Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BREAKING: Penguins re-sign Evgeni Malkin!

Starting point is 00:00:00 He is score. He is re-signed. The Evgeti Malkins saga comes to a conclusion before the Stanley Cup is awarded. Let's talk about it here on the Tuesday 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.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Hello and welcome in to the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4WET. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Today we continue our season in review series with Noelle Achari, and we're going to check in on the IIHF World Championships where some penguins are making some noise,

Starting point is 00:01:00 but we all wanted it and we're all getting it. it. Evgeny Malkin is back for one year for $5.5 million the team announced this afternoon. As expected, it's a one year deal. It's not for a lot of money. And it keeps just about everybody happy. Hunter, I don't really have a whole lot to add a whole lot of takes on this because it's a cheap amount of money. It's for one year.

Starting point is 00:01:34 it's less than most of us forecasted, keeps everybody happy. Gino's not going to be a jeopardy answer in 10 years where we talk about how he played all these seasons with one team. And then everybody forgets that he had that one season where he played with this other team. So I'm happy. The fans seem to be happy. Sid's going to be happy. Gino's happy.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Are you happy? well 100% yes i do want to start with this usually we record our tuesday show around 11 or 12 o'clock thank god you had to go get your car inspected today because we would have had to do a double episode if we went at normal time so thank you for that so we get to talk about this literally 20 minutes after it was announced and i found this part so funny pat it was the season ticket holders that really got this first because a couple of people people texted me saying, hey, is this legit? I had to confirm it through a couple of my sources, but they were the ones that got it

Starting point is 00:02:39 first before the Penguins officially announced it to everyone else in the fan base. But for this signing, it was a slam dunk. This is an A plus deal every single day of the week. One year, 5.5 million. He gets a full no move clause and he gets a whole bunch of bonuses as well. There's a 500K in games play bonus. There's also a 1 million bonus if the penguins go back to the playoffs. There's also a another 500K bonus for each playoff round win.

Starting point is 00:03:11 So Pat, he could get up to basically 2 million bonuses if they win the Stanley Cup. Yeah, it's playoff round one. And I mean, at the end of the day, it comes back to what we have talked about ad nauseum with this whole saga is, I know that there were a lot of takes out there that after Dubas's season ending presser, that there was some worry he was softening the ground to let Abgeny Malkin walk because of the whole, you know, I'm loyal to the organization. I got to do what's best for the long term of the franchise rather than just be loyal to certain players. And I totally understand that.

Starting point is 00:03:52 But what kind of got left out of everybody who had that take was he also. acknowledged what we all have acknowledged, that he's not blocking anybody. He's still very much a useful player. The free agency class this summer is just putrid. So really at the end of the day, there's no other answer here than to re-sign him because he had a solid year. Was he the Evgeny Malkin of old? No. But for what role he is going to play, $5.5 million, for a year with a bunch of bonuses, that's as close to a steal as you're going to get. And they have so much cap room that it really doesn't matter how much the cap hit is.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Like they still have so much room to do so many other things this off season. And again, bad. It goes back to stuff that we talked about on the pod, stuff that I wrote about for the hockey news. There was no reason to let him walk to free agency. He was still very good this season over a point per game. He's not blocking any of their other younger players. he can play multiple positions, center or wing.

Starting point is 00:05:00 He also has great chemistry with Igor Chinokov. We saw that throughout the season after Chinokov was acquired. Tommy Novak, he is still here. Gino had good chemistry with him, et cetera. And that's before we even get to the nostalgic reasons of, oh, yeah, that's another season with his best friends, Sidney Crosby and Chris LaTang. But everyone has wanted him to retire a penguin.

Starting point is 00:05:24 You are going to get your wish here with this one. So there was just there was no reason to not do this. I had heard yesterday that this was getting close. I just really couldn't say anything because I didn't want to make anyone upset. But I had heard that this was getting close. So I'm not surprised that it was announced today. And I'm also glad Pat, this is happening now, unlike last time when it went up to literally hours before three agency started back in 2022. But job well done by Gino's Camp and Tau Duba here.

Starting point is 00:05:57 This was a very easy deal to hit and everyone's happy. It's, I also kind of figured this was coming close. I told you before we hit record that there was that Pierre LeBron insider column this morning on the athletic. And at the very bottom was like three sentences of, oh yeah, the penguins in Malkin are deep into talks and they're progressing really well. He's not going anywhere. and that's usually a precursor to this is going to get announced sometime in the next couple of days. So as soon as I read that this morning, I'm thinking, all right, well, now we just got to wait until one of the insiders or the team itself, or in this case, the season ticket holders find out that if Gennie Malkin is coming back.

