Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Erik Karlsson is a Penguin...what now?

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

It's been quite the last 24 hours for the Pittsburgh Penguins with the Erik Karlsson deal. After doing an emergency show on Sunday, Pat and Hunter are back for a normal show on Monday as they continue to discuss the Erik Karlsson deal. They look at why the naysayers are looking at this deal all wrong considering that the Penguins have won three Stanley Cups during this era and how this trade sets the Penguins up to not be irrelevant sooner rather than later. They also look at what this deal means for the rest of the defense, specifically that No. 6 spot now that Jan Rutta is no longer with the team. Is Chad Ruhwedel the favorite for the job? What about Mark Friedman? After that, they look at what Kyle Dubas could have in store next. Is Tomas Tatar on the team's radar? Will they have the space for him? They also look at a couple of other options at forward while also discussing whether this was truly it for the offseason before ending the show by celebrating Sidney Crosby's 36th birthday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNHL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNHL for a free white tech hat with any order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.AG1If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkAG1.com/NHLNETWORK.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is August 7th, 2023, and no, Sunday was not a dream. Eric Carlson is officially a Pittsburgh penguin. To start off today's show, Pat and I are going to discuss what this means for the rest of the team right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. That is Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hode. You can follow Pat's Twitter at Sinanum Floor Wet. And you can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch today. We are free and available on all platforms.

So, Pat, something big happened on Sunday. I think everyone around this city is aware of that, as Eric Carlson is now. member of the Penguins. And we discussed a whole bunch of topics in that 15 to 16 minute emergency episode. But we didn't get into just what it means overall for the team. You know, who's going to take Jan Ruta's spot? Jeff Petrie going to Montreal. I'll have more on the Montreal aspect of the trade a little later on in the show.

But when you look at the trade right now, just what do you think it means moving forward when it comes to this team? Well, as we all expect it, they're still in go-for-it mode as well, they should. should be when you have the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Jake Gensel, and so on. So it sends a signal that this whole don't mortgage the future, even though they didn't really without still going for it or whatever convoluted plan there was under the Ron Hextall regime is not the case. They are going for it as well they should.

And of all the people who were allegedly available, whether it be via trade or free agency, the penguins reeled in one of the biggest fish available no pun intended i know he was on the sharks and you're right about that and it feels like there's such a weird gap between how penguins fans and everyone surrounding the team feel about the trade versus rival fans that that's i think the biggest contrast of when it comes to this trade that i've seen on social media other websites and this stuff where everyone in this city is super excited for obvious reasons but you have other rival fans and rival media members saying like, oh, this is just the retirement home and all this other nonsense. But the thing is, I don't think people in this city truly care about that.

The fans here, they've seen the team win three Stanley Cups. If you can stay competitive through the end of the Crosby Malkin, let's hang window, make the playoffs, maybe make a little bit of noise. Obviously, winning another cup would be awesome, but they already have won three. That would be awesome. But you don't want to just fade into irrelevancy. pretty quickly. You want to maximize this as long as you can so that you want to make the team fun to watch. At the end of the day, this is an entertainment business. You got to sell tickets. Eric Carlson is going to do that. And if they don't go on another big run, that's fine. But heck,

I just want to see the team fun to watch. I think that's where I'm at, to be honest. Yeah, absolutely. And I just got done watching the season. premiere of winning time on HBO, the story about the L.A. Lakers and darned if the penguins aren't basically the L.A. Lakers of the NHL. It's just, it's showtime. That's what they are. That's what they've always been since the 1980s when Mario Lemieux came in. And I get, you know, the, oh, this is the retirement home. Oh, your cores old and all this stuff. It's valid, but it leaves out the other part of the story. Crosby had 93 points last year. Malkin had. 83. Eric Carlson had a hundred. We're not talking about guys who were on a swift decline.

