The Pittsburgh Penguins made a multitude of moves this summer, and now fingers are starting to be pointed at Kyle Dubas.

Kyle Dubas is just over six months into his tenure as Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations, and he’s already seeing quite a bit of harsh criticism.

It didn’t take Dubas long to make a huge impact on the Penguins roster by adding a multitude of depth forwards but was involved in arguably the biggest move in the NHL’s offseason.

Even before Dubas arrived in Pittsburgh he had his eyes on defenseman Erik Karlsson.

According to TSN’s Craig Button, Dubas’ decision to acquire Karlsson for the Penguins is akin to signing John Tavares when he was general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Button says that the Penguins, much like the Maple Leafs, didn’t need this high profile of a player.

For what it’s worth, the Penguins have high expectations for Karlsson, and aside from the power play being a bust, he’s been very good.

In defense of the Maple Leafs, Tavares is one of their most consistent players and is currently the team captain.

Button believes in the case of Dubas, Karlsson, and the Penguins, that the depth was left for dead rather than being properly retooled.

“He could have taken that money and built out the depth of his group.”

Even with Karlsson and his $10 million average annual value, Dubas still made additions to the Penguins’ depth.

Noel Acciari has been a solid fourth line center, Ryan Shea and John Ludvig has been steady additions to the third defensive pairing, and the AHL roster is full of names that can step in in spurts.

Things haven’t exactly panned out this season, but that doesn’t mean Dubas made the wrong decisions.

Karlsson is leading the Penguins in defensive points, as expected, and the depth showed signs of progress early on.

Injuries have piled up and forced too many AHL names in at once and shuffled the lineup beyond recognition from opening night.

Sure, Dubas will need to step in soon with certain changes if things don’t start righting course, but for now, it’s not fair to say he spent his money un-wisely.

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