Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Former Penguins beat reporter Matt Gajtka joins the show!

Episode Date: February 20, 2021

Hunter teased a special guest on Thursday's episode of Locked On Penguins and he welcomed Matt Gajtka to Friday's episode of the show. The two talk all about the Penguins, including how Matt's experience was with covering former general manager Jim Rutherford. Hunter also asks Matt about Cody Ceci thus far and what's driving him to be so effective thus far. They then get into thoughts on Matheson, the goaltending, Kris Letang, Kapanen, plus Hunter asks Matt what his favorite story was while he was on the Penguins beat.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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this Friday evening episode 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 L.L. underscore Penguins.

So I did tease a special guest on Thursday night's episode after the Penguins 4-1 win over the New York Island. I did say he has not been on the show before. He can also confirm that. Known him for probably a good portion of my life, to be honest. I think it's probably been about seven, seven years, something around that. Seven years is Matt Geica. He does stuff for Pittsburgh Sports Live. You cover the Penguins for D.K. Pittsburgh Sports and also covered the Pirates as well.

Matt, how are you doing, man? Yeah, I think it's at least seven, man. I think it's probably eight or closer to a decade now that we've known each other. You used to work for me at city of champions sports.com, which is long lamented. But I did enjoy that time, and I've just enjoyed following you on social media ever since. We met in person one time at PPG Paints Arena, right? Yeah, you were covering, I think, a game for D.K. And then I went with my grandpa, then I think I met you out beside the section.

I think that was against the, what about, 2017 against the Sabres, where they came back three nothing down. I think in the Conrisherry, one of the game in the third period, if I'm not mistaken. That sounds right. I do remember that game. Yeah, that was a pretty darn good rally. That was an exciting one. But it's funny.

We've known each other for almost a decade. We've met one time. That's a very internet relationship. I think that's very modern of us to do it that way. But it doesn't matter. Modern technology, here we are on Zoom, doing a podcast. So all those things would have been foreign to anybody 15 years ago or more.

Well, Zoom. I didn't even know what Zoom was until 11 months ago. So there you go. Me too. I had no idea what Zoom was until February, March of last year. And yeah, City of Champions Sports, what a throwback that was with everyone there. I was literally my first writing gig. So, you know, I always remember that.

And that was always fun times. But, you know, of course, times have changed. We're here to talk about the Penguins, of course. They're 8 and 6 and 1 this season. Winners of, what is it now, three of their last four games, if I'm not mistaken. I know it's two of their last three. I think it's three of their last four. You know, time just goes by so quick now.

You know, this may be some terrible podcast content. Whatever. But, you know, the Penguins, I think they're playing better for the most part lately. I know they had that stinker against the Capitals this past week. But Matt, as you assess the team right now, how do you feel about them through 15 games? I think that it's tough to sum it up through the 15 games. I would say the last four, like you were just singling out, they've been better. They've won two out of four, but they were impressive against the Islanders.

They blew it on the, on the Barzell goal, of course, that game. They came back and beat the Islanders. Then they had the two against the capitals that were interesting. Or maybe it's, I'm not even sure what it is right now. But since that COVID break, since that COVID break, I think they've been playing a little bit better. And my theory was a little bit scuttled by that game against the Caps on Tuesday night. It was their worst performance in a while. Overall, just not a lot of spark there after the opening few minutes and a couple of mischances on a

power play. But I was optimistic they were going to make the playoffs this year. I thought it might be tight and it looks like it's going to be tight in the East Division. Some disappointments and a couple of pleasant surprises mixed in, of course, with the huge news that was Jim Rutherford stepping down. So it's been an eventful first 15 games, first quarter of the season, if you want to call it that. Yeah, you know, eventful, I think is the best way to say it. You know, I think it was three out of four because they lost the owners the first game. Then they beat them in that shootout, then they beat Washington, and then they lost to them, and then they beat the Islanders again. It's so funny how they keep playing the same two teams, and they're playing

that's why it's so hard. Yeah, three out of five. They won. And they're planning for the next couple weeks, too, which is the funny part. I don't think they play, they don't play another team outside of these two teams until I think March 1st or something like that. It's just, that's the way the schedule is right now because they have the postponants against the devils, and they still haven't played Buffalo yet. You know, crazy times around the NHL right now. And, you know, I'm glad that you did bring up the Jim Rutherford resignation. What were your thoughts on that? And then, of course, you know, you were around, obviously, during the Hextall years when he was with Philadelphia.

I really personally wanted to know for obvious reasons. I'm only 23 years old. Just what were your thoughts when Rutherford resigned? I know it was so out of the blue. And, you know, I know some fans were quick to dump on him despite him bringing the two cups here. And I understand, you know, what happened the last three years. years. His moves were not great, kind of set the team back. You know, you know, Selma will even argue that it closed the window. I'll even hear those arguments.

But just, you know, what were your thoughts on that and then the eventual hiring of Brian Burke and Ron Hextall? Well, first of all, I'm not that much older than you. I don't remember much of the Ron Hextall playing years. I do recall Yarmier Yager scoring a highlight goal against him, batting one out of mid-air while flopping on his stomach. That was incredible. That was maybe the first year. I was a Penguins fan. But yeah, other than that, he's been mostly an executive for my adult life. And I was pleasantly surprised, I would say, to hear his name pop up because I wasn't sure that he was going to get a chance this quick to take over another team.

