Kyle Dubas calls out and criticizes Ryan Graves

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Ryan Hall
April 20, 2024 (9:58)

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The Pittsburgh Penguins season is now in the books and with the team looking in on itself and the NHL playoffs rather than playing in them, general manager Kyle Dubas chose to take the podium today and call out and criticize one of his first signings since he took the post.

Graves, was expected to take step forward in rebounding his career as he has played for the New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche. Dubas felt that this would have happened with his team however, that was not the case and he didn't mince words on what Graves needs to do for next year.

"With Ryan, there's no dancing around it. He was a very good player in Colorado and New Jersey... He came in and from the beginning, I thought, 'it happens'. Did I expect it to go the whole year? No. Part of that is on us as an organization, but it's as much on Ryan to push and find his way through the summer. It's a massive summer for him. His strength, which will allow him to be more physical and make stops in the defensive zone, his mobility - he's going to have to push and really work on that. We have to arm him with the path to get there and he has to execute it relentlessly and if he can do that, he will get back to being the player he was when we signed him."

The 28-year-old defenceman who stands at six foot 5 and 220 lbs had a slow season as he had played 70 games, scored three goals 11 assists for 14 points and was a + 10. After coming over to the Penguins, Dubas awarded him with the six-year $27 million contract which holds a cap hit of $4.5 million per season. His contract will come to an end in 2029.

As the season came to an end, Graves was currently sitting on the long-term injury reserve as he was sidelined with a concussion.

The Penguins have many unanswered questions and a lot of work to do going into this summer as the team will continue to soul search and look for answers onto why this season did not workout the way they had hoped.

Source: House of Hockey - Kyle Dubas criticizes one of his big free agent signings