Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Another new Penguin comes into the season with a chip on his shoulder

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

It was Anthony Beauvillier's turn to speak with the media this week and he gave some interesting quotes. The new Pittsburgh Penguins winger detailed how he lowkey was a Penguins fan growing up and how a former Penguin was his role model. He also discussed how he wants to put last year behind him, and it led to Hunter and Pat giving their thoughts on the show. They also detail which line he could start out on before discussing how the Penguins' first month of the season is tough schedule-wise. What record does the team need to have heading into November? Finally, they give out the non big-3 MVP for this past Penguins season. Who do they choose? You'll have to tune in to find out!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.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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.

It was Anthony Bovilliers's turn to speak to the media this week, and he delivered some pretty fascinating quotes. Your Locked-on Penguin, 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 hosts, Huntser Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp.

You can follow him on Twitter. at Sinem for Wet, and you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch today. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, make every moment more. As the playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, Fandle is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right.

There is something for everyone every day all summer long. Visit Fandul.com to get started. So, Pat, we've had Kevin Hayes speak to the media. We've had Matt Grizzlick speak to the media. And now Anthony Beauvillier also spoke to the media this week. And he delivered some quotes that were pretty cool to read. So I actually did not know that he low-key grew up a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, not because of Sidney Crosby, not because of Gennie Malkin,

and not because of Chris LaTang, but because of Mark Andre Fleury, he considers Flurry a big inspiration, a big role model for him. He was a big fan of him growing up. and his first NHL game as a fan was the 2010 Penguins Canadian series that I still want to block out of my memory just because I know the Penguins have had so much success during this era of hockey, but man, I wish they still won that series. I feel bad that Beavillier got to see Fleury in that series just because Fleury did not play well overall in that series. He was rotten in that game seven. And for those that remember, that game seven against the Canadians, that was the final game in Nellon Arena. history. The wonderful arena went out with a little bit of a whimper. But just getting to Lovilliers

quotes here, he said, I just remember cheering the Penguins on. Obviously, I wanted Florida to do well. He was an idol for me and role model for me growing up. So I was always following the penguins pretty closely. And he's also fairly close with Chris Lentang. He hangs out with him each and every summer. They do some skating together. So that was also pretty cool to read. But getting into some of the more quotes, Pat, it seems like just like Matt Grislich and just like Kevin Hayes, this is a very motivated player and he wants to put last season behind him and try to get back to being the player that he was a couple of seasons ago where he was a 15 to 18 goal score in the NHL. Right. And I never thought I would see the day where the Sydney Crosby of Gennie Malkin,

Chris LaTang, Pittsburgh Penguins were kind of like the island of misfit toys. Because you think about those three and everything that they've done, how great of a hockey, a hockey trio, and how great of hockey players they are, you figured this would be, and it was for the longest time, let's not get that twisted, a premier destination for talent in the NHL. We talked about it yesterday.

There has been an incredible amount of talent that has coming in and out of Pittsburgh over the last 20 years, but we're getting to the point now where you have to go bargain hunting just for a multitude of reasons. And I'm right there with you in reading his quotes and listening to the way he spoke,

this is a guy who's motivated. This is a guy who has disappointed the last couple of years compared to the rest of his career. So he's looking to put that in the rearview mirror and prove that he can still play in the NHL. What worries me about this, and we're going to talk about more of this in the second segment with the start of the NHL season for this team,

motivation's great. Motivation's awesome. and you want a hungry team. You want a team that wants to stuff it down your throat that you think that they're dead and buried. But how far does it go? Because I like a lot of the signings from this offseason and the acquisitions for this off season.

