Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BONUS: The Penguins made A LOT of moves on Saturday! Are they done?

Episode Date: July 2, 2023

Happy Saturday! Today is a bonus episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast and Hunter is proud to be joined by Zachary Smith from Around The 412 to discuss everything the Penguins did on Saturday. They first get into the Tristan Jarry contract and if that stunned both of them. They also analyze how risky of a deal it is considering his health and inconsistent play and how everyone in the organization is sticking their necks out for him right now. Hunter also brings up how Dubas potentially felt cornered because a lot of the other goaltenders were coming off the market and outside of a few trade options, he was perhaps the best one left. They then analyze how the Penguins cannot run it back with Jarry and DeSmith as a tandem and that's when Alex Alex Nedeljkovic comes in. Is he going to be DeSmith's replacement? After the goalie talk, the two analyze the Ryan Graves signing and how he looks like he's the Brian Dumoulin replacement. Is he good enough to play on the top pairing? What does he bring to the Penguins that they lacked this past season? After that, they dive into the depth signings that Dubas made before ending the show by discussing if Dubas is done or not.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!AG1If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkAG1.com/NHLNETWORK.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.ebay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a busy day for Kyle Dubeson company. The Penguins rattle off a lot of free Asian signings. I'm going to be joined by Zachary Smith from a round of 4-1-2 to break down every signing in this special bonus edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome back to a special bonus edition of the Lodiacs.

Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at Elinore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Joining me now is Zachary Smith from around the 4-12. He hasn't been on the show in a little bit, but I figured we could bring him on here to discuss everything Kyle Dubus did. For a while, Smitty, it was looking like we're going to have to just discuss mat Nietto in that small contract but in the span of about 30 to 35 minutes boom tris and jari gets signed boom ryan graves gets signed boom noelichari

gets signed alex and it's all of a sudden it's like that 15 million of cap space poof good by in typical penguins fashion when they have cap space whoever is in charge person brings in a ton of money and now if you look at cat friendly they are over the cap. But Swinney, I really appreciate you coming on for this bonus edition of the show. I appreciate you having me on, man. Like you said, it was a little too quiet on the Penguins front there for a while after the Nietto move, like opening up free agency basically because Nietto was one of those rare cases

today where it was a pre-noon thing that he had agreed to a deal in Edmonton. That obviously didn't, you know, pan out for whatever reason. I think somebody put out that Edmonton was kind of like backtracking on the deal on their end, maybe it was a money thing i'm not sure but pittsburgh ends up swooping in getting him on a two-year one point eight million dollar deal and then nothing for a very long time and honestly i don't know if it was like my hopes getting up or what the case was but i actually took the silence as them working on in eric carlson trade which would have which had been talked about uh quite a bit for the last couple hours prior to the penguins signings actually being announced so that's where

my mind actually went to and then all of a sudden like you said just in a flurry five different guys signed to free agent deals um i would say headlined by graves and jari but you know noelichari had a nice little run last year he was you know somebody that i actually had highlighted for the penguins of the trade target um before he ended up going to toronto and then obviously sprinking in um out to delgovich which you know we'll touch on that one just could it mean something for Casey to Smith. That would be interesting to see as well. And then Lars Eller, again, a guy that I had thought about in the past, but at 34 years old, he gets a two-year deal. I mean, I know where to go in more depth on all of this, but I'll say, yeah, this was kind of unexpected in this type

of flurry like it happened. For sure. Yeah, I also thought they were working on that Eric Carlson trade because it was widely reported throughout the day that the penguins were involved in toxic. Heck, Kyle Dubus even confirmed. to the media today that, yeah, he was talking to the sharks about Carlson because when a great player becomes available, you kind of have to at least ask and do your due diligence to see what it would require to get him in a penguin sweater. But let's start submitting with maybe some news that you were surprised by.

I was definitely at least taken aback by it. Tristan Jari, 5.305.3.75 million per season. I had a small feeling it was maybe. going to happen, that he was going to come back in some capacity because Redi Anderson came off the market, Corpus Salo came off the market, Cam Talbot came off the market. All these goleys came off the market. And it was like, okay, it's either going to be a trade or they're going to have to bring Jari back. And they went with the latter. Man, that's a lot of term for him, for someone who's been really banged up these past couple of years. I don't doubt his talent.

