Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Are the Penguins in real danger of missing the playoffs?

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming off perhaps their most embarrassing loss of the season over the weekend against the San Jose Sharks and Hunter has a lot to say about it. He starts the show by going over the main reasons for the loss, including how this team has a weird ability of not starting games on time or ending periods on time. Hunter goes over some potential reasons for that while slamming the Penguins for their horrendous defensive zone coverage throughout the game. He looks at several plays where the Penguins were leaving Sharks players wide open in front of the net and why that's been a problem all season. He also didn't like how Casey DeSmith played on the fourth and fifth goals as those are saves that he probably should've made. After that, Hunter looks at how even the New York Islanders are making win-now moves now that they have Bo Horvat and makes sure to drive the message home that the Penguins need to do something. A change is needed to spark this team after they've been way too inconsistent all season long. Finally, Hunter ends the show with what improvements he's looking for from the Penguins in the second half, both systems-wise and player-personnel-wise.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 is going to 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.

The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered one of their most embarrassing losses of the year over the weekend against the San Jose Sharks, a 6-4 loss to one of the worst teams in hockey. Starting today's show, I'm going to get into why this team lost the way it did and just how concerned I am about this team going forward into the bye week and then obviously into the second half of the season. We're also going to get into a big trade that just went down as well and how that can impact the penguins later on in this episode. that's all coming up right after this drop. Your 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. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at Elmoremoremoremore for Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list in the day. This episode is by...

by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Lockdown. Make every moment more to visit fandua.com slash locked on today to get started. And again, of course, thank you so much for making this your first. Listen of the day. So let's jump into this. Shark 6, Penguins 4, by far one of the worst performances of the season that got off to another terrible start. And that has been a main key for how bad this team has been to start games this season.

for whatever reason they just are not starting on time i don't know what it is i wish i could provide you an answer to that question because i've been getting in a lot in my dms people have been commenting it hunter what has been going on with these starts i don't have an answer for you i don't know if they got off the bus on a wrong note or if they pull up to the arena and their cars on a wrong note i don't know but it's very concerning and it's getting very frustrating with the way that they had been playing two-star games. Their attention to detail is not there. Their focus is not there. And they're leaving guys wide open in front of the net every freaking time to start a game. And that's why they've been down. It feels like almost every game at this point to start.

You know, it's the fact that I'm almost blinking on how good they've started the game. Like what was the last time they really started a game on the right note and didn't give up a goal in the first few minutes? that that says something you know it happened against Washington happened against San Jose happened against Florida after they actually had a decent store in the first five minutes you know the ducks

it's just it's been constant and you know that's that's one of the reasons that they are on a losing that excuse me that they've lost more games lately again because they're not starting out games on time if they had just been doing that and the vibe check had been good in all this stuff

then maybe they would be something out to these two nothing, three nothing, four nothing, heck even, you know, five nothing leaves or something like that, but that's more unlikely. But they're just getting themselves into these early holes, one nothing, two nothing. Heck, even when they score to take a lead, like they did against the sharks in the first period, right? Ten seconds left in the period of thinking, oh, yeah, going to roll into that first intermission up a goal.

Nope, another guy left wide open in front of the net. This time, Eric Carlson. And it's like, again, this time, it's at the end of periods. Where is the focus and the attention to detail? Mike Sullivan kind of blamed himself after the game where he said, yeah, it's on me. I got to do a better job coaching his team. Okay, then do it. Because this has been a problem all season.

And I don't think some, you know, enough people that, you know, cover the team or that are on PennSword and stuff are talking about it. This team at the end and at the beginning of periods are, is awful. In the middle frame of the periods, they're fine. They're actually skating. They're doing well. But it seems like they're just coasting to start and end periods. And it's really costing them goals. And it's costing them also valuable points in the standings the way this one did against the sharks.

Excuse me. Over this weekend, 6-4 loss to a team that was starting one of the worst goalies in the league. And, oh, yeah, also played the night before in overtime. They blew a two-goal lead with less than two minutes left of the hurricanes and then lost in in overtime. They are actively trying to lose. You cannot. And the thing was that it was four to four with less than five minutes to go in that third period. You got to get at least to get a point out of that game.

The fact that you couldn't even get won is just really concerning to me. So, you know, one of my main reasons, again, is their start two and the end of periods. And also just their defensive work in the defensive zone has been atrocious as of late. guys are wide open in front of the net. It feels like virtually every shift. Pedersen and Petrie had a night to forget against sharks. And a couple of those goals are chasing, they're both chasing one player behind the net.

