Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can the Penguins exorcise their demons in New Jersey?

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to keep their faint playoff hopes alive and that's where Hunter and Pat start Tuesday's show. They preview Tuesday night's game against the New Jersey Devils and how the Penguins can snap their six-game losing streak against them. They give their keys for the game and how they have to slow this game down, plus get on the Devils early since it's rare when they score first. They then discuss the latest comments from Kyle Dubas on Mike Sullivan and whether he's going to be back next year. Was this just lip service from Dubas? Could things change? Finally, Hunter and Pat remember Konstantin Koltsov. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. 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.

Beyond all logic and reason, the penguins remain in the playoff race. And they'll continue that race tonight against the New Jersey Devils. Hunter and I are going to preview that and more 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 Penguins fans to another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host Patrick Damp. as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4WET. You can follow Hunter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow the show's account at L.O. underscore Penguins. We thank you for making this your first listen or watch of the day

because we are free and available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. And today's episode is brought to you by Sleeper. Download the Sleeper app and use the promo code locked on NHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper's

of use for details. So Hunter, tonight, the penguins are back in action. They're going to New Jersey to take on the New Jersey Devils, who similar to pretty much everybody else in the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings is kind of struggling. But like you said to me, before we got started today, the penguins do look poised or at least could break two pretty bad streaks going into tonight's game. They've lost five straight road games this season, and they have lost six straight to the New Jersey Devils. But as we know, this season, we have talked about it over and over again with our counterparts here in the Metropolitan Division of the New Jersey Devils. They, like the Penguins, have fallen woefully short of expectations this season. They are also

pretty banged up as a roster as well. So there really is a big, opportunity here for the penguins to keep themselves at the very least in the playoff race going into tonight's game and after tonight's game, even though now they are six points out thanks to a Washington Capitals win over the Calgary Flames last night. But Hunter, with what appears to be an underman devil's team tonight, what do the penguins have to do to break this streak of losing against the New Jersey Devils. They really have to slow down the devil's speed. That has been the main thing that has given the Penguins fits over the last year, year and

half. The Penguins have just not been able to keep up with the Devils. And that type of team has been giving the Penguins fits for more than just a year, even outside the Devils, those young, fast teams, the Penguins just can't keep up with. You know, you saw last season, for example, and the Penguins were playing the Montreal Canadians. The Canadian stunk last year, but they gave them. fits because the penguins weren't able to keep up with them. Now, this year, they did a little bit

of rule reversal. The penguins were able to win all three games against the Canadians, but the penguins still lost again to the devils just because they're not able to play well against them. Their style of play really frustrates the penguins, and they haven't been able to adjust to how New Jersey plays. The penguins are going to have to get after New Jersey pretty early in this one. And based on how New Jersey has played this year, they should be able to. They've given up the first goal in well, over half of their games so far. This team has started slow virtually all season. They're playing catch up right from the opening puck drop.

The Penguins are going to have to get after this team fairly early. You brought up the injuries. I'll bring up something else for the Devils. They have gotten woefully awful goaltending throughout the season. They traded B-Tech Banec at the trade deadline. They still have Nico Dawes. He's played in 21 games. Akira Schmidt's played in 19 games.

Jake Allen, who they got me. He's only played in two games. But you look at their roster right now for the two. goalies that they have, it's Alan and Capo Cochanan. So at this point, they're down like real bad at that position, man. And the Penguins are going to have to really take advantage of that in this game if they want to get two more crucial points and also keep knocking the Devils further and further, further, excuse me, out of the playoff race.

For sure. And then you look at the injury list and there is a lot of talent missing from this devil's roster. Dougie Hamilton, Yonis Segantholler, John Marino, our old pal is out, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Nathan Bastion, all are on their injured list right now. And overall, like, that shows you kind of the disparity that this roster has in New Jersey right now, because obviously they have Luke Hughes back there on defense. He's pretty solid. Brendan Smith is a good bottom pairing defenseman, but outside of that, it's a tough, tough defensive unit. But then you look at the forwards, you know, Obviously, Jack Hughes is Jack Hughes.