That's the thing. I know when healthy, he is talented. He hasn't just finished 921 in one season and 919 another for no specific reason. He has the talent. But, you know, he's been really banged up the past couple of years. He's choked in the playoffs. I understand that the main series was the Islanders one. And maybe it's not fully fair to say that he stinks in the playoffs. But that's really the only big sample size that we can go off of that right now.

Right, yeah. When you saw that deal, what were your thoughts on it? am I being punked? I thought Ashton Cocher was going to come out somewhere. I'll be honest. I had a feeling, I think that you were saying that beginning to, that it was going to lead to Tristan Jari being back in a penguin sweater. Yesterday, I started to get that feeling.

You mentioned, like, Rob Rossi's article kind of made me feel it was heading that direction. I thought it would be a short-term thing, and I put out a tweet as well saying that it better be a short-term. deal and also basically coinciding with that, I think you got to move on from Casey to Smith if you're bringing back Tristanjari. There's just no way to sell that goal tending tandem to the fan base. Bringing him back for that long, at that number tells me they got to feel really good about him from a health perspective, not just from like a short term, whatever he was dealing with last year, but like long term, we believe that this guy is going to be able to hold up.

So yeah, I mean, it's on the surface, very puzzling. I would have liked to have seen it, you know, in the two year, I could have gotten on board with three year range. And it's not even so much about the money for me. Like I would have been okay, I guess, with this cap hit if it were kept on a shorter term deal. But yeah, this contract definitely took me by surprise, not Tristan returning, but with what it was at. But again, I think that hopefully due. diligence was done and they feel really good about where he's at health-wise. That's the main point as well because everyone in the organization is sticking their

necks out for him. You're betting on the medical staff saying that this is going to be the goalie that finishes out the course time in Pittsburgh. Yes. Yeah. That is absolutely a big one. You're betting on the medical staff telling you, yeah, that he is okay. These problems are not going to come up again. I think you're also betting big on Andy Kyoto to, get him right and to coach him up. Kyle Dubas is betting on himself. That was the big thing coming out of Toronto with Dubis was that he was questionable at times with goal tending.

Well, he is sticking his neck out big time here with a player who he really had no history with, of course, coming in here. He didn't really have history with any of these players, but everyone in the organization is sticking their neck out for him. And I think it could turn out good if he is healthy and he returns to form. But man, Smitty, this could turn out to be a disaster also if he gets banged up or if he continues to be a bit inconsistent during each season that he is the penguin starting netminder.

Yeah, I want to add one thing here too. And it's not related to Kyle Dubus, but just related to the organization, Tristan Jari and also the guy that was here before Kyle Dubus. I can talk about this now, I think and hope because of where we are at. I was told, and I was told at the time that I couldn't talk about it on the show around the 412. But now that we're at this point, I think we're past it. The Penguins and Tris and Jari were very close to a similar extension to what this deal looks like last season. Ron Hechdoll wanted to give Tris and Jari a five or six year contract extension last year. Ron Hechdell also pushed back to the front office, everybody else that was telling him that they wanted to go acquire another goalie at the trade deadline.

Ron Hectorthel pushed back against that. So Tristan Jari was definitely Ron Hectoral's guy. So it's really interesting to see that now he's Kyle Dubas's guy because 100% I would have said, I said yesterday I had a feeling Tristan Jari was returning. Earlier, I did not feel that way. I felt like they were going to go in a different direction. So my mind completely changed within the last 24 hours.

But I will say it is very interesting to note there that this deal, now I don't know if the money was the exact, same almost happened in season with a different GM, which makes me feel like, okay, who behind the scenes that is still in place, if it was somebody, is kind of getting in Kyle's ear about Tristan? Spiney's got the scoops, everyone. No, but that's also a very good point. And sticking with the goaltending here, Zach, Alex and Delkevich comes in one year,

$1.5 million. I'm sorry. That guy's not going to be your third. third string goaltender. I don't think your third string goaltender is going to make $1.5 million to just, what, be on the roster, not even be dressing as a backup. He's not going to start in Wilkesbury, that's for sure. He's not a Dustin Tokarski. I personally think, as of right now, my opinion, they're going to run into the season with Jari and Nadelcovich as the tandem, because you're right, you can't sell Jari and to Smith as you're one, too. You've done that the previous few seasons.

it's not worked every single time. It's probably not going to work again. You can't sell that to the fan base. So I personally think DeSmith is probably going to get dealt in some kind of deal. He only makes $300KK more than Nadelkovich. Nadelcovich's stats, I mean, he was decent, honestly, in Carolina, was actually 923 there. One season was also 932 there in 23 games in 2020, 2021.

