Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Giving out non-Crosby MVP Awards for the Penguins first half!

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins may be off for a while but the Locked On Penguins podcast is not. Hunter and Pat dive into the Penguins MVPs of the first half of the regular season (outside of Sidney Crosby) and give their flowers to players who have been electric this year. After that, they look at what games the Penguins will need to especially win after the break since the schedule is about to get hectic. Just how big is the month of February for this team? Finally, they give their thoughts on Elliotte Friedman's report from NHL Network and why a soft rebuild doesn't make much sense for the Penguins. All that, plus much more is on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FactorGet started on your resolutions with Factor, so you’re ready for the new year. Head to factormeals.com/lockedonnhl50 and use code lockedonnhl50 to get 50% off. IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.Jase MedicalEmpower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order. FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your best bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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.

We are officially at the by week and the All-Star break, so Hunter and I are going to talk about first half MVP's and the future on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome back Penguins fans to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Patrick Damp, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodeys.

You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4 What. You can follow Hunter at Hunter Hodes. And you can follow the show's account at L0 underscore Penguins. We thank you for making this your first listen slash watch of the day because we're your team every day. And we are free and available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets if your best bet of $5 or more wins.

Visit Fandul.com slash locked on to get start. So penguins aren't going to play a hockey game for like another what feels like five years. So we have got to figure out some things to talk about today. But what we are going to talk about because we're on a break here and we've got a little over half the season behind us at this point. Penguins have played 46 games. So five games over the halfway point. We are going to talk about here to start the show. Some of the players who have driven the bus, so to speak, through this first half of the season,

and the guys who have stepped up and really been a part of the, I guess we could say, limited success that the Pittsburgh Penguins have had as they are still chasing down a playoff spot as we look to the back half of the season here. So I'm going to get this started with a very obvious one. And no, it's not going to be Sidney Crosby. We have excluded him from voting on this just because of what a tremendous season he's having. A little too easy for us. and it would have been very easy for us to just say, it's Sidney Crosby, he's the MVP. Okay, we're done.

So I want to look kind of below the hood a little bit, and we can see some of the guys who have also had solid seasons to start it, to start it off so far this year. The first one for me is kind of a surprise, more so that not that we didn't think he couldn't be good, but more that when you sign a backup goalie, you don't think, okay, maybe this guy could, become your 1B. And that's Alex Nadelcovic. He has been everything and more for this

Penguins team to start the year. And I just, I think this has been one of the best signings that he has had, that Caldouba's had all summer. And we obviously know that Ryan Graves has been nothing short of a disaster, despite a little bit of improved play here and there. But you look at Alex Nadelcovich, a limited amount of work this year, 16 games, eight wins, two 60 goals against average and a 918 save percentage. For a guy who is backing up someone that needs someone behind him to push him a little bit and maybe have a sort of kind of threat to take the job, he has been as advertised.

And to be honest, depending on how this next couple of weeks goes with the penguins, if it doesn't look like the playoffs are in the cards, this might be an underrated trade ship for Kyle Dubus. So what have you seen from Alex Nadelcovic so far that makes you think he could be one of this team's underrated MVPs? Well, with a trade deadline, teams need goalies, right? There's a lot of teams out there right now that could use either a starter or a pretty good backup. And I think Nadelcovich could fetch you at least, you know, a decent pick. Maybe Pat that's a second.

Maybe you can even ask for a first and maybe you get laughed at. He probably will get laughed at. But maybe you can get a second, third, maybe a prospect, something like. that amateur and of course that's if things go really south after the break but nidalkovich he seems always calm always composed in his net looking like the goalie that we saw a few years ago when he was with the carolina hurricanes when he took over that starting job there yeah things went a bit south for him while he was with detroit but he's gotten back to basics now that he's a member of the penguins and it's been great to see because we've been wanting a backup to play like this behind tris and jari

for quite a while and i mean no disrespect to casey to smearly but he did not reach the level that Alex Ndilkevich has reached this year for this team. He's been a true 1B, and as I've said plenty of times on this show, I think if this team makes the playoffs, Tristan Jari is your starter, but it's not by much because if he has maybe a bad game, you can go to Nadelcovich and you can trust him to do the job. So I have loved what he has done for this team this year. Definitely one of the other MVP's outside of Sydney Cross, which, yes, that's an easy one for us.

