Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Answering YOUR mailbag questions on all kinds of Penguins-related content!

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

It's a Mailbag Question kind of day for this Thursday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. To start this episode, Hunter answers all of your mailbag questions, including some on potential trade targets for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He also answers one on how the team would look like right now if Jim Rutherford was still the GM and not Ron Hextall, plus looks at which players could be moved by the deadline to create some cap room for an incoming player. The trend continues in the second segment as he continues to answer mailbag questions, one of which is his favorite alternate jersey that the Penguins have ever worn. He's also asked about more trade targets before he ends the show with some all-star festivities talk and by shouting out Josh Yohe's latest article on Jaromir Jagr. Hunter brings up how Crosby and Ovechkin are going to team up during the skills competition on Friday and how they've been able to overcome their rivalry over the years before looking at when a potential retirement ceremony for Jaromir Jagr will be held. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORKFanDuelMake Every Moment More. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedFANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable 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.

Hope you all like your mailbag questions answer because for today's episode, we are going to get into all of your questions that you asked me today. I believe we got about 10 to 12 to 13 questions total. So that's going to take up the bulk of the show. And we're also going to get into some of the all-star festivities that were announced today, how Cindy Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are going to be teaming up for one of the things in the skills competition and just how their relationship has truly evolved over the years. And we'll also touch on a little on Josh Yoey's article as how, as why. Oh, why. As he wrote about Yarmier Yager today for the athletic, as their athletic top 99 list is counting down.

I think Sydney Chronobie is coming up very soon. But that's all coming up right after this drop. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm of course your host, Hunter Hodes.

I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at Enlarstore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandualsportsbook, the official sportsbook of Locked On. Make every moment more. You can visit fandual.com slash locked on today to get started. So let's get into your mailback questions.

Again, that's going to take up the bulk of today's show. We'll also touch on some of these skills competitions up towards the end. And we'll also do a little small ode to Yarmier-Yer-Yager, as Josh wrote an incredible article. And speaking of Josh, if I've not taken the time to listen to our episode on Wednesday, highly recommend that you do. Josh, as always, brought a lot of great insight. And, you know, he's just a great person to talk to about the payments in general.

So I really hope you guys check that one out. So let's start with Jackson Hollister here. What are your thoughts on Adam Henrique? Would you want him as the third line center? So great question, Jackson. I know, you know, you're always coming in my DMs with, you know, some cat-friendly stuff with potential trades, and I really do appreciate that. But for this, and he is on a bad team this season.

18 goals, 30 points in 49 games. I'm trying to find his shooting percentage here on the his hockey reference page. It looks like it's right around where his career average with. Gorsi percentage, 48%. So that shot attempts his career, he's hovering around 50%. Again, he's playing on a bat. Way, not too much, but the fact that he does have 18 goals already in 49 games. Does Jeff Carter have those kind of numbers as your third line center?

Absolutely not. Heck, even in his last few years on the Ducks, you know, even going back to 2019, 20 when he was 29, 26 goals, 43 points in 71 games. Year after that, 45 games had 12 goals, 21 points. Last year, 19 goals, 42 points this past year, 18 goals, 30 points. So he is about to surpass his goal total from last year, and he only played in 58 games. you know, he's played in 49. So if he stays healthy, there's a chance that he may even get to 30, you know, by the time this season ends.

I don't know about 30, but, you know, definitely 20, 25, something like that. You know, his goals per 60 this season, 1.2, you know, that's a little step up from 1.1 last year. His assist for 60 minutes, 0.8 points per 62. Yeah, that is very, very solid on a duck team. Heck is 5 on 5 points per 60 last year was 2.5. very solid numbers on a bad duck scene. I would be very interested in getting Henrique from the ducks.

