Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Grading the Penguins moves on free agent frenzy!

Episode Date: October 10, 2020

Free Agent Frenzy got off to a slower start than normal, but despite that, the Pittsburgh Penguins still made some moves. Hunter gives his thoughts on the Penguins bringing back Evan Rodrigues, and the newcomer Mark Jankowski as those were the only two signings for the Penguins today. Can Jankowski get back to his level that he displayed just a season ago? Should the Penguins have gone after some players with more offensive upside instead? Hunter ponders those questions, plus talks about what the lineup will look like now with those additions. Next, he goes around the league and gives his thoughts on some other signings, including Jack Johnson to the New York Rangers and Justin Schultz to the Washington Capitals. Finally, he looks at some of the overpayments that occurred across the league today.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.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 $10 off your first order.Door DashRight now, our listeners can get $5 off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKEDONNHL.RomanGo to getroman.com/lockedonnhl TODAY. If approved, you’ll get fifteen dollars off your first orderof ED treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, welcome to this late Friday evening episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow this show's Twitter at L-O-U- underscore Penguins. So I was trying to wait a bit to record this because, you know, you never know what your motherford. I know he spoke to the media at around 3 or 3.30 today. But even, you know, after doing that, he sometimes still likes to make moves. So, you know, I wanted to wait and make sure the penguins didn't do anything unexpected. They did not.

And we just had only two signings today for the penguins ever. Rodriguez was of course brought back on a one-year deal worth 700K and then Mark Jankowski was also brought to the team on a one-year deal worth 700K welcome Mark Jankelsky to the Pittsburgh Penguins for his first time being here so on the show today we're just going to talk about those signings what we'll get my thoughts on those just how they were just depth additions and then we'll also talk about free agency as a whole and how it was predicted that it was not going to be as busy as it normally would be but you know, there are still some really bad contracts handed out today, so we're going to touch on those

as well. But first off for the Penguins, it wasn't surprising that they did bring back Evan Rodriguez. I mean, it's also like a peak Jim Rutherford moment. I even tweeted out that he's kind of like a walking meme because he gets Evan Rodriguez in the deal for Dominic Cajoon and then Connor Sherry, of course. And then about a few months later, he dumps him to the Toronto Maple Leafs to get Casperi captain in that big package. And then not two full months later, they bring back Evan Rodriguez, are they one-year deal worth 700K? It's just a total Jim Rutherford experience. It was

just bound to happen. It really just makes me laugh at this point how Jim Rutherford operates. Like I said, he's just a walking meme at this point. But signing Rodriguez does make some sense. I mean, Josh Yo, he tweeted out earlier today. He said, yeah, Penguins management coaches thought Rodriguez was one of the best players during their training camp leading up to the series against Montreal. And when I saw that, it's like, why the hell wasn't he getting playing time? I even said on this podcast in case some of you guys have not listened to this podcast before, I thought Rodriguez should have had a fair shot to play in that series against Montreal. I mean, I liked what he was giving them during his time in the regular season.

I know he only played a few games for them, but he had a couple really, really nice goals. I know one of them was definitely against the Devils, I think in their last game before the pause, I think it was a five to two final, just rifled it over. Their goaltender was a gorgeous slap shot. And I just, I wanted to see more of him. And, you know, if they're going to talk him up like, oh, yeah, he's doing so great in training camp, then why the hell is he not getting a spot in the lineup over someone like 40-year-old Patrick Marlow who was just not doing anything for them during the playoffs? So it was just really, really odd why he didn't get a roster spot. I mean, I guess right now you're probably penciling him in on the third line.

I think Jim Rutherford talked today to the media after the two signings were announced. He said, yeah, we see Rodriguez on the third line right now. So we're going to get into the full lineup of what I think it's going to look like going into this season. in a little bit, but he's probably going to be the third line right winger, if I had to guess right now, because especially with Zach Aston Reese being heard, and he's going to miss probably the first couple months of the season. I think he's going to be back in February, March, somewhere like that, just because of the surgery that he had.