He is the team's MVP. He should be in the Hart Trophy conversation. It's not even close. Yeah, Sid, just so we're clear. Sid should be in the hard conversation, not Alex Nadelcovic. He's been good, but not that. Of course, of course, yes. But yeah, across 14 starts, he's got an 8, 3 and 0 record.

He has one shutout. And it's just been a breath of fresh air. Because like you said, no disrespect to Casey to Smith. Casey DeSmith's problem was that he was a backup goalie, and he is a backup goalie. It was too inconsistent at time, starting. his tenure. You would see stretches of play from him where, oh, like, he actually can look like a one-beat backup. But then yet other times where he was really struggling for four to five to six to seven weeks. And I'm glad that he's playing well in Vancouver this year. I think a change of

scenery really helped him. But it just wasn't going to happen in Pittsburgh and they weren't going to run that tandem back. So again, happy for DeSmith. But did Nadelcovich is a better goalie than him. Yeah. And to that point, it's working better for DeSmith because what I was starting to say there is that he's a backup goalie. He's not a spot starter. And in the last couple of years, whether it was injury or inconsistency with Tristan Jari, he became essentially a spot starter, and that's not who he is. Now he's behind Thatcher Demko, a legitimate Bessna candidate who is taking the lion's share of the games and playing well consistently. So Casey DeSmith doesn't have to start every third game. He can wait four or five games till he has to take the net with a decreased workload, and that's better for

him as a goaltender. Moving on to somebody else, we got to state another obvious one. It could have been somebody that we could have kept out of the discussion because it's fairly obvious, but you've got to go with Jake Gensel. Just another absolutely incredible season so far this year. He's sitting there with 22 goals, 27 assists, 49 points. Sid has finally eclipsed him with 50 points. But for the lion's share of the season, Jake Gensel was the team's leading scorer.

He had the most points on the team. And we have ripped our hair out on the discussion of what should they do with Jake Gensel moving forward. But it's a legitimate discussion because this team is at a crossroads. And he has shown that he is a legitimate superstar in this league. Well, maybe not from marketing standpoints. But the way he plays, he's not just a product of Sidney Crosby. The way I have said this about him for years, you can tell that he is the son of a coach with the way he plays the game. He is rarely out of position. He knows how to get to the

soft scoring areas. He thinks the game on a very similar level to Sidney Crosby, because I say this all the time. When you play with the likes of a Sydney Crosby or whomever, you know, name elite talent, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, so on, so forth, you can't just be there. You can't just be generic plug number one that sits next to them because we have seen dozens of wingers who played with Crosby and nothing came from it. You have to be able to think the game on a similar level and process the game on a similar level. And that's what Jake Gensel is able to do. And it shows up, it has shown up on the score sheet ever since he came up from Wilkes Bear all those years ago. And in 46 games, 22 goals, 27 assists, 49 points, plus 12, he's constantly

a threat to score when he's on the ice. And he talked about it after that incredible spinnerama pass against the Canadians, where he said, I know with Sid just to have my stick down and go to scoring areas. And he's been as advertised. And much like Alex Naducovic, if it gets to the point where we find ourselves at a crossroads with the penguins where the playoffs might not be in the cards, that's not a bad guy to think about moving. Yeah, that's obviously worst case scenario.

And I would ask for nothing short of a insane. return for someone like Jake Gensel considering how good he is in this league. And I've always said about Gensel, man, you give him the smallest amount of space on the ice. He's going to make you pay every time. He's one of the 10 best pure goal scores in the league. And it feels like a lot of times this season, when it's not Sid doing it every single night, it's Jake. Because them two have just been so good all season long. They feed off each other. You see it every single game. Gensel has scored so many massive goals for this. team all season long, and he has helped keep this team in the fight heading into, I guess,

the quote-unquote second half of the season. Usually the All-Star break is, you know, that quote-unquote there. And it's been awesome to see him continue to play at this level because, you know, he came into the league like a house on fire. Night one, you saw it. Like, this kid was going to be special. And it's only continued since then. And, you know, whatever happens with him, you know, say he gets traded, obviously, I'm going to miss. him and I think everyone in this fan base, well, considering what he has done for this organization. But until that happens, just cherish what he's doing on a nightly basis, or if that happens, I should say.

