Dubas Reshapes Penguins' Roster

Over the past week, the Penguins have addressed their biggest needs through a trade and free agency.

In goal, they signed starter Tristan Jarry to a five-year contract, and brought in Alex Nedeljkovic to help keep everyone at their best.

"We just felt that was the best bet to make for our club at this time," Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas said. "I think the competition is an important thing for the group as well, in addition to pushing Tristan and showing that we have suitable people there."

On defense, they agreed to terms on a six-year contract with Ryan Graves, who can help fill the void left by Brian Dumoulin, who signed with Seattle.

"He's one of the younger players in free agency," Dubas said. "I think he complements what we have on our right side very well with Kris Letang and Jeff Petry. So, we're very excited about that."

And on forward, they acquired Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights, who can fill the top-six role vacated by Jason Zucker, who signed with Arizona. Pittsburgh also added Lars Eller, who can play third-line center, along with depth players Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto to improve their bottom-six.

"We went into free agency not wanting to overextend ourselves and make subtle bets on the forward front," Dubas said. "We addressed one of the needs we had with the Reilly Smith trade, and then the rest of the needs, we (addressed in) free agency on shorter-term deals … to give these players an opportunity here with us and let them fill the needs that we had, which we've identified as a staff and worked through together."

When it comes to breaking down everything that's transpired, we'll start between the pipes, since that is where Pittsburgh's focus was heading into today… specifically, getting something done with Jarry.

Jarry had been vocal about wanting to stay with the Penguins, who traded up to draft him 10 years ago. After turning pro in 2016, Jarry spent his first three seasons going back and forth between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Pittsburgh. He's since been exclusively with the Penguins, getting named an All-Star in two of those four campaigns. Over that time, Jarry has had some pretty incredible stretches, and some pretty tough stretches. The last two years have been particularly rough from an injury standpoint.

Dubas looked at all of that when putting together his evaluation of Jarry ahead of this big decision for the club. What stood out from that body of work is that the goaltender has truly performed well, with Dubas pointing out that not only has Jarry won the fifth-most games over the past three seasons since taking over as the No. 1 netminder - he's played the sixth-most games. "So, I think with the injury stuff, I don't want to make it more pronounced than it was," Dubas said. "Because even with the injuries, he still played 49 games this year, which is a credit to Tristan."

After taking the information he had from people within the organization - including the coaching staff and goaltending/player personnel, who all think highly of Jarry - Dubas traveled to Edmonton, where Tristan lives with his wife Hannah, to meet with them. Dubas left feeling confident about coming to an agreement with Jarry, saying the term and annual average value of the deal - going from $3.5 million to $5 million - felt like the right fit on both sides. Especially considering his age - Jarry turned 28 on April 29 - and the marketplace in general.

"I think it's been made very clear to Tristan what my expectations are in terms of him continuing to be in great shape, putting himself in a position to be as healthy as possible, and to continue to play the number of games that he has," Dubas said. "With what I learned from being with him and Hannah in Edmonton, I was very comfortable with that, that he was going to be able to hold up his end of the bargain and continue to get better for us."

Adding Nedeljkovic on a one-year, one-way deal, with Casey DeSmith already signed through next season, will heat up the competition… with the Penguins looking for one more "solid veteran guy" to cement their depth

Nedeljkovic is definitely someone who can push for playing time in Pittsburgh. He had a phenomenal rookie year in 2020-21 with Carolina, going 15-5-3 with a 1.90 goals-against average and .932 save percentage, getting named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team and being a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie.

His play's been up and down since then, with Nedeljkovic splitting last season between the Detroit Red Wings and their AHL affiliate. But he's certainly got talent and potential, and is a great option to have - especially with the way Pittsburgh's depth in goal has been challenged the last two years.

And because of that, Dubas is hoping to bring in one more solid veteran goalie, since 2020 second-round pick Joel Blomqvist isn't quite ready for Pittsburgh … "then let everyone come in here in training camp and let it fly. I think regardless of what the contract status of the players is, we need to build that competition up, and also protect our depth and give our team the best chance to win every night. Goaltending is the one place where you especially need that depth."

Ryan Graves will likely play on the left side in a top-four role, alongside either Kris Letang or Jeff Petry

It's sad to see Brian Dumoulin's time in Pittsburgh come to an end. He became the biggest piece of the 2012 draft-day trade that brought him - a prospect at the time - to the Penguins with Brandon Sutter and the eighth-overall pick in exchange for Jordan Staal. Dumoulin developed into a reliable blueliner who anchored the top pair alongside Kris Letang, was a glue guy in the room, and helped lead the Penguins to a pair of Stanley Cup championships.

