Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Brock McGinn joins the show for some good times!

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

After teasing it for about a week, it finally has happened: Hunter is joined by the newest Pittsburgh Penguin Brock McGinn on this special episode of Locked On Penguins. The two touch on a multitude of topics, including how Pittsburgh stood out to him the most in free agency and what else he's looking forward to doing there besides play. Hunter also brings up his time in Carolina and if there's any potential for some storm surge moments to come to Pittsburgh. Could Brock convince Sid and Geno about doing it? Also discussed: What retired player did Brock wish he could've played against that's not one of the Big 4? What’s something the average fan watching on tv or in person doesn’t realize about his role in-game? Does he have any superstitions? All that, plus much more on this special episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this Wednesday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

So I've been teasing this for about, I don't know, a week, week and a half now. We are finally joined by newest penguin, Brock McGinn. He's the first penguin player to come on to the Locked-on Penguins podcast. It's been something that I've been wanting to do ever since I took this over in September of 2019. I'm glad I can finally do this now. First off, Brock, before we get into all the interesting questions, how are you doing today? I'm doing good. I got back from dinner at my parents, so I was there with my brother, his wife, my family, I'm saying my grandparents.

So it was a good family dinner, so enjoying a nice day here out on the lake. That's awesome, of course. You know, also welcome to Pittsburgh. You know, I'm sure you've been getting that a lot recently. You know, just to start off, I guess, you know, just obviously, I'm sure you got plenty of offers from a bunch of other teams. Just what about the penguins stood out during free agency than maybe the average person couldn't see? Yeah, I think just like I've said, I think before it's the Pittsburgh, Penguins organization.

I think it's held to a certain standard, and everybody around the league knows it's an A-class organization. So when looking at teams, I didn't want to go to a team where I didn't have a chance to win a cup. So I think Pittsburgh has a chance every single year, and I want to do my best to come try and help the city of Pittsburgh win another Stanley Cup. Yeah, I mean, this is definitely towards the end of their window, excuse me, obviously, because they've won the three Stanley Cups in 2009, 16, and 17.

But, you know, they're going to be win now probably until Sid and Gino call it quits. But, yeah, man, I mean, this is, this was always a big signing for the team, especially because, you know, they lost Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev in expansion to Seattle. The team was just, they were worried that they were going to take McCann in expansion. They ended up trading him to Toronto, but then, you know, the Leafs lost him anyway. way, but just, you know, a couple other ones that I also had some other, just different questions, I guess. You know, who would you say that you modeled your game after when you were playing hockey growing up?

I think for myself, I think I grew up idolizing my brothers. So I think just having all three of us play and just growing up watching their career, I think I tried to take a little bit of both of their styles to play, and I think mold that into one. So just growing up, I think I watched every single one of their games on the couch with my parents and grandparents. So I got to watch a lot of hockey. And I think I always looked up to them as a player and just wanted to reach the same goals that they did. So fortunately, all three of us had a chance to play in the NHL and all get to play against each other. So that's something special that we can all say that we worked together to achieve.

Yeah, you know, I always loved watching your brothers as well. And, you know, funny you should bring that up because one of the listener questions that I had here was, are there any, do you have any favorite, funny or embarrassing stories that you can share about your brothers playing hockey or growing up with that? I don't know about, like, funny and stuff. But I think just growing up, we always had laughs and stuff out in the backyard. And I think there's obviously some funny stories that just playing in the snow and stuff happening out on the ice. but there's not too many funny ones that I can think of right now, but there's definitely a lot of situations where we had a blast,

and there's definitely some laughs growing up, that's for sure. Yeah, you know, I can totally imagine that. You know, speaking of brothers as well, you know, you came from Carolina where obviously Jordan Stahl was there, who every penguin fan knows around here with what he did in 2009 with the Stanley Cup. I mean, they don't win that cup without him with how amazing he was. I don't think he will find a Penguins fan here that will say a bad thing about Stahl, even though they tried to sign him into an extension,

he ended up wanting to go play with his brother, Eric, that happened before Eric was traded to New York? Can you talk about, you know, Jordan Stahl as a player and as a leader real quick? Because I definitely think that the fan base deep down misses him, but I always have a soft place in my heart for him with what he did in the early years of Sid and Gino and just watching him. now, he's still the same player that I remember. Yeah, I don't think you'll ever find anybody who will say a bad thing about Gordo.