And he is. He is a very hard player to replace, especially if he gets dealt, that's a 35 to 40 goal score off your team. Those don't grow on trees, man. They are very hard to find in the NHL. And say he's on this team, I'm sure in any capacity, the Penguins are going to be really trying to find a way to replace and it's probably going to have to be by committee because you're not going to be finding many of those guys in free agency. They're not all of them are available for trade usually.

He has just been outstanding so far. It's, it's been awesome. And he will reach a milestone the first game out of the All Star Break. It will be his 500th career regular season game in the NHL, obviously all with the Penguins. And for a player like him, I say this as a guy who is five foot two on a good day. that, you know, they have his stats listed at 5-11, 180. I don't know about all that. But again, great player.

That's the short-king. Yes, big-time short-king. And great player, like you said, really hard to replicate. I know you had one more you wanted to mention before we tossed a break here. Yes, I want to bring up Crystal Tang. I think he has been tremendous all year. Yeah, he may not have some of the offense that he usually has, but still 29 points in 46 games, only three goals.

usually he has more goals by now, but it's his work in the defensive zone that has really caught my eye all year. He has been outside of Marcus Pedersen, their best defenseman in his own zone. He's done tremendous work on the penalty kill. He's kind of sacrificed some of that power play time for penalty kill time. And I'm not going to say he's like kind of taking a back seat from that, but he's just in a different role, but he's helping the team win every single night and continues to play like a number one defenseman every night.

I think he's been awesome for the Penguins this year. I also do want to shout out Marcus Pedersen, who I do think has had a great season so far outside of the last couple weeks. And of course, Tristan Jari, he's been great all year outside of the first couple of weeks in net. I mean, he's played like one of the best goals in the league. He's 11th in the league and goals he's above expected with 9. 913, say it percentage, 2.53 goals against average. I know a lot of people said after January 1.

That's where he kind of falls off. But since then, he's had some really good starts. he's kept the penguins in games. He hasn't allowed too many bad goals since the new year. And if he can keep that up, again, they're going to continue to stay in this race, going into the trade deadline and even past the trade deadline. So I really wanted to shout out Jari and Pederson, especially for Pedersen's defensive work in his own zone.

By far, the team's best defensive defenseman, and it's not close. Just want to shout both of them out overall, though. Yeah, Chris LaTang definitely for me, because I think he's been playing within himself. He's not trying to do too much. And he has taken a reduced role with nothing. grace and looked like a great player in doing so. Hard for me to give Jari and Pedersen, quote unquote MVP, just because, you know, Jari had a rough start to the year and legitimately he was kind of the reason they came up,

they started the year slow. And for Pedersen, just the last couple weeks, he's trailed off a little bit. I don't doubt he's going to bounce back, but there's definitely a little bit of concern there for me, but it's not, you know, pressing the panic button. It's just tough stretch for a guy who's played some hard minutes. But that is going to do it for this segment. When we come back, we're going to take a look at the rest of the schedule the way out and how this Penguins team can chart their way back to the Stanley Cup playoffs in the second half of the season.

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one of which has been to work out more consistently and eat healthier. So head to Factor Meals.com slash locked on NHL 50 and use that code locked on NHL 50 to get 50% off. That's code Locked-on NHL-50 at FactorMeals.com slash locked-on NHL-50 to get 50% off. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp, joined, as always, by the illustrious Hunter Hodes. And here we are at a little over the halfway mark, as we've been talking about. And as anyone who listens to this show knows, the Penguins are trapped in a fight to get back to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

We know they missed last year. They are about five points out of the second wildcard spot. They currently sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division with 51 goals. And here's a really big thing that I'm thinking about for this team when it comes to their chances to get back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. I have heard the Metropolitan Division joked about and called the Mid-Dropolitan Division. and I think that's correct because here's something that I noticed while getting ready for today's show.

