Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Are the Penguins finally done with their front office shakeup?

Episode Date: November 6, 2020

There's finally been some more Penguins news and it comes in the form of the front office. Jim Rutherford promoted Patrik Allvin to assistant general manager and Sam Ventura to Director of Hockey Operations. Cam (NotThatFehr) from Penguins Twitter joins the show and helps Hunter break down the moves. Is this a deserved promotion for Allvin? Is Sam Ventura going to have more of a say now with his? And finally, could Ventura be a candidate for GM after Rutherford is done? After they talk about that, they touch on some rumors with the NHL season and if it's feasible to play 4 games a week. After that, they touch on a mailbag segment and continue the player season review with Kris Letang. Why is he so under-appreciated? What should we expect from him next season? Is he the best defenseman in franchise history not named Paul Coffey. All that, plus much more in this latest episode.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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. 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.

Hello, welcome to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show with Twitter at L-O-HenSquare Penguins. I apologize for only two episodes this week. I've just a couple other things come up on Wednesday, Thursday, and Tuesday. But, you know, we'll be going to three episodes a week for the remainder of the month, so I apologize on that. We do have a special guest for the podcast today.

He's been on his podcast, though, a number of times. So, I mean, it's not really a special guest at all. Cameron Easton, he also started his own podcast. So be sure to check that out. Cam, how are you doing today, buddy? Not a special guest. What an interest. No, I'm doing good.

Yeah, just starting the podcast with my buddy Garrett. It's called Real Time with Big Time. Yeah, check that out, everyone. Yeah, we have one episode out, and we're going to start rolling some more episodes out here soon. Yes, I can't. And we're going to have you as a guest, too, so I can't wait for that. That would be perfect.

Yes, I cannot recommend that enough. They're really good football talk, going to win some hockey as well. Just so everyone knows for next week, we are going to be having Rob Rossi on from the athletic at some point. We still haven't gotten down the date yet, but he will be coming on. We'll be asking him about how he views the all season for the penguins, you know, what his thoughts were on the moves and just a whole bunch of other stuff.

So I thought I would let you guys know about that. But, you know, as for Penguins news this weekend, we did have a little bit to talk about, and that is, you know, I think the Penguins are finally done with their front office moves. They promoted Patrick Alvin, who I think was the director of amateur scouting for a few years, to assistant general manager. Rutherford said he's been a lot of contributions during his 14 years here in Pittsburgh. He's proven to be a valuable asset. We've been impressed with his hockey knowledge and work ethic, and I look forward to working more closely with him. Also, Cam, San Ventura, not an assistant general manager anymore, but he will resume the role of director of hockey operations and the director of hockey research.

So even though he is not an AGM, this is still a promoting. motion for him. What are your thoughts on these two moves? Yeah, you know, I, I, there's, we knew, we knew coming into this off season, there was going to be a shuffle in the front office. And, um, personally, I think, I like the moves. It's kind of interesting that, um, Alvin, uh, is that, is that how he pronounces? Yeah, I think it is. Yeah. It's, it's kind of weird spelling for me, but, um, but he broke into the, uh, ranks as a European scout for the Canadians, which I kind of find interesting because if you, look at Jim Rutherford's track record with his recent draft picks. He typically drafts European players mostly, especially with this past draft.

He was drafting, I don't know, not all of them were European, but a good majority of them were. Yeah, I mean, they definitely have stockpiled a lot of the players from Europe. It looks like also with this move, I was reading an article from Seth Rolbaugh. I mean, I think he talked to Jim Rutherberg. There will be no further changes to the front office on the horizon. We saw the Dale Talon rumors from a week and a half ago, a week and a half, I think two weeks ago from Rob Rossi. I'll actually ask him about that on the podcast next week.

It looks like they're dodging a bullet there. I mean, I know the N-Shull concluded their investigation about the no-racism thing. But, you know, even despite that, the dude's a terrible general manager, sucks in the hockey operations department. You know, the fact that the penguins are moving away from that. If so, great news. Yeah, that's just an area. I don't think you want to, you know, get close to.