In a vacuum, I like them. You know, you look at them individually. Okay, I can see the work. I can see how this would work. I can see how this can work out. But then you look at it as a whole picture and you're like, I don't know. This is a, this is a,

this is a fringe playoff team. So we'll see. But overall, like, I think it's really cool when you get stories like this with Bolivier who's like, hey, you know, I grew up a fan of this team because a guy from my hometown was their franchise goalie. And now I get to put that jersey on. So really cool story. And, you know, I'm excited to see if he bounces back. Stuff like that, I feel like is how a player becomes a fan favorite pretty quickly, especially if that player is able to start producing. And yeah, we'll get to the early portion of the schedule a little bit later. on in the episode and how it's pretty important for the penguins this year, I think compared to other seasons overall. But yeah, it was just nice seeing him also take, you know, some accountability for how last season when he even said this was not an easy season for me last year, especially mentally. He even said it was tough, just getting used to all the different systems, getting used to the different dressing rooms and the different guys and getting to know the cities and all

that. So now he comes to the penguins, a fresh start. He gets to learn this system. And hopefully the only system that he will have to learn this season. the Penguins are in the playoff race towards the trade deadline. If not, obviously, they could move him considering his contract. It's only for one year to a little over $1 million. But a player like this, very much looking for a fresh start.

And we all know he's probably going to be getting third or fourth line minutes. If I had to guess right now, they may start him on the third line. Just because I feel like with no other winger being added, at least right now, Drew O'Connor is going to get the first dibs up with Sidney Crosby and Brian Russ. so that would I think would mean Bovillier playing with Kevin Hayes and maybe someone like a Valtre Pustin. On the surface, I get it just because Bovillier, I think when he's on top of his game is a good finisher saying with Pustin, but can you rely on Bovillier to get even close to the level of play that he had a couple of years ago? That's where I'm still a little bit skeptical just because of how last season went overall and how it just looks like he's going through a downward trajectory for his career.

but of course, Pat, that can all change, you know, with the snap of a finger if he gets back to the level that he's played at before. For sure. And I do think similar to someone like Yessie Poole-Yarvey, you look at Anthony Bavillier and you think, okay, part of the problem for Poole-R-V last year was had the double hip surgery, came in late, spent some time in the HL, was in and out of the lineup, didn't have a training camp, didn't have full familiarity with the organization. Pavilion, admittedly said the same thing about M last season. He just was kind of all over the place and never really got settled in. And you know me, I say this all the time. We forget as prognosticators that these are human beings at the end of the day. Yes, they are elite athletes. Yes, they are handsomely compensated to do something most of us will never, ever get to do.

But at the end of the day, they still are human beings. And if you're moving in and out of different situations, you're not really finding a level of comfortability. It's going to affect your on-ice performance. So if you have him for a full season, a full training camp, maybe he fits in. Now, that's kind of the biggest problem with a lot of the penguins so far this year is that it's a lot of big ifs. It's a lot of if this, this then this, rather than, hey, we know this guy's good. We know this guy's going to fit. we know he's going to be effective.

So putting a lot of hope in a lot of players, but I do think there is something to be said, both for him and the penguins thinking, hey, if I'm in here consistently, things will go well for me. Right. I agree with that. And it's also going to be nice to have him at least on the penguin's side now,

just because of how badly he killed the penguins over the years, especially with the New York Islanders. I mean, in 25 regular season games against the penguins, 10 points against the minute. in the playoffs, Pat, he was basically a point per game player against them during his time with the Islanders. Now, he just needs to do some role reversal and crush the Islanders every time the Penguins play them throughout this season overall.

But that sure would be nice because I'm just, I think I speak for most Penguins fans when I say this, I'm just so friggin tired of the Islanders. Just go away. Go away. I don't need to watch that boring style that they've played for the last several years. It's not as boring as it used to. at least Patrick Waugh has them playing at least a little bit of a little bit better hockey, at least more fun to watch hockey, I should say.

But still, overall, they just have not been fun to watch. And I know it was always Beauvillier, especially Jordan Eberley, that would kill the penguins, Kyle Palmieri, also a penguin killer. And of course, I can't forget Brock Nelson and Andersly, they just love to kill the penguins. But, okay, we don't need to turn this into a whole discussion about the New York Islanders. I think that will do it for this opening segment of today's episode. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss just how important a fast start is for the Penguins, especially when you look at the first month of this season for their schedule overall for the season.