Nico Heeshire has really started to come into his own. Jesper Brought is there. Timo Meyer, Eric Halla. I have always liked Dawson Mercer's game. I think he is a very sneakily good top six forward, and he's played fairly well with the Devils. So the biggest thing for the Penguins tonight, in my estimation, is you do have to slow this game down.

You cannot let the Devil's speed overtake you, but you do have to take advantage of the fact that they are very hurt on defense and they struggle and goal. And we have seen it for the past few games. The Penguins offense is seemingly finding a little bit of a stride. They're doing good, they're doing good work in the offensive zone when it comes to keeping possession for checking and getting chances. So if you play a team like the New Jersey Devils, it is incumbent on you to go out there and continue to prolong that team's misery that they have both on defense and in goal. and this is a classic game where you can keep the people,

even though this is a road game, you can keep the people in the 200s happy because tonight when you play a team like the Devils, pretty much any shot is a good shot. Oh, especially with their goaltending situation. I mean, they got Allen at the deadline who was not really playing that well, Montreal, and they gave up quite a decent haul back to Kent Hughes. I was actually pretty surprised that Kent Hughes got what he got for Alan Capo

Cockon. he came over in the Bannachet trade. He's been okay for the sharks, but it just goes to show how decimated they've been in goal for the season and why they should have made a move before the season to answer their questions in net. You've already talked about the devil's top forwards. I mean, Jack Hughes is one of the 10 best players in the sport right now,

in my opinion. I think he's that good, especially when healthy. Nico Heeshire is one of the best two-way forwards in the league. Yes, for Rat, is awesome. I still was a little bit surprised that, they traded Tyler to Foley, but I think with where their season was going, they didn't want to lose him for nothing. But they still kept saying, oh, we're in the playoff race. Oh, we're in the playoff race. So I guess still I was a little surprised that they traded to Foley, considering he was

one of the best players. Timo Meyer, only 19 goals in 55 games this season. He hasn't been as good as I thought he was going to be. But, you know, he's still one of the best players he can strike whenever. You know, one of my biggest things for the penguins heading into this game tonight is the player of their third line. Can that line continue to cook a little bit, that Smith-Eller-Puston line and take advantage of some shoddy defensive work from the Devils? You also brought up a point I thought the Penguins have been really squoing these last few games. And you're right, Pat, before these last three games, the Penguins had scored two goals in their previous four games. They've now scored 16 goals in their last three games.

So they're starting to finish a lot more of their chances these last few games compared to the previous four games where nothing was going in the back of the net. And now you go up against the devil's team that has been really leaky defensively. They have a lot of injuries. John Marino is out for this game. Dougie Hamilton, of course, is out and has been out for a while. You combine that with their goal attending. You would think that the penguin should be able to keep up their goal scoring abilities with the way they've played the last few games. Absolutely.

In special teams, I don't think will play too much of a role tonight. The Devils are pretty much middle of the pack in both. They are, I believe, 15th. They are 15th in PK and 16th in power play. So they're right there in the middle of the pack. Obviously, there is still a ton of very good talent on that team. So your P.K does have to be sharp tonight just because those guys are very talented. And we have seen it even with the Penguins in their struggles.

there is talent there and if you give them opportunity, they will take it. So you do have to be vigilant on the PK. I agree with you as one of our listeners tweeted at us yesterday. The ESP line has to keep it rolling into tonight's game because they have been a pretty big factor in this team kind of, I don't want to say coming back to life yet because they still very much have a steep mountain to climb. but at the very least, they've kept this team on life support. So I want to see more from them. And I've been saying it all season long, and we're going to talk about it here in the second segment.

This is going to be another tough test this week for head coach Mike Sullivan, because you're playing a very fast team that you have struggled against in the New Jersey Devils for the past couple of seasons. And then you go on to play Dallas and Colorado, who are two absolutely great. hockey teams. You have to be willing to swallow your pride against these teams and talk to your players and tell them, listen, we cannot play high risk fire wagon hockey against these teams. I know that sucks. Like I obviously didn't play anywhere near the level of NHL hockey, but it does suck as a player to get told you have to play a more boring system because everybody wants to play fast, exciting hockey. Everybody wants to open it up. Everybody wants to