There's definitely going to be another open roster spot, you know, see Colton Seabier on the fourth liner Sam Lafferty, and then when Ashton Reese comes back, probably one of those guys will be out of it. So I'm going to table that discussion for later in this episode, but I mean, it's still, one year 700K, it's low risk, high reward. If you can get like 10 to 12 goals out of them in the bottom six, I think you're totally fine. He's good defensively. You can play on the penalty kill.

I know some people have already been saying, yeah, you know, why are you loading up on defensive specialist? You want more offense on that third line. And hey, I agree with you. In a perfect world or just in a better world, I would want the Penguins to have a more offensive third line and give Jared McCannes competent offensive line mates because I think he has more upside than Nick Benino did. I was having a conversation with Marcus earlier, who's just one of my really, really good friends,

and he agreed with that too. And I just don't think surrounding McCann with two defensive specialists will be good for him with his two-year contract that he agreed to. I mean, you maybe could have put Nick Cousins down there. He just signed a very cheap deal. I mean, Vinnie Hino-Straza. I think he went down to Florida, if I'm not mistaken. That would have been fine to play with Jared McCann.

I just, I wish they would have went for players with more offensive upside, though. I'm not going to get mad at players signing here for one year. 700k. That's just, that's the least of my worries at this point. And then let's just get to the Jankowski thing. I mean, this signing hinges on if he can get back to the level that he was playing at during 2017-18 and 2018-19, because he scored 14 goals or more in both of those two seasons. And then this past season, he has five goals and seven points. So, I mean, if he can get back to the level that he displayed before this season, this is going to be a slam dunk signing for the penguins, especially at 700K. I mean, four.

14 goals, you're making 700K, and you have a really good defensive impact on the team. That's just a flat out steal. There's no other way to say it, to be honest with you guys. So I think my grade for Jim Rutherford today, I'm going to give him maybe a B. I mean, he didn't really overpay for anyone. Thank God, he doesn't have the cab space to do it. He signed two players for 700K each. That's $1.4 million for the salary cap.

They still have, I think, a little less than $3 million of cap space to work with. Not really sure if there's going to be any other moves. I know Jim Rutherford did say they want to go out and sign a right-handed Depth Defensivement. I think Troy Stetcher is still out there in free agency. You can go and get him pretty cheap. That would make a lot of sense and he can compete for that number six job behind Chad Roodle. So, I mean, I just don't really expect a lot more from Jim Rutherford for this offseason. Basically all the moves have been made. So he's swapped out Patrick Hornquist, Jack Johnson, Matt Murray, Justin Schultz, and Nick Bukstad. And he's brought in Mike Matheson,

Evan Rodriguez, Kisbury Capitan, and Mark Janowski. Do I think they're a better team with those moves? I'm going to say yes. Though the boss. Bottom six does concern me. We all know how good they are in their top six. It's absolutely loaded. You can roll out Jake Ansel next to Sidney Crosby and Kisbury-Captan, and then you can roll Jason Zucker next to Hedney-Malkin and Brian Russ. That's one of the five best top sixes in hockey.

I think I know Kisbury Kaptan in an ideal world would be on your third line, but I think he should be able to be okay in your top six, but I mean, that's also me hoping, I think, at this point. And then you get to your bottom six. And I like Jared McCann, two-year deal below $3 million per, if his shooting percentage can go back to the way it was, he would be perfectly fine as the third line center. I just don't like all these defensive specialists in the bottom sex.

Because, you know, in 2016, 2009, the Penguins had a scoring third line. In 2009, you have Matt Cook with Jordan Stahl and Tyler Kennedy. It's one of the best third lines in the entire league. 2016, Carl Hagelin, Nick Benino, Phil Kessel. One of the best third lines in the entire league. And then 2017, he still had Nick Mino down there. Phil Kessel was also playing down there at times.

