Penguins
Kingerski: I Like the Dubas Strategy, But…

There is an extra layer to Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas’s retooling strategy that was a little bit surprising.
And I like it.
Like anything else in life, what comes next for the Pittsburgh Penguins will be decided by the plan’s execution. Dubas both laid out and hinted at his strategy Saturday morning in something akin to a combination trade and mid-season press conference.
Dubas is acquiring copious amounts of draft picks not only to select players but also as trade chips. The Penguins acquired the New York Rangers 2025 or 2026 first-rounder via the Vancouver Canucks by trading away Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor.
Read More: Molinari: Penguins’ Rebuild Requires More Than Just Good Trades
It’s a much better strategy than it initially seemed, and it could quickly bridge the gap between what was and what will be.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now has noted that there appears to be a coming two to four-year gap in Dubas’s retooling, in which the team would lack sufficient assets to be competitive while waiting for the acquired draft capital to become prospects and then (some of them) mature to reach the NHL.
That would be bad for business and would essentially require the Penguins to rebuild fully, which Dubas has wisely eschewed. Teams that enter the dark wilderness of a ground-zero rebuild often don’t emerge for a long, long time. Rip van Winkle could take a nap between these teams’ competitive playoff appearances.
Prospects with genuine potential can be swallowed whole by bad habits promoted by the hopelessness of protracted rebuilds, as fans turn surly and then stop turning up, losing becomes culture, and “next year ” becomes a permanent motto.
On paper, the Penguins are facing a gap between the end of the championship core and enough homegrown players to assemble a competent team.
By 2028, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang will be 40, and there’s a high likelihood that one or both will be done playing then. However, the Penguins’ accrued draft capital currently extends to 2027. Given the usual two-to-four-year window for players not selected in the top 10 to reach the NHL, Dubas is looking at the fruits of his current cache arriving in 2028, but more likely in 2029 or 2030.
Currently, forward prospects Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Broz, Ville Koivunen, and defensemen prospects Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke project as impactful players at the NHL level, either as top nine forwards with offensive potential or top four defensemen.
Read More: Scouting McGroarty & WBS Penguins; Guys Starting to Take it to Next Level (+)
With great respect to the kids on the way, one or several will be very good players, but they’re not meant to carry the full weight of a team and organization.
And so, PHN projected some dark years ahead for the Penguins based on the fatal flaw in Dubas’ plan.
However, on Saturday, Dubas indicated the excess draft capital would allow him to enter more trade conversations for young players. In the past several months, we’ve seen top prospects such as David Jiricek dealt. We’ve watched the Washington Capitals spend future capital to acquire defenseman Jacob Chychrun and goalie Logan Thompson. The Capitals still have enough space to bring along prospects such as Alieksei Protas and Connor McMichael.
The San Jose Sharks used some draft capital to acquire top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov from Nashville. The Montreal Canadiens traded a second-round pick and young defenseman Jordan Harris to Columbus for Patrik Laine.
Dubas has dabbled in the prospects market, trading a 2027 fourth to Nashville to give Philip Tomasino a real NHL shot and dealt his top prospect Brayden Yager to Winnipeg for McGroarty.
However, Dubas clearly opened the door to bigger deals for young players using his draft capital.
“We don’t want to buy patience or say it’s an X amount of years plan. Our goal is to try to acquire the assets that we’ve laid out and then either develop those draft picks into players that can help the team quickly … or use those assets to be in the mix when players that can make an impact are present (on the trade market) and can help us,” Dubas said.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has previously tied the Buffalo Sabres’ top prospects to the Penguins’ trade interests.
The Penguins now have 15 picks in the top three rounds over the next three drafts and 29 picks overall. Plausibly, they have too many to keep. Dubas can now simultaneously move veterans as appropriate but also chase some young players who have already been exposed to the pro game or are a year or two into their development.
Dubas can shortcut the retooling by prudently using his picks. I like this strategy a lot. New Penguins vice president of player personnel Wes Clarke has a surprisingly strong track record of finding real prospects in the back end of the first round and beyond for the Toronto Maple Leafs (Easton Cowan, Fraser Minten, Matthew Knies), which only gives Dubas more ability to repower his ship set adrift.
Now, it comes down to execution and avoiding gargantuan mistakes, which befell his first few weeks on the job.
I like it.