Kyle Dubas had a history of failing with his goaltenders during his otherwise solid five-year run as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager.
Dubas is off to an even worse start with the Penguins.
There is no way to justify the five-year, $26.875 million contract the Penguins gave Tristan Jarry on Saturday, although Dubas certainly tried. He went to great lengths to talk about Jarry's character, his understanding of the high expectations on him and his desire to stay healthy and be better. He even mentioned he was impressed with Jarry personally during a meeting in Edmonton with him and his wife, Hannah.
"This just felt like the right mixture [of term and salary]," Dubas said, "the right fit."
The Jarry deal was Dubas' biggest decision in a frenetic few days. On Wednesday, he traded for Vegas forward Reilly Smith, who is better than departed free agent Jason Zucker. Later Wednesday night, he kept the Penguins' No. 1 pick and selected young center Brayden Yager, a move for the future. On Saturday, he signed a handful of free agents — defenseman Ryan Graves, forwards Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto and Lars Eller and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic — to contracts that should strengthen the team's defense, bottom-six forwards and goaltending depth.
All of those deals made sense.
All of those deals figure to make the Penguins a better team.
But the Jarry signing?
It sabotaged all of Dubas' good work.
My fear is it will ruin the approaching end of the Crosby-Malkin-Letang era.
The Penguins can't count on Jarry. He has never proved he is a goaltender capable of winning in the playoffs. A big reason for that is his long history of injuries. There was a report last winter that Jarry had a chronic hip injury. He said after the season he was bothered by injuries all season.
And Dubas is hitching the Penguins' wagon to Jarry for the next five seasons? At a ridiculous annual price of $5.375 million that is a significant raise over his $3.5 million cap hit the past three seasons?
Maybe a prove-it, one-year deal for Jarry at last season's salary would have been OK. At worst, a two-year deal. But not this. Not five years. Not at that absurd cost.
And if Jarry wouldn't take such a deal? Let him skate off to another team. Find a goaltender who is more dependable even if there wasn't much to choose from in free agency or logistically via a trade.
This has Mike Sullivan written all over it.
Sullivan has been Jarry's biggest backer even though Jarry has done nothing but let him down, most recently in that late-season loss to Chicago that virtually ended the Penguins' season and kept them out of the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. Jarry was horrible against the New York Islanders in the 2021 postseason. He missed all but the final game of the doomed first-round series against the New York Rangers in 2022 because of a broken foot.
But Sullivan has not been deterred when it comes to Jarry.
"When he's on his game, in my mind, he's as good as there is in the league," he said in December. "We believe in him. He's a terrific goalie."
And in Sullivan's final session with the media a few days after the past season ended?
"I think Tristan is a top-tier goalie in this league," he said. "I've said that all year long, and I believe he'll continue to be moving forward. ... This year was a particular challenge for him for a lot of reasons, but I think Tristan is a very good goalie in this league."
Dubas acknowledged the positive "view of the people in this facility" about Jarry contributed to bringing him back.
I have great respect for Sullivan. I think he's one of the best coaches in the NHL, maybe the best. I write that with conviction despite the fact the Penguins haven't won a playoff series in five seasons.
But Sullivan and/or Dubas blew the Jarry decision.
It might be five more seasons before the Penguins win another playoff series because of it.
