PITTSBURGH — Monday is a landmark date in Pittsburgh Penguins history.On June 1, 1992 — 34 years ago — the greatest Penguins team ever won its 11th consecutive postseason game to finish off the Chicago Blackhawks in a sweep and win back-to-back championships.Monday also marks the third anniversary of the day the Penguins introduced Kyle Dubas as the man to guide their organization. That day, he probably felt like the Penguins were 34 years away from winning the Stanley Cup.What about now? Since his introduction, the Penguins have gone through three distinct phases.The fool’s gold eraLuckily for the Penguins, this era didn’t last long.When Dubas arrived in 2023, he inherited a team that included Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and Kris Letang — a core nice enough he felt it was worthy of adding pieces and trying to win.It was admirable at the time, and he surely was informed by many people within the organization that previous general manager Ron Hextall had made a mess of things and that the Penguins were still capable of winning.Hextall had indeed made a mess, but that didn’t mean they were capable of winning.As a result, Dubas made some deals that were not necessarily criticized at the time, but that badly hurt the Penguins.• He gave defenseman Ryan Graves a six-year contract that was, without question, the most disastrous free-agent contract in Penguins history.• He signed goaltender Tristan Jarry to a five-year contract that was puzzling at the time and quickly turned into something much worse.• He gave up a third-round pick for forward Reilly Smith before inquiring if Smith had any desire to play in Pittsburgh. He did not.• He gave forward Noel Acciari a three-year contract that didn’t tank the Penguins but symbolized that they needed to go young, not old.It took about three months of the 2023-24 regular season for Dubas to determine the Penguins were not a championship team, and probably not even a playoff team. He was right on both counts.His initial instinct to go big in the summer of 2023 was wrong. To his credit, he quickly called an audible as opposed to being stubborn when he realized what was happening.The soft rebuild eraThe disappointing start to the 2023-24 season led to the Jake Guentzel trade on March 7, 2024, which always felt inevitable.You can argue Dubas should have gotten more for Guentzel, though young defenseman Harrison Brunicke’s development will ultimately tell the story. An even more compelling argument is that the Penguins should have locked up Guentzel long ago and built around him and Crosby, as opposed to holding onto Malkin and Letang for as long as they have.Regardless, that trade was still a significant symbol for Dubas. It marked the moment he proclaimed this team would be built in his vision.