Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Answering the Penguins Jake Guentzel question - trade or keep?

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to be off but the Locked On Penguins podcast is not. Hunter and Pat start the show off with some recent comments by Kyle Dubas on Jake Guentzel and what they mean going forward. They give their takes on the situation and why Jake Guentzel should stay with the team past the deadline, especially if they are still in the race. They look at how a return won't be as good as what fans are hoping it will be, plus how Sidney Crosby would potentially be offended if Guentzel is dealt. After that, they look at how Crosby was snubbed by the Locked On NHL hosts for the Hart Trophy contenders. They make their case for why Sidney Crosby should easily be in everyone's top five even though he may not have the points. They discuss what he has done throughout the season and what he may continue to do before finishing the show with some trade talk. What should be the Penguins' biggest need at the deadline? All that, plus much more is on this edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Jase MedicalEmpower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED when you place a FIVE DOLLAR BET. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to 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) 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.

We got a little bit more clarity on the Jake Gensel situation from Kyle Dubus on Wednesday. Hunter and I are going to discuss that and much more on this edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Your Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back, Penguins fans, to another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp.

joined as always by the one and only, the all star himself, Hunter, Hodes. We thank you for making this your first listen slash watch of the day because we're your team every day. We are free and available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And today's episode is brought to you by Jace Medical. Empower yourself when you purchase a Jace case, providing you with a personal supply of five antibiotics that treat 50 plus infections.

Get yours today at Jacemedical.com and use code locked on to get $20 off your order. that's jasemmedical.com. So, as I said at the top of the show, yesterday we got a little bit more clarity from President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubus about everything surrounding Jake Gensel. Now, you and I have kind of been on the train of there's no need to trade Jake Gensel. They're in a playoff race.

We'll talk about everything surrounding it as well. But Dubus basically confirmed what a lot of us had been thinking over the past couple of weeks as the trade talk surrounding Jake Gensel going into unrestricted free agency has been kicking up. Dubus basically said that it's all speculation. He has not talked to any teams about Jake Gensel. He has not engaged really in any sort of discussions about or surrounding Jake Gensel, including his contract. And he essentially said what he said about this team as a whole about a month and a half ago when he said, I'm going to look at this after the All-Star break,

just like I am with the rest of this team and whether or not they're going to be buyers or sellers come the deadline or however they're going to approach the rest of the season. And hearing that from Kyle Dubus is encouraging to me because Jake Gensel is Jake Gensel. He is one of the best wingers to come through the Penguins organization in the last, what, 20, 30 years? in that time frame.

He's definitely the best winger that Sidney Crosby has ever had outside of Marion Hosa, who they couldn't hold on to after the 2008 run to the Stanley Cup final. And the east is wide open right now, and the penguins are in the thick of a playoff race. As we record this on Thursday afternoon, the penguins are still just one point out of a wildcard spot and only a handful of points out of third in the Metropolitan Division. So if your goal, and it appears to be, is to make the playoffs again, unless you get an absolute godfather offer they cannot refuse for Jake Gensel, you don't get rid of Jake Gensel. So what say you, Hunter?

And you're right. They're not going to get that ridiculous offer for Jake Gensel. This is a player who is going to be a unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. You've seen that type of deal. so many times before, right? Usually it involves a first-round pick, B, some sort of prospect, whether it's a A-level prospect or B-level prospect, and C, sometimes at least, a roster player coming back that's not nearly as good as the player that is going out. Now, I've seen some take some other fan bases saying, oh, we're going to get this guy for pennies on the dollar if he comes on the market. That's not true. I've also seen some takes from fans in the Penguins fan base that think you're just going to get some godlike return.

That's not true either. What you're going to get is a very fine return, but it's not really going to set you up for, I guess, maybe a lot of success next year and a year after. Sure, having the first round pick is cool, but I don't really care about that right now, considering that this team is still in a win now mode. Cool, you get maybe a decent prospect back that's two to three years away, but I don't care about that right now. And then as for the player, potential roster play, that would come back.