Starting point is 00:06:45 Lastly, the other thing that I want to touch on here is I know that there was never a world where they weren't going to re-up Igor Chinikov. They very much like him. They went out of their way to get him. He was great this year for the Penguins. But this signing, I also think, is a continuation of the mentorship by Evgeny Malkin for Igor Chinikov, because you look at the career that Chinokov has had up to this point, really disappointed in Columbus, comes to Pittsburgh, fresh start. He's getting an opportunity and he flourishes, but the challenge for Chinikov moving forward is he's got to take that next step. He's really got to become an every night player. He's got to be somebody who builds off of what was one of the best years he's ever had and takes

Starting point is 00:07:39 that next step. And who better to take him under his wing than of Getty Balkin. Right. And you kind of saw that during this past season as well. They had quite the bromance on the second line. Yeah, there were times when Chinikov played with Crosby. and there was time when it worked, but I still felt that arguably the best Penguins line this season

Starting point is 00:07:57 was that Chinakov Novak-Malkin line that was just giving other teams fits. And they had such great chemistry. They read off one another so well. They always knew where each other was going to be on the ice. And now you're going to get it bad, not just for half a season. You're going to get it for at least one more full season. Time will tell on what of Gennie Malkin wants to do at the end of next season, Pat. But we're at least getting it for one more year.

Starting point is 00:08:22 I'm super stoked. I know people are probably wondering, when is the Chinakov contract coming? I don't think you're going to get, you know, too much bad blood in this negotiation. I think it's probably going to be pretty smooth sailing. All it's going to come down to is whether they bridge him for two to three years

Starting point is 00:08:35 or they give him term five, six years, something like that. But I imagine that's going to be announced probably a bit closer to July 1, if not maybe after July 1, but I'm still super stoked. And one last note here, Pat, on some more contract details.

Starting point is 00:08:49 This is Pierre LeBron. 2.5 million dollar salary, 3 million signing bonus, and then as I said also, 500K in games play bonuses, 1 million bonus for making the playoffs, and then $500,000 bonus per round one. So again, four rounds,

Starting point is 00:09:06 that's an extra 2 million right there, Pat, if they win the Stanley Cup. That goes up to 9 million if all of those things happen. But still, what a contract. It's really well done by Kyle Dubus in his team. And it's good on Evgeny Malkin because you can kind of tell he has hinted at this multiple times over the past few years that he's not in it for money anymore. He's made more money than he knows what to do with.

Starting point is 00:09:35 He's an icon here. He's an icon back in Russia. He doesn't need to get the bag anymore. He doesn't need to chase the dollars because he's good. He's done more than enough and made more than enough money in his career that now it's just about. ending it the way he wants to end it. And I do think that this past year, making the postseason again, it lit a bit of a fire under him, under Sid, under Latang.

Starting point is 00:10:05 These guys got another taste of it. These guys got another experience together in the postseason. And not that they were ever short for motivation, but nothing beats that. And getting to do it again, I think kind of push them a little bit further. than they were expected to go. But if Gennie Malkin back for one more year, at least at $5.5 million, we're all happy about it.

Starting point is 00:10:32 But we still got plenty to talk about here on the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And we're going to continue our season and review series when we come back with Nolachari right after this. But we've got to tell you about one of our sponsors, and that is our friends at game time. There is nothing like playoff hockey. live, the intensity, the rivalries, the crowd.

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Starting point is 00:12:32 Start your seven day free trial right now and get closer to the Penguins without interruptions. You can click the link in our show notes or you can go to Lockedon Podcasts.com slash Everydayer Club and find our show and get your free trial. Hunter, as we have said in our season and review series up to this point, there has been a theme. It's a player who exceeded expectations, had a redemption arc, you name it. That's what this season was for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And Noel Achari is certainly no exception to that. Had a very solid year, 67 games played 13 goals, 12 assists for 25 points.