I don't know how much he would cost, but I would definitely be looking towards him. I think he carries a pretty reasonable cap hit for the Penguins. They have history trading with the ducks. Obviously, they just traded for Ricardo Raquel at last year's deadline. He makes a lot of sense, in my opinion. Good goal score, good playmaker, solid defensively. I can then one way you can maybe put him on PowerPlay 2.

if you want to and he can replace Carter in that situation. He can also kill penalties. He's always been a pretty underrated player, I thought, throughout his career would really like to see them go after Henry. I think he's going to carry a lot of interest. You know, the price, because the Penguins got for Raquel, but he's a top six winger. I don't think Henrique is a top six center at this point in his career.

So maybe you can get him for, you know, your second round pick again, a star player because you're probably going to have to have money other way. You don't have to trade your second. You can give a third a prospect or something like that. But, you know, I don't think he's going to have to cost, you know, a first rounder or anything like that. I'm just trying to double check the cap friendly for the ducks to make sure if he is a rental for them. If he would be a rental for them. And no, no, he still has, excuse me, he still has two years left at eight.

So, well, I should say, rest of the season. and then next season. So 5.8, you would have to be sending some salary the other way to go get him. You're not going to be fitting that under the cap when you have $20,000 in cap space. So, no, they would have to be,

I think at least one, maybe two contracts in their way, but definitely really interested in him. Sorry for the long-winded answer, Jackson, but really, really like Henrique as a player. Getting to Cam Easton, who, you know, he's come on this show before when I first started.

He's been one of my friends for a very long time. really appreciate you asking this. Cam asked, I'm seeing Elliot Freeman talk about the possibility of Fasher Demko to the Penguins. Who do you think would be some potential targets that make sense for them and what does this say about Charlie's future of the team? Again, great question, Cam.

I touched on this on my Tuesday episode. I really don't think, you know, Josh Joey also touched on this on Wednesday. I don't see them going for Demco. I think if anything, if they go for Demco, it's probably after the summer. I think I don't see them going for Demco. at least this season.

I think maybe that's a summer move you could do. You know, in terms of Jari's future with the team, I do think, and I'm under the assumption that they want to extend him, Ron Hextall is not usually one to engage in contract discussions during the season. I know he did with Jeff Carter, very bad move. Other than that, I really haven't seen him assign too many other players to extensions during a season. I think he is the number one priority because when you do look at the goalie market next season,

it's rough. You know, I believe Frederick Anderson is that. top, one of the top free agents. After that, though, it's not good. So I do think he is the priority to be extended, but, you know, I still want to see him say healthy for the rest of the season. I want to see how he does in the playoffs and the penguins get in. I don't think it says too much about his future of the team, but, you know, if they

were to somehow get Demko, I think it would, you know, show to him that, you know, they don't trust his health. So, again, I don't truly know if they're in it. I know Freeman touched on it in his blog on the podcast with Jeff Merrick, but he also could just be spitball. with that. And then, again, you know, some potential targets camp, you know, Nick Schmaltz, Max Domi, Jackson pointing out Adam Henrique. I think someone has another question about Barbanov. He makes sense from the sharks. My buddy was texting me about Jacob Chikrin, how that could make sense for the

Penguins because Ryan Dumont's contract is coming off the books. Chirkin would make a lot of sense just because they could use more help defensively, but I just don't think the penguins have the assets that Arizona would want in that trade. But, you know, those are just a few names, Cam. that I'm really spitballing for you. Ivan Barbashev. I know Josh Yew mistakeed him for Pavel Buccinevich on Wednesday's show. I didn't get you the first time, which is kind of funny. But, excuse me, you know, those are some of the players that I'm really looking at

in terms of at the deadline coming up. You can put Jonathan Taves in there if you want, but he also 10.5 million. I don't know if you're going to be able to get that. Vladimir Teresank, go Ryan O'Reilly. Or someone else that maybe Ron Hextall is going after that. We don't know about that. He didn't even know that he was going after Ricardo Pell last season. And then last one before the break,

I've always loved, this comes from Logan Crinky. I apologize if I mispronounce your last name. Again, you know, I'm bad with last name sometimes. I know my last name is hard to pronounce. So I apologize if I did mispronounce it. Logan asked, I've always loved Tyler Bertuzing his energy on the forjack. He kind of reminds me of a young Jason Zooker in many ways. What do you think it would cost his to pry him away from Detroit?

