Penguins Offseason Grades: Split Decision on Dubas, Plus the Final Ask Dan Anything Before the August Break

I have no idea what will be contained in the latter half of the show, but let's, uh, get to it right away.

The Penguins off-season grades, largely a grade on Kyle Dubas.

I mean, he is the guy pulling all the strings as the President of Hockey Operations and the General Manager.

So, uh, I, in print, gave Kyle Dubas a split decision, and what I mean by that is I'm not exactly sure of the end goal of the off-season moves.

If the goal was to make the playoffs, if the goal was to continue this sort of, uh, competitive rebirth with, uh, an overturn of players, Dubas gets a very bad grade.

Dubas gets a D.

When you go down the list of the Penguins roster, the, the number of steps down, no bueno.

When you step down from Anthony Mantha, who had a career year, to Andrej Kuzmenko.

I know what some optimists say.

"Well, if Mantha had a career year, well, so can Kuzmenko." Possible, yes.

But to bet on that, that would fall under Mike Sullivan's old, uh, you know, derisive saying, "Hope is not a strategy." And there was really nothing in Kuzmenko's game over the last several years that indicated there was gonna be this untapped potential, this un- upswing, if only the right team could get a hold of him.

That's where I start.

A- and the, the flaws in his game are not going to make Dan Muse's life any easier.

It won't make the goaltender's life any easier, and it probably won't add a lot to the scoreboard.

I, I expect him to have a better year than he did in Los Angeles based on the style of play.

But to expect in any way him filling that gap from Anthony Mantha, that would be asking a lot.

So you, you go down the list further.

Trevor van Riemsdyk, third pairing defenseman with a right-handed stick, most likely, and I think a lot of us are extrapolating what we heard from Jason Spezza on July 1.

Uh, I, I forget.

I think it might have been me that asked a question about, uh, you know, the, the defense and the unbalanced left.

It was me or Joey.

I, I forget which one of us got there.

But with four righties, five if you count Harrison Brunick, who should be in the NHL lineup, compared to really two lefties that you count on.

Eventually, Caleb Jones becomes the third lefty.

Ryan Graves and Owen Pickering are, are also, uh, I suppose, in that mix.

I have no idea what will be contained in the latter half of the show, but let's, uh, get to it right away.

The Penguins off-season grades, largely a grade on Kyle Dubas.

I mean, he is the guy pulling all the strings as the President of Hockey Operations and the General Manager.

So, uh, I, in print, gave Kyle Dubas a split decision, and what I mean by that is I'm not exactly sure of the end goal of the off-season moves.

If the goal was to make the playoffs, if the goal was to continue this sort of, uh, competitive rebirth with, uh, an overturn of players, Dubas gets a very bad grade.

Dubas gets a D.

When you go down the list of the Penguins roster, the, the number of steps down, no bueno.

When you step down from Anthony Mantha, who had a career year, to Andrej Kuzmenko.

I know what some optimists say.

"Well, if Mantha had a career year, well, so can Kuzmenko." Possible, yes.

But to bet on that, that would fall under Mike Sullivan's old, uh, you know, derisive saying, "Hope is not a strategy." And there was really nothing in Kuzmenko's game over the last several years that indicated there was gonna be this untapped potential, this un- upswing, if only the right team could get a hold of him.

That's where I start.

A- and the, the flaws in his game are not going to make Dan Muse's life any easier.

It won't make the goaltender's life any easier, and it probably won't add a lot to the scoreboard.

I, I expect him to have a better year than he did in Los Angeles based on the style of play.

But to expect in any way him filling that gap from Anthony Mantha, that would be asking a lot.

So you, you go down the list further.

Trevor van Riemsdyk, third pairing defenseman with a right-handed stick, most likely, and I think a lot of us are extrapolating what we heard from Jason Spezza on July 1.

Uh, I, I forget.

I think it might have been me that asked a question about, uh, you know, the, the defense and the unbalanced left.

It was me or Joey.

I, I forget which one of us got there.

But with four righties, five if you count Harrison Brunick, who should be in the NHL lineup, compared to really two lefties that you count on.

Eventually, Caleb Jones becomes the third lefty.

Ryan Graves and Owen Pickering are, are also, uh, I suppose, in that mix.