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Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit is only available. to you as customers. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp. So, Pat, when the schedule came out, we did a brief analysis on it, looking at some of the tough stretches for the penguins, some of the easy stretches for this team,

looking at the end of the season, looking at some must-see games in person. And there's quite a few, I think, this year overall. But we've also had the discussion of how this team can get back to the playoffs just because I know deep down for the core, especially, that is their goal because they want to see playoff hockey at least one more time before they retire. But I think in a perfect world, they want to see playoff hockey every year until they retire overall. And for that to happen, they really need to have a good start to this season this year because that October schedule, it's pretty daunting. I mean, you look how it starts. The Rangers the first game. You then go to

Detroit. You go to Toronto. Three games in the first four nights of the season. They then go to Montreal, two nights after their game in Toronto. They come home to play Buffalo. And overall, Pat, they play five games in the span of a week. They then play Carolina before they have that massive road trip to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. They then come home for Mark Andre Fleury's last game in Pittsburgh on October 29th. And they then have the Anaheim Ducks on Halloween.

So you look at this schedule, a lot of really good teams in here. They're going to have to bank points early. if they want to be in the race heading into November, heading into December, and so on and so forth. They really do. It's breaking news here that they have to bang points early, but it especially matters this year just because the schedule to start off is a lot tougher, I feel like this year, compared to recent seasons. Yeah, what hard hitting analysis by us, right?

Got to start strong. Who would have thought? But, you know, it's not, it's very reminiscent of how the season ended down the stretch where they just got no rest and they played a bunch of both playoff and contending teams. I mean, the names you rattled off there to start the season. Rangers, bona fide contender, Detroit Red Wings, they're right back in the playoff mix. Say what you want about the Toronto Maple Leafs on paper. That's a Stanley Cup contender.

Montreal, okay, they're not that good, but they're on the rise. Same thing with Buffalo, not that good, but they're on the rise. Carolina, one of the better teams in the east. Winnipeg, one of the better teams in the West. okay Calgary they're kind of a mess but then you've got the Stanley Cup finalists in the Edminton Oilers and they have one of the best rosters in the NHL and then oh what do you know you hop, skip and jump the very next night to Vancouver a team that is also very good and then you know that the game against Minnesota is going to be an emotional one because that's going

to be Mark Andre Fleury's final game in Pittsburgh and Anaheim not very good but still you look at that you get maybe three, four games out of 13 in the first month that are, I don't want to say guaranteed wins because we don't really know what this team is yet with the bankers. We don't know if they're a playoff contender. We don't know if they're a bottom feeder. We don't know who they are yet. But this is going to be a very, very tough start to the 24, 25 season. And you look at that those first two weeks and you think, okay, they might start the season.

in O and two because the Rangers are very good. I know they play them very well, but that's a coin flip of a game. Detroit, for some reason, they get the yips when they go to Detroit. They don't play well in Detroit. Since they moved from Joe Lewis to Little Caesars, Penguins lost their mojo. Same thing in Toronto. Last two years, the Penguins have gone into Toronto and gotten smacked around and just go look at the results. The Maple Leafs have beat the crap out of them. Montreal, that's another coin flip. They're good up there, but they've also choked away

some very winnable games. Buffalo, they're pretty good in Buffalo. I'll give them that. But the sabres are coming here. The sabres aren't very good. Carolina, they always give Carolina a game. But then you break that down. There's a very real world where they're two and four

after the first two weeks of the season. If that's the case going into Western Canada, this team's behind the eight ball going into the rest of the season. Right. They just can't afford to have a bad, start in those first few games before going to Western Canada. And heck, even for the Sabres, yeah, they usually play them well, Pat. But last year, they lost the season series to Buffalo.

And honestly, they should have won the season series because I felt like they outplayed the Sabres in all three of those games. But Penguins. And those were goaltending games, too, if you remember. That was Tristan, like, because I remember we were on this show after those Buffalo games and we're just screaming almost about Tristan Jari, please make a damn save. and it was also the stretch of, holy crap, if the power play would have scored one goal,

they win this game. So that was a multitude of issues that you hope going into this season get resolved. Yeah, I mean, one of the games, they were up, I believe it was three to one in the third period in Buffalo with less than 14 minutes to go. They blow that game and lose in regulation. Then the other game in Pittsburgh,