Starting point is 00:13:19 He was great on the fourth line, which was one of the better parts of the penguins this entire season. And if you're watching us on YouTube, you see it on the rundown. Good year, best of luck. He is a pending UFA. And I do think at age 34, probably a good chance they are going to move on from him with some of the players they have in the system. But it was his best year as a penguin, and it was a huge part. of them getting back to the postseason. Yeah, I was low on Achari heading into this year

Starting point is 00:13:55 just because his prior two seasons under Mike Sullivan, they were not very good, just wasn't bringing anything offensively, even defensively. I don't think he was very good. And I was just kind of dreading the last year of his contract. Thankfully, Pat, I looked like an idiot this year because he was awesome under Dammeuse.

Starting point is 00:14:17 You could tell that he also, really was one of the players that benefited from the coaching change. Again, Pat, these last couple of years, he only had 19 combined points and nine goals during that time. He broke both of those easily this year. You mentioned it, 13 goals. That's more this year than the previous two seasons combined. Also 25 points more this year than the previous two seasons combined.

Starting point is 00:14:41 He was a great fit with Connor Dewar and Blake Lazot. And I do think part of it, Pat, is that he was kicked to wing. He was playing a lot of center under Sully. Damu said, hey, we're going to throw you on the wing. We like Blake Lazot down here at center. And it kind of just eased some of those responsibilities on a chari, got him to play his game more. And you saw the way he benefited from it outside of his play at five on five, scoring some big goals at times with the Penguins this year.

Starting point is 00:15:10 He was easily one of their best penalty killers, a shot blocking machine. He was one of the most physical players as well. I can't say enough about the season that Achari had. I'm really happy for him. You could also tell how well-liked he is in that locker room. I would give him an A for this year, just considering what the expectations were. For him, I said, hey, if he could just be fine this year in the final year of his contract, I would take it.

Starting point is 00:15:35 I didn't expect him to exceed expectations the way he did this past year. So I am giving him an A for this season, but I am in agreement with you. I would let him go and have him get a short-term contract elsewhere. The age, that is part of it. But another part of it, which you hinted at, there are replacements in the system ready right now for him, in my opinion. We can't say the same for Gennie Malkin, obviously he just resigned in. There is no young player replacement for him.

Starting point is 00:16:06 But for Achari, Avery Hayes, I think he's ready to replace him on the fourth line. Elmer Soder Blom is coming back. I think he can replace him on that line if they want to go down. that path. Rucker McGority, Pat, he is trying to push for a roster spot next season. I think there's too many younger players that need opportunities for next year, that they're going to be a bit cheaper than Achari and also they're flat out younger. So again, great season, but I would let him walk in free agency. Yeah, and I'm with you on the grade.

Starting point is 00:16:39 He gets an A for the year just because it was his second best goal scoring year in his career. He had a great season in 1920 before everything shut down with 20 goals for the Florida Panthers. And 13 is the second highest. And the 12 assists he put up this year, that's the best mark of his career up to this point. So he had a really solid year in a fourth line role. And this is kind of the mirror image of the first segment where it's a player who any other time after a season like this, wouldn't mind having the discussion about bringing him back

Starting point is 00:17:23 because you have a great year. You're part of a huge driver of what made the team successful the previous season, but you know you have the younger comparable model in someone like Avery Hayes in the system. And that is where this franchise and organization is at this point. And again, you look at the free agency market this year. I don't think there's going to be some massive market for Noel Achari.

Starting point is 00:17:53 But there are teams out there that will look at a fourth liner who put up 25 points and think, yeah, you could do that for us. We could definitely fit into our bottom six. And we can throw them a two to three year deal and give them a few bucks for that. Even if the players in his mid-30s, teams are always looking for fourth liners like this. Yeah. And you've seen teams overpay for debt players like this and free agency a lot of times too. So I think there will definitely be a decent market for him, Pat.

Starting point is 00:18:20 And that there are teams in that vein where you know, you look at the way the expectations were for the penguins this season. I figured that was going to be the discussion we had leading up to the trade deadline for Noachari. Like, well, this is a guy that Stanley Cup teams love trading for at the deadline. And they love that fourth liner who crashes and bangs and puts in a couple goals on the way. And the penguins just said, you know what? We're in a position to make the playoffs. We got that guy. We don't need to trade for them.

Starting point is 00:18:53 And I do think at the end of the day, though, this was a really good redemption season for Noelle Achari because we were excited a couple years ago when the penguins signed him because his time in St. Louis, his time in Toronto, his time in Florida and Boston. And the numbers weren't always great, but you watch the way he played the game and you went, this is a modern day fourth liner. He isn't just out there to be big and physical and throw hits and maybe fight. He's a fourth liner who plays a fast game, plays a hard game. He can chip in every now and then offensively.

