I wouldn’t read to much into that presser. Even if he has plans to blow the thing up he’s not going to say it publicly. First off he’d lose his bargaining power and secondly he lose the team. I suspect he has had confidential conversations with Sid to see if he has any desire of hanging around though a rebuild. He’ll give him the option of staying. IMO everyone is else should be used to get younger and more talented While they can get some talent for Jake I doubt that moves the needle enough to turn them into a playoff team this year. If you move Jake (which they have to) I think you have to move the rest. Waiting till the off season or till next year wulo reduce what value they can get for the rest
I think Dubas is a smart, articulate person that doesn't put himself into a corner when he discusses issues but I also think that in all his press conferences since he arrived in Pittsburgh, Kyle gives pretty big hints of where he stands and what he is thinking at the time ...... yes the situation and subsequent decisions can change quickly and what actually happens may be different from what was said yesterday but some of the take aways to me from his recent press conference were .....
- Although I think they could still keep Geuntzel (if they quickly get back into better playoff contention), it is becoming increasingly likely that they will trade him (won't be close enough to playoffs) for future draft pick(s) and/or young promising NHL player(s) and/or prospect(s) all to get younger/faster ...... if they trade him before the trade deadline, it will be for the future not for this years playoff hopes ....
- He doesn't want to trade draft picks away to bolster the roster for a shot at this years playoffs .....
- He identifies the "core" of the team as Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Karlsson and he feels they can still be productive players and mentors for younger players over the next few years ..... and since he has not asked any players to waive their NMC to date, it is unlikely he will trade any core players ..... and thus a major rebuild unlikely at the trade deadline ......
- He has been receiving a lot of calls from other teams about players the Pens may trade at the deadline and trying to see what return he may ask/get ...... and if the team becomes sellers, I think some players (in addition to Geuntzel) such as Reilly Smith who has been a big disappointment, Nedeljkovic who will be a free agent and may get more money elsewhere next year, along with Rakell (bad year), Eller, Graves (bad year), POJ, etc. may be considered for trade depending on the return (not saying all or any of these will be traded but they seem to be candidates and I don't think he wants to trade any of their very few top prospects) .....
- Dubas said that the goal of additions to the bottom 6 prior to this year were to decrease the number of goals against and they knew there might not be a significant increase in goals scored in comparison to last season by the new group but hoped the power play would make up for that, but the PP has performed way below expectations and they aren't scoring enough goals and that needs to be improved .....
- Dubas clearly reiterated his high praise for Sullivan, so doubt any coaching change for the rest of this season although we do know that a GM's praise of a coach can sometimes be a "kiss of death" for that coach ...... Dubas saying he felt Sullivan was not only a great coach but also a great developer of players, the two have a really good working relationship, and Dubas stated talk about Sullivan basically shouldn't be in the equation right now, all of which makes me think Sullivan will be here to start next season but if there are any coaching changes, it is more likely to be assistants (again that may change at any moment and Sullivan could be gone) ......
- Again, the above are what I think Dubas is telling us he is thinking regarding the team at the moment, it could change at any time ..... and is not necessarily what goalieman thinks ....LOL ..... will have a couple comments about the goalies later.