I think the Penguins had a couple of goals disallowed overall. And then even that game against the Ducks, you know, the Ducks played them pretty tough. in both games last year, and the Penguins obviously lost the one in Pittsburgh because the power play couldn't score a damn five on three goal with two minutes to go in regulation, and they didn't even get a point out of that game. So there's really not going to be any true, I feel like, easy game for the penguins in the month of October. They're going to have to bring it every single night. Well, and here's the biggest thing that stands out to me, looking at this October schedule,

right? If you can at the very least go into Western Canada three and three, or, you know, three, two and one, or four, two and one, or basically go into Western Canada at or above 500. I think you're okay because you know how daunting this trip is going to be. Winnipeg is still very good. I know that they've gone through some changes, but when you have Connor Hellebuck, you have a chance. He's one of the best goalies in the world for a reason.

You've got to be able to get a win out of Calgary. that's just not a very good hockey team. And then if you can split Edmonton, Vancouver, you're in a good place. So basically, you got to survive the first six games in one way or another. You got to come out 500 or just above. And that's very doable. I know I kind of poo poohed on it and joked that they were going to get crushed. But like, you can see a world where they beat the Rangers.

Or at the very least, they lose the Rangers. They beat the Red Wings. You can see them going into Toronto and stealing a point. point because that team is at a very weird fragile crossroads right now and you got to take advantage of that Montreal, you know Sid likes to put on a show and then Buffalo and Carolina do what you got to do. But if you go 500 or just a little bit above into Western Canada, I think you're okay. Heck, I would even say that for the whole month of October as well. If you're around that 500 mark, especially a little above 500, your top five in the division,

you're not one of the bottom three teams per se. I will take that heading into November when the schedule at least starts to ease up a little bit. Also, towards the end of the season, too, the schedule isn't nearly as hard at the end of the season compared to this past season. So, yeah, if you're around or especially above 500 by the end of October, top five in the Metro, I will definitely take that overall heading into the second month of the season. But you do get a little bit more rest in November than you do in October because you look at it, you know, you start the month on the second against the Canadians at home, then you're off for two days, and you go on a metro road trip, which is like we talked about last week with the travel in miles, you go from the island to Carolina

to D.C., which not that bad of a trip. And then you stay at home for Dallas and then Detroit, and then you just jet right over to Columbus, which again, not a far trip whatsoever. Then you're right back home to play one of the worst teams in the league in San Jose. Then you get a couple days off. Tampa and Jake Gensel come to town, two days off, and then it's a back-to-back. But at home, you've got Winnipeg and then the Utah Hockey Club, which those could be two very winnable games. So if you can, like we said, get out of October at or around 500, you're in this thing. And we know with this Penguins roster where they are and where we want them to go, the most we can ask of them right now is just be in this thing.

I agree with you, but I think that I'll do it for the second segment of today's episode. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to look at who the Penguins' MVP was for this season, not named Sydney Crosby, Afghani Malkin, or Chris Lange. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our next sponsor, and that is Fandall. I love sports. I love them so much that I never want them to stop. But as the playoffs wind down, we get fewer games and the sports aren't sporting like I want them to. But Fandul lets me keep the sports going whenever I want.

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I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Dam. So, Pat, we can't name Crosby, Malkin, or Latang, the MVP. for at least this segment of today's show. But if you're asking who the Penguins MVP was outside of those three players, I'm going to go with Brian Rust. With the way he played 28 goals, 56 points in 62 games, he still had basically a point per game season, even though he missed 20 games overall.

If he were fully healthy, I think he would have scored 35 plus, probably would have had 65 to 70, maybe 70 plus points overall. He was a rock throughout the season. I'm going to go with Brian Russ. You can definitely make an argument for Eric Carlson, but I'm going to go with Brian Rust overall as the Penguins MVP

outside of the Corps three. No, that's a great pick. I know that a lot of people look at Chris Latang as kind of the engine, like the straw that stirs the drink, whatever metaphor you'd like to use when it comes to the Penguins. But you can really say the same for Brian Rust. He is just lunch pale, no nonsense kind of guy. that does all the little things that I think go unappreciated as well as scores a lot of goals.

