CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — What we are witnessing wasn’t supposed to be possible.

Ron Hextall tried with all his might but lasted only a couple of years as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager. He came to Pittsburgh with a reputation of being a builder, of being a good drafter, of understanding the basic concepts of rebuilding a team. Of course, Hextall also tried to keep the Penguins afloat in the standings while authoring a simultaneous rebuild. He realized the reality that one must pick a path and stick to it.

This is common. This is normal. One can’t have a rebuilding cake and eat the way up the standings at the same time.

What Kyle Dubas is doing isn’t common at all.

The Penguins are less than two years into a rebuild, one that hasn’t had the benefit of a top-10 draft pick. They now own the NHL’s eighth-best record and its seventh-best goal differential.

But that’s just the beginning.

Even after Tuesday’s trade — Brett Kulak went to Colorado for Samuel Girard and a second-round pick — the Penguins are still looking at around $47 million in cap space this summer. They also, remarkably, have 16 picks in the top three rounds over the next three drafts, even after Dubas traded two of those picks for the very impressive Egor Chinakhov two months ago.

The Penguins also have a prospect pool that is now loaded with talent.

There’s a long way to go before the Penguins are considered bona fide championship contenders, of course, but they appear to be on their way to having something special. And Dubas’ performance is the biggest reason.

It’s no secret that Dubas screwed up during his first summer in Pittsburgh. His decision to sign Tristan Jarry to a five-year deal was brutal, and the contract he gave Ryan Graves was worse. While the trade for Erik Karlsson doesn’t look terrible now, it certainly didn’t help the Penguins initially,

Yes, the summer of 2023 was something of a disaster for Dubas, who perhaps was eager to people please more than give the Penguins what they needed. I’m of the opinion that Dubas wanted to give Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang one more chance at a championship that season. It was an honest attempt, but a failure.

So, starting with the controversial trade of Jake Guentzel in March 2024, the rebuild of the Penguins began. The team was supposed to bottom out this season. Tank for Gavin McKenna, right? The Penguins were expected by many to finish in the bottom five of the NHL standings this season. The stars were another year older. The bargain shopping Dubas did last summer was simply meant to fill out the roster and perhaps give them a few candidates to be flipped in trades. Meanwhile, their prospects could marinate, and the Penguins could give themselves a real shot at drafting McKenna.

Along the way, a number of funny things happened.

Try to keep up.

• Dubas essentially fired Mike Sullivan after last season and replaced him with the little-known Dan Muse, who has done nothing but breathe fresh air into a team that badly needed it. Muse may very well win the Jack Adams Award. The choice to hire him was Dubas’ move. It’s pretty clear he chose wisely.

• Then along came the NHL Draft. Dubas wheeled and dealed throughout. At No. 11, he drafted Ben Kindel, who has become an instant sensation. He’s one of the NHL’s best rookies at 18 and looks like a mainstay. Then Dubas drafted Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff later in the first round. Horcoff has been one of the leading NCAA goal scorers all season, and Zonnon, scouts will tell you, is about the closest thing to a sure thing you can find in the draft.

• July 1 hasn’t always been Dubas’ friend, but what he pulled off in early July 2025 defies description.

He signed Anthony Mantha for the rather paltry sum of $2.5 million for the season. Mantha has responded with the finest season of his career and is on pace to score close to 30 goals this season.

Justin Brazeau signed with the Penguins for two years at only $1.5 million annually. Dubas believed the big man was capable of more than his unimpressive NHL stat line indicated. He’s scored 15 goals in 42 games.

Then there is Parker Wotherspoon, who was something of a journeyman when he signed with the Penguins at $1 million per season for two years. Only 28, Wotherspoon has blossomed into a legitimate top-pairing defenseman in Pittsburgh.

Later in the summer, Dubas acquired goaltender Arturs Silovs, who has been a youthful upgrade.

• Perhaps Dubas’ finest work has happened during the season.

His trade with the Edmonton Oilers in December was highway robbery. Dubas turned one of his biggest mistakes into a somewhat remarkable heist, dealing all of Jarry’s salary to Edmonton for Stuart Skinner and Kulak. He then flipped Kulak to Colorado in return for a better, younger player in Girard. He somehow got a second-round pick from the Avalanche, too. Thus, for getting rid of Jarry’s ridiculous salary, Dubas received Skinner (who has outplayed Jarry), Girard and two second-round picks.

In between those trades, Dubas traded a couple of draft picks for Chinakhov, who looks like a top-six forward who has very much found a home in Pittsburgh.

The present suddenly looks awfully good for the Penguins. Could they make a run in the Eastern Conference this season? If Crosby gets healthy and if Dubas makes one more significant trade, it’s conceivable. The East isn’t good, and the Metropolitan Division is particularly weak. A Penguins championship run still seems unlikely, but it’s at least imaginable now, something that wasn’t the case a few years ago.

But the future is what sounds really enticing. In the past 12 months, Dubas has acquired eight players in their 20s who are making a significant, positive impact on the Penguins. Would you like to know what they’ve lost in all of those transactions? Kulak, Danton Heinen, Jarry, Sam Poulin, Chase Stillman, a fourth-round pick and Vladislav Kolyachonok.

And those eight players in their 20s, all of whom are making a positive impact? They’re costing the Penguins just $16.5 million against the cap this season.

We’ve already gotten a taste of Avery Hayes. He’s back up in Pittsburgh and was a Dubas find. He looks like a keeper. Rutger McGroarty is on his way, too. And the best prospect the Penguins have had in years — well, other than Kindel — is waiting in the wings. Sergei Murashov is the goaltender of the future, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he finds himself between the pipes in April. He’s that good. The Penguins might be, too.

It’s funny that Murashov is so crucial to their plans. He was, after all, a Hextall pick.

See, Hextall wasn’t all bad. He did some good things, with drafting Murashov at the very top of the list. But he couldn’t pull off what Dubas has done, as the Penguins are quickly and dramatically moving toward becoming a contender again while looking even more imposing in future seasons.

There is something special going on here, and it starts at the top. Is Dubas really on a heater, or is he simply this good? We’ll find out soon enough. One way or the other, the Penguins appear very much on their way back to the top.

They also appear to be in very good hands.