LeBrun: Penguins’ Kyle Dubas on ‘tough’ trades and why he won’t discuss Toronto

PALM BEACH, Fla. — From a dramatic exit in Toronto to a frustrating season in Pittsburgh, Kyle Dubas has faced his share of adversity over the past 10 months.

But the GM and president of hockey operations in Pittsburgh understood what he was taking on when he signed a seven-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he’s embraced it.

“Overall, I’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve enjoyed the city, I’ve really enjoyed the organization,’’ Dubas began during our sitdown interview Monday after Day 1 of the NHL GMs meetings. “I knew going into it, I knew what I was signing up for. That last summer we were going to try to give it a jolt, the team having come off missing the playoffs the previous year with an aging roster, to see if we can give it a jolt and we tried to do that.

“But also we had to keep an open mind about where we were going to have to go in the future and my major focus was going to be in the long run,’’ added Dubas.

Which, as the Penguins GM further explained, meant building up different departments and systems, and starting to add to the pipeline of younger players and prospects.

All while trying to stay competitive.

“We’re still in it, in the wild-card race and in our division,’’ insisted Dubas. “We just have to be stacking more wins together, having had a better week last week and I’m excited to see how we handle the weeks ahead.’’

But in that delicate balance of today versus tomorrow came trading pending UFA winger Jake Guentzel on the eve of the deadline which was a difficult but necessary decision. A trade that was felt throughout the organization.

“Yeah, and I wasn’t there the whole time with him, but I could feel internally the disappointment in seeing Jake walk out the door,’’ Dubas said. “And I understand that. He was a key member of the last Stanley Cup the team won, as a younger player coming up with the group. He’s a great, character person, everyone knows he’s a tremendous competitor.

“It’s tough when you have to make those decisions,’’ added Dubas. “But you have to always do what you believe is best for the long term of the organization and my sights were set on giving the team as long as possible to assert itself more in the race. The other part was getting back a roster player (Michael Bunting) that could help us as well in addition to the future assets.’’

The Penguins acquired Michael Bunting in the deal for Jake Guentzel. (Justin Berl / Getty Images)

Having Bunting part of that deal was important for Dubas, who didn’t want to make a futures-only deal. Again, trying to maintain that delicate balance of today and the future, which is going to be very difficult with an aging roster and a pretty thin pipeline. But that’s what Dubas got hired to do.

This is just me, but I think pulling off this roster turnaround in a timely manner is going to be extremely difficult. It has left Dubas with a small margin of error to be sure. The trade for…