Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can the Penguins start off this massive week with a win?

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in action tonight against the Dallas Stars and Hunter and Pat are here to get yinz set for it. before they do that, they look at some roster changes that seem to be ha...ppening (NOTE: John Ludvig will be playing, this was posted directly after Mike Sullivan announced it). They look at what the bottom pair should look like, plus how Bryan Rust is replacing Rickard Rakell on the top PP. They also look at what Alex Nedeljkovic starting means for Tristan Jarry the rest of the way. After that, they look at how deep this Dallas Stars team is and how it will be the season's biggest test thus far. They discuss how the Penguins can slow down this high-flying attack from the Stars and how they need to be cautious about their aggression in the offensive zone. They also analyze what they'll need to do in order to beat Jake Oettinger. Finally, they discuss how the NHL got something right for a change with this "Frozen Frenzy" thing.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Parkview AdvanceFor more than 25 years, Parkview Advance has helped businesses secure working capital. We Invite the many entrepreneurs that are Locked On NHL to learn more by calling us at 203-675-0071 or go to parkviewadvance.com. If your business needs working capital, call Parkview Advance today! Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.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.eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime.Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED. 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) 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:01 The Pittsburgh Penguins are set to take on the Dallas Stars tonight from PBG Paints Arena. And for today's episode, the Locked on Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to get you all set for that matchup. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.
Starting point is 00:00:41 You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined as always by my co-host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Sinem for Wet. And you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. And his episode is brought to you by Game Time, down the GameTime app, create account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. So Penguin Stars comes your way tonight, 7.30 p.m. face off from PBG Paints Arena. And basically it's the NHL's version of Red Zone this whole day, 16 games.
Starting point is 00:01:18 Every team is in action, and that's going to be a lot of fun. The action gets started at 6 o'clock tonight. Ends with the Vegas game at 11 o'clock against the virus. This is something that I think we've been waiting for for a long time, and this hopefully will grow the sport even more. I think they're going to do this multiple times. But before we do get to breaking down the Dallas Stars, There's not going to be too many roster, I guess, adjustments tonight, though.
Starting point is 00:01:44 There is a couple, and we'll get started with this first one. It looks like Tristan Jari is going to be having the night off. Based on the morning skate, Alex Ndilkevich was the first goalie off. And I know it was a very limited morning scape, but both Jari and Adelkevich were there. Ned is the first one off. I really don't mind this move that much. Yes, the Penguins are taking on one of the best teams in the league tonight. The stars are 3-0-1 entering this game.
Starting point is 00:02:08 the only reason they're not in first place in the Central Division is because the Colorado Avalanche are kicking butt right now. 5 and 0 and 0. First place in the Central, they are a team on a mission right now. So it may look a little bit weird, but with how Tristan performed against the Blues wasn't his best outing, they're trying to manage his workload a little bit, make sure he stays consistent throughout the season. I really don't have a problem with starting to Delcovic in this morning. He played really well against the Flames earlier this season when he had his first start.
Starting point is 00:02:38 So I'm totally fine with this. Yeah, why not? I mean, the guy has been a starter before in his career. He's not, it's not like he's a career backup. They didn't bring in a guy who has been a journeyman and only played in the backup spot everywhere he's gone. He's been a starter and for some good teams. So let's see what we got. It's early.
Starting point is 00:02:58 And he played well against the flames. And you know what? If you want to see what your backups got, what better night than the night like tonight? especially against one of the most potent teams in the league. So they're throwing him to the wolves in that situation. I'm fine with it. Another adjustment that it looks like is being made. Ricard Raquel comes off the top powerplay.