And of course, he's working in tandem now with Brian Burke, which totally throws all expectations out the window, I would say. But to answer to a question about Rutherford, I was ready to move on from the Rutherford basically as soon as he traded Oscar Sunquist for Ryan Reeves. It was just where are we going here? And you could tell Mike Sullivan didn't even approve of that move and some other ones because it just seemed like a lot of the players that Jim would acquire, Mike would sit him down or wouldn't play them very much,

wouldn't play them in some huge roles. So I just think Rutherford is a shoot from the hip type of a guy. And I think he had a lot going for him coming here into Pittsburgh. he had the two superstar centers. He had an elite defenseman. He had a pretty good goalie situation too, two goalies who could really play and ended up being a contentious situation in the end.

But a lot of GMs are looking for one goalie who could play and he ended up with two. But I think he had a good sense of what the team needed for a while. And then he felt like he had to over adjust back toward some sort of a fake toughness, I would say. Because for me, toughness is digging in the corners for the puck and winning possession.

productive toughness, not show toughness. No offense to Ryan Reeves, who could certainly beat me in a fight, but that's not what hockey's about anymore. And I'm not sure it was ever really about that. So at some point, Jim lost his way there, the Jack Johnson thing, that alone was a fireable offense. He was the worst player in the NHL, many years running, and you signed him to, what was it, a five-year contract?

It was ridiculous. So he certainly lost his touch at a certain point. I am grateful that he came to town. and rebooted what was looking like a would-be dynasty. It ended up being maybe a semi-dynasty, if you want to call what, three cups in six or seven or eight years, whatever it ended up being. Hey, three cups, I think that's tremendous stuff.

And he got him two of them. He made some key deals there. So it's really tough to judge Jim Rutherford. But the point that I made on Pittsburgh Sports Live was that he did the Penguins of favor. It was time to move on, time for new eyes to look at this franchise. and that's what we have right now. We're about to find out what they think about it

by some of their moves that they eventually make. Yeah. You basically hit the nail on the head. He kind of lost his way. There would be times I think where it would be certain people. I don't never really name names or call people out on this podcast.

Just not who I am unless you're just like a complete idiot fan on Twitter. But, you know, just some people would always like defend some of his moves. I just for, I don't know why. You know, how was covering Rutherford during those years when you were The Penguin's Report? I've always actually wanted to ask you that since you were there and you got to speak to him, I think, a handful of times.

Yeah, he was always up front. I thought if I had to put my fan hat on in that situation, I thought too up front. I think he telegraphed maybe too many of the moves because there is some strategy to this thing. And I know he was working the media, maybe trying to put some tidbits out there in hopes that other rival GMs would see it. Maybe they'd say, oh, that guy's on the market or they're looking for this type of a player. Maybe I should get it on that. So I know there was some method to his madness, but he was just so different from most general managers. You mentioned I covered the Pirates Hunter, and Neil Huntington and Jim Rutherford could not have been more different.

Neil Huntington would give you the longest, most drawn out, non-answer in the book. Halfway through, you're like, he's not going to answer this question. I'm just going to tune out. As far as Rutherford goes, he would give you more than you ask for sometimes. And like I said, trying to push out certain agendas. He was old school in that way. GMs used to work like that in all sports. They used to really play the media and use them and try to get the message out that way.

Now I think they realize that maybe letting too much get out is not a good thing either. So now we're left with a bunch of GMs who don't say too much. And from what I understand, Ron Hextall isn't one to say much, but Brian Burke is one to say a lot. So I've gleaned quite a bit from what Brian Burke has said on the record so far. So at least we have one out of two here in terms of, executives with candor, I suppose you could say. Yeah, yeah. I think I did read a few articles.

When he was hired, they said, yeah, Hextall didn't really say a lot to the media in Philadelphia. I mean, he had that big press conference, but then he went on, I think, the GM show with Joss Ketzoff. I mean, that's already twice that he's talked to some of the Pittsburgh media. I think he's probably talked twice in like three months with the Flyers media, just because he would always, I think, keep stuff close to the best. And then, you know, Brian Burke, he just has a big mouth.

So, I mean, he'll honestly say whatever he wants. That's just, that's always been who he was. I mean, you know, you have the Pittsburgh model, my ass quote. It was just, that one's always funny. And then just. Barn fight with Kevin Lowe. That's about 10 or 15 years ago at this point. Yeah, I do remember looking that one up.

That was a fun one to listen to. But we do have a lot more to get to for this episode of Locked-on Penguins. I'll touch on more stuff about the current team. But before we do get to that, it is time to talk about bet online. It's the fastest, easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but the NBA, college basketball, NHL, are in full swing. Bet Online even covers awards, TV shows, and reality TV. Has it covered for all the news, scores, and odds.

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So getting back to Rutherford for just a little bit, but, you know, kind of indirectly. Some of his moves that he made this offseason, Matt, you know, actually not bad. Casperi Kappan, what is that, seven points in 12 games now. Cody Cici looks playing like a top-haring defender for $1.1 million or something with his underlying numbers. Mike Matheson has turned in, excuse me, for really nice games. games in a row. That's going to be an interesting decision when Brian Duman comes back. But we're going to first start with Cody C.C. Matt, what a signing this has turned out to be?

