'It's A Very Pivotal Season For The Group': 3 Takeaways From Kyle Dubas's Season-Opening Press Conference

When discussing the state of the Pittsburgh Penguins and both the immediate and far-out picture of where the team is at, general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has always remained a bit coy. 

But, that was not the case during his season-opening press conference on Monday. 

After opening night rosters were released and Dubas offered injury updates for players, on several occasions - including in his opening statement - he reiterated that the goal for this season and beyond remains to close the gap between his team and the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes as well as to distinguish the Penguins from other teams trying to do the same thing within the Metropolitan Division.

Dubas and the Penguins have no plans to regress this season and in a general sense, and that much was made clear during his presser when he said they want to "preserve where we're at" while making progress toward separating themselves from the mid-tier teams in the league.

The big question, though, is how they're going to execute getting there. He said that the core-level veteran players the Penguins have cannot keep carrying the load if they expect to become sustainable, legitimate contenders, and they need youth to begin taking more and more of that mantle while keeping the team competitive in the process.

"This year, it's a very pivotal season for the group in that regard," Dubas said. "Can we continue to add younger players to the group to not only preserve where we're at but push us ahead and remove us from what I would say is the middle ground of the league?"

In a telling presser where he was a bit bolder than usual, he may have pulled back the blinds on the Penguins' plans, even just a little bit. Here are three takeaways from that presser.

As far as how they're going to acquire that much-needed talent to ease the burden of their oldest players to drive the team to contention? A lot of it, Dubas said, is about priming the younger players they have to take the next step, but it's also going to involve staying alert and vigilant regarding the trade market when it comes to Egor Chinakhov and Nick Robertson types. 

However, if the team continues to take steps toward contention this season, and if bigger-name players become available, Dubas won't rule out the Penguins' involvement.

"There's not a younger player in the league that becomes available that we don't investigate, both in terms of the assets that we have - younger players, draft picks - and also, if a team is looking for more veteran players, we have those, too, that can help their clubs," Dubas said. "Where we get into is whether it’s a fit overall between the two teams in terms of the pieces that they’re looking for."

He mentioned that being involved in discussions involving bigger names is tough without the assets to do so, citing the Bowen Byram trade before the draft this summer that involved a fourth overall pick going the other way. But he was adament in saying that the Penguins would be on the phone regardless.

"Every single player of that nature that becomes available, regardless of their profile, we’ll be involved," Dubas said. "And, as we’ve executed on repeatedly over the last two-plus years, those are the types of players that we’re almost exclusively acquiring via trade. We’ll continue to look at all of those that come up."

In other words, don't rule out the Penguins being "splashier," as their GM would say. But being "splashier" will require both their veterans to keep playing at a high level and their young talent to take pretty substantial steps to bolster value. The Penguins don't have the high-end draft capital that rebuilding teams covet, but they won't hesitate to move out veterans and prospects if it means they're acquiring an impact player who projects well with their future plans.

In the meantime and the short-term, though, expect them to stay quite active in acquiring change-of-scenery and upside-types until bigger talent becomes available and until they have the proper ammunition to pull something bigger off.

Speaking of younger players, there is still a whole lot of belief in the young players the Penguins have within their organization. Dubas touched on the two main prospect pieces of the Jake Guentzel trade in Ville Koivunen and Harrison Brunicke being on the verge of, hopefully, taking some big strides in their development, and he and the rest of the staff were impressed with goaltender Sergei Murashov's Calder Cup Playoff run at the end of the 2025-26 season enough to make him a shoe-in for an NHL roster spot this year. 

However, even when discussing players like Rutger McGroarty and Owen Pickering, Dubas understands that development isn't linear nor the same for every player. Some players may take a bit longer than others, and some may not reach their potential at all. 

"I would love if all of them came in, had one year in the minors, and made the NHL right away. You’re trying to really thread it between giving a clear opportunity for them to earn but also make it really competitive," Dubas said. "The players always always come through it better when it’s competitive and they have to go out and get it rather than it just being handed [to them].

