Back in 1993 when the Penguins were at the very pinnacle of their early success, Sports Illustrated published an article about Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman titled Master Conductor.
The reason I bring it up today? IMHO, the Pens have a new master conductor.
Kyle Dubas.
I’d posted an article on PenguinPoop earlier this season comparing his work to that of Jim Rutherford’s during the Cup seasons. In particular, the job Dubas has done since last spring’s trade deadline? In my eyes, nothing short of brilliant. Culminating in his recent Danton Heinen and picks for Egor Chinakhov heist.
With his absolutely lethal release and shot, not to mention world-class bursts of speed, “Chinny’s” piled up eight goals in just 18 games for the black-and-gold, a 36-goal pace over a full season.
In the words of Mike Lange, Dubas should get five-to-ten for that one.
That isn’t his only master stroke. Extracting solid pros Brett Kulak and Stuart Skinner, not to mention a second-round pick, for thought-to-be-untradeable Tristan Jarry and failed prospect Sam Poulin?
Again, sheer brilliance.
Taken as a whole, his work over the past 11 months has been every bit as impressive if not more. Here’s a recap of his moves that have directly shaped our roster.
- March 5, 2025—Acquired Tommy Novak and Luke Schenn from Nashville for Michael Bunting and a 4th-round pick in the 2026 Entry Draft;
- March 7, 2025—Acquired Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins from Toronto for a 5th-round pick in the 2025 Entry Draft;
- April 29, 2025—Signed free agent Filip Hållander;
- June 27, 2025—Selected Ben Kindel in the 1st round (11th overall) at the 2025 Entry Draft;
- June 28, 2025—Acquired Connor Clifton and a 2nd-round pick in the 2025 Entry Draft from Buffalo for Isaac Belliveau and Conor Timmins;
- July 2, 2025—Signed free agents Justin Brazeau, Caleb Jones, Anthony Mantha and Parker Wotherspoon;
- July 10, 2025—Acquired Matt Dumba and a 2nd-round pick from Dallas for Vladislav Kolyachonok;
- July 13, 2025—Acquired Arturs Silovs from Vancouver for Chris Stillman and a 4th-round pick in the 2027 Entry Draft;
- December 12, 2025—Acquired Brett Kulak, Stuart Skinner and a 2nd-round pick in the 2029 Entry Draft from Edmonton for Tristan Jarry and Sam Poulin;
- December 29, 2025—Acquired Egor Chinakhov from Columbus for Danton Heinen, a 2nd-round pick in the 2026 Entry Draft and a 3rd-round pick in the 2027 Entry Draft;
- December 31, 2025—Acquired Egor Zamula from Philadelphia for Philip Tomasino;
- January 20, 2026—Acquired Ilya Solovyov from Colorado for Valtteri Puustinen and a 7th-round pick in the 2026 Entry Draft.
Heck, his work in December alone should earn Dubas Executive of the Year honors.
In particular, the eye he and his staff have displayed for securing undervalued or underperforming talent is nothing short of remarkable. Literally every player he’s brought in has something to prove and better still, are playing like it.
Several of his additions, including Brazeau, Dewar, Mantha, Silovs and Wotherspoon have already established career highs or on pace to do so.
Not only has he completely overhauled a roster that was badly in need of one, he’s done it on the comparative cheap and without dealing any assets of consequence. Indeed, the Pens boast a stockpile of 25 picks over the next three drafts, including nine in the first and second rounds, not to mention gobs of cap space.
It’s a trait Dubas displayed dating back to his Erik Karlsson blockbuster in the summer of 2023. Getting something for nothing. Or more accurately, guys we don’t want or no longer have use for.
However, it isn’t just his work on the personnel front. Dubas had the cojones to replace Cup-winning coach Mike Sullivan, whose message and approach had grown stale, with a relative unknown in Dan Muse. The rookie coach and his staff have pushed all the right buttons and certainly deserve their share of the credit.