Now, let's say for, you know, for the record, that's the nightmare scenario that could happen. I don't want to, I don't want to reign on the parade of getting Eric Carlson, but there's a chance that time that's Willman Taylor catches up with everybody next year and these guys fall off, but all signs don't point to that. So that's the disaster scenario, and I just don't see that happening. Now, is it a slog in the Eastern Conference now with everybody loading up? Sure is. But, you know, this is penguin's hockey right here. This is fast.

It's fun. And it plays offense. And I see that take around here as well. Where are the Penguins stacked up in the Metropolitan Division? That answer to me is simple. I think they're the fourth best team in the division right now. They can make a push for that third spot with the Rangers. I mean, I don't think they're as good as Carolina or New Jersey right now,

but they can definitely make a push for that third spot, especially if the Rangers falter this upcoming season. I don't even really think the Rangers are that good. In my opinion, the Penguins are definitely better than the Islanders and the Capitals. Obviously, they're better than the Blue Jackets and the Flyers. But this isn't a team that is just fading to irrelevancy next year. Could it happen? I mean, a small chance.

I mean, that's why they have, you know, the top 10 protection on the first round pick that they gave up. But it's not likely just because of how good Carlson was this past season, how the core continues to play at a high level. Jake Gensel, I think, is going to be really good when he comes back. more on that a little bit later on in today's show. I just, I'm tired of these weird takes about how they're entering purgatory so quickly and why they should have just, we built after last year. Like, that's not what you do when you have these players playing at a high level.

It's different if you're saying maybe the Chicago Blackhawks where Kane and Taves went down a little bit or maybe the Red Wings when, you know, Datsuk left and Zetterberg was not the same anymore. But this penguin situation, it is not those two situations. It's honestly not even comparable, to be honest. No, but also this is the Metropolitan Division since its inception in 2013, 2014. It's a division where you are going to battle for the top four spots no matter what. It's just the way in which this division has always operated.

And, yeah, I'd agree with you that they're the fourth best team on paper right now in the division, may be tied for third with the Rangers. The Devils and Hurricanes are the class of the division right now. But at the same time, realistically, how much separation is there? I don't think there's a lot. So every point this year is going to matter. Every game this year is going to matter, especially if it's going to make the difference between outright making the playoffs

in the top three spot in the Metropolitan or getting into a wild card and not to mention home ice because, again, we do have to talk about the fact that it's an older core right now. So we're going to want them to play more games at home than they play games on the road once we get laid into the year. So with Jake Gensel out and now out for at least the start of the year and then Eric Carlson coming in, that makes up some of that gap. So we'll see. Yeah, and just switching gears a little bit to end the segment here. The Penguins got a pretty underrated piece in this deal as well outside of the obvious in Eric Carlson. Ren Pitlick from the Montreal Canadians played 46 games for the Habs this past year.

Six goals, 15 points, has played 123 games throughout his career, has 21 goals, 54 points in those games. His career high actually came with the Canadians during the 2021-22 season when he had played 46 games, had nine goals, 26 points during the year, then played another 20 games with the Minnesota Wild. He's kind of in the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to defensive impacts with what you want from someone in the bottom six. The penguins already have plenty of those players in the bottom six right now.

But when you look at Pitt, like with his underlying ranked only the first percentile for five on five, even strength defense, you are not getting him for that. Or honestly, even strength offense. But he does have a little bit of finishing ability, ranked in the 71st percentile this past season for finishing at five on five. So he brings a needed element to the bottom six with that. But also, Pat, he's got to go out there and win a job because the penguins heading into camp, a lot of forwards they're battling for only kind of a few spots.

Yeah, and, you know, this feels like a guy who, you know, I'd have to go pull up cap, uh, cap friendly here real quick just to see with what his deal is. Um, you know, it doesn't look like he's waivers exempt. It doesn't look like he's a guy who you're going to be able to pull up and down from the miners. But I mean, you look at his numbers and for a guy making just a shade over a million dollars and could be a bottom six player that produces a little bit. I don't think this is a bad guy to have on your roster. Now, like you said, got to make the team.