Starting point is 00:03:18 Ryan Russ comes on it, excuse me. I have no problem with that either. Raquel has really struggled to start this season. The puck is just not finding the net. And I was pretty high in Raquel hitting into the year. I do think he's going to turn around. But right now, when you're a team that needs goals on the power playing, you're going up against probably the best penalty-killing team
Starting point is 00:03:36 in the league right now. The stars have not allowed a power play goal to start the year yet, which is going up against the Penguins power play. That's concerning for the Penguins Pee-P because the stars are a really good penalty-killing team. So you need all the goal scores that you can get on that unit. Replacing Raquel with Brian Rust makes all the sense in the world. Already has four goals to open the season. He's at least a shoot first player. He has been these first five games. I'm totally okay with that move as well. It's a hot hand. He is kind of, I always kind of lump Rust and Raquel as in the same column of player. They're the kind of talented player in the top six that it doesn't really matter where you put them,
Starting point is 00:04:16 whether it's on the first line, second line with Crosby, with Malkin, first power play, second power play. They play a very easy style of game to adapt to that helps supplement the talent you have in the top six and on your power play. So putting him on power play one is just a smart move. it needs a little bit of a jolt. He's got a hot hand. He knows a lot of those guys, has chemistry with them. So why not give it a shot and see if he can kind of shake this power play out of its early malaise? And he can play in front of the net. He can also play in that bumper. Well, you can also put Brian Rust all over the ice on the power play, and he can do the job. I think he's one of the best peer shooters
Starting point is 00:04:55 on the scene. And with how he's shooting the puck right now, why not, to be honest. Outside of that, there really aren't too many other roster lineup changes. I disagree with keeping Ryan Shea and just based off practice on Monday and then heading into this game. I know Mike Sullivan had his quote to the media on Monday saying, you know, we don't want to put the lines in a blender just for the sake of it. I get it. It's game five of an 82 game season. That said, I still think you're doing a disservice to yourself by keeping your best
Starting point is 00:05:26 option on the third pairing out of the lineup. And again, I don't think P.O. Joseph is just, Madsen defensemen on this team. They have plenty of defensemen who are worlds better than him. That said, I do think he's a better option than Ryan Shea, and he should at least be in the lineup over him. I wasn't impressed with Shea in his first game. Now I know some people may come back to me and say,
Starting point is 00:05:47 well, Hunter, it was only one game. You've got to give him a little bit of time. That's fair. It totally is. But overall, I do think at this point, PO is a better defenseman than him. I mean, Shay has been in the HL throughout his entire career up until this point. So I don't know.
Starting point is 00:06:02 It's just weird to me that he continues to stay, I guess, in the doghouse these last two games for P.O. Joseph. But, hey, if they want to give him a fair shot at it, okay, whatever. Yeah, like I said earlier this week, I don't get it. I mean, I think Ryan Shea has been fine enough. I can kind of say the same thing with Chad Ruehdle. I don't get why they're, like you said, putting P.O. Joseph in the doghouse. Yeah, he was rough against Detroit. but again, who wasn't?
Starting point is 00:06:33 The second period might have been the single worst period this team has played all season long. Right. And I get it. He's young. He's a third pairing defenseman on this roster, but I don't think you're doing him any favors by putting him in the press box and making him practice more than he plays. He's going to need to figure it out sometime.
Starting point is 00:06:56 And to what Sullivan said about lineup changes about you can't put everything in a blender. because we won't get any consistency if you do it every time we go through a struggle. Well, on a much more micro level, you can say that about P.O. Joseph. If every time he struggles, you pull him out of the lineup, you're not doing them any favors. Let him figure it out. And I get it. It's a tight division. It's a tight conference and all points are precious.
Starting point is 00:07:19 But if you want this kid to grow and develop, you got to let him work through it. It can't just be, ah, he screwed up, pull him out of the lineup. And this kind of goes back to something that I touched on last week. and I don't want to repeat myself because I know a lot of people will probably heard this when they listened to the show last week. I just want to see that same consistency with a young player like P.O. Joseph, like with someone like Jeff Carter.
Starting point is 00:07:40 Hold players accountable to that same sander. If P.O. Joseph needs time in the press box. Just Jeff Carter need time in the press box? Or are you just going to ignore that problem just because he hasn't really done anything to start the year? Heck, even Matt Nietto as well, for example, Pat. I don't think he's done anything to start the year. Does he deserve time in the press box off that?
Starting point is 00:07:58 Yeah, you could definitely. I'll definitely argue that. Noel Chari, I mean, I've said numerous times. I think he's going to be a fan favorite, but so far, he hasn't really done anything this year either. So I just want to see these players held, excuse me, to that same standard that P.O. Joseph is being held to right now. And I understand, you know, I would personally take out Chabar-R-Woodle over P.O. Joseph, but then I understand what people would come back to me and say, well, you don't want a bottom pairing of P.O. Joseph and John Ludwig because you would have two lefties on that pair. I get it, but it's at least trying something new and not scratching your best option on that third pair. So both those things are where I'm at right now on that whole situation. And to what you said, the biggest thing for me is Achari and Nietzano. Way too quiet to start this year.
