Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Comments from Jim Rutherford and Kris Letang speaking to the media, plus Josh Yohe and Chad come back to the show!

Episode Date: May 29, 2020

Jim Rutherford and Kris Letang spoke to the media the last couple of says so hear Hunter talk about the comments they had about the format, thw series against the Habs, etc. Then, Josh Yohe and Chad (madchad412) come back on to the show and give their thoughts on the return to play format, the series against the Habs, poor Nick Bjugstad getting hurt again, what the lineup will look like, and so much more! 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.

Hello, welcome to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. Happy Thursday to you all. We head towards another weekend, man, these weeks just keep flying by. A lot is going to happen on the show today. I figured I would do a segment first by myself, and then for the second and third segments, well, however long they're going to be on for.

Josh Joey of the Athletic, who covers the Penguins, will be back, along with Chad from Penguin's Twitter, Mad Chad 412. been on this show a couple times already. It's really glad to have them back. We're going to talk to them about the NHL's return to play format, what their thoughts are on that. So maybe some Jake Gensel questions for Joss. Nick Bukstad, of course, we'll touch on that in this segment as well. And we'll just get their thoughts on a bunch of stuff. You know, I'm really excited to talk to them. But we did have a lot of Penguins news that did come yesterday. Yes, I'm sure you all aware. Nick Bukstad is out for the remainder of the season. If the season ever resumes,

he has apparently a herniated disc. So, yeah, Bo Bennett definitely had a... Wow, that is, that is embarrassing. I can't believe I just said that. I called Nick Bukstad, Bo Bennett. So I was about to say Nick Bukstad had a Bo Bennett kind of, you know, I'm not going to delete what I just said. We're just going to keep it like that because I just,

that was just too good to pass up. But, yeah, it was, in all serious, just though, it is really upsetting that Nick Bukstad, who, really has not had a lot of injury problems in his career. Just basically, he gets traded to Pittsburgh. Last year, I thought he was actually, he played some pretty good hockey on the third line. I think it was with Hornquist on his right wing,

and I think Dominic Simone was on the left wing. And that line drove possession and the expected goals for percentage through the roof. In the playoffs against the Islanders, even though the penguins got swept, my memory serves me right, they were the best line that the penguins had. They drove possession, and they created chance with when they were on the ice. they were always dangerous. So it sucks seeing that Nick Bukes said he was good last year. And then this year, you know, he just turns into Bo Bennett, like I said.

And we're going to ask Josh this in the next segment. But, I mean, I don't see him coming back next season. I think he makes, what, $4 million against the cap? I think a team will take a flyer on him. But it's just, it's really unfortunate what happened to Bukes said. This is a player, everyone, who really was not injured that often. I really don't think in Florida, I'm just going to make sure about that. But I really don't, I didn't see him struggling to get into games when he was with the Panthers.

I mean, 76 games in 2014, 2014-15, 72 games, 2015, 16, 67, 2016, 17, 54. But then he had an 82 game season. So, I mean, I mean, for about one, two, three, about four of the five years that I just mentioned, he was relatively healthy. You know, one season he missed six games, one season he missed 10, one season he missed. um 15 and then he had the full season it's just you know but this season he played in what 13 not even 20 games 13 15 games something like that just really really unfortunate that nick buke's dad um basically is just his his time as a penguin is done so um so the debt takes a little bit of hit there so him and dominic simon will not be available for the penguins in the playoffs apparently

he's expected to miss a minimum of eight weeks with a herniated disc but my question is how do you go from a sports hernia injury with the core muscle injury and then that goes that like you come back from that even though it's a lot later than expected then you come back you look okay and then you get hurt again you suffer a setback with a herniated disc and then you just have surgery for it and now you're out of minimum of eight weeks I don't know it just seems a bit odd to me you know that his injury look like I'm going to say it again you know that's bow Bennett right there you know you you really really cannot make it up um just would feel really really bad for him and I I'm pretty comfortable saying that this is probably his final season in Pittsburgh.

Yeah, just what a mess that was. You know, and there's some people who could be like, well, you know, no one's going to trade for him. Well, I mean, someone took Alex Gowchennyck back in the Jason Zucker trade. So, I mean, I'm pretty sure someone would take a flyer on Nick Bukestad. Now, what could you get back for him? Don't really know. You know, maybe you can get like a draft pick, you know, a prospect, like a mid-tier prospect or something like that. Maybe you can try to get like a roster player that I don't really think he's capable of someone.

I don't think a team is going to give up a roster player for Nick Bukstad, but I really do think Jim Rutherford will trade him at some point in the offseason, whether that's in September, that's in October, or that's in November, whenever the offseason comes. We also had some comments from Chris Lattang today and Jim Rutherford yesterday. We'll start with Lattang's comments today. This is a very long thread from Penn's Inside Scoop. He basically talked about the discussion of the format. He said it was a long process.

24 has always been the best number unless you decide to take the first eight teams of the conference. There was lots of talk back and forth. I shared our guys' ideas with the board. 24 has always been the best number. Everyone knows my thoughts on that and a bunch of other people's thoughts on that. I think 24 is honestly not the best number, but you know, that's just me speaking. Letang on reservations about playing. He said, not at all. I've had my fair share of questions, and they've all been answered. I would say that I would be safe to play. Of course, that comes from actually Josh O'ie's article, and I'll ask him about that in the next segment where, you know, Crystal Tag, you know, he has a hole in his heart, he had the stroke.