I think he's just a natural leader. He's just a big guy out on the ice. He plays a complete hockey game. He'll be in the defensive zone and offensive zone. He's just someone you look up to just even on the ice and off the ice. The way him and his family is there, just such nice, humble people where they may make you feel so comfortable around them and I can honestly say that I am glad to say that I can call him a great friend. Yeah, I mean, he was, I go back and watch all these videos of just him and

Sid and Gino just, you know, laughing it up on the team in the early, the late 2000s and then just always watch his goal when he deeped around Rofalski in game four of the final against Detroit. I always say that was probably the most important goal of that playoff run because with the way that game was going, they were about to go down three games to. one, but, you know, it always makes me happy to see that he's just, he's still kicking butt to this day. And again, man, you're, you're not going to find a Penguins fan say anything bad about him. And, you know, a lot of times of Penguins fans, you know, when players will leave on, you know,

some kind of interesting terms, you know, they'll kind of hold grudges. I mean, for the longest time, they had it with Yarmere Yager. I've never really understood that just because he's one of the all-time greats in this franchise's history. And when it's all said and done, he's going to have his number retired once he ever stops playing. who knows when that's going to be. Here's an interesting one for you that I was thinking about. I think Penn's fans, we all know too well about just hockey player superstitions,

but mainly Sidney Crosby's. I mean, I think he's talked about this in numerous articles, videos about how he's just been doing the same thing since he was, I think, in Bantam or Pee-wee. It's just, you know, even if you watch him in the final, he'll point to where a player has to stand when he touches the trophy when they win the Eastern Conference final because if they don't do that, they're not going to win it. So do you have any of those superstitions? And if so, how long have you been doing them? No, I'm definitely not very superstitious like tying a left skate before right skate or anything

like that. But I ate the same thing before games. I probably try and take the exact same nap every day at the same time. But other than that, when I get to the rank, I think I'm pretty easy going and just want to go out there and play and not let some superstitions affect that. So, no, I'm not very superseded. That sounds a lot like, honestly, you know, Brandon Tannick, who used to be here, he didn't really look like someone who had a lot of superstitions, and then he just go out there and just wreak havoc on literally any of the opposition.

So I love that answer. I also got a lot of requests for everyone saying to thank you for scoring that game seven goal against Washington. You know, obviously, Penguins fans do not like Washington and have not since Alex Ovechkin came into the league. You know, this one comes from the Locked-on Penguins Twitter account as well. Obviously, you've played the Penguins so much over your career and you've been in Carolina for so many years now. Can you give me, like, one player on the team who was the toughest to play against when you were on Carolina? Yeah, I think you just, you've got to go to Crossby there.

I think he's just so strong and powerful. skates he's so hard to get the puck off of and um it's like he's got eyes in the back of his head he can just make a play out of nothing and you you you'll just your draw drops it's just it's incredible watching the things that he can do so every time that um we played them you're obviously having your eyes open for where he's on the ice but um just he's a 200 foot player who's so strong and powerful and uh he just is an awesome person to look up to and uh play yeah i mean he's you you're I don't have to tell you. I mean, he's obviously been the face of the Penguins ever since he came into the league.