And I think it's smart for the penguins not to hire him. And, you know, I like to move here that they made. So it's just going to be interesting how all these moves transpire. Yeah, I agree with you. And, you know, another thing with the Dale Talent thing, I mean, I've talked about this on the podcast before Cam. Why the hell would you hire him when you just hired Trevor Bailey? So, I mean, that would make absolutely no sense. And I know.

And I haven't been on since that. But the Trevor Daly move was out of left field for me, and I'm sure a lot of Penguin fans. But I do like the move. I think that, you know, he brought a sense of a great leadership to the team during the cup runs, and I'm sure he'll have success in the front office. Yeah, I'm excited to see what his role exactly is going to be. I think he's mainly going to be assisting Jim Rutherford in, like, player evaluations, also watching the team up from afar.

So I am curious to see, you know, what kind of input he had. just adds, you know, to the front office in Jim Rutherford. But, you know, just the big news, you know, I know Alvin was promoted, but, you know, now that Ventura gets another promotion, you can tell the organization really likes him. And buddy, I mean, I think when Jim Rutherford is either fired, resigns, quits, whatever word you want to call it, I really do think Sam is going to get an interview for the GM position, and it would not surprise me if he's hired because of the fact that he's just gone up in the organization so fast these last few years, I think that's telling to me, and I think they may want to shift to, you know, someone younger when they give

the keys to, you know, someone else full time after Jim Rutherford retires. Oh, for sure. And if you look back at, you know, right after the cup wins, I think a lot of us thought possibly Jim Rutherford would retire and we would have seen Borderelli or Bill Gairn take over for Jim Rutherford. And, you know, they all went their separate ways. But you're right, Ventura has moved up the ranks quite fast. And I think he'd be more than capable of the job if that were, you know, to come up for the penguins. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, obviously, he brings a very analytically minded. I mean, that's the reason why he was hired here in the first place.

He's the director of hockey research before getting the promotion, reported right to Jason Carmanos, who was the assistant general manager before let go for reasons that I don't know if we'll ever find out. It seems sketchy that when he was fired that Jim Rutherford would not go. into it seemed it was definitely a bit fishy but you know he reported right to him and carmenos was i think the big analytics guy but you know in this role for sam i mean he's still going to be doing analytics and stuff but i think there was a quote from jim ruthford i'm trying to find it here um i think i was on this article i think he's going to be also working with a salary cap with alvin i think he's going to be reporting right to him so i'm excited to

see what he does in that new position i'm really hoping that sam now he gets more of a say because we all know Jim Rutherford likes to do his own thing, and he'll just probably go against people. But, I mean, now that Sam is the director of hockey operations, you know, I got to think that has more meaning to it. Well, and Jim Rutherford hasn't typically gone the analytic route with some of his moves, as the past moves have shown. So I'm sure Sam's analytics will maybe change Jim Rutherford's perspective on things,

hopefully because we don't want another Jack Johnson so yeah well they signed Cody Cici and he's still there but luckily it's only for a year but hey maybe we should have got

got Trevor Daly for one more year but yeah I mean Trevor Daly probably had a how old is he now is he even 40 years old yet I actually have no idea but he's definitely in his late 30s right Cam do you know how old is? Yeah he's 37 oh okay yeah I'll take 37 year old Trevor Daly

over 26-year-old Cody Cicester, or however how old Cody Cic is at this point. But I did finally find the quote. Because Eric Hiesley, I think, is going to be resuming the role as the general manager down at Wilkesbury. So Rutherford said, Ventura and Easley, they'll take on more duties, being responsible for the salary cap and budget and contract

and things like that, which they've been involved with, but it wasn't ultimately their responsibility. So more responsibility for them. I like how this has played out. So I like that Sam is going to be really tight with the cap now. He can still do his analytic stuff. But the fact that he's taking on more responsibility doing new stuff for the hockey operations.

