Kyle Dubas Breaks Silence on Penguins' Recent Trades and Future Moves
The Pittsburgh Penguins made a flurry of trades on Wednesday, and now, GM Kyle Dubas has opened up on the two controversial deals.
After a slow start to the trade deadline week, the Pittsburgh Penguins made a few deals on Wednesday, moving out three assets to get three assets in return from the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators.
When asked on his opinion of the deals, General Manager Kyle Dubas revealed that he saw the deals combined in totality, with the team acquiring three assets in exchange for three of their own.
We looked at the two trades in totality - Desharnais, Bunting and a pick for Novak, Schenn and a pick. The motivation being that Tommy was younger, under team control for an additional season over Bunting, carried a lower cap charge and is primarily a center. We felt that carried a large amount of value as we move ahead here with our plans. As for Luke, his experience, leadership, toughness and spirit will be a major benefit to helping the Penguins maintain standards and support our existing core as they help to lead us through this phase in our program's evolution.
As for Luke Schenn, it doesn't appear that Dubas is in any hurry to flip him, as he sees his veteran leadership as a major positive both on the ice and in the locker room moving forward.
We moved Vinny to San Jose in lockstep with the Nashville trade because we feel that having Luke's defensive play, character, leadership, toughness and spirit is something we need here to help push our program through this phase and preserve our culture and standards as we work to return to contention. We believe the way he plays and the way he carries himself each day will be very well-received by Penguins fans and the city of Pittsburgh.
As for Bunting, Dubas certainly didn't want to let go of a player he's had a long relationship with, but given what he wanted in both Schenn and Tommy Novak, it was ultimately what was needed to get a deal done.
I wouldn't say that Bunts didn't fit into our plans. As we know, I've got a long relationship with Bunts and think the world of him as a person and player. Last season, he came in at a tough time, right when we had pivoted the Penguins from two decades of - rightfully - going for it every season. His competitiveness and scoring were key factors in the late-season run for us here. After a tough start this season, he showed his usual resilience and rebounded for us.
In the end, Bunts was central to Nashville doing this deal, and those are the difficult decisions you have to make in this chair. Regardless of personal feelings, we have to always do what's in the best interest of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the end, Bunts was central to Nashville doing this deal, and those are the difficult decisions you have to make in this chair. Regardless of personal feelings, we have to always do what's in the best interest of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As for the overall market, Dubas, like many is surprised by how everything has played out thus far, but he ultimately sees the team in a good position over the next few months to kick start the next era of Penguins hockey.
This is one of the more unique markets that I've encountered leading up to the trade deadline. There's a lot of parity and different strategies that contending teams have deployed, combined with teams that are out of the race being very clear that with the salary cap going up in 2025-2026 and the two years beyond, they plan to be aggressive with their acquisitions come July.
Overall, I think we are positioned well over the next few days - but especially heading into the summer and beyond - to continue to execute our plan as we have been for the last 12 months and continue to work to return the Penguins into contention as soon as possible.
Overall, I think we are positioned well over the next few days - but especially heading into the summer and beyond - to continue to execute our plan as we have been for the last 12 months and continue to work to return the Penguins into contention as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, this doesn't tell us much about what the plans for the rest of the deadline are for Pittsburgh, but with the team already making two trades and having many intriguing assets, there's no doubt that if the deal is there, they need to make some more moves over the next 24 hours.
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