Great question. I think Tyler Tyler Bertuzi is very, very interesting. As I pull up his hockey reference page here because I don't have his stats in front of me because I am a absolute bozo. So he's been in the league since 2017. He's only played in 17 games this season,

one goal, five assists during that time. But, you know, he's also been pretty, he's been banked up. The last season, though, we all saw how good of a player he was. 30 goals, 62 points in 60 games, right around a point per game. Before that in 2020,

21 goals, 48 points. And then before that, 21 goals, 47 points during 2018-19. I think he would make sense. He isn't left-wing, so you can put him on the second or third line. His current salary is 5.2, but his cap hit is 4.7. So he's even more affordable. It's funny than Henrique is. That's the funny thing there.

It's just, you know, do they need a left wing more than they need a center? That's what I'm really looking for. You know, it would allow the penguins to have options for that third line. Maybe Brian Russ gets dropped down. Maybe Jason Zilker gets chopped down. But I would also feel bad for Zilker because he's been one of their best consistent wingers this season. I think if anything, he's been honestly a little more consistent than Russ and Gensel had been the show, which is weird to say because Jake is usually their most consistent when you're year and in year out.

But I would say right now that that owner belongs to Jason. You know, you can put him with Crosby if you want, but I think they're a bit hesitant to separate Gensel and Crosby. any of those top three lines work. It would make them deeper, obviously, but I also think, Logan, you're still not solving that third line center issue. I don't really think. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't think he's played a lot of center during his initial career. He's maybe just been a winger. So I think you would still have to go out and get a center in that scenario, but I definitely do like him as a winger for this team. Detroit is probably going to be sellers at the Ciers' deadline. You know, as I look at the standings right now,

I do understand, yes, the Penguins blew a 4-0-0-0 lead to them. about a month ago, but right now the Red Wings, seven points behind the Penguins for that final playout spot. I know the Red Wings even have a game in hand on them, but still, you know, they are probably not going to make the playoffs. There's probably going to be a little bit of a fire sale.

They're really not in the race right now. So Bertuzi could be an option for some teams, including the Penguins, and that would be really interesting to see if they could pry him out of there. So that's my long-winded answer on that. That wraps up this first segment of Mailbag questions. Coming up in the second segment, we got more mailback questions for you all.

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That's FanDwell.com slash locked on. make every moment more more than dole the official sportsbook partner of the NFL and locked on it. All right, I'm back to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host on Rodeys. Follow me on Twitter on Twitter at Hohdi's Foller Haudies, follow the show's Twitter at Elmoremore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So next question, Tyler Kempos asked, how do you think management will clear cap space

to be able to make a move with the deadline? Who might get out to clear someone? Great question there as well, Tyler. I really appreciate you asking that. But, you know, it is no secret. The Penguins barely have any salary cap space right now. If they do make a move, it's probably going to be someone going out the other way, like you saw last year with Thomas Simone and Zach Gaston Reese.

But for this year's one, you know, I'm kind of keeping my eye on Teddy Bluger. I don't really think he's in press management for the last calendar year. I mean, I was told point blank that he was in that original Jeff Petrie trade, but they didn't want to take Pedersen. They wanted Maddleton. And then the Penguins are pretty lucky when it comes out. Matheson's a very good player. Don't even wrong.

Where would this defense be right now? If they traded Pedersen, I think that would have been really bad. But, you know, I look at someone like Teddy Bluger, he could be, I know he doesn't make too much money, but I do think he's something that could be cleared. You know, maybe Caspera Kaepin, if they want to get him a fresh start. I know they just extended him. I know Mike Sullivan is very close with him and, like, you know, he keeps saying, like, I got to be a better coach for him and all that stuff.

