Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - An "update" on the Sidney Crosby extension talks with the Penguins...

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

On Friday, we got a slight update to what's going on with Sidney Crosby's extension. Hunter and Patrick discuss Elliotte Friedman's report on 32 Thoughts and how it appears that the ball is in Crosby'...s court and the Penguins are waiting to hear back. They give their thoughts on whether this will get announced before the NHL Media Tour next week or before training camp before switching things to U.S. Hockey Hall of Famers Kevin Stevens and Matt Cullen. They wax poetic about them and how great they were for the Penguins in their own ways before finishing the show with a catch-up on Matt Grzelcyk.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COMto get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 We sort of got another update on the Sydney Crosby contract situation on Friday, and Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp.
Starting point is 00:00:33 You can follow him on Twitter at Cendon Furwet, and you can follow the show's account on Twitter at L.O. Ernstore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by GameTime, down the GameTime app,
Starting point is 00:00:50 create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. So we kind of got an update on the Crosby contract situation today. thanks to Elliot Freeman because 32 thoughts made its big return to the hockey world on Friday with New Coast, Kyle Bukoskis hosting with Elliot Freeman. Yes, Pat and I already missed Jeff Merrick on that show. Try the Ribs. Everyone is a like this thing on that.
Starting point is 00:01:14 But I think Kyle did a great job as a co-host for his first episode, by the way. But Elliot really discussed the situation. There really wasn't too many big updates during the five minutes when he was discussing this. The really only update, I guess, if you want to call it that, was that the Penguins have made Crosby multiple offers throughout the offseason, whether it's a two-year offer, three-year, four-year, he mentioned a five-year offer potentially in there as well. They're kind of just giving him a bunch of options saying, okay, we can give you two-year off here, here's the money for that, we'll give you three years, here's the money for that.
Starting point is 00:01:46 It's really just, it all comes down to how long he wants to keep playing and how long he wants this contract to be. By the sound of it, it sounds like it's very much in Crosby's hand right now. Friedman did say that if he were to make a prediction, he still thinks Crosby's going to go back to the Penguins because he wants to be a penguin for life. But, you know, there was some talk about, you know, where does Crosby see the penguins going?
Starting point is 00:02:05 You know, he's the ultimate winner. He wants to keep winning, all that stuff. And we've discussed that agnizum on the show throughout the off season. Obviously, Crosby very much wants to win. That's been in his DNA ever since he came into the league. But I also will say, I feel like every player in this league wants to win. Crosby has won, basically everything at the NHL level already.
Starting point is 00:02:25 I don't really see him as a quote unquote ring chaser at all. I mean, Pat and I, we could obviously be wrong about that, but just with how long Crosby has been here, we really just don't see him being a ring chaser at this point. We both think this is going to get done. I will say, if this isn't done by the start of training camp, I'll start to get nervous, as I've said a lot over the offseason. And if it's especially not done by the start of October when the season starts,
Starting point is 00:02:50 okay, then we can start having some conversations about what's going to happen around the trade deadline and that kind of stuff. But, you know, there's still time to get this sorted out. Crosby is still not back in Pittsburgh at this point. So I think once he comes back or potentially before the NHL media tour next week, he may want this to be done just so Crosby just isn't asked about this 24-7. Freedman also mentioned that during his pod today. And I've discussed that a lot on the show as well during the offseason.
Starting point is 00:03:17 Do you really think Crosby wants to be asked about this all season long? Oh, hey, when you're signing? What's the update? What's going on here? What's going on with this? I just don't really see him just wanting to be asked about that. But those are just my takeaways from what Friedman had to say, what say you. Yeah, I mean, this is going to be a little bit scatterbrained for me because like you said,
Starting point is 00:03:38 this was not much of an update from Elliott Friedman. And regardless of how anybody feels about insiders and everything like that, Friedman is one of those people who is right way more than he is wrong. so I'm very inclined to trust his reporting. And I want to start with this. We do have to allow for the possibility that he may not come back. He may go somewhere else because Friedman hinted at it. This team is starting the process ever so slowly to prepare for life after the big three.
