CRANBERRY TWP., PA (93.7 The Fan) – He didn't consult him or was looking for his approval, but Pens GM Kyle Dubas did have a conversation with 17-year veteran Kris Letang about trading for Erik Karlsson. What he found was what he had heard about the Pens Big 3 from afar.
Dubas explained on Monday, a day after making the three-team trade for the Norris Trophy winner, he went to Letang and said here is what we are thinking. Here is how we see it working. He wanted to make sure as the new boss in town he had an idea of what one of the team's all-time great defensemen was thinking.
"Unsurprisingly, with Kris, it was very clearly whatever is going to make us better and help us win," Dubas explained of their conversation. "So I think that's you know, this process is also shown me why it was appealing for me to come here because Sully, the group of guys that have won here. That's all they care about."
You could imagine for Letang, the quarterback of the power play for much of his time with the Penguins and a fixture on it nearly his entire career, this trade could knock him off that group or back to the second unit. He's played in 1,005 games with 691 points (268 of those on the power play), ego can get involved. Who wants to take a perceived step back in their career?
Dubas said Letang, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were all aware of the trade. On the surface, obviously it would be something they are in favor of, but Dubas hinted to that not always being the case with future Hall of Fame players. He also said they didn't make this move to send a message, rather it was about finding a unique player who can help them win.
"They're not worried about their power play time and not worried about anything other than winning," Dubas said. "Whatever is going to help the team win, they want to do and they'll do and that's not just the roster. It's off the ice. It's everything."
Dubas said he's learned a lot more about this team throughout this process. The ebbs-and-flows of this trade and the attention around it, has shown what this group is really about.
"They're tremendous competitors and they want to win and they back it up with everything that they say and more importantly, everything that they do," Dubas said. "And it's been a lot of fun so far to work with them. And it's everything that everyone says about them is 100% true."
