Surprising Development Has Former Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas the Envy of the NHL
Photo credit: NHL.com
While the Maple Leafs have gotten off to a very slow start, the same cannot be said for former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and his surprisingly red hot Pittsburgh Penguins.
It's a position that nobody thought the Pittsburgh Penguins would be in through their first 12 games of the season, and while there's a lot of hockey yet to be played, we simply cannot downplay the fact that Kyle Dubas and the Pens appear to be turning a corner.
Three summers ago, Kyle Dubas stood before the media in Toronto and told them that if he were not to return to the Leafs' front office, he likely wouldn't sign on to run another NHL club. a week or so after being fired in Toronto, he was the President and GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Chosen to oversee the rebuild in Pittsburgh, Dubas first opted to try to squeeze every last bit of quality hockey that he could out of veteran stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Penguins Leading the NHL in the Standings
While it didn't work out the way he planned over the last two seasons, this year appears to be a different story, with Dubas and his crew owning the NHL's best record (8-2-2) through 12 games -- good for first place in the league standings.
Led by the surprisingly ageless Crosby and Malkin, the Pens have a league-leading +13 goal differential. Going 6-2-2 in their last 10 games, I don't think anyone could have predicted this from a Pens team who failed to qualify for the playoffs in either of the last two seasons.
Pens Getting Production From More than Just Crosby, Malkin
The additions of Anthony Mantha and former Leaf Justin Brazeau have paid dividends for Dubas, as both players currently sit right around a point-per-game, just behind the likes of Malkin and Crosby -- the team's two leading scorers with 17 and 15 points, respectively.
While unlikely to last over the course of an entire season, banking points this early can certainly help later on in the year, putting a team further ahead in the always-competitive playoff race.
Leafs Off to Troubling Start
Right now, the Leafs are on the opposite end of the spectrum, dropping points to beatable opponents, playing their way to a 5-5-1 record coming into tonight's game against the Flyers.
Will Dubas' Pens be atop the Metropolitan Division when all is said and done? Will they be atop the league? Highly doubtful, but this is a start that certainly has teams across the league green with envy, at least for the time being.
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