Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - COVID keeps ravaging the team...

Episode Date: October 22, 2021

Never a dull moment with the Penguins, huh? Doug Glattke joins the show again to touch on the state of the team, but of course, the two have to start with the big news of the day: Jarry and Carter are placed on the COVID list and will be out for the foreseeable future. Can the team rely on Casey DeSmith to steal some games? How far can Rodrigues go as the top-line center? Doug also thinks that the wingers will do most of the heavy lifting before the two transition to the play of Jarry and Marino. What's different about both of them this year? Can it be sustained? Also brought up: Kasperi Kapanen's struggles (what's causing them?), what the lines should look like going forward, the road ahead, and much more!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. The next episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at L.O.

Arnold Sour Penguins. And, of course, thank you so much for making the Locked-on Penguins podcast your first. Listen to the day, even though it's probably a bit late at night, but we'll also have another. one tomorrow as well. Coming on today, good friend, Doug Glacky. I was supposed to do a crossover with Locked on Flames,

Jess Belmosto, but she's feeling a bit under the weather. We're hoping to do that. Potentially tomorrow on Friday's episode or sometime next week. I'm also planning on having Josh Yo-We from the Athletic on next week. You talk some penguins and see what he has for the show. But Doug, figured I would have you on to talk about the first, I guess week, week and a half of the penguin season. and, you know, in good Penguin's terms, this team is never boring.

There is so much news already. How are we doing today? Yeah, crazy week so far. Crazy first week. To say the least. Yeah, to say the least. You know, I didn't realize what happened to Jeff Carter until late this afternoon. and when I saw that, I was like, oh, man, like...

This is really pushing everyone to the limit here. You know, in case anyone you not see, Tristan Jari and Jeff Carter are in COVID protocol. Jeff Carter tested positive and is asymptomatic. The entire team is vaccinated, I believe, at this point. I know Hextall said before the season that they had one that was not, but he was expected to be by the season start. So that makes us even more weirder that there's a little bit of an outbreak with everyone being fully vaccinated. Tristan Jari, I'm not sure.

um it has tested positive he's just in the protocol because i think he's probably a close contact though there are rumblings that he was the player that was not vaccinated before the season so um i don't know how true that is i saw that from a couple people that i know um he might be vaccinated this point because i'm like because ron hextall said they would be by the season starts but that might be the player um that is not that was not vaccinated um at least so that great news there, your first line center for this Saturday, Doug, is going to be Evan Rodriguez, centering Jake Gensel, and I believe

Danton Hinen. We'll go over the lines here in just a second, but that makes this matchup even a lot, that makes this match up a lot harder to win now. Which means they're going to win. It's the Maple Leafs. It's your Leafs, after all, so this might be a prime game that they lose.

I'll take the over on the puck line on Saturday. I genuinely believe they're going to destroy them. You know, they were so short-handed, I think, on a matchup. I want to say two seasons ago before the pause. And I'm pretty sure I'm trying to think who scored. He, like, just was claimed off waivers, scored his first goal with the team. I think was put on waivers right after.

Who's at that game? It was Stefan Nason. Stefan Nason, yeah. Yeah. He scores a goal, and then they went on to win that game, like, five, three. And I think they're up five to one, and they were down, like, half the forward group. So, and the funny thing was Pittsburgh dominated them for the first 40 minutes. So that's going to be an interesting game.

You know, Cindy Crosby is also not going to be playing. There's really no update with him at this point. But just when you see that lineup, Doug, just anything jump out at you when you see just all these forwards out and everything? I mean, you know, I always think like, oh, man, this is bad. But nothing can be as bad as the 2011. was it it was the 2011 first round series against the lightning

where Richard Park was the second line center like nothing can be as bad as that and nothing can be as bad as that one winter I forget when it was might have been 2014 it was probably 2013 or 2014 where

they had literally the entire Wilkesbury Scranton defense score playing in Pittsburgh but man I think I mean you know, I'm at a point now where I trust Mike Sullivan with my life and, you know, kind of just ride with him on a day-to-day basis.