This can only mean, like, just good things to come with him in the future. And I do really hope that he is in consideration for when the Penguin's general manager job comes up at some point. I agree. And I think Jim Rutherford has a bunch, had a bunch of yes men around him. And I think that kind of, I think, you know, ownership's all that. And I think that's why you're seeing these kinds of moves right now. Yeah.

I 100% agree with you on that. Keep going. Oh, no. I mean, yeah. I'm not mad at these moves. I wouldn't say I'm very happy, but I think they're heading in the right direction. Yeah, I mean, I don't mind Carmelo's being let go.

You know, there's some wild takes out there about, you know, this could be mandated for Mario. I don't know if I buy that now. You know, I bought it a little bit at the time, but then, you know, they didn't hire Dale Town, so thank God for that. You know, I've really talked about that enough on this podcast. You know, but what else is Rob.

Hey, not as much as Jack Johnson, so you're good. Good thing I don't have to talk about him anymore. You know, I'm sure everyone that listens to this podcast, or if you listen to the first time, you know, people just get very tired of Jack Johnson very quickly. So I'm sorry I had to talk about him and just... It's over. We're done.

Yeah, it's... I had to bring it up, you know, so, no. We'll bring it up when they face the Rangers. Or next year, I should say. We'll get to talk about how bad he is for them. So that's awesome. But before we get to our next segment, Cam, it's time to talk about Bilko.

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There's an offer. You can go to Bilko.com and use promo code log. and we'll get 20% off your next order. That's promo code locked for 20% off at bilco.com. Let's go. So, Kim, we have no idea when this next season is going to start, and we did get the NBA news yesterday that they're going to be starting their season

on December 22nd. So right before Christmas, I think it's a 70-game season or something like that. So they're going to be starting before the NHL. I love the league that they actually know when they're going to start, and they actually figured it out, well, you actually never could do that. But David Pagnano went on Sportsnet 650 today, talked about potential restart stuff.

He says, the NHL is definitely keeping an eye on the NBA. I was told yesterday the NHL is absolutely looking at starting the 2021 season on around January 1st with camps beginning in mid-December. It all depends on what Canada does with their restrictions. And then the last thing he said, which I felt was ridiculous. If they start January 1st, they can fit in an 82 game schedule with four games per week. Can, when you hear that, that sounds kind of ridiculous, doesn't it?

That's a little rough. you know, just quickly, it's shout out to, you know, all the people fighting cancer and, you know, the cancer survivors right now. It's kind of eerie right now with it being hockey fights cancer month and usually hockey's being played right now. So it's very weird not having hockey right now. And to have that tough of a schedule from January 1st on and 82 games, that's going to be a tough, tough. task for a lot of players and it's going to be a rough stretch for uh for for possibly the playoffs as well yeah no definitely and just like i mean four games out of seven days a week i mean what are you gonna have two back-to-backs or something like that i mean not two back-to-backs but i mean you have a

back-to-back game and then you have an off-day then another game and then off-dade and then another game i mean that's just that's ridiculous to me i mean you can't fit an 82 game schedule and the NBA isn't even doing an 82 game schedule i don't think and the big thing you have to remember is if you start on January 1st, you have to end your season before mid-July. The Olympics start in mid-July next year. I mean, COVID-pending. And they're not going to be having the games on NBC. And NBC is definitely not going to want to have that.

So they're probably going to want to have the cup handed out by early July at the latest. Hopefully mid-June like normal. But, I mean, there's also potential that it could be pushed back to February. There's been a lot of talk about that. I don't really think it's going to start on January 1st. I think we're looking more at a February 1st. restart and you're looking at a more condensed season, maybe 50, 60 games or something like that, and then just the playoffs like normal.

