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The Mother-fucking goddamn Off-season Thread

Yeah, not buying it. Dubie wanted the big stage and bigger dollars. Zero intent to leave.
Mmm hmm. Until he went home with the news. Enough speculation done there. Regardless of motivation he engineered his way out of Toronto, he and the penguins went out of their way to paper a tampering defense, Kyle turns up in Pittsburgh.

Sure, keep thinking there's nothing there. I for one would file tampering charges and demand an investigation from the day Dubas and Shanny first talked numbers to today.
 
…and I know people are divisive on this, but to me it’s impressive he recognized NHL talent in Holl and Engvall, when seemingly no one else did.

I thought up until the Sandin trade, he also had a pretty damn good track record of knowing the assets to keep, (Lil, Sandin, Knies, etc) and the ones to deal away.

Eh, I don't really subscribe to either point here.

The organization should have been playing guys like Holl & Engvall as a matter of philosophy until they outright failed and had to be replaced by a body outside of the organization. Giving your 27-28 yr old #1 AHL defender, and your 22 yr old, 6'5 breakout winger extended shots to stick on the NHL club should be SOP, not an outlier worth identifying and holding up as an example of good management.

And to the 2nd point....I mean, he basically ends up trading everything young away and not all of it has turned out to be smart. Moore, Barabanov, 1st round picks, Durzi, etc, etc. He definitely hasn't shown some 6th sense in when to sell high on all the kids and when to hold them.
 
Mmm hmm. Until he went home with the news. Enough speculation done there. Regardless of motivation he engineered his way out of Toronto, he and the penguins went out of their way to paper a tampering defense, Kyle turns up on Pittsburgh.

Sure, keep thinking there's nothing there. I for one would file tampering charges and demand an investigation from the day Dubas and Shanny first talked numbers to today.
He engineered his way to Pittsburgh. This is your claim.
 
I might buy it but that Pitt’s ownership group and their love of their aging core 3 does not make it a plum gig at the moment… unless it’s your only option
 
Eh, I don't really subscribe to either point here.

The organization should have been playing guys like Holl & Engvall as a matter of philosophy until they outright failed and had to be replaced by a body outside of the organization. Giving your 27-28 yr old #1 AHL defender, and your 22 yr old, 6'5 breakout winger extended shots to stick on the NHL club should be SOP, not an outlier worth identifying and holding up as an example of good management.

this is where I think people don’t give Dubas enough credit for move we believe to be SOP, like keeping the core 4 together….or giving guys like Holl & Engvall opportunities, but often weren’t around here previously, (and obviously we saw a hockey guy in Babcock, have zero interest in Holl).

Sometimes you just have to give credit to GMs for doing the smart things….especially given how common it is for NHL GMs to not do those smart things.
And to the 2nd point....I mean, he basically ends up trading everything young away and not all of it has turned out to be smart. Moore, Barabanov, 1st round picks, Durzi, etc, etc. He definitely hasn't shown some 6th sense in when to sell high on all the kids and when to hold them.

Durzi he trades within months of drafting him, in a package for a top four D of exactly the ilk we needed. The fact Durzi panned out just speaks further to his drafting. (Ideally tho we don’t even move him, so you’re right he didn’t have a crystal ball of who to never trade). but for a 2nd rounder its looking like a hell of a draft selection.

Obviously both Durzi for Muzzin, and Moore+ for Campbell were viewed as huge wins at the time, and panned out pretty great for us with both acquired players.

Barabanov I think we had agreed when he signed, that we’d trade if we weren’t playing him regularly….which I think was a good team philosophy for keeping that pipeline open for future signings. Does suck Keefe didn’t play him more/see the potential for something there. (Then again, maybe he needed to be on a bad team to get the kind of ice time required to get to where he’s at).


you’re right tho….there was no six sense with respect to keeping every last good prospect. I guess I’m just thrilled he kept Lil, and Knies and Sandin (until he didn’t)…
 
He engineered his way to Pittsburgh. This is your claim.
Yes. Something caused him to make a hard right. Nothing else explains the wake left.

Not planned for months, this was a scramble and it was always Pittsburgh.

That's my contention

He had a backup plan and had to use it. Don't tell me he's an analytical GM then tell me he can't calculate backup plans. I always had 3 outs.
 
I might buy it but that Pitt’s ownership group and their love of their aging core 3 does not make it a plum gig at the moment… unless it’s your only option
Or that you're promised a rebuild in a few years but for now, tweak.
 
…Im such a sycophant I was legit looking forward to Dubas leading our rebuild one day. 😔
This is on him somehow. Could be power tripping, could be familial stress, could be anything that triggered it but this is on him. Don't feel badly.
 
Yes. Something caused him to make a hard right. Nothing else explains the wake left.

Not planned for months, this was a scramble and it was always Pittsburgh.

That's my contention

He had a backup plan and had to use it. Don't tell me he's an analytical GM then tell me he can't calculate backup plans. I always had 3 outs.
I dunno, I honestly don't even put it at a 1% chance. I think he was so transparent.

He lagged on extending because he was expecting the Leafs to advance far this year and give him leverage. That didn't happen, so he insisted on doing the presser, where he showed ambivalence for the job and threw the family thing out there, and thinking Shanny would've been rattled by the thought of losing him, would cave to the upcoming demand for bigger dollars and maybe even the rumored autonomy stuff.

He came off as a complete moron, pissed off Shanny for taking advantage of all the time and space he gave him, and negated all of the family crap with the greedy demand. He did this all publicly.

So, for your theory to be correct here, Dubie would have deliberately wanted to air dirty laundry to the world, get himself fired from what most would consider the top GM job in the league where he'd been comfortable for years and had hired pretty much everyone around him, go back on his public statement that he won't show up somewhere else next week (why would he do that if he was hoping to get out and go to Pittsburgh??), all to uproot his family and go to Pittsburgh where he's locked into the old stars' contracts that he won't be able to trade, and I would wager for substantially less salary?
 
Dubas is the most devious man alive but also not that smart...should be great fodder for the Canadian reboot of Succession
 
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