Dubas attended the 2015 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference one year after being named Assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, appearing on a panel about the state of advanced analytics in the NHL and presenting on “How Analytics has Limited the Impact of Cognitive Bias on Personnel Decisions.”

It helped him build a reputation as an analytics-driven executive — for better or worse.

But since he ascended to the top GM job in Toronto, he has proven to be a front-office executive focused on much more than just numbers on a spreadsheet; he saw his players as humans and his staff as people with ambitions beyond hockey.

When a New Jersey Devils player’s skate blade cut into Ilya Mikheyev’s wrist in 2020, it was Dubas who “cancelled a scouting trip, cleared his calendar and joined assistant athletic John Geler at the New Jersey hospital two nights after Christmas.

”Mikheyev’s agent Dan Milstein told Sportsnet at the time that “Kyle went above and beyond his duty,” keeping the player company while the Russian-born winger recovered post-surgery.

Later in his Maple Leafs tenure, Dubas’ human-centered approach to management did not waver.

From calling out “disgusting” depictions of his players in the Toronto media to ensuring his staff had financial security beyond his own expiring contract this past year, Dubas continually stood behind those he was charged to lead.

Now he leads a new crew in Pittsburgh.

It’s a group he’s been eager to build upon, with a number of front office hires that reflect the large, specialized, and inclusive group he built and fostered in Toronto.

Jason Spezza and Cam Charron were both members of Dubas’ staff in Toronto who have since joined him in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, former professional players Amanda Kessel and Trevor Daley have been promoted to Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager after previously serving in other capacities within the Penguins organization.

In the press conference introducing him to the organization, Dubas noted a two-pronged approach he planned to use with his new NHL franchise. The first prong was a short-term goal: to deliver proper support to the team’s existing core of stars. Then he spoke of the second prong, an arguably more complex task: he hoped to transform the Penguins long-term into a “hockey organization that will be the class of the NHL.

Adding the reigning Norris Trophy winner undoubtedly speaks to that first prong.

But it’s his actions and ideals driving the second prong that will have the most lasting impact on the Penguins and professional hockey at large.