But, you know, I don't think they're going to get an 82 games, man. There's just no way. Yeah, key words there is COVID pending, you know, and you look at the NFL and how they've handled it. I think they've handled it pretty good. I mean, some teams haven't followed the protocol as well as others. But for the most part, they've, I mean, they've done them a remarkable job without a bubble. and the question is for the NHL, you know,

are they going to head down that same route of a bubble? I would hope not because that is a lot of the players were not liking that, especially in the NBA too. There was the players talking about being in the Walt Disney World. And did you see the article on ESPN from Greg Wigzynski and Emily Kaplan? I think they talked to a bunch of anonymous NHL players about the bubble life. And it was rough. I don't know if you read it, but it was something else.

And I get, there's a lot of people that are like, oh, they're athletes, they get paid a lot of money. But, you know, these are human beings and it's time away from their family and loved ones. And it's a huge commitment. And, yeah, I mean, the 82 game season to me personally is just, it's not attainable. And in the scenario of the timeline of, from January 1st, and then you got possibly, possibly the Olympics in the summer. And, you know, my greatest fear is injuries. I mean, two different sports, again, with the NFL and the NHL,

but you saw a lot of players in the NFL get, you're seeing a lot more injuries with there, no being, no training camp. And so it's going to be interesting to see the injuries that happened. And hopefully there aren't any, but. I think health is a major priority for the NHL. Yeah, I was about to say that too. I'm glad you brought that up. I don't want my superstar players, of course,

Cid Gino, Jake Gensel, Chris LaTang, who we're going to get to in the next segment. You know, Jason Zucker, who's from the great state of Minnesota, you know, I don't need them to just, you know, be hurt three months into the season. So it's just too much for me. You play four games a week. You've got to cut it down from that. That's a grind.

Four games a week is a grind. And, you know, with the qualifying rounds, the Penguins saw the benefactor of COVID, unfortunately, with that time off. And they got Jake Gensel back. And a lot of people healed up. There's going to be no time to heal for these players. I mean, there's going to be a lot of bumps and bruises heading to the playoffs. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're going to have players playing through way too many injuries.

I mean, you saw the list with the Dallas Stars after the Stanley Cup final. it was like they had just played like a full year's worth of hockey with getting right and they had that time off too so it's like you know it's it's going to be it's going to be a huge challenge if they try to do the 82 games and then i mean you know they're obviously not going to do the bubble they're going to have the arenas i mean what are you going to do with the realignment are you going to have fans in your stadiums we've seen the NFL is starting to do it with i mean the Steelers of course in Pittsburgh i think only have 5500 fans a game you know some other NFL stadiums have more you know know that's debatable. But then again, if you think about it with the NFL, some of them being outdoors too. Yep. I mean, this is outdoors. You got socially distance even harder. I just, there's a lot of challenges here.

As much as I miss my team, you know, I don't see some of these teams allowing fans this next season. I agree. And I think that's a great precautionary, you know, issue to take that. take that action, you know? Yeah, I 100% agree with you on that. And it's just, there's just, there's a lot of challenges that are faced in the way of the NHL here. So they're going to have to figure it out at some point.

Cam, before we do get to the next segment, when we talk about Chris LaTang, there was a listener question here for a little, just a mailback question. Cam, what's your favorite outdoor game jersey if you could pick one? I think, you know, his, he says, Al M.T. Yoters, his is between the 2008 winner classic. And despite the results, the stadium series versus the Flyers. in the 2014 one versus Chicago where they both lost. Honestly, I think mine is the 2008-1-2.

I can't say that 27, that 20... What year did they play the... I think it was like 2018 in the... No, it was 2019 in the stadium series. I'm like mixing up on. Right, they did 2017. Yeah, because I remember Ron Hadesie was in the Heinzfield one.

Yeah, I like the 2017 ones. Those were nice. Those were good, but... But the ones after that, And the 2014 ones, they stunk too. But if I had to say, I'd probably go lean towards the 2008 one with the 2017 one just behind it. Yeah, I like the 2008 ones. I mean, there's such, there's the rich history with it, you know, with, with Crosby's shootout goal.