And I call them the Swiss Army knife all the time. You can put them just about anywhere in the lineup and play him in just about any situation, and he gets it done. So that's a really good pick. I was going to joke in say Colin White was my MVP with a stunning stat line of 11 games played, no goals, no assists, zero points, minus two. But I'm going to kind of go off board. And I'm going to go with Michael Bunting.

And just because I know as a penguin didn't have the best numbers, counting stats, right? He doesn't jump off the page at you. But he brought this team back to life. This team was dead in the water, even before the Jake Gensel trade. Yeah, we talked about it how during the game where he got traded against the capitals, that team played like they were in a funeral home and just had no life. whatsoever. But even prior to that, this team just, they had no jump. They had no edge. They just

didn't have it. They looked like a team that was going through the motions. They were damn near looking like a team that said, you know what? We're not making the playoffs. Let's just get this the hell over with and call it a season and we'll try it again next year. Then Michael Bunting comes in and all of a sudden this team's got some energy. This team's got some swagger. and this team's got some bite. And they were missing that all season long. And while I don't think he's, you know, the best player to come in in the last few years and don't want to totally compare the two because I know they are different,

but it's a lot like Patrick Hornquist. Yeah, James Neal, great goal score. He was the ride or die for Evgeny Malkin, had his off-ice issues, had his disciplinary issues. But once Patrick Hornquist came in, this team's entire mantra, entire aura changed. And on a little bit of a lesser level,

I feel the same with Michael Bunting. There's that word aura that I know has just been being passed around by all the young kids these days. I feel like I see that word every freaking day on social media and I'm just like, okay, I guess that's another word

that all the 14 and 15 year olds are using. All the jazz ears. I would have given it. and it's a bunting, but I just felt like the sample size was still a bit small for me, that I just couldn't give him the MVP just with how Rust played the entire season. I was thinking about Carlson as well, especially with how he ended the season, but I think Rust was just a little more consistent compared to Carlson. I know some people could probably argue, for example,

Nadalkevitz, especially with how he took over from Tristan Jari a bit late in the season, but I'm still going Rust with how he did. but I can definitely see myself giving it to Bunting next year if he's able to take what he did to end the season with the Penguins and do that for a full 82 game season. I think he would easily get into my book if he does that. For sure. And I mean, another player that I, again, you know, obviously we're doing this non-big three. I'm going non-big four. I'm not going to count Carlson.

Fair. Because, you know, too polarizing of a player. And honestly, like, he did pretty much what we on this show expected him to do. So that doesn't really garner you MVP votes when you do your job. But another player, I think, is worth discussing. Maybe not. I don't think he was spectacular, but he played his role. He played it very well.

And I think he brought a very valuable skill set to the team. And that's Lars Ellner. Yeah. He, for what he was asked to do and for what we talked about with him, you know, he'd be better as a fourth line center. And while that does remain true, if your aspirations, of the Stanley Cup, he was a solid third line center for this team. And again, you look at his body of work throughout the season and you go, you know what,

he may not have had very many spectacular nights, but his overall body of work, just a workmanlike attitude. You knew what you were getting every single night. It was just a model of consistency. And on a team that was wildly inconsistent. sometimes you, as our friend Josh Yohe, likes to say, someone who just plays very adult like hockey. I like that one as well.

I could also see the same for maybe someone like Drew O'Connor with the way he broke out last season. I think there's more to come with him. I think DOC, you give him less of an MVP award in more of a most improved award. I like that. Because, yeah, we have high expectations for him because he's played well.

But at the same time, I didn't expect this from him. And if he can take the next step next year, maybe come November, December, we're not talking about getting the top winger for Sid. We're talking about finding some better depth to help this team take the next step. That's a very real possibility, especially if he's able to score 20 plus goals for the Penguins next season. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one. We'll have more of a set schedule for you all next week episodes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And who knows, we might be getting some news next week because

Sydney Crosby's birthday is on Wednesday. Will we get the contract extension news that day? Well, we'll just have to see it because, again, he turns 37 debt day. It seems fitting for them to announce a contract extension for his birthday. So we'll have three new episodes for y'all next week. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday.