3 Big Takeaways From Dubas's End-Of-Season Press Conference

Given the expectations for the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins heading into the regular season, the fact that general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas could include playoff discourse as part of his season-ending press conference Tuesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry says a lot about what he is building organizationally. 

And it looks like the next steps forward are coming into focus as well.

Even though the team made tangible progress this season, Dubas stressed that there is still a "long way to go" for the Penguins to be Stanley Cup contenders to the likes of the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens, and others. But, that said, he feels as though it's on him to deliver on that next stage in the process.

"I thought we were a good team, and at times we flirted with becoming very good, but ultimately, we are still well short of where we aspire to be, which is a contender," Dubas said. "That falls on me, and the work to push to get us there will continue."

He added: "Have we made progress? I’d say yes, we have. Are we where we want to be and aspire to be? No, not even close. And the work has continued since the minute that our season has ended and will continue through the summer. That’s what we’ll aim for is to continue to deliver contending championship hockey back to Pittsburgh."

There was a lot to pull from this press conference - including the definitive statement from Dubas saying "they'd love to have" Evgeni Malkin back next season - but there are three themes that seemed to stand out among everything else.

Half of the press conference consisted of Dubas gushing about the prospects the Penguins already have in their system, many of which the organization believes have bright futures with the Penguins.

I did ask Dubas about - despite the discourse that core talent is usually obtained by selecting high in the draft - whether or not he believes some future pieces of a potential "core" are, indeed, already in their system.

"When it comes to the high end, you look throughout the league now, and everyone here knows it because that's what the Pittsburgh Penguins have always been about: the Penguins have always had high-end talent," Dubas said. "Obviously, there's two very notable first-overall picks, but then it's supplemented by players picked later in the first round or deeper into the draft.

"We have to find it any way that we can. That could be through trade, it could be in free agency, [or in] finding a player that goes undervalued and we're able to get more out of."

But, despite that, he gave some rave reviews for some of the top prospects in the system. 

He began with the goaltenders, talking about how Sergei Murashov has been carrying the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins through the AHL playoffs in impressive fashion, and he mentioned that he and Joel Blomqvist will have the chance to compete for a role on the NHL roster in training camp next season. He was also very complimentary of Taylor Gauthier, who has put together three consecutive dominant seasons for the Wheeling Nailers and would, ideally, be back in the organization next season full-time in the AHL.

Dubas also touched on defenseman Harrison Brunicke and the progress he's made since training camp. He stressed that they believe his development plan - which included off-ice conditioning, five pre-season games, nine NHL games, five AHL games, and the World Junior Championship before ultimately being sent back to the WHL - ended up working out well for him. He is also impressed that Brunicke is playing on the top pairing for WBS during the Calder Cup Playoffs and that he has been tasked with some of the toughest minutes.

Finally, beyond players like Ben Kindel, Rutger McGroarty, and Ville Koivunen, he gave glowing endorsements of 2025 first-round picks Will Horcoff (24th overall) and Bill Zonnon (22nd overall). Dubas called out Horcoff's natural scoring ability, but, perhaps, the most interesting thing he said was in reference to Zonnon, who is set to make his AHL debut with WBS Tuesday night against the Springfield Thunderbirds in Game 1 of the Atlantic Division Final.

"He can play center, he can play wing. He's been a part of teams that always seem to be winning. He's deeply committed to doing all the small things," Dubas said. "The best thing I've heard in the last couple of weeks is that the American League staff, they told Amanda Kessel that they went to show him the systems on intake when he got there last week after his team had lost in Game 7 to Moncton. And he had been watching every game and studying the systems, and he knew them all himself.

"So it's those types of small, little intangible things that fuel the size, the skating, the habits, the ability to carry the puck, create offense, get to the net."

Clearly, Dubas is happy with the pool of young talent that the Penguins already possess - even if he knows there is more work ahead to pull in big talent.

One of the biggest points of emphasis in this press conference was the fact that - again - despite the progress the Penguins made this season by making the playoffs and proving they are a "good team," they're still pretty far off from being Stanley Cup contenders. 

