Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - A special crossover with Dan Holmi of Locked On Capitals!

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

It's a special crossover with Locked On Capitals as this hasn't happened in a long time. Hunter and Dan start the show by discussing the Evgeni Malkin rumors and if he could potentially be a good fit for the Capitals. What would both fanbases think of it? Would it be right to see Malkin help Ovechkin chase the all-time goal record? Hunter then updates the listeners with news about the contract discussions as the two sides aren't super close. After that, the two share their favorite moments of the rivalry and how it's become one of the best in all of sports over the years. Hunter brings up his favorite memories as a kid, while Dan also touches on his favorites from a Capitals perspective. The two then touch on what the Capitals need to do this summer to get back into Stanley Cup contention. Which goalies should they go after? Is there a certain layer that Dan wants to go after in free agency? Who should be on the trade block? Dan then repeats the cycle for Hunter in the last segment as he asks what the Penguins need to do this offseason to stay in contention. All that, plus much more, on this special episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This edition of Locked-on Capitals and Locked-on Penguins, I am joined by Hunter Hodes of Locked-on Penguins. As we talk about a little Capitals and Penguins, Hunter, welcome to the program. Yes, thank you for having me on. I haven't done a crossover with Locked-on Capitals in a long, long time. And thank you for coming on my show as well. You bet. So just to start off the show here, I think that a really great idea, you know,

we're headed up on the pre-agency deadline, is that if Afghani Malkin would come to the Washington Capitals. I mean, I think that we need to put aside any rivalry from the years past. I know we've dealt with that for years, bitter rivals, but I think that Afghani Malkin should come to the Washington Capitals to assist Alex Ovechkin and his goal chase. What are your thoughts on that? You know, it makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, I think the two are pretty good friends. Still, though, you know, the biggest wonder back of my mind is, you know, would Malkin agree to go there? You know, Mark Andre Fleury, the capitals were interested in him, I think, multiple times this year. They said, he said, you know what, I'm not going to go there because he's still too much of a penguin, I think was the reasoning.

And, you know, I wonder if, you know, Malkin would feel the same way or would he feel insulted by the penguin's not, you know, offering him a contract? And, you know, would he go, I guess, full Yarmir, Yager and, you know, sign with one of the penguin's biggest rivals? like he did back in 2012 when he went to Philadelphia. You know, obviously I wouldn't like it because I don't want to watch him in a Capitol's uniform. That just feels gross after everything him and Sid have done for the last 16 years together. You know, would be cool on a league-wide basis

just because, you know, seeing Ovechkin try to break the goal record with, you know, with another one of the best Russian players to ever play the game. That's good for the league. But, you know, in terms of me, I'm not here for it, but it also makes sense because, you know, I think it sounds like Nicholas Baxter is probably not coming back at this point. It's a, he might, but I think I've done research on that surgery.

And I think Ryan Kessler only played 50 games after coming back before he retired. So it also makes a lot of sense if you want to go out and get a second line center for the next few years, if you want to keep contending for the cup. So that's definitely gone through my mind as well. Yeah, because, you know, like you were talking about, there. Nick Baxter had that hip reservicing procedure done, and they all look for him is not too great

on that. Generally, players that come back, they only play for a limited period of time. So obviously if Gany Malkin would be a good fit there as a first aligned center. I mean, you guys have had him since 06-07. I think it's time to share a little bit. Ryan McLewellyn loves his former penguins. Connor Sherry's there.

Justin Schultz, Brooks Orpick all those years ago. And Carl Hagen, Anytime he can find one of those penguin players that have won cups with them, any of the three, he'll scoop him up. So this would not surprise me. So, I mean, just taking a look at his stats, in his career, he has scored 444 goals in 981 games played. So on paper, that seems like a really good option there.

So just talking about the Malkin situation, it is a bit of a fluid situation. Gino has said that he will take a pay cut. to stay on the Pittsburgh Penguins. But ultimately, at the end of the day, do you think that he will take that pay cut? Because what I'm going to talk to later in the show is about Latang, which is an interesting situation.