Is this safe for him to play? So it looks like he is safe enough to play if he's saying it, which is, of course, monstrous news. The Penguins' number one defense, when you can't afford to lose him. And, you know, I'm just glad that he's able to play. So let's see some more quotes here. He said on round series length, he said everyone is used to the best of seven. You know the structure, how it feels if you win or lose the first two. I don't think any player in this league that played in Best of Fives, it's just easier to flip Best of Seven

because everyone knows what to expect. I did see the report about the best of five versus best to seven. I think they should do, I've talked about this on this podcast for what baseball does, you know, like the divisional series is best of five. You know, the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs this year should be best of five. And then conference final and Stanley Cup final, like the Pennett series and the World Series are best of seven. I think that's what they should do. I think it makes the most sense.

I really don't think you need, especially for teams in play-in that will do five series, you know, best of five and then four best of sevens. I think that's just a bit much. I think three best of fives. I mean, of course, adding in the play-in and then the two rounds and then best of seven for the conference final and the Stanley Cup final. To me, I think that makes the most sense. You know, I don't think many of the players are going to be back-gast. I know the Stanley Cup trophy is supposed to be the hardest trophy to win in sports.

I get that. But, you know, we're not in normal times right now. You've got to adjust for the different times. I think this is a good adjustment because, like I said, you know, I don't really think the players would be too thrilled with four best of sevens and then a best of five. I feel like they would be too gassed after a couple of those best of sevens and which a team could potentially take advantage of that, especially if a play in team, not playing series,

a play in team gets to, like, say, the Eastern Conference final. And, you know, they've already had to play two best of sevens and a best of five versus the other team that only had to play two best of seven. So that's just my opinion on that. This was a very interesting quote as well. Latang on Pittsburgh being a hub city advantage. Maybe knowing the board's in building better, but I don't think there's too much of an advantage. Yeah, I mean, I got to agree with him on that.

There's some weird conspiracy theorists out there who just, you know, like to think, oh, wow. So if a team like Pittsburgh gets their hub city home or like a team like Vegas gets it, oh, my God, home ice advantage. Home ice advantage is like, okay, there's no fans there. And, okay, maybe they get last change, which, I mean, last change is pretty big. I don't know if the Penguins will be the home team in the series, except in the play-end series. I don't think they'll be the home team if they move on. I think a higher-seated team will, even if they play in their own building. So it is kind of funny that people are freaking out about that.

There's just, like Luslteg said, you know, maybe you can know the building and the boards better, but I guess that's just kind of it. But now, real quickly, on to Jim Rutherford's comments yesterday. Let's just go down here. He said he talked about the format versus Montreal. He said the league and the players did a good job under these circumstances. There's a lot of different things that go into these discussions from our point of view. We had the seventh best record in the league of Shotdown.

we were hoping to not play in the play-in. Again, that's nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, Jim Rutherford is going to say that. Like he said, seven-th best record in the league, I wouldn't want to play in the play-in either. He also had an update on Jake Gensel. He said, we're optimistic that Gensel will be available. Simone is out.

Bukes said had a setback because we talked about head surgery yesterday. We feel good about the depth of our team. He said, for the next three to four weeks, they'll be voluntary in skate workouts, players' choice on attending, but he also expects most of the players to return to Pittsburgh to start working. He also thinks that the skates will begin,

either the end of next week or the following week. He also talked about Montreal. You know, they're a good team. They dealt with adversity like us with key injuries. We all know there's parody in the league right now. It's going to be a good matchup. I think all this series will be pretty good. All these teams are good teams that could go on a run.

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And just remember that this show today is brought to you by Bilt Bar. All right. So we're back here. And so Josh Joey and Chad of Penguin's Twitter are back on the podcast for this week. First off, Chad, how are you doing during this? I know we spoke on the podcast about what, a month and a half ago. how are you doing? I'm good man I'm uh I'm living I'm healthy and uh I'm ready for I'm ready for uh some hockey to come back hopefully so yeah I'm um good man thanks for having me back on yeah of course

yeah I'm pretty excited to have some back too whether it's late July August or whatever Josh my man how are you doing these days it looks like your uh your beard is still going strong just like Chad's is I shaved a couple weeks ago it doesn't take much for me to grow back however this is like the the second wave of COVID the second wave beard um doing okay it's been nice to actually have a little bit of kind of hockey things to write about this week as opposed to you know top 10 greatest penguins in history or whatever so um a little different um we'll see what happens but i'm cautiously optimistic to come late july early august we're going to have some real stuff to watch yeah no i'm really excited too yeah i have i have not gone my haircut probably

in two months. My hair is just, it's all over the place. So I guess I'll just give the floor to you, Josh. What do you think of this 24-team format? I know I was talking to you earlier. Jim Rutherford made so he made sure to make his comment clear that he doesn't seem, I would say, too pleased that they have the seventh best record in the league and that they have to do the play in in your story.

Just what are your thoughts on the format? Well, yeah, my sense is certainly that the Penguins would have preferred a 20 game or a 20 team format. Maybe, you know, the top six teams in each conference are automatically in and have seven versus 10 and eight versus nine as the playing rounds, which I think probably would have been a little bit more fair. But, you know, no matter what they would have done, people would have been annoyed on some level. I understand looking at it from a business standpoint, if you're Gary Bettman,

saying, boy, we could get New York and Chicago and Montreal markets. Like, I get it. It will give the tournament more exposure theoretically. Is it a little silly? Yeah. And let's be honest. Of course, it's a little ridiculous if you look at it that way. But I understand where they're coming from.

