Kyle Dubas has been in sports long enough to know the saying – when things aren’t going as planned and you can’t fire the whole team, you fire the coach.
Monday, the Penguins’ general manager made it clear that he has no intention whatsoever of doing that, despite his club’s 11-12-3 record to start the season and a frustrated fanbase. In his first in-season meeting with the media, Dubas put his unequivocal support behind head coach Mike Sullivan.
“Obviously we’ve had our ups and downs to start the year; we’re not exactly where we want to be at just a game under .500,” Dubas said. “I know there’s lots of questions…when a team isn’t at the level that everybody expects, and I think it’s on me to come out and answer them, because in the end the responsibility falls for me to chart the course of where we’re at and where we’re going.
“I think we can get going in [the right] direction if we adhere to the No. 1 rule of holes, which is, when you’re in one, stop digging.”
With the Penguins seventh in the Metro, six points out of a playoff spot and an abysmal 9.5% on the power play – third worst in the league – Dubas doesn’t believe the players have tuned out Sullivan or his message.
“As soon as a team [doesn’t] play to its potential, now it seems that right away the focus shifts to coaching, and I’m not sure why exactly that change has happened,” Dubas said. “Being with him every day and not only seeing his attention to detail on the systems but with the players and coaching them individually and personally, I think we’re very fortunate to have Mike. Do I think he’s the right person for this job now and far into the future? I absolutely do.”
Dubas said he’s been encouraged by the staff’s willingness to make adjustments this season.
“They’re not transfixed by their own systems or what worked in the years that the club won; they know we have to continue to adapt and they’re trying to figure out what’s going to work moving ahead.”
The positives
There have been some positives for the Penguins this season:
- Goaltending, an area of concern after signing oft-injured, still-unproven Tristan Jarry to a five-year deal over the offseason, has been a strength. The Penguins have allowed the third-fewest goals in the league (68). Jarry has eight wins, a 2.48 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and league-leading three shutouts; for good measure, he also became the first Penguins goalie, and just the 14th in NHL history, to score a goal. Backups Alex Nedeljkovic (five games played, two wins, 2.18 GAA, .937 Sv%, one SO) and Magnus Hellberg (three GP, one win, 2.50 GAA, .922 Sv%) have also been solid.
- Their 5-on-5 play has been solid, and their penalty killing has been top-10, shutting down 83.5% of opponents’ power play chances.
- Despite Pittsburgh’s struggles, the rest of their division other than the New York Rangers remains within a six- or seven-point striking distance. “The Rangers have been consistently solid the whole season, but the other teams in our division are having these same conversations,” Dubas said. “So we have a chance to get ourselves going in the right direction, and we have to recover better than those other clubs and reel in those teams that have gotten ahead of us.”
The power play
To have a chance at doing that, they’ll have to fix the very broken power play. Monday marked a month since the Penguins – a team loaded with talents like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson – scored with the man-advantage. And on this aspect of the Penguins’ game, if you think the players have looked resistant to change despite not getting the results, Dubas just might agree with you.
“The power play’s been a major focus, not only of the fans and media as it should be, but every day internally,” Dubas said. “In my experience, when the power play struggles, it’s the heaviest feeling you can have. You come into the rink and you get one revolution and as soon as it doesn’t work to the exact way you want it to, especially when you’re at home, you feel the angst that goes with it.
“I think the players that we have, and the coaching staff we have, are far too good to not solve our way out of it. I think that’s the one place where the players know what’s worked in the past, and it hasn’t worked here of late. I think in this last number of practices, they’re more open to doing things that aren’t particularly common for them to try to find their way out of it, and that, for me, has been the most encouraging part. It’s a process of earning your way out of it. If we can get that part of our game rolling and sustain the other parts, I think we’ll have a good run of success.”
The depth
Dubas spoke about several of the Penguins’ offseason acquisitions having their ups and downs, and that it’s up to him and the coaching staff to get them back up to their potential. For defenseman Ryan Graves, their big offseason signing at six years and $27 million, the GM spoke about “encouraging him to get in motion with the puck and not do everything from a standstill, and continue to build his confidence that way.”
He also spoke about an injury situation that includes big-name players Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, depth forwards Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto, and defensemen P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel. “We want guys to run right through the door and take [the opportunity] and go,” Dubas said. “Are we well equipped? The players are going to tell us that, and if they don’t pull through, then that’s on me, and we haven’t found the right mix of guys to take advantage of it. If we have a depth issue, that falls on my shoulders and it’s up to me to act and try to find other guys who can.”
Dubas made a step in that direction over the weekend, signing former No. 4 draft pick Jesse Puljujarvi to a free-agent tryout. The 25-year-old forward is coming off offseason surgery on both hips and will be a work in progress, if the Penguins decide to give him an opportunity. “I’m not looking at him to provide massive offense, but he’s shown that he can play up with top players,” Dubas said. “For me it’s his forechecking ability, disrupt the defense of the other team when they’re going back on the puck, then get to the net and get under the skin of people. I think that’s when he’s at his best.”
Time will tell
Statistics tell us that, in the salary cap era, about three-quarters of NHL teams in a playoff spot on U.S. Thanksgiving end up qualifying at the end of the season. Still, with the Penguins on the outside looking in – and on a four-game losing streak – as of Dec. 11, Dubas doesn’t feel a need to rush any decisions.
“When it comes to how we’re going to dictate our course, I’m going to give the players and the coaching staff as much time as possible. When we get through the All-Star Break, we’ll have a better idea of what we are as a group. Are we close and need some help, or do we need to have a deeper discussion about where we’re at as a club?
“Time is going to tell us that, and us continuing to pull our way out of where we’re at right now is on all of us internally. It’s on me, it’s on the coaching staff and it’s on the players, and I’m excited to see how we go about it, starting [at home against Arizona] tomorrow night.”