A lot of spots open right now. They have 12 forwards in total, not counting Jake Gensel being hurt and anybody else that might be battling for a spot coming up from Wilkes this year. So again, I said this last year going into camp with the defense. It looks kind of like, you know, we're going to have some battles in camp for bottom of the roster. And that's only a good thing because it's going to make these guys have to play their best in camp to get a spot on a team that's still pushing for a championship. And we can say that defensively as well before we head to break here.

Jan Ruda par of the trade to the San Jose Sharks with Mikhail Granlin. So he is out after just one year after the three-year deal that Ron Hextall signed him to last year. And that opens up a spot now for that number six defensive spot. If you're asking me, I think it's chatter wheels. And I know people are going to push back on that because of the season he just had. I get it. His underlines were not good. He took a lot of penalties towards the late stages of the season that cost the Penguins points.

Wasn't good offensively, but he's also never that good offensively. But right now, with how cheap he is and how I honestly expect him to have a bounce back this upcoming season, because he's been pretty serviceable throughout his career as being one of the better number seven defensemen in the NHL. heck, after Cody Cici left to go to the Oilers, he had a pretty good year before they signed Yarn Ruta to play this past season. I know Ruehiel played a little bit, but didn't play as much as he did the year before. But if you're asking me, I think it's Ruehdle's job to lose now. Could Friban play there as well?

Yes, but he usually plays on his offside. That's just how Mike Sullivan's been using him. When you look at the defense who is the favorite to get that number six job? I mean, I do, I'm with you. I think it's, it's Chad Rueyel. I think coaching staff likes him, management likes him. He's a, he's a very serviceable number seven D man. And I say this all the time. I said it on dying alive all the time when it comes to defensemen like Chad Roo, wheel. When you don't notice him is when he does his best work, when you don't talk about him, when you don't see him out there, when he's just ho-hum, eating up the minutes he eats,

and being positionally sound and good defensively, that's when a guy like him's at his best. He's never going to be a big time point producer. He's not going to be a guy who lays the body all the time. He's just a guy who is going to keep the puck out of your net and out of your own zone as best he can. And that's really all they need because you'll have P.O. Joseph next to him who is a bit better offensively.

He also has more room to grow, especially considering how young he is. and I think he is going to take another step forward this upcoming season. I really wouldn't mind a POJ-Ru-Ru-Del pairing that much, just because also how much are they really going to play? What, 12 minutes a night, 13 minutes, if that, maybe even less than that, to be honest, because you're going to have what's hanging Carlson out on their separate pairings

for 20-plus minutes a night. So the third pairing, while, yes, it's maybe a little bit of a concern, I really don't think it's that big considering that Ruehle has been with the Penguins for a long time and with P.O. Joseph having a pretty good year last year before he kind of fell off a little bit this past year. I think that has the makings of a pretty decent they're pairing, to be honest. Yeah, and it's a great trickle-down effect for the defense

getting Eric Carlson because I think part of the reason POJ burned out was he played a little more than he probably should have. Now when you have Eric Carlson and Chris LaTang on your roster, they're going to eat up a huge chunk of minutes, which is going to help P.O. Joseph grow. It's going to be very similar to me in the way they used Justin Schultz before he went off and got paid. they put him in advantageous situations.

They started him in the offensive zone a lot more. They sheltered his minutes. They didn't play him too much. And he continued to improve and continued to improve. I think the same is going to happen with POJ. He's going to play less. He's going to have a very defensively accountable partner with him. He's got a great mentor in Chris LaTang.

And it's just going to help him grow as a player. So it also doesn't get into the factor. We also haven't gotten into the factor. We don't have to all the way. but there's also the prospect of Ty Smith. He's still pretty good. And you've got to figure at some point now he wants to make a move and become a regular NHL defenseman.