I think the penguins don't prefer it. They know that anything can happen, especially in the best of five series. But they didn't complain about it, really. Jim made sure to make his comment. But it is what it is, as the cool kids like to say. And the team, if I were the Boston Bruins, I'd be. curious. That's the one thing about the setup. The fact that the round-robin games are

that important, they could be the course they didn't have to play the penguins in the first round. I can't imagine the team that had an eight-point lead in the conference feels too good about that. Josh, you're telling us the penguins weren't scared of Kerry Price? Yeah, I mean, I heard some outlets suggested that they were, I mean, listen,

Kerry Price doesn't suck. I mean, he's still a very talented goaltender. No, I promise you, Chad. They are not afraid of the Montreal Canadiens. I that's not a very good team on paper, let's be honest. Yeah, there were really so odd reports. I was talking about this like this past week and last week, and it's like,

Kerry Price was really, really, really good, really elite, I should say, from 2013 to about 2016. Then he signed that contract. And then it's just been a slippery slope ever since. I think he makes like 10 million per. And I mean, last three years, I think he's been 9, 10.

And I've said it before. Like, can he don't want a short heater any goal he can. You know, that's like that's, that's the big big thing with that position. And, you know, the fact that people seem to think that the penguins were scared of Carey Price, I think is just like you said. I think that's really weird considering, one, I don't think my someone probably wouldn't even allow that considering his voice in the room.

Right. Anything. I think most people, in Montreal, you go months without playing hockey, now you have this weird format where they're going to play a not a good team in the playoffs. or at least like the, you know, whatever this. I guess is right now they're saying that this actually is not going to count towards record keeping in a playoffs. Is that correct?

I believe so. I think it's its own little entity. Yeah. So, like, this is the perfect team to me as a Penguins fan to be like, oh, you know, bad shit can happen. Like, Gary Price would come in, play out of his mind, a bunch of y'all can score a bunch of flute goals and play some kind of trap hockey and they lose a five-game series is really easy to lose.

I mean, you only lose three games are done. So, yeah, this is the perfect storm for the first. paying was to come back after not playing hockey for six months and lose to a terrible team. It's so random. I mean, anything can happen. We know that. And Kerry Price, like, are his numbers down the last couple of years? Absolutely.

Now, I personally think part of that is because his team stinks. And I don't care how good a goalie is when you're giving up more difficult chances for a goaltender to stop your same percentage is going to drop. These aren't the 95 devils playing in front of him. So the format makes it kind of scary. And the Canadians gave the penguins some fits this year. They actually won a game in Pittsburgh. So I don't think it's necessarily a cakewalk.

But I just imagine the penguins are going to care a lot more than the Canadians. And they just have so much more talent and they're healthy. So this format alone makes it scary. But if I were a betting man, I would still feel pretty good above weight during the Penguins of the series. Or we can hope they lose and then get the number one. Yeah. It'd be the most penguin thing ever. I would be here for the takes on Twitter if that happens.

Oh, the hockey world will go nuts. The conspiracy theories. The conspiracy theories will be out in full facts. That's just, oh, I can't fucking an evil part of it. Gary Betman loves the penguins. Don't ever forget it. There it is. Yeah, the league loves the penguins.

You know, Gary didn't want Sidney Crosby to go to New York or Toronto. No, no, he wanted him in Small Market, Pittsburgh. Yeah, exactly. There was one idea today. Josh that I did see on Elliot Freeman's 31 thoughts. Apparently the hurricanes proposed that in their series, I think in some of the other play-in series, that I think the lower-seated team should have to win

four of the five games to advance, which was interesting. I would have only done that for the five versus 12, considering how, like, lopsided the matchups are. And I think it's like, prove your way in. And I saw there were some talk last week that giving the top teams in the play-in a one-of-a-one. series lead, which would have been even more funny, I think.

Yeah, I did hear that about the hurricanes. That was interesting. I kind of like the Keynes, though. Like, they think outside the box. They're kind of a fun team. I'm actually looking forward to that series, by the way, Keynes Rangers. That's a totally fun series, like two really up-tempo teams.

That should be good hockey. It's interesting that Carolina and Tampa were the two teams that voted against it. And to me, like, when I look at Tampa, like, It's just kind of bad optics, isn't it? For a team that choked as bad as they did in the first round last year. Now all of a sudden, they're already,

yeah, they've got the built-in excuses working. That's a little interesting. Like, with me, funny, yeah, I love all the canes. The games are all, they're like New A-Tockey. That's what I call them, New A-Tockey. If Don't Terry hates it,

that usually means it's pretty good. So, like, anything that they do is fun. But, like, that's what I was talking to Ryan Wilson on Twitter about, like, okay, so we're, we're going to just go and do this, like, crazy-ass, you know, make, you know, make-up on-the-fly tournament to get a hockeyback in and we're going to have a cup. Why not just go, like, why not do off-the-wall things? Why not have not even a conference separation?

Why not, you know, rank the teams one through 24 and didn't do it that way. That way you get some, you know, you could have Pittsburgh and Washington playing each other for the Cup, for example. Like, that would be one of the most watch series of all times in NHL history. You could really do some off-wall things. Instead, they kind of just, like, once again, the NHL, they'd be taking an idea that could have been really cool, and they made it literally as lame as possible. Like, okay, we're just going to do these terrible hockey series

that have these teams that won, like, 19 games, and they might have a chance to win instead of, like, really having an opportunity to really create some cross-market ideas that would have maybe gained more interest. I actually love that idea, Chad. I really do. And for one thing, it would have made it a lot more fair in terms of figuring out who gets the buys.

Penguins are better than the Dallas Stars. But, you know, because they play in the West, they get certain treatment. That would have been great. Maybe like Pittsburgh, Nashville in the first round, something different. Like, I get tired of seeing the same matchups all the time. Yeah. And the same playoff format as it is. And in terms of the hub cities, they might have two Western cities.

