Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BREAKING: The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded for Reilly Smith!

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made their first trade in the Kyle Dubas era and it's a fairly good one! Hunter does a special 10-15 minute segment with Nick Brlansky breaking down the trade and how it's a good fit for the Penguins while also realizing that this means Jason Zucker is gone. The two discuss how the Penguins got him for virtually Teddy Blueger and how there seems to be a plan in place from the front office, which is something we haven't said that much as of late. They also analyze why Smith's age isn't really a concern, especially since his term is just two seasons. Zucker wanted more, which is why this move was made. They also look at what Dubas could be cooking up next before wrapping up. Hunter will have more on this deal in a full episode of Locked On Penguins later tonight!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.

Well, it's official. Kyle Dubus has officially made his first trade as Penguins president of hockey operations acquiring Riley Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a third round pick in next year's draft. I'll have my full thoughts and analysis coming up 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, welcome back to a special edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes, and are to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's

Twitter at L.O.R.N.S.Peneglands. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list since last watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. I actually do have a special guest again for this special edition of the show. Nick Berlanski of Tip of the Iceberg helped break down the Riley Smith acquisition. This is only going to be about an 8 to 10, maybe 15 minute video before. I'll have a lot more on the trade later on for a full episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast because the Penguins will obviously have the number 14 overall pick in just about two hours now

when the draft officially kicks off. But Nick, Kyle Dubas, makes his first trade, Riley Smith to the Penguins for a third-round pick in next year's draft. That third-rounder is the one they got back in the Teddy Blugger trade. So in essence, Nick, they sent out Teddy Bliger and they acquired Riley Smith something that I think everyone will sign up for. But I really like this move. Obviously, I think this means that Jason Zucker is not coming back for next season

and beyond two years at $5 million for Smith. Very similar production to Zucker, 26 goals, 56 points, excuse me. Underlines are really good, especially in transition and at 5-on-5 offense. When you saw this trade, what were your immediate reactions or thoughts, excuse me? My immediate thought was, okay, it's a little surprising here because I would have expected, you know, the defense, the goaltender to be the first priority. But when something comes up, something comes up. And apparently Riley Smith came up on the trade market. And I think this was a really good deal by Kyle Dubus. And we, you talk about how it's the same pick. And it's funny that one general manager opened the door. The other one slammed it shut. And that's Kyle Dubus slamming it shut, getting Riley Smith for a third round pick. But when I first saw it, I thought, okay, there's the Penguins top six. But also. somebody that basically, like you mentioned, closes the door on Jason Zook or somebody that I would have liked to see the Penguins resign. But I think at the end of the day, when you look at everything

encompassing with this trade, it's going to end up being a better move for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the long run. I agree. And the way I saw it with this acquisition, Penguins had a choice here. And you can see that front office actually has a plan with this move. It could have been like, okay, we're going to commit a lot of term and money to Zucker. Or we could go short. shorter term, similar money for someone who puts up very similar production. And that's what they're doing in acquiring Riley Smith and sending Zucker out the door. That was my first immediate reaction to the trade. Yeah.

With the Zucker situation, I think you also have to look at it with the fact that, you know, Jason Zucker was great last season, but he was also volatile. I do think that he could have replicated what he did this past season, but at the same time, the way that he plays and the speed at which he plays and the way that he basically throws his body around like he's invincible, even though he's shown that he is not, there was a question about whether or not on a five-year deal you would have even gotten three healthy years out of them.

Now, again, I don't want to bash Jason Zucker because I do think that he was great in the locker room for that team. I think he was great on the ice for that team specifically this past season. But Riley Smith is a more trustworthy. person to put on that side knowing that the best ability, as you know, Hunter, there's always availability. I mean, it's the most overused term in sports. And Riley Smith definitely gives that to the penguins and spades. Yeah, he hasn't even missed five games over the past couple of seasons. So he is very healthy. You know, I understand Zucker was healthy for the team this year. But as you said,

Nick, do you really think that was going to be the case on a four to five, maybe six year term for five, five point five million? And also, also, you know, you really think that was going to be the case on a four to five, five point five million? and also this was a career year for him. Do we really know if he was going to put up 27 goals for the next three to four season? So I get it from that perspective. And Smith, this basically rounds out your top six. They'll have some combination. Jake Gensel, Sidney Crosby, Brian Russ, slash Ricard Raquel,

Riley Smith of Guinea-Malkin, the other roster Raquel on the second line. And I think your top six is close to, if not just as potent, even though Zulker is not there. Don't get you wrong. I think Zucker is the better player. If he would have wanted two times five, I would have said, okay,

I'll give that to him. We don't have to trade for Smith. But he wanted more term. Dubus is probably like, nope, I don't want to do that considering your injury history and your age. So we're going to go out and get someone who, yes,

he's a bit older, but someone who can produce just as much and there's not as much risk to it. Heck, again, they gave up a third round pick. That's magic beans here. Yeah, and I also think the other thing that you have to look at, I know this isn't, you know, Zooker for Riley Smith trade, but it almost feels like it for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But even though Riley Smith, I agree with you, might not be as good as Jason Zucker at peak level.

