Kyle Dubas was not out of work for long after Brendan Shanahan axed him from the Toronto Maple Leafs front office. Now president of hockey operations in Pittsburgh, Dubas has taken on the monumental task of rebuilding a Penguins roster bereft of cap space and full of holes. On Thursday’s edition of "Daily Faceoff Live" hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna discussed how Dubas can rehab the Penguins in his first offseason.
Tyler Yaremchuk: There’s going to be an interesting list of to-dos for Kyle Dubas in his first summer with the Penguins. They’re in a fascinating spot. They can’t pull the pin; there’s just no way they go full rebuild with [Sidney] Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin under contract for at least two more years and Kris Letang under contract for five more years. You need to try to keep that competitive window open if you’re Kyle Dubas.
This summer they have $20.2 million in projected cap space. What’s No. 1 on the list of what Dubas needs to figure out for this roster, Mike?
Mike McKenna: There’s really two things for me: He needs to create some cap flexibility and figure out his goaltending. Tristan Jarry is a pending UFA, and they only have Casey DeSmith under control for one more year at $1.8 million. I don’t think they can roll out Jarry and DeSmith as the duo again after two years of injury problems and inconsistent play. Whether they bring Jarry back or do something different has to be decided.
Getting a No. 1 goalie will cost $4 million to $6 million, and that cap space is going to go really fast, Tyler. [Mikael] Granlund is eating up $5 million for the next two years, he’s hurt all the time and he might score 15 goals if you’re lucky. That deal doesn’t make any sense. Even Jeff Carter is making over $3 million as a 38-year-old center whose play really declined last year.
On top of that, I just don’t think their defensive corps is good enough. There’s a multitude of things that have to happen for Pittsburgh to 1) get the cap space they need and 2) get people signed. They are also missing depth completely. Depth is why that team couldn’t play this year.
It’s going to be a big challenge this year for Dubas and whoever he brings in to be able to mine out value contracts and fill out depth roles to support that star cast that has been there so long.
You can watch the entire episode here…
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