Starting point is 00:04:20 They are starting to understand that this. This is the twilight of a golden era in penguins hockey. And for all the things Sidney Crosby is, he's not stupid. He can see that. He pays attention to the NHL more than probably most people do. So he has seen what's been going on. And I have no doubts that he's been in communication with Kyle Dubus about everything that the penguins are doing.
Starting point is 00:04:45 And he can probably see the writing on the wall that this team's window to contend is probably long gone. And while I don't see him. him as a ring chaser. He's the, like you said, the ultimate winner. He is one of the most competitive human beings to ever exist. But I don't see him as a guy who becomes a mercenary for a few years. You know how regimented this guy is. You know how dedicated he is to his routine. So it kind of feels like being a ring chaser would be antithetical to everything that he does. The other narrative, I guess, if that's the word you want to use, that I wanted to push.
Starting point is 00:05:23 back against, and I pushed back against it on social media earlier this week, is I saw a lot of people, including SDPN, talk about how there's some parallels to what happened with Stephen Stamcoast in Tampa Bay. Get out of here. That's however. Listen, I can understand making that parallel because it's a franchise player who has brought an unprecedented level of success to a franchise who you expected to be a one jersey player for his career and then he leaves.
Starting point is 00:05:57 There's very much parallels there to be made, but the difference there is, if you remember, we heard next to nothing last summer about Stephen Stamcoast. It just felt like, okay, they're going to figure this out. He's going to be a Tampa Bay Lightning for the rest of his career and he's going to retire there. And then he came out of the blue in training camp with the Lightning and said, they never talked to me. They never reached out to me.
Starting point is 00:06:19 And I'm feeling a little bit disrespectful. That hasn't happened with Sidney Crosby. Now, again, we do have to allow for the possibility that he very well could leave. This could end up being Sidney Crosby somewhere else. But at the end of the day, I think that what Friedman is saying is where we're at. Basically, the Penguins have made him multiple offers, and the biggest difference among them is how long the contract will go, because you don't want to be the last guy at the party.
Starting point is 00:06:49 Even if you're Sidney Crosby face of a franchise, face of the league, You don't want to be the guy who's sitting on the team when they are in the basement and you are providing little to no value for the team because their goal isn't to win. Their goal is to rebuild. So I think at this point, he's pretty much having an internal discussion with him himself, his people, in wondering, okay, how long do I want my career to go? We know our pal Josh, he has heard that he wants to play until he's at least 40, but how much longer does he? you want to play after that. And this isn't just a hockey decision for him. This is a life decision for him. So at the end of the day, I think we'll probably see him sign it before the season begins. But if he doesn't, we'll be ready to have those conversations. Oh, for sure. We will definitely be ready to have
Starting point is 00:07:41 those conversations if he has not signed his contract, either A, by the time training gap opens in a couple weeks, and especially B, by the time the season opens about a month against the New York Rangers. Again, I will be pretty nervous at that point in October if he hasn't signed a contract essential with the Penguins yet. And you hit the nail on the head. This is a very big decision for him just because, you know, he's going to decide, do I want to finish it here with the guys I came up with, especially of getting Malcon, Crystal Tang, or do I want to go to a different situation where maybe I do go to a contender
Starting point is 00:08:15 and finish off the last few years of my career? Again, I don't think that's going to happen. I still very much think he is going to end his career with the first. penguins and it makes sense for everyone involved, I think, for that to happen. But of course, as you said, we do have to allow for at least a slim possibility that he potentially goes elsewhere. I don't think the negotiation. I kind of, I hinted at this a little bit. And I want to, I want people to keep this in mind. One, I don't want this to come off as copium or hopium where I'm saying, no, everything's fine. Don't worry about it. Because as we sit here today on
Starting point is 00:08:46 September 6th, he's still on the last year of his deal. But like I said, We know how regimented and superstitious this guy is. He is locked into routines and you cannot pull him out of them. So if he goes somewhere else, I don't see him being a mercenary where he signs a one-year deal, plays it out, maybe goes somewhere else, signs another one-year deal. If he goes somewhere else, you figure he's going to play there for two to three years because he is such a creature of habit and routine that he's not going to want to have to uproot himself every single April, May, June to go somewhere else. So I think at the end of the day,
Starting point is 00:09:29 like Friedman said, the biggest, I don't even want to say hurdle right now, because it's more of just a decision is how many more years does he want to do this? Right. And I think if you're maybe looking for a small quote unquote comparable to Stephen Stamco's, it's, you know, Stamco's going to a new team for multiple years. I think that comparable makes sense for Crosby, not anything like the negotiations were with Tampa Bay. I mean, that has not been reported at all with the Penguins here. Even Friedman said during the podcast state that the negotiations that he's heard have been totally fine. The penguins are just waiting for Crosby to kind of just give them an answer at this point. And I do think the answer is coming sooner rather than later.
