Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can we stop the Kris Letang trade nonsense?

Episode Date: September 9, 2020

The Penguins surprisingly inked defenseman Juuso Riikola to a two-year deal last weekend and Hunter is back on Locked On Penguins this week to talk all about that deal and what could come next. Can he finally play in the lineup full-time for Jack Johnson? What happens now with the very, very crowded blue-line that the Penguins have? These are all questions Hunter tries to answer, plus what did GMJR likely promise RIikola in their negotiations? Hunter gets into that, plus the Kris Letang article that came out yesterday on The Athletic. Hunter talks about how it would make no sense to trade Letang right after they made the Penguins made their move to get Kasperi Kapanen, plus has a message for all of the people who still under-appreciate Kris Letang in the Penguins fanbase. All that, plus more on this episode of Locked On Penguins. 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 episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at L-O-Hen-Square Penguins. I apologize for not having a couple episodes on Monday and Tuesday.

My voice has been pretty groggy this week. I guess I've just been yelling a bunch of TV or just in general, but it's gone back to the point where it's mostly back, but still, it's not all the way back, but still I wanted to do at least three episodes this week, and then go back to doing everyday episodes for the next couple weeks and just until we're only allowed to do three episodes a week, which is when the offseason comes. But we have a lot to get to today with the Yusolec stuff, Chris LaTang, article that came out yesterday from Rob Rossi, and we're going to talk about the conference finals. But first, I just want to say this episode is brought to you by Bill Parts. protein bar that tastes like a candy bar and go to buildbar.com use promote code locked on you'll get $10 off your first order so like i said in this first segment let's just get into it we're going to talk about usuricla um my very first thoughts on this are there was very very surprising that they brought him back um two year deal the first one i thought it would only be a one year deal if they

were going to bring him back but it's a two year deal he's going to be making over a million per season for both those seasons and then i mean i guess if you just really think about it it's like are we really going to pay him over a million per season on a two-year deal to just sit up in the press box the whole time? I really can't see that. I mean, I saw a couple of tweets on Penguin's Twitter saying, you know, actions speak louder than words, which of course is a reference to Jim Rutherford, basically talking of Jack Johnson, like he's one of the greatest defensemen on the planet. So this signing is just very, very interesting.

I'm really hoping now that he is going to continue his next stage of development. Jim Rutherford said as such that basically this is the next stage of his development going into the next season, really feel like he can take that next step. So if you feel like he can take that next step, then just play him. Play him every night. You really don't know what you have in this player. His possession numbers and his underlying numbers as a whole are actually pretty good. His expected goals for, his expected goals against.

His scores are really, really good. I would recommend reading Danny Shiree Irving from the Pennsbog's article last week about Yusorekla. He went in really, really in depth with his advanced stats over the last couple of seasons, even though he hasn't had a lot of playing time. And it was just a really, really, really good article. So definitely I would want you guys to check that out. But, I mean, the time is now to play this kid.

I mean, you can have a Rikala, whoever pairing on the third pairing without Jack Johnson. You can sign a third pairing defense when to play on the right side, like Dylan DeMello, who I've really, really liked for a long time, and pair him with you, so Rikola. And then you have Pedersen with Marino, Dumlin, with a tang and then your defense actually looks competent again. It actually looks like it's a good unit. So, I mean, it's just, it's just time to really see what you have in this player. I wouldn't have resigned if I were used to Rigo with the Penguins, considering that he has not had basically any playing time to show what he can do. He's been benched for a player. He was benched

for a player multiple times that was just really, really, really bad. So it's just, it's just very, very interesting to me that he resigned. I wonder what Jim Rutherford's, like, selling point to him was while they were going negotiating this contract. Yeah, I could imagine Jim being like, yeah, you know, I talked a lot about Jack Johnson in the media, but I'm going to dump his ass and you're just going to get into the third period. I mean, that has to be it, right?

