Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Grading the Penguins offseason moves with Kelsey Surmacz!

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

It's a feel-good Friday episode as Patrick and Hunter are joined by first-time guest Kelsey Surmacz of The Hockey News! In this episode, they discuss the direction of the Penguins, Kyle Dubas's offseason so far, which players they're watching closely this upcoming season, and figuring out what the expectations are for them this year.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 eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We have a first-time guest for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, and that's coming up right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Sin and For Wet. and you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day.

We are free and available on all platforms. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more as the playoffs wind down. The sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, Fandle is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There is something for everyone every day all summer long. Visit fandul.com to get started.

So joining us today for the very first time on this show is Kelsey Sermats of the Hockey News and probably also one of the most underrated follows on Penguins Twitter. Kelsey, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. Thank you for that. And I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, so just to kick things off here. Kyle Dubus was a bit busy this week helping the St. Louis Blues screw over the Edmonton Oilers a little bit. And it's always a good day to screw over the Oilers with their cap situation, especially. And also trading for Cody Glass. What do you make of those two moves. Pat and I discussed them in length on our Wednesday episode, but when you really

think about it, Kelsey, what do you think of the two moves that Dubus made there? Look, I think you guys kind of already mentioned it on Wednesday, but he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do. There's a lot of transparency, which is kind of refreshing. I mean, we've seen in the past with Hexol and even with Rutherford at times, that hasn't been the case. But I think it kind of signals a very clear direction for where this team is going. And, you know, I think this is, like you said the other day on the show, this is probably the closest we're going to get to a rebuild while, while Crosby and Coe is still on the team.

And I like the approach. He's stockpiling draft picks. You know, he's got three third rounders next year. They lost that second rounder, but I think that's, they can get that back at some point during the season, too. So I don't think he's done. I think there's going to be probably more to come, a big logjam in the bottom six. But I really like the direction that he's taking this.

It's definitely nice. And I said this to Hunter on Wednesday's show. When you look at what the penguins have gone through, through the end of the last two managements, where it didn't really feel like there was so much of a plan as in so much so that they were just kind of throwing whatever they could at the wall in seeing what stuck. And it just felt directionless, it felt rudderless. And you might not like the direction that this team's going now,

but this is probably the best path for them to take, given where they are both with the core guys and everything else surrounding them. But building off of something you said, and Hunter and I touched on it briefly, you wrote in depth about this, and I'd love to get your thoughts on it more, is you brought up it's time for the penguins to offer sheet Nicholas Robertson. And both of us, we have a full endorsement for you on that idea.

We think it's a great idea they should do it. But for the people who may not have read that story, give us some insight on to why you think it's right for the penguins to send an offer sheet his way. Yeah. I mean, first of all, I want to kind of jump back a little bit to one of the trades they made for Cody Glass. So similarly to Glass, Robertson is a young forward. He's 22 years old. You know, has top six upside, spent a lot of time in Toronto's bottom six last year, played a little bit with Max Stomie, a little bit with John Tavares. He was kind of jumping all up and down the

lineup last year. But he still put out 14 goals, 27 points, and 11 minutes of ice time per night. you played 56 games I think so basically you're looking at a guy just like glass who needs a change of scenery he requested a trade from Toronto earlier this summer they extended him a qualifying offer 813,000 he did not accept it

so just the whole situation brewing here I think it presents a perfect opportunity for do this to really jump on this and I think it would kind of also signal that same direction that they're taking with players like Glass, where you know, here's a guy who would be low cost, low risk, high upside, he's young. And, you know, you're kind of still throwing something at the wall for this season.

I think that's kind of their general approach, their stockpiling draft picks, but they're kind of hoping to compete. You know what I mean? I don't think they're trying to compete, but it's kind of, well, if it works out, great if it doesn't, fine. And this is one of those cases where you can take a chance, a guy who has a lot of upside. I mean, he can slot right in next to Crosby on the left.

He's got a shot that plays well at the NHL level. He's got a decent two-way game. I know you mentioned Pat the other day that he's not afraid to play physically as well. So I really think that this is just a great opportunity for Dubus. And if he offers in that upward range, you're that 2.29 million. It'll kind of force her on his hand a little bit. Um, their cap straps, they're only 1.2 million under the cap. And, um, you know, they, they have that hawk and pass contract that nobody really knows what's going on with.

