Dubas: “We have holes on our defense that we’re going to have to address in the off-season”

The Penguins’ GM speaks on his radio show

Kyle Dubas had his final GM Show of the season.

Some thoughts on it:

• The show’s host, Josh Getzoff, asked Dubas where he was when Alex Ovechkin broke the record. Interestingly enough, Dubas was at the Oshawa/Brampton OHL playoff game. Notable player in that game: one of 2025’s projected top picks Porter Martone. There was also Simon Wang, a 6’5” defender born in China that moved to North America to chase his dream of playing pro hockey. Wang was up to 31st in Bob McKenzie’s mid-season scouting, he probably doesn’t fit to be a top-10 pick from the Penguins. But if they get the Rangers pick or look to trade excess picks towards the beginning of the first round? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. As a big OHL proponent, Dubas is no stranger to keeping up with that league in general and if nothing else he put eyes on Martone in a playoff setting. (Martone’s team lost 4-1 and he didn’t score a point).
• Dubas talked about how Rutger McGroarty was about to get a scan after suffering a foot injury Tuesday night against Chicago. “We’ll push him but we’ll proceed with great caution and make sure there’s nothing longer range, if there’s anything on the scan”.
• Talking about players getting up for games once eliminated. Dubas said he doesn’t like to address the team during the season, pointing towards the coach’s area but said he was clear what the team was looking for down the stretch from individuals and the time would be “informative” to the organization as they move ahead for next year.
• On Jarry’s recent stretch of going 3-0-1 in his last four games. Dubas said he was happy for Tristan, when someone has to go through struggles and pull themselves back and show their capability shows a lot. Called Jarry excellent against Chicago and said, “the goal is he uses [the end of the season] to propel himself into the off-season and have a great off-season and come back knowing he’s been in the depths. You don’t want to go back there [to Wilkes], so let’s get after it and stay after it and get ready to come back next year ready to roll. He can end this year on a high note yet with three games left”. Also mentioned that Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov are expected to push up the organizational ranks. “Those guys are comin’, and we’re not going to stop them” Dubas said of his young netminders and hoped competition would bring out the best in Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic.
• Getzoff turned his focus to impending RFA Conor Timmins and if the Penguins would be looking to keep him for next season based on what he has shown. “I think we certainly will [keep him],” Dubas said. “I just think with that way he played, we got lucky at the deadline that a lot of the moves happened in quick succession at the end [just before the deadline].” Mentioned how when the Maple Leafs were able to add Brandon Carlo the roster and cap situation led to the Pens getting the opportunity to add Timmins. “We wanted to give him the runway to play, play a lot and show what he could do. I think he’s made the most of it, that’s really what we’re looking for. I think he’s showed potential to be someone that can grow with the group.” Dubas said he thought they were “just scratching the surface” of what Timmins is capable of and that he should be a good fit for the Pens moving forward.
• On the lightning rod known as Erik Karlsson and how he figures in for the future. Dubas said he tries to put himself in Karlsson’s situation of leaving Ottawa and going to San Jose all the while both places eventually moved into rebuilds in a flat cap era. Dubas said he thinks Karlsson can help bring the Pens back to winning but that it’s a matter of consistency, pointing to how good he was at 4 Nations and sometimes in Pittsburgh. Dubas cites players in Pittsburgh who have bought in during their mid-30s to stay at their best as examples of playing at a high level. “I firmly believe that if we have the right partner, and maybe it’s Conor Timmins, maybe it’s somebody else. We have holes on our defense that we’re going to have to address in the off-season. One of those questions will be finding, whether it’s Conor or somebody else, the right partner for [Karlsson]. Regardless of what the noise is, I firmly believe he can be someone that helps the team come through where we’re at and bring us back to contention.”
• On Koivunen’s jump in the first year of North American hockey: Dubas said you never know how much of a challenge it could be for any individual to handle it. Koivunen has built great confidence and taken to the skating and speed program in Wilkes and they’ve tracked objective gains. Cited Koivunen’s competitiveness and how he pushes to control games at the net and get under their skin of opponents to grow. “With both [Koivunen and McGroarty] it shows what the model is going to be, which is: take steady steps, it’s not always make the team right away, take off right away. Sometimes it’s a difficult, boring, challenging, monotonous process, brick by boring brick. Earn your way up when you’re ready to do so, I think it’s always great when you have the guys come up in waves together. The two of them were recalled..together. It was a great moment for the development program to see them come up and play the way they have.”
• Talks about how in the AHL they need and want to have players getting used to playing into May and June, cites the Washington/Hershey dynamic of winning the last two Calder Cups and some players that have grown into helping at the NHL level.
• When asked if Bryan Rust was a core piece of the team, Dubas said “I’ve always had him in there. I know there have been three guys who have been here for two decades but in my mind when I think of the Pittsburgh Penguins I have Rust in that mix. He’s everything we want to be about: his character, preparation, work ethic…He’s a great example for any younger player coming in” due to having to grind his way to the top as a mid-round pick.
• Synopsis for the off-season plans: calls every summer massive. Says it’s two weeks of grinding on pro scouting for free agency and draft, mentioning they have a lot of draft capital that they can use by taking picks or using the picks in trades to target NHL talent. Again goes back to the holes in the defense that they will have to examine what could be available in trades or free agency. Dubas mentions the process can’t be rushed and there’s no one magical move, it will be management’s responsibility to continue working at accomplishing their goals of improvement.

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A general manager’s words can be read into too much or too little, it’s best to think of them as a snapshot in time, which is really all they are. Dubas sounded very confident today, on April 9th, that both Jarry and Karlsson would be in the mix for next season. Thinking only in this moment, that makes sense.

Dubas also once talked confidently in 2023 about anticipation about Jeff Petry and Mikael Granlund only to trade them shortly after. By default it’s only logical that everyone still under contract has to have a positive shine place on them in the moment. Until they don’t.

Will that point come with Karlsson and/or Jarry this summer? That remains to be seen. Perhaps the team will decide to move in a different direction, or like Dubas said today maybe the solution that works best is going out to find Karlsson a capable partner in hopes that will smooth out some of the issues that have popped up. It doesn’t make the comments and mindset of today meaningless but it’s not an ironclad promise either. What’s true now might not be true in a month or two, but all we can do is sort through the information offered.

It’s clear that the blueline is shaping up to be the key area to watch over the summer. Dubas freely admitted there is work to be done to bring in quality. Acknowledging the issue there is one thing, being able to solve it will be another matter. The Penguins could badly use one, if not two, legitimate top-four left handed defensemen if they are serious about improving their team. How Dubas and his squad goes about tackling that issue will be one of the more interesting aspects of the upcoming off-season. Based on today’s comments that will include Conor Timmins but the manager has let it be known the defense is a key area to be addressed.