Do you think that Malkin will take that pay cut to stay on the Pittsburgh Penguins? I think he can. It's just a matter of how much are the penguins willing to pay him. Right now, I think that negotiation from what I've read, from Elliot Friedman and a couple other people that cover the team, or, you know, are more connected than I am. It sounds like that negotiation is not close. And I think part of that is due to them focusing on Chrysletang more.

And, you know, with all due respect to Gino, I love the guy to death. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, Chris LaTang, he means, I shouldn't say more to this team, but he's the better player at his position right now than Malkin is. And outside of, you know, him that the defenseman, Marken is not. that good. So they're right to focus on him. But, you know, I think I've been saying on my show for a while for Malkin, you know, three years seven, seven point one for his number like Sid does for 8.7. 7.5 is probably the highest I would go. I mean, if he can take a two million pay cut, that would be fine. But I'm wondering if Ron Hextall is offering him somewhere in the sixes and he might be like,

hey, I'm not worth that at this point. I know I've had a lot of injuries that I've dealt with over my career, but I think he still would feel a little slighted in that situation. So this negotiation, I think, is going to go down to the wire. Right now, I'm expecting Letang to come back. It's all a matter of can they bridge that small gap? And once that potentially happens, they'll shift their focus to Malkin. At least that's kind of what Brian Burke was alluding to this morning,

or yesterday when he talked on Sportsnet. So it's really all a matter of, you know, can the two sides get there for a pay cut that works? The term is fine. They want Sid and Gino to go out together. But it's all a matter of can you get the money right and can you not cheap out on one of the five greatest players to ever play for this franchise.

Yeah. And one of the issues with Malkin is that he's a bit injury prone. And, you know, and we'll talk about this a little bit later in the show that the capitals and the penguins are kind of going through the same thing, is that, you know, this league is getting younger and fast. and the Penguins and the Bruins and the Capitals are all getting older and older. And part of me thinks, you know, they want to hang on to this nucleus that got them to a Stanley Cup or, you know, the Penguins multiple Stanley Cups and the Capitals in 2018.

You know, part of it is, is I think that the Penguins and the Capitals, they have to get over that a little bit that, you know, these players are getting older. I mean, you take a look at Baxter, for example, and you take a look at Malkin, who is injured often, is that to a certain extent, I think that, you know, you just got to kind of put away those nostalgic feelings that you have for these certain players and get younger. Because if you take a look at the teams around the league that are doing really well, they are the teams that are getting younger and faster. So just later in the segment, we're talking about the rivalry between these two teams.

Of course, it is one of the biggest rivalries in NHL history, I would say. This rivalry stems from the 11 playoff series. The two teams have met in, which in the second most between NHL expansion teams behind between the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues, the rivalry reached new heights in the 2010s as the teams won three consecutive Stanley Cups between them in 16 and 17. The Penguins defeated the President's Trophy Capitals and route to the championship while the 2018 Capitals eliminated the two-time defending championship. So there is a lot of rivalry between these two teams. Of course, there's Alex Covechkin and Sidney Crosby, who were drafted around the same time, a couple of years apart there. Just talk to me a little bit about that rivalry. What does that mean to you for the penguins? I know that I'm up for it. Every time I hear the Capitals and the Penguins are playing together,

you know it's going to be a physical game. Tell me a little bit about what your take is on the Capitals, Penguins rivalry. You know, for a while, I thought it was, you know, the Big Brother, Little Brother aspect, right? You know, the Penguins would always just, you know, wherever the Capitals would do, the Penguins would just come out on top. I almost felt like they felt they had that mental edge or something. And then 2018 came around, you know, the Capitals, you know, they found another gear.

I know the Penguins were maybe a little bit gas from two Friars Stanley Cup runs, but, you know, they found their gear and they were able to get that championship that year. But, you know, this rivalry has been so much fun over the years. You know, you had the dueling hat-trick game is probably one of the greatest games I've ever watched in my life. You know, they had those two pitted against each other from day one. You know, the Russian beast versus, you know, the Canadian, homeborn that everyone loves to love and you know they they played so many great games against each other you know another one all obviously always loved forever was game three oh nine when the

penguins were down oh two and you know that was when chrysal tang really came into his own i think and showed a lot of fans that you know he's the next franchise fensom is that overtime winner that probably was more of their top three biggest goals of that stanley cup run and you know you know I know some players have come and go, new players have come in and all that stuff. But the rivalry has never really changed. I think it's only gotten stronger as the years have gone by, excuse me, the fan bases absolutely can't stand each other. I mean, I lived in D.C. for most of my life, I'm down in Richmond right now. You know, it's nasty.