I think, I think this team's fine. Obviously, the center depth is shot, but, you know, you still have the bluegar line, which is going to shut teams down. you know, they've been using that line to start games and shut the games down late in the game as well. I mean, it sucks. They don't have all their centers, but they still have a lot of their talented wingers. Obviously, not having Brian Russ is a big blow, but, you know, your top nine winger core is still very, very good on paper. So that's a positive. and, you know,

Brian Boyle has looked decent so far. He's not Bart Janakowski. That was the bar that we needed to clear here with that sounding. As long as you're not as bad as him, it's fine. I mean, the lines you're speaking of. So Jake Gensel with Evan Rodriguez and Casperi Kappenden, so he was elevated up.

Asson Reese with Bluger and McGinn. You know Mike Sullivan was not going to touch that. Jason Zucker with Drew O'Connor and Dayton Hinen, which is a pretty decent third line, I would think, even when healthy. Dominic Simone with Brian Doyle and Sam Lafferty, so he draws in with that other injured player. Then Dumlin-Mittang, Pedersen, Marino, Matheson, Roodle is your defense.

So those lines definitely a whole lot of, I guess, when you look at it. But you are right, Genson-Captain on a line is still very nasty. You know what you're going to get with Aston Rieson again, and then Hinen and Zulker have also been really good to start this season. It's just the centers need to come back ASAP. hopefully Jari is just

kind of a close contact thing where he tests negative and can come out of it really quick because we're going to get into that in our next segment man he's been awesome this season but you know I still feel like you're right you know I trust Mike Sullivan with my life they've gotten six out of eight points in their first four games

they're right near the top of not just the metropolitan division standings but the overall standings as a league and you honestly could make the case that they could be four and no right now and they very well honestly should be. They should have kept that lead against Florida with eight minutes left.

And then they honestly should have won that game against Dallas. I thought they were the better team. But that's what happens when you play the New York Islanders of the Western Conference. But the big thing is they're actually outplaying teams on a nightly basis. I think this is one of the biggest things I've seen from them this season. A lot of people would have said, you know, they're going to be one in three, right, Doug. They're going to be 0 and 4. They're going to be 0 in 5 after this game without Sid.

But, you know, with the way they're playing, it wouldn't be surprising to see them win this game. And, again, it will be a total Maple Leafs kind of wash is because, you know, the David Ayers game. And, you know, losing to Montreal, I know, your little Leafs boy there. And, you know, just again, losing to Montreal, went up three games to one and all the other times. You know, it looks like they're going to win. And it just, you know, the ice comes up from underneath them or something like that. So I think this game is very winnable. And I think, you know, even with Casey to Smith,

starting, you know, he's a good enough goal where he can steal at least a winner or two here in the interim. Yeah, definitely. Obviously, the game, the Florida game that he played in was a bit of a track meet. But, I mean, regardless of, you know, goalie regimes, goalie coaches, anything, like Casey DeSmith has been solid throughout his entire tenure here. and, you know, if he needs to start a stretch of like five games or so, I trust him. Maybe even more. I mean, he's looked very good at times. I think he's the perfect compliment to Tristan Jari.

And, I mean, even back back a couple years, he was good with Murray too. I mean, for whatever reason, he's like the ultimate backup in the sense that he just like plays off of whoever the starting guy is very well. and is able to give them a game or two here and there so that they're not starting like 75 games a year. Yeah. I mean, you don't even really see goalies start 60 games a year anymore. There are kind of a lot of them uptoons. You saw what happened last year with Montreal, right?

Kerry Price had a lot of his starts taking away. Even though he was not that good, he was fresh for the playoffs. Look what happened. Guy goes on a run, plays like his 2015 self. Heck, even his 2016-17 self where he was a heart trophy candidate back. year but I agree I would trust him in a four to five game stretch and he's a good enough backup you know we had people coming into the season Doug who thought that he could take the number one job away from draw you know obviously I think right now that's going to be easier said than done

with the way he's playing we're going to get to that coming up in the next segment but there really is not too much of a downgrade from them you know I think maybe de smith is a bit smaller which you know could favor some other shooters but he also is potentially more athletic than Jari, but he should still be able to string together a couple wins when the team needs it, and I think you will see that here. Moving forward,

I also will say, man, this game being at home is huge. They have six more games at home. I don't think I've seen them have an eight-game homestand in probably a decade. It's been a very long time since that happened. I guess the schedule just planned out that way.

