Dubas said that the statuses of Sidney Crosby (injury) and Evgeni Malkin (hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety) ultimately did not impact their decision-making for the trade deadline.
Dubas did admit that he probably reacted similarly to everyone who follows this team on a daily basis, “which is at first, you’re a little emotional about what the impact on the team would be. And then, I think it’s my job to immediately get away from that and get back to, ‘OK, what’s the plan? What do we have already?’
The plan is to bring up Ville Koivunen, acquired around the 2024 trade deadline from Carolina as part of the Jake Guentzel deal. After a strong finish to last season with Pittsburgh, Koivunen made the opening-night roster before going through some ups and downs, and has worked his way back. He was just named the AHL’s Player of the Month for February.
“Have big expectations of Ville and a lot of belief in him. So, this would be his chance,” Dubas said. “Everyone always wants an opportunity, this is it for him. And he could run right through it and carry on as long as he wants. So, that’s, in the end, how we dealt with it.”
As for the new addition, Soderblom is just 24 years old. He fits the mold that Dubas and his staff have been trying to fill: young NHL players in their early-to-mid 20s that isn’t a rental. It’s the group that’s more in-between the teenage prospects and older veterans.
Soderblom is signed through next season. And at 6-8, Soderblom fits a prototype the Penguins don’t have in that pool. They like his ability to get it on the forecheck and disrupt pucks. He also has a lot of potential, and, as Dubas has said, they want to be known as a place where players know the Penguins will get the most out of them.
“I think the key part for us is just the term and control with the ability to work with him, develop him, and try to have the same effect that the coaching staff and development staff have had on some of the other players that we’ve brought in this year,” Dubas said. “That’s obviously been our thing, and rather than get outside of it and continue to turn the wheel on that as much as we can and get the most out of these types of guys.”
As the trade deadline passed, the Penguins ranked second in the Metropolitan Division with 75 points. They are nine points behind the first-place Hurricanes, and have two games in hand on the third-place Islanders, who also have 75 points.
What stands out to Dubas about the Penguins, particularly since returning from the holiday break, isn’t just the wins. It’s the way they’ve gone about winning that shows this is a very good team when they are at their best.
“And when the team shows itself consistently to be able to play at that level, even when things aren’t perfect, guys are in and out of the lineup for various reasons, and they can sustain it … you know, you get into this because that’s what you want to do,” Dubas said. “You want to be in this spot where now we’re going to try to put some pressure on Carolina, separate ourselves from the other groups, and we just didn’t feel like right now was the time to begin to take that apart.
“We have our biggest challenges ahead, and it’ll be the ultimate test of the mentality to make the most with what we have. But I think that’s also the most exciting part of being here and being in this position, that we have a great opportunity now, and we have to make the most of it and find a way.”