Starting point is 00:10:10 I do think we're going to know one way or another within the next week or two. I'm going to go out on them and say that whether or not this extension is going to happen. But if I had to guess right now, I still think it gets done before training camp. We'll just have to see overall. But that's the latest on the Sydney Crosby situation. We really haven't been talking about it for the last several weeks just because there's really been no news regarding it, considering we were in August for the last 30 days.
Starting point is 00:10:33 But again, that would do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Kevin Stevens and Matt Cullen got very big honors on Thursday as they're going to get inducted into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame. Pat and I are going to discuss that in the second segment. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is eBay Motors. Passion Drive and Patience, the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your
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Starting point is 00:11:19 every time or you get your money back because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to make the car, you're a MVP, and bring home huge wins. Keep your ride or die live at eBaymotors.com, eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit is only available to US customers. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join Mama Coast, Patrick Dam. So, Pat, congratulations to Artie Stevens and Matt Collin becoming the 16th and 17th player or builder with ties to the Penguins organization to be elected to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Starting point is 00:12:00 We'll start with Artie Stevens here, one of the best players in Penguins franchise history, 260 goals, 555 points in 522 regular season games. He also was tremendous in the playoffs for the Penguins in 45 playoff games in 91, 92 for them. 30 goals, 61 points in those games, also led the playoffs and goals with 17 during the 91 run to the Stanley Cup. He's also ninth among American players and playoff goals with 46 and eighth in points with 106. One of the most underrated, underrated, excuse me, American-born players ever. He was such a treat to watch with the puck on his stick. He made so many people look silly every time he was out there.
Starting point is 00:12:45 And a fun fact to everyone out there that's listening or watching. Kevin Stevens, my mom's second favorite player of all time right behind Paul Coffey. Just what a talent he really was. Just watching him on the wing in the top six, he could do stuff that people could only dream about in the NHL. And you had a great tweet about it yesterday, Path, I'll let you cook right now. What was it? If I have said this once, I have said it a million times. Growing up in a hockey family, because I was very much.
Starting point is 00:13:17 in a hockey crazed family. Dad was a coach. Mom was a diehard fan. So I had no hope. I was going to be a hockey guy no matter what happened. And the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup playoff VHS tapes were my favorite movies as a kid. Go ahead and roast me. I don't care. But I say this all the time. Mary Olamyue and Yarmier Yager got me into hockey. Kevin Stevens made me fall in love with hockey. Because just he was the model for late 80s, early 90s, power forward, and he was one of the best. And to our listeners, because I know we got a few who are Rangers fans, my apologies to you, but miss me with the Messia Game 7 guarantee,
Starting point is 00:14:10 because that's one game. You know what Kevin Stevens did in 1991 when the Penguins were down, in the Wales conference final. He came out and said, we're going back to Pittsburgh and we're going to win four straight. We're beating Boston in four straight to go to the Stanley Cup final. And guess what they did? They won four straight to get to the Stanley Cup final. And Kevin Stevens tortured the Bruins in that conference final.
Starting point is 00:14:40 And on another note, he could have been a tragic. story because everybody remembers 1993 when he was in a violent collision, landed directly on his face, had to get horrific reconstructive surgery. It led to a very bad spiral for him where he got involved with drugs and his life went completely south. But he has been able to pull himself up and rebuild his life. And now he's a special assignment. scout with the penguins. In any interview you see with him, especially one most recently with our pal Josh Yohe on his show, this is a guy who is just a tremendous human being.