If he ends up, they end up finalizing that. That's another 1.5 million and they already have to offload salary. So if anything, it forces Toronto's hand. It gives dubus to kind of, this chance to kind of be a villain in Toronto again. And yeah, I mean, I'd love to see that happen. Yeah, I mean, a revenge offer seat would just be so much fun to see. Just because of the meltdown, I think that would ensue in Toronto. But I do think for Robertson, yeah, we discussed us a little bit.

He's just a really good middle six option for this team. As you said, he can play up with Cindy Crosby if, for example, Drew O'Connor doesn't work up there for some games, but it also does allow O'Connor to move down to the third line, which, again, at times I do think is more comfortable for him just because I'm not fully sure he's going to be a full-fledged top-tick swinger for the rest of his career, but he has shown it in spurts, overall. And I also do agree with you about just this season in general. I don't think the

penguins are fully trying to be good or great this year. I think their best case scenario, as I said on Wednesday, and I think you definitely agree. It sounds like if they make the playoffs, great, that's better than expected. They went around. I think that's even way better than expected. But just based on all the moves they've made, they're just like, yeah, we're kind of setting up for these next two years. But hey, if we still go on a really fun run this year, you know, the more than merrier at this way. I think the same, the same situation I think you could be said for the end of last season where they got in, that would have been awesome, but it's kind of a similar for this year too. Yeah. And just to piggyback off

on something you said there too and jumping back just a little bit for a second. I do think this approach to stockpiling draft picks is a really smart move by Dubus on many fronts, especially, you know, if they're trying to still compete in the Crosby, which I do think they're going to try to compete while Cid's still here. I think that much is apparent they're kind of trying to, I think, rebuild on the fly akin to something the capitals have done. The blues are trying to do. You know, there's a couple other examples out there.

But the nice thing about stockpiling these picks is that it gives you options. It gives you a little bit of flexibility. Dubis doesn't have to keep all them. And that's why, you know, when you have three third rounders next year and the offer sheet cost for Robertson is kind of projecting in that same range, that's a player you take a chance on. And that's a pick that becomes expendable. So keep stockpiling draft picks. And like I said before, take chances on these young forwards and change of scenery. Right.

And the other thing that I am a huge fan of building off of your point is, is you look at the way Kyle Dubus has kind of operated when he was in Toronto. He did the same kind of thing with draft picks. You would see him trade back at the draft a lot to get, say, two picks in the third or two picks in the fourth rather than one in the second and one in the third. And when you play that numbers game that everybody knows the draft is, you're, you probably have a better chance of getting a valuable. NHL player or at the very least a prospect that can help you later on when you have multiple

picks in a round rather than just one pick per round. And when you look at his stated goal of we got to rebuild this prospect pipeline, there is way better odds for him to get viable prospects with multiple picks per round rather than, okay, we got this first round pick, we got this second round pick, maybe a third round pick. So big fan of that. Overall, though, I look at this strategy and I think, and I want to get your thoughts on that real quick, is I think it gives them two directions. If this team somehow finds a way to be competitive this season, you now have a boatload of picks and a lot of them become expendable and that can actually help you if you're looking

to make some kind of a push. Oh, absolutely. And I mean, if we're being honest at the juncture that they're out right now, now. I mean, I know I've seen all the fans clamoring for someone like Linae and stuff. Those things don't really make sense at this point. But, I mean, to be honest, they, they have really short off some bottom six steps this year. I think it's very, it's worth noting that they're starting the earth out Gensel. So in terms of them being better on paper this year, I'm not sure that that's the case. But, I mean, I think another factor here, too, is,

with David Quinn. We know how the power play has kind of basically been the reason they missed the playoffs the last two years. And it'll be kind of interesting to see that play out too because if they can get their power play back to even league average, I mean, they'll probably be around

the same spot last year where they're hanging around. Deadline time, they're just kind of hanging around a playoff spot. So I, stockpiling these picks just gives you options, like I said. And I think that that's, that flexibility is something that they haven't had in a very long time.