for offense. But if your goal, as this team continues to say, is to get into the postseason, you're going to have to push that aside and do what is necessary to get two points. Right. I mean, this isn't 2016 anymore. This isn't 2017 anymore. If it were, then I would be all about the penguins just going blow for blow with the devils, trading chance for chance, doing everything that they did in 2016, 2017. But they don't have that type of team anymore. You have to play more of a low event style against a team like the Devils that can outskate you virtually every ship. If you try turning this into a track meet like they tried to do against the Rangers, well, we also what happened on Saturday, they lost 7 to 4. That's not going

to work against the Devils, even though they've struggled quite a bit this season and they haven't lived up to expectations. Jack Hughes will make you pay every time. Nico Hescher will make you pay, even though Tim O'Mire hasn't been as good as I thought he was going to be this year, he can still make you pay. They still have quite a bit of talent up front that can score at well, and the Penguins are going to have to be on high alert for those players when they're on the ice. This is still a pretty good devil's roster. They just weren't getting enough out of their head coach. It's why Lindy Ruff got fired. I don't know why they extended him before the season and then fired him after 50-ish games, which is a very weird decision I felt like from Tom Fitzgerald. They're going to have to really go out

and get a new coach the summer. I feel just because I don't think Travis Green is going to be that guy long term, but that's where I'm looking forward to tonight in terms of this game against New Jersey. It's the old Jeff Merrick line of they should just call the game of hockey goaltender, because yes, Lindy Ruff was not great. He had his flaws, but it always shows that if your goaltender can't make a save, it's probably going to put your coach in jeopardy. And speaking of coaches, when we come back, we are going to talk about Kyle Dubas's sit down with Pierre Lebrun, where he talked about a multitude of things, whether it was the future, the Jake Gensel trade, and of course, the future of head coach Mike Sullivan.

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See Sleeper's Terms of Use for Details and Locational Availability. All right, we're back here on the Tuesday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. We thank you for joining us on this edition. and kind of came out this morning. It seemed a little bit unexpected, but we did get a nice little sit down between Kyle Dubus and Pierre LeBron in the Athletic.

If you have not sat down and read that one yet, highly recommend it. Very good read. Pierre LeBron is one of the better reporters and insiders, but low-key also a great interview because he gets guys like Kyle Dubus to open up about a multitude of things. He talked about, like I said, the Jake Gensel trade, the future of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And yes, let's go right to it right at the start. He talked about the future of Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. By all accounts, he is once again putting his support

behind Mike Sullivan to remain as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I will read his quote here to everybody. He said, quote, I think if you go down that path that maybe the public wants you to go down, parentheses added for emphasis by Pierre LeBrun making a coaching change, end parenthesis, then you're back in the market of trying to find Mike Sullivan. To me, it's not something. It would probably have to be a mutual thing where he felt that and I felt that way and I don't feel that way at all right now. Pretty much tells us that next season, Mike Sullivan will be behind the bench for the Pittsburgh

Penguins Hunter. I know you have plenty of thoughts. So I will shut my trap and let you give us those thoughts. Yeah, I mean, if that does come true and we just, have to put this out there. Things change all the time. I mean, the Pittsburgh Steelers said two to three weeks ago, oh, we're going to have Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph be our quarterbacks. And then they traded Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph walks, and they signed Russell Wilson and trade for Justin Field. So stuff like this changes all the freaking time. And that was after Omar Khan spoke to the media,

the Steelers GM, at the NFL Combine. So some of this could just be GM speak. Now, that said, if Dubus was fully telling the truth here and he doesn't let Mike Sullivan go, after the season, I will fully disagree with that decision because I do feel like it is time to get a new coach behind the bench. I understand what Dubus is saying when, you know, it could be a lot harder to find the new Mike Sullivan. I get it just because there's a lot of very bad to really mid-coaches and league. I feel like there's only five to six truly elite coaches in the NHL. And if you feel like you have one, you want to hold on to that one. But at this point, I feel like it's still probably best for the penguins to move on because

what we're staring at right now is two straight seasons of non-playoff hockey. That's unacceptable. He also hasn't won off series since 2018. I've said this repeatedly on the show. I don't know what other coach in the NHL survives this. John Cooper, maybe in Tampa Bay. Does Jared Bednar in Colorado survive this? I mean, those are really the only two that are coming to mind right now if they were