They might use two. Like, who cares? You're going to be there for a month. That's the perfect thing is they wouldn't have. If it was normal travel, then I would understand. You don't want Pittsburgh and Eminton or wanting each other in the playoffs. But if you're doing a Hub city, then that, that excuse is off the window. Yeah, it doesn't know.

Totally agree. Like, seriously, how many chances could you get like Crosby McDavid in the second round or Crosby O'Besgit in the final? I think people wouldn't want to see that. Like, I don't know who it. Maybe some purists wouldn't like it, but the purists already hate this as it is. So why don't make it interesting as possible, right? Yeah, that would be. that idea I really, really enjoy.

Or I've seen people say this before, you know, have the top teams pick their opponents. That would be really funny. I love that idea as well. I love it. Yeah, and I mean, I imagine like, okay, so you're this team, and then you're, this team's like, we want to play you guys because you suck.

Like, to me, that creates drama intention. Especially if they beat you, like, that's amazing. Yeah, like if Boston picks Chicago to play. Like, oh, Chicago, you stink or. Yeah, you think we want to play you guys, we're going to beat your ass. I mean, the storylines are, instead it's just, it's just bland. Like, NHL just always has to give us this bland-ass stuff. And it just made, as a hockey guy that wants other people to like hockey,

I'm like begging them, like, please lead like other sports. It's frustrating in a way because it is wild as an unprecedented as this all is. It doesn't look like there's going to be major league baseball this summer. Like, that's a real mess. Hockey has a chance to have an unbelievable. spotlight. Whatever sport plays first, all eyes are going to be on it. Yeah.

And especially remember, the Olympics were canceled. There's a three-week window at the end of July and August where NBC has all this empty space where the Olympics were supposed to be. They can put the NHL on every channel. We can all be watching four games at once. It would be unreal exposure for the National Hockey League. So that's why it's one of the reasons I hope they can pull this off and I hope they don't screw it up too bad because you always worry about them in terms of marketing themselves.

It's not their strength. Yeah. And then, I mean, I know they'll have the NBA to worry about. I think they're going to be playing in Disney World, I think. But they'll probably be playing right around the same time. So at least that'll be good. One of the other things I feel like is really weird with this format, the bracketing versus receding.

I have no idea why the NHL wants this to be like March Madness. They're not March Madness. This is not going to be a thing. If say, okay, let's just say Montreal does it. They beat Pittsburgh. Why should they go up against a team like Philadelphia as a four seed? It should be one versus 12. I'm still trying to understand that.

I don't understand why they have to do that. I don't see what's in it for the NHL to not do it that way. I know the players want reseeding. They've been pretty adamant about that, in fact. I don't understand what the benefit is for the league, really. And it'll be interesting to see what they finally conclude on. But no, I'm all four reseeding. seeding. I think it makes sense. And I think it's fair to reward the best teams a little bit.

I'm no fan of the Boston Bruins personally. They were like my third or fourth most hated team as a kid. I don't even like covering them that much. Like, it's just not my favorite group. So I'm not a Bruins fan by any stretch. But like they're getting so screwed here as it is. You would think the teams that get the top seeds at least would get to play at 11 or 12 if there's an upset. That seems fair to me. To me, it's not fair to ignore the five months of work in the regular season. That that should count for something. No, and that's the reason why you'll have so many casual hockey fans say, you know, I'm not tuning in the game 67 of the regular season because why, what is at stake at this point?

There's nothing at stake. There's no tension. There's no drama, you know, until you get here. And, yeah, I mean, the Metropolitan Division is so stacked, but so these teams get literally rude for being good. Like they're punished for having a good team in a good season and then they get his ass backwards. Like Boston, like if Boston goes 0 and 3 in this round robin,

which is totally possible, they have to play Tampa, Philly and Washington. They're the four seed. They probably get Pittsburgh in the first round. Then they probably get Tampa in the second round. Then probably the caps in the conference final. You're kidding me?

It's a joke. Murder pro. That's a joke. And they used so much better than the West this year. That's another reason why it would have been cool us to see 24 NHL teams mix and match. Yeah. Just see everybody.

based on points. It would have been more fair to the Eastern teams right now, I would say, for sure. Because the West, there's two or three good teams in the West, really, and that's it. Yeah, it's mostly just St. Louis, Vegas. And- Colorado and St. Louis are really good. Vegas. Maybe Dallas, that's about it.

Edmonton's fun to watch. I don't think anyone's taking them that seriously as a cup contender. Penn Spoiler, yeah. I mean, that would, like, that would generate interest. Crosby and McDavid, Penguins, Spoilers, St. Lincoln, Plas, who will never see it again. I loat the age of working me. Whoever's saying I hate them.

I don't know who you are. I don't know any of your names, but I hate it. No, they just don't. They just don't think. You know, they just don't for whatever reason. It has always been that way with the N. N. H. N. H.I. I believe it was my former boss who always says best sport, worst league.

And I tend to agree with him on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just said that to you. They literally are. It's the best sport, but it's the worst ran league. It just, yeah, like, the round robin, it's just like, you can have, like, they didn't play each other, but you're going to tell me Boston's, it could be a four-seat after they were going to walk to the president's trophy with, like, three to four weeks left.