I know I dumped on it when it came out just because of what's happened. He played a lot of minutes in Ottawa and Toronto. It didn't really work out. But, you know, they put them on the bottom pairing. And, you know, you go to natural statric and you just look at the numbers, you know, plus 50% in chances for, chances against his possession numbers, high danger. It's pretty good. you know, what are your thoughts on how he's played so far?

I think he's a serviceable defenseman the way they're using him right now. And even with all the injuries they've had, they haven't overexposed him. I think he's in a reasonable position in order to produce. But I always thought of him as like a big hulking, slow-footed type of a guy, but I'm not sure I'm necessarily seeing that here in Pittsburgh. So I probably was all those times I saw him play with Ottawa, and it just felt like their D were flat-footed the entire time. So that could be part of it.

I think it's a pretty good lesson in the idea that, especially in hockey, that you can really look bad in one type of a system and look really good in another kind of a system. And the penguins want to have their D get involved. But C.C. hasn't overextended himself. I think that's pretty important to note as well. You rattled off the numbers there. He's a positive in all the places you want him to be a positive. Not that he's playing against enormously difficult competition,

but that's not what they signed him for. So, yeah, it is kind of funny. Maybe Rutherford was getting back around to a better concept of what might work with this current group of talent. What I like about C.C. is he tends to get shots through. He's a pretty direct player. I think Mike Sullivan probably loves him because he plays that direct game. And Mike wants to not necessarily have the deed just get rid of the puck quickly,

but they want to make quick plays in order to get out into the neutral zone. and go from there and use their speed and their skill from there. And C.C.'s been good in that way, and I think he's been all right in the offensive zone, too. So, yeah, that signing was at lower risk than, say, a Jack Johnson, obviously, due to the contract length. But so far, so good. So you've got to say, good job on Rutherford. And you have to also say good job on the coaches, Todd Reardon, of course, manning the D.Core this year. So there could be something to that connection as well.

Yeah, good point with that. You know, he's definitely playing a lot better under Todd Reardonness, you know, as he did in Ottawa or even Toronto. Though I think in Toronto he was getting minutes with Morgan Riley. So that's surely an interesting decision there made by Babcock and Sheldon Keith, well, when he eventually got hired. But yeah, man, you know, they're deploying him in a nice way, giving him third-pearing minutes. He gets to go out against the third or fourth lineup teams every night. You don't need to go out and go out there against Matt Barzell, Alex Ovechkin, Claudeau-Jourou, Travis, neck me, et cetera, et cetera.

You go out, have them go out against the third and fourth lines, and, you know, he's going to keep putting up these numbers. And I don't think he's going to be taken out of the lineup when Brian Dumlin returns. It's probably going to be P.O. Joseph, so would I agree with that? You know, maybe not. You know, we'll probably get to that later on in this episode. I did also want to ask you about Matheson. I've dumped on that Hornquish trade quite a bit.

I understood the reasoning for why they need, we're going to trade in. But the reasoning behind it, I think is the best way to say it. you know, aging veteran, just that kind of player, his body breaks down faster than some others. But, you know, Forunclus has been pretty good this year. I think last time I checked, he had like five goals for them on the power player or something like that. It's probably gone up. It's just because of how well the panders are playing. And Matheson was struggling.

But now Matt, you know, four games in a row. He's putting in some positive contributions. Did a shot to himself on the boards last night, which got to Teddy Blugher, got his third goal of the year. You know, just what's your assessment on Matheson so far? Well, I was cautiously optimistic, maybe more bullish than most on Mike Matheson's ability to come in here and contribute. He didn't have the support in Florida. And no offense to some of the young talent they have down there, well, talent that's blossoming. And maybe not so young anymore, Huberto and Barkoff.

And just in general, I think Florida's gotten a little bit better. But when you get up here to Pittsburgh, perhaps a little bit more of an uptempo approach, perhaps playing with a couple of superstars. can help out. But overall, I've just liked the creativity. And one of the takeaways that I had from the playoffs last year, Hunter, especially, was that the Penguins D didn't do much in terms of aiding the attack. And you watch teams like the Blue Jackets, for instance, last playoff. I compared them very, very poorly to the Blue Jackets because you had a Seth Jones and a Zach Werenski, almost playing positionless hockey in the offensive zone just because of their ability. I realized the Penguins may not have a player like that. Maybe Chris Let's.

is the closest. But Mike Matheson, you take some risks. Yes, he can't get out of position. He made more mistakes in that regard early in the year. So I want to give him somewhat of a pass in terms of adjusting to the way the penguins play. Last few games since that break, actually, maybe it's no coincidence when he got back from the injury and got a few practices, got to watch some games from up top too. All of it, I think, is coming together for Mike. And he's playing confidently. He made a beautiful little feed there to the back door to Brian Rust on the first goal of the game Sunday against the Capitals. And part of that play was having the vision to pick out Russ, which most D.

wouldn't have that. But also, he made a move up in the attack zone and Crosby found him. So I think that there's an opportunity there to get Mike out with maybe Sid and hopefully if Malkin gets going, get him some more starts with those guys, some more zone starts with those guys in the offensive zone because he's actually playing a little bit more of a defensive role. He started more of his shifts in the D zone than he has in the O zone, which makes it all the more impressive. I don't think that contract, that the fact that Mike Matheson is here is that much of an, of an albatross as many might think. Some might say,

well, trade him now while his values high. I think he could be an asset to this team. And, and I'm willing to give him quite a bit of rope here because he brings something to the table that most of the Penguins D-Men did not last year. Now they have a P.O. Joseph, hopefully Crystal Tank can get it back up to speed. And you add Mike Matheson, that's three guys on the backside who can really add to it. And again, and can give you something in the offensive zones. That's good as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I just, I really liked his skating ability.