Starting point is 00:08:44 I didn't expect them to light the world on fire and didn't expect them to be tremendous big time difference makers, but I expected them to be able to on a lesser scale wreck games. I expected them to be able to show up, throw some hits, disrupt the defense, be aggressive on the forecheck, and they just haven't been. And you brought them in specifically for that purpose. And they either have to start doing it or Sullivan has to hold them to some kind of account. Jeff Carter is who he is. I'm not going to complain about it anymore. I know everybody like to say, oh, damn's a big Jeff Carter guy.
Starting point is 00:09:16 And it's his boy. Part of it is meming. Part of it is serious. I think he gets a little too much black, but at the same time, we know what he is. We know that's a known entity. It's getting very dangerously close to the Jack Johnson discussion. It is getting close, yes. It's like, yes, we know.
Starting point is 00:09:34 We get it. There's nothing we can do about this. We're beating a dead horse until it's getting buried a dozen feet deep. But again, I agree with the overall sentiment. If you're going to hold one younger player accountable, you've got to hold the veterans accountable as well. I get it. The veterans have earned a longer leash,
Starting point is 00:09:56 but eventually you have to pull that trigger. I don't know if anyone is ever going to get to my level of hate that I had for Jack Johnson with how bad he was. I don't even think Jeff Carter would get there, to be honest. He's absolutely terrible. He was awful. The Jack Johnson days are thankfully well behind us at this point. And hey, the Jeff Carter Day is after this year.
Starting point is 00:10:14 We'll at least be behind us as well. He's not going to be back on this team next year. But that would do it for this segment discussing lineup changes coming up in second segment. Pat and I'm going to preview the game against the Dallas Stars and just how dangerous this team is, especially after how they were last year. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Sleeper, the official daily fantasy app of the locked on NHL network. Sleeper is our number one choice for daily fantasy sports and especially daily fantasy hockey because with Sleeper, you can win 100 times your cash in daily fantasy hockey contest.
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Starting point is 00:12:35 All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-o's Patrick Dam. So the Dallas Stars, what a team this is, up top to bottom, one of the best teams in the league. They have that beautiful mix of young players and some of those veterans. The Starved Self Front with Jason Robertson had an unbelievable year, last year. One of the most underrated players in the league. I think people don't realize just how good he is.
Starting point is 00:13:03 I don't think you can use the word underrated for Jason Robertson anymore. That kid is a star. Like, again, sorry to interrupt you, but like at this point, just call the Dallas stars the Gulf of Mexico because this team is deep. I like that reference, by the way. That was a nice job. But I think you're probably fair on that. Robertson is one of the best players in the league.
Starting point is 00:13:28 Rupert Hince, great two-way center. Joe Pavelski, the ageless wonder who doesn't seem to stop producing, even though he's in his late 30s into his early 40s, basically at this point, he is crazy good. And he was often for the stars last year. It's honestly nuts how he keeps doing. this at such an old age. Incredible.
Starting point is 00:13:49 It's early, yes, but he's got five points in four games, and it's evenly spread out three goals to assist. The guy continues to produce. And if there's one thing, you know, to kind of jump ahead a little bit here that's standing out to me about this Dallas Stars team is that they're doing all of this at five on five. They only have two power play goals and they've scored 11 so far this year. So that's nine even strength goals in four.
Starting point is 00:14:15 games. And, man, like, listen, we spent all summer fantasizing about how great this Penguin's power play could be and how dangerous it's going to be once they find the stride. Dude, if you can get it done at five on five, the power play becomes a bonus. And the fact that the stars are able to put up this many goals at five on five, boy, this team is going to be tough. this is going to be at least so far before Thursday's matchup against the avalanche. This will be the toughest defensive matchup for the Penguins thus far. They're going to have to channel what they did last year against the Stars in Pittsburgh where they just suffocated them in the neutral zone and in their own zone.
