Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Are the Penguins still in on Evan Rodrigues? Does Brian Burke see anymore moves?

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

Hello there and Happy Tuesday! We are back to regularly scheduled programming this week as Hunter is feeling A LOT better with mental health and stuff. He starts the show going into the latest on Brian Burke's comments to Dave Molinari and whether or not the team will make another move this offseason. He also looks at what Burke said about if the unit is better this season, plus how teams continue to call the Penguins about their defensemen. Following that, he goes into how the Penguins are still looking at Evan Rodrigues and how they need to clear space to sign him. He also touches on if it would be the right call to bring him back, especially since the forward group would be basically the same as it was last year. Finally, he ends the show with some Ty Smith talk and why he's going to surprise a lot of people this season.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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of this podcast. First and foremost, I apologize for only one episode last week. You know, that never happens. I've been doing this show for almost three years at this point. That has never happened at all. So I apologize about that. Again, I've just been going through a lot of stuff these last couple of weeks, just a lot of tough conversations about just a whole bunch of topics. But I can assure you I am feeling a lot better right now than this time around last week. I can definitely say that. And while you're probably listening to this episode, it's going to be Tuesday, which means I will be en route to Aruba, my last official off-season vacations are reading my two-year anniversary with, you know, the girl that I'm living

with, my wonderful girlfriend. And I will have a couple other episodes that will drop at some point this week, probably Wednesday and Friday, maybe Wednesday, Thursday, two of those three days. but this one's going to drop on Tuesday. I'm recording at about 9-17 on Monday evening, and this will drop right after midnight. But for today's episode, we're going to get into some Brian Burke quotes today when he spoke to Dave Molinari. He's had some interesting nuggets in there. An update on Evan Rodriguez from a few days ago. I know it's maybe a little bit of all news, but I have not touched on it just because I've been so off the grid these last few days. And we're also going to get into a Tye Smith article that I read today from EP Rankside and how

I think he has a chance to really surprise some people this year. So it'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. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter at L.O. Henswell, and of course, thank you all so much for making this year. listen of the day. So let's get right back into it again. I apologize for only one episode last week. That's not going to happen again. I don't usually have a lot of mental health problems, but it's been going through a lot lately. And I know it's been tough, but I know better days are ahead. And doing this podcast really does take my mind off everything. And I love talking

when it's hockey for you all. So let's get right into it. So Brian Burke spoke to Dave Monterey of Pittsburgh Hockey Now. And there were some interesting quotes in it, I should say. He was asked about the nine defensemen and could they deal one. And he said, we don't have anything active with trade discussions right now. That said, other teams have asked about our defensemen when they've called. So it is a possibility. That is typical GM, executive speak.

He's not going to tip his hand. He's not going to obviously say which teams have called. But the fact that teams are calling, that is good news. I think for the Penguins to trade one of Doomlin or Pedersen, they are going to have to want to be blown away by an offer. I think, especially with where the defense looks right now, when you have Dumlin and Latang on the top pairing, probably Marcus Pedersen with Jeff Petrie on the second pairing,

Yan Ruta, with I would think Ty Smith on the third pairing. I think the Penguins, you know, obviously they're not trying Chris saying they're not going to trade Jeff Petri. They're just acquired him. They're not going to trade Yon Ruta, not Ty Smith either. But for the other two on there, I know they've been out there in trade talks. And again, you know, I would probably rather trade Dumlin than Pedersen, even though I think it's a bit difficult to replace Solm like Dumo. You know, I think if they were going to be traded, they probably would have been by now.

I still think you're looking at maybe a depth deed, maybe just Chatterwood will get dealt now that he's kind of expendable down there. Just someone like Mark Friedman get dealt. I mean, does POJ get dealt for maybe a bottom six forward or something like that? I really do think that Penguins, they're going to have to be blown away again for Pedersen or Jumo, but for like one of the other defensemen, if you can get maybe a draft pick young Ford in return, I think they would do that. So obviously, you know, it sounds like there's nothing active that said, you know, they're not going to stop other teams from calling them. So it sounds like that some teams are interested in a couple of their players, but I guess the thing just

just haven't gotten an offer that they've liked. And also, you know, it's been pretty quiet. I would say as of way, I do think it's going to start to get pretty busy these next couple weeks. I mean, training campus, what, two, three weeks away at this point? There's a lot of good free agents out there still. So, you know, teams still need to get cap compliant. Definitely say, honestly, I'll be in Aruba until, so you all are listening to this on Tuesday. I will be there until very late Sunday night. I am just assuming that all the crazy stuff is going to happen while I'm over there. And like, I'm just kidding, like, well, you know, it's just, it's only my long. So, you know, it's going to heat up, I think, pretty soon, but, you know, it's still a little early enough in the dog days of summer.