And it's like, I don't know who made that read, but that was wrong. And, you know, the one that won the game, POJ made a really ill-advised pass in the neutral zone. And the sharks come back the other way. It's a two-on-one. You want to save from the Smith there, and I'll get to him in just a second.

second, but it's like you've got to stop giving up all of these auduban rushes and also playing such soft defense in front of your net. I don't think it's a coincidence. Well, I don't know if I want to say that. It is very weird to me that this team plays way worse in front of Casey to Smith than it does in front of Tristan Jarrett. And the numbers do not lie. I can look them up as we are recording this right now. What are we at right now? We're about 6 o'clock on a Monday evening. Five on five defense for the penguins in front of Casey DeSmith.

In 960 minutes at 5E5, the penguins expected goals against per 60. 2.81. A whole lot of red blob in front of the net means, you know, those are more chances than, you know, than average. And the same thing for about 40 feet out, 20 feet out to the right side, up top, to the 0.50 out, you know, but you all get my drift, right? Switch that over to Trishon Jari. In 300 more minutes, the penguin's expected goals against per 60, 5, e 5 with Jari in net.

2.53, a whole lob of blue in front of the net, which is lower shots on goal per average compared to other teams. The red is about 40, 30 feet out. And, you know, that plays a role, I think, in Jari's numbers being better. but I think it's also evident that penguins, I don't know, do they like playing in front of Tristan a lot more than they may do? Casey DeSmith, they might. I don't know, but it is very weird to me that this team decides to play

even worse defense of her of your backup because when you think about it, right, it seems like you would want to play better defense of front of your backup because he's your backup for a reason. Get my drift? your starter you can play maybe a little more loose because he can bail you out in more situations but for the Penguins with DeSmith

they're doing the opposite they're playing worse in front of him than they are in front of their starter it's just very I think that's another reason why they lost this game as well and finally my third and final reason why they lost this one I'm not going to say special teams here Casey dismissed I will say some of the goals he gave up

were impossible to stop The second goal, Eric Carlson, to tie up late in the first period. No, I'm not going to complain about that one. The first goal left wide open from the net. I'm not really going to complain about that one. Empty netter. It's an empty netter for a reason. But that fifth one with less than five minutes to go in the third period,

make a save there. I understand it's on a two-on-one. POJ made a bad pass in the neutral zone or coming out of this defensive zone into the neutral zone. But that's a save. A lot of goalies make. You have to make it. I was honestly surprised the Penguins

didn't even challenge a goal interference there to be honest. And then also the fourth goal to make it four three. Shots going in from the point. And that was the one where he smashed his stick on the ice, wept to the bench, he used to he threw the stick. I wouldn't say the equipment manager,

but just threw it into the hallway. He was pissed off about that rightfully. So make two right there. Make a save. I'm tired of, you know, and the inconsistencies are so tiring at this point. just so freaking tiring, you know, you should be able to beat a team like the Sharks when you score four goals on 40 shots. And that was the thing. I know Kacken had some really nice saves

in the final few minutes of that third period, even when it was 4-4 before Loken Kutcheur's scored. Teddy Bluger had a chance that somehow did not go in, but that's just a summary of Teddy Bluger season at this point. But even after that, when they made it 5'4, plenty of great saves from Kacken. But before that, Penguins scored four on him. I'm sorry. Four goals should be enough to be one of the worst teams in the league. Get better goaltending. If Frist and Jari cannot be good when he comes back, this team is probably done. And I hate saying that because this is probably the first time I am legitimately worried about their chances of making the playoffs in the Sydney Cross Bay and Guinea-Malken era going back to 2005-06 and then 2006-2007 when this streak originally started.

That is how concerned I am right now with this team and how they have been playing as of late and how it just really. culminated into that gross effort that you saw against the sharks over the weekend. It's not good enough. Those are the three main reasons why I think they lost. This one. Coming up in the second segment, we are going to touch on why it is finally time. Well, it was time a long time ago, but why it is really time for Ron Heschall to make a move, especially after what the New York Islanders just did.

If you didn't see that, I have some news for you coming up right after this break. But before we get to that, we got to touch on, well, I jumped the gun just a little bit. Not Fandu just yet. But athletic greens, that is our next partner that they have a product I use literally every day. I start taking athletic greens because, you know, I sometimes don't have time when I wake up in the morning. I want a better gut health, more energy. But now that I've been on it for the last few weeks, I absolutely love it. I know it doesn't taste like it's super healthy.

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again, that's athletic greens.com and she'll network to take ownership of your health and think of the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes and all the shows, Twitter, at Eleanor Hodes and of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So big, big trade went down just before I got off of work. And also, I'm smelling some very good food downstairs that my wonderful girlfriend is baking.