Starting point is 00:19:30 He really fits the mold of what a really good fourth liner is in the modern NHL. Yeah, I agree, especially when you saw it all come together this year. under Demus and I think other coaching staffs will look to replicate that for next season, potentially the season after, mainly because again, I don't think he is returning, though I've been surprised plenty of times for as long as I have been doing this podcast on this team. But overall, man, A for this year, really happy with him. And you're right, like I was excited when they did sign him because I felt that he would be a solid depth contributor didn't happen for the first two years. But hey, they at least got their return on

Starting point is 00:20:08 investment in the final year of that contract. And his line, and he especially, you know, they were reasons why the penguins got back to the playoffs for the first time since the 21, 22 season. So those are my main thoughts on Achari. But Pat, now let's get to some other penguin players because a couple of penguins have kind of gone off for Team USA at the world these last couple of days. That is why he is Mr. Locked-on Penguins, because that is one hell of a transition to the next segment from Hunter Hodes.

Starting point is 00:20:40 A couple of penguins are having themselves a week over at the World Championships. And there is a big match coming up this week in the World Championships. Hunter and I are going to talk about that when we come back right after this. But we've got one more sponsor to get to, and that is indeed. Workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inboxes overflowing, and the one position you have to fill still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs.

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Starting point is 00:23:04 I'm also combining it with Connor Clifton, who was named player of the game. I'm excited for our boys, they're having themselves a time over at the world championships. Yes. Pat's very excited about this, but Tommy Novak, five assists on Monday in Team USA's 7-3-dropping of Hungary. He then gets an assist today. He now has six assists in his last two games, and it's no surprise that it comes right after he was taken out of the top six and put on the fourth lawn.

Starting point is 00:23:33 Yesterday, he was with Max Plant and Ryan Leonard, too. Really solid young players. we've seen Ryan Leonard do very good things with the Capitol so far in the start of his young initial career. Really fun player to watch. And Tommy and Ryan and Max all had great chemistry in that game. Tommy Novak all over the ice was a great playmaker. And then today, Pat, gets an assist on the goal that made it to nothing. And Connor Clifton opens the scoring. Really nice pump fake from the point before firing the puck to make it one nothing. That was his first goal and first overall point. of the tournament. Team USA needed to win that game in regulation to advance to the knockout stage,

Starting point is 00:24:13 and they did that. They beat Austria today 4 to 1. And of course, that sets up USA Canada on Thursday. Pat, I don't think Team USA is winning this one though. Yeah, I can't say I'm too confident in Team USA's chances in this one. But I will add this, and this isn't saying that, hey, here's how Team as they can win. Team Canada very clearly smarting from their Olympic loss. And they obviously also had a lot more talent available to them, both due to health. There were a lot of players, there are some players who could have gone to the world championships for Canada that opted not to go just because they were hurt or they wanted to recover or whatever reason, but they still were able to get plenty of great players. Team USA, on the other hand,

Starting point is 00:25:08 a lot of really good American players are either hurt or still in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Plus, I also maintain what I said about the difference between these two countries and programs, the way they're approaching this world championship. You can tell that Canada wants to get a win there again, especially after losing both the men and women's tournament at the Olympics. I shouldn't say lose. They got silver, but we all kind of figured for both tournaments, that's where it was going to end in the gold medal game, USA Canada.

Starting point is 00:25:45 Meanwhile, for Team USA, it feels like they are figuring out what they have in some of the young guys and some of the depth players that they may need for this big run that we're going to go on over the next few years between World Cups, World Championships, and then the Olympics again. And so Canada, in a way, is kind of saying, listen, we're kind of pissed about not coming home from Italy with gold medals. So we're going to go to Sweden and we're going to win the world championships again. Team USA on the other hand was like, hey, we're fat and happy. We got our gold medals. But we also know there's a lot of international hockey coming around the corner.

Starting point is 00:26:27 And we know who our top guys are. We know who we're going to bring to these tournaments when it's. I don't want to say for real because the world championships do matter to a lot of countries, including the U.S. and Canada. They have been battling at these for the last decade. But Team USA kind of looked at it as, hey, listen, it's not the Olympics. It's not this upcoming World Cup. It's not the four nations.

