Kyle Dubas has his share of critics.
One needs only to read the comment section of any story on The Athletic about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Some people — mostly Toronto Maple Leafs fans, or so it seems — view Dubas as one of the worst hockey bosses in recent history.
That’s absurd. Dubas isn’t even the worst hockey boss this decade in Pittsburgh.
But narratives are hard to shake, and there is one out there that Dubas’ run as general manager in Toronto was a complete failure and that his short tenure as president of hockey operations/GM in Pittsburgh is a disaster.
It wasn’t. It isn’t.
However, he hasn’t had a lot of clear wins since taking over the Penguins. And while it’s way too early to label the acquisition of Philip Tomasino as a win for Dubas, it’s fair to point out that Evgeni Malkin has needed a winger since resuming second-line center duties and Tomasino has played on Malkin’s line the past two games.
Who knows if Tomasino will remain in that role, but he has a chance if he can do more of what he did Friday night in Boston: score.
He netted the winner for the Penguins in a 2-1 victory over the Bruins at TD Garden.
Raise your hand if you’re happy Phil Tomasino is a Penguin ✋ pic.twitter.com/2d1zCiH3mm
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 30, 2024
Tomasino is the latest former first-round pick upon whom Dubas is willing to place a bet. That strategy is sound because for the most part, the former first-round picks Dubas has added haven’t come at a steep cost, and other GMs have found success with talented castoffs.
Jim Rutherford comes to mind. So does Craig Patrick.
This is not to suggest Dubas is headed for the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
However, if his do-not-call-it-a-rebuild of the Penguins is going to be quicker than most people expect, he’ll need players like Tomasino to emerge as a potential longer-term fit.
There’s some value in the short term, too.
Malkin has played better than his recent stats suggest. When he joined the top line as a winger, he took one for the team, doing a lot of the dirty work to help captain Sidney Crosby get going after his slow start.
When he returned to his traditional role as the No. 2 center, Malkin found himself without a quality winger.
That’s because the Penguins only have a couple, and Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust have been attached to Crosby’s hip.
Finding Malkin a complementary winger is necessary, the right thing to do — and an ongoing process. If Tomasino can make some magic from his renewed lease on life with the Penguins, nobody will look better than Dubas.
No player may be happier about it than Malkin.
Takeaways from this Penguins’ victory:
Early-goal blues
It wasn’t a first-shot/first-goal situation that went against the Penguins, though you could be excused for rolling your eyes at the second-shot/first-goal sequence that gave the Bruins an early lead.
Here’s the thing: Don’t blame Tristan Jarry on this one.
Not one Penguins skater was in a solid position on the Bruins’ opening goal.
A very Weymouth Thanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/80iSwrwcYu
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 29, 2024
The Penguins are bad defensively. Part of their issue is awareness — specifically, they often appear to lack any. That goes for defensemen and forwards, and the sequence that preceded Coyle’s goal was as prime an example as any this season.
Jarry responded well to that opening goal. As tracked by Natural Stat Trick, he made 8 of 9 stops on mid-to-high danger shots before Rakell’s goal late in the second period.
A quality NHL starting goalie should be expected to make those stops to keep his team in the game on the road. Jarry is trying to re-establish himself as one of those goaltenders.
Jarry was especially sharp in the third period, easily one of his best this season.
He was broken when the Penguins sent him to the AHL on a five-game conditioning assignment. It’s no lock that he becomes the franchise goalie he was signed to be only two years ago, but any step forward is a big one for Jarry, and the Penguins.
Friday in Boston represented one of those steps.
He had allowed at least three goals in every start before this one. He hadn’t won consecutive games since February.
Jarry needed a game like the one he played in Boston. The Penguins needed more of those from him, not to make a run at the Stanley Cup playoffs. Rather, they need Jarry to find a form that could make him a moveable asset in the offseason.
Making ’em look like turkeys
Crosby isn’t what he once was, but he’s still good enough to make every opposing player on the ice look silly. He did that very late in the second period.
A lot of attention will go to his faceoff victory, but is that that big of a deal?
Kidding.
But Crosby has won more faceoffs than any NHL player. Not currently, but ever.
He won this one with remarkable ease. So clear was his victory, Crosby quickly charged toward the net — and somehow the Bruins let him.
Once the puck was returned to Crosby, what happened next felt preordained. He edged his way around the back of the cage and fed Rakell with just enough time for Rakell to rip a tying goal. Good shot. Better pass.
Sidney Crosby sets up Rickard Rakell for the tying tally with just .8 seconds left in the 2nd!#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/7OTzXgOU32
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 30, 2024
A day after Thanksgiving, Crosby provided the Penguins another opportunity to be thankful he’s aging better than almost any player the league has known.
Bailing out Bunting
There’s no use in sugarcoating it; Michael Bunting has been a big disappointment in his first full season with the Penguins. That’s especially true considering how encouraging his finish to last season was after he was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes.
Bunting took a terrible penalty in the third period Friday night. It wasn’t the first time, either.
Ultimately, the Bruins didn’t capitalize on the power play. Credit the Penguins’ penalty killers, of which Jarry was the best.
Also, let’s acknowledge something true about the Penguins last season and is true now of the NHL’s other black-and-gold team; the Bruins’ power play is putrid.
But the penalty by Bunting was inexcusable. It was a penalty losing teams make, and in many ways — inconsistent scoring, barely being visible when he hasn’t scored, and careless decisions such as the penalty Friday night — Bunting has been a big reason the Penguins have lost as often as they have this season.
He wasn’t the centerpiece of the package that Dubas procured for Jake Guentzel. That’s any one of the prospects who came the Penguins’ way in that deal.
Bunting wasn’t supposed to be a weak link. He has been too often.
(Photo of Tristan Jarry and Philip Tomasino: Winslow Townson / Imagn Images)