Burke also said, I don't know if we're going to do anything else between now and camp. It's unlikely, but our phones are still ringing this time of year. People are still calling around. People are still calling around. They're trying to finalize their rosters. teams are trying to still dump salary, which, again, is something that I do think the penguins want to do. Brian Burke, good executive, I think he's done a good job of the penguins. This is also someone that, you know, kind of hinted that Malkin was going to leave to the media when he didn't take their final offer. Literally less than 15 hours later, the penguin signed you now. So, again, you know, this is not Jim Rutherford over here who is just going to, you know, have you on your lap and say, oh, what do you want for Christmas this year, sir? No, it's going to be typical GM.

speak. If this were Ron Hextall, I'm sure he would say the exact same thing. But the quote that really got me interested was this. I think we're a better team going into next year. Now we're just waiting for camp to start. The better team part, are you though? I mean, is the defense better? Yes. I think people that say that the defense is not as bad is not as good. I think they're kind of lying to themselves. I think that they're overrating Mike Madison and I think he's a good player. But Jeff Petrie is better than him. and it's not even close look at the data, just watch them both play. Tyah Smith has the potential to be a really solid player.

I'm going to get to handle later on in this episode. The defense has improved. You got bigger, got tougher, better in front of the net, good players offensively, good players defensively. I think that's a strong unit. Goaltending, there's definitely a case to be made that the Penguins did not do enough there. This is now the third season of Jari to Smith. You know, I know what the definition of insanity is.

is I'm sure you all know it as well if you go on Google all the time. But, you know, it's a choice that Ron Hextall made and he's going to have to live with it. So, you know, I would have liked to see them get maybe a better backup. But, you know, so you saw some of the other goalies with what they got. I just don't think the penguins are going to be able to do that. Four wise, the top six. Very good. Bottom six, though, I don't think it's better than where it was last year. You know, you can roll Evan Rodriguez on your third line right now. Your second year, your 12 forward is someone like Ryan Paling, Josh Archibald, Drake Cajula, Drew O'Connor, Radine Zohorna, you know, I don't know.

It's just I don't think they're iced deep. It's nice that they brought Dayton Hinen back. Jeff Carter is still kicking a little bit. I hope he doesn't really fall off this season. He's very cap. And again, you have really no idea what the heck you're going to get from him. And then I think Teddy Bougar needs to bounce back. I think Brock McGinn needs to be more consistent.

This season had a good first half. got banged up in the second half was not nearly as good down the stretch. I had a brutal seven games for the Penguins in the playoffs. So I don't think right now they're truly a better team. I think they're kind of where they were last year. Top three team in the Metro, I think a sure playoff team, but are they really much more than that? It's hard to say.

I mean, would you say that there a Stanley Cup contender? In my opinion, I don't think so. I think when you look at the east, who I think are above them, Tampa Bay, Carolina, you know, maybe the Rangers, but again, I'm not super crazy about the Rangers offseason moves. I think, you know, they lost a lot of goal scoring. They've signed Vince Trocheck and didn't really do anything else, to be honest with you. You know, Toronto, but, you know, it's Toronto here. You know, Boston's in the Atlantic.

You know, it's, I just, I don't think the metropolitan division, though, is that good this year. And I said that on one of the Twitter spaces last week, I believe, was with a lot of the Penguins reporters. I was very nice, Hockey Devi was very nice to invite me on with Josh Yoey, Jesse Marshall, Josh Ketsoff, Shelley Anderson, you know, all those other people. It was just really great to be on there. And, you know, I think the Penguins at least were the third best team in their division. I mean, I think at, you know, most they're top two. But, you know, I think they're kind of where they were last year. Did they upgrade in at least one area?

