Evaluating Kyle Dubas' First Season With The Penguins

On this episode, the Nick's look back at Kyle Dubas' first season as Pittsburgh Penguins President and General Manager and discuss the best and worst of his first year in charge (2:00). They also discuss the upcoming World Championships in Czechia, which Penguins have already announced to participate (22:32).
Nick & Nick finish the episode by reacting to the first game of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins playoffs (36:25). Tune In!
The top podcast for the most avid Penguins fans! Tune in as Nick Belsky and Nick Horwat bring you all of the Pittsburgh Penguins top news and analysis every day! New episodes of "Tip of the Ice-Burgh" on Tuesday & Thursday and "Ice-Burgh To Go" on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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[@mikecrow8444]

If you've heard the story of two letters -- When Nikita Khrushchev was forced out as leader of the Soviet Union, he sat down and wrote two letters to his successor Leonid Brezhnev. He said, “When you get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of, open the first letter, and you’ll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can’t get out of, open the second letter”. Brezhnev soon found himself in a difficult situation, so he opened the first letter. It said, “Blame everything on me”. So he blamed Khrushchev for everything, and it worked. Eventually, he got himself into a second difficult situation he couldn’t get out of, so he opened the second letter. It said, “Sit down, and write two letters”. -- I would say Dubas has used the first letter, and if he doesn't have a better year in 2024-25, then it's time to write the second letter.

[@brandonrickner1321]

Big disagree on who was the worst between Smith and Graves. Graves led the team in blocked shots. There are redeeming qualities in Graves despite a bad year from him. What did Smith lead the team in? Nothing. Contracts aside, a top 6 winger scoring 13 goals is in my eyes infinitely way more egregious.

[@johnnythunder196]

They were both brutal & only an incompetent charlatan would bring both in during one off season

[@jessicalynn9775]

Not that I need drama in my sports content, but the disagreement on Crosby going on Team Canada was great. I don't know the history of hockey Canada (if anyone has any good resources I can look up, please lmk!) but both arguments were great. Yes, you don't doubt Sidney Crosby, but! How do you not invite him in is rookie year?! He was literally dominating in juniors. Why wouldn't that be transferable?

[@jamiekmett8847]

Sid is an Olympic lock, and prob captain unless he just wants an A

[@KyleFunk21]

Big PASS. Dude inherited an absolute shit show of a team.. some bad moves were made (to be expected) but progress was made. Results in standings might not have shown it, but we got better. You can’t expect any one man to clean up the mess, that the old regime created over multiple bad years, in one year.

[@zanegearhart8116]

Worst move: trading for smith instead of signing bunting during free agency. If he had done that we'd have jake and bunting

[@johnnythunder196]

That and the Graves deal...both disastrous. Obvious we would've made the playoffs and not traded Jake if Bunting was here from day 1.

[@gamingoddity679]

Dubas should try to flip Jarry with salary retention and maybe a late pick for Markstrom in Calgary because Markstrom wants out. Rakell was playing hurt so I think he will bounce back. Now I think we will have to keep Graves because his trade value is too low and cap hit too high to move him. No GM can fix a team in 1 year. Dubas did well with very little time to assess the Pens fully. It might be possible to bring in Quinn as an assistant to Sullivan as well. Overall i have a cautiously optomistic view provided the right moves are made in the summer.

[@NobuhikuObayashi]

I agree, it’s not happening but sign Ned, and Tristan could be flipped to a desperate team that’s hit a wall. Jarry to Toronto for Mathew knies and Nick Robertson

[@That90sShow]

He did well by signing jarry and Graves? 😂😂😂 stfu

[@jsebby2284]

So you want to retain and spend more for a goalie that isn't really any better? Why?

[@jsebby2284]

​@@NobuhikuObayashiNed isn't a starting goalie though. That's playing with fire

[@gamingoddity679]

@jsebby2284 Yes I do. Bring up Blomqvist from WBS on an ELC and Marksrom only has 2 years left on his contract. Jarry ain't it man, so let's give both him and Markstrom a fresh start.

[@christopherweir6445]

You miss the playoffs with 4 HOF’s …. One’s a top 5 player of ALL TIME STILL AT HIS BEST ….Not really much to argue.

[@KyleFunk21]

🤡

[@johnnythunder196]

4 HOFers and other elite offensive help like Rusty and Jake. His moves were so inept that we got almost nothing from 6-7 players he brought in (or decided to keep).

