Can he fire himself as GM?

He’s the president of hockey operations so why not? 😂

He'll probably just trade a 1st for a Kerfoot or Kapanen

I'm not really sure what more Dubas can do. People can get mad about the summer but there were two options IMO.

1.Make the EK trade and bet that having him + Letang on the blueline can translate to more offense from a mediocre bottom 6
2. Don't acquire EK, keep Jeff Petry, Buyout Granlund, trade Rutta and DeSmith and use the extra cash to build out a better bottom 6 that can generate offense on it's own.

He sends Rutta/Petry/DeSmith packing for EK. (whom majority of fans wanted).

That's a great trade to move crap contracts out and get the former norris winner.

However, that also left the team with very little money to spend in an already bad UFA class. I'd say you can't be upset at the Jarry or Eller deals right now, Smith has been eh, but I still thought that was a good trade. Graves has been worse than I expected, but again, very poor UFA class, there was not many other top 4 pair LD on the market. After him it was Mikkola or Soucy.

So Dubas dealt with what he had in front of him.

Matt Duchene was never coming here, ROR was never coming here, Compher got overpaid in DET, and Max Domi is not a good center. It was slim pickins this summer.

Rust Rakell and Acciari being hurt right now doesn't help, but as you mentioned the biggest issue is the power play. If they have a league avg. powerplay they're probably sitting very close to a playoff spot in the metro.

5 of their last 7 loses are 1 point loses... because they can't score on the power play.

Reirden needs to go, and someone new needs to come in an run a totally different PP system. I sort of agree Sullivan doesn't need to go yet unless he has lost the room.

Pens are getting legit top 5 goaltending right now from both of their guys, and it's being wasted. They're giving the team plenty of opportunities and getting left out to dry. The last real shelling the pens took was vs NJD nearly a month ago. If you would've told me in August that the pens would get into early December with their goalies combined for the 3rd highest SV% and 5th least GAA I would've said that the pens would be leading the metro and probably top 5 in the league.

They're good on 5v5 and PK, they just blowwww on the PP.

I also think pens fans need to get a bit more realistic around a potential trade at this point of the season. Cap space is next to nothing at the moment. Only 4 teams have more than $3M in space. Most teams are going to look to hang tight until the deadline given most division races are tight at the moment.

There are very few players on the team that they can move. There are 13 NMC of some type, Crosby/Malkin/Letang are obviously off the bored. I don't think Jeff Carter is waiving to go anywhere (nor do I think a team he'd consider waiving for wants him). EK isn't going anywhere. Pens fans may want to fight this, but no teams are going to want to trade for Rust or Rakell. They are both good players, and Rust is having a solid year, but no GM is going to want to trade for a 31yr on year 2 of a 6 year contract (Rust) or a 30 year old on year 1 of a 5 year contract (Rakell). Plus rust has a full NMC and Rakell an NTC. If they were each a few years younger, absolutely could see someone trading, but over 30 I just don't see it. Would be one thing if they were franchise level players.

After that, you have Smith, season and a half left on his contract, 10 team NTC and the pens just got him this summer. Again, tough sell I think given cap hit.

Graves and Jarry no chance, fresh contracts.

The three main pieces to me that can be traded are Jake, Pettersson and Ned.

Now, I'm only doing this if they realize come february that playoffs aren't obtainable, but if that's the case they can probably get a 2024 1st + prospect for Jake and a 2024 1st (and maybe a prospect) for Pettersson. There are some teams that are playoff teams/fringe contenders that desperately need someone like Pettersson and it'd be nothing to retain $2M next year on Pettersson. Given Neds performance you could probably get a 3rd or 4th for him. Maybe you can get some low end picks for random guys like Shea, Z, Ruhewdel etc.

But if Dubas can get 2 1sts and some prospects, I'd take that. and if they finish bottom 10 they get the 2024 they sent to SJS and would have 3 picks this year in the first.

Stocks the cabinet up immediately, and helps the rebuild tremendously. They'd have money to spend next summer, maybe they try and go for it again without using assets.

You keep Sid and Tanger and G around to hopefully grandfather and mentor in the upcoming team and that's that.

(people saying to trade Letang and Malkin, 1. I think they want to stay as long as Crosby is around 2. I don't think Pens can get as much in a return for either player that they think)

That's my take on all of it.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Well said.

I enjoyed reading that more than listening to a majority of penguins podcasts bc this was actually coherent logic and not a lot of fanboy speak mixed with illogical rants and babblings.

Thanks! I'm as big of a homer and yinzer as there is, but feel like a lot of fans are over reacting and reaching on a lot of things with the team right now. I try and look at it with the best unbiased glasses I can.

Could do an entire 2nd post on how poorly JR left the team and how poorly Hextall added to it. Those things don't help future GMs (Dubas).

Also realized after writing this last night that despite the terrible PP, and the awful past week, the pens are 4 points out of 3rd place in the metro.... like what??

So to me, if they get healthy soon and most importantly figure out the PP (like right now) they could still figure something out.

Dubas can't do much more. He completely retooled the team this offseason and it is still worse than last year. That is not Dubas' fault or Sully's (although I believe Sully could do a lot better adjusting to a slower roster). To me this signals that the team is just on the decline. I don't think it will get any better next year with more cap space. Firing Sully won't do anything. We'd still probably miss playoffs. Not saying he should be completely free of blame or never be on the hot seat, but the #1 issue right now is that it is just not realistic to contend for a cup. Best thing we could do is sell at the deadline then rebuild in the offseason. Next summer no big FA's are going to want to sign with a team that missed playoffs twice in a row and clearly is on the decline.

Dubas was the same with the Leafs...hard to blame him but player acquisition was his responsibility. Was it bad luck or just bad decisions...I am talking guys like Muzzin, Murray, Mrazek, Foligno, etc (and there were more)...they gave up so much to get them and the team never did better...I feel like he backs himself into a corner with his ego moves...example is re-signing guys to huge deals and then having no money for D or G...

I really thought when the Pens got Karlsson they would just win more games then they have...I had them making the Finals (ehmmm)...

I guess with Dubas and many other current GMs to be fair...it seems like they just acquire players...fill gaps...make reactive deals...etc...they don't have a real blue print they are working from like Vegas do...its not an easy gig for sure...

I guess my point is I see him as a good President but not a hockey guy really or a proper GM.

yeah for sure, the season is far from lost, and considering the pens have had many slow starts and been under .500 20-25 games into a season several times... i'm not overthinking it unless this continues into the new year with no improvement...

Not sure what Dubas can really do - other than firing coaches? His job is putting together the roster, and like you said the names on that PP are amazing. So their terrible performance isn't on him. That's on coaching and player execution.

I agree Sully isn't a huge problem, but he's still the head coach - so the PP being terrible still falls on him. It's like a Tomlin/Canada situation. Sure the head coach might not directly be in charge of the PP, but he is in charge of the guy that is - so it still falls back on him. Sully isn't THE problem by any means, but he shouldn't get a free pass.