And also in a pinch, say someone in the top four gets hurt, whether it's Graves or Pedersen, hopefully not. You can still have POJ come up there for a few games and play, you know, 17, 18 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, at least just for a few games, not for like 10 to 15 games in a row, but maybe just a few games or something like that. That's totally fine with me, just because the penguin's injury curse,

knows no balance. But that would do it for this segment. Coming up in the second segment, what could be next for Kyle Dubison and the Penguins, especially after what Elliot Freiband said on SportsNet Central last night. That's coming up after this break. But before we discuss that, our next partner is AG1,

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And when he was asked about what could be next for the penguins, kind of downplayed it, but that's just honestly typical GM speak because you're really not going to reveal your plans to the public, just like he didn't on July 1 when he talked up Jeff Petrie. Where is Jeff Petrie now in Montreal? And he might get flipped at some point. That is an aspect of the deal that I really did not think about on Sunday when we did our emergency episode. I think Montreal had a sneaky good day. for the deal because if they can flip pet,

even though the penguins are retaining 25% of that cap hit and they can retain half of that, a team gets Petrie for 2.4, 2.34 million, something like that for two years, a contending team will pounce all over that. So I think that's a little decent bit of business there from Kent Hughes. Also get Casey DeSmith to have competition with Caden Primo. So that will be interesting there as well.

So not a bad day, I don't think, for Montreal. And they also got rid of Pitwick and Mike Hoffman, who they've been wanting to get out of that deal for a while. But as for the penguins getting back to the overall point for this segment, there was a report on late on Sunday night when Elliot Friedman was on Sports and Essential, and he brought up Tom Ossitar and how he wouldn't be surprised if the penguins were to sign him. Now, they are over the cap, so you would have to make that work. Kyle Dubas said earlier today that Jake Gensel is not going to go to LTIR.

They project him to miss only the first five games. Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that's the first two weeks of the season. It's really not that bad, which is honestly really good news. We were discussing this last week, and maybe we thought it was going to be late November or into November, but it sounds like it's not going to be that. When you look at a player like Tatar, he makes all the sense in the world for the Penguins,

especially someone that can play up and down the lineup. And when the team is healthy, you stick him down on the bottom six. He is that offensive presence that that unit badly needs. Oh, yeah. I mean, if that's who they're targeting and who they go get, absolutely do it right now and then figure out the cap after you get them. Just because I'm stunned at this point, you know, on August 7th that this guy's still on the market. That seemed like a guy that was going to get scooped up pretty quickly. And again, I understand there's not a lot of cap space and flexibility in the league right now.

But a guy like that for your bottom six, you know, I don't want to sit here and talk him up like he's Eric Carlson or a superstar. but you want to do some winning. That's a good guy to get on your roster for just depth. And, you know, again, I'm stunned. He's still out there. So I'm really hoping that's who they are targeting because sign me up for that right now. 20 goals, 48 points in 82 games this past season. You stick him down on a third line role with whoever you want there.

Man, I mean, that would be a lot of fun. And heck, if you can get him for cheap too, maybe, I don't know, a million or two. because I don't know how cheap you can get him, to be honest. I mean, if you can do that, obviously, that would be awesome. But, man, he would be such a great ad to this team, ranked in the 83rd percentile for 5-on-5 offense this past year, 93rd percentile for 5-on-5 defense, 86 percentile for transition.

It is mind-boggling to me that he is still on the open market, as you said, too. He would fix a lot of the depth-scoring issues that people have with this team heading into this easy. You can sign him to a one-year deal. Sign me up for that every day. Yeah. And I mean, at this point, you probably can get him for cheap,

simply because time's running out. And he's going to want to be on a team. He's going to want to know what his 23, 24 year is going to look like. And with nobody signing him yet, the number goes down. Because on July 1 is when people overpay. It's July 8th when people start getting, deals. And it's August 7th. He's still out there. So I think, you know, we just talked about the log jam on both the offense and defense. So that means Dubas has some room to move some

guys out. He's got some extra pieces he could probably get rid of for pennies on the dollar if he wants to just so he can go fit in a guy like Tomastatar. Yeah. And I think everyone's probably wishing for Jeff Carter to get that Marion Hose equipment allergy right. now so they could get that cap space and all that stuff. But that's, I mean, honestly, that's probably not going to happen. They're going to be stuck with him for at least another year. But I mean, one of the other things that Dubus said during his press conference say that is that he's not going to be afraid to use the waiver wire when it comes to competition with how, you know, closely are to the salary cap. And if you do sign to Tar and you are over the cap. And they will be

at that point, especially if they don't want Genslo on LTIR, you are going to have to waive a few players to get cap compliant, whether that's a, Andreas Johnson, whether that's a Vinnie Hino Strosa, whether that's a, you know, even somebody signed on July 1, I don't know, Matt Nietta,