The player wouldn't be nearly as good as Jake Gensel. And, oh, yeah, you don't have Jake Gensel anymore. I'll continue to say this. I really don't think he is going to get dealt unless the team is way out of the playoff race. And with the way they've been able to claw their way back into it, they're 10 and 3 and 3 in their last 16 games. I think they will be in the play or on the playoff bubble,

excuse me, by the time the trade deadline comes around in early March. There's four games. until the All-Star break right now. That's where Dubis has kind of said he's going to really evaluate this team. If they can go, you know, three-and-one during this stretch, and that's possible considering the teams that they play. You know, Vegas is banged up. Arizona is all right, but that's a beatable team.

Yeah, Florida coming to town, which is going to be, I think, the hardest of those four, then Montreal the next night. If you can win three of those four or go two and one-in-one, I still think Dubis will be feeling pretty good about this team going into the All-Star break, heading into February, where, again, the schedule is a little spread out a little bit. And I'll say this too. Even if the two sides have a conversation over the All Star Break where maybe Jake goes, for example, hey, I'm not really ready to talk about an extension right now.

Why don't we punt this until, you know, after the season? Even with that, I still think Kyle will lean to keep Gensel because, again, if you're in the race, there's no reason to trade him no matter what. Now, if he does say, hey, I'm not going to sign no matter what. maybe that changes things, you know, a little bit. But I don't think he's going to say that when these two sides reconvene after the All-Star break, February, whatever they do. I just don't see a world right now where it makes sense.

And then you have the Cindy Crosby angle too, telling Cindy Crosby that, oh, yeah, we're going to trade your best winger when you're in the middle of a playoff race trying to get back into the tournament. I mean, what is he going to think about that? He's going to be upset. And I think every player of the core or every top player I should say on this team is going to be upset. So again, just for all those reasons, I really can't see it happening right now. No, I agree with pretty much everything you said.

And let's also keep this in mind too going into next season. As it stands right now, the penguins have $18 million in cap space going into this offseason. And yet the only big free agent they have. have on the books is Jake. That's it. Everybody else is either locked up or the people that are walking aren't that big of a deal. Right. And even the RFAs that you have are not going to be that hard to negotiate with.

It's POJ, who we don't even know if they'll tender them because of the way he's played this year. I imagine they will just to be safe because you don't want to lose them for nothing. And maybe he does turn into something, but we'll see. Valteri Pustin is an RFA. He's been fine, but he hasn't been. become a regular NHLer yet. And then you have Alex Nadelcovic as a UFA, which he's probably going to go get starter money if this keeps up the way it's going.

And then that's really it. And then you look down at the minors and a lot of the guys who are RFAs, Sam Poulan, still don't know what he is. Jonathan Gruden, okay, maybe he turns into something. Alex Nielander, he's 25. It's been, it's almost time for him to decide if he's an HL or an NHeller. You know what he is, I think at this point, to be honest. Yeah. And then you also look at next year's UFA class, this summer's UFA class. It's not exactly star studded. And, you know, people people will say like, okay, maybe you got Sam Reinhardt out there. You've got Tyler Myers. You've got Adam Henrique, Anthony Mantha. There's not a ton of people out there who are really going to be worth going after. I mean, 34 year old Stephen Stamcoast right now is the most notable person on the market.

I'm sorry. I said, Tyler Myers and I just, I laughed in my head there. That was hilarious. That's the thing, though, is you look at the UFAs coming up this summer. Outside of Jake, there's not many. No. And it's not a market where you're going to have guys that are going to be competing to get bigger deals. So if you're the penguins at this point, you probably resign it. And it's going to cost you some money. but here's the other thing. I think Jake Gensel's proven that he is a very good goal score in the national hockey league, one of the better ones in the national hockey.

And if you dig into his stats, which these are just the stats that us lay people have. We're not in front offices. We're not in the NHL. He has better production away from Sid, and he does more to set sit up than sit does to set him up. So the whole narrative that he's a product of Crosby and Crosby alone, is BS. So if you sign him to a longer term deal and then you start realizing,

oh, man, it's time to rebuild in Pittsburgh, you can send them off to a team that's in the middle of contending in three, four years and get a nice return for them, get a nice prospect, get a hall of picks, maybe get a player that can fill a roster spot while you're trying to tank for whatever big pick you're going for. So it's not a bad situation to be. in and I don't think letting him walk is the right idea here. No, I don't think so either. And you've seen Dubus say, or you've heard him say, excuse me, that he has a good relationship with Gensel's agent.

