Tim Benz: Kyle Dubas has front office control with Penguins — will he have it over the locker room and bench?
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In the weeks between leaving the Maple Leafs as general manager and becoming the president of hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins, one thing became clear about Kyle Dubas’ exit from Toronto.
He wanted a clearer path toward decision-making and control within his front office. That apparently became muddled over the years in Toronto.
By getting the president title on the masthead here in Pittsburgh before a general manager is hired, such questions about power shouldn’t exist moving forward in the hockey ops offices at PPG Paints Arena.
However, Dubas’ introductory press conference did little to pacify similar concerns emanating about the locker room.
Primarily, does Mike Sullivan have too much authority as a coach over the inner workings of a franchise that hasn’t seen Round 2 of the playoffs in five years? And do veteran skaters such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang wield too much influence as players?
In his opening comments, Dubas went out of his way to state how important it was to meet with Sullivan and Crosby before accepting the job.
“Those conversations — a number of conversations with Coach Sullivan, but also the conversation with Sid — were paramount in my decision to come here,” Dubas said.
“Those were very important people for me to get a real deep sense of where they felt the organization was at and where it would be going. So that I knew coming in where they felt the Penguins were at and what they felt the Penguins would need for somebody in this role.”
I actually look at it the other way around. I want the guy coming into this role to explain to those still here what might need to change so that this team can win a playoff series for the first time since 2018.
Granted, Dubas’ Leafs only managed to do that this year — a first for that franchise since 2004.
But at least it was more recently than five years ago. And for as much grief as Ron Hextall and Brian Burke took for accelerating this Black-and-Gold Titanic toward the iceberg, we need to admit that the ship was pointed in that direction before they got here.
A lot of personnel moves have been made with the goal of keeping the veteran core together and happy while they are here.
A lot of personnel moves that Sullivan didn’t like ended up with those players not playing very much (see Reaves, Ryan) or playing a style that Sullivan wanted, even if those players weren’t fit to play it (see Petry, Jeff and Rutta, Jan).
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I get Dubas’ point, though. It’s not an easy spot for him.
He doesn’t want to come in like a bulldozer and tell the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach and the three-time Cup-winning captain, “This is how it is going to be now on my watch!”
He’s building relationships. Understood.
I mean, it’s not as if he came in on Day 1 and said Sullivan can coach forever or anyth…
“Sully can coach forever,” Dubas said. “He’s a great coach. So there’s no real expiration date on Mike.”
Oh, right. He did, actually. He did say exactly that.
And on the Crosby front, with the conversations Dubas had with him, I would’ve thought one thing he’d have wanted to be clarified is if the captain was leaning one way or another when it came toward extending his contract in Pittsburgh, playing elsewhere or retiring after 2025.
After all, that’s when Crosby’s contract is up. And the last time he addressed the topic publicly (following the ‘22 playoff loss to the New York Rangers), Crosby refused to speculate about his future beyond the length of his deal. Yet Dubas said that the issue was never broached.
“I didn’t ask that,” Dubas said. “He’s got two more years left. We’ll address that when we can. We have 13 months (until an extension is allowed).”
Given that much of Dubas’ press conference was about the goal of planning for the future of the team beyond the retirement of the future Hall of Famers on the roster and trying to win now while they are still in Pittsburgh, Crosby’s status beyond those last two years is rather germane to the conversation. Isn’t it?
Dubas didn’t have to hold Crosby’s feet to the fire on the matter or make him pledge in blood that what he says now will still be his answer in two years. But that strikes me as a conversation worth initiating, even if it’s one that No. 87 may not have wanted to pursue.
Then again, just a few weeks ago, Dubas told the Toronto media they wouldn’t see him “popping up” in another city next season. It was going to be Toronto or “time off.” Yet there he was on June 1 in Pittsburgh.
So maybe that time was less than a month, I guess? And maybe that’s the amount of time that he’ll give Sullivan if the team gets off to a lousy start in the fall.
Unlikely. But I’m willing to see how it plays out.
I did find it ironic, though, that after the announcement that Dubas was being hired in Pittsburgh, the Penguins’ social media team tweeted the now popular “Succession” finale meme of Tom Wambsgans gracing “cousin Greg” dispensation by placing a “claim sticker” on his forehead, and saying “I got you.”
We got him. pic.twitter.com/DOFFNe8Raq
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) June 1, 2023
I know Dubas isn’t tall enough to be Greg. And I never thought Sully looked like Tom. But, oddly, after that press conference and that tweet, I’m starting to see the similarities.
Oh. Was that supposed to represent Tom Werner or John Henry from Fenway Sports Group? Hmm. You sure?