Again, you know, coming up in the next segment, we'll go over Tristan Jari in as well. I want to get your thoughts on John Marino. hot start to the season. I know Jesse Marshall had his article with the athletic earlier today, but before we do that, BetOnline is back and better than ever. There's a new web interface for the start of the basketball season, and there's more props, odds, and lines than ever before. It remains your number one spot for all the basketball and football action this season. You can head to the new updated desktop or mold website to sign up today and receive your 50%

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underscore Penguins. So, Doug, I mean, I think he's been their best player to start. Tristan Jari, nothing. I don't think anyone saw this coming. Fourth and goals saved above expected at 5-e-5. If you go to MoneyPuck, second in goal of above expected at Moneypuck short-handed, where he was dead last last year,

has a 935, 940% percentage with, I think, a 1.5 goals against average. He is telling everyone from the Stanley Cup playoffs to shut the heck up, including me. And I think, I touched on this on my episode yesterday. I want to get your thoughts on this. I think it's time for people to put aside, you know, the pity grievances with him and just support him when he's playing good.

I'm as objective as I, how am I supposed to say this? I'm as objective as I can be. You know, I will call out players when they're playing bad. I will call out players when they're playing good. You know, right now, I will gladly say that he's playing awesome because he is. And I feel like people in this fan base that hate him so much need to be able to do that. But he has been a different goalie to start this season. You know, what have you noticed from him with those first three starts?

Honestly, man, it's just. confidence. Like he has a swagger to him. It's a complete, in my opinion, it's a completely different guy from the guy that we saw in April. That's the biggest thing for me. And, you know, a couple of guys who have won Stanley Cups in the past couple years, you know, Matt Murray and Jordan Bendington notably. Those two have taught us that confidence is everything. And I'll be honest with you, I think Jari can be as unfazed as the two of those. were guys were when they were at the height of their game.

I just, you know, obviously, there's no way to quantify this. Like I talked about this with Jesse Marshall on my podcast the other night. There's no way to quantify it. But it seems like even in the shortest amount of time, Andy Shiotto has done his thing. Like, he's worked wonders with Jari. And, you know, I think, honestly, it's a completely different guy. it's exciting, it's very encouraging. He has a really, really good defense in front of him too.

Like, you know, I'll come out and say it. I would have killed to have had a defense of this caliber three or four years ago. But, you know, that is what that is. I mean, I would have killed the have in like 18 or 19 whenever they were running the whole Johnson-get Branson side show. Oh, man, they had the defense they have now. against the islanders.

That series could have been a lot different. Well, yeah. And I mean, exactly. That's the whole thing. But honestly, man, very encouraging returns on Tristan Jari. I'm still kind of cautiously optimistic with it because, you know, the last, I mean, I'll call on it say it. The last time that I said in public forum that I was proud of Tristan Jari, the night after

he went flip the puck to Josh Bates. So I'm not, I'm just kind of like. I'm here with it. I love that he's doing well, but I'm not trying to get super invested into it quite yet. Yeah. And, you know, a redemption story takes,

you know, a long time to finish. Obviously, he's going to have to answer what happened in May if the paintings make the playoffs this year. I think that's going to be the big test. But if he plays well up until that point, I don't see why he couldn't play well again in the playoffs.

So I'm going to support him for as long as he keeps playing well. He had some really beautiful saves in that. Dallas game, I think there was a kick save. Late in the third period, there's a couple monster saves in overtime. I know he didn't have the best shootout. Probably needs to do some work there, but you know, a lot of the games are not decided by shootouts anyway. But I just feel like some people need to realize that he's

a man on a mission right now, and I'm really hoping he continues to prove a lot of people, including myself wrong, because, you know, obviously I was also someone who was calling for his head after that series. I could not believe that they were going to run it back, but Andy Kyoto has some devil magic going. I think I see Jari playing a lot more out of his crease. He's looking bigger in the net.

And, you know, Kyoto is someone who, it looks like he's a perfectionist. He demands everything to be, you know, A plus caliber. And I think you're seeing that right now. It's just, it seems like a totally different relationship than what he had with Mike Buckley.

Moving matters a little bit here, Doug. Let's just discuss our good friend John Marino here. What a season he's had to start. I think his sophomore slum can be described as over. For the time being, when he's on the ice, the penguins at 56% of the shot attempts.