I mean, like, what other selling point could Jim Rutherford have had for you Suricla? Oh, yeah, you know, we're just going to play you behind Jack Johnson again for 82 games, or you're going to get a half a season. We're going to bench Jack Johnson for half a season. season. I'm just like really, really wondering what Jim Rutherford pitched to him besides just maybe being like, yeah, we're going to dump Jack Johnson, even though I've talked him up. Like he's the second coming of Jesus. But still, it's very, very surprising. It's very, very good news that they brought Riegelow back. That's honestly been one of Jim Rutherford's best moves that he's made,

I think, in the last couple calendar years bringing back Rikala, who can really move the puck, who's good in his defensive zone. And also, of course, has really, really good underlined numbers. again, you know, I just said a couple of minutes ago what I'm really hoping for next season. Duman with the Latang, Patterson with Marino, and then Riegel on the left side, and then going on and signing someone to play on that right side. I really, really don't want Chad Ruehito

to play 82 games there for the Penguins. And it's not that I don't trust him, I think he would do a better job than Justin Schultz. I mean, we all know how bad Justin Schultz was these last couple of seasons and in this playoff run where it looked like he just didn't care. You know, we saw the rumors going around that it looked like he really didn't want to be in the bubble.

But, I mean, I think Rubidil, like I said, would be an upgrade over him, but I just, when you have a chance to upgrade that spot, you know, basically the Steelers just did this with their punting situation. I know it's kind of a weird comparison here, but, you know, the Steelers had kind of an average punter, maybe a little below average punter in Jordan Berry, and then when Dustin Colwick becomes available, they're like, oh, we're going to try him out and then we're going to cut this guy because we think he's better than them. So that's what I kind of want the penguin wants to do with that third pairing, especially on the right side. You have Rabidil who's like kind of an average third pairing guy, but when you have a chance to upgrade that spot and get someone, like a Dylan Demela or someone else that's on the free agent market that has a better track record

than Chad Rooeedle, but you can still keep Roodle as your number eight guy to play on that right side. You can do that. I think that's totally fine. You don't have to cut him. He's signed for a couple more seasons. And, you know, the same thing should be with Jack Johnson. You know, he's below average. You have a guy now that's signed for two years for over a million that is better than him

and basically anything he does. So just play him. Dump the other guy. I don't care what it takes. just go full Avengers end game and whatever it takes just to get rid of Jack Johnson and play Usorecala all 82 games. We just, we really haven't gotten an extended look with this player for whatever reason. You know, he's been in Mike Sullivan's doghouse for a lot of Sullivan's tenure. You know, it's just, it's been very, very weird. You know, hopefully now we really, really can

get a good long look at Usa Ricola and just how good he can potentially be in a third-paring role for the Penguins. You know, we've seen it in flashes, you know, just with how good he isn't moving the puck. I think he had that goal that Danny Sharvey Irving of Penn's blog put up on his Twitter. And this is basically late in the second period, less than two minutes left. Basically skates all around the Nashville defense. I'm just watching the clip right now just because it's so good. It goes almost around the net and then just tucks it home past. I think that's Rene is in net there. But I mean, I mean, that's just something that Jack Johnson just can't do. He can't even carry the puck in the offensive zone. He's just that bad offensively. So like I said,

just really, really hoping we get more of use of Riegel, but I'm just very, very excited that this signing happened and that Jim Rutherford was able to ink him. Again, one of Jim Rutherford's best moves that he has made in the last couple calendar years. But before we get to the Chris LaTang talk for the day, and right as I'm recording this, Josh Joey comes out with an article in The Athletic for what we know about the Penguins offseason plans.

I'm also going to go through that during the next segment while also touching on the Chris LaTang story from Rob Rossi yesterday yesterday, excuse me, but before we get to that, it's time to talk about Bill Pard. There's 18 amazing flavors, six new flavors. Three of them are the cookies and cream, the caramel brownie, and the carrot cake. We still have the 12 original flavors. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They're soft and easy to chew.

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All right, so welcome back to this episode of Lockdown Penguins podcast. And this really wasn't something that I wanted to discuss this week on the podcast, but because Rob Rossi decided to write about Chris LaTang, we're just going to have to talk about it. So basically, the piece was headlined in a way that it makes you think it was clickbait in case you guys didn't see it. But in summary, I'm not going to spoil the whole thing, but I'll just kind of summarize it a little bit.