Yeah, I think they did. Did they downgrade in another area? Yeah, did it kind of stay the same in another area? Sure. So, you know, it's still a bit, I mean, I wouldn't say it's early. I know it's late in the off season, but, you know, when you look at the off season as a whole, I think they're just kind of where they were last year. And, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with them.

that. You know, this is still a good team, a playoff team, a team that should have went at least into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this past year, a team that honestly could have, you know, gotten to the Eastern Conference final. They showed how Carolina was looking, especially against Boston and they didn't look that good against the Rangers. You know, I think they're a team that, you know, they can do some damage, but this is also a team that can potentially lose in the first round again. I know that's not what people want to hear. I get it. It's a result to oriented business. I know people are going to, you know, you're going to, you know, you know, asked for heads to roll and all that stuff.

But, you know, I think overall when it comes to Burke's statement, I don't know if they're better. I also don't think they're worse, if you ask me. So that wraps up this first segment for today's episode. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into the story from Greg Wiginski and his update on Edwin Rodriguez, and it looks like the penguins are still involved with him, which is really good news. But before we get to that, if you haven't tried Bill Bar Puffs yet, you are depriving

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Welcome back to another episode. Oh, welcome back to this episode of the Lockedon, Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Yes, it has been a week. And that's embarrassing that I just, that's set up. But, you know, we're going to roll with it. Remember to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, L.A. L.R. Swinglings. And again, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen. I know. I have to put it down everyone's brain. But, you know, I hope you all, it's your first listen. So getting to Greg's story here. So he said, this was his story about September 1st of last week, you know, which players are left and where are they going? And he talked

but Evan Rodriguez. He said he reigns one of the busiest players without a contract. Fans wonder why he hasn't signed yet while also fantasy casting the Versa South Center on their team's roster. His agent apparently told ESPN if there are a good seven or eight teams he's having discussions with about Rodriguez and he hopes to have something done soon. Well, it's been about almost a week now. Darren Ferris' agent said there are two to three teams that we feel is a good fit with, but there are cap restraints. There are guys trying to move money to make room for it. And apparently he said, one of those teams is the penguins who are capped out, of course, with Malc and Latang

and Rust, and then they brought on Jeff Petrie. He also said that Calgary Flames has shown interest in Rodriguez, and they may be in that conversation as well. So the fact that the penguins are still involved in Rodriguez is a really good sign to me. You know, this is a player that, you know, it's kind of insane that he is still in the free agent market just two to three weeks before training camps open up. you know this is a player that in a normal world where there's no flat cap he's probably getting 2.5 to 3 million per year or something like that i think he might sign for less than that

um to be honest but the fact that the penguins are still involved shows to me that they are trying to move salary again i know bryan berks like will we're probably not going to do anything again that's gmsby people they say that all the time they're not going to they're not going to tip their hand with what they're discussing and all that i'm sure hextall you know he's been having conversations on teams every day. But the fact of the matter is, Yins, is that it's a flat cap and teams do not want to take on money still. Maybe that's going to change over these next couple weeks

because training camps are coming up and teams might be more willing. Right now, they're being difficult. That's the nature of the off season at this point. But, you know, if the penguins were to bring Rodriguez back, I would welcome it. I think he would be, you know, a really good fit still in this team's forward group. And yeah, I know. It would look really similar.

or basically, if not identical to the forward group that they ran back last year. You know, maybe Ryan Paling is the 13th forward at that point, Drew O'Connor, something like that. But again, you know, is it really that big of a deal that they run back, you know, a forward group that was really good at 5E5 last year? You know, the Penguins, when Cosby and Malkin are on the ice the last couple of years, this is a four group that's outscored the opposition. Normally when those, or normally when those kind of players off the ice, you know, a team like the Penguins or a team like the Blackhawks back in the day or the Oilers, they would get outscored. but not the penguins. They've had good depth over these last few years and it's been able to stay afloat and, you know, they've been able to, you know, score more chances, score more goals than allow opposing goals

and create more chances than, you know, allow chances of the opposite end of the rank. And, you know, he's a player that can play wing, can play center, can play up and down your lineup. I've had a breakout year for the penguins last year. And again, if you can get him in for on decent value, I think that's a really, really easy decision, at least for me. You know, that settles your forward group at that point. Again, Gansel-Grosby-Rust, Zucker, Malk, and Raquel can probably do Hinen, Carter, Rodriguez, and then, you know, Bluger McGinn and Cappin and something like that with Ryan Paling and, you know, say a player struggles, you know, you can bring Paling in. And, you know,

