Penguins, Leafs Trades: Analyzing Kyle Dubas’s Aggressive Year (+)

Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas has been a busy team-builder over the last 12 months, engaging in 11 trades as first the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs and this summer as the leader of the Penguins organization.

He has not been shy about identifying needs and being aggressive on the NHL market.

And the report card on the Dubas trade history is pretty good.

Actually, it is really good, but it is not without a potentially significant blemish and some overpays. When we put the cards on the table, Dubas’s intentions and ambitious streak paint an interesting picture. Penguins fans are already giving Dubas high marks for his theft of Erik Karlsson for three players fans were happy to scrap.

Similar to former Penguins GM Jim Rutherford, when Dubas targets a player, he moves boldly.

The larger question is, do the bold moves pay off?