Chris LaTang is thinking he's going to get traded this offseason or the next offseason. He's just kind of out of crossroads, I guess. But there's been no indication that the penguins are shopping him or that they are going to trade him. And, you know, Rob basically just spoke to a lot of people within the organization, and they're really still high on Chris LaTang. And there's basically Jim Rutherford asking him on the lead

to see where Chris LaTang's value is. I'm going to say this again. You trade Chris LaTang. This franchise starts going into the void. This is not a player that you trade. I understand why Crystal Tang would be upset or that a trade could be coming. He has, I think, two years left on his contract. He hasn't played as well as he would like lately.

But still, he's the Penguins number one freaking defenseman. We know John Marino is being groomed for that role, but he's not ready yet. I mean, you don't need Todd Reardon to save Chris LaTang. I mean, some of these people that like to hate on Chris LaTang all the time, it's just, it's utter nonsense. There's a lot of really good tweets that I'm going to get to for this segment. But, you know, I'm just going to start with this thought about Chris La Tang. You know, when I'm talking to someone about this sport, and honestly I would suggest you people who have this idea too, especially with Penguins fans. One of the very first things you should ask a Penguins fan is what their thoughts aren't Chris the Tang.

Because their answer will determine if they actually know what they're talking about with the sport of hockey. If anyone in this fan base or anyone around the week thinks Krista Tang sucks, he's not a number one defenseman, he's not good, stop talking hockey with those kind of people. It's just there's no point in talking hockey with those kind of people. They're wrong. It's not even a bad opinion. You're just flat out wrong because the data, the eye test, anything that tells you what a good player is would show that Krista Tang is just absolutely awesome. So do not talk to those people. And secondly, it's just so weird how, like, Penguins fans are just so low on Chris La Tang. Like, other fan bases in national media are higher on Chris LaTang than the actual Penguins fan base. And I'm still struggling as to why that is in my...

I just, I really don't understand it. Is it because some Penguins fans don't watch a lot of other elite defensemen? That also makes similar to bad plays at times like Chris LaTang does? I mean, do you just not know the sport of hockey very well? It's just very, very puzzling to me. to this tweet yesterday from Jason from Penguin's Twitter, who is just an outstanding follow. Please follow him if you have not. J underscore A.155.

I'm just, I'd really have to scroll down here to find this tweet, but it's just, it's really worth it. I mean, here it is. You know, this is honestly the best tweet about Chris Laetang. He's not a perfect player. He's still great and absolutely a bargain. Mistakes he makes are often high leverage and high visibility, leading to some confirmation bias for the shit heads on the Latang suck strain.

They ignore the hundred, hundreds of high-level events that he's responsible. responsible for and he's 100% right. I mean in the article Rob basically wrote yeah Chris the Tang might not be a bargain anymore. I'm sorry he puts up what 50 points when he's fully healthy and he's had 60 points in the league. Hell guys he even has had I think a 70 point season in the league I think it was Mike Sullivan's first year here he finished fourth in the Norse voting and was basically a point per game player while Mike Sullivan was just starting out to be the Hengland's coach, and he's making 7.25 million per season. If you go to Jayfresh's account with his model, his actual market value is over $11 million per season.

How can you say that Chris Lange is not a bargain when he makes not even $7.5 million per season, hell, not even $8 million per season for a number one defenseman that does it all. He's great in his defensive zone and is an outstanding puck-moving defenseman. It makes absolutely no sense. That's just a horrific take. And I mean, you know, this take may piss some people off, but, you know, outside of Paul Coffey, he's the best defenseman in this organization's history. Sorry, you know, I'll take him over Larry Murphy, I'll take him over Old Samuelson, I'll take him over Sir Gagunchar. I will take him over any defenseman that has played for this franchise other than Paul Coffey.

I will stand by that statement until the day I die. I think he's that good. He's basically all the records for defensemen in this franchise's history. He has been that good. He's been so underappreciated by this fan base for so long, and it's just very frustrating. And, you know, the fact that there's a chance that Jim Rutherford could potentially trade him over Jack Johnson is just nothing short of idiocy. But honestly, I did come away from that article thinking that they're really not going to trade him, especially with, you know, Todd Reardon coming back. Apparently, LaTang was very, very happy that they brought Reardon back.