They have 100% of the actual goals. They have almost 57% of the expected goals, 58% of the scoring chances, 63% of the high-danger scoring chances for, and 100% of the high-danger actual goals for. This all comes courtesy of natural stat trick. He's on another level right now, playing like a player who just signed that new contract

or a contract that just kicked in this year, six years, what, 4.4 million per year. And a lot of that has to do, man, with, wow, playing with Marcus Pedersen. It's almost like that pair works. Going back to Mike Matheson would have been a mistake and they just, these two players just get each other. You know, I go back to that goal again that we saw in Dallas,

you know, he trusts Pedersen enough to cover for him at the blue line, right? he stays down low, buries that, you know, Brock McGinn slap shot rebound. That's just something that we didn't see last year because, you know, he was always covering for a Mike Matheson error in the offensive zone. So just what have you seen from Reno this year

because, and honestly, he's playing like their best defensemen outside of Crystal Tang right now. Yeah, he's been phenomenal. The returns thus far have been extremely encouraging. And I had this thought before we started recording. Obviously, it's on a much smaller water downscale. But what the, the partnership

and marriage between Marcus Pedersen and John Marino reminds me so much of what the Rangers have in Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox. You know, where, you know, like, let's be honest, Adam Fox wasn't really that amazing until he was paired with Ryan Linder.

They had to find the proper a defensive partner for him. He was going to be awesome no matter what, but I will say, you know, the fact that they found him for him is just, that puts it over the top. It took him to another level. Yeah.

You know, and I think, you know, we're at a point now where we need, we needed John Marito to find that other level. You know, I love Chris LaTang. I think that he's looked okay this year, but, you know, he's kind of just looked there. Like, he just looks like he's present in a sense.

See, that's interesting just because I have like kind of an opposite take, I guess. I just feel like, you know, with maybe the eye test hasn't matched the underlying numbers that I've looked at because it looks like there's not five defensemen who were at his level in both zones. But, you know, if you look at the numbers, they don't tell you what you're seeing. So it's definitely a mix match with what I'm seeing versus I think what other people are seeing. If that's the case, the numbers look like that, you need to just keep doing what he's doing. But, I mean, like, I was, I had a little conversation with Danny Shirey yesterday about this. And I said to him, I'm like, he just, he seems like he's just like kind of there, like, just doing his thing. Like, I haven't seen anything like eye test-wise spectacular in a good way or in a bad way, which it's a good thing.

But like for your number one defenseman and your franchise defenseman, you're expecting a lot more pop, I feel. You know, if we were talking about the evaluation of like a Chad Rueidel or a Mark Friedman, we're having a completely different conversation in terms of just like, oh, that player just looks like he's present and doing a show, you know? Yeah, that makes sense. You know, I definitely see where you're coming from with that. I just, you know, I've loved that Pedersen-Marino pairing. it's not just a shot suppression pairing. They can throw that pair out there to do that if they want.

But they want more offense out of them, especially Marino. That's been the biggest knock on him so far, I think, as an NHL player. You know what you're going to get from him in the defensive zone. He's going to clog it up. You're not going to get a lot of high danger chances going the other way or even a lot of regular scoring chances the other way. But we want to see that other part of his game come out. We all know how great Kirstletang is in the offensive zone. He also backs it up with his great defensive play the other way as well.

For John Marino, he's not going to be Crystal Tang. I'm not asking him to be Chrysletang. For him to be that, he'd have to be the best defenseman in franchise history. That's just not, you know, you don't, that kind of player doesn't grow on trees. You know, we've seen that obviously with Tanger here. But if he can just drive a little more offense, I think, you know, that would go a long way. there's a player that I haven't really talked on too much this season so far but I wanted to get your thoughts on this

is Brian Dumlin looking a step slow to you this year or is it just me? I don't know like I've kind of seen a little bit of what you're saying here I just think you know I think it's early in the year you know I said the same thing about Latang you know it's early I think that some of these guys need a little bit to get their legs going You know, obviously I'm not trying to start a narrative or anything, but that might be potentially what it is. And, you know, I mean, in my, this is just,

this might be a little bit of a hot take, but I would, I would prefer them to curb the minutes of June and Lutang just like a little bit, like a very tiny bit, if it benefits the betterment of the team. I think that the Merino, the Pedersen Marino, parent could take on a little bit more in a sense and you know kind of help um do one and letang especially transition into a time period where they can kind of just do their thing and not have to like run the show in a sense yeah that that makes sense you know for sure um

i definitely think they could take some minutes away from them so that you know letang's not out there 30 minutes a night like he used to be. I think that would, you know, he's just, he's too old for that. I think at this point. Still a lot more to get to, though, for this episode, especially gotta talk about your boy, Kisbury Kappen in the next segment. That is just something is going on there right now.