So I think the discussions are probably going to be fine. Maybe that little bit of that is copium sometimes discussions with agents and managers get a little ugly. But with how Dubus's relationship appears to be with Gensel's agent, it looks to be fine. And again, I'm sure they're going to have discussions. after the All-Star break and assuming they go well, which hopefully they do, they'll maybe be making progress on a long-term extension. Now, what does that look like?

Maybe eight times 8.5, 8 times 9. It's going to be somewhere in that area. I don't personally think he gets 8 times 10. I think that's a little rich for Gensel, in my opinion. But somewhere in that 8 to 9 million range is probably the sweet spot for him. And you're right. The people that think he's a product of Cindy Crosby, they don't know what they're talking about. He has great numbers with Hvgeny Malkin, just like he does with Sidney Crosby.

And when he gets hopefully selected to Team USA, whether it's the World Cup of Hockey in a couple of years, or hopefully this league tries to go back to the Olympics, because I would love to see Olympic hockey again for the first time in quite a while. And he gets selected to that, people will see just how good he is away from Sidney Crosby there too. And also keep in mind this. It's a joke and a meme and a cliche. pro hockey players hate moving their stuff, man.

They really do. So there's a good chance that I'm used to Pittsburgh and I've been playing here my whole career. I'm just going to stick right here while I can. And we've seen that trend a lot throughout the league. And lastly, we can keep this in mind too. Kyle Dubis, when he was in Toronto, everybody complains that, oh, he lost those negotiations with the core up there.

But if you look at the contracts he signed those guys too, they weren't rich in actual dollars that you had to pay out to these guys. You had to pay those guys on July 1st because they all signed these contracts with ginormous signing bonuses and their actual salary was not that bad. So if you get to the point in four or five-ish years with Jake Gensel, where you maybe want to get rid of them, they're not going to have to pay the team that he gets sent to a ton of actual dollars. You have to pay him in siding bonuses most likely, but actual dollars won't be that bad.

Agreed. And another thing for just the trade stuff for this year, there's always a chance that the penguins are just any team that makes a trade, you retain on a player, right, to make it work for the other team. If the penguins end up retaining there, then that return goes down a little bit even more. So again, I just don't really see too many positives to moving on from, especially in a situation where the penguins are right now, where they're fighting for their lives.

And hopefully by the time the deadline comes around, they are firmly entrenched in a playoff spot. And speaking to someone who is really helping them get back to the playoffs, that is our captain, Sidney Crosby. And we're going to talk about a little something with him here in the next segment about how he has been a little bit disrespected by some of our colleagues. but first we have to tell you about our sponsor, and that is Jace Medical. I know we come to sports to escape from some of the crazy realities of real life,

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And, you know, we got to go a little cliche sports talk radio here, but we just have to do it because we have been presented with a power ranking from some of our locked-on. NHL friends across the company here. They had to do their mid-season. We did our mid-season power rankings for the top 10 heart trophy candidates, however you want to phrase that. And we're going to put this up here on the screen right now. So take a look if you're watching on YouTube. This is the locked on NHL power rankings of heart trophy candidates.

For those of you that are listening, one, two, and three, Nathan McKinnon from the Colorado Avalanche, Nikita Kucharov from the Tampa Bay Lightning and Connor McDavid at number three from the Edmonton Oilers. Now, for those of you who are watching on YouTube, you can see very clearly sitting at number nine is Sydney Crosby. Now, let's go through a couple of the players here, again, for those who are listening, who are ranked ahead of him. At four, we have Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks. At five, we have Elias Pedersen from the Vancouver Canucks as well. At six, we've got Connor Hellebuck, goaltender for the Winnipeg Jets.

At number seven, Kail McCar, defenseman for the Colorado Avalanche. And at number eight, Artemmy Panarin forward for the New York Rangers. Hunter, I am going to give you the floor because I know you've got some takes on this, my friend. This is a sham. It's a total farce people. But in all seriousness, having Cindy Crosby on their rate, but at number nine, really, I mean, with what he has done, this season, he should be in the top five, in my opinion. And I know he may not have the points that some of these other players have, but he does have 26 goals at the halfway point in the season.

He's on pace for over 50 goals right now, which would be the most goals he scored since the 2009, 2010 season when he did score 50 that year. But he is the main reason why the Penguins are on the playoff bubble right now. This team goes as Sidney Crosby goes. And if we're talking about this, award overall. It's not all about points. It's about most valuable player to your team. And right now, Sidney Crosby deserves to be top five in this list of players. It's funny. I host the locked on NHL National show with Nick Zararis on Thursdays. And we discussed these rankings in detail. I put out my top five ballot this morning. I can throw it out here for you as well, Pat. At number one, I actually had Nikita Kutrov winning it, not because he has the most points, but because

he has been most valuable to his team this year. I think if the Lightning don't have his services this year, they're not even close to being in the playoff bubble right now. After that, I would have Nathan McKinnon. Cindy Crosby would round out my top three. Honestly, you can interchange those two, but I have Cindy Crosby as a finalist and in that top five. And then I have Connor McDavid and Elias Pedersen to round out my top five.

That would be my ballot if I had to submit one today. I don't think McDavid should be in the top three right now. I understand he's always going to be in the first. conversation because he's the best player in the world. But with what these other players have been doing, for example, Kuturav with the season, he's having McKinnon, you have Sid, you have Quinn Hughes and Pederson, who have both been ridiculous for the Canucks this season. I would have McDavid a little further down that lesson, not even have them as a finalist

score right now. But for what Sidney Crosby has done overall, it's insane that he is not top five on this list. he deserves to be in serious consideration for the Hart Trophy. Again, I'm not saying he's going to win it, but he should at the very least be in the top five of everyone's out, if not a finalist for this award, because he has been doing it all over the ice for this team this season,

and it's been tremendous to watch. I know there's a lot of great candidates for this award, but you're telling me Cid's number nine on this list. Come on. That's a little ridiculous to me. Yeah, that's a tad absurd. And the thing I'll say about this, I will, before I get into the reaction to it, is I know there, I don't know if it's still going on, but I know it was for a little while ESPN had an ad campaign that was hockey's new golden age. And I think they're spot on about that. There is so much talent in this league now. I don't ever remember there being this much top tier talent in the National Hockey League. So when I look at this top 10 here, I don't think there's anybody undeserving to be in it except for maybe. Panarin.

Like, I know he's having a great year, and I'm not dissing our pals over at Locked-on Rangers. I just think it's one of those. Panarin should be on there, I would say. I would only remove one player for David Posternak because he's been ridiculous for the Bruins yet again this year. And that team has not much center depth, to be honest. Yeah, and you beat me, you beat me to that.

That's what I was going to say. I would probably swap out Panarin in for Posternak, just because how good he's been. I am very similar to you for my top three where I to have a vote for this. My number one would in fact be Kucharov. You already said it without him. The Lightning are probably not even in a playoff spot at this point, let alone fighting to get into a top three spot in the Atlantic.

I would move Nathan McKinnon out of the top three in place of Crosby. I would probably have Connor McDavid at two, or I would have Quinn Hughes at number two, just because on a on a Vancouver Canucks team that has surprised everybody, he has been the driving force behind it. And then three and four for me would be Crosby and McDavid. McDavid, because even through a rash of early injuries, he has been dominant and been great for that Oilers team,

especially in this resurgence. And then same thing for Cid that we kind of said about Coutcherob. Without Sidney Crosby, this team is not fighting for a playoff spot. They are not only in the basement of the metropolitan, Pollant division, they might even be in the basement of the Eastern Conference. Yeah, they're a bottom 10 team in the league if he is not playing like this this year. I'm not going to go as far as to say they will be a lottery team considering the amount of talent that is on this team.

But I think they will be a bottom 10 team overall if Sid was not doing this. And yeah, I could definitely be talked into putting Quinn Hughes over Pedersen on my ballot just because both have been ridiculous this year. I mean, Quinn News is showing everyone I think why he's a top five defenseman in the league. And Pedersen, I had him on there just because I think people have finally realized just how good he is and how, I mean, he's going to be making quite a bit of money for a long time after this season. I think honestly it's been him and Hughes that have been the driving force for Vancouver's success this year. You could argue either one. It was kind of almost a coin flip for me, but definitely hear what you're saying on that.

And if I don't take Panarin off for Posternock, I probably take Hellebuck off for Posternock. It's really hard for me to put a goalie in the heart trophy conversation, simply because, it's way more of a individual position than everything else. And they have the Vesna. And honestly, I don't know if I would say even Connor Hullabuck has been the best goalie in the league this year. I would probably give that the Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canox. It's close.

I would probably lean towards Hellebuck for the Vesna right now. But it's a pretty close race between him and Demko overall. You know, you have Ingram and Arizona, who's been awesome as well. you know, Swayman in Boston, Allmark 2. There's going to be, the Vesner race should be pretty intriguing this year as well. And I'm sure, you know, the usual Shisterkin, Serocha, and Seroch, will probably wake up in the second half of this evening as well. You just, you know that they're probably going to at least.

But with the, with the second half of the season right here on the horizon, we are going to talk about that in our final segment and what the penguins should be targeting once they get to the trade deadline. Should they remain in the playoff race? We'll talk about that right after this. But first we have to tell you about our next sponsor, and that is Indeed. We're driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all.

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and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash locked on. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. You need indeed. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the Thursday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. One more time,

I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp, joined us always by the illustrious hunter hodies. And we're going to do a little bit of trade talk here as we get closer to the second half of the NHL season for our Pittsburgh Penguins. And this isn't so much we're going to name names or talk about candidates or put our ideas into the NHL 24 trade proposal in franchise mode kind of segment. But we're going to talk more about the state of the penguins and what they're, needs are. So when we, one thing we know for sure what they're not going to need at the deadline, barring any kind of injury, they're not going to eat goaltending. They're good.

They're good in that. Tristan Jari, Alex Ndalkovich, both looking good, both look like viable candidates to possibly take a nice amount of starts as we get into the back half of the season. So that leaves forward and defense. And Hunter, I know you and I may differ on this one. So let you have the reins on this one. Defense are forward. Who should they be targeting?

So of course this all assumes the penguins will buy at the deadline and based on where they are in the playoff race right now and what Caldivus has been saying. I do think they are going to be buyers or there's a better chance they will be buyers compared to sellers. At least that's how I see it. And if they do buy, it's close. I kind of see it as a 1A, 1B situation. I'm going to go forward at the 1A spot, but just by a snitch. And I say that because while yes, this team does need another defenseman to round down, this group, I think they need another forward for the bottom six even more.

Whether that's a third line center or whether that's a winger to put on that line, that provides more of a scoring touch. When you look at the bottom six right now, Drew O'Connor, he's been tremendous these last few weeks. He's been their best point producer down there, at least these last few weeks. He's been great. Lars Eller, he's been really good all season. A lot of his impacts have come in the defensive zone, but he has been able to provide at least some offense down there. Jeff Carter at times.

He's been able to provide some offense and score a couple of clutch goals for the Penguins. Outside of that, you know, Jansen Harkins, okay, fine. But if I'm talking about a playoff roster, I don't really want him as my 11th or 12th, in my opinion. I would rather have them as like my 13th Ford. That's how I see it. Matt Nietto, we'll have to see whenever he comes back. It'll be interesting to see if he gets back in line of considering the competition

for those spots right now. But I still think this bottom six needs one more good goal score that and score on nights where the top players on this team just don't have it. Now, that said, this team also does need a defenseman. And that's where this is going to be, I think, a little bit tricky to get both because this team doesn't have a lot of assets, right? They also don't have a lot of cap space right now. That's the two big things that are really putting like the hamper on getting both of these at the deadline. You're going to have to go dollar and dollar out for at least one move, if not two, if you want to do both. But for a defenseman, you know,

you are set at the top with your three. Eric Carlson, Chris Lattang, and Marcus Pedersen, but I still think they need another difference maker. Now, who that is, I don't know, but I still think they need another guy to round out that group that could potentially play with Carlson or Lattang on the left side because, you know, we wanted it to be Ryan Graves. He's been a bit disappointing.

P.O. Joseph, in a perfect world, he would have been locking down that third line, or third pairing spot, I should say, with Rueel or whoever they want. wanted to put there, but he hasn't been able to do that. I think when John Ludwig is ready to come back, he might be taking POJ spot again. But overall, I do think they need another defenseman, but I just wouldn't have it at my 1A spot, I think.