I've been to games at Capital One arena. I've heard what the fan bases have said to each other. I've kept my mouth shut because I don't know why people have to talk a bunch of crap in other arenas. but it's nasty. It's a ferocious rivalry. I think right now it's probably the Penguins' biggest rivalry. Penn's Flyers has not been the same. The last few years, I think it's partly due to the Flyers just not being as good,

and the Penguins just beating up on them most of the times. But, you know, it's crazy, Dan, that both of these teams have just, they've gone on at like the same trajectory. You know, right now they've won their championships. Their cores are a bit older, and they face some, pretty interesting decisions this summer. It's a very, both of them are almost in the same spot, basically. So it's been an awesome rivalry to say the least. Yeah. And just given kind of credit where credits do, of course, I'm a fan of the Washington Capitals as it's a parent here,

but just given credit where credit to do all-time series, 159, 127 Pittsburgh, regular season, 1199 Pittsburgh. So Pittsburgh leads in most of all the categories against the capitals and the whole season. The largest victory was 12 to 1. So just taking a look back on that, you know, there is that bitter rivalry that goes back and forth, but just looking at statistically speaking, the Pittsburgh Penguins have the upper hand. All right, so after the break here, Hunter is going to have his questions for me on the Washington Capitals. But first, betonline.net is the number one source for all your betting needs and sports info. Find all of the latest sports developments, league reviews, and news, including this year's NHL playoffs.

and Major League Baseball. BetOnline is your continued source for all your sports, wagering information, including betting, esports, and scores. And betonline.net remains the best pot for all your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season. Betonline.net is the fastest and easiest way to check in on all your favorite sports and events, including MMA, boxing and golf. Head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends in action. Bet Online where the game starts. All right. So we are back here on the special crossover episode of Locked on Penguins and Locked on Capitals.

I'm Hunter Hodes. Dan, again, I'll bring this up. Very same things with the Penguins and the Capitals here, four straight first round exits for these teams. The Capitals lost in six hard-fought games, I should say, to the Florida Panthers. In my opinion, I think they gave the blueprint to the Lightning on how to beat the Panthers in that series. the Capitals, I mean, they were, what, 100 seconds away from going up three games to one in that series. I mean, if that, had they won that game, I think they would have won the series. I think Florida would have just been broken at that point. But, you know, there's a lot of interesting things that can happen this summer.

It sounds like at least, you know, obviously the big surge with Baxter, you know, even as a rival fan, no one should have to have their career potentially ended like that, especially someone that's a legend in Washington. is probably one of the five greatest players to ever play for that franchise. You know, I think you're free, I think you have Carl Hagwin as a potential free agent. Justin Schultz is a free agent for Penguin, of course. I've seen rumors that Lars Eller could be on the trade block. I've seen some of the fans that I talk to from back home who really follow the team have been wondering if, you know, John Carlson's going to be on the team next year with that contract.

You know, what do you see the capitals doing this summer? and does it involve potentially getting a new starting goaltender? Absolutely. So that is the one thing that the capitals need to concentrate on. I think that ultimately VTAC Vanichek or Ilya Sam Sanoff will be the number two. And then the capitals will have to go and check the free agent market or trade to get that big name number one netminder. Just because the net minding was the big deficiency this entire season, we kind of knew the issues all season. And Brian McClellan, the GM was all in on it. and we saw what kind of results we had another first round exit.

But my detractors would also say that that tandem also got them to 100 points. So, you know, and if it was in any other division, maybe they would have been in a better position. You know, 100 points isn't ultimately too bad. But consistency was the issue with Vanichek in Sam Sanoff. So that is what they need. They ultimately need that number one netminder. I've got asked quite often who I think they'll go with as the number two. I think it'll be I'll be I'm Sampsonoff.