in the same situation. So I don't know. If they do go down that path, and again, I disagree with it if they did, but if they do go down that path, you have to gut almost all the assistant coaches. And I'm talking Michael Lucci, Tar Ridin, almost everyone else behind that bunch. You have to have a brand new coaching staff under Mike Sullivan if you do decide to bring him back. And I'll say it for a third time. I am not supporting that decision if they do go down that path. I'm just saying, that that's what they would have to do in that situation. This isn't the first time that Dubus has really defended Sullivan to the media. I mean, he was asked about this on the GM show last week by Josh Getsoff,

and he also defended Sullivan on there, and then he also defended Mike during his pre-trade deadline press conference as well. I don't think this is by accident. Again, I know things can change, but I do feel like he thinks the world of Sullivan. And at this point, you know, people might have to face the. reality of this head coach coming back next season, even though I'm going to disagree with that decision. You kept hitting on a point I was going to make, and that is that things change rapidly in professional sports. You brought up the Steelers who put their full faith in confidence in Kenny Pickett,

and then a couple weeks later they trade him. And I also bring this up all the time. Sports is such a rapidly changing landscape, especially professional sports, because you, even if you just look inside at the Pittsburgh Penguins, Dan Bilesmo was going to be the coach forever until he wasn't. James Neal was going to be Evgeny Malkins winger in perpetuity because it looked like a great marriage until he wasn't. Jake Gensel was going to be a Pittsburgh penguin, at the very least through this entire season.

Now he's a Carolina hurricane. So these things change rapidly. And I also do think that this might just be him, saying at least to Sullivan and ownership, I'm going to respect the extension into next season. But as soon as the league year clicks into next season, he is under a microscope. Because you brought up what other coaches would probably survive this.

And you brought up two guys who have coached very good franchises and have won Stanley Cups. And I think that whether you agree with it or not, I'm of the mindset of a little bit of both that when you have the kind of success that guys like Jared Bednar, John Cooper, Mike Sullivan have, you get a very long leash. And we've talked about it ad nauseum on this show. Outside of 2019, I really can't put coaching as the reason that this team has not won a playoff series since 2018.

It has been several other factors that are, again, I brought it up at the end. of the last segment. They really should just call hockey goaltending, because in 2020, 2021, in 2022, what derailed the Penguins' playoff aspirations? Goaltending.

And you could be Scotty Bowman, Herb Brooks, and whatever Soviet Union, Red Army team coach, all wrapped into one, if your goalie can't make a save, you could have the best system that's ever existed in the history of the sport.

But if you can't keep the puck out of your net, because your goaltender can't make a save, it doesn't matter. Now, I will say this too. I think this stretch run going down to the end of this season will be one of Mike Sullivan's biggest tests, aside from, you know, the game to game of it where he may need to make adjustments to get this team some more wins. But if he can help this team lift themselves at the very least to very close to the playoffs, given what they have done underachieved this season, I think that is a check in his

call them because it would have been very, very easy for this team to pack it in and just say, we're done. We're not making the playoffs. It's all over. Let's just get done with this year. But they're still battling. So I have to give him some credit for that. But I do think end of the day, the clock starts ticking on him the minute the calendar

flips to next season. So here's one thing I may push back a little bit for that, for some of the things you just said. Number one, I do believe they're fighting right now. But what happened right after the Gensel trade? It felt like they just quit for a few games. And there's six points out right now. If you had just won one or two of those games during that losing streak,

you would be a game or two out of a playoff spot right now. The way they played after the Gensel trade, they honestly just played like, I hate saying this. I don't want to sound like a weirdo, but they kind of played like spoiled brats, to be honest. Oh, I agree. and why weren't you able to coach up your team after that? And then now they're starting to play a little bit better.

Where was that level of play in the immediate aftermath of the Gensel trade? Again, I'm not trying to sound like a weirdo here, but it just seemed like to me they were playing like spoiled brats in those three to four games after the Gensel trade, where they just gave up. But then they realized, oh, crap, we still have something to play for. So now we're going to wake up. And that's what they've done in these last three games.

But where was this right? after. It's just, that's what's mind-boggling to me a little bit. And if they do end up bringing Sullivan back, please, for the love of God, bring in players that can actually fit his system. I look at this team right now, and I see quite a few players who I just don't think fit Mike Sullivan's system. Now, his player valuation could be a bit off during each off season. I'm sure he has a bit of input as to who the Penguins go after, whether it's with Kyle Dubas this past off season or Ron Hex saw before that or Kyle Dubis especially coming up this upcoming off season but they need to find and evaluate players that can actually play in his system

that don't look out of place on a nightly basis. That's if he comes back overall. For sure. And we're going to get into one other quick thing here before we head to break. Sullivan or not Sullivan Dubis, excuse me. Also kind of spoke to what the future is for Sidney Crosby. as you know next season is the last season of his contract and he basically said that they will see where those conversations go saying sure i think that will be a private discussion with sid myself and pat brysan once the season is over but i think everyone has been pretty clear on where they stand on the fact that everyone would like to see him end his career in pittsburg and it's my intention that in those years that we're back and definitively contending so i think this kind of validates what i said a couple of weeks ago to where their theory of the case, Kyle Dubus's theory of the case at the very least,

is that they want to do a quick retooling where they make this team younger. And I was having this discussion with some friends last night after my very unimpressive beer league hockey game that one of the strengths I see in Kyle Dubas, and I think we saw this with the Jake Gensel trade, and I know this is going to anger some people, but he is very much a quantity over quality guy when it comes to prospects. and we know how much of a crapshoot prospects can be. So if you can get three or four guys rather than one or two,

you have much more of a chance of those guys becoming NHL contributors than if you only got one or two guys. And I think we see that with the Jake Gensel trade is that maybe those three guys they got from Carolina aren't the most impressive, but it's more likely that at least one of them will become an NHL contributor and it's showing what I said to where they want to get younger guys who can come up and be productive. Maybe they're not franchise guys. Maybe they're not, you know, superstar talents that are going to lead you into a Stanley Cup.

But they're guys who can be productive NHLers. They come up and learn from three, if not four of the best pros that we've seen in this era. And that can help them along in their development. Right. I mean, I think they're hoping at least one of the players or one of the prospects, excuse me, that they got back in the Gensel trade. will end up working out and will be somewhere in the penguin's lineup, whether it's next season, the year after, or even further on down the road when Sid is probably 40 at that point. That's what they're hoping for.

And then in terms of next season, yeah, I mean, I agree with you overall. I do think they're going to want to target younger players that can come in and help support the core. They did not do a good enough job of that this past off season, where they had plenty of cap space to do it. And while they'll still have plenty of cap space to work with this all season and potentially more if they're able to clear out a contract or two around the NHL draft, you're still going to have to, again, go out there and find better and younger talent to help surround this core if you want to make a push again for next season. Yeah, absolutely. And I do think that there is a very real world where they can do that this summer because they do have some pieces to move.

I do think that at this point, they will have the cap space and some valuable pieces to move. out. I also think that a Crosby extension this summer is pretty much inevitable. I think once we hit 12.01 p.m. on July 1 when he's eligible, it will be inked and it will be official because even though he's no longer the majority owner, Mary Illamue still feels very burned by how everything went with Yarmier Yager, and they really don't want to see that happen with Sidney Crosby. You took the words right out of my mouth there, Pat. I mean, this is probably going to get announced on July 1. Probably if I had to guess a two to three-year deal to wrap up his career with Pittsburgh, and so he could go out with a Getty Ball, get a Crystal Tag. I don't think money is going to be

that big of a factor for said. I mean, he could just do $8.7 million per year again just because of how superstitious he is. Or he could do a little bit more, whether that's $9 million, whether it's $10 million, whether even if it's below $8.7 million, we'll have to see. But I do think that's going to get announced on July 1. Absolutely. That's going to do it for this segment. When we come back, we do have to talk about some sad news as the hockey world, including the Pittsburgh Penguins, our morning the sudden and unexpected death of Constantine Coltsov. We will get into that right after this. And we're going to tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Robin Hood Retirement. Did you know that even if you have a 401K for retirement, you can still have an IRA? Robin Hood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost. on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robin Hood Gold. But get this. Now through April 30th, Robin Hood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from