While he didn't have his strongest season in 2022-23, Dumoulin still brought a lot to the team, and the Penguins needed to find someone who could step into that top-four role, with younger players like P.O Joseph and Ty Smith not quite ready for the responsibility. So, the Penguins added Ryan Graves, who makes the group a bit younger (he's 28) and a bit bigger (he's 6-foot-5, 220 pounds). He's coming off a strong season with the Devils, recording eight goals and a plus-34 rating in 78 games.

"Obviously, he brings a lot of size to the group. But more importantly, he's been very effective at playing against very, very tough competition in New Jersey and going back to Colorado," Dubas said. "So, I feel that will help and can complement and play with either Kris or Jeff, whatever the coaching staff feels."

There have been trade rumors surrounding Petry, who was acquired from Montreal for Mike Matheson last summer. But Dubas debunked those, saying the Penguins see Petry as a big part of their plan moving forward. Members of the staff recently visited Petry in his native Michigan, and they're impressed with how his summer is coming together.

"I know Jeff quite well as a player because we played against him a ton, especially in the 2020-21 season when we played Montreal 10 times in the regular season and another seven in the playoffs," said Dubas, who spent the last nine seasons in management with the Toronto Maple Leafs. "Got to see firsthand what he was capable of, especially at that time. So, a great athlete his whole life, and I think even as he gets to 36 years old, there's still a good amount of fuel left in the tank for Jeff."

Pittsburgh's top-six seems pretty much set… and there's some good pieces in the bottom-six

It's also really hard to see Jason Zucker go. Both Dubas and Mike Sullivan have been asked about him specifically over the last few days, and they acknowledged the huge role he played on the team and in the room.

But Dubas did a tremendous job of addressing the sole open spot in the top six with trading for the versatile Reilly Smith from the defending Stanley Cup Champion Golden Knights, Video: Dubas speaks to the media.. Sullivan said they've already talked about Smith, who scored 26 goals last season, playing with Evgeni Malkin.

As for the bottom-six, it sounds like the Penguins are hoping Lars Eller can fill the third-line center role most recently occupied by Ryan Poehling, who didn't receive a qualifying offer from Pittsburgh, and ended up signing with Philadelphia.

Dubas said the Penguins like Poehling a lot, but he was due a raise that the Penguins couldn't afford, and he ended up getting with the Flyers. "I don't know him personally, but people around the group say he's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful person. So, I'm very happy for him that it's worked out in a place that's going to have opportunity for him," Dubas said.

They were thrilled to add a player of Ellers' caliber to the lineup. The 34-year-old won a Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018 when Penguins associate coach Todd Reirden was head coach there. He, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan and Dubas spoke with Eller on the phone this afternoon, selling him on what their plan for him would be and what they would expect from him.

"We're happy that that was a great fit for us because that's a really hard position to fill, someone that can come in and can play that role but also wants to play that role, especially on a team like ours and the way that it's constructed," Dubas said.

With Acciari, the Penguins added someone who brings toughness, with Dubas saying he'll put any part of his body on the line to block shots - something that will be especially welcome on the penalty kill. He'll also be able to chip in and score, potting 14 goals in 77 games last season, his highest total since hitting 20 goals in 66 games in 2019-20.

With Nieto, he's someone who can also contribute offensively while bringing great speed. When it comes to filling roles on the third and fourth lines with the aforementioned players, Dubas said it was about trying to find the right fits for the coaching staff and what they want, and what they all believe in. "Which is that they're competitive, they've got good speed, they're defensively reliable and have defensive utility, and they're able to chip in and think the game offensively and give us a little bit of offensive push in the bottom six," Dubas said.

The Penguins decided not to buy out Mikael Granlund, who was acquired from Nashville at the trade deadline and has two seasons left on his contract, with a cap hit of $5 million. Despite managing just one goal in 21 games with Pittsburgh, Dubas said Granlund's body of work in the NHL suggests he can be more productive, and "I think it's incumbent on us and on him to work together to get him back to the level that he can expect. He's a versatile player that can play all three forward positions, can play penalty kill, power play, and he's done that well in his career.

"I'd like to focus with Mikael on how we're moving ahead and moving ahead productively with him so we can have him play to his potential as a Pittsburgh Penguin."

After all of these transactions, the Penguins appear to be above the cap, but Dubas said that they don't see it that way with what they have planned internally.

Moving forward, they're open to anything that can continue to improve the team. But Dubas said if the Penguins add anyone from this point on, especially via trade, he would like it to be someone that's likely here for the long run. Otherwise, this will likely be a close version of the roster they bring to training camp - save for depth signings, namely someone who can compete for the fourth-line center role and provide competition there.