I know right now he's probably your 12 forward. But, you know, I think, you know, when you have an opportunity to make your team not only deeper, but, you know, but. better, I think you do it and you ask, you know, all the harder questions later. You know, that's, and that's what some training camp battles are for, you know, some of these players that are on the market, they may have to take PTOs to come to camp. You know, we'll actually have to see if the penguins offer any, any PTOs on the players. You know, remember last year, excuse me, was around this time close to it, that they offered Brian Boyle a PTO and he came in and had a really strong training camp at a good preseason and

signed a one-year deal. I'm not really sure if he's going to play. again in the NHL. I'm not assuming it's going to be with penguins if he does play again. But, you know, turn that PTO into a contract and, excuse me, scored double-digit goals for the penguins. I mean, he hasn't done in the last few years. So, you know, you never really know with stuff like that. I'd be curious to see if they would give anyone a PTO. But, you know, again, it is good to see that the penguins that are involved in these negotiations, they're still trying to make their team better. And, you know, up until opening night, which is, I believe it is October 13th if I go to the Penguins app here and double check. No, I do not want the preseason schedule, that's for sure. I will say this, the preseason at this point, three weeks away against first preseason game on the 25th of September. And yes, October 13th. So little over a month now until the regular season.

The Penguins, they're going to keep doing their due diligence. They got plenty of time to do something. But again, if they were to bring back Roder Beekaz will be a beautiful move, I think, at least for me. That wraps up the second segment of today's episode. Coming up in the final segment, we're going to get into some Thai-sniff talk and why, you know, I think he has the chance to really surprise the show. I know I talked about it in my trade analysis about about a month and a half ago, I think, in this point.

But again, I really do think he has the opportunity to surprise a lot of people. year. So that's all coming up right after this commercial break. All right. We're back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes. Follow the show is Twitter. Hello, L.O. Arsenal Penguins. I'm going to take a sip of water real quick. Always necessary when you are recording an episode. So EP, EP Rings Cycle by EliteProspects.com. They had a free article open today. This is from Mitch Brown. He's the Crucum, contributor, director of North American scouting.

Great article. If it's still open, you can go there and just look up fill room. Ty Smith has a chance to turn into a topboard defenseman with the penguins in. I know, yeah, you look at his results last year, six percentile for Winsborough above replacement, fourth percentile for even straight to offense, five percentile for power play, 41st percentile for even straight offense. It was bad. You know, he was not good.

But, you know, as Mitch writes, you know, his below average controlled exit percentage, you know, had a high number of dumpouts to controlled exits. If you look at, you know, his entry prevention percentage for rush defense, it highlights an inability to stop rushes. So he was just getting burned in the defensive zone every ship. And then the gap between Smith's shot assist and that weighted variance to just lots of passes leading the shots, but few leading to scoring chances. So he just wasn't doing enough, you know, with, you know, generating and defending. And, you know, you look at Corey Schnaggers, all things. three zones tracking.

And, you know, for zone entries, 72nd percentile for entry rate, which is good. Pass entries, 90th percentile, which is good. But entry success, 11th percentile. Like, that is not good. Entry defense, denial rate. Only 17 percent of the time do you have a denial rate. Carry prevention, 13th percentile.

Entry transfervention, 28 percentile. Retrieval exit rate, 13th percentile. Just absolute putrid numbers. And as Mitch Wrights, you know, he struggled to make plays off retrievals. He became too quick, skilled and intelligent for those issues to linger. And, you know, you saw that in his rookie season when, you know, he was, you know, planning well the defensive zone. He was contributing on the rush, pinching down low, getting into the dangerous areas of the ice.