But, you know, I know a lot of people don't like them, but the Navy blue ones where they wore against the caps. I like them personally. Oh, God. Mark Andre Fleury won, you know. I can't. I can't with these three games. But no, but no, but I don't like wearing it, obviously, with Florebion, but the jersey itself, because it brings that bad memory of Crosby's concussion and, you know, the injury history. So that jersey, I know a lot of people don't like it because of how it looks, but there's also just that, you know, the history of Crosby.

And that was something I don't like to think about. So, but I do like the jersey itself, though. Yeah, I hear you. I just, I can't let that jersey. I know. New Ors are just so bad. It looks like they're getting a knockoff of the Pittsburgh diagonal one, except it's going to be in the opposite freaking color,

so it's just going to be an insult to Snoop Dog. I just, I love Pittsburgh. I wish they brought back the retro bird from the late 90s. I want the rollo coming back at some point, man. It's just, please, give it back. Yeah. But, yeah, but anyways, you know, before we get carried out. I can spend a whole episode talking about jerseys in this franchise with you.

But in the next segment, we will be to continue in our player season reviews, and this time it will be the Man, the Myth, the Legend, Chris LaTang, so stay tuned for that. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast here. So, like I said, continuing our player season and review, we get to Chris LaTang, who was just a rock again for this penguin's team this past season. He is just nothing short of extraordinary cam, just drove possession again in almost a 52% rate. his goals 4 percentage is around 51%. Expected goals against, 45%. His expected goals when he's on the ice around 52%.

You know, his scoring chances 4 versus his scoring chances against are just so far in the positive, you know, 537 versus 4088. You know, his high danger chances well above league average as usual, you know, high danger goals 4 versus goals against. He's in the plus side for that. Just another great season, I think, for him. And, you know, for the people that like to hate on Chris LaTang and the Sandbase, the guy had 15 goals and 44 points in 61 games this past season also.

You people are weird. This is the best defenseman in franchise history, except for Paul Coffey. I will die on that hill. I know we've had Gronchar come through, Larry Murphy, Ulf Samuelson, a bunch of others. But, you know, outside of Paul Coffey, you know, this is the one that's been here, the longest. He has basically almost all the Penguins' defensive records for points for defensemen and all that. And, you know, sometimes he can be maddening on the ice with turnovers, but, you know, I'd rather have someone that can take risks and moves the puck up the ice and elite rate than someone who sucks in moving the puck up the ice, like, you know, a certain someone who's on the team last season.

Wow, Hunter, you sound like you should just start your own latang cold or something. I know, I know. I go after Penguins Chronicles all the time, but, you know, he's the anti-Penguins Latangold here. So, hey, I mean, there are times where, you know, there's a, there's a couple turnovers that are questionable. But, I mean, that, that is just, I don't, I don't take a knock to Crystal Teng for that because he is, you take Crystal Teng out of that lineup and it's tough for the Penguins to win games. He is a difference maker on that back end. Yeah, I mean, and he's, I know he's getting up there in the age. He's 33 right now, but, I mean, this is still a player.

I mean, he, the season before this had 16 goals. 56 points in 65 games. I mean, he's had three consecutive seasons now are basically 45 points or more, you know, two of the last three, over 51 points or more. I mean, this is still, you know, I've always said when he's doing his thing,

he's a top 10 defenseman in this league. I don't really think that's a hot take. I mean, I'd even go as far to say, you know, when he's really on top of his game, there's not five defensemen in this league better than the, you know, that might be a little bit of a homer take there. But, I mean...

No, I mean, when he is on his game, and especially when he was in his prime, And he wasn't really getting the respect around the league from the main media, you know? I mean, it's, there was some, I forgot which year it was where he was just playing just amazing. And it's, it's crazy that he doesn't have a Norris trophy, to be quite honest with you, because he is just, I feel like the Malkin and Crosby factor kind of overlooks his defensive play and how those two kind of carry the team. but Crystal Teng is a crucial part of this team and he will be for this next upcoming season. Yeah, and you're right, man.

