Penguins hire Dubas as president of hockey operations

PITTSBURGH --Kyle Dubas said the Pittsburgh Penguins, with Mike Sullivan as coach and Sidney Crosby as captain, remain contenders for the Stanley Cup.

Dubas was hired as Penguins president of hockey operations Thursday, drawn to the position by Sullivan and Crosby.

"A number of conversations with coach Sullivan, but also the conversation with Sid, were paramount in my decision to come here," Dubas said. "They're some of the best competitors in hockey. Obviously, Mike Sullivan's record as a coach and Sidney's as a player speak for themselves.

"I've heard a lot of people that were highly skeptical of the team's ability to contend here. The way I view it is if people want to bet against Mike Sullivan, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and others, they can go ahead and do so. But I'm going to bet on them."

Dubas replaces Brian Burke, who was fired as Penguins president along with general manager Ron Hextall on April 14. The 37-year-old will oversee all aspects of the Penguins hockey operations department, including establishing the strategic vision and philosophy for the franchise.

Sullivan and Crosby are central to that vision, Dubas said.

"I felt that those were very important people for me to get a real deep sense of where they felt the organization was at," Dubas said. "And where it would be going so that I knew, coming in, where they felt the Penguins were at and what they felt the Penguins would need from somebody in this role.

"'Sully' can coach forever. He's a great coach. There's no real expiration date on Mike."

Crosby, who will turn 36 years old on Aug. 7, led the Penguins with 93 points (33 goals, 60 assists) this season.

"More than anything, to be able to sit with him and ensure that winning was the No. 1 thing for him, it was very evident in talking with him that winning is his major focus every day," Dubas said. "That lifts the whole group. That lifts the whole standard."

Crosby has said he will play at least the two remaining seasons on a 12-year contract. A new contract has not been discussed, Dubas said.

"We'll address that when we can," Dubas said. "That's not until 13 months."

Malkin and Letang each re-signed last offseason. Malkin, who will be 37 at the start of next season, agreed to a four-year contract, and Letang, 36, signed a six-year contract.

With the core intact, the Penguins were 40-31-11 this season and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs after qualifying each of the previous 16 seasons, which was the longest streak in the NHL.

Dubas said Crosby, Malkin and Letang remain the cornerstones in Pittsburgh but that there needs to be preparation for life beyond those three.

"I see this task ahead of us as a two-pronged effort," Dubas said. "In the short run, it's to continue to make decisions that are going to allow the team to be competitive while the core group of players that have led the team to championships in the past continue to perform at the levels that they have for as long as they can.

"At the same time, we'll also begin at delivering a long-term hockey organization that can be the class of the NHL. And to reduce any gap in time that there otherwise could be from the end of those great players' careers to the next era of great hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins."

Dubas will hold interim GM duties until at least July, when a formal search for Hextall's replacement will begin.

"I think the type of person that we'd be looking for would be someone progressive that can really add an element to the organization that, perhaps, I don't have as a skill set," Dubas said.

In the interim, Dubas might be tasked with making a decision on goalie Tristan Jarry, who could become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Jarry was 24-13-7 with a 2.90 goals-against average and .909 save percentage this season.

"It's going to be doing a very thorough evaluation of Tristan, where he stands in the marketplace," Dubas said. "Get a real scope of who's going to be available, whether that's in free agency or trade. Then if Tristan is at the top of that mix, or in that mix, because you're familiar and you know him, it'll be to try to establish a concept that can get done with he and his agent."

Dubas, who was GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs for five seasons, was told May 19 that he would not be returning next season. His contract was to expire June 30.

At locker cleanout day May 15, three days after Toronto was eliminated by the Florida Panthers in five games in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Second Round, Dubas said he intended to speak with his family prior to deciding whether he wanted to return as GM.

Dubas had been linked to other NHL jobs but took himself out of the running May 15 for any job except for remaining with the Maple Leafs.

"What I would say is I definitely don't have it in me to go anywhere else, so it will either be here (in Toronto) or it will be taking time to recalibrate and reflect on the seasons here," Dubas said. "But you won't see me next week pop up elsewhere. I can't put [my family] through that after this year."

However, Dubas said he was encouraged by his wife, Shannon, to consider the Penguins opportunity.

"Maybe I was too honest that day, how I was feeling in that exact moment," Dubas said Thursday. "But it's in the past. … I had a 617 area code call. I hung up and it was a message from [Sam Kennedy, chief operating officer of Fenway Sports Management], (who) told me that they had permission from Toronto. My initial inkling was that we needed to get a breath here before we entertained other options.

"My wife, later in the day, said, 'I actually think you should go in and at least meet with them.' She said, 'If they're great people and they have a long-term view of the organization, it's going to be a great fit for you.'"