and then also Carl Haglam was down there most of the time. So you had an offensive third line, but now you're just going to put some defensive specialists down there. Like I said, I know they make 700K, but I would just rather you put the defensive specialist on the fourth line and then try to build your third line to be more offensively, like, minded. I just don't want your entire bottom six to be defensively minded because I think CK, you know, 4-04 response to go from Penguins' Twitter said it best. You know, the top two lines are loaded. the bottom two should probably stifle and chip in every now and then that's the hope i mean if you can

get 12 to 14 goals out of march and calis getting back to where it used to be get maybe 10 to 12 goals out of evan rodriguez jared mccann gets back to being like a 15 to 20 goal score that's a good third line but there's a lot of ifs in that statement because i'm not really sure any of that can happen the penguins are going to hope that it happens but will it who knows and then for your fourth line sack asser makes he's not going to score a lot he's one a really good shutdown winger. Brandon Tanev is kind of the same. He's elite defensively.

He's shot suppression numbers are outstanding. But if he can provide a little more offense, I think that can go a long way for this bottom six. And then Teddy Bluger is blossoming. I think before our very eyes, he's going to be a really good bottom six center for this team. So, I mean, I still at this point, like my big wish list for this all season,

they can get some more punch on the third line with some offensive scoring, though I don't really think it's going to happen in this point just because of the signings. And then, you know, Where does this leave Colton Severe? It almost just seems like he's going to get dealt before he plays a game. Because Rutherford was talking today about how he sees the third line right now is Jared McCann on the wing, which is just no thanks.

Mark Jankowski is the center, no thanks. And then Evan Rodriguez on the wing. I'm fine with Rodriguez on the right wing. He's a right-handed shot, but I'd rather you just play McCann at center, give him a full season's ride there, and then put Jankowski on the wing. And if you need someone else to come in and take draws, like Jankowski has done over the course of his career, he can go in and do it.

I really don't see the problem with that. You don't need a defensively minded center in Jankowski. You need someone in there like McCann who has more offensive upside and can hopefully bounce back after what was a very rough second half of the season for McCann. So those are basically my thoughts on the moves. I'll give Jum Rupp. I'll give Jum Rup to B. Didn't have the money to overpay.

Thank the Lord on that. And he just made the team deeper, especially in the bottom six, even though I wish they would have had some more offensively gifted players to the bottom six. So, you know, still the offseason is young at this point. there could still very well be moves made during the course of this off season. This free agent frenzy is only just begun. There's still a lot of really good players out there that have not been signed. But before we get to our next segment, it is time to talk about Biltco.

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I did not see him getting that much. I am very thankful that the Penguins did not even entertain the idea of giving him that contract because that would have just screwed up their salary cap situation worse than it already is. So thank goodness for Jim Rutherford for sending him to Ottawa. But also, I mean, I think Ottawa just also has to get to the cap floor. I don't think they're near it still right now. Oh, yeah, they have to ice an NHL caliber roster. I remember Travis Yost was tweeting yesterday.

He was by guys, like, are you surprised that Ottawa is doing this stuff? They have to build a competitive roster. You need a goalie. They're in a mega rebuild right now. They're going to stink again next season, even with Matt Murray. So they have to just add players because, I mean, what are you going to ice your whole HL team? I mean, that would be pretty pointless if you ask me.

So, yeah, they got to spend money at some point. I was just very, very stunned that they gave Matt Murray a 6.25. million per year contract over four years. That was just ridiculous. It still is ridiculous. Whenever I saw that, I thought back to the, I think it was the Bob McKenzie meme from a few years ago, I think with Derek England going to the flames. And it was like, that's per year. And they were like, yep, it sure was. That was just all, I always think back to that clip. I'm trying to find that clip on YouTube. I don't know where it is. I just, I know I've seen that clip so many times throughout the years. Other deals today that really caught my eye that just really made me laugh. Of course,

we ought to start with Jack Johnson as well, going to the New York. Rangers on a one-year deal, I think 1.2 million for that deal. Just what a yikes. You know, first day of free agent frenzy, and Jack Johnson is one of the players that gets a contract. And the Penguins will be playing against him four to five times, so that's absolutely perfect. What a big dump for the Penguins with that one.

