When Kyle Dubas talks about his timeline for the Pittsburgh Penguins, he almost always uses the word “urgent” to emphasize short-term focus on improvement, even as the main focus managerially has been to trade away quality players when their contracts are running out and stockpile future draft picks. Dubas has reason to pay lip service towards short-term competitiveness, being as Sidney Crosby’s agent is one step away from publicly imploring his client to come around to the idea that the player deserves to finish his career with a flourish and not on a rebuilding team.
Dubas’s every word can be parsed for intention and how sincere it is, obviously a manager doesn’t keep in $11 million in cap space going into a season while ignoring the blue line if he truly was prioritizing the best short-term team he could produce. At the same time, Dubas hardly wants to position the Pens as the next version of the Buffalo Sabres or San Jose Sharks that face the long and uncertain climb out of the dregs of the league and set them up for a potential decade (or longer) period of being a doormat always waiting for that next wave of youth to raise them back up.
This time of year there’s always the disclaimer that it’s only been seven games, and that’s true. Justin Brazeau isn’t going to score on 36% of his shots forever. 82 games is a long time for teams to settle out and find their true level. None of that takes away from the impressive start for Pittsburgh. A lot of that has come from Dubas’s decisions in the off-season.
You can keep going if you want. Ben Kindel made the team as an 18-year old, and beyond that accomplishment has looked like he belongs. That’s more a win for the scouting and drafting to create an unexpected but welcome early return out of that pick, but one that Dubas still was a major part of. Ditto even the move to add Connor Dewar or bring back Filip Hallander or get some passable work out of Parker Wotherspoon.
The Penguins have exceeded expectations so far by winning five of their first seven games. At this point a key reason for that has been the offseason adds that have also exceeded wildest dreams. Dubas has a long history with Brazeau, but even in his heart of hearts it’s tough to imagine he could have dreamed up a start like this. Not since the days of Blake Comeau (who ‘only’ scored 16 goals and 31 points in 61 games in 2014-15, which under coach Mike Johnston is akin to production almost double that) has a player rejuvenated a career so quickly and thoroughly along side Evgeni Malkin.
There’s an awfully long time to go before the Pens can rightfully prove whether or not they have staying power. Time will likely work against them, Malkin’s aged legs have faded in recent seasons and Brazeau could always slide back down to the player he’s been for much of his career. Silovs, as a volatile goalie, figures to have some valleys thrown into this recent peak time.
As far as the first two weeks go, the Pens and Kyle Dubas couldn’t have hoped for much more. All the levers he pulled over the summer have paid immediate dividends, many have worked out to best case scenarios or even beyond the imagination of what could have been possible. The team has put out some enjoyable hockey to be excited about and have made it interesting to see just how this version of the fairly expectation-less Penguins can continue to build upon a solid start.