The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t favorites to achieve any of their goals this season, including making the playoffs, and if the Penguins don’t achieve more than expectations, everyone will close the window on the Penguins. Still, the current staff is trying to rebuild the organization from development to analytics.
That was the beginning of Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas’s marathon 43-minute press conference Monday as the Penguins begin the 2024-25 NHL season.
Dubas maintained an even tone throughout the lengthy press conference, which was certainly the longest in recent memory. This season is their chance to break through the downtrodden expectations, though Dubas didn’t specify the fallout if they don’t.
Instead, he had praise for Rutger McGroarty, whom he felt earned an NHL spot regardless of the injury situation that guaranteed him one, and the rapid and significant progress by 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering. He outlined that pending unrestricted free agents Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor would be treated differently—in a good way—when it came to contract negotiations this season.
Read More: McGroarty Makes It! Penguins Release Final Roster
He was also cautiously optimistic about defenseman Ryan Graves’s ability to rebound from an ugly 2023-24 season.
What did he really say?
The Penguins’ sophomore GM avoided bold proclamations or otherwise finite projections Monday. He instead preferred to reside in the vagueries with wiggle room just in case he is indeed successful, or the exact opposite.
Dubas admitted the team won’t be favored to make the playoffs and that if they fail to do so for the third straight season, the public will very well write them off. However, he stopped short of offering any threats or demarcations if the team didn’t improve upon the last two disappointing seasons.
He will keep his options open with Pettersson and O’Connor but also give them special consideration in any subsequent contract talks. He likes the youth movement he was able to begin this summer, and those players may or may not play a role in future roster decisions.
No, after getting roughed up in Toronto in the spring of 2023 and being forced to walk back deadlines last season in vain hopes of the Penguins finding their potential, Dubas admittedly sought to avoid headline material.
Perhaps the most telling answer or set of explanations came 23 minutes into the press conference when Dubas admitted they have a long way to go in rebuilding the organization, from adding more players via draft and trade to developing them and burnishing the organization’s analytics department.
“It revolves around us as an organization continuing to utilize all arms of the organization. First is personnel. So, draft, trade, European or college free agents, (and) continuing to bring in really good players that way. I think we’ve started there. We’ve got a long way to go.
“Development–players outside of our system. Jason (Spezza) is leading this department … how quickly can we convert those players into good NHL players? (Also), building up our analytics department and our hockey R&D department to help inform us and making all those decisions and guide that.”
From there, there were a few nuggets to mine, but certainly no pot of gold.
Expectations and the Era Drawing to a close
“I think we all understand the task at hand. We aren’t favored by anybody to accomplish anything, and that’s not to build a narrative. That’s just a simple fact. We’ve missed the playoffs the last two seasons here, and as a result, I think that sets the external expectation for the season. But I think that everyone in the building knows that this season is going to be hard. We don’t come in with any preconceived notions anymore that we’re going to walk in and be a favorite, or we’re going to walk in and strike fear into anybody. We’re going to have to earn that, and we’re going to have to build that competitive spirit with this iteration of the team throughout each and every single day in practice, in the gym, and in each and every game that we play.
“And I would say that on that note, if the expectation is that this chapter of the Penguins is going to go the same place as the previous two chapters, that it will lead to a story that will slowly draw this era of the Penguins to a close. And the way that I look at that is that this season and this chapter represents our chance to change the story.”
Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor, UFAs
“The key is to protect all of our options as we go through the year, see how our own young guys are evolving and developing, as some of you’ve seen here throughout camp, and measure that as we go. But Marcus is a key guy for us, and I think we’ll treat him a little bit differently. He, and (O’Connor), I put in that case of treating them a little bit differently as we go through it.”
Power Play changes
“(Assistant coach David Quinn) has a great energy to him that I think is a great help … when it comes to this situation, I know a lot will be written and watched, and especially if the first power play Wednesday night doesn’t go well, fans will get antsy. That’s just the nature, psychologically, of power plays and interaction with the fan base in every single city.
“I think that the guys, you see them, the way they’re practicing the power play. They’re upset with themselves, upset with others. They know it’s important to get going. We can’t get too tense with it if it has a bad first week. We have to just get to a certain point (of success).”
Ryan Graves
It was Dubas who lavished a six-year contract upon Graves, who did more to cause consternation about the contract than long-term optimism.
“No. 1, he came into camp in excellent condition. That was apparent from his testing. Ryan put in the time and work in the offseason. He’s a player who’s been in the league for a long time now, so I don’t put a ton into the preseason or exhibition with him. I think the goal of the coaching staff was to get him and others up and running fast and get them a lot of action early on, and I thought that they were effective.
“He spent a lot of time with Quinny early in camp and on the ice, and he’s very (been) very attentive to it.”
And just for fun, Dubas’s most colorful quote
“I think we want to get away from the pure bottom six (that has) to defend. I think that we need to score in that group. We need to defend our asses off with that group, too. Like, don’t get me wrong, (we need to defend) all through our lineup, but we want guys that are able to produce as well.”