And as you said, to kind of piggyback off that, you know, it gives you multiple directions. And you can kind of react rather than, you know, worry about keeping all the cupboard stocked. Because, I mean, they have a lot of picks at this point. So it gives them a lot of options and flexibility to react to how the season is going. For sure. I'm hoping that Quinn does invigorate some fresh ideas for this power play and get them just away from some of these old habits that it feels like they've had for the last several years at this point. But that would do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to continue our conversation with Kelsey, get her thoughts on who her favorite acquisition has been from Kyle Dubus this past offseason,

plus other things relating to the Penguins off season and heading into the 24-25 season. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is fantastic. Duel. I love sports. I love them so much that I never want them to stop. But as the playoffs wind down, we get fewer games in the sports aren't sporting like I want them to. But Fandul lets me keep the sports going whenever I want. All you have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the mood. And this summer, Fandle is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There is something for everyone every day all summer long. So head on over to Fandul.com and start making the most out of your summer.

that's Fando, the official fourth betting partner of Major League Baseball. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunts for Hodes, joining by my co-host Patrick Damp and our special guest, Kelsey Sermats, of the Hockey News. So, Kelsey, Pat and I have discussed this quite a bit on the show over the offseason. If you had to pick one move that is your favorite from the ones that Dubas has made, which one would it be? Yeah, I think I'd have to go with the glass trade.

I think there's a lot of upside there. And I mean, obviously they got another pick, which is huge. Two other picks, actually. They got the third rounder and the sixth rounder. So, yeah, I mean, like we said before, picks is kind of the name of the game this year. But honestly, that Kevin Hage trade is looking a lot better now. Because if you look back on it at this point,

they essentially got Hayes for a fifth round pick. There's still retention. And I do think hopefully a change of scenery will benefit him. here. But yeah, I'd have to go with the Glass trade just because, you know, Glass was drafted in the first round by Vegas in their very first draft, 2017, 6th overall. And I mean, he hasn't quite lived up to the hype, the bill of being a first round draft pick at this point, at least offensively. But I do think there's more to offer there. And I think you mentioned this on the podcast the other day, Hunter, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some time with

Crosby, you know, just to kind of bring out that offensive potential that he has, because he does play a solid two-way game. And I think this is somebody that, you know, Pence fans are going to like. But aside from trades, you mentioned trades. The one acquisition I really like is Blake was up. I think Penguins fans are really going to like him. He plays a very hard line game. Kind of sheeds a tan of, I think, kind of brings out that vibe a little bit.

But I think there's a lot of potential with him in the bottom six as well. So by the pick two would be the Lazot signing in the glass train. We're going to have to keep bringing Kelsey on on days when Hunter isn't available because just they are synced up because he said the exact same thing. So nice to have us just sitting here agreeing with one another. One other part of the off season from Kyle Dubis that I think surprised a lot of us. and definitely surprised the three of us on this show right now, was bringing back Alex and the Delcovic.

We all pretty much figured that this guy, if nothing else, there's going to be another middle of the road team, similar to the Penguins that's looking for an upgraded net, and he's going to work pretty cheap and look like a viable starting goalie for the work that he did at the end of the season. But I want to get your thoughts on that and just a goaltending situation overall, because I've very much been on record now as saying that now that you have Nadelcovich back, it basically has to be a near 50-50 split just to keep Jari fresh and from burning out.

But do you kind of agree with that or do you think this is going to be kind of more of the same for the penguins this year? Yeah, I do think of all his moves this summer, that one was definitely kind of the most puzzling. I think most expected him to walk out in free agency. But honestly, to me, this kind of signals, and this is just me kind of spitball in here, but it kind of signals how they feel about Tris and Jari to a certain extent. I still kind of, that still sticks in my head how they didn't start him in that last Islanders game this last season. And, you know, we've heard rumors of Jari being on the trade block earlier this summer and at the trade deadline. So it kind of makes you wonder what their, I want to say long-term plan is for goaltending,

but even for this year. Because they also have BloomQuest. They have Nourashev now down in Wolksbury. That's probably going to be the tandem down there, I would assume. So, I mean, you have goaltending depth. It's not something they have a shortage of. So I'm very curious to see, A, if Jari is still on the trade block, if they do try to move him. I don't think at this point it's going to be this summer.