I can't wait to see how they just toast Jack Johnson. And I don't know where they're going to play him in the lineup. Hopefully on the top pairing with Adam Fox, that would be absolutely hysterical, but probably not. They're probably going to play him on the bottom pairing with, I don't even know at this point. I don't really know the Rangers defense that well. You know, oh, maybe him and Tony DeAngelo. That would be a hilarious pairing, but, you know, I don't know if they're going to do that either. And then the other one, Justin Schultz, two-year deal to the Washington Capitals, 4 million per season.

I first saw that from Darren Durger. I was like, are the Capitals out of their minds? I don't know what version of Justin Shultz the Capitals think they're getting, but it's not the 2016 version of him walking through that door. And it certainly is not the 2017 version of him walking through that door when he had basically 50 points when Chris Lattang was hurt for most of that season. I've seen some Capitals fans on Twitter trying to justify that signing. Oh yeah, look at his possession without Jack Johnson. Look at his expected goals without Jack Johnson.

It's like, okay, I mean, Jack Johnson's going to drive down anyone, first of all. And if you actually took the time and watched Justin Schultz on a nightly basis, he was pretty bad when he was not on the ice with Jack Johnson or if he was on the ice with Jack Johnson. His level of play has just dipped quite a bit, these last few years. Ever since that ankle injury, honestly, in 2017, 18, it just hasn't really been the same for him since. And I was having, like, a good conversation with a good friend of my on Twitter, who's just a great Capitals fan. Baltimore Davy, Dave, if you ever listened to this

podcast, well, thank you for one. And I just want you to know, I love you. You know, we were having, like, a good debate about the sign. You know, he always has to put it in his own Mike Matheson dig in there because his contract is until 2026, which is a fictional year at this point. But, I mean, I just don't think Justin Schultz is going to get back near to the level that he played at in 2016 and 17. You know, they can put him on a top four pairing with Dimitri Orlov, but I don't really expect Matured to be able to carry Justin Cholz. That's just not going to happen at this point. I can get a team taking a flyer on him, signing him to like a short-term deal,

two to three million per, but four million per for him after the level that he's had these last few seasons, you know, watching him on a nightly basis just barf all over himself in the defensive zone. And yes, I get it. He's played with Jack Johnson a lot these last couple seasons, but he's also played a good amount of minutes away from him. And sure, you know, maybe his possession or expected goals for percentage goes up a little bit. It's not by much. So I really have a hard time seeing how that signing is going to be a good one in Washington.

I just feel like Justin Schultz just has lost all of his steps at this point. I think Jesse Marshall said at best that's about $3.1 million more than I would have paid him after the last couple years of his on-nice results. And especially, honestly, going back to 2017-18, where the decline really was. started for Schultz. But honestly, there wasn't really like a lot of other signings to laugh at today. I mean, we did see Jacob Markstrom go to the Calgary Flames six years by six million per. That's, they're going to regret that by like year two or three.

I'm never a fan of giving goalies that much term and especially that much money. Jacob Markstrom, I think is a good goaltender, but is he worth that six million per year that he's going to be getting from the flames? Hell no, he's not. I don't think he's ever going to live up to that contract. And like I said, the term especially, that's just. just a no-go for me. And Jim Benning actually made a good move and decided not to bring back Markstrom. That Holti contract was actually a hell of a deal. Two years, 4.3 million for him,

4.3 million per, I should say. I know he had a bad season this past year, but I honestly thought someone was going to give him like 5.5 to 6.5 million per or something like that. So the fact that Benning was able to get him for not even 4.5 million per season for those two years, that's awesome. and he's going to be, I think, eligible to be in the Seattle expansion draft because, of course, they're going to protect Thatcher Demko. So, you know, that's a great move there by Jim Benning to Steinholpe. Of course, he's going to be starting next year and the season after that unless he's not taken by Seattle. But then after that, if he's not taken by Seattle, you can just hand the reins over to Thatcher Demko,

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So welcome back to this episode, Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm not going to keep you guys here to two to long dress, probably a couple minutes. I think the best deal that we saw today was that Kevin Shattern Kirk won for the Ducks. I think it was like three years, 3.9 million per season or something like that. They're going to get good value out of them. I honestly thought someone was going to sign Shattern Kirk to like 4.5 to 5 million per or something like that.