I'll always say, you know, when Sid is down low, good luck stopping him. I don't know if you've watched the clip of him just owning Jason Spetser behind the net in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs against Ottawa. But it is, it's a sight to behold, and he's been doing that so many times ever since. I mean, he was doing it to Columbus in 2017 when they won that series in five games to win their second. back-to-back championship. It's just, you said it best. You know, when he has the puck, good luck getting it off him and, you know, I'll always say, you know, sit down low. It's just, it's not fair. And his hand-eye coordination. It's just, I think, ridiculous at this point, too. Trying to think here, what else, what to ask next is there's so many good ones that I honestly

have here. What's something the average fan watching on TV or in person doesn't realize about your role while you're playing. This comes from one of my buddies, Nick. Something that people might not know or see from not being on the ice is just how vocally you can be and it's just lifting your guys up, say there's a bad shift or whatever. It's just how you bounce back. I think hockey is a game of mistakes. It's just trying to limit them.

So I think just being there for your teammates, you don't want anybody to be down. and you just want to encourage people to go keep playing and just they're there for a reason and just continue to be better. So I think whether it's in the dressing room or on the bench, it's, you don't get to hear what is going on on the ice. So I think there's a lot more talking on the ice than a fan might hear in the crowd or on the TV. I think in every situation, everybody's talking before each face off or during the play, even you

might not hear them talking. And I think that's just something that fans might not always hear from the stands around TV. Before we do get back to the show with Brock McGinn, we do have to pause to talk about Bet Online the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball season isn't full swing. You can track all the action at Bet Online and get all the latest news, odds and info for your sporting news, including MLB, NBA, and NHL and all your UFC action. Don't sit on the sidelines anymore as this is your chance to get into the game

as baseball teams prep for their runs to the playoffs. You can head to the website or use your phone to sign up today and receive 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit. That's been online, your online sportsbook experts with the promo code locked on. Yeah, you know, you don't really, you know, you said at best, you don't really hear what's going on in some of those conversations. The only one that I can think of that, I mean, Sid went public with this during the 2016 final was when, you know, they were setting up the game-winning play with Connor Shiree's OT goal against the Sharks.

And he was telling everyone where to set up, a tang to fake the shot, give it to Sherry, and then, you know, bulls eye right in the net past Martin Jones. I wish we could get more of that, not even on a weekly basis, but on a nightly basis of just hearing, you know, what kind of plays some of these players come up with because it really is something just to see it whenever it does come out. Here's a good one, though, Brock. You know, obviously, you know, Pittsburgh, great hockey town, great fan. I mean, Steelers fans, I mean, football is obviously number one in this town, but hockey is right behind it more than ever. But what are you looking forward to the most about Pittsburgh?

That's not hockey related. It's kind of hockey related, but it's just such an incredible sports city with the Pirates, the Steelers. So I think I'm just going to visit the ballpark or going to see a Steelers game. My mom's side of the family is huge Steelers. fans so they're very excited. I know they've already got a trip booked down to see a Penguins game and a Steelers game one weekend. So I think just going to get around the city, just seeing what it all has to offer. And I think just having such a good sports city to live in, it's just so cool. And to be able to go see other professional sports being played so close to you, it's just a great

thing to have. So which Stewards game are you actually going to with your family just out of curiosity? I don't think I'm going My mom just told me that they are They already had their tickets booked So I think it's um Our home opener is the 16th And then I think the Steelers play the night of the 17th, I believe So I think they're going to that one

That's awesome Yeah I mean that's a perfect weekend to come up for you Get to see You and the team play And then they get to go to Heinzfield To watch the Steers play there But yeah I mean I'll also say this Brock you know there's a lot of just

Great sightseeing places to go in Pittsburgh. There's so many great food places as well. I mean, the view, once you go through the four pit tunnel for the first time, it's nothing. People say that, you know, it's different in videos and it's different, you know, when you

see pictures of it, but once you're actually going through it live, it's a completely different scenario. It's honestly, I think, the best entrance to a city in the country. Switching gears a little bit, though. This one, I've always wanted to ask a

player, if you could have the chance to play against any player that is retired from the league right now, that is not Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordy Howe, Bobby, or, who would it be? Oof. You got me thinking here. I think I grew up an Alex Kovlev fan, so I think I think it'd be pretty cool as a kid. I think if I'd go back to my childhood, that's someone I think I'd want to just go out and play and probably chase around because I probably couldn't get the puck from him. But, yeah, that'd be pretty cool.