But since then, his numbers have gone down 9-0-1. in 2022, 2020, when down to 895. You're hoping that he can bounce back in a better situation because the Red Wings were not good last season.

But I think this Nadelcovic signing really spells the end for DeSmith in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I would think that Nadelcovich probably wouldn't take the opportunity in Pittsburgh if he wasn't kind of being promised that, right? I mean, you would think that him and his age

it would be like, if we're going to Pittsburgh, there's got to be a pretty good shot that I'm going to be the backup here. Like they, in order to sell him on joining the team, I would think that would have to be the case. You look at the Dendelkovich and yeah, he had that really nice run in Carolina. But like, think about that though. Like in Carolina, maybe the best in terms of supporting a goalie, like the insulation there. What better environment for a goalie to play in?

And then you look at Detroit where it's maybe like the bottom five for sure. So it's like Pittsburgh's probably going to be somewhere in the middle of those two. but I would not expect him whatsoever to get back to the level that we saw in Carolina. I also would expect him to perform as bad as he did in Detroit. I will say with a position that is his head game as goalie is from a mental perspective, I just hope that the results in Detroit didn't ruin him enough to the point where he's not able to bounce back. To touch on DeSmith a little bit, I think what's really interesting with this whole thing is, you know, maybe Casey to Smith would be a better option than the Delcovic, but it's just as stupid as it sounds.

I'll say it again. You can't sell Jari to Smith as a tandem to the fan base again. And whether that goes into the organization's mind or not, I just, I have a hard time seeing them being the one, two, once again, going into the 2023 season. But we've seen it, you know, going to, we said the same thing going into 2022. So who knows. but it's it's a hard ask it's funny de smith has better numbers the last couple of seasons than the delkevich does but as you said you can't sell that so that's going to be really interesting case to follow but yeah i originally thought that jari was not going to be coming back i kept

saying that on my show i even said kyle's first new was going out and getting vamelka from arizona so i will stitch a fat l on my forehead for that i am sorry to everyone out there who will be listening slash watching this i will take the l on that one But that's your goal-tending situation heading into the season. Moving on to the next big deal, Smitty, Ryan Graves, six years, 4.5 million per season. It's funny, I heard after the season from a couple of people that if he was going to get to July 1,

the Penguins are going to be extremely interested, no matter who the GM was, because Mike Sullivan has long been a fan of him. Sure enough, at least I got that one right, because Graves is now a member of the Penguins. That, I believe, is your Brian Dumas. replacement. He can bring you some offense when I was watching his film when I did a pre-agent profile of Graves a couple weeks ago. He fires a lot of the pucks to the net. He is a very,

and I mean a very shot happy defenseman. Actually ranks in the 88th percentile for shooting. Also really strong on the penalty kill defensively ranks in the 90 second percentile. So he'll also really help in that. He's also really strong at denying entry to the defensive zone and in transition. He's also very good 76 percentile in carrying the puck into the zone in 82nd percentile and entry passes. So he knows how to carry the puck in and he also knows how to make a really nice entry pass to get the cycle going to create scoring chances. I really like him. He also brings a physical toughness to that top four, which I know some fans will like as well. He brings you some size. I think he's a mini version of Marcus Pedersen, but also in the sense that

he'll bring you a bit more offense. I'm higher on him than some other. are, I'll admit that. I really like his game. But I just don't think he should be on the top pairing. I think he probably suits you better as a second pairing defense. What are your thoughts on Ryan Graves? I mean, you said a lot of the things that I was going to say. I mean, I would have liked him better, you know, as a second pairing left-handed defenseman, even though it looks like for the Penguins, he probably will play on that top pairing with Chris Latang. I, so the way that I'm envisioning it with Sullivan, right, is he was probably like, let's trade for Jacob Chickering. But if we can't do that and free agency we're getting Ryan Graves.

That's what that conversation was like. But I do like Ryan Graves. That's true. That's true. But, you know, it's funny because we had Josh Getsoff on our show last week. And we said point blank, we want you to name somebody that feels like they're going to be a Pittsburgh penguin. He landed on Ryan Graves. He felt like who he originally said Tyler Bertuzzi, but he actually felt like the Taylor

Hall thing was setting up for Bertuzzi. to return in Boston. Obviously, that's not been the case. But he landed on Ryan Graves, who he really liked to. So we had a whole conversation about him on there. So very happy that he ended up being a penguin when we were messaging each other when the deal went down. But from that perspective, I do think he adds a lot of elements that like you can almost meet in the middle, right, with the analytics crew as opposed to like the traditionalist because of what he brings to the table. It's kind of like he's a nice middle ground player that everybody can kind of agree on. This is probably the signing that fans are most excited for, I would say, of the group.

Six years, a bit long for me. But, you know, you almost have to tack on a year for any player that you know is going to be coveted on the free agent market. So it's like, yeah, probably ideally you want to give him four or five. You got to give him six to get him to sign with you over, you know, the competition. So I can live with it. I do like the player, at least in the short term. It will be interesting to see how his game ages. but at least for now, you know, 28, I feel really good about him for at least like the first

three, four years of that deal. And that's really what this is about when you look at the window there. And that's really what matters, minute, yeah, the first three to four years, because at the end of it, the team is probably not going to be good anyway. That's really the only sticking point where I was like, hmm, six years for Ryan Greys. I think that's maybe a little bit much, but he's still going to bring you offense. He's still going to bring you value on the pony kill at eight goals, 26 points this past season, ranks in the 92nd percentile for PK ability.

If you look at Andy and Rono's charts, really good in transition, can defend in his own zone. In a perfect world, you stick him on the second pairing with whoever. Maybe that's Jeff Petrie. Maybe that's someone else. Maybe they try him up with Chris Lentang,

but I personally think that's too many minutes for him. I would rather just put Marcus Pedersen up there, to be honest, but I still like him overall as a player. I was just saying in Pedersen, Littang, we're good together. For whatever reason, it seems like they don't want that to be the case.

Maybe it's because of the way, that Pedersen and Petrie were good at the beginning of the year and feeling like if there's somebody that's going to stabilize Jeff Petrie, it is Marcus Pedersen. I just feel like to your point, like Ryan Graves could probably do that too. It's just, you know, from a minute's perspective, I would probably trust Pedersen up on that top pair and Graves on the second one. But, you know, they'll roll into the season. Nothing has to be stuck. You know, once they make those pairings, they don't have to stay that way. Now, Sullivan has to be fluid with it in order for it to work, I think, but it's not like they're set in stone if they go out into the opener with, you know,

graves on the top pair. And who knows? The defense may look a lot different in the next couple of months because I personally don't think Kyle Dubas has done based off what he said today. And we'll get into that a little bit later. Those are the big signings though, but let's get to some of the depth signings. And the day started as many with Matt Nietto, two-year deal, 900K per season. And he split last season with the Colorado.

Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks. I think he's a fine depth forward, can also play on the penalty kill, very good penalty killer. This is going to be a big theme of the signing stay. A lot of these players can really play on the penalty kill. I think the Penguins took last year's struggles on the PK personally, and they want to get that unit back to where it usually is a top five to a top 10 unit league-wide because it was average to below average this past season, but Vietto, he knows how to kill penalties.

12 goals, 24 points. I think for cheap depth at 900K a year, you can do a lot worse than that. I mean, he brings in the 60th percentile for shooting. So when he shoots, he usually scores, at least when you look at a shooting percentage. Entry passes, he's also very good. He's also good at carrying the puck

into the offensive zone, decent defensively. I'm all for this type of signing. It's a very Kyle Dubus-like move. Cheap depth, that's what he did. in Toronto and you can plug them on your fourth line. It's 900K. Not really a big deal for me. Yeah, I guess, you know, when we started out today and for a while that was the only move,

I was like, okay, like this guy's kind of a guarantee to be in their bottom six. But like, with the other two signings, I'm not so sure that he ends up even being in the, on the team most nights, like in their lines. He could be the 13th forward when they all was set and done. after you know they add larzella larzella and no elizari like you obviously have nilander right now you still have grandlin you still have jeff carter you assume like they qualified drew o'connor something's going to happen there and you think he's going to be a regular at the n hl level or at least cross your fingers he should be in 2023 um so yeah i just it's interesting that they added

this many guys for the bottom six um and they're all defense first like you look at the penguins moves they didn't get younger like we thought they were going to really they didn't add any secondary scoring so they're still going to have that same pressure on the offense um they got better defensively for sure though that's the one thing that we can definitely say right now on the surface the offense could be there for sure upgraded from what we saw last season from a secondary scoring standpoint but at least on the surface it's without question they got better defensively and on penalty kill yes i very much agree with that i think you are going to see a bottom six that is not just going to get caved in defensively and allow a bunch of goals like

this last year's bottom six did. But I do think you might be underestimating this bottom six a little bit. Well, I do think you need more on the third line. Let's be real here. There's not enough scoring there. Fourth line, though, I think you definitely have some pieces. We'll get to Noel Chari and Lars Eller in a second. But you have them, Matt Nietto, Drew O'Connor, maybe Jeff Carter plays down there on the fourth line wing on his final year of his contract, probably the final year of his financial career, to be honest. But some of these guys that they signed today, they've still scored double-digit goals,

and that's good. Sure, they may not be the 17 to 20 goal scorers that maybe some of us were looking for, like, for example, Pierre Engball, who signed a seven-year deal on Long Island, which is just crazy. Lou Lamarillo, man, he's a wild one. But I still think there can be some offense there,

but it's not enough as of right now, that's for sure. Let me, so basically what I'm viewing it as is they have two fourth lines. I do think they are better offensively than last year's team. When I say from an offensive standpoint, I still mean I don't see that. I mean, don't, you're never going to see the penguins have like an HBK line again. That's not what I'm looking for. But, you know, someone within that third line that could score, you know, 18 to 20 potentially. and maybe that's too tall of a task.

But with what I'm looking at on the roster, I see more of like two fourth lines from an offensive perspective. I think that's fair to say. And, you know, another one of those fourth liners, I think it's probably one of you, I think their fourth line center is Nootari. The Toronto connection there is very strong because do this.

We knew we were in one of those guys. Yeah, you knew it. I thought it was going to be David Camp until he did resign in Toronto. But I figured at least one of those guys was going to be coming from Toronto to Pittsburgh. And sure enough, it was Nootari. 14 goals, 23 points this past season.

And like these other players, another very strong defensive player in his own zone ranked in the 90th percentile for defensive impact among his peers. So only 10% of fourth-line players at 5B-5 are better than him than in his own zone. 87th percentile for penalty-killing ability. He's also a physical forward, which I think fans will have. He brings him a physical element. He's also a bigger player. So you have all that.

Plus the scoring, I'm fine with that if you ask me. Yeah, I think it goes back to the kind of thing. Well, first off, anytime you see like pretty much unanimously Toronto fans, we're not happy about losing him. That's a good sign. I think it's another one of those cases where you're looking at it on the surface, probably, you know, you'd say for his age 31 years old to probably rather give him two years than three.

But yeah, give him three to make sure that he signs with you. So totally fine with this deal. it's a really good bottom six forward to have i think he can play in a lot of different situations solven's going to be able to trust him at the end of the game that that's the thing too that i'm looking at is when you go up and down this lineup right now you're not going to have to rely on the brian dumelan and jeff carter that solvin did at the end of game situations last year sure jeff carter still on the roster i think that we are both kind of hopeful that like from a role perspective and from a minutes perspective he takes a step back when you look at what they've added to the bottom six

So yeah, I just think like situationally, the penguins should be a lot better in 2023 when you look at what they've done. I agree with that for sure. And the final signing is Lars Eller 2 times 2.45 million in his mid-30s as well. Penguins, no matter who is running the show, they love their 30-year-old players.

I also want to get younger in some areas, but they're not sharing that vision, at least for right now. Former member of the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals, and before he was traded to the Colorado avalanche. It seemed like he would always score against the Penguins when he was in Washington. Every game, no matter if it was a regular season or the playoffs this past season, 10 goals, 23 points.

Outside of that, he's also a very strong penalty killer. Can play well defensively, 88 percentile for defensive impact if you look at Andy and he ronoh charts at five on five. But I think his legs are gone for the most part, his skating is not what it used to be. A lot of Capitals fans were kind of waiting for him to be moved. I'm friends with a decent amount of capitals fans since I lived in the DC area for a lot of my life and whenever I would talk to him about Eller and I actually texted a few today

just asking them like hey like what do you think of him because the peng was just signed him a couple people told me like good luck a little bit because his legs are gone and he's not the same player that he used to be so if there's another signing that I'm kind of a bit mad about it's this one yeah I mean when you think about him as a player

now this is you know in his better years I think you look at one of the stronger defensive centers that we've seen, you know, kind of an underrated guy wins a bunch of faceoffs. But I've never really like, sure, he had a knack for scoring against the penguins and maybe some big time goals. I think he was always a little bit of a better playoff performer than he was in a regular season from an offensive perspective. But I've never really like considered that the strength of his game.

Yeah, he certainly hasn't necessarily aged well. I don't think things finished up for him well last year, 34 years old. I think I guess I'm in the same boat as you also seems a little bit expensive for what he brings to the table. I don't I don't know. I mean, I think he's probably like you said, the one that you're really stretching your head about. And it's also probably going to be like, I don't see many nights where he's not going to be in the lineup, you know, knock on wood health wise. But he's probably going to be one of the guys where like, is he really one of their best 12 forwards that should be in the lineup? Yeah.

I think that's the best way to put. especially if Drew O'Connor is knocking on the door for next season, and I think he will be. I think he's deserving of a full-time spot in the bottom six. Is he going to be out for someone like Lars Eller who really can't get any more and doesn't have as much of an offensive ability like he used to? Lars Eller, I remember when the Capitals got him, was it back in 2015, 2016, he was a really good third-line player.

That time has passed. He is not bad anymore at that best. He is a fourth-line player who can give you decent defense. of impacts, score you a few goals, but he's really not going to do more than that. I think at this one. I think there were better options out there for the penguins rather than signing Eller. I understand Tar Reardon is on the staff.

He has coached him before. He was in Washington as the head coach. So there's that connection. But I don't know, man. Two years for that, for Sony's 34, is not going to bring you a lot of offense. I think you could have done a little bit better. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I don't know what the type of player was that they were looking for there.

But for what they spent on him, yeah, I would agree. I think he could have gone a totally different direction. You know, obviously, I don't know that they had the need to add somebody else to the top six, but like $750,000 more Matthew Shane signed in Dallas. Like, I mean, again, you know, opportunity is going to play into that too. But yeah, I just, it's a head stretcher. But I don't think it's anything to be like overly upset about, at least on the surface. Now, again, if he ends up looking completely cooked and they have a better forward option sitting there and they're not playing him just because of Lars Ellers'allic Cap hit, then it's going to be a problem.

But on the surface, it's whatever. I agree. And overall, Zach, when you look at this day as a whole, what grade do you give Kyle Dubis? You know, I don't want to give him the benefit of, I do think it was a very weak. free agent class. Now that doesn't, you don't just have to hand out contracts just to hand out contracts because of that. Um, so I, I like the graves. I like Nuelicari. I am at, I don't like really either aspect of the jari deal, but I get it. Um, pretty meh with Eller the Dalkovich is whatever to. Needo for what he brings the table, I actually would say that

that was a good signing, if anything. I'm very in the middle on it, so I guess that means I give them a C on the surface. Again, like this is an incomplete in reality, because these guys haven't played a game for the Penguins, yet we have to let us play out. But all this is done on the surface, and on the surface,

I think it was an average day for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I think they are a better team right now than they finished last season, but still I'm going with a C, just because mainly that Jari, year and money brings it down a little bit for me because otherwise I think it could be a B. I'll give it about a B minus to maybe C C minus somewhere around that range. I don't think it was particularly really good. I also don't think it was particularly really bad. But I do think right now they are better than where they were at the end of this past season. And there's also

so much time left. That's what people don't realize that. I keep seeing so many negative reactions, oh, this is going to be the team going into training camp or going into October. I don't necessarily think that's the case. I know they're over the cap by a little bit right now, but that can change if they do move out some salaries thinking about that. Kyle Dewas talked about Jeff Petrie and McCall Grinland during his press conference today. For people thinking that he was just going to dump all over those two, think again. That's just, that's not how you do business, especially for two players who I think it's quite obvious that they're trying to move, at least one of them with Jeff Petrie, because that's been

widely reported by numerous outlets. Mikhail Granlin, that contract is obviously brutal. You can probably find a taker for him, or hopefully at least via trade. You're not just going to crap all over them for the sake of crapping all over them. Of course, he's going to say, yeah, we think Jeff is going to be a really good defenseman for us next season. Or yeah, we really think Granlin can help our third line out next season and play that many games. You have to say stuff like that

But if I were a betting man I would say that at least one of them Will not be on the penguins Come on October I could definitely be very wrong on that But that's how I'm seeing it right now Especially with how they've been Sounds like really dangling Petrie

These last several days Yeah it's funny because we just mentioned all the guys Like in the bottom six and stuff Well like right now Grandland's part of that equation too Like as long as he's on the roster that's what we kind of have to say about it. So, yeah, the Petrie stuff is really interesting.

I mean, that goes back to Tuesday, but it's also like, it's not that he's a bad player. He's obviously not worth that contract. But he wasn't bad enough, in my opinion, to even be considered like a buyout candidate or anything like that. I just don't think that I think that he's on the team next year. I think it's Randlin that isn't going to be. And I don't know how Kyle is going to end up.

pulling that off. It'll be interesting to see. But if I were picking one of them, those two do not be on the penguins, it's, it's Granland. I do think Petrie is going to be on the 2023 Penguins. I actually thought if they were going to move a defenseman, it'd be Ruta. That would have made sense because I do think Ruta, Chara Riedel can do what he does for a lot cheaper. So I get what you're saying with that. I'll go opposite. As of right now, I think Petrie's not going to be on the team. And Granlin, if I had to pick one will be. know, that may not make fans happy, but, you know, there's, so let me ask you then, as we sit here right now, if that's the case, how do the forward lines shake out then?

If Granlan's part of the equation. I think you're going to have to probably put him on wing, I think left wing. I don't think you can have him be your center there. That's not going to happen. He's not a modern day, Patrice Bergeron like Mike Sullivan was trying to use him late in the season on the penalty kill and all these defense. defensive zone draws. That's not going to happen. What I really wanted them to do, but they didn't do it today during free agency. If you were really committed to keeping Greenland on the team,

and they still may right now, why didn't you just get a bunch of pure shooters and say, hey, we're going to put Granlin with you guys. Heleyski- Hey, why didn't you get through Shane for reunite Nashville? One year, three million per season. That's an easy slam dunk deal. Maybe Duchenne preferred going to Dallas because I would have been all over a deal like that. Maybe the Penguins inquired, but he was like, hey, sorry, I'm going to go to Dallas. I prefer playing there. But man, that would have been perfect because he brings so much even strength offense to the table and is a pure volume shooter. You could have gotten him, could have gotten someone else. I really would have done something like that. Yeah, I just think that you get a

guy like that who we've already seen inflate granlin's production not saying you know grandland all of a sudden overnight becomes a better player but i think that you know the surface level numbers at least are inflated a bit when you play with mat d shane as we've seen from grandlin's time in nashville so i think you know it would have been if that was going to be the plan i could totally get it um but it's not clearly because matthew shane is is in dallas and as of right now grandlin's still in the Penguins. So. Yeah. Well, I wish they signed Matt Duchin because that was an easy contract for them to sign. And I was all over over it on Friday. And now I'm sad about it only a little bit. But they're over the cap now. Kyle Dupis is not done. Right, Zach. There's no chance that I think he's

done at this point. Yeah. I think to your point, listen, it's kind of everybody's still first time hearing. and seeing Kyle Dubus work. At least this up close. I think they're not used to a media savvy general manager yet, and you're seeing that play out right now. Sure, yeah. And I think so, you know, this is going to be a good test once we see how this does all play out, you know,

what he said about Granlan and Petrie, hey, if it holds true, it holds true. But like we both think at least one of those guys is still going to be moved, despite what he said. Then we go into the next period knowing that. Like, okay, this guy might have said this, but he went and did this. I mean, we've kind of already seen that because they didn't get younger. That was kind of what we were sold.

That didn't happen. So, you know, saying something and doing something are two completely different things. As of right now, those two are both on the roster. The penguins are over the cap. I'm with you. I don't think that they're necessarily done. I think something else has to be coming. What that is, I'm going to guess at this point.

it's not going to be Eric Carlson, but it's something. I'm sure they're going to keep talking with him. The way that Dubus answered that question, sounds like he still wants to keep maybe peppering San Jose about what he can do to bring him to Pittsburgh, because, man, I know he doesn't bring any defensive impacts to the table. He ranks in the zero percentile if you look at J. Fresh's charts. It ranks in the fifth percentile if you look at evolving wild.

But every game would be seven, six, or 8-7, all gas, no breaks. I'm all in favor of that. Bring back those kind of games every single night for the penguins. He would make the team a lot of fun to watch. I know he would make them a bit older, but hey, you've already signed a bunch of 30-year-olds. What's one more to trade for at least?

Letang and Carlson on the same team, man. A lot of offense. A lot of offense. Yeah, and then he got Graves and Pedersen to kind of stabilize them. I mean, I wouldn't mind Graves with Eric Carlson if you can somehow, some way, make that work. Don't know how you're going to do that with the cap hit. I mean, GMs find a way no matter what. But I personally think he's still going to try for it.

But it's probably more unlikely than not. But, man, it's at least something to think about and put it on the back of your mind for the rest of this off season. Because I know Carolina wants him. I know Seattle obviously wants him to. But if Carolina is. Hey, if Carolina is, if Carolina ends up doing that, then bringing Brett Pesci because there's no way he's staying there. No, I would, I would love to get my hands on Brett Pesci. He's not going to bring you a lot of offense, but defensively, oh yeah, he's elite.

Yeah, totally different player. I just, I would love to have either one. I agree with that too. Elite at suppressing shots, or at least for Pesci. And also make a bunch of Savers fans mad because I know Sabers fans really want to get their hands on Pesci. But, Smini, I think that will do it for this special. edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I really appreciate you coming on to discuss all of these signings. Tell everyone what you got coming up for around the 4-1-2 with Tyler.

Wait, hold on. The Penguins just signed forward Juna Coppinon to a two-year contract. Oh, yeah, that was, that was rumored to be coming during the day. Okay. It's a two-way deal for, yeah, it's Coppin. Two-year contract, run through the 2024, 2025 campaign, 775K at the NHL level. Yeah, I believe it's a two-way contract. I think this is just depth for Wilkesbury. I literally just got that alert

and I was like, I don't want to miss something while we're talking here. But yeah, Zachary Smith, everybody can call me Smitty. But host Around the 412 with our friend Tyler, who what a bum, wasn't able to make it for this episode. But now shout out to Tyler, if he's watching

and you're listening to this back. Around the 4-1-2, you can find all of our stuff. This is actually a great time to be on here, Hunter, because today, July 1st, time of recording this, we just launched year six of our yearly rocking around the 412 Christmas mission. I launch it every year on July 1st as like a Christmas in July thing. So yeah, year six, first five years of that, we've raised over $25,000. Every single penny that is donated to that goes directly to providing Christmas to the children of local families. We've done it, like I said, for the past five years.

puts a smile on everybody's face. It's a great cause. It's a way to, if you are somebody that is charitable, it's a great way to see exactly where your money is going. That was the thing for us is we wanted to directly see how this money was being used and how it can impact the lives of these families. Tyler and I never had to worry about Christmas growing up. We're both very fortunate in that way.

We know it's not that way for everybody else. So we launched this Christmas mission. Shout out to my mom for the name, very simple, just adding rocking to the front of our name of the podcast. But a ton of videos, ton of pictures. I put all that stuff up to GoFundMe. Link is always our pin tweet on Twitter once we started off. So that's the case right now, even though Twitter is not a thing basically right now.

Thanks, Elon. Facebook, YouTube. All that good stuff. Just search around the 4-1-2 and you'll find all our information there. But yeah, thanks again, Hunter. Yeah, of course. And yeah, this was a brutal free agency period, not being able to really interact with anyone on Twitter because Elmo, as I like to call him, like to do something.

thing super weird to say the least with i don't know i'm not going to get into all that we're just going to end the episode here but go support that go support round of war one two thank you all so much for listening slash watching this bonus edition of the locked on penguins podcast and i'll be back with another episode for you all on monday