You know, you see all the talk on Twitter mat. You know, he's a forward. He doesn't play defense. And, you know, I noticed this one defensive play yesterday. I think it was one of the Islander players was making a break on the net, puts a stick right in, goes to the corner, and then just starts the break out the other way. and it's like that he wasn't making those kind of plays earlier in the season before he got hurt. And then I think it was also the goal, the first goal last night, against the Islanders,

saves the puck from going out due to his long reach and then puts it, I think, behind the net. And that was able to lead to that first goal. And it was like, wow, that's, again, that's a play that he has not made at all this year. And it's good to see his play improving just because, you know, that trade was starting to look bad. Of course, as Hornquist was playing well. And then, you know, it's the last guy who I think is also playing well. And that's Casperry Capman. Big trade with Toronto, the Rutherford made.

Questionable pieces to acquire gave up a top 15 pick. You know, the organization hasn't had a top 15 pick since 2012 against... Yeah, I think that was 2012, if I'm not mistaken. They got the number eight pick in the stall trade, if I'm not... I think that sounds right. I think that's right. It's been a while, I know that. Yeah, they make the playoffs.

every year, so they're always picking in the 20s or the 30s, depending on if they win the Stanley Cup. Casperi Kappan made his debut on the Crosby line last night. I don't know about you, ma'am, but I think I'm going to want him to stay there for a while just because of how well he played with Gensel and Crosby. Well, that was always the idea. Mike Sullivan even said as much during the abbreviated training camp last month that they wanted to see Cappin with Crosby. End up being that's not how they started the season.

but it wasn't working with Malkin with a couple of notable breakaway goals early on in Kappin's Pittsburgh tenure, putting those aside. It had been a few games where it just seemed like Kappenden, in some ways, was maybe too fast for Malkin at this point at this stage of the game. Jason Zooker as well, I still would like to see Zooker and Kappan up with Crosby. I think that might work out just because Gensel, Malkin, and Rust were so good together or last year when Sib was out with the core injury. But neither here nor there.

As you mentioned last night, both of those top two lines generated an even strength goal, which that might be the first time this season. And it certainly was a fresh new look and a refreshing look for all of us. Capitan is interesting just because I don't want to say his feet are too quick for his hands. He's not quite a brand of tentative in that regard. Thinking back to that breakaway a couple of games ago. but that has been the reputation that he has the tools,

but hasn't been able to put it together, hasn't been able to make them all functional in a productive way in the NHL. But you get him a chance to play with the best player of his generation and Crosby. It could help a lot of guys. It certainly helped Chris Kunitz and Pascal. DuPuy, those guys made some hay on 87s back,

not that they didn't do work themselves. But you know what I mean? They would have been fairly nondescript, possibly top six guys on other teams, but not part of maybe the best line in hockey, for a while there. So there's always the chance. You have a guy with skill,

you have a guy with foot speed. And Capitan seems that he plays, I use this word before, direct in the context of Cody Cici. I think it applies as well to Casperi Capon. And you need a guy to go retrieve pucks. You want to get some pucks, obviously, in the offensive zone below the goal line with Crosby.

You saw them generate a goal from below the goal line in that Thursday game against the Islanders. So maybe this could work. Capitin is going to have to show some grids. cycle game is big for Sid, so if it's going to fit, he can't just fly up and down the wing. He's also got to be willing to put in some of that grinding work as well. But it's scene 87 as your center.

That can be a really good motivator, I think. Yeah, I think so too. And he was playing well with Gino, that line with Zooker Malkin and Kappan. And though, you know, Sullivan, just because of they struggled, flip-flop them, worked to a perfect degree, put Russ down there. He's been a goal-scoring machine. I mean, I think that's like four goals in his last three games now. It's nice to see Jason Zucker also get back on the goal sheet.

I understand why people have been a little bit skeptical about him this year. He just hasn't played as well. Some of me, we were trying to compare him to Derek Brassard. I think that was a little too far just because I guess the price to acquire him. But I see him play well. You know, before we do get to a commercial break, I do want to ask you about this line too. You know, it's the glue line, as Sullivan likes to call it, Ashton Rees, Bluebert, Tanev. Zach Ashton Reese, I said it so many times, man.

He's the most underrated, underappreciated player on this team. Four points in four games already. He makes that line with Bluger and Tanef Go. And not to mention, I mean, not to say that they're not good players. They obviously are. But Ashton, he just does everything in all three phases on the ice just so well. And it's just that line's a joy to watch. You know, I saw people trying to say it's a competent fourth line.

if that's a competent fourth line, I'd love to see what the top five fourth lines you have on your list that are better than them, just because once they hopefully get a forward or two to play on a line with McCann, they can put this line as a fourth line, and there aren't five better fourth lines, I think, than this one in the week. Yeah, don't forget about Jared McCann, by the way.

