Photo credit: Pittsbrugh Penguins

TSN’s Bryan Hayes, Frankie Corrado and Jeff O’Neill did not hold back on Kyle Dubas’ situation in Pittsburgh and blasted him for one particular move with the Leafs.

On Tuesday, Penguins beat reporter Taylor Haase revealed that Kyle Dubas has made it known the Pens are open for business and are willing to deal anyone not named Sidney Crosby.

The news came a day after the Penguins were absolutely shelled by the Dallas Stars Monday where they were down 6-0 after just 20 minutes and former Maple Leaf Mason Marchment had five points in the first period and six points total.

The performance by Marchment led to Bryan Hayes and Frankie Corrado bringing up the infamous Denis Malgin/Mason Marchment swap that Dubas orchestrated during his time as Leafs GM.
“Gino Malgin for Mason Marchment doesn’t get enough attention for how horrendous that trade was,” said Hayes. “I know there has been awful trades in Leaf history and we could run them off… Mason Marchment straight up for Gino Malgin is such a horrendous trade it’s insanity and Marchment is still playing in the league and stuffed Dubas’ Penguins in a locker.

Couldn’t do it, couldn’t have it because he was over six feet and he didn’t play in the Soo.”Corrado went a step further, identifying that the trade was made worse because of where the two players are currently in their careers.

“You know what made that trade worse… They got him as an undrafted guy on an AHL deal. They spent all kinds of money and time developing him just to get him to the point where he was going to be a really good NHL player to let him go be an NHL player somewhere else.”

Their conversation about Malgin and Marchment led them to reem out Dubas for the Penguins’ current situation, with Jeff O’Neill making a very good point that has been ignored with Sidney Crosby having as much say as he does.
“No one in Pittsburgh can come out and say that they’re junk… Why would he (Crosby) want to go out like that?”

While Hayes did defend Dubas to an extent in that he was dealt a difficult situation to come into thanks to the mismanagement by Brian Burke and Ron Hextall, but that there is no excuse for continuing to try and patch things as they go.
“Dubas was dealt a very difficult hand. I would assume a part of the job description was you have to close your eyes to the reality here and make this work somehow. New ownership, Sid is teeing off on 17 here, who knows where he is in his career, but you have to find a way to make it work. He (Dubas) tried and some of his moves his first off-season were sound, but now he just keeps going back to the well and patch and patch and patch and it’s not going to happen.”
With the rebuild seemingly about to commence in Pittsburgh, it will be interesting to see if Crosby and Dubas can co-exist or if Crosby calls it a day on his career in Pittsburgh to chase another Stanley Cup elsewhere. Regardless, the next few months leading up to the deadline could be somewhat of a spectacle for Dubas and the Penguins.