Yeah, Kovalev, you know, obviously all Pagan's fans know him. He had two stints here, and he was such a treat to watch. I was a bit too young at the time when he was first year. I think I was only back in the really early 2000s, three or four years old. And that was, excuse me, when he was in the full prime of his career. Then he came back in 2011 when the team, that was the year they played Tampa in the playoffs. and Sid and Gino were both out. Sid had his concussion problems,

and Gino had the torn ACL, but he was still playing like that 25, 26-year-old kid that I saw in videos and just highlights that I've seen so many times. So that's a good answer. And I definitely didn't expect to hear that one. I mean, personally, you know, for me, it would have been Peter Forsberg. He was my favorite player growing up.

I've always had a soft spot for the avalanche, too, just for whatever reason. I love watching him with McKinnon and Landis. Skog and Ransanin, but they also have a decorated history with so many great players to come through there. But I like the Kovalev answer quite a bit. Is there any player that, you know, just looking at the team right now that you'd like to be on a line with, or you just, you know, whatever Mike Sullivan says, you know, you're just

going to go out there and play with whoever. Yeah, I don't know if you can singly point out someone. I think if you look up and down the lineup, there's great hockey players throughout every single line. So I think I'm just going to try and come to Pittsburgh, and wherever I'm playing, I'm going to try and bring my game, bring energy, and try and help the team win any way I can. Yeah, I mean, that's a great answer. I mean, I'm excited to see where you're going to slot in.

I mean, I think they can play you anywhere in the lineup and you're going to have a great impact on a nightly basis, whether it's Sid's line, excuse me, whether it's Gino's line, whenever he comes back from his most, most recent knee surgery, Jeff Carter's line or Teddy Blugers line, because usually those are the, of course, those are the centers that they run when the team is fully healthy. Just scrolling through here, what else? A couple other ones that I do have. Who is the most influential, just coach or teammate that you had growing up

pre-NHL and then in the NHL, just for both of them, I guess? I think just before the NHL, my coach was Scott Walker, who played for the Kings as well. And I think just his work ethic, I think in junior, you're really trying to develop to be a pro. And I think when he was coaching us, he definitely instilled the things that you need to do to become a pro and be a pro every single day.

So for him, he'd be my coach before the NHL. And then I've got to go to Rod Brindamore in Carolina. I think when you see your coach in the gym and more than any player on your team and have the passion and the drive to win and help you in any way he can. I think he just instills the work ethic in you and he's the type of player that you want to play and work for.

And we have to pause in our talk with Brock Begin, but don't worry, it is for everyone's favorite bar, which is Belpar. They have many delicious flavors. There is something for everyone. When you talk to a Bill Bar fan, they're definitely passionate about their favorites. If you don't know some of them, the orange flavor, strawberry, salted caramel, double chocolate,

and of course, my favorite, the cookies and cream. If you haven't tried all the flavors, you can get a mixed box where you get two of each of the nine flavors. Most of them have 17 to 18 grams of protein. Calories ranging from 130 to 180, only 4 or 5 grams of sugar and only 4 or 5 grams of net carbs. There is that offer. You can go to built.com and use promo code locked 15, and you'll get 15% off your order. That's permanent code locked 15 for 15% off at B. Built.com. Yeah, I've read so many articles, man, about, you know, just Rod after the season and even

during the season with Carolina when I would be following them a little bit on a bunch of sports media websites about how any player that comes there absolutely falls in love with him right away. I was so happy that they extended him there because I really think he has them coming pretty quickly to being a Stanley Cup contender. I mean, they're basically already there, even though, of course, what happened against Tampa Bay. But yeah, I don't think, again, you know, Same thing with what we talked about with Jordan's doll earlier, you're probably not going to hear a bad word uttered about Rod Rendemore. I also just love the way he coaches both, you know, just systematically and tactically as well. You know, it honestly reminds me a little bit of Mike Sullivan in a way, which is how he'll just like to, again, you know, he just uses, you know, his system to just out beat you time and time again.