He was drafted higher. He has a higher ceiling. He's the better athlete. And I think that that's ultimately what they'll do. But I think that, you know, kind of a lot like the penguins, the capitals need to get younger. You talked about Lars Eller. They don't have, you know, the defense core. They need to address that as well.

Just because if you take a look at it, like I said, this is a league that's getting younger and faster. And I think that they need to then address the defense, of course, because every time I bring up and I say, you know, the goal tending was the reason that capitals weren't good this season. and people say, no, it was the defense, Dan. So let's both agree and say that we need to, you know, adjust the defense and the goal tending. But I think that big changes are coming. You brought up Lars Eller and perhaps John Carlson. And of course, if you're going to get that big name player,

you're going to have to give up someone big. You're not going to get that big name player for a fourth line, essentially AHL player. So you're going to have to give up someone big like maybe a John Carlson or maybe a T.J. O'Shee. And you know, when I bring that up, people are like, T.J.O.O.S. And are you crazy?

Yeah, we got to kind of move on from this nucleus. I understand that people have these nostalgic feelings. You know, this is the team that got into the 2018 cup, but we got to move forward. If you want to take a look at a team that did it the right way, take a look at the Rangers. They were kind of horrible there for about a year and a half. But now look at them.

They did, you know, they made it to the playoffs. They didn't win a cup, but they, you know, they looked at what they had on the ice about a year and a half ago, and they said, this isn't working. So it was just like a fire sale. They got rid of most all the players. on their team. Like I say, they had about that year, year and a half that they were poor, but then, you know, they turned it around. So I think that if the capitals could use a blueprint,

something similar to what the New York Rangers had, I think that the future is bright. It's, you know, might be ugly for, you know, maybe a season or two, but that's ultimately what they have to do to get younger. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's definitely a really interesting offseason for them. I mean, I look at their cat friendly at times and there's a lot of long-term deals there. I remember, you know, a lot of people thought T.J. Oshie was going to go to market. You know, he signed that massive extension. You know, it's aged like a fine wine for almost that first half so far. I think it's that back half that could potentially get bad if his production does go down.

You know, I think there are a lot of rumors last year, Dan, that again, because Netsov was going to be on the block. But I don't would say that's probably not going to happen now considering he had a really good balance back here, right? Yeah, I mean, definitely. He had that offseason where he had issues with COVID for one. And then he had some personal issues I don't really want to get into. But he has worked through those. And yeah, I mean, he is a more mature player.

Definitely he was number two on the capitals in goals this season. Ovechkin was number one. Kuznetsoff number two and Wilson number three. So yeah, he has definitely turned the corner there. And I definitely would say, you know, he plays on the top line. He is the number one center for the Washington Capitals. And I'm glad he was able to figure it out. Because to your point, you know, a lot of the beat riders are on the capitals.

area, you know, that season that he was poor, they said they would get rid of them or trade him, but no, you know, no one wants them or, you know, they're not going to give up enough capital to necessitate that trade. So in any case, he was able to turn it around. And I think that, you know, Cousinets off is swinging upwards and has a good trajectory going forward. And I'm glad they did stick with them, especially since Nick Baxter will most likely be out a good chunk of next season. Yeah, yeah, I think if had they had traded him last off season or something like that, you know, this would have been, I think, a lot more of a mess. So, you know, I do agree.

I think the penguins also need to get younger and faster to surround the core if they do are brought back, just like the capitals, you know, do you have a few players in mind that you would like to see them go after a free agency or the trade market even because that's going to heat up here within the next week or so, especially with the draft coming up. Yeah, so, I mean, there's the big names out there, of course. And I think that, you know, you hear the J.T. Miller, you hear Nazim Kadri, you hear Johnny Goodrow. I think any of those guys would ultimately be a good fit for the Washington Capitals, you know, and then I'll put a podcast out and they'll say, well, they'll never come to the Capitals.