Right now the penguins sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division. They got 51 points. They're one point behind the New York Islanders for fourth. There are five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers. But here's the thing. They have the second best goal differential in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers and Hurricanes are tied at plus 19

and the Penguins are plus 12. Every other team in the Metro, is at a negative goal differential. The Flyers are at 1, the Islanders are at negative 23, the Devils are at minus 7, and then you have the caps in blue jackets who have 31 and 37 respectively. So realistically, I do think,

and I think you said this either yesterday or last week, the Atlantic Division is more than likely going to send five teams to the postseason for the penguins to get to the playoffs. They're going to have to finish third. third in the metro. Yes. I don't think they have a choice in that they're going to have to leapfrog the flyers and get that third spot behind the Rangers who will get in, I think, in the Carolina hurricanes as well. And it's funny. You said they have 51 goals. I assume you meant 51 points, Pat. You know what the message to me a little bit about that. They have 138 goals.

Yes, there we go. And the goal differential is very good. The minus 23, I believe you said for the Islanders is nothing short of Polaris. I look at the record every day. when I look at the standings. I just laughed, honestly, 12 overtime losses, minus 23 goal differential. Yet they have one more point over the Penguins. Make it make sense in the NHL. And with the games in hand,

again, these just means so much when you head into February. Their first game after the break is against the Winnipeg Jets at home. One of the best teams in the league, especially the Western Conference. And I'll say this. I didn't see that coming. I didn't even winnipeg Jets. We're going to be this good this year.

But that's going to be a big game. You then go to Minnesota. They're not that good. win that game. You have Winnipeg the next night after. That's going to be tough on a back-to-back. Florida at home again, you got to try to win that game against a team that is one of the better teams in the conference. And then you have Chicago later in the month. That has to be a must-win in the month of February. Chicago's not going to have Connor Bedard. A lot of regulars are going to be out for them as well. Outside of him, that has to be a must win. Then you have

a Kings team, which is really slumping as of late. You have the Islanders who you've beaten twice. You have the Canadians who you have beaten twice, the Flyers who where you need to win that game, on Sunday, and then Vancouver and Seattle to end the month because they have their Western Canada swing, right? You look at this schedule in February Pat overall. There are quite a few winnable games, Minnesota, Chicago, L.A., Islanders, Canadians, Flyers, Seattle. There also are some games that are kind of tossed up, for example, like the Vancouver game,

the two Winnipeg games, maybe in the Florida game, but outside of that, there is ample opportunity for this team to make up some ground in February with how this schedule is. before it gets a little crazy in March. And they also have quite a few off days in this month as well. They have a couple back to backs, but nothing too crazy. This is where they're going to have to really buckle down and bank some points against teams that are honestly not that good because there are quite a few winnable games in this in this coming month.

Yeah. And to pick the ball up from there and keep running with it from what you were saying, you go into March and they literally do not have, they have two days off one time. and that's the 20th and the 21st. They play every other day in March. This is going to make some fun content with that schedule. Game recap, preview, then we're just, we're just recycling at all. This is going to be insanely hectic.

But here's the thing, though, when you go to March, first and foremost, you have seven divisional games in March, seven Metro games. Those are going to be huge because a lot of them are teams that you're chasing. the chasing or that are chasing with you, the capitals, the Red Wings aren't in the division, but you're going to battle with them for the wild card, the devils, the hurricanes, and then you have the Rangers up top.

But that's the other thing about March is March is a schedule where you have a lot of really good teams on your schedule. The Oilers, the Bruins, the Rangers, the Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, All teams that this year are going to be tough tests. So it is imperative when they come out of the break here in February, the games that we point at and say these are winnable games, you have to win them.

Because one, you went into the break with some confidence. We talked about that yesterday. You lost a shootout but played a very tough game against a very tough team. They answered the bell against the Florida Panthers. It would have been real easy for them to back down. against a team like that. And they, to a man, top to bottom on the roster, went into the fight. They all played that game.

And then they get a dominant victory, even though it was in overtime because they were the better team for 60 plus minutes against the Montreal Canadians. And you set yourself up, especially considering that they are right there with Ottawa as a team that has played the least amount of games going into the break with games in hands. And everybody they're chasing at this point, especially in the Met, is starting to fall. So you really have to be ascending in February.