I think he does bring a different dimension to the Penguins top six. He's great on the rush, which is something that the Pittsburgh Penguins just didn't have and really haven't had since, maybe since Phil Kessel. I'd have to go back and look at some of those other teams between now and 2018, but they don't have somebody that's going to come down. down on the wing and just score the easy goals. I mean, Jake Gensel can from time to time, but he didn't really do that last season. Adding Riley Smith is something that is going to add a new dimension to the Penguins top six. It might not top out as high as it would if Jason Zooker came back and played at his peak, but I think it gives a new dimension to the Pittsburgh Penguins and ultimately makes them harder to play against. I agree with that for sure. He is elite in transition.

If you look at all the different charts out there, Andy and Rono do good work, Jay Fresh hockey, he is very good in transition. It actually brings him the 89th percentile among all players. If you look at Andy and Rono, offensively, 84th percentile. You're not going to get a lot of defensive impacts from him, but you also didn't get a lot of defensive impacts from Jason Zucker. So this is fine.

I really like this move. I didn't expect it to be the first one that he makes, because I thought he would have maybe gone after a topboard defenseman, a goaltender. But in terms of replacing someone who you probably knew you were going to lose, no matter what, you can do a lot worse than Riley Smith, especially when you look at the free agent class. Heck, but as we're recording this, Nick, Vegas just signed Ivan Barbashev to five times five. These players are starting to come off the market. Tyler Bertuzi is potentially going to get signed

by Boston. The Penguins have the cap space for that, but they're not going to make that move because he's the best free agent available. But this is, I think, is better than going out into the free agent market and overpaying someone for the next four to five years to not give you as good of production. Yeah. And when I believe it was Elliot Freeman, a 32 thought said there are players out there for free. And boy, was it as free as you could potentially even get it with Riley Smith. You sent back a third round pick that you acquired from Vegas literally two months ago. So paying whatever the opposite of a premium is in Kyle Dubus.

Now, that's not to say that it's going to all work out and be great. And it's going to be a fantastic fit. but Riley Smith has succeeded in a lot of the places that he's gone. Specifically, he did in Vegas, but he was pretty good in Florida, too. They just, they overpaid him and they had too many cooks in the kitchen, and then they got rid of him at the expansion draft. And then you see what's happened since he went to Vegas. He took advantage of the opportunity.

Yes. And another thing I do want to add, just before we wrap up here, Nick, I've been seeing this throughout on, you know, Reddit, social media, all these other places where Payman's fans come together. I understand that he is a bit older, but there's no law in which you can say, oh, no player's over 30. This player had almost 60 points this past season. You obviously don't want to go out and acquire someone like Kyle Grimlin, and I hate bringing that up just because he's still on the team.

He just wasn't a good fit. But Riley Smith can play even though he is 32 years old. They can get younger in other areas, and I expect them to. But the age thing, it's only two more years. He just had a great season, regular season and playoffs. I am fine with it despite him being on the older side. Yeah, he's 32, but he's not Jeff Carter. Let's stop drawing that comparison.

And the same with McHale Granlin. Michael Granlin's issue is not his age. It's his talent at this point of his career, which is the unfortunate issue. But like you mentioned, Riley Smith, not only 26 goals this season, 14 points in 22 games going to the Stanley Cup. And guess what? He wasn't on the top line. That was Barbachev who just got signed by 5 by 5, like you mentioned.

There's a reason that they made the deal. It wasn't because they didn't want Riley Smith. It's because he's an unfortunate cap casualty that just tends to happen every single year for the Vegas Golden Knights. Yes, and I will give you and Horwock credit. You guys predicted this on your show this week. I got to say, I was looking at a few cap crunch teams. Vegas did not come to mind for some reason. And I apologize to all the listeners,

Slash Watchers out there. This is why Tip of the Iceberg is also one of the best Penguins podcast out there because they called this one from the start. I appreciate the props. I will say it was not the only one. So I'm not going to sit here and say, you know what? I sat down and said, hey, this is the move that happens.

It's not what I said. It's not what happened. But I did mention obviously Riley Smith and Vegas. It just seems like every year, you know, they want to sign Barboshev. They want to sign Hill. And I'm like, they never have cap space. so they can't have it now.

So yes, I looked at Vegas and another team that I'm looking at now is Calgary. So we'll see if the Penguins can swing another deal with Kyle Dubus. But Calgary has a lot of defensemen for sale. That's all I'll say. Noah Hanofin is one of them. And I would sure love to pair him with Chris LaTang. That's for sure. Real quick here, make before we wrap up,

what do you expect Dubus to do next now that Riley Smith is in the hold? Trade down. Trade down. That 14th overall pick, I'd love to see him do it. But he's trading back in the draft. It's really just a gut feeling. he's done it twice in five years with the Toronto Maple Leafs

and he just seems primed to do it once again here in this draft. Well, we will see if that prediction also comes true from Berlanski. Tonight, NHL Draft set to start at 7 o'clock. Penguins have the number 14 overall pick. Either way, my friends, I think they're going to walk away with a very, very good prospect, even if they stay at 14 or if they trade it down. But that does it for this special edition of the Walkdown Penguins podcast of a full episode out later tonight getting into who they picked more details on the riley smith acquisition and what

could be next so stick around for that coming up later tonight