cranberry – Sidney Crosby knows the situation too: He and Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas recently toured the UPMC Lemieux Complex, where the coach informed the Penguins captain of the organizational shift from chasing wins to chasing the future.
Things will not be the same.
What comes next is not a rebuild. It's not a teardown. It's not a reshuffle. It's not any of the above, but an attempt by Dubas to keep the current roster competitive while adding at least a few players who could potentially make their NHL debut before Crosby retires. Ultimately, young players will fill out the roster and Dubas will be the one to do it.
Dubas, holding his second press conference in four days, has yet to reveal anything about contract negotiations with Crosby, but the relationship appears strong.
“It would be foolish to not be in constant contact with him and let him know what we're thinking,” Dubas said. “As soon as we get somebody, we let him know. He's in touch with his draft picks right away. I reached out to the players today.”
Penguins trades and free agency
The Penguins' transfers have been a litany of moves to analyze and decipher, starting with defenseman Matt Grzelik on Monday, followed by Blake Lizotte just before his 4 p.m. press conference, and then Emil Bemstrom immediately after.
It's clear that the Penguins' core will likely have a much different supporting cast next season, and while Dubas traded Reilly Smith to the New York Rangers, that was little more than asset management.
A year after spending a third-round pick on him, Dubas got back a second-round pick in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2025. The Penguins paid 25% of Smith's salary. Obviously, Smith didn't work out for the Penguins, scoring just nine goals last season. When the Rangers faltered in the free agent market, they turned to Smith.
“Our main focus is getting back future assets, draft picks, prospects and young players. We had numerous conversations with teams from the trade deadline and elected to just hold on,” Dubas explained. “And then when this conversation came up, we thought, well, we'll give up a third player to get him. That was the offer that was offered and the fifth was basically the price of holding on. So the decision was made to get two assets back, we have the (cap) space and that's asset management.”
None of the Penguins' nine free agent contracts are expensive. Except for one I only signed a one-year contract.
The 30-year-old Grzelitzuk will most likely fill the Penguins' top-four left defenseman void unless Ryan Graves bounces back from a dismal 2023-24 season to take a spot next to Kris Letang or Erik Karlsson. Another possible spot would be next to rookie Jacques St. Ivany.
GRZ Dubas
Penguins Cap and Trade Strategy
Not every GM sticks to the plan to the letter, Dubas said Friday, but he said he wouldn't offer any long-term free agents and followed through on that by keeping most contracts at one year.
He said he wouldn't sign a big deal to preserve future flexibility, and that's exactly what happened: Grzelitzuk was paid the maximum amount at $2.75 million, a pittance compared to the high-profile payday on July 1.
The Penguins have signed 46 of their 50 contracts, meaning they have room to sign more, and according to PuckPedia.com, the Penguins have just shy of $4.3 million left after trading Smith, meaning they have plenty of cap space.
But Dubas sounded like a GM who is pivoting to a strategy of starting to sell his cap space to players who are close to the salary cap limit.
“Right now we have two things going on. One, we're sorting through our remaining free agents, unless we have some younger guys coming through. So we need some young impact players coming through to sign them long term,” Dubas said. “Also, we want to make sure we have cap space open in case an opportunity arises in the summer. We already have cap space today and we've got a budget approved by the owner. We can either use that space to acquire some quality young players or we can acquire some more assets.”
Young players don't come on the free-agent market often, and if anyone fit the bill, they would have been available on Monday. Now Dubas must wait for the dust to die down and for teams to move on young players who were blocked by veterans or pushed aside by congestion. He can also become a favorite among general managers by selling cap space to the highest bidder.
Last summer, the Montreal Canadiens helped the team shed payroll and get some picks and players back in order to make trades happen, including when they helped the Penguins trade for Erik Karlsson.