And I don't think you and I are happy about that. Also, some other things to get to. But before that, you can save time and money when using Rock Auto. It's a family business. and do-it-yourselfers for over 20 years. The prices are reliably low for every customer. They have everything you could need, you know, from brake parts, tail lamps, model oil,

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That is rockado.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Are you know to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes-Faldas shows Twitter at Eleanor Square Penguins? Doug, let's just get on into it, man. What's going on with Kaspari Kaepinanin? I read Danny's article in D.K. Pittsburgh Sports.

That was probably one of the, I think it was probably the best article he's written for all the ones I've read of his, just a lot of stats in there, a lot of video. And a lot of those videos just looks lazy. You know, I hate to say that word, but he's just like barely skating when the puck's in the offensive zone. And especially in the defensive zone, he's just kind of gliding around, I think, is the word Danny used in the article, not really doing much. You know, he's using his speed a little bit. But then, you know, in the videos that he showed, he's just stopping and then forcing a pass when his best asset is his speed, you know, to burn people. And he's not shooting the puck.

You know, I saw, I think that was from hockey viz in his article. he has one unblocked shot attempt from below the circles. So that is nothing like we saw from him last year, which was part of why he had a 16.2% shooting percentage. Do you think this is cause for concern right now, or you think it's still a bit early with this? Because I think it definitely could do with him not playing with Hvgeny and Alkenny Krosby.

I think he needs one of those centers to drive him up a little bit. But the early returns so far with him bad, especially going into a contract year. it's it's very discouraging just because of how good he looked in the preseason yes um you know like i mean you can probably attest this he looked like a potential 30 goal score in the preseason hunter um he looked like you know in a lot of ways he reminded me of what the penguins used to have in philkest um where it's just like an offensive one trick pony but has an amazing shot and great speed You know, but I kind of, I'm agreeing with what you're saying when you say he needs to play with a legitimate center.

No knock on Evan Rodriguez. If you look at the numbers, the dude has just killed it and ran with the opportunity he's been given. But I think the moment that he's able to get minutes with either Sid or Jeff Carter, we're going to slowly see the offensive game trickle back in. Um, you know, and again, I feel like Capitan's one of those guys. Like, it just takes a little bit for him to get going. Um, in the early and regular season. Um, you know, actually like last year, you got to think he didn't have a full, like,

opening regular season with the team because he had that visa issue and he missed like the first, like, I'm going to say like four or five games. And they had to get his conditioning back up and stuff like that. But I think the moment he gets minutes with Jeff Carter, he's going to get back to normal. I'm not expecting him to play with Sid. I think if they're going to replace Rust from that injury, it would be with Dan Hiddon, in my opinion at least. But I think once you get that Zucker Carter-Captan line reunited that was so good in a very small sample size last season, I think you're going to get Cappy's offense back.

And, I mean, the defensive game, we all know it's not really there. He's just kind of exist. He kind of exists defensively. He's just there. The fact that the Maple Leafs used him as a penalty killer. It's nothing short of hilarious. What? It's nothing short of hilarious that they did that, to be honest.

Yeah. I mean, it's almost as funny as them using Zach Hyman as a center on the penalty cuff. You know? It's nuts. Yeah, and it's just, I agree. You know, as soon as Sid comes back, I have to think that they're going to elevate him up to that line.

I think it just makes the most sense. It's just, you know, he's one of their best players. Again, he's going into a contract year. And if he wants to stay here, he's going to need to start producing ASAP, just because it's going to be interesting because I don't even know the Penguins are going to have the salary cap space to pay him after this year just because they have two other big pending free agents

that I think are a bit more important to see the least. I'd say three. I'd throw Russ in there, too. Yeah, I would say he's more important than Caperman as well. He's more than earned himself as being called part of the Corps now. Yeah, I absolutely agree. You know, Doug, we got the road ahead here, Maple Leaf Saturday. Lightning on Tuesday for a little rematch.

Calgary comes to town next Thursday. New Jersey on Saturday before Halloween. Thursday, November 4th. So they have a five-day break after that. They play Philadelphia. Then they have Minnesota before going on the road. I think a lot of winnable games in there for the Penguins. I think they can beat Toronto.

