As the Pittsburgh Penguins approach the offseason, there are two realities about the franchise that president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has to consider.
One reality is that this team improved by 18 points under a first-year coaching staff and finished second in the Metropolitan Division.
The other reality is that — if you count the playoff series against Philadelphia and do away with overtime and shootout designations—the Penguins were a sub-500 team. They won 43 games and lost 45.
Based on how Dubas was speaking on Tuesday, he is leaning toward the belief that the second reality is the more accurate representation of where this team is.
“Our series 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 lamented. “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.”
Dubas wasn’t done making comps to the rest of the league.
“Carolina, they’re obviously the class of the (Metropolitan) division right now. They won the division by 15 points. They haven’t lost a playoff game. We’re not close to that,” Dubas said. “So that’s where we have to push to get to — to be at that stage where they’re at, going to the Eastern Conference Final.”
The players sang a slightly different tune before leaving Pittsburgh after the 4-2 series loss to the Flyers. Many of them pointed to the group’s 16 losses after regulation — six in overtime and 10 in a shootout.
“You always hear arguments about loser points and overtimes and shootouts. If those things go the other way, maybe we could have won the division,” winger Bryan Rust said. “That was an area where we fell tremendously short — those extra-time instances.”
That’s true. Those could’ve been 16 additional points added to the Penguins’ total if helter-skelter 3-on-3 play or coin-flip shootouts had gone their way more often.
Or, you could look at it and say, those were just 16 points the Penguins got while losing games.
Again, two realities that paint a very different picture of where this team really is.
It certainly sounds like Dubas identifies with that less affirming reality in this instance too.
“Have we made progress? I would say yes, we have,” Dubas said. “Are we where we want to be and aspire to be? No, not even close.”
The “not close” tag was the most important part of that answer. Dubas said the team was particularly flawed on the defensive end.
“Defensively, we still continue to give up a lot, both in terms of what we’re expected to give up, and in terms of what we actually gave up. Both were in the bottom 10 in the league, and it was a big, massive topic for Dan (Muse) and myself throughout the year,” Dubas said. “It’s the area that we have to improve upon the most if we’re going to continue to make strides and continue to push the team back into being a contender.”
Dubas also made it clear what types of players he’d like to find to make the Penguins better.
“What we really lack are those players in their later 20s that are really true difference makers — or mid 20s that are true difference makers,” Dubas said.
The general manager’s candor was nice to hear, and he’s right about what players to attack when it comes to adding to the roster. What I didn’t hear, though, was a clear plan to fix those problems.
• While Dubas talked about acquiring “difference makers” in their mid-to-late 20s, he simultaneously cautioned media and fans from getting too excited about the prospect of spending much of the club’s NHL-high $42.5 million in cap space.
• Despite discussing the need to get younger stars, Dubas did little to make anyone think he is on the cusp of moving away from any of the team’s veteran stars, especially Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. In fact, on the topic of retaining Malkin in unrestricted free agency, Dubas went so far as to say, “We would love to have him back,” and referenced the “special situation” of those three continuing to play together because of the “nostalgia” of it.
• Dubas had high praise for the performance of the minor league teams, but came well short of banging the drum for any of the organization’s prospects being on the verge of stardom — underscoring that Malkin wouldn’t be “blocking anybody out” if he stayed.
“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 (Kindel) 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.”
No, identifying his franchise’s shortcomings and admitting them out loud are not problems for Dubas. To his credit, I certainly haven’t been able to say that about the other two general managers in town the last few seasons.
But, for now, concrete plans to fix those problems are as fuzzy as the memories of the club’s last playoff series win in 2018.
LISTEN: Tim Benz and Seth Rorabaugh discuss Kyle Dubas’ season ending press conference.