I mean, come on. Oh, it's, that's just, I, I don't. Now with this stupid format, they're going to, watch, they're going to end up having, like, a team like a Montreal or a team like Chicago that's, like, was terrible. One of those teams have no business being in this, are going to, watch. a weasel their way into the final. I can almost guarantee that's going to happen. It's a really big concern. I was talking with Billy Jaffe in Boston, who does a lot of TV work last week. And he said, you know what the problem is? I said, what's that? He said,

every year there's a team. He said, usually it's the Buffalo Sabres. They start every season like 12 and 2, and everyone says, whoa, they're really good. And no, they're not. They just start. He said, one of those teams might do that in this tournament. We're going to get a really awful team team. Guys have not played. So, I mean, everybody, I mean, literally, anything can happen and I'm like I'm sure we're going to get into it but like as a a Penn's fan like I don't even I didn't even know who they're going to start in wooly like that's a huge question and like I don't know who gets the net being one they're going to be I mean if it's Murray I'm going to be worried because he hasn't seen a fuck

and since February and we went through a pandemic I'm worried that first shot's going to go no I know and I by the way I did talk with Jim Rutherford the other day about that he made it pretty clear it's going to be Matt Murray so okay my sense my sense my sense is he will have a much shorter leash than in the past, as he should. Yeah. Because let's be honest, the other guy was better this year. I mean, I think we all can agree on that. And I'm not a Matt Murray hater by any stretch.

He just had a very mediocre at best season, which the way it is. Man, no pressure, Matt, but you haven't played since February, and it's already the playoffs, so don't screw up. I know. Just a five, go get him. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be pretty interesting. I did see there was an article, I think a couple weeks ago where earlier even said he's

been working with, Matt Murray's been working with. a new kind of coach or something with tweaks to his game, I think. Yeah, and you know what's funny? I can tell you, Matt does this a lot. He kind of will go off on his own and do his own thing. Like, from what I've been told last summer, every time he would train, he finally got it in his head that he wanted to play deeper in his crease, kind of like Henrik Lunkwist does. And that was something that his coaches in Pittsburgh didn't think much of when this season

and started and they really wanted him to be more aggressive and he wanted to play deeper in his crease. He's one of those people. He's almost too smart for his own good. We all know people like that. He's probably the smartest guy on the team. He's an incredibly smart guy. But sometimes I think he overthinks things. And I think he needs to go back to what worked in 2016 and in 2017. Maybe there was a better team around him then and that helped. But he was a better goalie then, too. There's no doubt. Yeah, no. I agree. I just wanted to bring that up because I found that report pretty interesting and I hope that the tweaks that they make for his game, it hopefully goes back to where it wasn't. Oh yeah. By the way, Matt, you have a contract

coming up from. Oh, yeah. From someone, if it's not the Penguins, who's going to pay you all, he's going to pay you the money. And Jim Rutherford already said, it's probably unlikely that they'll keep both goaltenders next season because of the salary cap drop. It's, uh, yeah, no pressure at all on Murray, right? Yeah, exactly. Speaking of someone who they probably won't keep after this season anyway, Josh and Chad. Poor Nick Buxtad. I said in my earlier, I said, I accidentally called, I accidentally said Beau Bennett when I was talking about him because I was going to make the

comparison. And this guy, he just goes from a core muscle injury, comes back, plays a couple games, and then he gets a herniated disc. I mean, this is a guy who hasn't been that banged up too much in his career. and just I just feel so bad. Yeah, I know people are giving him such of a rough time. He doesn't want to get hurt. It's bad luck.

I don't even know that it makes him soft. I just think it's bad luck. It's a shame. He is a gifted hockey player. When the Penguins made that trade, I was talking with Vince Trochuk, who I've known forever, and I think Vince really likes him on a personal level, so maybe there was some hyperbole.

But he said, like, trust me, this dude, like, put up on Sid's line, he'll score 30 goals. He's got that kind of talent. And everybody says that about him. But I don't think he's ever going to play another game for the Penguins. I'd be surprised if he does. Makes 4.1 mil. Salary count almost certain to drop next season. I don't see any way how you keep him.

I think everybody's favorite defense mental number three probably is on his way out as well. My guess is they're probably going to add some buyouts that teams can use. I think that's fair if the cap drops. I think it's totally fair. And I think those are two awfully good candidates. I think they're going to have to put buyouts in. I mean, you know who I wouldn't want to buy out. I'm also on that thing, too.

But it's the perfect time. It really is. Yeah, I mean, I don't even believe that Nick Boostat exists at this point. But, I mean, he showed flashes. I definitely don't think he's a $4 million player. I don't see him as a $4 million. to our player and um yeah i mean i don't see him fitting in uh at all is uh it's and also so simone's out right so it's crosbie going to be like playing with like depression and michelvin are

they going to be like depressed at simone's not going to be there i i'm sure we all know how much sit enjoys playing with him yeah but he also enjoys playing with connor sherry and i i mean i i i'm certain the top line's going to be crosbie gensel and sherry that's really yeah I mean, Mike Sullivan said last week, even he's leaning toward playing Sid with Gensel. And I think that'll make the second line, Zucker, with Malkin and Rust. And you might see Zucker and Gensel go up and down back and forth. Wouldn't shock me. But that Malkin, that Malkin and Rust and Gensel line was just.

It was. I don't know how. Yeah. Yeah. I guess Sid, does, so how does Sid, like, I mean, so does Sid get, do they have a conversation about that? like, make the Sullivan vote of, you know, and Sid, and be like, okay, this is what I was thinking. What do you guys think about that? They literally have meetings all the time about his linemates.

It's not that Sid's like a pain in the ass per se, but he's very hard to play with. He's just picky, you know, he just wants certain guys. Like, he's not, I don't think he would ever put his desires before the team. It's not like that with him, but they do, he and Sullivan don't see I die about linemates all the time. Sullivan told me a story a couple of years ago. Sullivan loves Hornquist with Sid. He just does. And on paper,

it's, and all you call on the dead and stuff like that backs it up as well. Yeah. Right. I mean, every coach loves Hornquist because he never screws up. He doesn't turn the puck over. You know what you're getting from him every night,

even if he's not fancy or skilled really, right? And he likes how Hornquist and Sid worked down low, which, yeah, I mean, I can see that for sure. Sid just doesn't like playing with Horon Quist. He loves him on a personal level, loves playing with him on the power play. he wants guys who are going to play the give and go game with him who can skate with him. That's not Hornquist. It just isn't. So Sid never wants to play with him.