And I do think that that's something you can be reactive with. If they're kind of out of it, it might be something where they look to move as contracts. But I think in terms of the split, I agree with you. I think it kind of has to be 50-50 to help manage Jari's workload. But also, I mean, just their confidence in Jari kind of seems to be at a low point. So I'm kind of curious to see how that plays out in camp and to start the season here. Yeah, we've been getting a couple of comments about like, oh, could they still trade Jari? Could they still do it?

It's like probably not right now considering A, it's mid-August and B, I feel like every team right now is pretty good on goaltending. I think that changes, though, once the season starts and maybe, you know, a team starter gets hurt or a backup gets hurt, something like that. And maybe that team comes calling because the penguins have so much goaltender depth right now. there's not going to be spaces for everyone to start, you know, Wheeling, Wilkesbury, obviously the Penguins as well. So that's going to have to be either A, an in-season move for the Penguins, if they're really out of it, or B, a move next summer after another year on Jari's contract. I do want to get your thoughts on someone like Brayden Yeager, you know, Science's ELC this summer. I know a lot of people are very excited about it. Pat and I are very much excited about

Braden Yeager, and there's a potential chance that he gets a nine-in-game tryout, but I do think people need to pump the brakes a little bit on some of his hype. I've seen some crazy comparisons out there. It's like, yes, it's fun having a top prospect in the system, but I don't think this kid's going to be, you know, an 85, 90-point player. He hasn't even played an initial game yet. But if you had to guess, would you say there is a good shot that he's able to earn a nine-game tryout this year out of training camp? I think, realistically, especially when you look at the logjam of awards the penguins have. I think at this point it's kind of hard to see him making the roster in any capacity

right now. I don't think it's the worst thing for him to go back to juniors for one more year and kind of just work on some things that they kind of want him to shore up his game a little more. But yeah, I mean, before the glass trade, I would have said that maybe there was a shot because there's a, you know, they need scoring depth. I mean, that's no secret. But going along with what we said earlier, I mean, I don't think this year there's really a push to compete.

They're kind of more hoping to compete this year, but that's not really the focus. And I think in terms of hampering expectations, you don't want to send his development. I mean, this is the best prospect of penguins have had in years, like a long, long time. And I think for a lot of people, it's just kind of something where they're going to, getting hyped about the fact that the penguins actually have someone like this in the system, which is understandable. But I think realistically, there's probably not much of a shot with the roster this season just because of the logjam of forwards.

But who knows? I mean, you don't know what's going to happen in camp. They'll have to move out contracts. They'll probably have to waive a few people. And if he impresses in camp, maybe that nine game trial happens. but realistically speaking, I think we're more likely to see him back in juniors this year. Yeah, I kind of agree with that. I actually wouldn't be against him getting the nine game tryout this year just for the fact that he did not look at all out of place for the majority of camp last year.

He looked like someone who has NHL potential. In no world was he ready yet. but you kind of saw the way he played, the way he conducted himself. And yes, it was preseason and a lot of guys who aren't going to be NHL players were part of it. But you just saw that he had those instincts to play. But overall, my main thing is can he take that next step forward? Can he go from looking like the dominant player he was in juniors all of last year and can it translate? So do you really, do you have any hopes for that?

I mean, I don't, again, I think we're all in agreement here. He's not going to be playing in a penguin sweater this year. But basically, would you want to see the same kind of thing? Maybe a quick tryout or at the very least does he stick all the way through camp? Yeah, I mean, I'd love to see that. I think any Penn fans too would love to see that. And honestly, like I kind of, when I'm thinking of the situation with Yeager, and talking about the nine-game trial.

I always think about Jordan Stahl back in 2006. You know, nobody expected Stahl to make the roster coming straight out of the draft. And obviously, the situation with Malkin that year kind of complicated things because Malkin couldn't start the year, start the season with the team. He kind of came a few games in. So what they did was they gave Stahl that nine-game trial run, and he scored three short-handed goals and impressed so much that they had no short-hand. but to keep him on the roster. So I don't think there's any hurt by, you know, keeping him at least through camp.