And you have to give yourself some room in March. Because let's be completely honest here. They're probably overmatched against the likes of the Oilers. That team looks like an absolute wagon. They might probably winning streak from the Penguins 17. That's coming up right after the break. So they're a wagon right now. They're probably, even though they've beaten them already this year,

they're probably a little overmatched against the Bruins. But the thing that's nice about the March schedule is they play the tough team and then a couple of winnable games follow. You have a back-to-back in Western Canada, Calgary, to Edmonton, that's going to be really tough. But then you come home for the Blue Jackets and the Capitals, two very beatable teams. You play the Bruins and then the Oilers in a back-to-back,

and that's a brutal schedule, especially because one game is in Boston, and the others in Pittsburgh, but then you get the senators and the sharks, two games you should win. And then you have the Rangers and then the Red Wings. So you have to give yourself some room here in February that if, say, you play that back to back and you beat Calgary or you lose to Calgary and then you beat Edmonton or you lose to Edmonton, you're not falling. If you lose to Boston or lose to Edmonton, you're not tripping and falling down the

standings where you can give yourself some leeway. So I also think we talked about. it before. The self-imposed deadline from Kyle Dubus of the trade or the, the All-Star break, I think this is it. How they do in February is going to determine what they do. And we are going to talk about that here in the final segment in a little bit. But man, like they got, they have to stack some points in February or this season could

go off the rails real quick. Absolutely. And as we have been saying throughout this segment, there are plenty of winnable games here. And if you don't win those games, especially against a team like the Flyers, who you are chasing, you beat them the last time. If you can get a season split in that series and get two clean points in regulation, that's massive. Also, the same with the Islanders. You've beaten them twice, both in regulation. You beat them three times in a row, take those two points.

That's only going to matter even more heading into March and then heading into April, where, funny enough, the Penguins last game of the season, Pat, it's on the island against Islanders. And I think if both teams are very much in the race going in that final night, that's going to be obviously a huge game for both teams. And then even April, you know, after March where that schedule gets crazy, they have some tough games as well. They have a back-to-back with the Rangers and the Devils to start the month. They have the capitals in there.

They have the lightning one more time. They have the Maple Leafs, the Red Wings, the Bruins, the Islanders. It's almost all Eastern Conference teams in that month outside of Nashville. So for those wondering, oh, where are the Metro games at or where are the games against the E-Stat. They're coming, and they're coming really quick. So it's gut check time for this team. We are going to find out very fast once the All-Star break is done, what this team is made of.

So Penguins fans, go ahead and buckle up because we have got a bumpy ride ahead. But that's going to do it for this segment. When we come back, we're going to talk about some comments from Elliot Friedman about the future of this franchise. We're going to give our thoughts on that and what we think the Penguins should or could do. moving forward. But first, we've got to tell you about our next sponsor, and that is eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. From superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more, whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay guaranteed fit, your part is. guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want,

it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride or die alive at eBayMoters.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. We're back here for the final segment of the Tuesday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your co-host Patrick Damp,

joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. So I'm going to read here some comments from the one and only Elliot Friedman from his appearance on NHL Network on Monday night. And it's a bit of a curious thing. And I'm going to give my thoughts on the way it was transcribed real quick. Shout out to NHL underscore Watcher on Twitter. He does a great he or she, whomever they are. I don't want to assume they do a great job transcribing a lot of hockey podcasts and in Sportsnet content and all kinds of things for us who don't have. all day, every day to pay attention on that content.

So here it is. Friedman on the Penguins on NHL Network, quote, I don't think they're going to be buyers. Pittsburgh is not going to be trading first rounders or second rounders or their best prospects for short-term fixes. I think this is a team that realizes it needs to rebuild some of its capital. I think they'll try to do a quote, unquote, soft rebuild, strengthen up over the next two or three years and see what they can do

and we'll see what that means for some of their star players, end quote. So, again, not to critique this account. I think they may have missed a period when they wrote this up for the second part. I think what Elliot Friedman probably said was this. I think they'll try to do a soft rebuild, strengthen up over the next three years, and see what they can do. Period. We'll see what that means for their star players.

