During his season-ending press conference on Tuesday, Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas was asked about his franchise’s projected cap space for 2026-27. According to Puckpedia, it’s an NHL-best $42.54 million.
“It may not be as big of a July as everyone wants,” Dubas said, suggesting that quite often spending big in free agency when space is available can bite a team down the line.
“So I think it becomes a bit of a false flag when you say the team has ‘this much’ in cap space, and we’re going to use it.”
I can see Dubas’ point. The summer unrestricted free agency pool is often thin in the NHL, just begging general managers to overspend.
But Dubas’ “false flag” comment should have raised a “red flag” for Penguins fans who are hoping that the front office is going to try to close the gap quickly on the other teams in the Eastern Conference.
Whether that’s through the UFA market, restricted free agent acquisitions or big ticket trades.
“What I don’t want to do is, I don’t want to burn the space long term and then look back in a year or two or three and say, ‘Geez, now we’re costing ourselves with with these deals that we overpaid for in the summer of 2026 because we had it,’” Dubas explained.
Unfortunately, beyond 19-year-old Ben Kindel (who spent all year in Pittsburgh anyway), it also doesn’t sound like Dubas thinks that significant help is on the way from the young prospects that this franchise has spent the last few years stockpiling and cultivating.
“We have to continue to add higher end, younger players. We’ve got great depth there,” Dubas said. “I don’t think you’d look at it and necessarily guarantee that any of them — Ben is Ben — but once you get past that level, we need to continue. We’ve got great depth and guys that will fill in the roster.”
That sentiment was especially evident in his comments about the organization potentially retaining Evgeni Malkin.
“I don’t look at our younger players and think they did enough to have it viewed like he’s blocking anybody out in that regard,” Dubas said. “So we would love to have him back.”
Dubas hoisted a few more red flags over the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
• For those hoping Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie Sergei Murashov was going to be fast-tracked to No. 1 status in 2026-27, it doesn’t even sound like an opening-night roster spot is assured.
“Joel (Blomqvist) has been with the organization for a long time. Obviously, Sergei is running with the ball here in the playoffs, so we’ll see how that continues to progress, and use that as a measurement,” Dubas said. “But my full expectation is that the two of them — Sergei and Joel — will be competing for a roster spot here this year. We’ll make the decision on the other one, but I think they both have earned, over years now, the chance to compete for that.”
• If you are in the camp that Dubas needs to be cutthroat and turn the page on keeping Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang together, it doesn’t sound like he’s in that head space yet.
And that’s beyond suggesting the team could keep Malkin.
“It’s obviously a special thing that the three of them have played together for such a long time. At some point I knew when taking the job, it’s me that’s going to make somebody or the fans unhappy with different decisions as they come. The key is we always have to do what’s best for the Pittsburgh Penguins, even if that’s unpopular or makes people unhappy,” Dubas said. “It’s incumbent upon me to make those decisions and do what’s best for the Penguins in the long run, but I know this is a very special situation in terms of the nostalgia of it.”
I’d argue that eight years removed from the team’s most recent playoff series win makes “nostalgia” all too real of a word.
• The portion of the fanbase that thinks the team should close the door on Malkin because of his injuries and advancing age probably won’t like Dubas’ rationalization of that topic.
He claimed Malkin’s different stints on the injured list — and serving a mid-year suspension — helped give the 39-year-old “a renewed energy” every time he returned.
“The different times off during the year really served him well. We were fortunate in that regard. You never feel that in the year at the time. You think, ‘Geez, he’s out. That stinks.’ But every time he came back from being out, he played his best hockey,” Dubas said.
Unlike the NBA, load-management is a dirty phrase in hockey, but you have to wonder if Dubas may consider such an option for Malkin if he’s retained.
• Lastly, hockey fans in Pittsburgh who want the GM to believe that this club is just a few tweaks away from being a contender next year because of the 18-point jump this season didn’t get a matching opinion from Dubas during his presser.
“Our series (against Philadelphia) ended on a Wednesday. That Sunday night, there was Tampa-Montreal Game 7 (Canadiens won 2-1), and then Colorado-Minnesota Game 1 of their series (Avalanche won 9-6). The Montreal-Tampa game, I question whether our team could compete in that environment defensively,” Dubas bemoaned. “When I flipped over to Colorado-Minnesota, I questioned whether our team could compete in that environment offensively. That’s really the way that I view everything.”
That’s not exactly waving a white flag of surrender for the upcoming season, but it is another red flag that Dubas may not be in lockstep with the mentality of some in his fanbase who want to see some quick fixes in attempt to make one more Stanley Cup push in the Crosby-Malkin-Letang era.