Starting point is 00:15:30 And he's rebuilt his life. He is atoning for all the things that he got wrong. And as someone who grew up idolizing this guy, wanting to model my game when I was a player after him, because even though, yes, we all know I'm a short king, and have nowhere near that size. The biggest thing Kevin Stevens had was he played his game with zero fear. And that's what I always tried to remember playing hockey. So seeing a guy who was my favorite player growing up, get his life back on track and find
Starting point is 00:16:02 himself in a great position makes me so happy. And there are not many more deserving United States-born players of this honor than Kevin Stevens. I 100% agree. And if you haven't listened or watched that interview that Stevens, just did with Josh Yewie on his podcast, please go ahead and do it. I mean, he just seems like such a down-to-earth great person. And another thing that really stood out to me earlier this year, just because the Penguins have really gotten Stevens more involved the last several years,
Starting point is 00:16:32 Stevens came back to Pittsburgh when Yager was having his number retired. And Yager posted a few things on his Instagram. And just seeing how happy Artie was, being back in Pittsburgh, seeing Yager again, one of his favorite people in the world, he had a smile on his face that entire weekend. And honestly, he really is penguin royalty. He really is. If there's going to be, you know, a hall of honor or a ring of honor for this organization, Stevens deserves to be in there, in my opinion. But just seeing how happy he's been, how just grateful he is and was, especially when Yager came back was a treat. And I'm so happy for him that he's able to get his life back together and just where he is
Starting point is 00:17:22 in life right now because he just seems like a great human overall man. Yeah. He's he's just, it's so good to see. And one of the best players in Penguin's history who does not get nearly the love he deserves. But we would be remiss, Hunter, if we didn't also mention who else is going into.
Starting point is 00:17:42 the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. And that's our team dad from 2016 and 2017, Matt Cullen. It's funny because he is also very deserving of this. He has had a great career, won three Stanley Cups and just been a model human being all the while. And you look at his achievements and you look at the numbers and they don't jump off the page, but he is the definition in the NHL of this is a guy that you win with because is he going to go out and score 30, 40 goals? No, he's going to score 10 to 15. But when it matters, when the lights come on, this dude raises his game. And I really think, I don't think it's a stretch to say, do the penguins win those cups in 16 and 17 without them?
Starting point is 00:18:33 I can make a case, but it would be a lot harder because he was such a good depth player for the penguins in those two years and left such an impression on the franchise that he even leaves for a year and comes back. And everybody was like, yeah, great, Matt Collins back. So another guy who is extremely deserving of going to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. 100%. He was great on the fourth line during the Penguins, especially in those back-to-back cup years. I mean, heck, 15, 16, 16 goals, 32 points.
Starting point is 00:19:04 The next year, 13 goals, 31 points. He comes back in 2018, 19, plays in 71. games, seven goals, 20 points during that season. One of the biggest goals I feel like for the Penguins during that first of the two back-to-backs in 16. Game three against the Rangers in the third period. Remember, the Rangers are up one-nothing late in the second. The Penguins get that tying goal late in that period. And then Cullen breaks the ice in the third period, scores the game winning goal. The Penguins were playing. I felt like fine in that game. Henry Blunkwas was having a really good game.
Starting point is 00:19:38 But once Cullen got that goal, that really ignited the penguins in that game. And really for the rest of the series as well, after Cullen scored that goal, the Rangers really had no shot of winning that series. And the way that he was able to beat Lundquist 5 hole coming down the ice on a little bit of a mini breakaway in the third period to quiet the MSD crowd. That's just one of the more memorable goals that I'll always remember Colin for. Obviously, the one a year later where he's getting hooked down the ice on the penalty kill, at Kevin Chattonkirk, and he still beats Bradenholpey there.