Because Elliot Friedman is a very smart hockey mind. guy has sources up and down. He has been around the sport forever. I think he knows full well that if they were to go into a soft rebuild, that's the end of Crosby, Malk, and Littang. Or maybe not all three of them, but maybe two of them. So because they're not going to stick around for a mini rebuild. They just aren't. They're at the point of their career where it is chasing, it's chasing championships while you still can. There's no, hey, we'll do this in a few years, time is the only undefeated entity in sports and it comes for everybody. So if Kyle Dubus were to tell these guys, hey, we're going to do a mini rebuild here, that the next,

the next sentence would be, where do you want to go? Right. No, you took the words right out of my mouth there. The Penguins made their bed this summer when Kyle Dubus in his first press conference said, if you want to bet against Cindy Crosby, of Guinea-Malkin and Crystal Tank, saying, you be my guest. He was betting on this score. And then he doubled down on it, Pat, when he added, oh, a $10 million cap hit in Eric Carlson. That's number one.

Ryan Graves for six years and $4.5 million per year. Alex Adulkevich, who has been awesome. Noa Chari, Lars Eller. And also, while doing that, sending out a lot of other players that the Hextall regime had acquired. You made all those moves with the intention of winning this year. Now, that said, I know this year hasn't gone, going to plan their outside of a playoff spot right now, but say he does mean maybe like a soft two to three year rebuild, right? Say there's no typo in there or anything.

What is going to make Sidney Crosby stick around for that? Because everyone likes to joke that, oh, yeah, you got to send him to a real contender. He's just wasting away on a penguin's team that's not doing very well. And yeah, it's funny a joke about it. But if they actually were to do a soft two to three year rebuild, he will probably be like, okay, send me to a contender, maybe like Colorado, because everyone likes to joke about Nathan McKinnon and him teaming up.

Send me a contender like him where I can play out the final couple years of my career and try to win a fourth Stanley Cup. He's not just going to settle for playing on a rebuilding team, even though he's in his late 30s. And neither will have Guinea Malkin and neither will Chris Latang. You can just blow it up right there. What the Penguins should do, in my opinion, especially if they missed the playoffs this year.

Say that happens, right? What they should do is reassess in the summer and make moves to bolster themselves for next season to continue to try and make the playoffs. You have an aging core at this point that is still producing at a relatively high level, especially Cindy Crosby. And yeah, Evgeny Malkins in decline,

but he's still having a pretty decent year. Krista Tang is playing at a high level. You've gotten what I think you've expected out of Eric Carlson. And now you're just going to do what? A soft rebuild for the sake of it? that just doesn't make too much sense to me. I get they may not want to buy at the deadline. That is a totally fair argument.

I think right now with where they are in the standings, you don't need to be spending a lot of assets to be, you know, getting the top rent toward the deadline and all that good stuff. But you also don't mean to be, again, doing a soft rebuild and trading away a bunch of assets who could help you for next season. That doesn't mean that they don't have to make changes during the off season. They will and should have to make changes.

But that's a summer. thing. What they should do, again, if they miss the playoffs, is to bolster themselves for next year because they've already made their bed. You owe it to Crosby to give him a winning team. And that is what Kyle Dubus should do. You can't just, you know, excuse my language, you can't just half-ass this thing. You either go all in again over the summer, or you just blow this whole thing up at the end of the day. That's their two options here. You can't just do a soft little we build at the end of the day. You can make little depth moves that can change the bottom six, maybe get another defenseman, but keep the same core in place while interchanging the other parts of the roster.

That is what I would do, or the other option, you just blow this whole thing up and start the rebuild early. There's no soft rebuild in my opinion. I think honestly, this, I've said it before on the show, I think this summer is going to bring about, regardless of what happens. The only way I see this not happening is if this team somehow lights itself on fire, and goes on to like the conference final or something. I think this is going to be a transformative summer. I think what Rossi wrote a few weeks ago about how Kyle Dubus could sit down and use what he has at his disposal to make this team younger and make this team faster by moving out some popular players. I think he's going to have that hard conversation with Crosby, Malkin, and Latang.