You know Sid and Gino both want to play with Rust, but you can't take Rust away from Gino. They're too good together right now. Yeah. Sherry, Crosby and Gensel, I mean, giving go, that's about as give and go as it gets right there. Yeah, it is. And, you know, Sherry, and Sherry's always been a really streaky guy. So when he goes cold, he goes cold, but, yeah, and that's right, take him out and put Hornquist there or whoever. You know, Sid likes playing with him. There's something to be said for that.

And by the way, I think we should call him sherry for now. The pen was one Stanley Cups when he was sherry. They did not when he was shir. Yes. I think it's just for the best. That's, that's right. I'm going to help Pittsburgh people how to pronounce things. Because we're, I mean, we call it dying eagles.

So, like, yeah, we're going to call you whatever we want to call you. That's right. We struggle as it is. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. And Josh, is, is Jake actually ready? right now to play it's been what five months now i i don't know that he's i'm sorry i'm sorry this is

the funniest thing ever i'm using my phone and rob rossi just called i just declined to call for him back to your question i don't know that jake has been medically cleared for game action i don't think that he has yet but he's right on track and i just don't think he's been able to escape so he can skate for a couple of weeks and, you know, make sure his body feels okay and eventually start taking some small hits. Yeah, I mean, at that point, he'll be fine. But I can tell you from talking with his agent, Ben Hankinson, talking with Mike Sullivan, Jim Rutherford, they all think he would have absolutely been good to go by July 1. And they're not going to need him probably until August 1. So, yeah, he would have quite a setback to not play.

That's, yeah, that's, that's, yeah, I'm very glad. he's going to be back. That top six is just going to be disgusting to watch. I think that's one of the five best top sixes in the league. And then I really think what's underrated is what they're going to do with their third line. They can roll out Marlow probably next to McCann and Hornquist. And then, of course, you have the shutdown line with Aston Reese back, healthy, Blugher and Tanna. That's just, that's a very nice bottom six, I would say.

Yeah, I mean, I'm interested to hear Chad's take on this. Chad, I assume we all love the fourth line with Tanov and Zach Ashton, Reese, and Blugger. Sometimes they use it as their third line, and you can see why. To me, maybe the X factor for the Penguins is that third line. It's going to be McCann, Hornquist, and Marlowe. I like all of the players, but we've never seen them play together. So it's a total mystery to me to see if that line will be effective or not. But I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I think it's an intriguing mix.

McCann's another one that, like, I never seem to be able to get my, my pols my eyes tell me that he's better as a center that he is a winger I try to make him a winger um but like man he's he's another one of these guys that like okay like a couple weeks ago by and I'd be like hell yeah man like this dude's definitely worth four million we need to resign him and then I don't hear from him for like a month like he literally goes on a milk pardon um I yeah I want to see him as a third as a as a third line center but in my opinion if i'm sullivan i'm not mike sullivan at all you can probably see that but if i'm playing against the other team that bluger line i mean they probably in my opinion

deserve equal playing time like those with those that other line because they're better off 5-1-5 on paper than than the mcann line like the problem is then how you got patrick cornquist playing like less than 15 minutes a night so how do you work him in besides maybe putting him on the power play. I kind of weren't as he get that time. Yeah, I still think he'll be on the top power play in all likelihood. But yeah, it's interesting. You're right about McCam. I don't know what to make of him. I remember I looked up a stat. It was halfway through the season. And I think it was his first 60 games with the Penguins. He scored like 25 goals.

And I know plus the bullshit that. I only pay attention to plus minus if it's very slanted one where it was really noticeable. It was like a plus 30 in his first 60 games with the Penguins. Like he was doing everything right. And in those last six, weeks. He was terrible. He disappeared. He's not a good face-off guy either, which is my one concern with him as the third-line center, but they got him to be the third-line center. Everyone, if you said it was the bigger name in that trade, McCann's the guy they wanted. They always thought he would be a perfect third-line center. Maybe he will be, but he's one of three or four guys that I think could really determine the Penguins' fate this spring. You know what you're

going to get from Crosby and Malkin. As great as they are, you still need the third-line center to play well. Look at the Penguins Cups and the Crosby and Malkanara. I think Nick Benino and Jordan Stahl played a role a time or two. Of course they did. So that puts McCann in the spotlight, no doubt. He was just so cold down the stretch. I think there was a stat, it was another one goal in his last 20, 25 games. He just wasn't scoring, which was, and he was getting some good chances, too. He just wasn't putting the puck in the net, wasn't contributing offensively. It was just really upsetting to just see him just basically fall off. I don't know if he was going through an injury or something.

It just, that wasn't the Jared McCann that we were used to seeing. No, no, I don't think he was heard if he was, you know, I'm not aware of anything. He was practicing every day. The thing about him, he's still a young guy, so 23 years old, I think. So, you know, we have to keep that in mind. Sometimes young players can be a little streakier. And my only red flag with him, and he's one of my favorite people on the team. He's a good kid.

He works his butt off. He has been traded twice already at a very young age. So that makes you wonder if there's something about his game that maybe people thought they were fooled a little bit and he wasn't what they thought he was. And they keep changing his position he plays too. So, I mean, that's another, you know, now he got treated. Is he a winger? Is he a center? Yeah, there's a lot of question marks that he needs to answer.

