LAS VEGAS — The Kevin Hayes trade on Saturday morning at Sphere perfectly illustrates where the Pittsburgh Penguins reside.
To improve down the road, they have to make some moves that are, on the surface, contradictory.
Kyle Dubas might not have any other choice. It’s clear that, in the past 365 days, the Penguins president/general manager has changed his mind about his team.
He felt the urge to be aggressive last summer, making several win-now moves — trading for Erik Karlsson, signing Ryan Graves, Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, etc. Those moves were made to give the Penguins’ core a last gasp very clear. Or, maybe Dubas simply wanted to endear himself to Pittsburgh and to the Big Three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Arguably, Dubas shouldn’t have made any of those moves. He went for it, and it backfired.
Another missed postseason, with the stars all remaining healthy, opened Dubas’ eyes. Back then, I don’t think Dubas realized how far away the Penguins were from competing. I think he knows now. In a horrifically bad Eastern Conference, the relatively healthy Penguins still couldn’t reach the postseason. Again. Dubas, I believe, saw the writing on the wall after Pittsburgh’s second consecutive miss.
That’s why, moving forward, the Penguins’ sole priority is going to be adding young assets. Unfortunately, to do so, the Penguins had to get older and slower, precisely opposing Dubas’ preference.
If anyone on the Penguins roster has a problem with the philosophy, too bad.
The fact of the matter is that Crosby, Malkin and Letang got precisely what they wanted two years ago. Even though former GM Ron Hextall had major reservations about bringing back Letang and (especially) Malkin two years ago, he caved and did it. They even got full no-movement clauses.
Since then, the Penguins haven’t sniffed the postseason, a nostalgia tour seemingly replacing a once-driven organization that prided itself on having a legit shot to win the Stanley Cup every year.
Dubas, to his credit, realizes this. He spoke to the media on Friday in Las Vegas and made it abundantly clear that his desire isn’t to construct a team that barely makes the playoffs next season and moving forward. If the Penguins make the playoffs next season, great. But Dubas wants something much bigger, even if it takes time. He wants Crosby to stick around for another undetermined amount of years and, along the way, he wants the captain’s final acts in Pittsburgh to be leading the way for a new era of Penguins hockey.
Building a new era is the only goal now.
All of this brings us to Kevin Hayes.
He has had a pretty good NHL career but appears to very much be on the back nine of it at 32. He was a healthy scratch a couple of times last season and his offensive numbers are fading. Even more concerning, Hayes is slow. Really slow. Sure, he’s 6 feet 5 inches, and his reach can make up for a lack of foot speed to some extent. The fact of the matter is, though, that Hayes is the kind of player the Penguins already employ. They’re already old and slow, and Hayes, in that way, will fit right in.
I don’t think Hayes’ presence will be a disaster. The Penguins will be overpaying him, in all likelihood, by giving him around $3.5 million in each of the next two seasons. But that’s not the kind of contract that’s going to cripple the Penguins. You think paying Hayes $3.5 million is going to prohibit the Penguins from winning the Cup next June? I didn’t think so. Plus, while Hayes might not be the player he was five years ago, I’d still argue he figures to be at least a slight improvement to the Penguins’ bottom six next season, which pretty well articulates how bad the bottom six is.
Dubas’ lack of leverage this summer is becoming increasingly clear. Here’s what I have been told by team and league sources:
• Dubas was willing to deal goaltender Tristan Jarry, but there were no interested parties.
• Dubas is happy to trade Reilly Smith, but currently has no dance partners.
Let’s also consider this: Literally half of the Penguins’ roster has a no-trade clause.
Criticizing Dubas is easy because the Penguins appear to be going nowhere fast and he arrived in Pittsburgh with such overwhelming hoopla. But he never claimed to be a miracle worker. Like Hextall before him, I think Dubas caved to some pressure last summer after taking over the Penguins. Fenway Sports Group wanted him to win immediately. Coach Mike Sullivan wanted him to win immediately. Crosby wanted him to win immediately. The fans wanted him to win immediately. Everyone you can imagine wanted to win immediately.
Dubas has an untold amount of power, but he ultimately was seduced by everyone’s desire around him to win. This is on Dubas because he’s the man who is being paid quite handsomely to guide the organization. The first year was a failure in many ways. Dubas knows it.
Now, he’s going to go about fixing it. That second-round pick he acquired from the Blues figures to be a top-45 pick because the Blues aren’t very good. Many people disliked the Jake Guentzel trade in March, but at least Dubas did gain a couple of legitimate prospects in the draft. Last season’s first-round pick, Brayden Yager, has the look of becoming an impactful NHL player in a couple of years.
This is about timing more than anything. I don’t think Dubas can do much to make the Penguins better right now, especially if he’s unable to shed salary, which appears to be the case. The big guys aren’t getting any younger. The core is never going to win a championship again, and everyone knows it.
So, now really is the time to engage in a mini-rebuild. Hayes’ presence is a contradiction, sure, but it’s helping facilitate the new wave of Penguins that Dubas keeps mentioning.
Is Dubas the guy to turn the Penguins around? I have no idea. We’ll see in time. His first year in Pittsburgh hasn’t been inspiring, nor has it been a disaster.
Dubas does, however, seem to have a clear desire to build the Penguins system immediately and with conviction. It had to happen at some point. He took a step over the weekend.
If anyone employed by the Penguins has a problem with it, they need to consider that 2017 was a long time ago. New blood is the only way. Dubas is at least starting to make a dent.
(Photo of Kyle Dubas with draft pick Harrison Brunicke: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images)