I don't think they're going to have to waive him, but just players who are on cheap deals that may not make the team, and it would create for, you know, more awesome training camp battles. And, you know, if you can sign a guy like Tatar,

bring him in, use him in a third line role. Heck, he can play in the top six to start the season, too. That's the thing. You can play in those first five to six games with Sidney Crosby, with a Genie Malkin, and he can produce well,

and then when Jake comes back, you can slide him down, and he can feast on easier lines, that'd be awesome too. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. And it harkens back to the 2016-2017 Cup winning teams. Those teams came at you in waves. Now, you know, the third and fourth lines, we can kind of count HBK as a third line. like the fourth line didn't shoot the lights out they weren't big time scores they were timely

scores and they were contributors when they needed it needed to be so this is what you can see Kyle Dubus is doing with this roster once again is that they are trying to take the burden off of Crosby Malkin, Latang, Gensel Rust. They want more people he wants more people on the roster to be able to contribute which as we've talked about on this show. I've written about it. It's been done to death. That was their problem last year. Nobody outside of the top six and top pairing defensemen produced anything worth worth what they were getting paid or to make that team an actual playoff contender, not even to talk about being a Stanley Cup contender. So that's why you got to go

after a guy like Tatar. And some of the guys on cheaper deals that aren't waivers exempt if you lose them, eh, okay, no big deal. Now here's a question I have for you. He's still available. It would be interesting. Do you sign Patrick Kane to a flyer when he gets back healthy from that hip surgery? No. Listen, I'm kind of in the same boat.

I think he's more cooked at this point. I understand he was really, really good in 2021, 2022. But this past season, even after he came back, and again, I know he had a hip injury. He just didn't look like the same player. And with the age that he's at right now and coming off that major surgery, I just don't think he's going to get back to being the player that he once was. He can still be decently serviceable. But I don't know.

I'm just not big on him coming in, even on a cheap deal. It's a hip injury. And at his age with the miles he's had on his body as an NHL player, especially at top tier one, that's really hard to come back from. And if you can get them on something cheap, I still don't think the penguins are the fit. I do think he's going to be somewhere next year.

It's just not going to be here. And listen, he has some of the best hands we've ever seen on an NHL player. His highlight tape is basically and won hockey. But his numbers, his decline, and now a major hip surgery, it's not over for him, but it's not going to get the reset in Pittsburgh. Right. I would agree with that. And again, he's going to be out to start the season anyway.

I just don't think they're really going to do that, I think, at this point. Is there any other player out there that you think Cal Dubus could go after before the season, whether it's on a PTO, cheap one-year deal, anything like that? I mean, I do think Tatar is the main target, somebody you want to look at, to bring in. You know, there's a couple other names I saw, like, you know, Pia Souter's still out there. That could be a nice guy to take a flyer on. Yep.

You know, one guy that I'm surprised is still out there, and I don't know if you would want to go for him. It's just a name that stands out. He didn't get qualified. He's looking for a home, and that's Jesse Pooley-R-Vee. Maybe that's somebody you could look into because he's still out there without a home, and maybe that's an okay little reclamation project if you can bring them in for a year or two. But outside of that, I mean, Tatar should be the main target.

And I think right now they're pretty much set. This is, this is, you need one more piece to bring in the debt, to help your depth it forward. But I think right now this is a much better team on paper than it was at the end of the season last year. Oh, there's no doubt. I mean, with the players that Dubis has sent out versus brought in, this is a playoff team heading into the season, in my opinion. Again, they are better than they. the Islanders really haven't done anything this on season. They are better than the Washington Capitals.