I've always said that too. It's nuts that he doesn't have a Norris trophy. He finished third in the Norris in 2012-13 with 38 points and 35 games. His best season of his career, though, he had that almost point-per-game year when Sullivan first came on to the team, 16 goals, 67.71 games. Oh, yeah, Cam, that's the only out of fourth for a Norris vote. He didn't even get as a finalist that year, and he was basically a point-per-game player, which is just ridiculous.

And also, yeah, and players like Brent Burns were getting, you know, getting all the attention. And then when it came to the Stanley Cup final, it was Crystal Tang, who was the true hero.

That was the best hockey ever seen him play. That run by him, you know, especially in game six against San Jose, easily the best game I've ever seen him play. He was all over the ice. I mean,

and nobody really talked about Crystal Tang, that whole entire playoffs. It was really all about Crosby, Phil Kessel, and, you know, just the HBK line in general, to be honest. Yeah, the HBK line.

And Crystal Teng wasn't even really that thought of, you know? Yeah, I mean, I think people had him on their cons might ballots, but, you know, it was after Cid and Kessel, and then I think Nick Benoit was on there too. But, you know, if people would have given the consmite to Chris LaTang, I don't think anyone would have batten an eye to it. You know, he was just that good.

He was so good this past season. You know, there's just a lot of weird takes from the Penguins fan base on Penguins. one's Twitter about this guy. And I've never really understood it. You know, I think when he eventually retires, people aren't going to realize just how good they had it when he was here. But, you know, I'm expecting another big year from him.

He's going to be paired next to Brian Dumlin, which is one of the better top pairings in the league. And, you know, another fully healthy season from him. He's going to continue to put up goals, continue to drive possession, and, you know, the underlying numbers for him are just going to look awesome. Yeah, I think we're approaching, I mean, especially with Sid and Gino, you know, you're approaching these upper 30s and the later part of their careers where

people are waiting for that drop in play and I'm I read the Twitter criticism and I'm a lot of people want to move on from Crystal Tang in that contract but I totally disagree I think he is just he is a crucial part of this team and he will be for these next couple of season I think yeah absolutely I mean especially as now that The team really only has like two to three years left of contending before, since, you know, really get old, like 36, 37, something like that.

I mean, they'll still be high-level players, but. They'll be skating with walkers out there. Yeah. That will truly be the day. But, Cam, do you have anything else to add before we call it an episode? No. Thanks for having me again. I really appreciate it.

It's just weird not having hockey, but that's the world we live, crazy world we live in. Yeah, well, at least we get the stewers. Guys, remember, please watch the Steelers this weekend. If you guys are big Steelers fans, they're going up against your local Denny's worker quarterback, who I don't even know who it is. Cody Walker. It's an unknown guy. So I can tell you that. It's your local Denny's worker.

But hey, hey, I will say this quick hot take, these are the kind of teams that the Steelers typically play down their competition to. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't count out a loss, but this is a remarkable team. It's a really good team. I have complete faith. And be sure to check out Locked-on Steelers after the game. I think Chris Carter still does it over there. He does a great job. So definitely check out Locked-on Steelers.

Cam, give the name of your podcast one more time with Garrett for everyone. Yes, it's Real Time with Big Time. And you can find us on Twitter at Real-Time, Big Time. and we will be recapping all the Sunday games this coming Monday, so look for that. Yeah, that's going to be. Appreciate it.

Yeah, that'll be a must listen. My Twitter, of course, is at Hunter Hodes. The show's Twitter is at L-O- underscore Penguins. Cam's Twitter, not even fair, or is it not that fair? It's one of the fairs. No, it's not that fair. Can you spell fair? F-E-H-R.

I probably should change that, you know. We've moved on from Eric Fair, but. I know. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We'll be back with three episodes next week, including one with Rob Rossi of the Athletics. So stay tuned for that, and I hope you all have a great weekend.