While contract negotiations with Sidney Crosby, who is eligible to sign an extension starting July 1, remain private, Dubas said he is comfortable with where they stand. This is the full quote: “This goes back a decade and a half or more to my time here. Sid is an ultra-competitive person and wants the team to be a contender. As long as you have someone like Sid in your team and the players we have, the process we have to follow is to – as much as possible – get young, hungry players who can help us get back to that point. . The real goal is to try to take where we are and the era the team has gone through… and be able to hand it over to the next era. But we have to create that era. It started last year, leading up to the trade deadline. It’s not a popular decision (to trade Jake Guentzel) but we felt we had to do something. Then (Saturday) at the draft, and then again on July 1.”
The approach in free agency will be focused on striking short-term deals rather than long-term deals, so the Penguins will have more flexibility and options to stay young and hungry. Dubas acknowledged that people who have watched what the Penguins have done say there is no clear vision either way, but it is for Dubas: “Last summer, we made it a point to get started in free agency and a trade. had tried. We again missed the next-to-last day of the season, where the team was last year.
To make sure the Penguins aren’t just a team trying to squeak by, they will have to put in the work and acquire assets that will allow them to be successful. “It’s not like we’re going to go into free agency and do nothing – we’re going to try to get established guys on short-term deals and try to come in and help. It will be up to us to select the right players there, Dubas said.
They’ll likely target players who haven’t gotten what they want for a long time, “and they want to play with good players and play for a good coaching staff in a great city.”
This mentality applies to all positions except goaltending, as the Penguins recently re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic, who “took the ball and ran with it” at the end of last season. He partnered Tristan Jarry for most of the year, and as Sullivan said, that tandem was “pretty solid” for much of the season. While he moved forward with enthusiasm, Sullivan said it doesn’t mean he thinks less of Jarry entering the second season of a five-year deal.
“He’s a high-quality goaltender who played a lot of good hockey for us last year,” Sullivan said. “At the end of the day, we are in a business where performance determines opportunity. No one in any of the respective teams in the league deserves the position they are in. That’s pro sports. Performance matters and ultimately, performance will always be the dictator.”
That said, Dubas expects the five players he signed to step up at the goaltending position. Those players are Nedeljkovic, Jarry, Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier and freshman Phillip Larsson. Dubas said the goaltending market is the way it is, and knowing Alex wanted to come back, it gave the Penguins some breathing room to develop Blomqvist – Pittsburgh’s 2020 second-round pick, who had the All-Star Game. Had a stellar rookie season.
“It doesn’t mean that any competition is on hold because of where we are… nothing will be given to anyone. And that was the message when Ned signed,” Dubas said. “It was a great finish to the year, and obviously he brings a lot to our team. But now let’s continue to push here in the offseason ”
When it comes to the young players already in the organization, Sullivan said Penguins fans are already familiar with those competing for spots. He’s excited about the opportunity for Valtteri Puustinen, with Sullivan saying it will be an important offseason for the 24-year-old forward after signing a two-year deal. They also listed defenseman Jack St. Ivany and forward Vasily Ponomarov, who came from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade.
“Ponomarov is a guy I’m excited to watch and get to know his game a little bit more, but I know our hockey operations staff was really excited to acquire him,” Sullivan said. “He’s another young player who can potentially challenge for a roster spot coming out of training camp. Sam Poulin is someone we thought made good strides last year. Jonathan Gruden was a guy who played a solid game for us. So, we think we have a group of young players that are starting to put themselves in the conversation of becoming NHL players.
Asked if the Penguins would try to add salary through trades, Dubas said what’s most important right now is to get a good return for anyone who goes out. They don’t necessarily want to make a deal that requires seizing assets. In fact, it is the opposite. “If there are draft picks, young players or prospects that will help us get back into contention sooner, it will be more than just trying to create more space for them to come into free agency by removing our guys in that realm,” he said. ”
Both Dubas and Sullivan talked about the process that led to the hiring of David Quinn, who joined the coaching staff as an assistant after parting ways with the team’s associate coach Todd Reardon. “I thought the process we went through with Sully was great,” Dubas said. “Together, we made it. We each had different questions that we felt were important. We looked at a list of names and coaches that were going to be available and that we wanted to talk to and who we needed permission from, then I got to know some of them throughout the process.
Sullivan knows Quinn well, as they are good friends from their college hockey days at Boston University. “Obviously, it’s no secret that Quinny and I have an established relationship. But I will tell you that’s not the reason the Pittsburgh Penguins hired him. We hired Quinney to be a part of our coaching staff because I know he’s going to make us a better staff,” Sullivan said. “He’s going to challenge our thinking as a coaching staff. He’s a really good coach, and he’s had the opportunity to have a positive impact on our group. That’s why he was hired.”
In addition to his solid resume — which includes coaching Eric Karlsson during a Norris Trophy-winning season in San Jose and Adam Fox in New York — Dubas believes Quinn’s willingness to disagree with Sullivan and push back Can be positive. “It was very clear to me that he was very much his own person,” Dubas said, laughing.
In addition to furthering his relationship with Carlson, Sullivan said Quinn is going to establish a relationship with Kris Letang. The core that includes those players, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, are still playing at an elite level, “and we feel like we’re in a position where we’re trying to surround that core group as best we can.” And trying to be as competitive as we can be, and challenge,” Sullivan said.
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