Starting point is 00:20:11 That's also a very iconic goal. But the one that, again, I'll always remember him for, and there's so many moments to remember him for, but the main one I'll always remember him for, Game 3 against the Rangers 2016, that big goal in game 3 to give the Penguins a series lead and a series lead that they would never relinquish for the rest of that series. But I'm super happy for Matt Cullen,
Starting point is 00:20:31 really fun player here when he was here, and also just a great presence in that locker room. you had the core leadership of Sidney Crosby, you had of Ganyi Malk and you had Chris Lathang. Patrick Hornquist, I felt like was also a big leader in that locker room, but everyone always looked to Matt Cullen when they needed, you know, a bit of a spark, a big quote. He was always there to deliver it as long. And heck, even when they were battling, you know, just some tough times during each of those seasons, he would always be there to, you know, calm everyone down and all that stuff. What a career for him. And again, very well deserved for him overall. You always need
Starting point is 00:21:07 on championship teams those role player leaders. And obviously you need the depth production and all that. But you need you know that Sydney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris Latang, Mark Andre Fleury, guys like that, they're going to be your go-toes. You know what you're going to get out of them. You know that in big moments they're going to be there. But you always need your Matt Collins, your Max Talbitts,
Starting point is 00:21:32 your Ruslan Fedotankos, these guys who they're not going to be the superstars, they're not going to steal the show. They're not going to be the one that everybody puts the cameras and microphones in front of. But when the camera and microphone gets in front of them or the big moment happens and they step up, those are the guys you need to win championships. And Matt Cullen is that archetype. 100% man. So congratulations to both Artie Stevens and Matt Cullen for making the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Starting point is 00:22:01 And Pat, that ceremony will be in Pittsburgh on December 4th. That's going to be a lot of fun. overall. But that'll do it for the second second. Coming up in the final segue, we're going to continue our offseason player checkup series and look at Matt Grizzlic and the impact that he can provide the penguins this season. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about game time. Game time has a new feature called Game Time Picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite live events even easier. Game Time Picks filled throughout the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats
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Starting point is 00:23:04 create an account and redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joining by my host, Patrick Dam. So, Pat, continuing with our new Penguin off-season checkup series, we already have done Blake Lazott, we've done Anthony Beauvillier. Now, it's time to do another UFA acquisition on July 1, and that is Matt Grislich. Pat and I both expect him to start the season on the top pairing with Chris Littang. And I think they're looking to get an impact out of them that I think they were expecting out of Ryan Graves this past season, someone who can kind of stabilize Lettang a little bit, take some pressure off him a little bit.
Starting point is 00:23:47 So LeTang doesn't have to do everything when he's out on the ice. I think this will allow Lettang to cook a little bit more, especially in the offensive zone. And Grizzlick can kind of be that, again, that steady partner that kind of takes care of himself in his own zone and someone who kind of tries to play the role that Brian Dumlin played for so long before he ended up leaving. the penguins. So that's the impact that I see Gryslik hopefully making on the Penguins. Obviously, he wasn't that good with the Bruins last year. He didn't really play that often in the playoffs. He was a very good player for a long time during his career. That has kind of changed last year and a half to two years. The Penguins are hoping to get the level that he's been at a lot throughout his career for this year with the team. But I'll be curious to see. I mean,
Starting point is 00:24:28 it's kind of a one-year prove-it deal. They really didn't give him, you know, that much money on the contract. I mean, I definitely could say they could have given that money to someone else on the UFA market, but it's been a couple of months at this point. They made the decision. So we'll just have to see how he plays. But still, Pat, your thoughts on Macris, Rizik and just catching everyone up on the signing and what you expect. I kind of look at last season for him as an aberration more than anything, just because there was so much consistency in the lead up to it. And at the same time, I don't really think he fell off a cliff last year. You know, we could see it in the last year and a half or so with Brian Dumlin
Starting point is 00:25:08 where you could kind of tell that his game was just done in a way. He wasn't the same steady defensive presence he was for all those years with the penguins. With Grizzlic, I kind of also look at it as a numbers game where they had the luxury of they had more depth on defense where they could say, okay, Grizzlick is struggling. We're going to sit him down for a few games. We're going to hold him out. And you look at his body of work in the lead up to last year.
Starting point is 00:25:38 It was very steady. He was very reliable. And I think he's going to get back to that because he's only 30 years old. He doesn't have a ton of mileage on him. He's played a lot of games. He's played 445, but he really got brought on slowly at first. He only played two games in his first season. And then from there, he was pretty much in the lineup consistently for Boston.
