Kyle Dubas Has No Illusions When It Comes to the State of the Penguins

PHOTO: PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Kyle Dubas was mostly diplomatic, except when he was emphatic. And for Dubas and the Penguins, it’s the emphatic that matters.

Not that there was a great deal of that when the Penguins’ president of hockey operations and general manager met with the media last week.

Dubas maintained the Penguins would “love” to have Evgeni Malkin back for another season, but also acknowledged the responsibility on his part to make decisions that might be “unpopular” or might make people “unhappy,” to do what’s best for the Penguins in the long run regardless of “nostalgia.”

Dubas recognized the abundance of salary cap space the Penguins possess but cautioned “it may not be as big a July as everyone wants,” because of his desire not to spend money just for the sake of spending it in free agency.

Dubas spoke with optimism about the number of prospects currently thriving in the playoffs at AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but also insisted the Penguins won’t be fooled by the “mirage in our view in the office that next year all of these young guys are all going to magically all hit.”

Dubas also spoke extensively on a variety of subjects but in most instances left himself plenty of wiggle room.

Here’s what mattered most from a Q&A that lasted for approximately 38 minutes:

“At times we flirted with becoming very good but ultimately we are still well short of where we aspire to be, which is a contender,” Dubas said.

Making the playoffs when few, if any, thought that would be possible at the season’s outset didn’t alter that perception of the Penguins for Dubas, as it shouldn’t.

There’s plenty of work yet to be done.

Lest that get lost in translation amid an avalanche of thoughts and observations exchanged on the power play, goaltending, Anthony Mantha and the target age for potential acquisitions (that’s mid- to late-20s, by the way), Dubas doubled down when he felt so compelled.

He did so initially by detailing his reaction to watching teams still participating in the playoffs play after the Penguins had been eliminated.

“There was Tampa and Montreal, Game 7, and then Colorado-Minnesota Game 1 of their series,” Dubas explained. “The Montreal-Tampa game, I question whether our team could compete in that environment defensively. And then when I flipped over to Colorado-Minnesota, I questioned whether our team could compete in that environment offensively.

“And that’s really the way I view everything is, where are we relative to the teams in our division? Where are we relative to Carolina, Colorado, Tampa, Montreal, Dallas?I think we have a long way to go. I don’t kid myself with that.”

SERGEI MURASHOV | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

The gap between the Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes, who have blown through their first two playoff opponents at 8-0, including a sweep of the same Flyers team that eliminated the Penguins, is particularly daunting.

“They’re obviously the class of the (Metropolitan) division right now,” Dubas continued. “They won the division by 15 points and they haven’t lost a playoff game. We’re not close to that.”

The Penguins aren’t first and foremost because they too often can’t keep the puck out of their net. That’s been a problem for a while now — and it’s one the Penguins need to solve for once and for all.

“As a whole 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,” Dubas assessed. “Both were in the bottom 10 of the league and it was a massive topic for [head coach] Dan [Muse] and myself throughout the year but more importantly in the last couple weeks since we’ve been out [of the playoffs] and a major focus as we head into the offseason.

“Really, it’s the area we have to improve upon the most.”

There was no room for misinterpretation there, either. It’s where the quest to get better, to get good enough to become a contender must commence.