I do really like that answer. I've always honestly been a fan of watching Carolina, man. The storm surges. I mean, you have that gif on Twitter of you clapping your hands above your head and then planting your stick right in the front of center ice. And I think all the players just going down. I mean, I think that's probably got to be one of my favorite storm surges that you guys did down there. Yeah, they're a lot of fun. I think the fans really enjoyed them.

and it made our pregame lunches a lot of fun just sitting there discussing what we were going to do that night if we won. So there are a lot of fun and the fans definitely stuck around to see what we're going to do next. Yeah, absolutely. And just out of curiosity, just to follow up on that, would it be everyone pitching in to come up with new ideas or was a lot of it like Justin Williams and some of the other veteran players who were there? Yeah, everybody would kind of chip it. but it'd be like, say, five of us sitting at lunch every day at the table and kind of just discussing options or ideas. Then we'd kind of try and pull what was going on around that time, say it was the Super Bowl

or March Madness, which can pull ideas, say, it's Halloween or and just try and make a theme out of it on what's going on in the real world at that time. That's incredible. So now, do you plan on bringing any of these ideas? to the Penguins with potentially talking Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, and the Penguins leadership into this, because I think that would be hilarious. Yeah, I don't know about that.

I don't know if the Keynes might get jealous about that on the fan base, but no, I don't know. I'm coming in with an open mind and just focus on being myself and maybe bringing some laughs to the dressing room and just bringing my work ethic to the ice. Yeah, I'd love to be just a fly on the wall. just hearing you bring it up to the penguin's leadership and then just seeing what they would have to say considering I'm sure they all know all about the storm surges but what would happen in Carolina I think they'd have to come up with like a clever name for the penguins because of course you know storm surge you know hurricanes I mean no one has to explain that to anybody but I'd just be more interested in just what the name would be um for the penguins I in ice age or something like that I mean I think it would be somewhere

around those lines. And I'm sure the fans in PPG Paints Arena would eat it up like it's no tomorrow, to be honest. I mean, yeah, yeah. I mean, it just, you know, again, that would be so much fun. Speaking of, you know, Penguins' teammates, who has reached out to you so far about joining the team that's not the coaching staff? I assume Sid has probably texted you, but, you know, has a bunch of others done the same as well? Yeah, there's a couple for sure, like Matheson and then Sid, they've all just been very welcoming, just asking if I needed any help on finding a place to live and just give me areas where most of the guys live. So I think they've all been very welcoming and just asking me if I needed any help from them

or if there's anything that they could do to help me transition moving to Pittsburgh easier for me. Yeah, you know, I mean, that's Sid for you all. I mean, he will always be someone that does this. I mean, I've read countless stories about how he's honestly always the first to text a new teammate or a new coach or new someone, whoever is hired within the organization to just wish them well and just welcome them and just ask them if they need anything. So, you know, Sid doing that, Brock, it does not surprise me in the slightest. He's one of the classiest people in the NHL. Just, you know, going back to your time with Carolina for a sec, you know, obviously you were there for some. so many years, so many great memories, you know. Would you say the overtime winner to beat the

Capitals was your top memory there? And if so, what other top ones just come to mind right away? Yeah, that one definitely is at the top for sure. But I think just going through the first couple years, we weren't a good team. And I feel like in the dressing room, it didn't really feel like we had the drive to make it to the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup. And then when Roddy took over the bench, I think he really changed the culture and the mindset in that dressing room where if we didn't win a cup, we failed. And I think you need that in the dressing room. And I think he just drove that. So I think just when we won that first series and made it to the playoffs that this year after so long, I think it was just so special for all the players,

all the fans, and just the organization in general. So I have a lot of memories. there that are good and I'm going to miss it but I'm just really looking forward to this new chapter and starting in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I mean again man everyone is so excited for you to be here especially after you know what happened with expansion

you were probably one of the top targets a lot of people just are in the fan base and in the media actually put on there to replace what was lost and I think you know you're probably going to do a hell of a job on the team whether it's you know in a defensive zone

on the power play, killing penalties, going to the front of the net, whatever it is with your game. I'm trying to come up with some other questions here because I think I've honestly almost run out of anything to ask you because you've just been great with so many of these answers. I think actually one more just popped into now. I don't know if you had the chance to look over the schedule yet.