I think a lot of folks have, and I think he's better than what he's shown in certainly the playoffs last year, but also late last season when he got in that slump. And yeah, speaking of slumps, Jason Zucker, I'm still a fan of his. And honestly, he has, what, four goals now in 15 games. That's about at his career rate.

He scores once every four games, essentially. So he's a perennial 20-goal man once did 30. Usually he has more goals than assists, too. That's the type of guy he is. And I would leave him with either Malkin or Crosby because he's going to be the one at the finishing end to some of those passes, clearly. But to your point about the third line,

yeah, I did hear that similar chatter about the fact. that they're a really good fourth line. Maybe they're not that great of a third line. I don't know about that because I think Teddy Bluger can move. He can win you some face-offs. He can kill penalties. Play D for you. Zach Aston-Reece is such a smart player.

He's worked on his quickness. I remember talking to him at Penguin's development camp must have been three or four years ago back when I was on the beat. And he was saying they're really working on his first step because he got away with maybe not having elite quickness. Not maybe. He didn't have elite quickness. He still doesn't, but he got away with it at the college level.

But when you score that many goals at the college level, he led NCAA Division I in goals as a senior there at Northeastern. So that's not easy to do. I know it's college hockey. It's not the pros, but he's got something going on there between the years. And you see him along the boards, too, wins more than he loses. There's a reason why he's been a strong possession player, in particular, a strong player in his own end.

And now that shoulder, hopefully, knock on wood, it stays mended. here because he looks like he's playing confidently. Yeah, he's not going to score a goal a game. The goal he got run into two last game. That's why he scored late against the capitals. There was also the empty net or two that was mixed in. So I'll pump the brakes on the fact that he's an elite point producer or anything like that in the making.

But it's certainly part of a valuable line on this team that has earned every bit of the stability that Mike Sullivan has given them so far. Yeah, and it's a line that he can put for defensive zone faceoffs, offensive zone faceoffs. You know, I saw some people also dumping on during the Capitals game. I think this was when the Penguins were trailing, if I'm not mistaken. And they had that long shift in the Capitol zone. I think it was about 45 seconds to a minute. Didn't get a lot of shots off, but you could just tell that shift turn the tide of the game.

And then they go down, I think, just a couple minutes later, they score one goal, and then Brandon Tannib gets a goal 32 seconds later. It's like, that's what that line can do. They can shift games in just the matter of milliseconds. So I love that line a ton. We still have a lot more to get to. Well, a little bit more to get to for this episode. We'll talk about some of the Penguins' problems in the next segment.

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You can use the promo code locked on at billbar.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodey. So, Matt, I guess we do have to touch on the fourth line, or the lack of the fourth line, I think is the best way to say it. Basically, the Penguins are getting a mix of Sam Lafferty, Drew O'Connor, Colton Severe, and Mark. Frank Jankowski, four of the lowest rated players on the team.

You know, I read this, Danny Shire Irving at Penn's blog, he does a great job with his stuff, puts out the list of, like, the Penguins players leading the team, I think, and expected goals for each week. And those four players are basically way down on the list every time. And, you know, we always read this talk about Sam Lafferty. Oh, my gosh, he's a training camp hero. Oh, my gosh, he looks great in practice. And then he gets to the games, and there's just nothing there. And Drew O'Connor, I know he's a young kid. Maybe he's not fully NHL ready.

I'm not ready to give up on him yet. Then, you know, Colton Severe, he's just kind of a guy. And then it's just, I don't know, man. I mean, if I'm Ron Hextall, that's the biggest area of priority that I'm going after at the trade deadline. Getting a forward or two to play with Jared McCann and then you can roll four lines. Just what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, maybe rolling four lines is a bit ambitious, even if they do pick up. up a forward or two.

But it can't be like it is right now. The game against the caps where they trailed the whole way, I think Sullivan gave them three or four shifts. So it was rather remarkable to see in this day and age, you don't necessarily see the fourth line across the league getting as much playing time as the third. But it's not like it used to be. There used to be guys who just sat the bench or there were a lot of goons out there,

too, you know, 15, 20, 30 years ago. not the case anymore. The pace of the game is high enough where you really need that fourth line to at least be able to keep the puck a little bit. You remember when Matt Cullen was here, he was a key part of what the Penguins did, penalty killing wise, definitely, but also anchoring a fourth line for the most part. And you don't even need that many great players or good players. You just need probably one. And the Penguins don't have really one at this moment. Mark Jankowski, Well, we talked great about Rutherford's summer. Jankowski looks to be a wasted signing.

I knew it was trouble when I looked at his numbers from last year. I thought, okay, five goals. Maybe that's all right for a fourth line center or whatever. But he had, I think, 40 total shots on goal the entire season for Calgary. And I think we've seen it recently. He just goes away for long stretches of time. He had two awesome games. He might have been one of the better players on the ice for the Penn.

So those two games at Philadelphia to start the season. Got the first goal to season. And since then, nothing. at all to speak up. I guess he kills penalties. Okay. It's really hard to say. I'm not a coach.