They are at least a top four team in the Metro. They just have to go out there and prove it. So again, hopeful on DeTar, we'll have to see on that. They're capped out right now. But hey, anything's possible. Smart GMs can always figure out the salary cap. That's just how it is in the NHL. But that wraps up the second segment.

Coming up to end the show, it's another special birthday today, Pat. Another superstar has turned 36. Cindy Crosby, his special day. We're going to discuss that right after this. All right, we're back in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow you on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter, Eleanor Penguins.

And, of course, follow Patrick Damp on Twitter at synonym floor wet. Also, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. So 8-7 day, always an important day in the city. of Pittsburgh. Happy 36th birthday to Sydney Crosby got his free birthday gift on Sunday. Obviously, we'll go down as a top five player to ever play the game. He will have his jersey retired right after his career. He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Three-time Stanley Cup champion has been a point per game player throughout his career is hopefully going to get into the NHL's top 10 all-time scoring leaders this upcoming season. That's going to be awesome.

but you know it's not even just all of those amazing moments that just make me think of said the one that still always gets at me is his comeback game against the islanders i was only a teenager at the time and i was i had hockey practice about 30 minutes into that game so i got to see the early parts of it and again i was only what 13 14 years old and for everyone wondering yes i stunk at hockey that's why i'm talking about it today and that's why i'm not playing in any professional league, not like I would. But it really shows, it really shows the age discrepancy

that we have as hosts here because you were a teenager getting ready for hockey practice for that game. I was in Atlantic City for my college hockey teammates 21st birthday. Oh my God. That's too good.

I mean, I wasn't 21 until, 2018, I think it's, yeah, 2018 was when I turned 21, but God, I'm just like, I'm such a young bug. I'm sorry, people. But I remember sitting down with my mom to watch the game, PPG is just, well, console energy center at the time, but PPG now. You could sense it. Everyone was ready to bring that building down. And when he scored that goal against the Islanders and he roofed that backhander, I probably woke up everyone down the street in my neighborhood with the screen that

I let out. My mom was going crazy. That goal, just seeing him come back, seeing him kick so much butt off that concussion when, heck, you didn't even know if he was going to play again. That's the main thing was it was just a storybook goal, I think. And that is, again, outside of the Stanley Cups, outside of everything else, that is what I'm going to remember the most about the Cindy Crosby era, was just him coming back with such a vengeance scoring that goal having an amazing game overall and then kicking so much but after that yeah the guy has a flare for the dramatic he's just he's he's he's great at it and to to the same point

one of the things i'm always going to remember is the 2010 golden goal for canada against the united states and i'm going to remember it just because one i'm pretty sure that his call for the puck to Ghinla yelling Iggy that loud is still echoing through the mountains of Vancouver it was that loud but I also remember that day because again

I was my freshman year of college and my first season playing for IUP hockey and we're watching it at a teammate's apartment and the teammate in question is Canadian so he was the lone

Canadian on the roster and he's sitting there with a bunch of Americans who are freaking out because we tied it late to force overtime in the gold medal game. And when Crosby scored, you could hear a pin drop. Like it was dead silence except for this guy screaming and yelling. And I've never felt more conflicted in my life because I wanted the U.S. to win that gold. But man, of all the people to beat the United States, it just had to be Cid. I was watching that game with my stepdad. And at that time, Winter Olympics, I was only, I believe I was only 12 at the time there,

I was going into middle school. And when I heard him say Iggy and then I saw him score, I just didn't say anything. I just stood at the screen and I was just like, no way. Like the guy who I've grown up loving just because he plays for my favorite hockey team, doing that now to my home country, I was just like, you have got. to be kidding me with yeah and you know obviously amazing moment for team Canada brutal for the united states men's team but still one of the legendary moments of his career the overtime winner against the lightning 2016 games too with only you know only less than a minute into that o t beautiful