He's making a meatloaf tonight, which I'm a big fan of that with mashed potatoes. I think that's one of my go-to meals, I should say, you know. But anyways, big trade happened just before I got off work from the spun today. And that is the New York Islanders acquiring Bo Horbat, a player that I have begged Ron Hexel to go after, was not able to win the prize here. I don't even know if you went after him, to be honest. This was the deal here. If I can go get it here for you.

The Islanders have acquired Boer Horvatt for Ford Anthony Bo Villiers, Center Atu Rati, which is one of the prospects, and a protected 2023 first round draft pick from going the other way. Sorry, I apologize on that. So again, it's for Anthony Bovillier, one of their top center prospects, and a lottery protected first-run pick in this year's draft. That is a very good trade for the Islanders. Lou Amarillo, definitely kind of a weird GM.

I think that's a solid mirror for that. Not really sure how much it's going to move the needle, just because I still think they probably need a few more pieces to really contend for a playoff spot. And Stanley Cup, I don't really think they have what it takes to truly contend right now. But props to him, he's not giving up on the play play in the next weeks before, you know, maybe he sells up with their assets and maybe they fall out of the playoff race, who knows. But he is selling right now. He's saying, screw that.

I'm not thinking about selling. We're still in win now mode. I want to go out there and make a big trade. And, you know, he made, he paid the price. In terms of penguins' terms, penguins are to do this trade. that's probably a law reprotive first round pick that they have, Bavillier, that's what, a good Caspera Capnan comp. Prospect.

I don't know if the penguins have anyone as good as Raddy in their system. Maybe the closest comp is Owen Pickering, so I don't think the penguins would have traded him. But, you know, probably any other prospect that the Penguins would have, they would probably include him in the package. So the Penguins, in terms of that deal, they have two-thirds of what the Canucks are looking for, at least. Maybe it could have been all three.

if they could have included a prospect that was not pickering. But it's still a deal of the Penguins potentially could have done if Ron Hextall woke up or Ms. Knapp. But this just goes to show it is time to make a move. Pressure is on this is an Islander's team that has barely won in all in January. They've won two games this month. Going into their last game, they had lost 9 of 10, 10 out of 11 games.

And Lou Lamarillo is still going out there in making a win now move to get one of the best players on the trade. market. There's no excuses, Ron. It is time to go out there and make a change to make this team better. The Islanders did just that. But Villiers has been on that team for a very long time. He was one of their good, he was one of their, well, I wasn't one of their core players, but he was a good player for a good number of years, stocked off a bit this year. Lamarillo did not have any problem with part with parting with him, but this just goes to show the pressure is on. Hextol, you went out there and did a great job, resigning that core in the offseason. You brought

back Brian Ross, he brought back Ricard Raquel. You owe it to all of those guys to go out there and make a big time move. I don't care about a first round picking this year's draft. I know the team is going to stink. If the freaking Islanders are going out there making win now moves, when they are behind you in the standings, you need to be doing the same and you need to be really looking to see if there's an upgrade out there for your third or fourth line.

Preferably your third one. As Horbat, he makes the Islanders better. He can play any line. for that team. The Penguins need to find a player, I don't know, maybe not as good as Horvap, but someone, you know, in a similar boat when it comes to that. And there will be plenty of options out there, I think, for the Penguins, especially as, you know, the deadline gets closer.

I think this deal indicates to me that it's kind of a buyer's market. You know, I don't mind that return for the Canucks, especially when it's someone who's a rental after this season. But they still got three pieces back and they haven't just traded their first round pick, even though it's a lottery protected. Gailva, okay, roster player, a decent prospect. You know, they don't much care about that. They're going all in.

They see that Sorokin's having a hell of a year. They know Barzell is not getting any younger. Anders Lee's still having a good year. You know, Brock Mnelson's been a little bit snake-bitten, but he's probably going to wake up at some point. I have some pieces there, but, you know, maybe not good enough to maybe fully contend, but they're still going for it.

Time for wanting to do the same thing. There's no excuses. Sorry, that's just not how I see it. So, really wanted to, touch on that in this second segment. And it's getting into just how big these next few weeks are for the penguins. I listened to 32 thoughts today and Elliot Freeman said he thinks that he is really starting to ratchet it up in Pittsburgh as they try to maybe talk to some teams. He thinks there has been more trade chatter as late. He was right just because we saw the Bill Horvack trade.