I'm not breaking down the exes and o's on a nightly basis, but they're putting him out there at least. So you have that. He's a big body. The other guys you mentioned, Drew O'Connor, the projectable frame, Sam Lafferty,

fast, a little bit rambunctious. There appears to be some potential, but it's just not happening right now for those guys, partially because they don't have the puck. They could use a senator who has the puck a little bit more. So Jane Cowski's letting them down, Lafferty and O'Connor aren't good enough to take advantage of the limited minutes that they have.

Colton, Xavier, yeah, they basically had to take him in the deal with Florida. So I'm not going to read too much into that. But the penguins need to deal from surplus. And for me, Hunter, right now that's on D. And they've got to get at least one forward, maybe not a center necessarily, because if McCann comes back, then you can play him at center. But more the merrier, as far as competent forwards are concerned right now. Yeah, absolutely.

And, you know, it was true, man, with Jankelski, got the first goal of the season for the penguins and then went away. You look great. Yeah, those first two games, he was awesome. You know, 700K, you know what? Who cares? You know, if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Last year, I was kind of like, okay, you know, we'll see.

Is he going to play like that or is he going to play like the Mark Jankeowski who saw the two years prior where he had like, what, 15, 16 goals, both those two seasons? Well, no, again, the Jankelsky we had from last year, just much worse. And yeah, I do agree with you. I think we are going to see a defenseman get dealt. My guess is that it's Pedersen. Maybe for someone like Granlin from Nashville, they're probably going to sell and they have a lot of pieces there. That's one of the first teams I look at. Ottawa may sell too.

I look at Evgeny Dandenoff, maybe for Ford help. I've had that goal in the comeback just to basically give the Leafs another meme against them this past week. But shifting gears to some other struggling players, some higher big name. players, of course, of Gettie Malkin and Chris Lattang. Matt, it almost seems like every time Gino is going to come out of this funk, he just does something stupid. He takes a penalty, lazy in the defensive zone, not shooting the puck on net, because at times it looks like he is fully coming out of it, but it's just, I don't know what it

is. Like, has he lost a few steps in his game? I know he's gotten older, but we haven't seen this from Malkin before. I know I did read an article where he didn't condition as much in Russia just because I think at the gyms. I mean, we're going to start with him. You know, what is your main concern with Malkin this year? Yeah, with Malkin, it's a combination of physical and mental, and they feed off each other. It's not that simple, right?

If you're in the right frame of mind, then you're probably going to feel a little better physically and vice versa. So it could be where he just came into the season lacking some competency. He talked about, you know, lack of facilities in Russia. look, it could be an excuse. I read it as an excuse more than an explanation because when you have millions of dollars, you can find ways to get things done. You don't even have to be in Russia necessarily. You could have stayed here stateside where maybe the restrictions were a little bit lesser.

Maybe the facilities were a little more abundant. But I think he came into the year probably not feeling like he's totally prepared. And it's funny how that can translate over to your mental side of the game. Now, I will say in the Thursday game against the, Islanders. He looked a little rejuvenated. The play that led to the goal for Zooker. That was a pretty vintage Malkin set up. So I was encouraged by that. I saw a little more that small space quickness that has defined Malkins game over the years. People think about his galloping, skating and all that. But he's as quick as they come. And you can find that with the frame that he has and the ability

that he has on the puck. And you can see why he's been one of the all-time greats, really, and one of the greatest players of his generation. But, I'm a little nervous about Malkin, just because of the fact that his concentration over the years has Wayne, even when he was at his best, he'd have hot and cold slumps or hot stretches in cold slumps. And as of right now, it appears the cold stretch has more staying power. And I fear that that'll build on itself as he doesn't quite have that elite athletic talent anymore to get him out of some tough spots on the ice or to bail the penguins out. he's got to play more of a thinking person's game.

That's just a reality of aging. I don't care of yourself. You see Crosby doing that more now. He's not taking on guys one-on-one anymore. Guys are better skating in general now. So I think Cid realizes that even if you were at his absolute peak, physically, he'd have a harder time doing some of the things he used to do in this league. But that's what we expect from Crosby.

From Malkin, it's going to take more of an attitude adjustment. and I think he can still be an effective player, but if I'm Ron Hextel on Brian Burke, I'm also thinking maybe I pick his brain on, what are your plans, Gina? What do you want to do? Do you really want to be here for the rest of your career? Do you want to go try something else?

How do you feel about the situation? Because he's still a player in this league that has a lot of value. And if you're thinking about major moves and trying to rebuild around Crosby, maybe, which I might be thinking about, then you should definitely do your diligence fund. that. Yeah, I mean, I have read from so many times that they want Malkin to retire there. I've said so many times I still think he will. Then maybe he'll go back to Russia for a couple

years and play in the K.A.O. or whatever. But, yeah, I mean, something needs to change just with his attitude, you know, just his play in the defensive zone. You know, even earlier in the season, he wasn't shooting a lot. I think it took to like the fifth or sixth game of the year to something like that, fourth or fifth game or something to finally get his first shot on goal. I mean, when have we ever said that about Hibgeny Malkin throughout his career here in Pith. Pittsburgh, but he's had two nice games against the Islanders. That one last week when Matt Martin kind of got mad at him, and then Gino just went off just because I think he just, when he gets angry, he actually like elevates his game.

It's not like where Sidney Crosby gets angry. It just kind of goes apesh shit or whatever. But then, you know, let's get to Chris LaTang. I've been saying it way too much for the last couple of weeks that, you know, my listeners are probably getting tired of it. best franchise defenseman in this team's history. I don't really think. I just don't think anyone compares to it.