But Bob Murray definitely, I think, won the day with that. They can stick him in the top four. He was really good offensively this last season for the Tampa Lightning. I know the lightning are pretty stacked. But the numbers that he put up were good. Defensively, he was much, much improved. That's a slam dunk signing for the Ducks. And even though they're not really going to be competing that hard next year,

I know they have John Gibson in that and anything's really possible with that. That's still just a great, great signing by Bob Murray. And before we do get to some other good signings, just wanted to report right now, well, it's just been reported by Elliot Friedman, so I'm just going to be saying it on this podcast. I don't know why I said I'm going to be reporting it because, you know, I'm not an actual lucky insider like Elliot Friedman. But apparently Chris Tanniv is closing in on a move to go to the Calgary Flame.

so I am excited to see that contract and see if that's an overpayment. We all know the Penguins had a lot of interest in Kristana. Thank God another team was able to bail Jim Rutherford out of that mistake, even though the Penguins just don't have a lot of cap space right now anyway. But anywho, back to the good signings. Nick Cousins to Nashville, that's a great one to two years, I think a million and a half per season. He's good defensively and he can put up some offense. That was another player that I was hoping the Penguins would go after.

I know I didn't say it on the podcast, so I just totally forgot that he was a free agent until just like right after so you know that's my fault um here's another one this is a good one tj brodie four years five million per brodie was much better this season for the flames he actually i think was playing with gerdano for most of his minutes his digestion went up his production went up just a much better year for bode he gets rewarded handsomely he can play on the left side for toronto i don't think they're going to put him on the top herring of us of course that's Morgan riley's job so i guess they're just going to put him right behind riley i mean that's perfectly fine for where he is right now in his career and breaking news.

So it looks like the Chris Tannave signing 4 years, 4.5 million per season in Calgary. Thank God Jim Rutherford did not do that because if he had cap space, he would totally would have went five years, $5 million per for Chris Tannaf because he just never learns his lesson in free agency. Tanev's decline is already here. He's gotten worse defensively over the last couple of seasons. Brad Cholovain just couldn't help himself. Pay Chris Tanev, four and a half million per for four years.

That's going to be a great candidate to have a buyout for in the next couple of years. that contract is just going to be really bad, I think, for the flames. But, anyhow, just a couple more signings that I thought were really good today. Camp Talbot to Minnesota, I think that's going to be fine. He was good for Calgary this past season in Minnesota needed a goalie, and he's an upgrade over Devin Duneck. That's all I'll say, and they didn't really have to pay out of the bank to get him. So I'm fine with that.

It's a good move by Billy Aaron. I don't mind Kyle Turris to Edmonton. I think it was a two-year deal. He's barely making, I think, a couple million per year. That's a good potential bounce back. candidate for next season. So I guess we're just going to have to see on that. I don't really mind the Henrik Lungwist deal with the capitals.

I mean, it's just going to be really weird seeing Lundquist there as a capital anyway. But from a Penguins standpoint, the Penguins have just owned Lungquist ever since the 2016 playoff series where they dispatched the Rangers in five games. So I couldn't care less if Henrik Lungquist is going to the capitals. But other than that, I think that's basically it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm sure there's going to be more moves made over the next couple of days. We did see Tawry Krug, go to the same.

St. Louis Blues today. I think it's like seven years, six and a half million per. Little too rich, I think, for my taste. And apparently, Tori Kruhe, he was really shading the Bruins after that announcement came out, basically said they hadn't had contract talks in the year. That's embarrassing, Don Sweeney. I'm sure Bruins fans are not going to take that well, but yeah, that's just, that's very embarrassing. That Don Swini did not have contracts with him in over a year. Well, at least that's according to Tori Krug. But thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, Lockdown Penguins podcast. We'll be back with you.

with five more episodes coming next week. Go Steelers this weekend. Go Hokies this weekend. Big matchup against North Carolina for Virginia Tech. And then, of course, for the Steelers, big matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. So, again, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

Have a great weekend, and I will talk to you all again on Monday.