But, you know, last year he became turnover prone. You know, he was lacking at the in tight edges area to, as Mitch Wright, you know, change direction under heavy pressure when he gets separation. you know, he's so, you know, he's closed in on advancing the puck that he just, he passes to cover the teammates or he just bombs the puck's up the boards, you know, which, you know, I like to call kind of a heave and pray play, to be honest. You know, you're just putting the puck along the boards and hoping that someone doesn't smack it down with their hand or something like that. But, you know, I do think what the penguins are going to do with someone like Smith, you know,

they're going to, this is going to be Tar Reardon School of Development. And they're going to sit them down, show him some film, be like, okay, you have to be better in this area, this area, and this area, and this is how you do it. And Reardon, we all know how good of a defensive coach he is in the NHL. Worked with Mike Matheson. It worked with Cody C.C. And I think it has a really good chance to work with someone Mike Smith. And that's what Mitch says, you know, development is going to really help him achieve his ultimate upside. And, you know, even though he had underlying issues last year with, you know,

natural growth and, you know, development and stuff and, you know, zone entries and zone exits, you know, he still thinks that he could become the player, you know, that he was once touted, which is a top four defenseman with power play ability. You know, I do think if he starts having a good year this year, you know, he is going to get some power play minutes. And, you know, and he could potentially be on that unit with someone like Jeff Petrie, who is more than capable of quarterbacking a power play. You know, he quarterbacked the one in Montreal for numerous years.

But I definitely think that Smith, he was not a fit in New Jersey under Lindy-Ruff system. That kind of system is just, it's not for him. It's, you know, Lindy, you know, he runs a defensive first system. He does not. It's not good for offensive players. And I think he really suffered because of that. But now you're going to Mike Sullivan system, which is very up-tempo, very fast-paced, speed and scale. I really think this can be just.

majorly beneficial to him and where you can you can see what he shows off with a skating ability, his passing ability, you know, a shot that he has. Everything that he is good at in the offensive zone, I think is going to come out this year. And I really do think that he can surprise a good amount of people to save a least. And hopefully he'll be able to clean up his defensive issues because remember, they got Mike Madison for Patrick Hornequist and what was the thing on him. Oh yeah, good offensively, great in transition, a tire fire. in his own end.

Well, you know what? Give credit to Tar Reardon because he unlocked more of his offensive ability because Mathism just had the best season in his career. He continued to be strong in transition and he just poses some of the best defensive metrics that he's had

throughout his career. Is that going to stay the same in Montreal? Who knows? But the fact that, you know, Reardon was able to unlock that with him shows that his coaching works. And I really do think that he is going to work magic with Smith here.

He is going to surprise a lot of the. a fan base. And it may not be long before he's potentially in the top four at some point this year. I think it's be wise if you play him with Jan Ruta to start a veteran who can, you know, support him. And I wouldn't say Bailey him, but, you know, someone who, you know, has been known to play with offensive. I mean, this is a player that played the last couple of years with Victor Hedman on the top pairing. And, you know, if that goes well, you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see him be elevated up to the second pairing to pay with Jeff Petrie. It's kind of the same thing.

Petrie's an older veteran, someone who can play with any kind of defenseman, I think. And while Petri's not what he once was, you know, he's still good, both offensively and defensively, where, you know, he can kind of, you know, I wouldn't say baby him, but I guess, you know, just, you know, watch and maybe cover him at times if he does make a mistake just because he is good defensively. I think that would honestly be a solid pairing as well. So, yeah, that's really. it I think I have on Ty Smith.

I really do think he's going to be a different player this year. I wasn't big on the trade at the time, but you know, you look at his hockey prospecting data and you look at, you know, all three zones data by Corey Schnasder and, you know, J. Fresh hockey and stuff. And now this is a legitimately good players a couple seasons ago. I know he had a bad year in New Jersey, but who's to say he can't rediscover his form? Matheson did it. Why can't Ty Smith?

And he's still really young. He's a lot younger than Matheson. I'll say that. But again, that wraps up this episode. of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'll have another one coming up Wednesday or Thursday. Again, I know I'll be in Aruba, but the content never ever sleeps. I'll probably be on one of my laptops. I'll bring my work in my personal laptops. So I'll be able to post through that. Again, thank you all so much for listening. Again, I very much apologize for being off the grid for

the last couple of weeks. You know, just so much stuff has been going on with my mental health and I've had a lot of anxiety for really the first time in my life. So I've been dealing with that. But I think I'm finally coming out of it. I've seen the better. days so far and I'm really excited to, you know, go on this vacation here and, you know, go out of the country for a little bit before. And when I come back, it'll be just a couple weeks officially or less than a couple weeks before camp starts. So I'm getting really excited about that. Yeah, thank you all so much for listening. And I will talk to you through a little bit later this week.