three on two rush he just fires it past andre vasselowski a really nice one-timer there and i thought that was a game where we were going to play all night it had been making so one and then it's funny i heard my mom yell like a millisecond before i did because the tv up in her room was a little faster than the one in my basement and i heard her yell like wait what the heck and then as soon as i thought that i saw the goal that i went crazy but that's another one that i'll always remember and just the runs that he went on you know he was amazing in 2009 not as much in this series against detroit but still really good 2016 overall amazing 2017 great as well well. But when you talk about someone who has lived up to the hype and then some throughout

almost 20 years of playing in the NHL, it doesn't get much better than this, to be honest. Yeah. And, you know, as someone who is a native Pittsburgh, you know, grew up here, I'm living here again after a few years away. Just no better human being as an ambassador for the sport for the team for the city because you can always tell when somebody's kind of phony right when somebody's a little too perfect they do a little too well it kind of feels like it's an act it kind feels like it's he's putting on a front by all accounts what you see is what you get with sidney crosbie he's just a genuinely good person he treats people the right way he's never let fame and fortune get to his head he signs autographs

graphs for everybody and any kid that sees them. He takes time after games to talk to disadvantaged or sick kids. And it's just all in all, one of the best hockey players of all time, but just a quality human being by all accounts. So being able to, even though he's only about three years older than I am, being able to look up to a guy like that to set that kind of example for the penguins, for the hockey community and the sport in general. It's just such a blessing. I love that you brought that up because he genuinely enjoys doing all of that off the ice too, just because that's how great of a human that he is.

I mean, heck, there's a story of him playing a pickup game in Canada during the winter just on a frozen pond with random kids. He was just driving by and he's like, oh, I'm just going to come out here for a skate. And that's just stuff like that and everything you mentioned, that just shows what a quality person he is. And the biggest thing for that is the Little Penguins program. Because he always shows up for it. It would be very easy for him to call Dick's sporting goods and say, you know, here's three million bucks, outfit a bunch of Pittsburgh kids who can't afford hockey to go play hockey.

And I'm just going to stay out of the way. He shows up to practices. He has events about it. He signs autographs. He walks the walk and talks to talk. So again, genuinely great person. incredible hockey player, we couldn't be luckier to have this guy in our town. And I'm glad that the stupid, just going off that, I'm glad that the stupid whining, diving

crap is hopefully gone now. You know, screw you Ken Hitchcock, by the way, for starting that. It's your fault. You said it before I did. That's all because the head coach of the Flyers, his rookie year early on, said something about Crosby being a whiner. And because Ken Hitchcock is an old hockey man, everybody picked it up and ran with it. they're right and you know did he do it at times at the early stages of his career sure but like every captain complains to the refs or talks to the refs it's just that Ken hitchcock started that whole campaign and everyone ran with it and then that's why you saw stuff during the 2012 series against the

fires even before that when it would make signs of just a pacifier and all this garbage but he's 36 now if you're still doing that I think it's time to know you can go back to using your flip phone or something like that yeah but enough of you. It's hilarious that he still gets booed at the Wells Fargo Center. I hope he gets booed there for... You would think they would learn. They won't. You would think they would learn.

They don't understand. The fine folks of Philadelphia do not understand it. Pat just let them lie. Let them lie. They don't get it. And when he continues to torched them this season, they still won't get it. That's just how it is. But happy 36th said, here's too many, many more.

I just can't believe he's 36. I remember when he was 21 years old back in 2008, 2009. Honestly, still just starting out his career. Now he's almost 40. Where is the time gone with him? That's my question. It's obscene. I don't get it.

And I can't wait to see how he ends his career. I mean, obviously, he'll be a top five player of all time. But just in terms of records, points, goals, everything else, I can't wait to see what he does to end his career. But again, happy birthday, Sid. Hope you enjoy your pre-birthday present on Sunday. I hope you enjoy your birthday today on Monday. But that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

Really hope you enjoyed listening to slash watching this episode with Pat and I. We'll be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday when I'm sure we'll discuss another part of the Eric Carlson trade and a couple other things relating to the Penguins. So again, thank you all so much for listening slash watching. Hope you all have a great rest of your Monday and Tuesday. And we'll be back with another episode on Wednesday.