Starting point is 00:26:05 And he's only a year removed from his best season where he put up 26 points. So I look at last year and think it was just kind of a perfect storm for him, where Boston had the luxury of being able to sit him down because they had good depth on D. And now he gets a restart, he gets a refresh. And like you said, it's a one year prove it deal. So he really has no choice but to bounce back. Because if the penguins decide that they don't really need to use them or they don't want to bring him back, he's kind of out of luck. So I think that he's going to be a pleasant surprise this year.
Starting point is 00:26:44 Is he going to be the best defenseman they have? No, not at all. But I think you're right. I think he is going to be penciled into that top pair with Chris Latang. And if it goes a similar way it did with Brian Dumlin, I think we're going to see some solid. returns. Yeah, and I mean, I think one of the bigger problems for the Penguins last year that doesn't get talked about enough by, by I think some fans was that they just didn't have another reliable top four defensemen to play on the top pairing with Chris Tsang. I mean, they were
Starting point is 00:27:13 trying it with Ryan Graves. It didn't work out. They tried putting him with Carlson. That especially did not work out. His numbers were way worse with Carlson than they were with Latang. They tried putting P.O. Joseph up there. And while it worked at times, I just didn't really see that as a long-term solution for Chris Latang. So they were kind of trying to fix that this offseason, whether it works or not, we'll have to see, but at least they're trying with a quote unquote veteran presence, someone who's played at a high level before in the NHL. But if they can get at least decent value out of Grizzlik with Letang, and then you
Starting point is 00:27:45 have Pedersen and Carlson doing their thing together, you once again have a pretty decent top four, in my opinion. Even if Grizzly doesn't get back to the, you know, A level that we've seen in play at before in Boston, if he's even at... a fraction of that, maybe like a B level, something like that. I think the penguins will be in fine shape for their top four. And then for the bottom pairing, you know, they can figure that out with Jackson Iveney, Sebastian Ahu, Ryan Graves being sheltered, all that stuff.
Starting point is 00:28:13 So getting that top spot on the left side right is very important. And I can only hope that they did with the signing. And I think a huge part of it as well is they're really hoping for a rehabilitation of Ryan Graves. Right. And should they succeed in that, you basically then have five solid defensemen. And I have said, and I know that this is really just based on nothing but my own thoughts, I do think if they start to shelter Ryan Graves, like it looks like they will to start the
Starting point is 00:28:49 year, I think he could bounce back. It's just a matter of he has to figure out which lane he wants to play in. Does he want to be a steady stay at home guy? Does he want to be a little bit more physical? Pick one and run with it. And I think he'll start to rediscover his game. And if and when that happens, then you pretty much have five solid defensemen and you're in good shape.
Starting point is 00:29:13 And I think Grizzlic, at that point, you could probably make the case that he can go down to a third pairing. But if that doesn't work, I also think Ryan Graves in a sheltered role in the third pair can work pretty well. So overall, like, I look at this signing of Grizzlick and I see way more upside than I do downside. No, I hear you. I think the thing with Graves is how does he start the season? Does he start playing a bit better or do we see more of the same?
Starting point is 00:29:40 I think we're going to find out pretty quickly if last year for him was just an aberration or if this is just fully done at this point. I mean, I kind of lean towards the situation where this might be fully done considering how bad he was last year. but hey, you know, I'd love to be proven wrong. And then if he's not fully done, you can potentially have six, you know, fine defensive because someone like Jackson and Ivany showed a lot of promise at the end of last season, he's going to be battling for that number six spot.
Starting point is 00:30:08 Sebastian Aho, he's a little bit of a veteran. He's played quite a few NHL games. You have him as depth. You know, we could have the makings of at least a potential decent defensive core. Overall, we also have to see what happens with Marcus Pedersen. If he extends with the Penguins member, he's going also going into the final year of his contract this year or two. but that'll do it for this final segment.
Starting point is 00:30:27 Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Monday. Next week will be the final week where we're doing three shows a week before we go back to daily episodes starting September 16th because that's the week where training camp starts and we're pretty excited about it. So with all that said, we'll be back on Monday. Thank you all so much for tuning in. Enjoy NFL Sunday this week.
Starting point is 00:30:51 The Steelers are playing on Sunday. Enjoy it if you're a Steelers fan. If you're a fan of another team, enjoy it as well. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday.

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