Kyle Dubas held his post-season avail on Friday and offered news on some of the biggest storylines that will be followed out of Pittsburgh this offseason. Key among them, Dubas talked about Sidney Crosby‘s future with the team, Kris Letang‘s injury situation, and the unexpected poor play of defenseman Ryan Graves.
When it came to injury news, Dubas revealed that defenseman Kris Letang is seeking a second opinion on something “significant”. It was apparently something that bothered Letang all season and it sounds like it could be serious enough that he could be in for offseason surgery. “We’ll have an update once he makes a decision one way or the other on it,” said the GM.
A big question for the Penguins will be their goaltending. Dubas said they are going to use this next stretch of weeks to see how Joel Blomqvist performs in the playoffs with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team. He explained, “How does Joel play, can he assert himself at that level? And then we will have more information on how we want to go ahead with our goaltending.” He said Tristan Jarry has to find another level and push back after a season that didn’t go his way.
Ryan Graves Had a Disappointing Season
There was also talk about defenseman Ryan Graves who my most metrics was a disappointment after getting a big contract as a big free-agent signing. Graves was signed to a six-year deal at $4.5 million per season.
“With Ryan, there’s no dancing around it. He was a very good player in Colorado and New Jersey… He came in and from the beginning, I thought, ‘it happens’. Did I expect it to go the whole year? No. Part of that is on us as an organization, but it’s as much on Ryan to push and find his way through the summer. It’s a massive summer for him.”
Dubas said that Graves has some things he has to work on over the summer. He then noted that it will be up to the organization to arm him with the path to get to where the team expects him to be. Dubas added, “if he can do that, he will get back to being the player he was when we signed him.”
What About the Future of Sidney Crosby with Penguins?
Speculation surrounding Crosby has been everywhere. The Penguins’ captain says he will take his performance a season at a time and then start talking with the team over the summer about what’s next. He’s never waivered from his desire to stay with the team, even if he’s unhappy about the fact they aren’t in the playoffs, yet again.
Dubas commented on Crosby’s future. He noted:
“The intention has always been clear. I think he should finish his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins. How long that is? I’m not going to put any limits on Sidney Crosby.” Dubas added, “He’s capable of great things and is still performing at an extraordinarily high level.”
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