Hopefully they can get Sid back for that Tampa game. Calgary, I think, is a winnable game. New Jersey, I don't really think it's that good. I don't even think they'll have Jack Hughes for that game, to be honest. No, I think he's out for a while. Philadelphia is winnable. Minnesota is winnable if they also get some of these healthy bodies back. But it's shaping itself up here to meet this team to be bang.

some points, especially with that eight-game homestand. You're usually one of the best teams at home in the regular season. Give any other thoughts on the team before we wrap us up, anything else that's, you know, stood out to you this season? I mean, I feel like we need to just touch on Danton Hinen in real quick. Three goals already, seven more do I get my Cockay barbecue? Buddy, speaking of bets, I've won over $300 betting on Danton Hine and to score goals. It's free money.

This season. Yeah, it was. I took him in the Tampa game. My odds were super high, and then I hit big, and I just kept hitting, hit, and hidden. And honestly, though, like, nobody expected this coming from him. You know, when they signed him from Anaheim, people were treating it like, oh, he's just going to be a defensive forward. Like, people thought they were going to put him on the Believer line, I thought. And now it's like, there's part of me that wants him on that top line over Brian Rust once everything shakes out.

and people come back because, you know, that makes the team look deeper on paper. It sets up for capping in to go down to the third line, which is something that I've always wanted. And, you know, I mean, he's going to score 20 goals, right? Yeah, I will get pretty damn close to it. I think it's going to be at least 15, in my opinion. Yeah.

He's been awesome. Yeah, no, I just, you know, his shot is awesome. I really do think that. And, you know, he's already, we're already almost halfway through what he had last season with the ducks. He finished with seven goals and 14 points. So the weight transfer thing with the leg kick. Yes. Is I, like, watching Danny break that down on film, shout out to Danny again.

Watching him break that down on film, it's honestly like, it's mesmerizing to watch. Like, I didn't realize that. You know, the only time I saw like, you know, And when you think of big leg kick as somebody from Pittsburgh, you think of Jung Ho Gong with the leg load up whenever he played for the Pirates. I mean, dude, like that, what he does there is nasty because he's able to pick corners at that point. You know, he has such good control of his shot. And, you know, I think that's massive, especially for somebody who has prospects to potentially play on a line with Sidney Crosby.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if they'll put him with Sid. I think, you know, with injuries they might be forced to. And this team is, you know, we've seen already with so many injuries this year. But I definitely think he could be in a top six role when everyone comes back, God willing, to say the least. But, you know, overall, you know, I've liked his performance. You know, I've liked Brock McGinn is starting to heat up, our good friend of both of our podcast. Those last two games have been much better. I will say that.

You know, those first two games, those are a struggle. saw some people calling out the contract. A little too early, I think, for that. But these last two, definitely playing like the player that we all thought he would to start the season. Already has a goal. Almost had a couple goals against Dallas. It's been a night and day performance, I think, from Brock.

And then Drew O'Connor as well, Doug. Last couple of games, I think, are showing that he has the potential to be in the lineup full time. Yeah. Whenever everybody comes back, it's going to be a show. showdown between him and Domp Simone for who gets that last spot to be in that lineup full-time. It's going to be one of the two. And you know what?

I don't care which one it is. They're both great players. I really, if that's who you're splitting hair is about for your last forward spot, I don't really. You're killing it. You're in a good shape. You're in really,

really good shape. Yeah. I think that might do it for this one. Doug, if you have anything else to add. And also, if you want to plug some stuff in, you know, what's going on with the forechecking TV coming up. All right.

So we got some interesting stuff coming up before checking TV. Next week, tentatively, depending on scheduling for both parties, we should have Danny Shirey from D.K. Pittsburgh Sports back on with us to talk some hockey talk. Probably we're going to talk a lot of John Marino. We're going to talk a lot about Chris Latangis. well. And, you know, beyond that, it's just a week-by-week basis. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at Doug underscore Glacky and follow Forechecking TV on Twitter at Four Checking TV. Go follow him on both those accounts, please. Doug does a great job with his show. He also,

I believe, just had Jesse on very recently. So go check out that episode. I appreciate you coming on. I'm glad we were able to do this. And we will have another episode tomorrow doing a full preview on the Penguins Leafs matchable, which will be on Saturday on NHL Network. So I will catch you all then.