[@christopherweir6445]

@@johnnythunder196 couldn’t agree more . Not saying he’s shit gm , but from Xmas on , it was clear what this team was . Don’t care about the run @ the end that got them close, that was a legend with a franchise on his back, nothing more.

[@johnnythunder196]

@@christopherweir6445 Guy signed Smith & Graves in a single offseason. I say he's a shit gm.

[@hemihead001]

I'll give Dubas a " C " . He needs more time . I'm tired of hearing people crying and whining about Jake . He's gone . Forget him . Move on to the future .

[@KyleFunk21]

👆🏼🙏🏼

[@shaneimler9328]

Hard to say that yet. The Guentzel trade was marginal. Bunting proved he was a very useful piece but other than that we can't really tell yet the full impact until the prospects fully develop. The Jarry contract was abysmal. He is nothing more than a low end starter/high end back up making midlevel money. Now they will probably have to part ways with a better goalie. Smith just stopped trying it seemed like. Started off like a ball of fire but just faded, just like Jarry. Graves was horrid. the good side was St. Ivany and Shea. Both great young defensemen. The big failure all season, and Dubas's big failure all season was to do nothing to fix the PP. They didn't even have to have a top 5 PP to make the playoffs. A top 15 would have easily put them in the playoffs.

[@kidcurrency8963]

The trade to Carolina was horrible

[@TheBillaro]

he was an anchor and that never really subsided😂😂😂 do you listen to yourself. do you know what the words you use mean?!??

[@MaddyS25]

Record yourself talking about hockey (quickly) and I’ll critique you!

[@draneym2003]

I'll give him a pass, just because for whatever reason people zero on glasses as if it has to do with anything and lose their minds.

[@carlstieren5437]

is that a question...LOL....Unless Guentzel resigns after the hurricanes reach the finals. They spent all that money on Letang and Malkin to play inconsistent all year. And in the process pissed the entire team off. The Team and coaching proved there the best team in the league twice this year and also proved they were the worst team in the league the rest of the season.

[@Pbrendp2341]

They did not spend all their money on letang and malkin. Both make under market value. They both make six million AAv those are not expensive contracts. They had the money to sign jake they chose not to.

[@carlstieren5437]

@@Pbrendp2341 "all that" is not "all their"

[@Pbrendp2341]

@@carlstieren5437 "Their" as in the pittsburgh penguins. Using player payroll money. You read it correctly. But glad you took the time to try and correct my spelling. Bet that made you feel good.

[@carlstieren5437]

@Pbrendp2341 I'm not correcing your spelling I said "All that" not "All Their"

[@Pbrendp2341]

@@carlstieren5437 Again, I meant "all their" not all that. You can phrase things as you like. I will do the same. But thank you for trying re correct my phrasing. It's a clever way of avoiding responding to my comment. Also, I don't really care how my comments look on social media. You knew exactly what i meant. And your consistent insistence on trying to correct it is redundant. It does not equat to intelligence. But again thank you.

[@brandonn7770]

Karlsson failed lol rember Detroit Boston and 2 Islanders game he sucked against nj.

[@NobuhikuObayashi]

I think he could have a bounce back year

[@Pbrendp2341]

Karlsson trade was a success. Petry has fallen off completely. He was playing sheltered 3rd pairing minutes in Detroit. And had a horrible season. Grandlund had a bounce back year but in San Jose playing top line minutes on a terrible team. So I would take ek65 over every player we traded to acquire him. And he will bounce back next season. He will be an asset going forward. Once he gets it going he will be unstoppable.

[@brandonn7770]

@Pbrendp2341 that's why karlsson gave up goals and especially 4 and 5 to the Detroit and the empty net to Boston always in the box and turns it over more.

[@Pbrendp2341]

@@brandonn7770 Every player makes mistakes. Especially in hockey everyone turns it over. The positive impact he makes on the team is my focus. He drives offense positions way up. He creates tons of scoring chances. And again I would rather have ek65 than jeff petry, mikael grandlund and Jan rutta. So in my opinion the trade was a success. Especially considering this is just year 1 he's going to bounce back. He's one of the elite players in the NHL.

[@johnnythunder196]

@@Pbrendp2341 Think he'll be a big weapon for us moving forward...even 56 pts seems very low for the season he had. Felt more like a 65-70 point guy but because of the brutal PP he and some of the guys had unusually low final numbers. I'm concerned about his defensive lapses but not his skill and point capability.

[@That90sShow]

Big fail