And just sit them down and go, listen, guys, I know you love Brian Rust. I know you love Jake Gensel. I know they're your boys. I know you've won Stanley Cups. But I need to fix the mess that the last regime left. And that means you're going to have to part with some popular players. You're going to have to maybe make some really tough decisions that I always point back to this trade. James Neal for Patrick Hornquist trade.

The Penguins didn't on paper win that trade. They lost that trade. They got fleeced. But they needed a culture reset. They needed a guy like James Neal to leave, and they needed a guy like Patrick Hornquist to come in and turn this team into a wrecking crew. That did all that and more when they made that trade. And I think this summer, he is going to have that conversation with the big three or four now,

if you want to count Eric Carlson, and just say, listen, you guys are still great. undoubtedly still four great players, but you need help. You need a better supporting cast. You're not 25 anymore. You can't put this team on your back on your own and carry them into the playoffs. You need guys to help you out. So I'm going to have to move the guys you like right now to get you more guys to help. And I agree with the first part of Friedman's take.

It's a seller's market this year. There's way too many teams still in the race. and a bunch of teams are only going to be targeting four or five teams for rentals and the market is going to go through the roof and the penguins won't be able to compete with that but what they will be able to do

is maybe move a couple guys at the deadline that might get you a nice little return and you can just say to Crosby, Malkin and Latang, listen, do what you can this year. If you get in, tremendous. We'll roll those dice all damn day. but if you don't, we're going to make changes this summer and we're going to get you back to where you need to be.

So there is no world, like you said, they made their bed. They're not going to rebuild because if they rebuild, it means everybody's going. Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Carlson, all the whole lot of them. Agreed. We're not there yet. No, I completely agree. And I keep going back to this on a lot of shows that we've done together. And I'll say it again here.

if you want to do something like what the capitals did at the deadline where they sold off a couple assets but then also said yeah we're doing a small retool on the fly we're going to keep the core together while also trying to make moves to bolster the team for next year during the off season okay i would maybe be okay with that because you're trying to make moves over the summer to balls for the team but again if you're just going to do a quote unquote soft rebuild just blow this whole thing up i wouldn't do that right now i still think this core has more to give so i would rather see what this team can do over the offseason with Cap Space and hopefully Kyle Dubus spends it a little more wisely to see if he can bolster this team with a better supporting cast for the core for next season.

Because I do think with the court, even though it's a bit aging, they can still get you to the playoffs, but they just need a little bit of more help. They need some more depth scoring from the bottom six. They need a little more help from the back end outside of Eric Carlson, Crystal Tang, and Marcus Peders. They need to help outside those three guys. You're getting the goaltending right now. And whoever is Jari's backup next year,

they'll need a good backup for that. But the main pieces I still think are in place for this team to get to the playoffs. They just need better players around them to help them. And that off season will provide the opportunity as long as you spend that cap space that you have wisely. It's not going to be as much cap space as you had this past summer, but it's still going to be enough where you can get a few pretty solid players

to help this team win for next season. So if I am Kyle Dubus in the Penguins Run Office, that is my plan. If you don't make the playoffs, make some changes in the off season, but bolster the core so that they can go give this another run next year because, let's face it. I don't think this team is a Stanley Cup contender right now. You agree with that. And I don't know if they're going to be a true cup contender next year, but you can get them at least maybe going a little bit in that direction,

at least have them get into the dance where anything can happen rather than just go and do a quote unquote soft rebuild. That just doesn't make any sense to me. To me, the bones of a contender are there. They just have to build a better body, so to speak. And they have the ability to do that, I think, because there's all, there are always GMs who will make panic moves because they didn't achieve as much as they wanted to and they think they got to go in a completely different direction or their

rebuild isn't going as fast as they had hoped. And that's where Kyle Dubas has to come in and take advantage of that. So we will see it's going to be a very interesting rest of the season and into this off season. If there's one thing you can say about the Pittsburgh Penguins, they are never boring. But that is going to do it for us on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you so much for joining us on another edition of this show. We appreciate you tuning in. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp, we will talk to you tomorrow when we've got a pretty unique guest coming on.

You're not going to want to miss that one. but we will talk to you tomorrow.