And I say, you know, hey, the Washington Capitals have a pedigree of winning. You know, they won a cup in 2018 and it's not like I'm talking about the Phoenix Coyotes, no offense, or the Arizona Coyotes, rather. So I think that, you know, they need to go out there and they need to get those big name players. But, you know, I don't ever want to get a player if they have to, you know, part with a draft pick or something like that. Because a lot of times when you go after these big name players, they want something big in return. And usually that's a top prospect and a draft pick and that kind of thing. And I think that that's what has got the capitals. And I think

to the penguins to a certain extent into the position they are, is that constantly being in win now mode, when now mode comes at a price. And that also means depleting your, um, HL and ECHL affiliate. And I'm all about getting a Nazim Kodry or some of these big names as long as we don't have to give up a big name at the end of the day. Yeah. And I mean, I think they'll have the cap space to do up more than the penguins I think will have at that time.

You know, you can stick back from on LTIR. That's what, I believe, 9.2 million right there. I mean, and when we talk about Afghani Malkin in the first segment, there's your money to give him if you want to really give him that contract or, you know, the total chaos option. if he goes to market, Dan, you know, bringing back Philip Forsberg after all those years with that hilarious trade, that will live in very, just a big memory of it. In my opinion, the worst trade in Capitals history. I mean, like I talked about my podcast, I remember being at work, Twitter went off and they said that the Capitals trade at Philip

Forsburg for Martin E. Ratt and Michaelada, you know, Martin E. Rat scored two goals for the Washington capitals. And if you want to take a look at the stat sheet for Philip Forrex. It's quite impressive. The diamond in the rough in that situation was Michael Lata, who brought some of the intangibles. He was that kind of rough, tough guy, the sandpaper personality. But in any case, a really horrible trade in the history books for the Washington Capitals. Yeah. I remember getting that alert.

I think I was in school at the time. I think I was like a sophomore or somebody like that. And I just looked at it. I was like, wow, they really decided to make that decision. And but lastly, though, Dan, I want to get your thoughts on, you know, this is, I think, a topic that, you know, some of my friends have been discussing and a couple other Capitals fans I know. Peter Lavulette, you know, just completed another season as the Washington Capitals head coach, a couple first-run exits in a row. Do you see him being on the hot seat at all next year or do you see him being the coach for the next several seasons? So it's interesting you bring that up, GM Brian McClellan.

He was asked about Peter Lavillette's job, as he said, I'll keep that between us. So, you know, it's kind of an interesting thing to say, you know, if you were, you know, for sure about your head coach, don't you think you would tell everyone in the media that, you know, his job is safe? So to give that answer that, you know, I'm going to keep that between us staff was a bit of an interesting thing to say. I mean, I think that ultimately Brian McClellan's job might be at risk at some point, especially if they make another first round exit next year. You know, I take a look at the goaltending situation. He knew that was a problem all season and he didn't do anything. about it. I talked to J.J. Regan from NBC Sports, Washington. And one of the things he told me is you think they would have picked up any netminder and hoped they would have caught fire. So I think that,

you know, there's going to be a hot seat for LaVuette and McClellan if they, you know, face another first round exit next year or say they don't even make it to the playoffs. Yeah, that was also going to be probably my last one. Do you foresee the Capitals as a playoff team next year? Even, I mean, I think your answer would be yes, considering how this year played out with how all the eight teams were just well above all the other teams in Eastern Conference. But right now, do you see them as a playoff team again next year? I do. But the first thing that they need to address is that net minding situation,

you know, like I said on my podcast, if we go into next season and it's Vanichek and Samsonoff as the tandem, feel free to bang your head against the wall because, I mean, I think we know where that's going to go. It's going to be rough. And we can talk about depth and netminding. And I'll ask you a little bit about that in the final segment here. I don't think Louis Doming being the goalie in the playoffs was in the script.

