Kyle Dubas displays amazing asset management in deal with Dallas

Kyle Dubas and the Penguins stayed active this offseason with another trade this afternoon, acquiring Matt Dumba and a 2028 2nd Round Pick from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Vladislav Kolyachonok.

Before we get to the return, let's talk about Kolyachonok for a moment.

Elite Asset Management

Vladislav Kolyachonok was picked up off of waivers by the Penguins back in February after he was let go by the Utah Hockey Club (now Mammoth).

Break that down for a moment.

Kyle Dubas just flipped a waiver pickup who hasn't made it at the NHL level yet for an actual NHL player and an early-round draft pick.

Love or hate Kyle Dubas, this is the type of asset management that will eventually benefit a franchise as long as they draft well. And even then, we've seen Dubas flip picks for players. The bottom line: the more assets you have, the greater chance you have to create a winning team.

I personally loved the Kolyachonok pickup when it happened and thought he could turn into a solid young player for the Penguins. In 12 games he put up a -5 rating and just two assists. He hasn't even played a full season's worth of games yet despite being in the league since 2021-22.

Regardless of how Kolyachonok turns out (and he might become something good), objectively, this is a win for the Penguins in every way. It's taking advantage of a Dallas team that has their hands tied behind their back in terms of cap space and roster size. Dubas saw it and exploited it.

The Return Details

Matt Dumba is the player the Penguins are getting back in return. Dumba, 30, is owed $3.75M this season, which is the final year of his two-year deal.

The former first round pick was an incredible defenseman in his prime with the Minnesota Wild in the mid-2010's, averaging over 10 goals and around 20 assists in the best stretch of his career.

Unfortunately, Dumba is well past those days. Last season with Dallas he played in 63 games with one goal and nine assists with a -5 rating and 60 penalty minutes.

This is a salary dump in every sense of the imagination for Dallas, and Pittsburgh nets a 2nd round pick for taking on Dumba's contract. Having forefront thinking, Dallas is likely to hit a roadblock around that 2028 season when this pick comes into play.

The Stars might not sink quickly this coming season, but their franchise trajectory is not exactly sparkling. They have too many players and too much money associated with those too many players. They literally have to trade away people to dump contracts in returns for literally nothing.

With this, the Penguins now have at least two 2nd round picks in each of the next three drafts. This allows flexibility to trade up in future drafts or trade these picks away for NHL talent when the time comes to do so.

I'll be honest, I'm not a part of the "Tank for McKenna" crowd like many of you are - simply because the Penguins will not be nearly as bad as some teams in the league this season. It's just not realistic, but I'll explore that concept at a future date.

For this crowd, though, this trade works largely toward that end of tanking. The Stars made it to the Western Conference Final, but Dumba was a healthy scratch for the entirety of the playoffs. The Human Pylon Cody Ceci was getting minutes over him.

I'm not going to say Dumba can't be passable with Pittsburgh. In fact I think he will be, but you can believe what you want to about this deal. The thing you need to understand is that Kyle Dubas made a lot out of nothing. And wait until he fetches a 2nd rounder for Dumba at the trade deadline. Just wait.