Molinari: Penguins Aren’t Making It Easy For Kyle Dubas

The 9-3-1 burst that has lifted the Penguins back into legitimate contention for a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs is the best thing that could have happened to Kyle Dubas.

Unless it is the worst.

Qualifying for postseason play for the first time since 2022 would validate some of the major personnel moves Dubas has made since being named the team’s president of hockey operations and general manager.

Trouble is, it also could impede his efforts to restock the franchise’s pool of prospects. a key facet of the plan to prepare it for the days when members of its aging core no longer are on active duty.

After all, first-round draft choices generally are the most important components of a long-term rebuild/retooling and, barring a trade, a team that sits out the playoffs is going to end up with a higher pick than clubs that get in.

And even one slot in the draft order can have a profound impact on a franchise’s future.

Witness 1990, when the New York Islanders selected Scott Scissons with the No. 6 pick in Round 1 of the draft. That was, of course, the choice immediately after the Penguins claimed Jaromir Jagr.

Scissons went on to play two games in the NHL. Jagr appeared in a mere 1,731 more than that, time he spent collecting two Stanley Cups, five league scoring championships and a Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. Among other hardware.

Now, the Penguins aren’t likely to get a prospect of Jagr’s caliber in the 2025 draft, even if they end up with the first overall pick, but acquiring top young talent obviously is key to constructing a group capable of contending for a championship at some point.

For many clubs, that process is accelerated by auctioning off capable veterans (usually on contracts that are about to expire) for future-oriented assets, like draft choices and/or prospects, to teams focused on more short-term objectives.

Although the Penguins have been on the buying side of that equation for most of the past two decades, the move Kyle Dubas made to send pending free agent Jake Guentzel and defenseman Ty Smith to Carolina at the 2024 deadline for Michael Bunting, three young forwards and conditional picks in the first and fifth rounds of the NHL Draft a few months later was such a deal.

With vets like Marcus Pettersson and Anthony Beauvillier, among quite a few others on the major-league roster, eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer, the Penguins’ miserable start made it likely that Dubas would be one of the most active sellers around the 2025 deadline.

Perhaps he still will be, regardless of what transpires between now and then. And that likely would be best for the franchise, over the long haul.

But if the Penguins, who are just one point out of a wild-card playoff spot at the NHL’s holiday break, are in — or even close to — a playoff berth, will Dubas opt to proceed more cautiously, hold onto guys who might depart for nothing in the summer simply to try to qualify for the postseason?

How could Dubas convince the inestimable likes of Sidney Crosby that shedding veteran talent for the final weeks of the season makes the Penguins more of a threat to get into the playoffs, let alone stick around for a while?

It’s not a stretch to suggest that getting Crosby to believe the Penguins are intent on making the current team as competitive as possible helped get him to re-commit with his latest contract.

Now, there is no front-office alchemy that can transform this group into serious Cup contenders by spring, but improbable things sometimes happen in hockey — remember that moderately publicized scrimmage between the U.S. and Soviets at Lake Placid in 1980, or the Islanders’ second-round series against the Penguins in 1993? — and making it to Round 1 at least gives players an opportunity to pull off what seems unthinkable.

If the Penguins don’t falter over the next few months, Kyle Dubas is going to have to decide whether it’s prudent to try to give his team that chance.