Dubas has made Two Big Mistakes for Two Different Franchises

I think we've seen this film before...

Penguins GM Kyle Dubas has made two big mistakes for both teams he general managed and they are both eleven million dollar ones.

Like Leafs, Like Penguins, for Dubas

In his first offseason as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas went all out and signed hometown boy John Tavares to an eight year deal 11.5 Million Dollars annually, a contract that benefitted the Leafs at first with his great play, but since 2021 the Leafs have had trouble getting him to produce to the ways he's used to and that is due to age.


Not to mention their inability to be able to sign other big names because he had spend north of 40 million dollars of the team's cap hit for four forwards: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares. In hindsight it felt like a good signing, hometown boy, captain of the Blue and White but in the end the playoff success hasn't been there due to the fact they haven't been able to acquire other players without doing cap gymnastics.

Let's fast forward to Pittsburgh, Dubas' first trade at the whelrm of Pittsburgh's front office, he made a splash to acquire 33 year old Norris winner Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks with his 11.5 million dollar cap hit for another 4 years. Now, the Penguins are 7th in the Metro, in the process of retooling their team and may not see the playoffs for another few seasons. The Penguins now have a contract that is practically impossible to offload without retention from the Penguins and a possible third party meaning the Erik Karlsson deal will cause them trouble for the near future.

Maybe third time is the charm and Dubas has learned from his mistakes...