But it sounds like there is some other chatter as well. And he was, it was interesting that he did throw the penguins into that mix and that it sounds like Hextol could be starting to talk to some teams. No, he needs to start being aggressive. It's, I'm tired of this. passive approach. If this were Jim Rutherford by now, we probably have already seen two or three trades. You know, and I've, I actually heard firsthand from someone who I trust today that a few players on this team are kind of frustrated that Hextel's not really doing anything. That's what I heard, though. So I didn't get any names, specific names. I just heard that a few players on this. Starting to get really frustrated with a general manager that he's just not really doing anything

to improve the team because, you know, it's go time here. You got a big stretch run coming up after this all-star break. You have a week now to really recharge, reset, you know, go on vacation with your families, participate in the All-Star game for Cindy Crosby. But, you know, it's now or never, Ron, you got to go out there and show that you can make a deal. You know, he's had a couple good deadlines last couple of years. I will say that. The Carter trade at the time was good. The Rakel trade was obviously a steal. Could he have something else up in it, up his sleeve hanging into this deadline? He better. I, I, I will. say that. That does it for this second segment. Coming up in the final segment,

we're going to get into a couple of other things regarding this team, especially when it comes to the game against Sharks and what I'm looking for improvement-wise from the second half of the season. I'm going to that right after we touch on now. We will get to Fandu, the official new sportsbook sponsor of Lockdown. This year, the only app you need at your Super Bowl party is Fandul America's number one sports book. We're really excited about our new sports betting partner for lockdown because they're the number one sports book in America, Fandul.

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heading into the second half of the season. And honestly starts up at the top a little bit. I want to see more consistency from Jake Gensel. He needs to wake up. It was not a banner first half for Jake Gensel. I mean, this is a player who I said was going to score 50 this season. Doesn't look like it's in the cards right now. In the first half of the season, you know, in 45,

out games, 20 goals, 46 points. You all are probably going to say, Hunter, what are you talking about? He's at a point per game, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, he is, and that's fine. But that said, I expected him to probably be at a little over 20 goals right now. He just hasn't looked like the same player goal scoring wise. Point production, I am fine with it. Point per game, very, very good. But I also want to see him put more pucks in the back of the net. Ditto for Brian and Rust, thought he had a really nice goal against the Washington Capitals this past week, still want to see more consistency from him. I don't think he's playing up to that $5 million tag that they signed him for during the

offseason. I think he definitely has a little more room to give there. Other improvements, please feel love of God, improve the special teams, especially the power play, played well against the sharks. They scored a goal. But that said, it's been way too inconsistent this season. I don't like that. this unit with

sure fire hall famers and other very good players should not be in you know in the middle of the pack in terms of you know just power play percentage it's not good enough I'm sorry it's not a penalty kill

I also want to see it back back you know this was a top three unit for a lot of the season it slid down I think to ninth or tenth now in the league that's fine but it was also at a very good clip earlier in this season

season, you know, it needs to be better in a big way. Another player who I want to see better in the second half, Teddy Gleuter, he is a shell of his former self right now. I don't know what has happened to him. I don't know if it was him losing both Brandon Tanev and Zach Austin Reese. I don't know if it was him losing some of his linemates from last season. You know, Frederick, he's played with Fredigodry a couple seasons ago. Last season played some with Edram Rodriguez and stuff down on the fourth line at times.

But he is not the same player, and it's showing whether it's a lot of the same player. and it's showing whether it's on 5-5 penalty kill especially. He had a beautiful chance to make it five-four penguins in the second half of the third period this past weekend and just almost whiffed on that chance. He should have scored on that if he just tucks that puck a little to the right. It's an easy goal. I think he had Kacken and beat. So he needs to wake up in a big way here down the stretch.

He's only on pace for not even 10 points. He's a free age. He keeps that up. There's no way he's coming back. say at least, you know, I want to see improvement from him. And, you know, to, excuse me, you know, those are like the main areas of improvement that I really want to see from this team down the stretch.

Obviously, I want to see them improve the fourth, third line. That's just a tire fire at this point. The players on there that right now are just in the worst slumps imaginable. It's just, you know, it's not good enough. I'm trying to think other areas of improvement here from my notes. I really do think that's it. Top six has been great. Defensively, when they're healthy, I think they're mostly okay.

Obviously, you can't forget playing in front of their net better, just limiting the odd man rushes, starting games on time, ending periods on time. Please, they've got to make those a habit if they want to make the playoffs and extend their playoff streak and potentially become a Stanley Cup contender that they were looking at, looking like, excuse me, earlier on in the season. that's, I think, all I have to say for this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one.

It's going to be a little bit of a long week, but still got some guests lined up. I'm going to have Josh Yewie of the Athletic on for my Tuesday episode tomorrow. I'm going to record that around 2, 3 o'clock. In the afternoon, it should be a lot of fun. We're going to get his thoughts on the first half this season. If he's heard anything, trade talk-wise from Penguins, I'm going to get into how concerned he is about the team. Now, all that good stuff for tomorrow's episode.

So, again, really appreciate you listening to this. this one and I'll be back from another episode on Tuesday. Hope you have a great rest of your Monday.