But I do think he could be on the radar. You know, it's tough. Tyler, because no one from that top six is going to go anywhere, right? Doubtful, you know, maybe Brock McGinn, but I think Ron, because Ron Hex, I'll just sign him and he's in the second-neur-due's deal. Maybe not. It's not, you know, just Dan Hining go back the other way because he struggled this season. Great question.

You know, I don't have a full answer. Those are names I'm just spitballing to you and all the listeners that could be going the other way. Defensively, you know, in a perfect world, Brian Dumlin, but I think the coaching staff just likes him a lot and so does the management. I know he's probably not going to come back, but I think he would, the chances of him getting traded are a lot lower than him getting resigned. I think that's how I see it. And I think both the chances are both very low. So that's who I'm thinking, those are some of the players right now that I'm thinking that could be moved out, Tyler, in terms of the potential move by the deadline, but maybe Hextall surprises us

and put someone else in there. This is from Friday time. This is a good question. If Jim brother were the GM with this team to start the year, would they be better or worse, assuming he'd have made moves already. Wow. Another very solid question, it's tough because I think he probably would have made one to two moves by now. I don't even think it would be one.

I think it would be two. For God's sake, this guy traded Carl Haglin during a November slump, November, December slump when he said, yeah, I didn't like what I was seeing. I wanted to change up the room. I understand it probably pissed off a lot of people in the locker room, and I think I read for multiple.

you know, sources that were covering the team that were saying like, oh, yeah, you know, the players are really shaking up about it. You know, Patrick Corquist, I think, cried from what I remember. You know, the member of the Penguins tried to reacquire him at the deadline, but couldn't because they were retaining salary. I'll never get over that. But, you know, I think it's a tough question to answer because I think the team would be different right now under gym.

But if this was the team under Jim, say that, I think right now the team would be a bit better because I think he probably would have made a move or two. I think he would have traded out someone that he signed a couple years ago. Like say Brock McGinn, you know, he's never been afraid to move on from his mistakes. Remember, he signed Ryan Reeves. Didn't even last a full season in Pittsburgh before he left. I think Brock McGinn could have definitely been traded by now. Salam Mike Danton, maybe even Brian Dumolin, even though he's been through Helen back here with the Penguins. I think he could, he probably could have traded a lot of players by now because that's just who he is as general manager.

So, you know, I assume in that scenario that they would have made a couple of moves. I do think they probably would be a bit better because I don't think he would be as passive as Hextall has been. That's how I see it. This comes from Jayce. Even though most people look at him in a bad way, even when Hextall makes a trade, are you confident that it will be a good trade, given that most of his more recent trades have been good?

That's the first question. Good question. I appreciate you asking. You know, I will say this about Ron Hanksdon. I am not someone who is a big fan of what he's done for the most part. I think if I were grading him right now, I'd get him a C-minus, being generous, just because that's not great, because he brought the core in McCarver, Kell and Brian Ross back.

But, you know, the last couple of deadlines, he's been good. That original Jeff Carter trade was awesome. Outstanding. He just kept on to him. He just kept him too long. Last year, everyone was saying, oh, Ron Hexel's not going to do anything. Goes out and makes a really good trade for Raquel, brings him back at a nice deal. My kudos.

I will give him kudos to that. So those two deals made me confident that he can get something done. It's just the rest of this body of work outside of bringing back the core is so meh that I'm just, you know, at the same time, you know, I'm skeptical about what? he can do as well if that answers your question. So I'm definitely a little more confident just based on he's going into the deadline because he has made good deadline moves over the last couple of seasons. But no, I'm also someone who thinks that, you know, he's also made a lot of very bad moves.