And he never had the same line mates all season, Chad. I mean, he was on, because of injuries. It wasn't really Mike Sullivan's fault. I don't blame him for that. But, yeah, so that's a lot of pressure for a 23-year-old player who's still kind of breaking into the league. I like McCannie. You know, I like the speed.

I like a lot of things that he brings to the table. But we need to see October, November, McCann, not January, February, McCann. Yeah, I like him. He's an RFA coming up. I mean, I'm just like, would I like, would I want to see them throw, like, a four-year deal at him and give him, like, three, four. I know, honestly, to me, like you said, he's still a proven guy. What better time to prove him than to be a third-line senator for, you know, during the playoffs.

Strikes me as a good candidate for a bridge deal, have a two-year, $6 million deal, show us what you can do. You know, I think that might be the prudent thing with him. He's an intriguing guy, though. But, boy, even with the injuries to Simone and Buxted, the penguins still have serious death. Those four lines are all potentially very good. If you have to bring in a Lafferty. Rodriguez.

Yeah. I like Rodriguez. He kind of jumped out of me after that trade. There's some talent there. You can see it. I don't know where he fits in necessarily, but those are a couple of nice. He had to get a spot. I guess he would get a spot over Asson Reese, but Asson Reese is so good defensively.

I don't think you can break up that fourth line. I think he got a role with that line. Plus, he's a really good penalty killer, and Rodriguez doesn't really kill penalties as much. But if Rodriguez, you know, Rodriguez strikes me as a guy. If one of your top six-wingers gets hurt even, I could say. see him if Brian Russ, God forbid, gets hurt. I could see him going on the Malcon's line and scoring a big goal. You can see he's got talent where he can play the players a little bit.

What's the penguin? So somebody's going to get hurt or get to plague. So you're going to play Evan Rodriguez. Don't worry about that. You're going to play. Yeah, that's 100% going to happen. We all know what the defense looks like. We have Chad's favorite players going to be on the bottom pairing because.

No, he's enjoying his family time. He's going to take this off. You might retire. I heard. Jack Johnson is, he is, I mean, he has a newborn. He's probably just enjoying family time. He's probably just going to pass, you know, I'll see, I'll catch you guys next year. Jack, best wishes.

I'm curious to hear your opinion on this, both of you. Like, we all know the coaching staff when front office likes Jack more than the fans. That goes without saying. My question, the more interesting question to me is, who did you so recall, of piss off so much that every time he makes a mistake he's out of the lineup. I don't think he's a great player, but I see a lot of things in his

game that I like, and it just seems like, man, the leash is really always short with that. If you want my honest raw opinion, it's because he's European. Oh, that could be. No, that doesn't do. I think that European players

in North America have a shorter leash in general. I don't think it's as bad as used to be, but is there still an element of that? Yeah, there is. I don't know what the penguins necessarily, but that's... No, yeah, I'm just saying in my... It's a third theory. Because I've seen similar players

make... I mean, again, Jack Dawson, I've seen him take a killer penalty and kill all of our momentum and then be out there the next shift, and I've seen La Cola take a penalty and not move from the bench to us the game. In my mind, just like, okay, so what's the reason for that?

It's because he's young, but then at the same time, like, we, used relatively young and experienced players during those upruns, but they were North American players. So I do think there is an element of this player is from that part of the world, so there's a stigma there still. And I'm not calling myself a xenophobe or anything. I'm just saying that that element doesn't exist.

No, I think it does. You know, it's interesting. We're talking about that third pairing. We can talk about Jack. Oh, we want or a recall of it. The guy who may have been the Penguins' worst defenseman this year was Justin Shultz. Oh, he was awful. And I'm, he will be in the lineup for sure.

He's never been the same player since he broke his ankle against the Canadians, almost two years ago. In my opinion, they need him to be way better. He actually did the very last game in Jersey, I thought, was maybe his best game of the year. I don't know if that was a sign-up things to come or just a fluky night. But, man, he's got to play better. And also, he's a UFA. A year or two ago, I thought he was going to cash out this summer now. boy I don't I don't necessarily see it especially

with the cap dropping the only reason would be is because right right-handed defense men that can play the power play and stuff like that are just so rare so somebody will probably throw them to money but he asked like where would this team be without john marino like if they didn't pull that tradeoff that defense would be I mean John marino he literally to me their blue line is literally above average because of him he's awesome like I'm a big little tag

fan. I'm a big Dumlin fan. Patterson's fine. But Marino, they're just different with him. And you saw them struggle without him when he got hurt in Tampa. They were not the same team after he went down. What an unbelievable find. I think the Edmonton Oilers could use John Marino on their blue line for the next decade. Then Connor McDavid would have won like that. I'm a big fan. Big big. Corino is the first player that Dave had back there that I was, I'm starting to be like, okay, I think we're going to be all right post-Latang at this point. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, that's fair. And let's be, I like Lettang. I think Latang in general was a very underappreciated player. He is 33. And I, do I think he's probably lost a quarter of a step in the last three years? Yeah, I do. That doesn't mean I don't think he's still a wonderful player.

He is. But I don't know if you guys have watched any of the 16, they're showing the old games for like 2016. I don't think he moves quite like he did. And that's evolution. He's 33 now. The rest of the league's getting faster. But I had the same thought as you,

Marino being a right-handed guy. That's their number of one defenseman on the right side of the future. There's no question about that. And he just, it's one of the best, one of the most steady rookie defenseman I've ever seen. He's so good. I think LeTang is one of those guys that when we,

when he retires and then, like, we look back. I think that's when his appreciation will finally. be where it was supposed to be. He's one of those guys that I think you have to lose like you don't know what you got until it's gone. I don't think that again with the Tang, the people

went on Twitter and those people are very small, loud minority because you go to like any Penguins events and Latang's like one of the most loved players there, so. No no doubt about that, but I was talking with Ben Lovejoy the other day and he made a great point. He said, you know, all my time in Pittsburgh,

everyone talked about getting sit a winger. They said, Crystal Tang's been his winger for over a decade. And he's right. He said, like, he said, trust me, Sid will tell you, like, he's a better player when he's on the ice with Crystal Time. There's no doubt about that.