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And sad news this morning as former Penguins forward, Constantine Koltsov, it was announced that he has passed away. He was 42 years old. He was a winger with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the infamous X-generation era. and he was a draft pick of the Penguins in 1999. He was their first round pick. He is a Belarusian native. He came to America in the 0203 season, played time in the then-Russian Super League,

now known as the KHL. He was the original number 71. I think a lot of people forget that. No disrespect to the legend Yuri Slager, but he was the number 71 that people remembered from this era. And you know what? As silly as the X-generation era was, as much as we all joke about it, they were actually probably about 10 to 15 years ahead of the game, but it's just not how the sport was played yet because between a player like Constantine Koltsov and everybody's

favorite Immaculate Grid, Pittsburgh Penguin Rico Fata, these guys were lightning fast. I mean, if you go back and you watch some of the highlights from those penguins teams, they were fast teams. But the problem was the league as a whole was still big, slow, neutral zone trap, defense first. So you heard a lot of people talk about fast for nothing. I always kind of push back on that because those guys were playing a game that wasn't being played in the end. NHL yet. The league was not in its speed and skill era just yet. You were still seeing big bruising defensemen, big tough forwards. And these guys were just square peg round hole for the National Hockey League. But it was the penguins always being the penguins to where they were

never going to become the team that went out and got a bunch of goons, got a bunch of big guys, played the slow game. No, they were going to play play. speed and skill. And for a team that was not very good, for a team that was bottoming out, because this was post-Yager and this was Lemieux, but not really Mario Lemieux, because he was kind of recovering and in the twilight of his career, Constantine Coltsoff wasn't that bad of a player for the Penguins, 144 games, 12 goals, 26 assists, 38 points on some pretty bad Penguins teams. So he was a solid player. And you know, you hate to see this happen. Such a young guy. And it really shows you how dedicated Penguins fans of that era were, because

they talk about guys like Coltsov with absolute reverence. Oh, absolutely. And people, forget just how bad that Penguins team was, especially in 2003, 2004. Overall, I'll send my heartfelt condolences to Colts off's family and friends. 42. Way too young man. I mean, I'm just gutted after hearing that news. And I still remember watching a game of his with my mom. I was only six to seven at the time. I remember turning to her on the couch. And I said, oh my God, he's fast. And she turned to me and smiled. And he really was. he was one of the fastest skaters I remember watching as a little kid. He was a lightning bolt.

That's what he was. And his first NHL goal, by the way, was a thing of beauty. Marty Strzaka gets him the puck along the boards. He knifes around the Chicago Blackhawks defender like it was nothing and has a beautiful backhand shot past the goalie for his first NHL goal. It was just vintage stuff from him. And I know he didn't score that much at the NHL level, but I'll always. always remember that first goal of his overall. And the call from Mike Lang, by the way,

was also great. So I sending in my heartfelt thoughts and condolences to his family and friends gone way, way, way too young. And he was one of the best players on that 2003, 2004 team overall. I know the Penguins got really good a couple of years after, especially when, you know, Sidney Crosby came down, and, you know, Mark Andre Fleury and Faghani Malk and Jordan Stahl, I can go on down the list. he was one of the best players on a really bad team, and people will still remember that team for quite a while. Yeah, and currently he was back in Russia.

He was coaching, and I'm going to butcher this, so please forgive me. He was coaching the Salvat Yulev, which is based in Ufa in Russia, and his team provided this statement. It is with deep sorrow that we inform you that the coach, Constantine Coltsoff has passed away. He was a strong and cheerful person. He was loved and respected by players, colleagues, and fans. He forever wrote himself into the history of our club.

So nothing but thoughts and prayers and our best wishes to his family, his friends, his home club, because taken way too young. And he will always live in Pittsburgh Penguins lore because those were the lean years. Those were the tough years. That's when we as Penguins fans were grabbing and holding on to anything we could find for any glimmer of hope. And he very, very much gave us that little bit of a glimmer of hope when we so desperately needed it as Penguins fans. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. As Hunter said on Monday, he will be flying solo tomorrow as I head to.

to the IR and get some teeth pulled. But I hopefully will be back on Thursday. We will see game time decision as head coach Mike Sullivan likes to say. But for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning into the Lockdown Penguins podcast. And Hunter will be back with a new episode recapping tonight's game against the Devils tomorrow. And we will talk to you then.