The Penguins are currently 2-0 on their western Canada trip, beating the dilapidated Calgary Flames last night 4-1. This team is special because of Kyle Dubas. Doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup, they find a way. Kris Letang caught the injury bug and missed last night’s action, so too did Erik Karlsson. The team’s top 2 defensemen both out. Outside of Brett Kulak, no one wearing a Penguins sweater on the backend was publicly thought of as an NHL defender to start the season. Yet the Penguins defenders all played a wonderful game. Sure, the offense is going to lack from this current backend, but Kyle Dubas has assembled such a deep forward group that they worry not about goals from the D-men.

This little rat, nerd, Dom Luszczyszyn should shut his trap.

Computer boy STILL has the Penguins behind: the Panthers (6 points back, 1 game in hand) and the Capitals????? (5 points back, played 2 more games than PIT). This guy is a complete zero. Flaunts around his little code as gospel. Yet it could not be more wrong. He uses his preconceived notions from before the season and juices the hell out of his “playoff model.” Kyle Dubas was never tanking. He has said repeatedly that he wants to get back into contention urgently. Does that mean he was going to go out and spend 30 million on the free agent market? No. It means he is going to find young players with upside with the hopes it gels. If it didn’t work, like last season, he would flip those players for more assets to enhance the urgency of the retool. It’s a flawless plan. He is essentially always playing with house money. Little computer boys who only understand 1’s and 0’s, not the game of hockey, like Dom will never really see what’s going on.

Egor Chinakov for a 2nd and 3rd round pick, definitely the move of a GM who is tanking (LOL).

Retaining Bryan Rust, certainly this is the type of guy you want put on the ice if you’re intending to lose hockey games.

Extending your 4th line center, not shipping him out for draft picks, is almost definitely what a tanking GM would do.

I am so sick and tired of hearing that this team isn’t legit. They stumbled in December. However, during that stumble it wasn’t because they were a bad hockey team, just a fragile one. They were filling the back of the net but could not do anything to protect a lead. They got a break and ever since have been 9-2-2. They are 3-0-2 without Karlsson, hands down the team’s best defensemen this season. They are able to boast a record like that because the GM has carefully and meticulously built a good roster. If Dubas were tanking, Koivunen and McGroarty would be playing in the NHL because they would value that part of their development more than winning games. Both players are stuck in WBS with no pathway back to the NHL this year unless an injury occurs. The team is really that deep (Koivunen also hasn’t played worthy of NHL time).

Kyle Dubas has excellent goaltending depth. He has two of the top 5 save percentage AHL goalies. He shipped out Jarry for a positive trade return. Part of that return, Stuart Skinner, took a few games to get acclimated to his new team but now has a .933 save percentage since the Christmas break. Rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs, who won the AHL championship and post-season MVP, has also been finding his game recently. If the team was tanking, they would have prioritized giving their AHL guys more of a look at the NHL level because it wouldn’t matter if they floundered.

The people who hate Dubas because they are Leafs fanboys (they could really use Dubas right now, that team is a joke) or the nerds who refuse to change their preseason predications need to open their eyes. Dubas has since the end of last season done the following:

Drafted the team’s 3rd line center Ben Kindel

Signed Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau. Both players should score 20 goals this season.

Signed Parker Wotherspoon. He has been a top-pairing defensemen all season. Last night playing as the team’s number 1 guy, he was their best defensemen.

Resigned Conor Dewar and retained Blake Lizotte/Noel Acciari. They have formed the best 4th line hockey, by far. Lizotte, as previously mentioned, got rewarded with a contract extension.

Moved out what was believed to be an un-movable contract in Jarry, bringing in a different starter and a top-4 defensemen (plus a 2nd round pick). Insane.

In the offseason he picked up 24-year-old Silovs. Who outside of December has been a perfectly serviceable goaltender.

Traded for 24-year-old Egor Chinakov. He has 4 goals in 11 games and has formed instant chemistry with Evgeni Malkin. No idea why Columbus parted with this dude.

He opted against trading Karlsson, Rust, and Rakell. All three of which have been enjoying good (Rakell) to great (Rust and Karlsson) seasons.

Kyle Dubas simply has not missed. It has been a masterclass. All the boys sucking their thumbs writing code, like Dom and his stupid last name, have no idea what to do about that. The thing is, Dubas is smarter than these model merchants. He has learned from his mistakes and has put together a perfect plan for his team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like I previously mentioned, if the Penguins do start to play poorly, he will just offload players on one-year deals, acquire picks, and use those picks to bring in young NHL talent. If they don’t, you will get to see Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin chase Lord Stanley once again. As of right now, the latter is occurring all because of the moves Dubas has made. He is the GM of the year, and it’s not particularly close.

Fuck the computer nerds.