And, of course, LaTang had some of the best seasons of his career while Taar Reardon was the assistant coach from 2010 and 2000. 2014. So there's that and it's just like, I mean, I'm tired of talking about this Chris the Tang nonsense, man. Don't trade them. You send this franchise further into the void. We all know the team is going to suck in a few years anyway. You don't need to bring them sucking even just well before they're supposed to suck. I guess this is what I'm trying to say. And what team trades their top 15 pick and a top prospect for Kasperi Captain in a win now move and then goes ahead and trades Chris La Tang for picks and prospects. That's not what a. when now team does, especially in the next couple of seasons, that would make absolutely no sense to me. So, yeah, please, please, please do not do that. And that's honestly all my thoughts on this Cross-O-Tang situation. Penguins fans, please stop undervaluing him and under-appreciating

him because, you know, when he retires and when he's not here anymore, you're going to miss him quite a bit, I will say. You're not going to know just how good you had it. So that's basically what I'll say about the Cross-Otank situation. So before we end this segment, let's just get to Josh Joey's article that just came out. We're just going to skim through it on the athletic.

Again, he talks about the goaltenders. You know, they're committed to training one of them, but heavy indications are that Matt Murray will be the goaltender traded. We've seen some rumors that Buffalo is interested, potentially Calgary, Edmonton. Still unsure of when that move is going to be made. I'm pretty sure it would probably be by the draft, which I think was confirmed to be October 6 and October 7th. Yeah, he said Rutherford has a little interest in moving Tristan Jari. I mean, that's just, that's the right call. You always will pay the cheaper option. Apparently, he also said Billy Garen inquired about Jari before dealing Jason Zucker to the Penguins of Rutherford was not going too par with Jari in that deal.

Also talked about what Chris Lattang. He said he's out of crossroads in his career. Sourced around the actual told me they've discussed the Tang's value with Rutherford, but this is not uncommon, and then there's no indication that Penguins were actively shopping and members of Penguins runoff. Spoke with the Tang before Todd Reardon was hired and to confirm that he was on board with the decision. I mean, Rutherford even had a statement that's saying you're going to see a better version of Chris Lattang with Todd coaching the defense. So, I mean, yeah, they're not going to trade Chrisotang people. I know Rob just had that piece come out, and we just talked about it. But, yeah, that's just probably, probably not going to happen.

I'll talk about Jared McCann. McCann is a player that Penguins are willing to move. They like McCann, but they have soured on his ability to be their number three center moving forward. Again, I disagree with that. You've got to give him two competent linemates and see what he can do. He's been his underlying numbers when he's next to competent linemates. I thought when he was just the mode in Horkless, he was pretty good. But, you know, when Marlow came in and then Horquist kind of,

Sowered a bit after his rejuvenated season. Just wasn't as good as he was during the regular season. Just give McCann another year. I know he's probably going to ask for $3.5 million per season for at least a few seasons, but I mean, you can probably bridge him. But yeah, just please keep Jeremy. I don't want to know what you'll understand why they're trying to move him. Also, it sounds like the Penguins like to move Nick Dugstad because of his 4.1 million salary gap hit.

His name has mentioned in conversations between Rutherford and other general managers the past couple of weeks. Again, that's nothing surprising. he makes $4.1 million against the cab as Josh Yow he just wrote. He hasn't been healthy for basically his entire penguin's tenure. It would not be surprising if he was moved. So, yeah, I would expect him to be moved in any kind of deal. Maybe you get him in a move with Matt Murray or maybe in a move with Jack Johnson. If a team really wants Nick Bucet, you can maybe ask, hey,

should you take Jack Johnson along with him and maybe just flip him and get some salary cap space in return? But I think that's basically it for this article. I'm not really going to go into all that I want you guys to guys to. read and also subscribe to the ad litig. I don't want to just spoil the entire thing for you all. But that will basically do it for this segment of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm coming up after this little short break, we're going to go into the conference final matchups and just touch on

what my picks are. I know what we did them on a couple days ago, but just really touch up on just how these series have gone so far and what you expect moving forward. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. So let's just talk about the conference finals. Yeah, so the Islanders, they got blown to shit the other night, eight to two. I mean, I remember I actually went to bed after that second period. That was honestly the earliest I had ever gone to bed in probably five years.