I mean, I know Paul Coffey obviously played here for four or five years, but I mean, in terms of franchise defensemen, no one's done better than Letang here. His body's been through so much. He's given everything to this organization. But Matt, this is the first year where it's been like, wow, like his play has really dropped off. I've defended him forever.

These are the kind of moments that, you know, the people that have always, you know, trash talking over the years are going to say, hey, you know, I was right, you know, but that's just not true because if you look at the numbers from 2012 to 2017, it was one of the five to ten best defensemen every year. So where do you see this going with Crystal Tang? And do you think he can find his way out of this slump? Yeah, he's been oddly quiet this year. And I don't know if he's trying to play a more conservative games in some way or a conservative

of game, I should say, or if he's overthinking a few things. I haven't really gotten an opportunity to look deeply into his game this year, but he's still getting a ton of ice time, maybe as Dan Kinkersky wrote on Pittsburgh hockey now, a colleague of both of ours, that it could be time to just tick down that usage a little bit so we can regain some of his explosiveness that doesn't seem to be there right now. He's just not making a lot of plays at the offensive end. And he's never been the most astute defender, I'll put it that way, in his own end. You didn't want him to have the puck in his own end anyway, because that meant he wasn't creating at the offensive side of the ice. And although his underlying numbers aren't terrible this year,

he's still hunting for, to find the shooting range, I think. That's been a struggle this season, hasn't got a lot of shots through the power play in general just hasn't been very good. So that hasn't helped him. But you're right, he had an extended peak, and I think he was underappreciated at his peak. And sadly now, I think he's just going to fall into that confirmation bias for a lot of folks out there, that he was never that good to begin with. Yeah, he really was. And his performance in the 2016 playoffs, I think is up there with any performance in franchise history

when it comes to springtime and the money time of the season. so he'll always have that. It was fitting that, of course, he scored the deciding goal against the sharks there in the Stanley Cup final. So it's not like we have to feel bad for Chris LaTang that he didn't really shine when he had the opportunity. But of course, he missed the Stanley Cup run 2017.

And since then, it just feels like it's been a very gradual drop-off in terms of the way that he's played the game both physically and mentally. So just the big flashy plays aren't. quite there anymore. And also, he doesn't appear to be getting any better in his own end as well. Or when it comes to timing pitches and being coordinated with his forwards on the ice with him, it's just he's a tick down from where he usually is. And right now, points wise, not great compared to his career. Usually his best years, he's approaching a point per game, which of course is great. But right now, just seven points, all assists in 14 games, just matches up with my eye test so far.

Even though he's playing a lot, I don't notice him that much unless he's making a mistake. In the past, Hunter, he'd always counter the mistakes and overwhelm the mistakes with plenty of great plays moving up the ice. And it's just not happening right now. Yeah, absolutely. That's probably, it usually happens. People would always just pick on his mistakes and just not see what he would do coming right after that. But we can't even get that anymore just because his play has dropped off. And yeah, you said it hasn't even scored his first goal this year, seven points, 14 games.

has been a mess in his own zone I mean it's just like every night I think he's giving up like a couple high danger chances and it's just like I mean I don't know if it's just he's trying to take a little more off P.O. Joseph's shoulders like is it going to change when Brian Doomwin comes back?

You know we're going to have to see on that though hopefully Doomlin I think he started skating so that's great news there before I do let you go at just a couple more things the goaltending you know obviously been a hot topic at Penguinsland this year Tristan Jari three pretty damn good games. I think he was been 933 in the last three games

for Pittsburgh. I believe if I looked it up correctly. It looks like he's coming out of it. What are your thoughts on that? Do you still think they'll need, do you think, well, I should do you still think I've ever asked you that before. Do you think they'll need a goalie regardless of Jari turning it around

a little bit? I know that coming into the year I was dubious on the fact that the backup, Casey DeSmith, didn't have a lot of playing time in the NHL. And I like Casey to Smith as a goalie. I think that I think that he's competent. He probably has a long career in the league ahead of him as a number two,

whether it be in Pittsburgh or elsewhere. But just with the lack of experience for Tristan Jari, relatively speaking, I wanted to see a veteran backup. So if I had to bring somebody in, it would be in the backup role because I still think you've got to give Tristan a chance to shine here. I've loved his ability since day one. I always thought that when he and Matt Murray were coming up together,

I liked Jari's game better, honestly. and you saw him come out of the gates this season looking not so confident, looking like he was searching for something. And maybe he's found that the last three got some practice time under his belt too. Funny how that works. It wasn't abbreviated training camps. So I try to not judge January games too harshly at all this year. And you look at the back half of February at this point.

Maybe this is Jaree turning that corner. Maybe that Casey DeSmith coming down. little cold there on Sunday, taking him out of contention to start against the caps. That could be the biggest break that Tristan Jari got this season and get him rolling. I'm not saying he has to play 80 or 90% of the games, but he should be playing more than 50%. He should be getting more of the time in the crease. And for me, the athleticism is still there. He brings more of an upside than to Smith.