The team’s playing fast, spirited and connected hockey. Supremely entertaining to boot, and a night-and-day difference from the past few seasons.
It all starts at the top with our master conductor.
It starts with Dubas.
Sorry Rick,
I am not all that impressed with Dubas. I do agree the Chinakhov trade looks like it should workout, the Mantha and Brazeau signings as well. Furthermore, the Coaching staff that has been assembled seems to be turning a rag-tag group of skaters into a team whose synergy far outstrips the sum of the parts.
In our conversation of this afternoon, I truly do not think that looking at any potential successes this season is a valid look at Dubas; even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Before I am willing to even compliment him, let alone call him a master conductor, he has to start hitting on more than 60% of his moves across his career, which he has not. It can be argued that he has simply played a numbers game in a scatter shot fashion. Random chance could still explain his successes.
Hey Other Rick,
I’ll concede that a lot of Dubas’s early moves…in particular signing Tristan Jarry and Ryan Graves to long-term deals, didn’t pan out. (Especially hated the Matt Nieto signing.) Although we do need to keep in mind that, at the time, Jarry and Graves were much more highly regarded.
I’m inclined to give Dubas a pass on his early work due to the fact that he arrived relatively late and had less than a month to learn the organization and prepare for free agency and the draft. Plus, I think some of his moves were a Hail Mary attempt to get Sid and Geno and the gang back to the playoffs in the short run.
I’ll confess I wasn’t a fan of his work through the early stages of last season, the Hayes acquisition and the Beauvillier signing, not to mention the Glass acquisition. The latter which in hindsight was actually pretty slick, getting third- and sixth-round picks along with Glass while only giving up Jordan Frasca.
However, since last season’s deadline, I think Dubas has been money. All the while he’s been building our draft stores and restocking our prospects cupboard AND opening up cap space.
It’s easy to forget how bereft of picks and prospects we were when he took over, not to mention tight against the cap.
Overall, I think he’s done a masterful job.
Rick
RIck,
I am always willing to give everyone a chance. When Dubas was signed, he claimed his dismal record (one and done with a stacked Tor team during his tenure) was due to superiors not giving him free reign – that is a flimsy excuse, but people can learn from previous failures.
I say it was a flimsy excuse because a good leader gets everyone behind his vision and doesn’t get resistance or even outright rejection to his plan.
I say people can learn from previous failures because some people (not all) eventually learn how to get most people behind them. They grow in communication skills and charisma. They also start gaining a track record to which they can point to reassure others that they really do know what they are talking about.
Dubas’ track record isn’t just his two horrible seasons in a denuded team in Pgh but several seasons with a stacked Tor team. This season, if it turns out well when it is over, will be the anomaly in his career. It will be something he could build on, but as for now, it will be the anomaly.
As for Jarry and Goaltending,
If this team had not been using Jarry and Silovs all season, it would be easy to find enough points to have our Penguins challenging for the presidents trophy. Even now with Skinner, the team’s Goaltending is still its weak link. The was the Defense is insulating these guys their Sv% should be leading the league and their GAA microscopic.
Jarry was not highly regarded when he was signed to that ridiculous contract. The league already understood that he had durability issues and could be a real flake. Only Sullivan and a certain blogger on another site were still fans of Jarry. No sooner than when I pointed out that Jarry’s Sv% plummeted after his 23 GP, national writers seemed to note it also. His All Star appearances were more a question of every team sending at least one player, Jarry still only having played about 23 Games, and injuries to other players who would have gone.
No doubt someone would have took a chance on Jarry had Dubas not singed him, but it certainly would not have been for a 5 year $5.375 mil contract. It would have been more like a 1 or 2 year deal for $1.25 mil to prove himself.
Hey Other Rick,
Again, my friend, we disagree. Although you don’t come flat-out and state it as you have in the past, I don’t agree with your repeated assertion the Pens would be better off or even a Cup contender with Sergei Mursahov and Joel Blomqvist in goal.
