Penguins' NHL Draft first round was unpredictable, unorthodox and completely Kyle Dubas

New York Times

a day ago

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PITTSBURGH — A few days before the NHL Draft, a Pittsburgh Penguins employee told me something about the team's president and general manager, Kyle Dubas, that stuck with me.
'Kyle isn't worried about what anyone else thinks. He's going to do what he wants. He's got guts.'
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Fast forward to Friday's first round, where Dubas did pretty much everything unconventionally.
If he was trying to win a popularity contest on social media, he failed. If he was trying to satisfy fans who treat mock drafts as gospel, he failed.
Benjamin who?
If he was trying to expedite the Penguins' rebuild to find players who could immediately help Sidney Crosby get back to the playoffs before he retires — which probably would've looked like trading up for a top-five pick — he failed.
But, overall, did he fail?
First of all, if you think you know, you don't. We won't know for years.
On the surface, it seems disappointing that none of the big names in the top 10 slipped through the cracks to 11, where the Penguins were sitting, or that more familiar names, such as thumper Kashawn Aitcheson, were overlooked.
It seems at least conceivable that Benjamin Kindel may have still been on the board when the Penguins made their second selection. We'll never know. Dubas noted after the draft that 'we had intel' that he wouldn't have been on the board for much longer. So, there is that.
And Dubas did pull off some shrewd business. There's nothing sexy about trading down in a draft, especially a top-heavy one.
Still, dealing the 12th pick for the 22nd and 31st picks is pretty good business. Turning around and dealing the 31st and the 59th to move back up to 24th is pretty good business, too.
The Penguins met some objectives on the night.
They have serious talent in the pipeline on defense (Harrison Brunicke, Emil Pieniniemi, Finn Harding, Owen Pickering) and in goal (Sergei Murashov).
However, they look far more bleak at forward.
Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen have the look of good NHL players, but neither projects to be a star. Behind those two, the organization doesn't have a ton of talent up front — some, but hardly overwhelming.
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So, Dubas looked squarely at the forwards available and took three in the first 24 picks in the first round.
After the 2024-25 season, Dubas decided the Penguins needed to get bigger and more difficult to play against.
Bill Zonnon, the 22nd pick, is known for being a relentless, physical competitor who is nasty to play against.
Will Horcoff, whom the Penguins took two picks later, is 6 feet 5 inches and physically imposing. He's the son of former NHL player Shawn Horcoff.
Those two players may well help the Penguins become tougher to play against down the line.
Friday was unpredictable and unorthodox for the Penguins, but they progressed. They selected three players in the first round since 1984. They selected multiple players in the first round for the first time since 2012.
And yet, fans seem largely disappointed. They're restless. They're bored. They don't want to wait to compete for a championship again. They want fireworks. They wanted Dubas to trade up. (He said he tried but that there were no takers.)
It's not that Dubas doesn't care about what the fans want. Of course he does. But he also is paid to make big decisions, and sometimes, the best decisions are not immediately received well or understood by the public.
Everyone wanted a big name. Everyone wanted the Penguins to move up in the draft. Dubas said that, to move up in the draft, the Penguins would have ended up with just one player on Friday. Now, they have three.
It's Dubas' show, with a hand from Wes Clark, his vice president of player personnel, who clearly has considerable influence on the draft process.
When Dubas took over the Penguins just over two years ago, he seemed to go out of his way to please everyone. He might've wanted to impress Sidney Crosby and Mike Sullivan more than anyone. Even so, he had to have known a dramatic makeover was necessary.
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But you try sitting in a room with Crosby and telling him you're going to sell. Try telling that to Sullivan. Good luck. Dubas gave them a chance to win with the current group, even though it was unlikely to work out.
After a few months, he cut the cord and traded Jake Guentzel. That was the day Dubas made the Penguins truly his. Since then, the Penguins have sold, they've collected assets and they've built for the future.
Now, is he building the right way? It's tough to say either way, even though the decision to draft Benjamin Kindel at No. 11 is going to be questioned until proven otherwise.
Regardless of these moves' success or failure, this is Dubas' show. That's probably why this job appealed to him in the first place. Brendan Shanahan isn't here. Dubas is his own boss. Penguins ownership scarcely makes its presence felt. Former CEO David Morehouse is long gone. So is Sullivan, who possessed an awful lot of power for a coach.
In the last month, we've seen Dubas go outside the box on a coaching hire and with the 11th pick in the draft. You might not like it. You might question it. You might have reason to.
If the Penguins rise in the next few seasons, Dubas might look like a genius. If they fail, you'll be able to hear the laughter from Toronto.
Either way, Dubas is doing it on his terms, which is precisely how he wants it.
(Photo of Benjamin Kindel with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and his son, Alex: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)