Yeah. Yeah. That's an understatement. And like, John, he just said, he's so good, you know, I don't think he got as enough, enough Calder Trophy Love as he should have. I mean, he was never going to win, of course. Cal McCar and Quinn Hughes are the top two. And then you could, I think he could have had Marino there if he didn't get hurt as a third

place vote. I think he would have gotten my vote personally. He might still get one of my votes. I don't know when we're going to be voted for that, in fact. I guess the regular season's over now, so maybe that's coming up. I don't remember one bad game that he had. I mean that sincerely. He was so unflammable every single night, and the more responsibility he got, the better he played.

He's a special young player. He's no doubt. He's one of those guys where you watch the game, you're like, he's good. And we go and look at the data community as well. And his data is like, holy shit, this guy's like playing at like an elite level five on five. So like, is he going to get better? Like, I'm interested to see where his ceiling is.

But I heard Jim Rutherford on the X a while back a couple months ago and he said, yeah, he sees him as a number one guy, like a number one defenseman on the team. Yeah. It's, I can. Why, that's, you just so. I don't know if you guys know the story about how the penguins, you know, found him. Artie, right?

It was Artie Stevens, who's the parent. Oh, really? He's the college scout in the Boston area, and Artie's kid plays at Yale. He's a left wing. And every time he would play against Marino, he would shut him down. Artie's kid was drafted.

He's a really good player. And he called Jim Rutherford for last year about this time. He said, listen, there's this kid Marino. He's Oilers' property. If you can get him, trust me, get him. And Jim said, okay, Artie, or, like, you don't have to twist Jim's army. He listens to his scouts.

Yeah. One sixth round pick from Edmonton or to Edmonton later and there you have it. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I do remember reading about that story, I think, last year. Yeah. Thank God, Artie.

Thank God. Artie always comes down. Yeah, no, he's awesome. Real quick before I do let you guys go here, I wanted to ask one quick question. Josh, I'll start with you. Is there going to be some weird rules for when the league, if they league does play? like are they going to like have to have full face shields can you celebrate with your teammates after a goal where is is the coach going to be right behind the bench i'm just i'm curious to see if they

get really weird with some with some of these sort of things it's a great question i my sense is no i don't think there will be much of that i think they're going to say listen we're testing you guys every single day therefore you can proceed on the hockey rink like you always have i i think that's probably going to be the approach. Maybe the coaches will have to wear masks. I guess maybe that's a possibility. Oh, that's a mean. That's a mean waiting to happen.

Oh, yeah. I want torts with the mask on, man. Give me torts with a mask on and like the sweater instead of the suiting wears. Like, that's perfect, right? But I don't really think there will be too many changes. Chad, what about you? I have no idea what to think at this point. I just want, like, NHL to me, them being possibly being the first of the major sports to come back and try this experiment with.

I'm expecting a very, very dumb decision by them. I don't know what it's going to be, but just my faith in the league being first as the test dummies here, I don't know. I think they're going to mess up at some point because this league has not proven itself to be the best decision-making league of the four sports. It won't be boring. I know that. But this is their chance. I mean, no, they have, they might literally have no legit competition,

especially with baseball and not being out, like, there's no, we're going to watch hockey for, so this is their chance to be in the spotlight. No, they've never had a, they've never had a stage like this, potentially, you're right. I mean, I mean,

I've got to go up against the NBA a little bit, but I think the NBA might start later anyway. And, um, it's like it. I'm not even really sure what the NBA is. I mean, people that are going to watch the NBA, NBA versus, I mean, they're not, they don't think they're in, they don't think people are going to watch the NBA no matter what. Yeah. Baseball would would be tapping into their, their audience in my opinion. Like no baseball, no Olympics, there's nothing. Like they're, you know, so, yeah, I mean, they should be able to get like four or five, six million viewers for, for some of these games. Yeah.

Oh, I completely agree. And people don't watch baseball as much as they used to anyway. So there's, no. No, I mean, there's, so there's people that are looking for stuff to watch. in the summer. Yeah, no. Let's hope it works. I agree. And hopefully the TV coverage will be pretty good, I'm hoping. Maybe they'll get some new announcers in there. I mean, I know they'll have, of course, Pierre and his shenanigans in there.

And Mike Bill Milbury, of course, he just made his Twitter. And on his second. Yeah. Did you follow him on Twitter, Josh? Yeah. No, I did not. You have to earn my follow on Twitter. He's never done that.

His second tweet was pretty, pretty interesting. I will say that. I'm not going to repeat. My goal is to get blocked by him by this weekend. Maybe I'll get blocked right now. Dad, I got my money on you. Don't worry. Oh, man.

I still can't believe he even made a Twitter. But in all seriousness, guys, thank you guys so much for coming on this episode. I really do appreciate it. I'll have to have both of you guys on next month, well, or June, July, whenever we get closer, we get more announcements for sure.

Be happy to. Yeah, I'm really, I'm just excited that we actually had some hockey news talk about. I'm sure the whole the whole sports role was honestly watching that press conference with Gary Betman this week just to see what their return to plans were. So that was a pretty big stage for them, I would say. So thank you all so much for listening

and we will talk to you all tomorrow.