As brilliantly as Murashov has played with the Baby Pens, his underlying numbers weren’t especially good during his five-game cameo with the Pens. As I pointed out a few articles ago, Blomqvist has been in a bit of a slide over his past six starts at Wilkes (an .891 SV% and 3.17 GAA). Nor were his numbers good with the Pens last season.
None of this screams for them to be promoted, certainly not in tandem.
I trust Dubas and his staff…the people who work with these kids every day…will know when they’re ready. I also trust that if and when they are, KD won’t have any qualms about moving Silovs and/or especially Skinner for assets.
Maybe it was a stretch to say Jarry was well regarded at the time Dubas signed him. His play had begun to slip the season before he signed the contract, although he still was good enough to post a .909 SV%. But the season before that (’21-22) Jarry had been one of the top performing goalies in the league (.919 SV%, 12.8 goals saved above average) and had earned his All-Star Game appearance. Same thing in ’19-20 (.921 SV%).
Jarry’s career SV% at the time he signed the deal was .914. This compares favorably to the career marks of Connor Hellebuyck (.917), Ilya Sorokin (.916), and Sergei Bobrovsky (.913).
Having said that, I wasn’t thrilled with the contract, either. Certainly not the length of it. As you pointed out, there were worrisome indicators, including his tendency to fade in the second half, which you were, indeed, among the first to document.
Rick
Rick,
You go ahead and believe what you want to believe, I am not going to try and force you to change your mind. However, when you look at Blomqvist’s underlying stats last season and Murashov’s underlying stats this season, please understand, you have to compare them to the other players stats in that same time frame.
In November and December of this season when the Penguins were playing their worst (relative term since they have had a good season) the Penguins Goalies 5-on-5 stats over that time frame were
Murashov – Sv%: 0.905, GAA: 2.12, RuAA/60: 1.32, RbAA/60: 2.38
Jarry – Sv%: 0.899, GAA: 2.60, RuAA/60: 1.14, RbAA/60: 4.87
Skinner – Sv%: 0.891, GAA: 2.49, RuAA/60: 1.24, RbAA/: 6.64
Silovs – Sv%: 0.879, GA: 3.33, RuAA/60: 1.25, Rb/60: 5.55
When the team was at its lowest ebb, with Geno and Lizotte out of the lineup most of the time, Murashov was clearly the best Goalie, he had the highest Save Percentage (Sv%), Lowest Goals Against Average (GAA), was the least insulated from Rush Attempts Against per 60 minutes (RuAA/60), and controlled his rebounds the best as evidenced by his Rebound Attempts Against per 60 minutes (RbAA/60).
Furthermore, I do not think Murashov is the best Goalie in the system; Blomqvist is. I do think Murashov can eventually grow into a MAF-like Goalie. The kid reminds me so much of the flower before the team got Fleury a good Goalie coach to calm him down. Murashov is extremely athletic and over-reacts and then has to make what should be easy saves look like highlight reel saves.
However, Blomqvist is already technically sound and that kid makes the hard save look easy. Because of his ability to make the hard save look easy, anyone who has never played Goal can be forgiven for not realizing how good the young Finn is.
Last season in October and November, when Blomqvist was given the chance to play regularly, he too had the best records, back stopping Sullivan’s extremely complicated and porous Defense. Blomqvist faced the most SA/60 5-on-5 (38.03), the 2nd most RuAA/60 (2.68), yet had the best Sv% (0.901). Ned did have a lower GAA (3.10), but that veteran faced the least SA (27.39), over 10 SA less per game than Blomqvist. After November, Blomqvist was only given playing time sparingly either in the NHL or the AHL. Even in WBS his playing time was limited. And this preseason he once again had the best showing but got injured.
Once again, go ahead and believe what you want to believe, use unfair comparisons to justify that opinion, and once again you will have to say hindsight is 20/20.
Hey all,
A hockey buddy of mine, Tom Blanciak, had the perfect analogy. He said Dubas is “playing chess while other GMs play checkers.”
Rick