Kyle Dubas made an appearance on The PDOcast to talk about his management style, his view of the league, and the Penguins’ rebuild. Patrick and Hunter analyze Dubas’s comments on the show and how we can take what he said and use it to find some clues about where the Penguins are heading. They also discuss where the Penguins’ rebuild currently is, how certain offseason moves by other teams might have forced Dubas to change course, and more about the Penguins’ 2025 draft picks. Finally, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang are always a reason to watch the Penguins, but this year, the big three are approaching some massive career and franchise milestones!
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15 Comments
Feel bad for Sid
Ok so here’s the guide to skyrocketing this rebuild: Get lucky in the draft to be in a position to draft McKenna next year, pay McDavid and Philip Broberg whatever they want. There's your team haha jk I know these are mostly unlikely, just fun to think about.
With the cap increasing rapidly in the near future, I expect the draft will become even more important as a way of acquiring talent. Teams have more cap space to retain their own players which we are seeing this offseason with limited player movement.
I feel pens need follow habs playbook I feel that team did very good job on how to rebuild and get young player and some how become playoff
Year 5 we will see if dubas did good or bad
Has Dubas explicitly stated in any interviews/media availabilities that the team plans to get aggressive in 2026 utilizing their cap space? I thought that has more just been an idea pushed by fans and local reporters that still haven't come to terms with the fact that we're rebuilding. It's not like we're in some unique position next summer to be able to spend way more than the other 31 teams nor are we a favorable location for free agents to sign in. According to PuckPedia we're gonna have 53 million in cap space, but the league average is 37 million which is still a ton. We're also only going to have 10/23 skaters signed (the fewest of any team besides San Jose/Chicago) meaning we can't just blow it all on a couple huge contracts. Meanwhile the teams that have significantly less to spend (20-30 million) have between 15 and 18 skaters locked up and are mostly much more attractive locations (Dallas, Florida, Carolina, Toronto, New Jersey, Tampa, New York, Vegas, Colorado, and Boston) and those that have a similar amount of cap space as us or more than us are either way further along in their rebuilds (Chicago, Anaheim, Columbus, San Jose, Seattle, Philly, and Detroit) or are contenders (Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Minnesota). Seems like a faulty plan.
Do not doubt Dubas. D.D.D.!
Realistically, how many years do you think Sid has left?
I think there is too much risk taking with this kind of philosophy. There's just something to be said about simply drafting closer to a player's projected position. Like I said, Dubas sometimes outhinks himself,as if he has to prove he's the smartest guy in the room.
What is happening to Mat Grzelcyk?
I don’t know how Pat can look at this D corps(e) especially after karlsson is dealt and not think this team will be unwatchable when the defensemen cant consistently move the puck you get unwatchable hockey. Also not to be dramatic but if the penguins don’t finish bottom 5 this year it be disastrous. could end up like the redwings where yea with a better gm they are a playoff team but you look at their big dogs and they are very underwhelming compared to actual Stanley cup level teams.
I think Dubas might be trying to up the price for Rust and Rakell.
PDOCast Rules, despite what DK says
The main thing im watching for re getting sid back into the playoffs before retiring is "how do mcgroarty and koivunen look?" If they look like real above average top 6 wingers, this thing becomes pretty accelerated.
This is all opinion reporting none of it is ever facts… you guys have 0 idea whats actually going to happen or what moves will be made..