Starting point is 00:15:01 They just did not allow the Stars to do anything. They kept them to the perimeter. They didn't really allow Jason Robertson to do much. Same with Rupa Hints. It was a textbook defensive performance from the Penguins in that game in December. They're going to have to do that again. I think if they want to win this one for sure. The way they should play this game, and you know, you and I talked about this yesterday,
Starting point is 00:15:21 assuming that this roster is better than last years, which I think everybody can safely assume it is. One of my favorite games that the Penguins played last season was the Winter Classic, because for 55 minutes, they did not allow Boston to play the game that made them so successful. They did not give them any opportunity to set up a forecheck and get possession behind the net. work at low to high, and they disrupted that game plan for Boston for 55 or 60 minutes of that game. They got to have a similar effort tonight. Do not let Dallas get any sort of traction in the offensive zone. The second you can turn the puck from your defensive zone into a breakout, do it immediately.
Starting point is 00:16:03 Get people in position, get your breakout moving, D-to-D passes, up the wall, hit the middle, cycle out. because if you give this Dallas Stars team any sort of extended look in the offensive zone, chances are they're going to make something out of it. So the Penguins tonight have to be, to use a great Phil Bork line here, they're going to have to be on their P's and Q's in the defensive zone. And I know this is a big part of Mike Sullivan's system too. I don't want to see them be overly aggressive with their pinches in the offensive zone. Yes, take some chances.
Starting point is 00:16:38 but you don't want to give up odd man rushes to a team like the Dallas Stars. The Penguins have been giving up quite a few these last four to five games. It hasn't been good enough. You do not want to give them up to any of the Starz lines with how deep they are. So Penguins are going to have to be, I guess, cautious with their pitches. Yes, you can still pinch, keep the playing in the offensive zone, but I don't want you to be overly aggressive, especially when the game is in the balance. I mean, you look at this Stars team.
Starting point is 00:17:06 That's so true. you have Jason Robertson, Rupa Hints, Matt Dushane, Wyatt Johnston, Genie Dadoff, Radic Fasca, Faxa, I hate saying his name. And then you also have someone like Jamie Ben, you don't want these guys bearing down on your defense. Right. In a two-on-one or a three-on-two. Because not only are they talented, they're fast. And if you let them get to a fast-break game, I think the penguins still have the horses to win shoot-outs.
Starting point is 00:17:37 making a lot of Southern and like Dallas references. It's like sleep. Are you from Dallas, Texas, sir? No, born and raised Jinser. But I still think they have the type of players that can win in an offensive shootout. But this is one of the rare teams in the league that I look at and go, do not risk it against this team. Right. You have to, again, just be good with the pinches.
Starting point is 00:18:02 Make sure you're responsible defensively. Yes, take some chances, but you don't want to overdo it. And, you know, speaking of Jamie Ben, he's also an ageless wonder, two goals, three points in his fours four games. I can thank Jamie Ben because he's the reason why I made my Xbox gamer tag way back in the day. If you understand that reference, good on you because it's a old hockey Twitter joke. I'm not going to say it on this show. It's too inappropriate.
Starting point is 00:18:24 But Jamie Ben, great player. Tyler Sagan, he's also been a great player throughout his career. He's also off to a pretty start this year too. I've always had fun watching Tyler Sagan play. He's been one of my favorite players for a long time. I already discussed Wyatt Johnson. Matt Dushane. I wanted the Penguins to sign him this offseason, man.
Starting point is 00:18:40 I really did. I thought he would have been a perfect fit. Took a really cheap deal with the stars. He's off to a good start there. You already said Radik Voxa, Craig Smith, who shoots the puck quite a bit. Defensively, Mero Heiskin and is a top five player on the planet defensively. He's that good. Penguins are going to have to be aware of where he is on the ice at all times.
Starting point is 00:19:00 He can hurt you both defensively and especially offensively. The puck movement from him when the puck is on his stick is. a treat to watch. It's almost like, how do I want to say it? It basically is like watching Eric Carlson and Kyle McCarrick-Macon move the fuck. Mero Hayskin is that dude. And credit to Mero Haskinen because he's kind of helped Ryan Suter have a career renaissance of sorts. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think Souter in Parizet were as washed as people made them out to be when Minnesota bought them out. I think Minnesota just wanted to get out of those horrific contracts. But Souter has looked really good with Dallas.
Starting point is 00:19:41 And this is just, this is another case of a really good young player being able to extend the career of an older player. And while I'm not overly impressed with their defense, I think outside of that top pairing, it's not overly impressive. Essel and Elle's solid, Nils Lundell. S.L. S. Lindel, that's a great name. Yes, it is. And, you know, it's an all right defensive unit. but it's the fact that they they complement a very deep forward group incredibly well.
Starting point is 00:20:13 And finally, in net, Jake, John, one of the best goalies in the league, one of the five to seven best goalsies. I don't think he's at the level of Igor Shostarkin, Ilya Serochin, especially with how Seroquen has played this year, good Lord. And And I know he hasn't played yet. But he is in that number four, number five spot. He's knocking on the door. He's knocking on the door. and you see Soros right there too. He's right up there with those guys. One of the best young goalies in the league, got to get traffic in front of him and make his life a living hell.
Starting point is 00:20:45 If you just throw pucks to the net with no traffic, he's going to gobble him up like it's nothing. He's a big goalie. His movement is really sound. They're going to have to make him move side to side, get some traffic in front of them if they're going to want to beat this goalie because, again, he's awesome. Yeah, aside from the usual that I say about, you know, know, replacement level, typical NHL goalies of, if they see it, they're going to stop it. When you get to these elite or very good close to elite goaltenders, you have to play the way this team has always played against them. Incredibly high shot volume, make them work, tire them out, make them face a lot of shots,
Starting point is 00:21:25 got to get traffic, got to get in his kitchen. Because if you think back to the career of Henrik Lundquist, how often did the penguins make him look human. And it's not just because they were in his face a lot and annoying him and exploiting a short temper. It's because they made him work. They shot from everywhere. They constantly put pucks on net. They constantly took shots for rebounds so they could crash. They constantly had traffic. And yes, it eventually frustrated him. But the way they beat goalies like this is you make them work. Your minimum should be 35 to 40 shots against a goalie like this. Yes. Because this is one of those kind of games where you say, okay, you know what?
Starting point is 00:22:10 We're going to shoot the puck 35 to 40 times. And if this goalie beats us, that's fine. Because some nights you just tip your cap and a goalie goalies you. So if the penguins get 35 to 40 shots tonight and Jake Ottinger goes off, but they look good in that effort. And Jake Ottinger just closes the door. I'm not going to be horribly upset because he's a great goal. I mean, I agree with you. I mean, I would still see this as a step in the right direction, even though if they lost, but I see the process is there and that they're playing well. Sure, if you lose the game, that's annoying. But if Jake Gottinger just has one of the games of his life, there's really not much you can do in that situation, at least. But I think that I'll do
Starting point is 00:22:51 it for the second segment coming up to end the show. Pye and I are going to get to this really fun day that the NHL has planned for everyone today. It's their version of Red Zone that the NFL does every Sunday during the season. But before we get to that, we got to discuss Fandall. Snap into action this NFL season with Fandul America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can get $200 of bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet. That's $200 of bonus bets win or lose. If you've been thinking about joining Fandul, there's no better time to get in on the action than right now.
Starting point is 00:23:23 The app is so easy to use. There's a wide range of betting. options, including spreads, player props, over unders, and so much more. So visit fandle.com slash locked on and kick off the NFL season. That's Fandle, the official partner of the NFL and locked on. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodeys, joined by my co-host, Parker Dam.
Starting point is 00:23:47 So tonight, all gets off six o'clock start time. All 32 teams play 16 games. And the NHL is calling this frozen frenzy. I actually like the nickname. And dare I say, Pat, dare I say, this is a good move by the NHL. They don't have a lot of those throughout, you know, throughout history, I would say. But this is a very good move. There's hockey on all night. These games come on every 15 minutes, starting at 6 with the Maple Leafs and the Capitals. Then you got the ducks and blue jackets. Then you got the Sabres and Senators, Carolina, Tampa, et cetera, et cetera. So this is going to be quite the night of hockey.
Starting point is 00:24:28 And I hope they keep doing this for many seasons to come. If you're a sports fan, good Lord, tonight is your night. You have game seven of the NLCS. Go Diamondbacks, by the way. No, go Phillies. Game seven of the NLCS, NBA starts tonight. And then you've got this. And listen, everybody knows I am never slow to criticize the National Hockey League.
Starting point is 00:24:53 I'm very outwardly spoken that I think this league is horribly wrong. This is progress. I know everybody's going to expect me like, Tuesday night, you're doing the, no, it's progress. Listen, if fair is fair, we give them credit when they do things well. So this is a good idea. Here's the thing I like about this for doing it on a Tuesday night. If it doesn't work tonight, probably not a lot of people are going to notice. Hardcore hockey fans are going to notice, but a lot of casuals are going to miss out on it.
