The Penguins Got Their Guy

It has been a GREAT day for hockey here in Pittsburgh, as the Penguins got their guy.
The team was thrilled to announce that
Kyle Dubas has been named President of Hockey Operations
, a home-run hire for the organization after a robust search. He truly embodies all of the qualities valued in a leader at the Penguins and within Fenway Sports Group, starting with his intelligent, forward-thinking hockey mind that has earned him a stellar reputation in the league.
In this role, the 37-year-old will oversee all aspects of the Penguins hockey operations department, including establishing the strategic vision and philosophy for the franchise. Dubas spoke about that and more when he met with the media this afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. Below are some key takeaways.

Tweet from @PensInsideScoop: The announcement itself was exciting enough, but that's amplified times 8,700 after hearing from Kyle Dubas himself.
Back when the search for new hockey operations leadership first began in April, Dave Beeston (Co-Head of Fenway Sports Management and Penguins alternate governor) said there would be no set parameters for what sort of structure they were going to implement - just that they wanted to make sure they got the right person in place after a robust process.
Dubas appreciates the exhaustive work done by Penguins ownership in pursuit of their goal,
building a hockey operations machine
, saying they've spoken with a lot of people. But now that it's already June 1, Dubas said it might be a little difficult to gain further permissions to meet with some of those candidates regarding the general manager position, not to mention the draft and free agency are fast approaching.
"So, my intention is that I'll handle that on an interim basis here through to July and then begin to go through candidates and make the decision that's best for the hockey department," Dubas said. "If we do go down that path, I think the type of person we'll be looking for is someone progressive, that can really add an element to the organization that perhaps I don't have as a as a skill set, in some regard."
Once word got out that Dubas was considering this position with Pittsburgh, he heard from a lot of people who were highly skeptical of the Penguins' ability to contend. He doesn't agree with that line of thought.
"I do think that it's a group capable of contending to win a championship," he said. "I do think that we need to build up the depth of the group and supplement the greatness that those people bring each day. I think there are some of those pieces that are already here. But in the next several weeks, we'll get to work on more of that."
Tweet from @penguins: Betting on our talent. pic.twitter.com/9ILObIq3Xm
Dubas has always had a ton of respect for Crosby and Sullivan, calling them some of the best competitors in hockey and saying, "obviously, Mike Sullivan's record as a coach and Sidney's as a player speak for themselves, and that is one of the most exciting parts about coming here to Pittsburgh."
But that being said, Dubas doesn't have the same intimate knowledge of those two that we all do, so it was important for Dubas to have some conversations with them. Not just for their thoughts on where the team is at, but "to see what kind of people they were. Because I can look from afar and think I know them, but getting to know them was important to me, as we went through it."
Dubas came away more impressed than ever with their insatiable appetite to win, to steal a phrase from Sullivan.
"When you have people like that, I think that can reduce the gap between the end of those players' careers and the next era of great hockey here, because that lifts the whole group and that lifts the whole standard," Dubas said.
Back in April,
I wrote about how well the Big Three played last season
, with Jake Guentzel saying Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang carried them all year. They did everything they could to lead Pittsburgh to a 17th-consecutive playoff berth, falling just short of their goal.
In the short run, Dubas will do everything he can to support Pittsburgh's key players while they continue to perform at those high levels for as long as they can.
"We will make decisions that will support them in the lineup every night, that will allow the team to continue to contend each season while those players are with us," Dubas said.
"At the same time, work will 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 would be from the end of those great players' careers to the next era of great hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins."
Dubas said the top end of Pittsburgh's forward group is very good, with Crosby and Malkin anchoring the top six. Ideally, especially with the salary cap going up, Dubas would like to add another high-end piece there. At this stage, he's spoken very briefly with Sullivan about the types of players they want in the bottom-six to, as Dubas put it, "deliver the game back to those top players in a good spot so that they're not hemmed in their own zone and they have utility."
Dubas said there's big decisions ahead when it comes to the top end of Pittsburgh's defense group, and obviously in net, with Tristan Jarry set to become an unrestricted free agent. Dubas shared his plans for evaluating that situation, saying he'll rely on Sullivan and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo in terms of what Jarry is like behind the mask, and will probably meet with Tristan himself, since this is a big decision for the club.
Then, it'll be about doing a thorough evaluation of Jarry and where he stands in the marketplace, and getting a real scope of who's going to be available, whether that's in free agency or via trade.
"If Tristan is at the top of that mix or in that mix, because he's familiar and you know him, it'll be to try to establish a concept that can get done with he and his agent," Dubas said. "But that's a big priority, because goaltending is vitally important, as you see. It's also difficult to project and predict, and there's a lot of variance year to year in terms of performance."
All of that being said … Dubas said they'll be taking the next several weeks to sort through everything, and "by the time we have our next (media) 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."
He's got his feelings on free agency, set for July 1, and will rely heavily on the coaching staffs at both the NHL and AHL levels for their insights on the group. And when it comes to the draft, which is scheduled for June 28-29 in Nashville, Dubas said he has a fairly decent handle on that as well.
While there were so many factors that went into Dubas joining the Penguins, what ultimately closed the deal for him was visiting the city over Memorial Day weekend.
"Every single thing that I've heard about the city of Pittsburgh and the people in Pittsburgh has been proven very true by our experience here and getting to know the staff that we have, and being able to tour the city in the way that we have," he said. "So, there's a deep feeling of appreciation from our family to everybody that's made us feel very comfortable in this decision."