Save Spot for Dubas at Penguins' Draft Table | Fuzhou Island Fever Co.,Ltd

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Kyle Dubas will be at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ table during the NHL Draft later this month in Nashville.

That won't necessarily come across a revelation, considering that he is the team's newly minted president of hockey operations and interim general manager.

Someone holding those positions would be the logical choice to preside over the selection of young players who could have a significant impact on the success — or lack thereof — that the franchise has in coming years.

There was no guarantee it would be that simple, however.

A Penguins official confirmed Monday that Toronto, which fired Kyle Dubas as general manager last month, imposed no conditions on him when the Penguins sought permission to discuss a job with him.

Dubas’ contract with the Maple Leafs was still in effect, which is why the Penguins had to get clearance from Toronto to speak with him.

Coincidentally enough, Dubas’ replacement with the Leafs, Brad Treliving, is operating with some restrictions imposed by Calgary, which fired him in May. His contract with the Flames was to run through the end of this month.

As part of its agreement to let Treliving talk to the Maple Leafs about the position he eventually accepted, Calgary insisted that he not have any involvement with Toronto's draft preparations.

The rationale for such a move presumably is to assure that proprietary information an individual acquired while employed by one club does not end up being used for the benefit of another.

Just how big of an impact the Flames’ conditions will have on Toronto remains to be seen. The Maple Leafs are scheduled to make just three picks — in the first, fifth and sixth rounds — during the draft, which is set for June 28-29 in Nashville.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have choices in the first, third (from New Jersey), fifth, sixth and seventh (from Florida and Toronto) rounds.

Their first-round pick — which, barring a trade, will be 14th overall — will the franchise's third in the past four seasons, but just its fourth in the past 11.

The previous three were used to claim Kasperi Kapanen (2014), Sam Poulin (2019) and Owen Pickering (2022).

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By all accounts, this is a very deep draft class. Our #14 is like a top 8 – 10 in most years. Fingers crossed they do not deal it away just to lose a bad contract. Trade Petry for a 2nd or 3rd rd pick to the 1st team that needs a #3 or #4 d-man and eat part of his salary if necessary. Limit Granlund's TOI and hope he has a bounce back season so he can be dealt mid-season to anyone stupid enough to take him. Move Carter to RW on the 4th line, let him take faceoffs,… Read more »

All pretty good starting points. Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too!

Or keep Carter on the roster (cuz he ain't going to the minors), don't play him until the point where he waives his nmc.

Take maybelline

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