So I'm just not really sure what to fully expect. And then you also ask, do you think the reason Russ is mostly with line one is because Crosby refers him over Raquel? Funny you asked that. I have heard from a couple of people that are closer to the team than I am, that Crosby loves playing with Rust. Take it with that. How you will. I have heard that. I think that is a main reason why he has been with Russ for a lot of the season. He just likes playing with him. It's no disrespect to Raquel. I know he likes playing with Ricard, but I have just heard that,

you know, in a perfect world, he would rather play with Gensel and Rust, and that's what you've been seeing for a lot of the last handful of weeks now. So, um, that to answer your question, yes. Um, and then R. R. Ravine, Cody asked three names that make a lot of sense money wise to me. Max Comtois, Nico Stern, Tanner, Janot. What are your thoughts on these players? So Comtwa, you know, it's funny you ask me that question. This season, five goals, nine points in 39 games, you know, left winger, but I think can also play all around the lineup.

He's also a player that, you know, in 2020, 2021, 2021, 16 goals, 33 points in 55 games. So he has had a good year. But outside of that, a lot of very men results, Cody, you know, his other career high in goals is six. he also shot he shot 17% that season which is basically almost a career high for him his career shooting percentage is 13

so not too much higher but outside of that high year last couple of years at 8.3% percent 9.4% percent of so regression was always going to happen I just don't see enough production there at least for me but I can understand why people like him

he's very young 24 years old playing on a bad team you can maybe stick him down to the bottom six you know, he'd be outscoring most players down there, including Danton Hinen, even Josh Archibald, but that's also an outlier because Archibald has been hurt for most this season. You know, he'd be outscoring Jeff Carter. So he would be an upgrade in a couple of areas, but, you know, I'm just not really sure that he really moves the needle, I guess, in terms of Genot from the National Predators.

This season, you know, he's playing on a team that, you know, not that good. The Predators have kind of fallen off. five goals, 13 points in 48 games. He actually scored in his last two games for the Predators. I'm getting a text for my buddy here. I thought he was talking about a trade now. I forgot that we're just on the All-Star rate. He's 25 years old.

Another pretty young player last season, 24 goals, 41 points, but also shot 19% last season. He's shooting 6.3%. I think the regression came a little too hard for him. I think that's going to come back up. But also someone that would make sense, he's a pure left winger, but I think can play over the lineup as well. You know, I would be potentially be down to take a flyer on him, Cody. But again, you know, would you put in that center?

Would you put him at left wing? He'd probably be able to outscore most of the players down in the bottom six. But, you know, just, you know, how much are you relying on, you know, can he get close to repeating that production with the penguins, even though the penguins don't have that bit of a bottom six. Neco Serb. Another interesting one, I haven't done too much research on him, but I know he's always been a decent bottom.

I can just, you know, look up how he's been this season on hockey reference here. You know, obviously plays for the San Jose Sharks. 11 goals, 17 points in 43 games, 27 years old. You know, he's actually having a pretty decent year of this season, shooting 15%. That's honestly just a little above his career average, but he's doing on a bad shark's team. I would be down to look into that.

He's a center so he can replace Jeff Carter a lot younger than Carter, has double-digit goals. Again, his shooting percentage isn't that bad. You know, I will be down for that. For sure, I think that one does make sense, at least if you're asking me. Just a couple more to fly through here. From the Black, who would you rather have from Wilkesbury for your third line right now? Alex Neelander or Valteri Pustinet?

That's a great question. I'd probably go Valchari Pustinen because, you know, some people are pretty high on Nealander, and I get it. You know, has the name, obviously, and he's played well down. Wooksbury. But, you know, I think Pustin just has more to offer. I think he has a better shot. I think he's a better defensively. You know, I think he's a better skater than Nielander is. I think I would rather have him up right now than Nielander. No slouching Nielander because he has had a good year in Wilkesbury, but I think I would rather say Pustinan in. From King Clarkie here, for real, though, do you see a world where the penguins end up as sellers pending UFAs like

Zokka and Bruger can likely get you some sort of return? Honestly, Clark, right now I'm going to say no, but if they do flatten out in February we'll come and discuss that because I do think there's a small part of me that does think they could be sellers because that February schedule is pretty nasty man definitely could think that

you know that could be they can sell a little bit if Hexel doesn't think they're a cup contender and then Laura asks why is Iceberg not an all-star game with the other mascots Laura I appreciate the question I really don't know you know maybe he's taking a night he's taking a night vacation, going down to Antarctica or something. But no, I have not heard anything on that.

