Pittsburgh Penguins expected to ask for permission to speak with Kyle Dubas

The Pittsburgh Penguins may add another potential candidate to their general manager search, if they’re interested.

According to Elliotte Freidman during the intermission of Saturday night’s game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, the Penguins may be looking to reach out and ask for permission to speak with Kyle Dubas to fill their vacant GM role.

The Penguins are reportedly in the second round of candidates for their GM search, and may even have a decision as early as sometime this week, but that could be delayed now if they are able to speak with Dubas.

The main uncertainty is whether or not Dubas will be looking for a new job at this time. He notably said last Monday during the Leafs locker room cleanout that if he wasn’t working for the Leafs last season, he would be taking a year off due to the stress the position put on himself and his family. However, with him being let go as opposed to mutually parting ways, he may be more thirsty to get back into the game.

The Penguins are looking for a new GM after firing both Ron Hextall who filled that role, along with team president Brian Burke, in a season where the Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006, which was captain and star player Sidney Crosby’s rookie season. With the likes of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang all going to be 36 by the start of next season, the Pens will be looking to try to take as many shots at the Stanley Cup as they can while those three are still playing.

While the reason for Dubas’ availability is a bit more recent, his position was up in the air to begin with after another disappointing playoff performance from the Toronto Maple Leafs. While they did manage to win their first playoff series since 2004 after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, they then had a disappointing showing against the Florida Panthers in the second round where they faced a 0-3 deficit before losing in five games and couldn’t score more than two goals a game, and only got three goals total in the series from their core forward group of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander.