Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BREAKING: Penguins acquire goalie Arturs Silovs from Vancouver!

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

The Penguins made some news over the weekend, trading for goaltender Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks, and The Athletic’s Josh Yohe joins to break it all down! Hunter, Patrick, and Josh start the show discussing the trade made over the weekend, where Silovs will fit on the roster, and what it means for the future of the Penguins’ goaltending situation. Then, the Penguins are heading to Madison Square Garden for the season opener, where they’ll meet their former head coach. They discuss Sullivan’s tenure as head coach as well as what led to his dismissal in Pittsburgh. Finally, what’s the status on Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Erik Karlsson? Josh gives us all the latest! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in Bonus Bets if your first $5 bet wins!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) 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 made a surprise trade on Sunday, acquiring goaltender Arthur Shilovs for the Vancouver Canucks, and Pat and I are going to discuss that deal with special guest Josh Yoey right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. joined by my co-s, Patrick David, you can follow him on all social media platforms at

Syndrome for Wet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. UnderSore Penguins, and you can follow us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. 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. And finally, today's episode is brought to by Fandall. Right now, new Fandwell customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Of course, we are also joined by a special. special guests today. The athletics Josh Joey returns to Locked on Penguins to kick off the offseason slate here. Pat, we're down to three episodes a week. Remember people, unless there's any breaking news that happens on Tuesday or Thursday this week, we will not be recording our goal

for this week and up until training camp is episodes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But Josh, thank you so much for coming on to kick off the full offseason slate here. It's always a pleasure, gentlemen, and to be the first guest of the offseason slate, I don't know if that's a compliment or not, but I'm going to take it as a compliment. because honestly, the fans care about the offseason more than anything else right now. Hey, it's been pretty busy for the Penguins as well. And speaking of that, Pat and Josh, penguins made a very surprise trade on Sunday, acquiring goaltender Arthur Shilovs from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a fourth round

pick and forward Chase Stillman. This came out of absolutely nowhere. It looked like the penguins were starting to solve the log jam the net. And then Kyle Dubus was like, nope, I'm just going to go and get Arthur Shilov's. And by the way, people, this is a very good deal for the penguins in my opinion. opinion. For some people that may not remember, Shilovs was the Canucks starting goaltender a couple of seasons ago in the playoffs when the Canucks had that really good season under Rick Tocke. Fasher Demko was hurt. And he played very well, to me at least, against the Oilers,

took that team to seven games. I know some people are going to look at his 898% percentage excuse me for that entire playoff run in 23, 24, and be like, eh, still wasn't that good. Trust me, people. He kept the Canucks in a lot of those games, especially in the second round. And then this year for the Abbotsford Canucks, the AHL team of the Vancouver Canucks, plays in 24 games, 2.01 save percentage, 931 save percentage. He is the HL playoff MVP for this past year. Struggled with his NHL minutes this year, but he was damn good in the AHL. And I don't know about you, Pat, but right now when you look at the overall goaltending situation, I think he might have the inside track to getting at least the backup job going in a training camp.

It would make sense in my estimation. You obviously want to see Blumquist and Murshov get more significant minutes, whether it's with Wheeling or Wilkes-Bare. So I think this looks like for now, we'll see what happens the rest of the off season, that it's a replacement for Alex Nadelcovich. And I was joking with you guys before we hit record. When it comes to big moments and big games, this is essentially the anti Tristan Jari because when it's not a big game, you worry a lot and you think, oh, no, we can't use this guy.

And then the big games show up and he's prime Patrick Waugh apparently. So not a bad little piece of business by Dubus. It fits right in with everything else they're trying to do. He's 24 years old. He'll be 24 for the majority of the season. So another young piece into the system. And the thing I'm curious about, and I'll pass this over to Josh, is, This did kind of come out of nowhere.

Were you hearing any inklings on it? And what are your overall thoughts on the move? Not really, although it goes in line with everything Kyle said he would do. He said he wanted to trade for young, talented players who, for whatever reason, were no longer a fit with their NHO organization. That's exactly what he did. Vancouver already has two very expensive goaltenders on their NHL roster. They've got other good prospects who don't need to clear waivers.

That wasn't the case with this one. I don't think they wanted to let him go. I just don't think they thought they had much choice. I spoke with Jim Rutherford yesterday because any time I get a chance to speak with Jim, it's just as a reporter, how can you not? And he basically said, yeah, he's trending toward being a really good NHO goalie. Like he's, he had some things he had to work on last year, and he worked on them, and he got better. And you said it, Pat, I mean, in big games, look at what he said on the playoffs.

He was the MVP of the world championships, a couple of times. of years ago as well, leading Latvia to a bronze medal, big upset against the U.S. that wasn't a very good Latvian roster, and he stood on his head. I mean, and Hunter, would you say a safe percentage was 898 in the playoffs? Yes, it was 898 a couple seasons ago for the Vancouver Canucks again. Some people are going to look about it. I'd be like, that's not very good. Trust me, people, you watch those games.

He kept the Canucks in a lot of those games, especially when the Oilers were pushing. Seven of those 10 games were against McDavid and Dryside. 898's pretty good. against them. I think in a playoff setting when you're 23 years old. No, I remember watching him play. He's a big, talented goal tender. I know a lot of people in the Canucks organization and people who cover them.

And they will tell you, like, if this kid becomes a star in two or three years, we wouldn't be shocked. Like, I've had a number of people say that. Like, he has that kind of talent. He's 6'4. He's a big guy. He's really athletic. He clearly rises to the occasion.

He's had consistency issues. just, it gives up bad goals a lot. Stuff that you see young goalies do. It gives up shots from the point, to the point that it was getting a little maddening last year at times. But his performance against grade A opportunities is like off the charts good. So if I'm the Penguins, like it's a no-brainer. Why wouldn't you do this?

You didn't give up anything. Stillman's kind of a nothing prospect with all due respect to him. You give him a fourth round pick, like, okay, you have a million draft picks in the next three drafts, as we know. Why wouldn't you do this? And I've heard people say, well, have they lost faith in their goalie prospect? Like, no, I don't think that's the case. I think when you can get another good one for basically nothing, like, why wouldn't you?

I still think Miroshov has a real chance to beat the guy in a year or so. He's got that kind of talent. Blumquist, I'm not quite as big on as, he's okay. I don't, I've never been really blown away by him. But this is a really talented goalie. This guy is going to make the team, I would think. I'd be shocked if he didn't. And listen, if he outplays Jari in the preseason,

October 7th, Madison Square Garden, I don't know. It's in play. I don't think it's set in stone that Tristan's number one guy by any stretch. Yeah, and I kind of want to build off of that with what you said, Josh. And obviously, this deal came out of nowhere. We weren't expecting this trade. It just kind of all popped in our inboxes and on our timelines yesterday. out of the blue. And I know that it's going to be a difficult thing, but I got to give our audience

this and I got to give them what they want. When it comes to Tristan Jari, we all know that if we could book him a first class ticket to wherever that is not Pittsburgh, we would have our credit cards out and at the ready at the moment, at the instant we could. But are you hearing anything about him and what's going on with him. Is there a possibility to move him? What's his status within the organization? Anything that you're hearing about Tristan Jari? Well, you know, I've been under the impression that he's probably going to be the guy to start the season.

Who else is there? Now, maybe now there is somebody else, but until yesterday, like, I just don't think they want Miroshov in the NHL this season. I think they know their blue line is off. and they're going to give up a ton of goals, and he's only 21, and I don't think they want to expose him to that quite yet. I think they want him to have a full season of Wilkesbury. Blumquist might end up being an okay NHO goalie,

but boy, he sure looked out of place his last few NHL games. I mean, he really did not look good at all. They were done with Jari. When they sent him to the miners, like that was it. Like, they completely had written him off, I believe. And I still think if there is a taker out there, they will trade him. I believe that pretty strongly. I always have.

To my knowledge, there hasn't been one yet. So I think it's likely he's on the team when the season starts. And if you want the Penguins to get rid of Trish and Jari, just keep cheering for him to play well. The better he plays, the more of a chance there is that they could move him at some point. Teams are so desperate for goaltending that, you know, as the years go on, and his contract gets shorter and shorter on the back end. And like there's a greater chance that somebody will take him. But I haven't heard that anyone is.

I know everybody wants Brian Rust and Ricard Raquel. I think there are some teams that are interested in Carlson Jari. I'm not so sure. We're going to get to those three a little bit later on in the show. But I will say, Josh, the first thought I did have yesterday after that trade was announced was that it feels like someone else could be out the door in some way, shape, or form, just because they were starting to untangle the logjam, sending Alex Adelgovich to the San Jose Sharks, and then they add she loves in.

Again, really good move. I think he definitely is an upgrade right now over Y'all Blumquist, but does that make him expendable potentially? Because Josh, if the plan is to have, for example, Sergei Muroshov to start this upcoming season, Wilkesbury, maybe you have Philip Larson there as a 1A1B, where does that leave someone like Blumquist? That'll be the final question of this segment, because if you keep Jari, he's on the NHLosters.

Shilov, at least right now, may have the inside track. Where does that leave you all Blumquist with the organization? Well, that's a great question. But maybe it comes down to this. Maybe Shilov and Jari are the guys to start the season in Pittsburgh. And maybe they tell Blumquist and Miroshov, we're sending you both to Wilkesbury. You're each getting the net 50% of the time and turn it into a competition. And may the best man win.

Maybe it's that simple. I don't know. I don't know that Blumquist is false. and out of favor. They're still intrigued by him. And it's not some lock that Miroshov's going to show up and be Patrick Waugh. Like, you know, he's got talent. He's the goalie and the organization with the momentum.

And he's the youngest. And so he has all those things going for him. And we're all, I think, really intrigued to see him in September and training camp, no doubt. But Blumquist, they still like him. I think what happened with Blumquist was he had a few good games in October last year. and the fan base was just salivating for anything good and probably elevated this kid a little more than what he was. Yeah, he did have a couple really good games in Toronto and Edmonton.

He played great. But he really came back down to earth after that. So I just think it's an open competition. And I think, you know, made the best young goalie win. And there's nothing wrong with adding another good young one. And that's basically what they did. I think that's just smart business. Yeah, I agree with that.

again, they basically just got Sheelawbs for free. And at this situation, you're throwing darts of the dartboard, hoping any of these young goalies stick. Sheelves is still only 24 years old. The fact that he is where he is development-wise, I think it's a really good sign, in my opinion. So I'm excited to see what he can do in Canavan preseason. And as of right now, again, I do think he has the inside track

to at least be the number two this season. And hey, say Jare struggles again. And that's probably going to happen just because he's just a very inconsistent goalie. Maybe she loves can potentially take the net from him for a little bit, but that'll do it for this first segment coming up in the second segment. The Penguins will play the New York Rangers once again on the NHL's opening night. We're going to discuss that right after this. Before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is

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They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. Now you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsor job credit. just go to indeed.com slash locked on right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply hiring. Indeed is all you need. All right here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Join as always my co-host, Patrick Damp, and special guest today, Josh Joey of the Athletic.

And fellas, of course, the ANShell was going to schedule Penguins Rangers opening night for a second year in a row. the only thing I was surprised by, guys, was that this game is in New York, not Pittsburgh. I kind of felt like the NHL, if they were going to do this, they were going to schedule this game in Pittsburgh. And yeah, I know it would be two years in row in Pittsburgh, but Mike Sullivan would get his long-awaited ovation because he is going to get quite an ovation for his first game back here in Pittsburgh with everything he accomplished with the Penguins. That's just the reason why I felt like it was going to be here.

But it's in Madison Square Garden. Two years in row, the Penguins looked to avenge. last season's opening night loss, excuse me, when they got blown out 6-0 at PBG Paints arena, one of their worst games of the year in a long list of them, honestly. But Pat and Josh, your thoughts on Penguins Rangers opening night for the 2025-2020s season. It just had to happen, right? You just knew it was coming. And I was hoping that you wouldn't say Sullivan's name so I could just go, why, something happened.

But at the end of the day, I mean, this will be fun. even if you take the Sullivan equation out of it, the Rangers have crept back up in my estimation as one of the penguins bigger rivals of this modern era. And granted, they've been in and out of the penguins top rivals all of my life in forever because it's the Rangers. But this would be really fun.

And as we've been saying on the show, Hunter, manage the expectations for next season. The Rangers are going to be in their minds, at least, a team that wants to compete for a Stanley Cup. Penguins are rebuilding. Hopefully they can play spoiler at MSG and spoiler for their former coach. But Josh, the thing that I know, and I hope all of our listeners know, I know Hunter and I know this, you had a pretty solid relationship with Mike Sullivan in his time as the Penguins head coach.

And the one thing I wanted to ask you is this. when they made the decision to move on from him, what exactly did you hear went into it and how did Sullivan feel about it? Because as we said on the show, it really kind of came out of nowhere. Yeah, it did. First of all,

I'm a bit of a penguin's historian. I cannot remember the last time they opened the season at the garden. I'm sure they have. It's been a long, long time. I'm actually okay with it. I'm sure TV may have had something to do with that. They like being in New York. And it's really hard to schedule the Rangers because there's so many events at MSG too.

So it might have been just a TV thing. But that's a really cool opener. And as for Mike Sullivan and how that all went down, the way it's been explained to me is that Mike Sullivan didn't want to go. And he was never going to resign. So I think in the end, Kyle Dubus very gently nudged him out the door, that that's my take on it. Not that Dubas doesn't have all the respect in the world for Mike Sullivan because I know that

he does. And they actually have a good relationship and they work well together. But I think Dubus thought it was in the penguin's best interest to move on. And I genuinely think that he thought it was in Mike Sullivan's best interest to move on. And he told me, you know,

I talked with Dubus. I was in Sweden during the World Championships and we, you know, I interviewed him and he said it on the record and he said it again afterwards when we were talk and he said like Mike Sullivan is the coach of a championship team that's what he is and we are not that right now and I think the dude was just didn't make any sense and I can see that when you watch the four nations tournament like Sullivan just kind of looked like he was in his elements like you know that that's okay there's nothing wrong with it so I maybe it's best for everybody but I if

there's any perception out there that it was mutual I don't think it was mutual I don't think Mike Sullivan wanted to leave. I talked with him, I think it was in March, and I interviewed him. We had a very long conversation afterwards, and he said to me that he would never quit. He said, I would never quit on Sid. I will never do it. Like, I want to be here until we get good again. And I believe him. I really think that was more Kyle politely forcing him out than it was a mutual agreement. Yeah. And I want to say real quick, Hunter. I kind of come down more on Dubus's side. And that's no,

like Hunter knows this. Our audience knows this. I am a died in the wool Mike Sullivan guy. Like Hunter would come on here and so he, they got to get rid of him. They got to get rid of him. I was like, no, no, they don't, Hunter. Please stop.

But like, I think Dubus's logic is correct. Mike Sullivan wants to win right now at this moment. He wants to win a championship. and he just doesn't seem like a guy who's going to operate well in a rebuild. And that is unfortunately where the penguins have to be. And it just felt like it was time. So it sucks for me because I really like so.

I really still like Sullivan as a coach. I like Kyle Dubus as a manager, but it just felt like wrong place, wrong time for for them at this moment. But sorry, Hunter, I didn't mean to interrupt you on that one. No, no, you're good. I totally messed up that you were going to talk there.

So I apologize on that. But no, point was that cow duba's kind of said during one of his media pressers that you don't really see too many coaches you know stick around for that whole rebuild and then you know be there once they get good again just because that's just usually not how a lot of 10 years work and he i mean i mean mike solvin had been here for a decade at this point so he kind of hinted that yeah you usually don't see coaches stay here that long go through a rebuild and then still be the coach once that team becomes good again so i think he kind of just felt like the time was right and hey i kept

saying it on the pod all the time And it felt like the time was right, especially during a lot of these ugly losses this past season, where to me at least it looked like the team had quit on him, which I had really never seen before, to be honest. But again, opening night, Penguins Rangers 25, 26 season going to be October 7th. It's going to be a lot of fun. That's one part of a triple header that day. Remember, the rest of the schedule people will be announced on Wednesday. Josh, do you have anything else to add about schedule? England's Rangers opening night before we head to the final segment to discuss the three players who have not been traded,

but I know a lot of the fans want them to be traded before the start of the season. Yeah, the schedule's coming out on Wednesday at 1 o'clock, I believe. So that's always an exciting day where we can all play on the next six months of our lives. So we always enjoy that. But no, it's going to be fun in the garden. And just to wrap up the Sally talk, you know, more than one thing can be true. And I don't think he was the problem. I think that roster has been the problem for years.

But that doesn't mean that it made sense for him to coach this team anymore. Like both of those things can be true. And say this for Sullivan, only three men have ever guided professional sports teams in Pittsburgh to more than one championship ever. Chuck Knoll, Danny Murta, Mike Sullivan. That's a pretty impressive list to be on. I will still argue that in terms of the coaches that this franchise has had, I think he is the, best coach in franchise history, people will say Badger Bob, and I think that is obviously a tremendous choice. One A, 1B to some people, I would put Sullivan in the 1A and Badger Bob at 1B. But again,

that is strictly my opinion. If you want to have Badger Bob in that one spot, have Salver right after that, be my guess because I think that's also a totally valid take as well. Pat, do you have anything else to add? All good here. I'm looking forward to the season. And the other thing I'm looking forward to, this isn't a teased. It's a tease is something that I know we get every year. It's one of my favorite things to read from you, Josh, the travelers, the Penguins fan travel guide. It's that one little appetizer, I'm like, oh, hockey season. It's coming on Thursday, and I still have to write the bulk of it. And I'm going to be a little sleepy the next couple nights.

Hey, there's a lot of good NHL aren't as I haven't been to yet. Same with you, Pat. Josh, you're obviously very lucky you've gone to basically all of them at this rate. And I do want to get to more of them, especially, you know, the Bell Center. of course. I want to get out to Vancouver, see the arena out there. I know it looks really nice inside. Those are just a couple that I want to take a look at. But that would do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're going to discuss Ricardo Raquel, Brian Rust, and Eric Carlson. Will they get moved this offseason or not? We're going to get Josh's thoughts on that right after this.

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and special guest Josh Joey of the athletic. Josh, I think it's the question that everyone wants an answer to. We are sitting here shortly after 3 p.m. Eastern time on July 14th, as of right now, Brian Rust, Ricard Raquel, and Eric Carlson are all on. on the Penguins roster. Penguins are kind of the only seller on the market right now. The team that everyone keeps saying doesn't really want to improve going into next season. I think all of their recent moves, at least free agency-wise, would sort of indicate that. When you look at the players they've signed, the term that they've handed out,

these are very much short-term moves to at least put some bodies in the lineup for next season. You know, Raquel, a lot of teams have called on him. Brian Rush, Josh, you reported that as well. Eric Carlson, as it stands right now, do you think all three will be on the roster come October, or do you think at least one of them gets moved? I would guess one of them will be moved, maybe two. I was told, I think it's the 4th of July, right around the 4th of July, give or take. When Carolina signed Eilers, I was told.

told by somebody I trust very much that if that deal didn't go down, that the Penguins were plan B for Carolina and that either Rust or Raquel was one of the two, or I'm sure they wanted both, one of the two is who they were focusing on. So I know Kyle's phone rings nonstop. People wanting both of those guys, especially Brian Ross, you know, championship teams or teams with championship aspirations really covet him. And then why not? Of course they do. So the question becomes, what is the ultimate asking price? What's enough for Kyle to pull the trigger? I don't think he wants to trade either guy.

It's not like it's a fun thing for him to do this, especially with Rust, who is really a beloved penguin and a very popular guy in that locker room, and you're going to have a very unhappy captain. If you trade him, we all know that. So it's going to have to be a huge return. But that said, between he and Raquel, I think one of them is going to go before the deadline for sure. And I think there's a good chance that happens this summer. And Eric Carlson, I think there's a better than 50-50 chance he goes before the season.

I have heard that there are some teams interested. I think the penguins would have to retain salary, but I think they'd be willing to do so. I just kind of think they're ready to move on from him. And Matt Dumba has nothing in common with Eric Carlson as a hockey player. but he is a right-handed guy who can at least play some minutes. I think that's one of the reasons they made that deal. If indeed Carlson goes, he needs somebody to play on the right side to hug up some minutes, and he can't be playing Crystal Tying 30 minutes a night anymore.

I think we saw that pretty clearly last season. For sure. And the rust part of it, I look at that to kind of keep the theme of the episode rolling here, is that it's very similar, in my opinion, to Mike Sullivan, where I don't think there's. any harm in holding on to him. He wants to be a penguin. He's a great penguin. Hunter and I both agree that if it weren't for the big three, there would be an A on his sweater every night because he is a no-nonsense, hardworking guy. I agree with that too. But you look at the landscape of

the penguins and you want to get better. You want to increase the young talent. You want to get better pieces. You want to stack the deck in your favor to get those young pieces. And if there's a player to do it, it's Brian Rust. And the same thing goes for Ricard Raquel, where you look at his numbers this year. You look at how well he did. I think he'll be similar this year. But if I'm a, if I'm playing EA Sports NHL, I see a guy at his highest value and I should probably get something for him. But at the end of the day, the Carlson one is interesting to me, because I think the three of us have had this conversation before is that I think he's both a, he's both been disappointing for the penguins, but also a victim of pretty unrealistic expectations as well as a team that

didn't really need them, considering where they were. So if, if they were to move him, Josh, Do I for something, the only East team I can see in my brain right now that he could go to would be Ottawa. Is there anywhere else you could see him fitting in? Everything about Eric Carlson is interesting to me, first of all. I just view him as a worthy experiment that just didn't work. I love watching him play. I appreciate his talent. I love the guy.

He's not what the penguins need. That's very clear. Ottawa does kind of make sense. and they obviously know what they're getting with him. Detroit's an interesting team. You keep hearing the Red Wings popping up, and I seem to recollect the last couple of years, Carlson having a lot of really good games against the Red Wings.

So maybe they have a different perception of him. I don't know. That's the only other team. I know Toronto was out there. There was a rumor. I don't think that makes it. And if I have one more, I've had so many people tell me,

how about Florida? Why the hell would Florida want Eric Carlson? like look at how they play look at their cap situation by the way that too but i mean well why would a team that plays like florida like people say maybe gino go sign with florida when his contracts up really think the florida panthers want 40 year old of getting malcolm really like i don't think so um sorry it's just the way it is um sorry i'm going on a tangent here but um carlson he's going to go i think the Penguins will have to retain some of the salary, but I can tell you this from people I've talked with around the league.

The way he performed in the Four Nations changed everything for general managers. They saw him play, and it was like, that's Eric Carlson. He's still really good. He may have been Sweden's best player in that tournament. Everybody saw it. We all saw it.

And so because of that, I think he's more movable than you might think. I don't know how much the penguins could get in return for him. And if you're Kyle, if you don't get a lot in return for him, I guess you have to ask yourself, is it worth it to trade him? But he still does some good things. You just want to give him away.

Like, Jari, yeah. Like, Ryan Graves, hell yeah. But I don't know that Carlson, yeah, Carlson's disappointing, especially early last year. He was awful. And he's not part of the future. so if you can get anything for him, I would move him. But I wonder if Kyle would just, if there's a team, yeah, I'll take him,

but I'm not going to give you much if he would do that. Because my impression is, until the penguins get good again, Kyle's not worried about having a few bad contracts on the team. He doesn't just want to get rid of people for the hell of it. He doesn't want to buy people out. Basically, if we're going to stink this year, okay, well, some bad contracts. What's the big deal? So I'm curious, but I still think there's enough.

interest in Carlson, they might get something for them. And I could see it happening. So in other words, teams that are interested in these three players pay up or we're not doing it. I think that's basically what it is right now, Josh. They're kind of saying, we're not just going to give these players away for pennies on the dollar. If you want any of these three guys, we're willing to trade them, you just need to pay up and agree to our terms because, again, the Penguins feels like they're really the only big true seller out there. I mean, they're in rebuild mode. everyone knows that these players available.

I'm sure they have other players available, of course, as well. Some platform is a bit down in the lineup. Obviously, you mentioned it, Josh. Ryan Graves, Tristan Jari, they'll sell them for anything they can get. But for these three players that we've really focused on, not even just today, just feels like they really have to pay up. And you said about Eric Carlson of the Four Nations, you know, that's what happens when A, I think he's coached a bit better by Sweden's coaching staff.

And B, he gets a good partner with him. You know, someone like a Matias Eccl. That is the perfect partner for him, someone that is really good in his own zone, great defensively, can break the puck out, can take some pressure off of Carlson. Like that's literally the perfect partner for him. So I think those are the two reasons why he played so well at the Four Nations. Hey, that's a good point. And look at the Penguins Blue Line.

He's not going to have a good partner this season. No, no. Sorry, I like Owen Pickering too. You know, there's not much there. I like Ryan Shade, too. Nice kid. He's an okay number six defenseman, but what do you? is. You know, Matt Kraslick didn't do him any favors at the end of last year. They were awful.

So, yeah, those are fair points. I don't know. I'm really interested in the Carlson situation. I think I've never covered a player who was more polarizing in terms of how people around the league view him. There are some people who still think, it's Eric Carlson, man. He gets your forwards the puck better than anybody. There are other people who have told me, like I literally had a GM tell me I wouldn't touch him with a 10-4. pole. And a lot of people think that about him. So I've never, and he's going to be in the Hall of Fame, you know, and he should be. It's just a different kind of guy. So I, I'm fascinated by what happens with him moving forward. So Josh, we got to end on this because I know you got to get rolling here in a little bit, but we've been a tad too serious when it comes to you being on the

show. We always try to have a good laugh or two. So I got to ask you this. What exactly is Crosby's next team going to be. Where's he going to go? Where are they going to move him? Where's he leaving to? Because everybody seems to think, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he's not going to retire a peg. I got to say, the people in Denver have finally slowed down a little bit. I think when McKinnon got in the mix and tweeted like fake news or whatever was that he tweeted on draft night, finally the Colorado people are like, all right, sorry, I said, we'll leave you alone. Now I find it's Montreal, the Montreal fans in particular are really, like, just because they gave them love, you know, the four nations all of a sudden, you know, I don't know. I have never been more disturbed.

And like, it's not like it's just random fans that are talking about. Like people really, people I really respect in the business, a lot of big names. You know, L.A. Friedman was talking about it the other day and some other, you know, all the, all the big insiders. and I can only base it on what Sidney Crosby has told me and what he has told other people in the Pittsburgh media who deal with him every day. And he, if you want to make Sidney Crosby mad, just bring up this topic.

And he will look you right in the eye and say, you know, I signed another contract in September. Like, why do you think I signed it? Like, I don't want to play anywhere else. He gets so mad. I don't blame him, really. I don't understand the obsession with people who want to see him play somewhere else.

It's a fan bases in teams that haven't, I haven't even had a modicum of the success the Penguins have had with his career. Tell that to Adam Wilde of SDPN who just keeps bringing it up for whatever reason. And then he got cooked in the comments, by the way. You said, I wasn't going to name names, but apparently you were. So, but it's, it's, I, like, here's the thing I'll say to give these people at least a little bit of a benefit of the doubt. if this was a guy who won one Stanley Cup, one hit wonder, been up and down with the franchise for 16, 17 years, I'd totally get it. You want to have him go out on a swan song, but makes the playoffs 15 straight years, wins three Stanley Cups, goes to the conference final five times, goes to the finals four times. He's done his part for the league.

They don't need to put him on any higher of a pedestal. He's already at the top. Yeah, I mean, did you see the thing? I think somebody posted it on Facebook a couple of weeks ago that Sid was at the hardware store in Beaver County the other day. Like he goes to the hardware store in Beaver County. He's one of us. Like he just is. He's literally lived more than half of his life in Pittsburgh at this point.

Yep. And to me, and I'm from here. I covered the penguins. I'm sure I'm a little biased. But I have said to people and I've written this and I believe this. Like, what's a better story? Sid goes to Montreal and wins a cup, or Sid goes to Colorado and wins a cup with an all-star team, or Sid struggles through these years where the Pegwin stink, and at the end of his career, they get good again maybe three, four years from now, and he makes one last run with a new, I think that's a better story. I think that's a more admirable story in many ways, and I think that's probably how it will go down.

I just won't think he's going to go anywhere because he doesn't want to, and he's earned the right to finish. his career wherever and whenever he would like that'll be the only three to four minutes that we spend on that topic the entire offseason because i just don't want to talk about that hogwash anymore that's what it is gentlemen it's just a bunch of hogwash and by the way pat because we are fact checking 16 straight seasons by the way how did you think it shame on you for that i don't count the 2019 sweep against the islanders because that's barely making it so we'll just say 15 hey 16 though but i get your point about that last thing though this will be a little bit of a tease for Wednesday's episode though, Pat.

Wheeling Naylor's head coach, Derek Army has left the nailers to be an assistant coach for the Colorado Eagles. So the Nailers will be looking for their next head coach in the ECHL. I just wanted to end the show with that. That literally broke while we were recording this just a couple minutes ago. So just wanted to end the show on that note. But Josh, this is your opportunity now to plug anything and everything that you have coming up at the athletic. Boy, all kinds of articles coming up in the athletic this week. I thought it'd be the offseason for me by now.

I'm not like the insiders who go to the cottage on July 2nd. I'm very jealous of those guys. I know the news just keeps coming in. So a lot of articles, including Patrick's favorite, the travel story, which I think is coming on Thursday. Always one of my favorites to write, in fact. So I think I have three or four more articles coming at theathletic.com tomorrow. Check out my podcast with Joe Bartnick, two for talking.

We usually air live on Twitter now on Sunday nights. So I like to get into the podcast. podcast world. I'm not on the level of you fine gentlemen, but I like to I like to make my presence felt every now and then. I wore the pirates hat because they ended their eight game losing streak and it's congratulations to the Bucco's. I wanted to support them. So, but yeah, that's, that's it for me. Always check out my stuff. It's greatly appreciated. And I wish you two continued success. I am a listener and a big fan. Always appreciate it, Josh, because, you know, I had someone, real quick, I had someone asked me today, or

not today in the last week. They're like, you guys haven't had Josh on in a while. And I was like, we don't want it to lose its shine. Like we want people to know when Josh shows up. There's a lot to talk about. We'll definitely do another one with him probably right before the season starts in October. Maybe do a little season preview, something like that. But Josh, thanks as always for coming on.

We appreciate you. And as for everyone else out there, remember, we will be back on Wednesday. No episode on Tuesday unless Kyle Dubas decides to make another trade or something like that. But we will talk to you all again on Wednesday. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We all appreciate it.