But really appreciate you asking. And finally, from Allen T. Yoder here, I got two for you. I'm getting a Latang jersey. I'm getting both. But should I get on a winter classic jersey a reverse retro? Oh, reverse retro every time. I like the winter classic jerseys, but I'm doing reverse retro every single time. You're asking me, man. And finally, what's your favorite alternate uniform the penguins have ever worn? Wow. That's a great question. Man, I, that's tough. That is tough. I'm going to probably ruffle a lot of feathers here.

I hate the blue jerseys. Can't stand them. Never liked them. They bring back bad vibes from the 2010s with the concussions on all that. Hate them. Absolutely can't stand them. The best one, though, is probably... I'm going to go the new Pittsburgh diagonal.

Oh, just amazing. or I would even go the black Robo Penguin jersey. Ooh, that thing is, that's tight, man. I love both of those jerse. It's probably a tie between both of those jerseys. They truly wore both of these, you know, as their total home jersey. They bore the one this year as their alternate and then the Black Robo Penguin. But, you know, man, that jersey is good.

Both them were awesome. But really appreciate all of you asking me these questions. I'm going to definitely do another one of these sometime. Coming up with the final segment, we're going to get into some of the all-star festivities and look at Joshiote's article when it comes to Yara Miryager. But before we get into that, if you're looking for a delicious treat but don't want all the fat and calories, then you've got to try a bill part. We just got through the holidays.

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need to wait around to get a box. For years, we've been talking about ordering your billboards at bill.com. But you can actually go get them right now at your local Walmart or Sam's Club. That's right. Head to Walmart right now. Walk to the pharmacy, grab yourself a box of bill bars, do the same thing at Sam's Club, brownie batter and churro, cookies and clean, double chocolate, but all of those amazing flavors at both stores, you can thank me later on those. All right, I'm back here in this episode of the Lockedon Penguins Podcast.

I am your host, Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at Enorcial Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So the All-Star festivities were announced today. And for fastest skater, it's going to be Carrel Caprisov, Dylan Larkar, Chandler, Stievinson, and Andre Stachnikov.

Breakaway Challenge, Roberto Long goes the goalie. It'll be Mitch Marner, David Posternak, Matthew Kachuk, and Ovetian and Crosby, teaming up, which is going to be amazing. Attending Tannen, all goalies plus five women's players. Then we got the splash shot. Crosby, Nathan McKinnon, Miko Ranson, and Kalmikar,

Igor Shusirk, and Adam Fox, and both the Chucks, those will be the ones teaming up. It looks like for that. And then for the breakaway challenge, for the women that will be there, Alex Carpenter, Hillary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnson, Sarah Nurse, contact creators,

Nash, Nassher, Nick the Gold. Goli, Pavel, Barber, Pete Lannis, Kate Van Gate will also be their coach, Jeremy. Some of these people I have no idea who they are. To be honest, I know who Nashir is. He's always on hockey Twitter. So I'm pretty sure as a YouTuber. I'm really excited to see Alex Ovechkin and Sid Teamup.