"There’s always competition between the prospects, as well. I would love every one of them at 22 to be in the NHL full time, and that’s what we aspire to and push for. But we can’t force them in when it’s too early. We just have to keep with our plan." 

But he also knows where the organization is at and that, at some point, the burden is on players like McGroarty and Pickering - even the 20-year-old Brunicke, who is expected to play a huge role next to Pickering for WBS this season - to keep pushing and shoving through the competition for roster spots until they earn their full-time ticket to the NHL. The Penguins are at a point where they need some of these players to start showing out, even if some aren't in the NHL to start the season.

"What I would love to see happen is for younger guys to work their way up the lineup to beat down the doors in the American League and force us to have to create room for them and they can make a positive impact here," Dubas said. "If we get deep into the year and we're not in that position, or we don't feel we're truly gaining ground on Carolina or truly contending, we'll have to make some more difficult decisions."

Unlike in years past, big things are expected from some young players this season, particularly the five mentioned here. Dubas and the Penguins are relying on them taking steps to show they will help the team win now and in the future. If they don't take those steps, things could get a bit dicey, and some decisions will have to be made.

Of course, the most glaring bit that got folks talking after this press conference was when Dubas was - once again - asked about the potential of Evgeni Malkin's future and whether another extension would be considered.

Shaking his head while the question from King Jemison of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was being asked, he responded curtly and a bit angrily.

“I’m not going to do this day-to-day, year-by-year thing with Geno again this year," Dubas said shortly and simply.

Personally, I wouldn't read into this as Dubas saying "Geno isn't coming back" rather than him just getting tired of fielding questions about Malkin's future when the response is pretty much always the same. However, it's not difficult to read between the lines a little bit, especially as he gave an extended answer to a similar question offered about Sidney Crosby earlier.

Later on, Dubas did speak on the "reverance" for Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang, who are entering their 21st season together and have spent more time with each other on one team than any other trio in North American professional sports history. It's a unique situation, and it puts the team in uncharted territory when it comes to getting younger while also understanding the impact these players have on that young talent that is supposed to shape their future.

But, again, he was up-front about where he believes this team is at and where it needs to go. And he knows that, even with other peripheral core players like Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Erik Karlsson, they can't fall short on taking action to get them closer to their goal of closing that gap with Carolina.

"I don't think remaining in that middle ground can get us back into contention in any sort of short order," Dubas said in his opener. "So, that'll take bold decisions and hard decisions."

And, if push comes to shove, some of those hard decisions are likely to involve roster mainstays and veterans. If Letang is pushed out of playing time by a guy like Brunicke, they're not going to hold Brunicke back on Letang's account. If Malkin takes a step back and is surpassed on the depth chart by Koivunen, McGroarty, Bill Zonnon, or anyone else, they're not going to bring him back next season. If Rakell, Rust, or Karlsson - if the third is willing to waive his no-movement clause - can be packaged to help them land a young talent they covet, they'll do it.  

It seems like Dubas is done beating around the bush and is at a juncture where he won't hesitate on making the necessary but difficult moves to allow the team to get younger and progress closer toward being a sustainable contender.

Progression isn't just an ideal anymore, it's an expectation. And it's one that they're banking on this season.

"At the end of the year, we have to say we're getting closer to our goal where I think the public and you all and sit up there and say, 'They're a lot closer to being a team that can contend or they are a contender now.' It's just definitive," Dubas said. "And that may mean some difficult decisions along the way that are going to have to be made, you know, from my seat, but that's the job.

"That's really what we're aiming for in the year. I don't think we ever go into the year thinking that we're going to regress. We have to take steps toward getting back to, in the end, saying, 'Geez, this team is awfully close to knocking down the door again to being a team that can contend.'"

Stay seated, folks. The team's contention status at the end of this season should have a pretty profound impact on where things go from here.

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