Kyle Dubas is retooling the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they are still not Stanley Cup contenders.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the busiest teams in the league since the NHL Draft. They continued that with a ferocious opening to free agency. All together, Kyle Dubas made eight signings and began to firmly place his stamp on the 2023-24 Penguins. It's been a valiant effort, with more to come, but as it currently stands, the Pens are no closer to a Stanley Cup than they were in May of 2023. 

The Penguins certainly improved after Dubas' first wave of roster transactions. He essentially traded nothing for winger Reilly Smith, giving the team a de facto Jason Zucker replacement in the top six. Dubas also reinforced the bottom-six forwards with the additions of veterans Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, and Matt Nieto.

All three were 10+ goal scorers last year and are vast defensive improvements over the likes of Danton Heinen and Josh Archibald. It also gives Mike Sullivan more trusted options to pair with the younger talent ready for more, like Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, and Drew O'Connor. 

Dubas also made a shrewd move in signing defenseman Ryan Graves. A stout yet mobile defenseman who can play 20 minutes a night next to Kris Letang, Dubas was able to sign him at an extremely affordable top pairing rate of$4.5 million per season by going longer with the term (six years). At 28-years-old, the latter half of the contract may hurt, but the Penguins surely won't care about that while they are rebuilding their team without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. 

But there is still a terrible flaw to this team: goaltending. Dubas has unfortunately shown in his career that evaluating goaltending is where he leaves you wanting more. He's made bad moves before in his managing career, as all executives do, but he seems to struggle even more with finding the right netminder.

Dubas is one year removed from providing the Toronto Maple Leafs a goaltending tandem of Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray, and we all saw how that turned out. He's two years removed from opting to not extend Frederik Andersen in favor of signing Petr Mrazek to a three year deal that he didn't finish out in Toronto.

Dubas had a chance to right his wrongs with his first season in Pittsburgh, and solve the goaltending issue. He could have signed Tristan Jarry to a shorter deal, giving the team more flexibility if things don't pan out. He could have waited Jarry out to decrease the average annual value.

The market had gone dead for goaltenders once teams like Carolina, Los Angeles, Ottawa all made their signings official before the Pens and Jarry agreed on terms, and it gave Dubas all of the advantage to make a better deal. Instead, he doubled down on a good, not great, goaltender, who has not won a playoff series. 

How does that make sense? It doesn't. 

And despite the improvements to the bottom six, the top defensive pairing, and whatever future moves Dubas makes, it will ultimately leave this team a playoff win short. Until they truly solve their goaltending issue, either through Jarry's play drastically improving and stabilizing or another option, the Penguins are not and cannot be Stanley Cup contenders. 

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Penguins for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more!

Radim Zohorna Among Trio of Penguins Depth Signings

Flavell's Five Thoughts: Penguins After First Day of Free Agency

Penguins Defenseman Brian Dumoulin Signs Deal with Kraken

Penguins Sign Lars Eller to Two-Year Contract

Penguins Sign Noel Acciari to Three-Year Contract

• undefined
• undefined