I am a massive night owl. I basically stay up till midnight, 1230, basically every single night. I'm just, I like that. I also really, really enjoy sleeping in, but lately I've just been getting up early, but still, I mean, I am a big night owl, but I was just so tired that night just because I think I drove eight hours to see one of my best friends who moved. So, yeah, that'll do. But, I mean, just watching that game, it's just, yeah, New York, Tampa Bay is not the Capitals and they're not the Flyers. Tampa Bay is going to play a much different game.

They are deeper at every position, just way deeper than the Capitals on the Flyers are. I would expect the Islanders, though, to come out playing much better tonight, I would say, but I do think the Lightning are going to win this series. I pick them in six games. It wouldn't surprise me if it's in five games, but I do think the Islanders are going to win a couple games in this series. they're just too good not to take at least two games from the Lightning,

but I'm still going to take Tampa in six games to go to this Stanley Cup final. Also, which goaltender are they going to want to start tonight? That is a very, very big question. I'm going to guess they go back to Varlamov. Thomas Grice just did not look comfortable against the lightning in that first period, of course, was pulled after allowing three goals in that first period. I'll Varlamov then allow five goals. So, I mean, this is not an easy decision for Barry Trots.

I mean, they both really, they both stunk it up, I thought, pretty, pretty bad. in game one. So, you know, it wouldn't be surprised if he went back to Grice, but it also would not be surprising if he did go back to Varlamov and maybe have Grice available for another game in this series. And on the Western Conference final, we saw peak Dallas Stars hockey in game one. They've won one nothing off of the shutout from Antalcun Dobin.

Those were not the running gun stars that we saw from the first two rounds. That was the stars that we saw from the regular season, the Stars team that just likes to trap things down and play a very defensively-minded game. They got away from that in the first two rounds, which I think a lot of people like because a lot of people like high-scoring games and just the running gun stars of the past, but still when they want to trap it down and they want to be very, very good defensively, they can do just that and they stifled Vegas pretty good. But last night, Vegas was able to tie up the series, tied up 1-1.

I'm still picking Vegas in seven games in this series. I said it from the start. Dallas is going to give them a hell of a fight. This is the best scene that Vegas will have faced so far in these playoffs. But I just don't see Dallas beating Vegas for it. out of seven times. I know Kudobin's been really, really good. I know Dallas is really, really good defensively, but it looks like the floodgates are finally starting to open now for Vegas, and that could be a very big problem. Robin Lennar had a shotout in game two. I think that's

his fourth shutout of these playoffs, at least his fourth shot out. I think he maybe have one more, but still, you know, that's why you start Robin Lennar. And of course, there were the talks today on the athletic that Vegas is trying to sign a new in the extension. You know, Flurry stands hate to see that. Looks like Mark Andre Fleury can potentially be on his way out. if Robin Lennar does sign an extension. But you know what? This is why you play Robin Lennar when he is playing really, really, really good.

There's just no need to go back to Mark Ando Flora. I know he started in game one, and that loss was not his fault. And I guess it was probably because Robin Lennar would have played three games and four nights. But, you know, when you go back to Lennar, especially after losing a game and he gets a shutout, you really don't need to go back to Flurry again.

Honestly, I really don't see Flurry playing another game in these playoffs unless Ler just gets hurt, I guess. So, yeah, Tampa and Six, Vegas and seven, we're going to get a Tampa, Vegas final, and I'm still not, I'm going to probably pick Tampa in that series if it does happen, but I kind of want to see how Vegas does against the stars before I really, really just bringing it home with my Tampa Bay pick. But that'll do it for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. Again, folks, I'm so sorry.

I didn't have a couple episodes early on this week. I have just been, my voice has just been killing me, but I'm glad it's just getting better now and it should be getting better as this week, we get into this weekend, to be honest. and, of course, into next week. So, like I said, that'll do it for this episode. I'll be back tomorrow and Friday for more episodes of the Locked on Penguins podcast. So I'll talk to you all then. Have a great day.