Kyle Dubas Checks In Before the Draft and Free Agency

When Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas held his introductory press conference at the beginning of June, he was asked about the challenge of affecting real change on Pittsburgh's roster, given the age and number of no-movement clauses.

"It's going to be taking the next several weeks to sort through that, and by the time we have our next session - whether that's at the draft or prior - I'll probably have a much more clear and definitive answer for you rather than just high-level stuff like today," Dubas, 37, said.

Dubas met with the media on Friday, June 23, ahead of the NHL Draft (Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29) and free agency (Saturday, July 1). He provided insight on the above question and more.

Pittsburgh's biggest asset is cap space

We'll start with the statuses of Pittsburgh's biggest pending unrestricted free agents: starting goaltender Tristan Jarry, top-six forward Jason Zucker, and veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin.

Dubas' approach to negotiating is centered around trying to figure out what the market will be for them, and then whether Pittsburgh's view of it aligns with the players and their agents. "We're still working through that process right now," Dubas said.

The Penguins will have deeper conversations with each of their representatives in Nashville, which is where the NHL Awards (Monday, June 26) and draft are taking place, and probably make decisions about whether it's going to work in Pittsburgh or not - on all fronts - by next Wednesday or Thursday.

"That will allow us to plan going into Friday/Saturday, free agency, and allow them to kind of set their course. If it's going to be here, that's great. If it's going to be moving on, we know we're going to have the cap space and be able to move along," Dubas said. "But I would say that the dance is ongoing right now with all of them."

With Jarry, Zucker and Dumoulin's current contracts off the books, the Penguins have around $20 million to work with. Obviously, there are some big needs that have to be filled using that money. The Penguins either have to find solutions with those three players, or procure replacements for what they brought through trades or free agency.

But Dubas said having this amount of space puts the Penguins in position to acquire players from other teams who are crunched up against the cap and looking to shed salaries to become compliant, or to allow them to re-sign other members of their roster.

"The market has been that way, I think, since the pandemic began and the cap went flat -where each summer, teams need to pay a premium to offload people," Dubas said. "Or they can try to find a fit with another team that believes it's close to contending or wants to contend, and can take on players that can still bring in good value without giving up a lot other than giving up their cap space."

When it comes to finding ways to move on from certain contracts that have become problematic, Dubas said he isn't a big fan of buyouts, partly because of how many years they can still take up space on the books. He feels that there are better ways to move on from contracts that aren't adding value.

"I think with regards to buyouts, I've always believed that you try to find a more creative solution, and it's a last resort," he said. "I don't feel that we're at that point right now."

The No. 1 priority with the NHL roster is adding talent to the forward group, without making a huge splash in free agency

Despite how well Pittsburgh's core players - namely the Big Three - played last season, the Penguins still missed the playoffs. So, Dubas said the team needs to have players in the bottom six that have skill, along with other elements like competitiveness, speed and penalty killing ability. Dubas said while adding youth would be ideal, that can be difficult to accomplish through free agency, because those types of players tend to draw more when it comes to term and dollars than the Penguins are willing to give.

"But there'll be players who will kind of fit that need, that are maybe reclamation projects to an extent," Dubas said. "If we can make a number of more subtle small bets in free agency, unless there's an absolutely perfect fit, I think that's usually the best way to go. So that's what we'll look to do. I don't think you'll see us in the market for the long-term highly expensive forwards, especially in free agency."

Dubas has been building a great relationship with Mike Sullivan, who's helping with free agency preparations

Dubas made everyone in the room laugh when he joked about how there are no short conversations with the Penguins head coach. "They're all rather lengthy," Dubas said with a smile. "But they've been great." He said the more communication and feedback you can get from the bench boss, the better.

"You're not always going to agree, and you're going to have to make decisions that the coach doesn't always love," Dubas said. "But I think in getting his feedback and utilizing the coaching staff to break down players, especially at this time of year - I think (that work) is really important. Because the last thing you want to do is have a free agent come in here where the coaching staff also isn't at least aware of what you see in the player or have broken down the player themselves. I think that's the best way that you can have success in free agency, is that alignment as you move forward."

Sully always preaches the importance of staying in the moment … but the Penguins do have to keep an eye on the future

In the short run, Dubas is focused on making decisions that will allow the team to be competitive while the core group of players who have led Pittsburgh to championships remain elite.

But he's not going to completely sacrifice the future to do that, saying the Penguins don't plan to trade their first-round pick (14th overall) or any of their promising young prospects, like defenseman Owen Pickering.

"As we move ahead here, I think we have to build up the system," Dubas said. "But that said, I think we're in a good spot and fortunate that the cap has remained flat, because it allows us to take on people from other clubs that can bring us good value and have us push to contend."

In addition to getting up to speed with the amateur and pro scouting teams ahead of the draft and free agency, Dubas has been doing work on Pittsburgh's staffing situation - starting with Video: Kyle Dubas speaks to the media as assistant general manager

Dubas spoke very highly of Spezza, who served as the special assistant to the general manager last season in Toronto after retiring from a 19-year NHL career. The way Dubas described what Spezza brought to that role was similar to what Jim Rutherford envisioned when he hired Bill Guerin as assistant general manager in 2015.

"He has a certain way about him that he's close enough in terms of his playing experience that he can help and relate to the players, but provide sort of that conduit between management and the players where he can hold them accountable and push them, but then also provide us some feedback of where we can help them without crossing any lines of confidentiality or conflict of interest," Dubas said.

"He's able to sort of thread the needle perfectly. I think with our group here, with where we're at now, but also where we want to go, his affinity for the development side, the minor league system, I just think he adds so much."