Loved OV's answer today when he was asked about his friendship with Sid over the years. He's even said, you know, start off a little Rocky. I don't think we really like each other that much, but he said they were able to mature and, you know, he said every time one of them has a milestones, they send each other a text saying congratulations um he even said lately he goes i know sid said a couple milestones come up or he even hit top 15 points all time he said for that i sent him a text you know he said you know we're pretty good friends now and you know it'd be really cool to see

them team up for this it's it's been great to see them really you know just grow into you know not just great players on the ice but just ambassadors for the game off the ice and see them you know it's a it's a rivalry in quotation marks on the ice but you know they are genuinely friends and you know it's really cool to see that to the greatest players of this generation. And then also Josh Joey's article on The Athletic Today, number five in terms of the top 99 players from the athletics version, Yarmir Yager,

I will always love how he tells this story about how Yager saved the Penguins back in 1999. Heck, that was only one and a half years old at the time, so I don't even remember watching that game. But, you know, my mom always told, my mom's always told me where she was with me when she was watching that and how she just went crazy because, you know, she knew there.

There was a chance they could have moved there. you know, Howard Baldwin, you know, didn't have the money to pay the players at that time. Very close to bankruptcy. And that was also the time when Mary Lemieux was gathering up investors to, you know, make a bid to buy the team. And thankfully, he was able to do that. But had the Penguins not won that series against the Devils, and Josh really put this in his article, they got six extra million dollars in revenue, which is massive. Had that not happened, you know, the Penguins may not even be in Pittsburgh today. That's just, you know, always remember, I know there are all people out there that booed yawks.

but always remember had they not one match or he's against the devils, there's a good chance they may not be here. What a, what a player. What a human being. He wants the Penguins to come to Prague for an exhibition match or regular season match so he can drop the puck in the middle of the ice, announce his retirement, sign a one-day contract with the Penguins, and then come back to do a ceremony.

Apparently, Josh Yo, he also reported that they've asked him numerous times here, hey, can you come back in February or April for one of our home games? we would love to retire your number. He said right now he's just not ready yet. He's the general manager. I think he's the owner of a team in the Czech Republic right now. Still kind of playing a little bit. He's just fighting his time.

That's who Yager is. And all I know is I'm going to be there when that jersey gets retired. I am so freaking ready for that. He is going to get a standing ovation unlike he's ever, unlike he's ever seen before in this city. I think there's going to be a lot of tears in people's eyes just because of how many people before my generation of fans, you know, I do the show, I'm 25 years old, I'll be 26 later this year.

You know, I remember nothing from that area of Penga. I was born and raised during the Gen X years, and then obviously the Sydney Crosby, Guinea-Malking Corps, I've gone back and watched so many of the games on YouTube on the early 90s and late 80s and, you know, late 90s and stuff, in early 2000s. And all I got to say is, I'm jealous of all you that got to watch that. Just, I wish I was alive to see that, all that stuff, man,

and then see this. I would feel even more spoiled than I already, am today, but, you know, it's going to be an amazing ceremony. I think it's going to bring him to tears, and it's going to happen soon rather than later. His, I know the Penguins don't retire a lot of jerseys, Mario's up there. Michel Breyer is the other one that's retired up there. They're first great player before Mario came around, but Yager is going to join them very soon, and that's going to be a very special night.

And I'm really good, looking forward to him. Glad he got his flowers today from Josh. as a top five player to ever live, I would have him right now, probably at five or six, if you ask me. I think Ovechkin's probably going to take that spot by the time his career is over, but right now he's at least a top seven player to ever play,

and, you know, someone that should be loved by everyone in this city. I'll say that. But that does it for this episode of Lockdown Penguins podcast. Really appreciate all of you listening. Obviously, I love seeing Nathan McKinnon and Sydney Crosby doing their thing during the All-Star Media Day to Day. They're best friends, and they're going to be probably three sheets to the win. The All-Star Fest TV is on Friday, that is the Skills Competition.

So really looking forward to watching that as well. So again, thank you so much for listening. I'll have another episode for you all on Friday before more episodes next week, and the Penguins will be back. On Monday, we'll be previewing the game against Colorado, and then we'll be recapping that game Tuesday and Wednesday. So, again, thank you so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode for you all on Friday.