See, I kind of disagree. I mean, I'm in the same headspace as you where I think it's not a close, it's a very close competition of what they need more of. They definitely need more production out of the bottom six. if they want to go far. However, the thing for me this time of the year is that you look at the defensemen and you know what the bottom six is here with the penguins. They're going to chip in from time to time.

It should be more, but they're still going to chip in from time to time. They are a lot better supplementary players than they were last season. Then you look at the defense and it's a lot of question marks. Ryan Graves has been hugely disappointing. We were looking for a very solid top four this year of some combination of Graves LaTang Carlson-Peterson. And Graves being a disappointment has thrown that into flux. P.O. Joseph has been another disappointment. I don't think he's been horrendous, but like you said, we wanted him to lock down that spot on the third pair and make it his.

And he simply has not been able to. Ryan Shea is an unknown. He's been fine enough. maybe he becomes something, but right now it's not looking like he's going to be anything overly special. I like John Ludwig. I think he brings a physical presence. This team has missed, but unfortunately, he has not been able to stay healthy. The first time, freak accident, rarely ever see that happen.

And then he comes back and gets hurt again. So there's a lot of question marks on this defense right now. Like Chad Ruehiel, but like you said, sixth or seventh defenseman. and that's all he is. And where this defense is right now, the 6th 7th D man and Chad Ruido is a basically a luxury you want to have when you have more solidified players. Now, here's where our entire discussion might be rendered moot.

It is going to be a seller's market this year going to the trade deadline. Because as we record this here on Thursday afternoon, there are nine teams within five points of a playoff spot right now. And there are only seven teams, five or more points out of a playoff spot. So right now, everybody thinks they're in it. Everybody thinks that they are going to make the playoffs. So everybody's going to be looking to add. And that puts your Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets,

in a position where they can sit there and hold out. because everybody's got a bid for what they want. So it's going to be really hard for the penguins right now who are both up against the cap and don't have a lot to move and spare me your takes, compliment section and tweets. No, this doesn't mean you move Jake Gensel because of that. You have to keep Jake Gensel to keep this playoff push going. So it's going to be really difficult for the penguins to find something.

all that said, I like who they have in their front office with Kyle Dubus. He has shown a willingness to get creative. He has shown a willingness to communicate with other general managers. And there is a real chance he is going to do something we aren't going to expect coming up to the deadline because he has often pulled those kind of moves in his time in Toronto. Right. And we'll have more targets at some point here in detail. I mean, we're only at January 18th right now.

The trade deadline is not until early March. So we'll start zeroing in on some trade targets for both forward and defensemen at some point. If I wanted to throw a forward out there from my 1A situation, I think Anthony Duclair from the Sharks makes all the sense in the world. If you wanted to add someone to your bottom six, you can try to play, score a little bit. He would be up there as one of my top targets. I take D'Clair in a heartbeat, man. I've wanted that dude for years.

He would be a good fit for this team. And I know you put Monahan out there for forward defense. Defenseman-wise, I would have to see. I don't really have too many targets at the top of my list right now. And there's also, I don't think, too many defensemen on the market right now also. So we'll have to see what happens with the situation. This will be good to revisit, Pat, say early to mid-February, where some teams that feel like are in it right now maybe take a step back and they're like,

oh, we might have to start thinking about selling. But I agree. I think Dubis, he has shown him a ability to be aggressive during his time as a general manager in Toronto. Remember, he made quite a few trades during the up to the deadline, I should say last year with Maple Leafs. Would not be surprised if he decides to do that here with the Penguins either, even though they don't have a too many assets or be that much cap space.

But he can, as you said, he can get creative if he wants to. He's good at, he's very good at hockey trades. And I know everybody rolls our eyes at that phrase. It literally means a trade where there is not a clear buyer or clear seller. It's two teams that have similar needs. and you just meet them to where you're not just picking up a pending UFA and trading off picks and prospects. It's where maybe you move a player or two off your roster that another team running to the playoffs might need, and they give you a player or two that you need to fill in for your run to the playoffs.

So we will see what he does. I am very interested to see because this team has been trending upward the last month, and they're putting themselves in a good position to Kyle Dubus to make a move for a push to the playoffs. but that's going to do it for the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. We will be back tomorrow to preview the Saturday night game against the Vegas Golden Knights and talk about some other news of the day. But until then, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you for tuning in to the Locked-on Penguins podcast, and we will talk to you tomorrow.