Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has a pretty difficult job. Some of that is self-inflicted.
By trying to execute the “rebuild on the fly” technique as he presides over the team, Dubas is holding himself in a pattern that is often sought after, but rarely actually able to work — keep the team competitive now, while also setting up the team for the future.
In this case, Dubas is trying to ensure that the final few years of this team’s core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang remain at least somewhat competitive while Dubas works behind the scenes, doing all he can to acquire draft picks and younger players to ease the pain of ushering the next era of Penguins hockey.
This philosophy has come in a variety of forms in Dubas’ first two years on the job. He’s gotten paid in draft picks to take on unfavorable contracts, like he did with Kevin Hayes. He’s traded out players on expiring deals, like he did with Jake Guentzel. He’s also moved out older players and replaced them with younger ones, hoping the moves pay off.
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