But, yeah, I mean, I ultimately think that the Capitals will make it to the playoffs. I think they can make a big push if they pick up a big netminder and shore up the defense and maybe some depth forwards as well. Yeah. So coming up in the final segment, we are going to get into Dan asking me questions about the Penguins this offseason because this is probably the Penguins biggest offseason. probably two decades. I would say at this point, this is a very pivotal moment, I would say, in the franchise history. But before we get to that, from the people who invented healthy and tasty comes the latest gift to your taste buds. You've probably tried the amazing coconut brownie chunk built bar. But guess what? Your friends at Build have given coconut brownie

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You can find Hunter Hodes on Twitter. It's at Hunter Hodes. So in this final segment here, let's talk a little penguins. And the big question for the Pittsburgh Penguins is Latang. Who replaces Latang on the blue line if he does move on? or he leaves the team. 68 points in 78 games. He's only 35 years old.

He was getting 26 to 27 minutes a night. Highest career points season. The asking on him is 7.25 for three years. Talk to us a little bit about Chris Latang. When I listened to the NHL network and I listen to all the big talking heads on the NHL, they say that the Latang guy, he is the one that the Pittsburgh penguins need to lock up. It would be nice to get Malkin and Latang. but if you have to pick the one,

ultimately it has to be Latang, am I right? Yeah, I mean, if you're making me choose between the two, which I would hate to do, it would probably be Latang. He is the priority right now. I said it to open the show. You know, Brian Burke spoke yesterday and said, you know, they're having, you know,

I think more discussions right now with his agent than Malkins. Elliot Friedman was on the Vets Hockey Talk podcast and said when he reported, it was a couple weeks ago when he reported that they were about a million point one point two million apart he believes that shrunk a little bit more so it's all about them coming to the right cap hit but in terms of who replaces him you know dan i mean that's a great question you know there's so many fans in this penguin's fan base that you know come in my mentions or i hear it on sports talk radio well you got to get rid of them he's a turnover machine blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah and it's like okay who is replacing that production that he had this last year crickets people are going to try to tell me John Klingberg. Okay. Go look at what John Klingberg did in Dallas this year. I get he had Rick Bonas as his head coach, who was a very defensive-oriented coach. But at the end of the day, he was in the second percentile for even strength defense.

98% of his peers are better defensively, and people want to get rid of Latang because he sometimes commits a few turnovers. It's just very weird to me. You would probably have to trade for someone to replace Chris Tang. Jacob Chikrin's on the market. You probably don't have the assets to get in. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Matt Dumbah is probably on the market. You may not have the assets to get him. It also doesn't hurt to ask. You know, Klingberg, he's going to probably want seven times seven, eight times eight, something like that on the open market. I would much rather give Latang, you know, his, I've been saying in this on my show for a while, four times eight, five times eight, something like that. And I understand that players definitely, you know, they get worse as they get.

get older. Father time is always undefeated. But, you know, does anything really matter outside of the next three, after the next three years when Cindy Crosby's contract is up? I personally don't think so. So if he still has two years left on that contract, so what? Maybe if the team is not that good, you can flip him to a contender and get a decent return back. But at the very least, you know, he is the best player at, you know, his position on the free agent market right now. You need to be doing everything in your power to keep him based on the momentum that I've been reading and all this stuff. You know, going into this off season, I thought it would be Malkin. That would be signed in Lattang, maybe not.

But I've flipped that now. I think Lattang does get done. The bigger question is what happens with Malkin. Yeah, it's a tough situation. But I think that, you know, Latang would be, I think he would be kind of hard to replace to your point. So let's take a look at the net minding situation for the penguins as well, like I talked about. you know, oftentimes we hear about the number one netminder and the number two. Well, for the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was about the number three netminder.

And I think that having Deming start in the playoffs was not really according to script. Where are the penguins at, according to that, you know, the DeSmith injury that I've read online was kind of more of a core muscle injury. What is the status of DeSmith? And what do you think that the goalie tandem is going to be? for the Pittsburgh Penguins come the fall. I mean, that's a great question. So I definitely think Tristan is going to be the starter. The Penguins believe in him.

If it wasn't for a freak injury that happened from Anders Lee, you know, I do think the penguins win that series against the Rangers. Sure, it's a what if right now, but they were playing well enough under Louis Frick and Deming that I feel like if they had their starter in that, they would have won that fourth game and, you know, five or six games. I don't even think it would have went seven.