He brings more of an upside than most goalies, I would say, just due to that athleticism. And when he's rolling, he looks like peak mark Andre Fleury, not to, to, to draw a comparison with the future Hall of Fame are there too, you know, too brightly. But I think those attributes are there. And I think the pens would be foolish to continue to alternate back and forth between he and Casey Smith. I'll put it that way. Yeah, you know, I think he's going to get a lot more starts moving forward.

These last three games, I think, have got his confidence back. He'll definitely start tomorrow night against the Islanders. And then, honestly, I think he'll start both games against Washington, too. I mean, the better goal he needs to start these games. I mean, these are two of the teams that the Penguins need to catch. and the standings there are two points out of second place, and there is just a logjam of teams. I mean, they're also five points out of first place.

So, you know, this division is far from over. But one more thing before I do let you go, Matt, just to end it on a cool story, I guess. You know, obviously you're on the Penguins beat. You know, what's the best story that you could tell everyone about, you know, just being on the Penguins beat if there was like a funny story or something like that? I don't know about funny necessarily, but I certainly appreciated every opportunity to cover the team. and it's just something I always wanted to do,

and I'll remain appreciative of it until the day I die. But the best part of it was never thought I'd get the chance to walk around on the ice while the Stanley Cup was being passed from player to player down in Nashville. That was quite the run to the final. Of course, it came down to a bounce of the puck and a Chris Kuhnitz goal in game seven against Ottawa. And the first two rounds were pretty hair-raising, too,

especially the series against Washington. So 2017 is what I keep thinking back to and getting a chance to cover with a guy like Josh Yoey, who I grew up looking up to, not to make him too old, not to age him too much, but I really enjoyed working with him and the staff we had there. It was an outstanding experience.

And to see the looks of joy on the players' faces, the family's faces, you realize it's the culmination of a career in a lifetime in hockey for so many of them. for my hockey coverage career, at least certainly the highlights. No doubt about that. But overall, I just really enjoyed going from city to city checking out the buildings. It's not quite like baseball where every park is different, but there's a lot of culture in each city, a lot of hockey culture that was interesting to explore.

Even in places like Florida and Tampa Bay, it was enjoyable to get out there and travel, something I missed. immensely these days with the pandemic being what it is. So, yeah, there's nothing like following a team for an entire season, especially when it all ends in triumph and a trophy being raised. And to be there for the Cup, to be there in Nashville, a lot of people who cover this sport don't ever get that opportunity. So like I said, I remain grateful for that. Yeah, my dream is to go to a bunch of stadiums, you know,

whether I'm covering the team or just as a fan and just like check out a bunch of them, you know, just being on the ice for a cup. That's been a lifelong dream. Hopefully that will happen someday. But like you said, Nashville, that's one that I definitely want to go to first. But, yeah, man, I appreciate you coming on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I definitely want to have you on it in the future, you know,

maybe around the trade deadline or something like that. Or, you know, during playoff time, if the Penguins do make the playoffs, though, it's going to be a really good finish for this division. I'm pretty excited to see how this is all going to turn up. But Matt, thank you so much for coming on, man. Yeah, you got it. Interesting season, to say the least, with the pandemic adjustments, interesting division, like you said.

And I think a really interesting time in a franchise's history that is usually very interesting. So we have a lot to talk about here. It just feels like all the postgame shows I've done on Pittsburgh Sports Live. They fly by because the topics are immense. And they certainly capture your attention. I think that by the time we get to the end of this season, we're going to have a lot more clarity on which direction this franchise is going in. Because for me right now, that's the fun big picture thing is do you strip it all down and

rebuild around Sid? Do you try to do one more shot with the big three here? Do you lock one of the big three off? My goodness, there are plenty of options here for Ron Hextel and Brian Burke. And the change in leadership has refreshed my perspective here. I was getting stale with Jim Rutherford. I think it was just at a certain point you'd get whiplash from some of the movies. moves. So I'm very eager to see how the new leadership treats the rest of this season. And

I'm just glad to have hockey back too because it was a long off season. The Penguins played what, four games in a span of 10 months. That's not good. That's not good for anybody in our business and the fans out there too. So great to be with you. Good to be talking hockey again. That's my big takeaway. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I'm just, I'm glad that Ron Hickstall is a lot more patience than Ruth's probably not going to make any panic trades. And oh yeah, Matt, where can everyone find you on Twitter and find your work? Well, my last name is hard to spell, but that's my Twitter handle. It's M-A-T-T-G-A-J-T-K-A.

But yeah, just search Pittsburgh Sports Live. I'm putting up plenty of video content. I mention the post-game shows. I also have regular netfront presence commentaries. And we're doing a bunch of other stuff at Pittsburgh Hockey now as well. And Twitter, Facebook. Instagram, it's all just my name. That's the beauty of having a name that's not too common.

I'm sure you can relate to that as well. It's a nice little trademark to have. Yeah, it is absolutely awesome that other than my family, I don't think anyone else has my last name in this world. But honestly, it's nothing like a Miller or anything like that. Yeah, there's like 10 Gikas in America. There's about 80 in Poland. There's not too many anywhere, honestly.

Yeah, I don't think there's many Hodes outside of this country. Maybe if you wouldn't like Poland or something like that. But yeah, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. We'll have more coming next week as the Penguins take on the Islanders on Saturday. Then they'll play Washington. And then, of course, they'll go back to playing the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum late next week. So I'll talk to you all next week.