Starting point is 00:26:52 We got to figure out who we got in our system, who's going to build out the rest of our roster. And then Canada said, no, we want to win. That's fair. And I do expect Canada to win this tournament. They have the best roster, in my opinion, right now. But, you know, you have seen some of the young players for Team USA, you know, play well. Obviously, you're seeing Matthew Kuchuk score for them. But, you know, Paul Carter, I think, has had a decent tournament.

Starting point is 00:27:19 Ryan Leonard. I've talked about, I've talked about Max Plant a little bit as well. You know, Devin Cooley has played. Joseph Wall has played. So you are right, Panam, the sense that I think they're trying to see what they have in some of these more younger players to see if they can maybe be debt players down the line just because so many of the A squad is just not here. But, you know, they got to the knockout.

Starting point is 00:27:38 They really haven't been that good in this tournament, but I expect them to probably lose on Thursday. We're going to talk about it, of course, because they're going to be playing Cindy Crosby. Speaking of Sid, Pat, he is playing right now for Team Canada against Chequia, and we'll have to see if Canada ends their preliminary round with a win. Yeah, and I do, I will say in maybe not defense, but this is a scrappy USA team.

Starting point is 00:28:04 I wouldn't go anywhere near calling them good, but they are scrapping it out. These are guys who are playing with a lot of pride. Obviously, Cichuk goes over late after he gets his opportunity and gets a little healthy, which is a nice boost. But this builds into what I'm saying about the difference between these two countries is a lot of these guys on the USA roster, this might be their only realistic.

Starting point is 00:28:30 chance to play for Team USA over the next couple of years. And they're making it count. And we talked about Novak. We talked about Clifton. Like when push comes to shove, I love them both. They're great penguins. And they have been good penguins for the last couple of seasons. But when we get to the World Cup, when we get to whatever other tournament they're going

Starting point is 00:28:53 to do, when we get back to the Olympics, I don't think Team USA management is giving them a call to join the team. They may come as extras, but they ain't going to make the main squad. So at the end of the game, Tommy Novak's not going to the World Cup or the Olympics or Connor Clifton, the same thing. Man, great. I won't say if there is one thing I want the NHL to do with the World Cup and whatever their other international thing is going to be, I don't need you to adopt all of the

Starting point is 00:29:23 IHF rules, but adopt the roster sizes. Just give these teams a little bit more oomph. because we know that, hell, the top nine, maybe even the top 12 forwards are all going to be stars, especially for the likes of the U.S., team Canada, Sweden. Like, we know that those teams are going to be stacked. But give those one or two other players who you know aren't quite your marquee names, but are good enough to be on that team to have a shot and really play this out like a world's, stage type of tournament and not just,

Starting point is 00:30:02 hey, we took all these NHL guys and put them on all-star teams. Yay. You can make that case to the commissioner or Bill Daly or whoever else you want to make the case to. I don't hate it personally. But search my social media feeds and be like, yeah, screw that guy.

Starting point is 00:30:18 We're not talking to him. I'm excited to watch the knockout games at least. It's always a cool popcorn tournament to watch. You know, you're not getting like the full A rosters for any of these countries. But, you know, it's been cool. for example, to see Norway come out of nowhere, they're having themselves a hell of a tournament. It's nice to see them on the map here.

Starting point is 00:30:36 I mean, even Hungary getting a few goals against the United States. Again, not the A squad for the United States, but at the same time, that is one of the three best hockey nations on the planet. And Hungary puts up a few goals. Like, it's a proving ground for lesser known players around the world. And even lesser known players in the big countries where you go, might not help them, internationally, but NHL, AHL, European Pro Leagues,

Starting point is 00:31:04 it's a chance for these guys to make a name for themselves. Yeah, I'm with you. And again, Norway gave Canada one heck of a fight, but okay, we're probably delving too deep in the world championships. We'll talk more about USA Canada on Thursday after it happens because obviously Sid is playing and then tell me no back and Connor Clifton are playing as well.

Starting point is 00:31:24 Yeah, we will obviously keep our eye on that. That is going to do it though for this Tuesday. of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hallelujah. Evgeny Malkin is back for at least one more year. And we will be back with a brand new episode for you on Wednesday, continuing our season in review series, as well as covering any other news that might happen between now and then. But for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always for tuning in. We will be back on Wednesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BREAKING: Penguins re-sign Evgeni Malkin!

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