I mean, obviously, you know, signing with the team is so fresh and there's been so many moving parts, you know, with meeting with the media, to just getting acquainted with the team, to talking to new teammates. Are there a couple games on the schedule that you have really circled just with being excited to play them next year,

or is every game kind of just the same? Yeah, ever since signing there, I've been kind of busy, but I've definitely glanced over the schedule, and I think obviously it's going to be pretty cool to go back in the PNC arena and play there. So that's going to be a cool experience for me and just go back and see everybody and just enjoy another game in PNC

and hopefully go in there with Pittsburgh and take two points from them. That's the perfect answer, Brock. That's what I was hoping to hear, especially at the end. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that we play and rock you like a hurricane like they do before every game. That was also, again, one of my favorite things when I was tuning into a playoff game with Carolina since I'd like to watch the whole league, just hearing them play the Scorpion song. was nothing better. I guess I'll also end with this.

Is there a road trip that you look forward to each year, whether it's going to Western Canada, California, the Florida trip, you know, Vegas, and about that. Is there one specific road trip that you look forward to as a player, just to get away from home for a bit? Or is it just all the same for you? There's obviously some cool ones. I think whenever we come back to Toronto,

I think that's cool just because all my family and friends are around here and they usually come to the game. So that's always special. Getting to play in front of them. And that's mainly the one. But obviously you like to go to the Florida's and warm places and sometimes escape the snow. But it's not, I think you're playing in the NHL. I think anywhere you go is going to be a blast. Yeah, you know, you're definitely going to have to escape the snow in Pittsburgh.

now that you're here for four years. I know down in Raleigh, it snows, but not as much, not nearly as much as it does up there. I mean, you know, all the Pittsburgh, all the Yinsers. Maybe get one or two. All the Yinsers will tell you, you know, when late November, December comes around, man, it is just, you're looking for snow in the forecast every week, and they'll usually get dumped on quite a few times over the winter. Or it'll just be brutally cold. I mean, remember I went to a stewardie.

over New Year's Eve just a few years ago, and it was, I think they dropped five inches of snow and it was negative three degrees during the game. So that's what potentially you might be looking forward to for Pittsburgh winter. Luckily, I think on the schedule... You're going to bring a warm coat. Yeah, you definitely have to bring a warm coat. And luckily, I think on the schedule around that time, it's one of the, I think it's the Western Canada or the Western California trip.

Not the Western California trip overall. excuse me, it's one of the two. I'm going to have to double check on that for sure, but I don't think there's anything else on my mind right now to ask. I just want to thank you for coming on. And of course, you know, being the first player to come on to the Locked-on Penguins podcast, I understand, you know, you're a busy guy. There's, you know, just so much going on just with signing with the team and, you know, being around your family with the lake and getting acquainted with everyone. But I really appreciate you coming on to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast and hopefully down the road I can get you on for a second episode whether

before the season somehow during the season or you know more likely um after the season which hopefully ends in another banner raising in Pittsburgh I really hope so and I appreciate you having me on here yeah absolutely so again thank you all so much for listening to this episode you can go follow me on Twitter at 100 hodes on the show's Twitter at l o'clock penguins and of course you can go follow brock mcgin on Twitter as well at brockmigan as I'll be tagging his Twitter run. I post the episode on both my Twitter accounts. But again, thank you all so much for listening to this episode,

and we'll do another one of these tomorrow.