And a major part of that, Dubas said, is that they have to improve defensively - and that they intend to address that this summer.

"When we’re looking at the group as we transition moving ahead, I think, as a whole, defensively, we still continue to give up a lot both in terms of what we’re expected to give up and in terms of what we actually gave up," Dubas said. "Both were in the bottom-10 in the league, and it was a massive topic amongst [head coach Dan Muse] and me throughout the year, but more importantly in the last couple of weeks since we’ve been out. And it is the major focus as we head into the offseason.

"Really, it’s the area that we have to improve upon the most if we’re going to continue to make strides and push the team back into being a contender."

He also stressed that the biggest thing in terms of measuring where they're at as far is contention is pitting the Penguins against other teams - particularly the Hurricanes, who pretty easily won the Metropolitan Division this season.

"You look at all the other teams around the division, and you measure yourself up against them day in and day out," Dubas said. "Carolina, they're obviously the class of the division right now, they won the division by 15 or 16 points, and they haven't lost a playoff game. We're not close to that, so that's what we have to push to get to be at that stage where they're at, going to the Eastern Conference Final. They've obviously been at it for a long time now, 10-plus years.

"But that's what we have to work to get to. And until we get to that point — and I think even when you get there, you're happy only for a few minutes and then you start to worry about what's coming up behind."

So, if they're still that far off of contention, it makes sense to sell off veterans and go younger now, right? Well, not necessarily. And that brings us to the final point of emphasis from Dubas's presser.

There were multiple references in this press conference to Dubas heavily exploring the trade market this summer. Sure, he mentioned deals in the "Chinakhov mold," which definitely makes sense for where they're at and where they want to go. Those options would be more cost-effective, even if there is inherent risk. 

But that's not the only thing he said. And there is one portion that stood out in particular:

“I think what we really lack are those players in their later 20s that are really true difference makers. Or mid-20s, late 20s, that are true difference makers," Dubas said. "I think if you’re one of those players that’s a free agent or your situation in your spot is not going well and you have some control, you can look at us and see very clearly that you’re going to be supported by a great coaching staff that gets the most out of players. But you’ll also have young players that are going to push from behind and older players that are going to set the tone.

“I think Pittsburgh, for all that it is as a city, a sports city, it’s a great place to play, a great place to grow and have a family. But also, I think in terms of the sporting side, for us on the hockey side, I think it should be one of, if not the most, appealing places to any player that has a choice in those matters. We’ll investigate all those as we go into the summer."

I don't know about you, but that sure sounds like a sales pitch to me. 

And with some bigger names who fit that mold rumored to, potentially, be on the trade block this summer - such as Stars superstar Jason Robertson (26 years old), Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews (28), St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas (26), and Stars defenseman Thomas Harley (24) - could Dubas and the Penguins be pitching to those guys directly?

It's quite possible, and the Penguins have plenty of draft capital, cap space, and tradeable assets to work with. They would have to build out quite a big package in comparison to those other teams, but in the end, they have flexibility in terms of "tacking on" in trade packages that other organizations don't.

Dubas is confident in the young players the Penguins are already developing. But he recognizes that returning to sustainable contention will require both homegrown talent and the willingness to swing big when opportunity arises.

"I think if we're going to take really big steps next year that [are] sustainable, it's going to be by using the cap space that we have, but [also] the assets that we have, the draft picks, the prospects, etc, to go and acquire somebody," Dubas said. "Is that going to be possible? We're sure going to find out. But I'm being open with you because that's the path ahead.

"We don't have a mirage in our view, in the office, that next year all these young guys are going to magically all hit. They're prospects for a reason. Some of them are going to reach their potential. Some of them are going to go beyond their potential. But you don't know if some of them are. We've amassed a good quantity there. We have to see which ones can develop into true quality guys, and then we have to use that to just supplement, really, on the proven players in their mid 20s, late 20s, that we know what we're getting. I think that's the area where we'll be able to take steps."

In conclusion: Buckle up, Penguins' fans. This could be a pretty fun summer.

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