Starting point is 00:25:23 So this is a little bit of a soft launch for them because the ideal world, what you want to do is once we get past New Year's and college football is done and the NFL is winding down and you're starting to get into the stretch run to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Imagine doing this on a Saturday. Oh, yeah. Instead of having to do it every 15 minutes, you do it every half hour, 45 minutes to an hour starting at noon. Oh, yes. Make it like a mini version of what college football does every Saturday when the game start at noon, get some at 1230, even get some at 1 o'clock that started that time. And then you get the 330 window, 5, even obviously the 7 o'clock window, the 8 o'clock window and all that good stuff. I would be very down for that. I know some people are upset that this is on a Tuesday night because I guess people work. I mean, well, we all have to work, obviously. But, you know, Friday would work, but it's fine for the first. time to do it on a Tuesday. Yes, it's unfortunate that you're going up against game seven of the NLCS. The winner goes to the world that are used to take on the Texas Rangers, but it's still a night where the NFL doesn't play. You don't need to get your butts kicked by the NFL, which we all
Starting point is 00:26:35 know is king in this country. And sure, a lot of people are going to be watching game seven, but you're going to have hockey on ESPN tonight. There's still going to be quite a few people that tune into that game and all the other games, especially if these people have ESPN plus you can flip around to all these other games. You can flip to the National League Championship Series, Game 7 in Philadelphia. I think it's a great move. And then, as you said, you could potentially do this on a Friday or Saturday. Maybe you can do this on a Sunday once the NFL stops.
Starting point is 00:27:05 That will be perfect as well. And like I said, you don't want to roll out a product like this on a Saturday in prime time and not have it ready to go. And listen, it's a product like this, you don't have figured out day one, or even when you get to launch day, because there's going to be, you can't predict sports. How many times if you watch Red Zone, have you sat there and been like they're taking me to that game? You can't predict sports. So there's times when a game's going to be a dud and nothing's going to be going on. Or maybe at some point a game is like five nothing in the first period or something like that.
Starting point is 00:27:46 and then no more goals come the rest of the game. So doing this on a Tuesday night, early in the season, they're figuring this out. And that's a good thing. We want them to figure it out. We want them to work the kinks out. And then when we eventually, and this is what I'm going to say about the NHL is, if it doesn't work out great tonight, don't scrap it,
Starting point is 00:28:08 figure out ways to make it better. And then once we get to that February or March date on a weekend, when you launch at noon and you go. all day, then all of a sudden you know what you're doing. And March especially makes all the sense in the world, right? The playoffs start in a month, month and a half, depending on when you are in March. Heck, they may even start in a couple weeks if you're at the end of March. And sure, you have March madness to deal with with college basketball, but you don't have
Starting point is 00:28:35 to do it when that tournament is going on. You can do it maybe one at the beginning of the month with a month and a half to go into the playoffs where there's really not much going on. and then everyone would focus on hockey. And then you can maybe do it towards the end of March where maybe there's a night where the NCAA tournament is not going, you're not going up against the final four or something like that. A full days worth of games, 16 games,
Starting point is 00:29:02 when the push for the playoffs is fully going, Pat, sign me up for that any day with the stakes being really high in that situation. And I say it all the time. The NHL loves marketing to the team. They don't love marketing to the individual. Do you have a bunch of close play? playoff races late in the season and you're going to do frozen frenzy on a Saturday, that's easy to market.
Starting point is 00:29:22 Very easy to market. No, I agree with you. I think it would be a great idea then. And heck, if you want to do one after the tournament's over in early April, when the playoff race is really at its height right then, by all means, please do it. But I think that would do it for this episode. I'll be locked on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one.
Starting point is 00:29:44 Pat and I will be back with another episode. for you all on Wednesday. We'll recap the game against the stars. And then later this week, we'll get you set for the game against the avalanche. And then recap that game on Friday, get you all set for the game against the Senators. Big week for this hockey team. It's time to start getting some results. You do not want to fall further in the standings, especially with American Thanksgiving coming up.
Starting point is 00:30:05 And most of the teams around that time that are in a playoff spot usually end up making the playoffs. So we're right about go time right now for the Penguins. But again, that will do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one. We'll be back with another episode on Wednesday.

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