Kyle Dubas has talked about two contradictory goals since the day he was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s the same balancing act going back to Jim Rutherford that Penguin managers have considered by walking the managerial tight rope of providing as good of a team as possible to Sidney Crosby and the final years of this core — while also trying to set the franchise up for the next era after that.
The first year of Dubas, unfortunately, has disappointed on the ice. The Penguins added Erik Karlsson and some pieces they thought would help make 2023-24 be a team that could get back into the playoffs.