Backup-wise, you know, that's where it gets interesting. Josh Yowie of the athletic today said that he doesn't think DeSmith is coming back, but then I read from David Pagnon of the fourth period that the Penguins into Smith are in some negotiations to potentially come back on a cheap deal. So I really have no clue what's going on with that. In my humble opinion, I would move on from him and sign a veteran backup in free agency, an option that may haunt some Capitals fans here, Braden Holpey out of the Dallas Stars.

His contract is up. They just signed Scott Wedgwood today to a cheap two-year deal. deal. He's going to go to market. He's not going to go back there. So on a cheap one or two year deal to be a stopgap option for Jari, that makes a lot of sense for me. You know, Tristan played too much in the first half of the regular season last year. He was obviously gasped by the end of the season. I'm not going to really blame him getting hurt on that, but he was definitely hurt. Well, I just messed up my words. He was definitely feeling it towards the end of the season because DeSmith was struggling in the first half.

And, you know, sure, he found his game a little bit in the second half, but, you know, it was kind of a little too little too late, I should say. Then he played the rest of the season with that awful injury where he just couldn't go anymore in the playoffs. And that's also two years in a row where DeSmith has gotten hurt right when the playoffs starts. So I wouldn't bring back the same tandem three times in a row. I would go out and get a veteran backlip.

And, yeah, it's for Louis DeMing. Great story with all that. that stuff, but he led in some goals during the playoffs that, you know, I, I would like to think a third string goalie at least could still save. Yeah, it was kind of an interesting story. I heard him. He was actually on Steve Cullius's show on the power play on NHL radio. He was interesting.

He was like, you know, I was eating spicy chicken and broccoli before the game. I wasn't even expecting that I was going to go in the game. But, I mean, all things consider, I think, you know, given the situation he was in, he did a pretty good job. Now I've got to ask you about one goalie that should be pretty familiar to you. Mark Andre Fleury is it time to bring him back to the Pittsburgh Penguins? I mean, he's kind of at the end of his career, I would say. I think that that's not a bad idea for the penguins as well.

I think that penguin's blood runs deep. And I think that he would like to maybe finish his career in the Steel City. What are your thoughts on that? I think he definitely would. But my biggest thing is how much is he going to cost? you know the pressure on Tristan if Flurry comes back is going to be through the roof. You know, you have a franchise icon behind you who, let's face it, Dan. Fans would want to see him start most of the games.

Sure. And Tristan, for as good as he played last year, and he was a top 10 goaltender in the league, in my opinion. You know, I don't know if he's going to play at that level if he has a franchise icon right behind him. Sure, he could probably pitch in 30, 35 games, probably more. maybe it's an even even split but it the money would have to make sense you know if it's you know three million and you know i i would kind of say two two point five and i'm not trying to sound disrespectful to flurry because he's he's coming off a massive contract but at this point you know he's not worth anything near that anymore it would have to be i think a very team

friendly deal for the penguins to bring him back and also ron hextall and brian merck and the new ownership they really have no loyalty to him it's mainly just a few of the core players in that locker room that do. So right now, I can't see it. Would it not surprise me? Yes. But I think there's a couple better options out there than Flurry. There's the potential that he goes back to Minnesota, which I would be in favor of. I think he did a solid job there. And I think, you know, he has a good relationship with Billy Garron. It was an interesting move there. They went all in and swung for the fences and got Mark Andre Fleury in Minnesota. And then they had Cam Talbot start, which was always a bit of a head scratcher to me on that one.

So it remains to be seen. It seems like the goaltending situation between both teams is what's going to kind of really bring into focus how they will do. So Hunter, thank you for joining me on this edition of Lockdown Capitals. We'll have to talk again sometime, maybe during the season, maybe a series or a season preview, something like that. But thank you for joining me on this edition here. Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you so much for having me, Dan. I really appreciate it. And thank you for coming on my show as well. We'll definitely have to do a few crossovers during. next season because I'm sure those games are going to be wild, especially if some interesting things happen for both teams during the all season. For sure. All right.

Once again, thank you for joining me on this special crossover edition of Lockdown Capitals and Lockton Penguins. We'll talk to you again next time.