But if he impresses enough in camp, I mean, like we've said, we need score in depth. The penguins need scoring depth. You know, he's profiling, kind of trending towards being an already an effective middle six-winger. Top six, very high upside there. So, I mean, there's no hurt in that nine-game trial run. and you know if he looks out of place, if it looks like he's kind of a step behind, you send him back to juniors,

and if he pulls a stall and impresses anyone, hey, keep him around. And that kind of gives you a little shot to compete this year as well. So I'm curious to see how that plays out. Yeah, they just have to be careful just because I don't want to just burn a year of his ELC for the sake of it. I mean, I know it's going to start next year,

regardless even if he doesn't, you know, get the trial at this. year, but I just don't want to burn one of it, one year of it, this year at least just for the sake of it, just because, you know, I want to make sure he will be able to do it for a full season overall. But that'll do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're going to get Kelsey's thoughts on expectations for Ryan Graves this season and just expectations, I think, for this team overall, where she sees this team finishing in the Metropolitan Division standings. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our

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get 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 make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins. Keep your ride or die live at eBaymotors.com eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guarantee fate is only available to you as customers. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Join by my host, Patrick Damp, and our special guest, Kelsey Sermatz of the hockey news. So I think this year, this is a massive year for Ryan Graves after how bad he was last year, got demoted to the third pairing quite a bit. Last season was well below expectations.

I was one of the people who was a lot higher on him than some of the people on Penguin's Twitter, but he was just a disaster, whether it's offensively, defensively, in transition, but he just couldn't do anything right. But he'll have a shot at least. to maybe start the season playing better on the bottom pairing. I think to me he's going to have to earn top four minutes again after how last year went. And as Pat and I have discussed a couple of times, Dupus really went at Ryan Graves at his end of season press conference. Basically said he stunk without saying it.

And if he's just as bad this year or just bad overall, I think they could look to move on from him after this season. But Kelsey, what are your expectations for Graves this year going into year two of this very long contract? Well, first of all, I mean, I don't think it can get much worse than last year. I hope not anyways. So, I mean, I know a lot of fans were kind of pooling for them to somehow offload his contract. The reality is nobody wants that contract right now. You're not going to be able to sell off a guy coming off a year like that.

A buyout really isn't in the penguin's best interest right now. So they're kind of stuck with rolling with them. What I do like, and we've talked about, you know, the log jam at forward depth. We got a logjam at goaltending. Well, they also signed a bunch of defensemen this off season. So I think that'll kind of give Graves more of an opportunity to kind of sit on that third pairing, reduce his minutes, and hopefully find his game a little bit more this year. I think for what the penguins want him to be, they kind of expected him to almost be the shutdown partner next to Crystal Tang.

I don't think he's ever profiled as that kind of defenseman. So I'm hoping that this season we see him start to round out his game a little bit more and get more comfortable. And I know even like, you know, people talk all the time about how it takes players to time to get acclimated to a new team. And that's even more true for defensemen. It takes defensemen a while to adapt to new systems, learn, you know, everything that the new system has to offer. So as is the case with Carlson this year, just kind of hoping to get a little bit of improvement on that. And it's the same thing with Graves. It was a struggle for him last year.

And I think being on the third pairing, assuming that Grizzlick is on the second pairing, just kind of hoping to see him find his game a little bit more and round out both sides, especially defensively. He needs to be a little bit better on the defensive end, a lot better. Sorry. I rambled a little bit there. Yeah, but that's putting it mildly. He needs to be better defensively. You also brought up another name that the Penguins brought in this offseason.

It's another guy that fits into that kind of low risk, high reward, looking for a bounceback guy on the blue line. And that's Matt Griswick. And I look at his game and he kind of brought it up himself when he had his introductory media availability and basically said, like, things just snowballed on. me. I couldn't find consistency. I know I'm a better player than this. So you look at his body of work. And I think it's very similar in a sense to Ryan Graves, where you look at the totality of his career and think there's more here than what we saw last season. So for Grizzlic, essentially, what are your

expectations for that guy? Because similar to how Hunter was pretty high on Ryan Graves last year, I'm buying on Matt Grizzlic now because I think there's a lot more there for him to be a valuable part this team. I agree. I think, you know, it kind of goes along with this whole reclamation project approach that the Kyle Dupus is taking to the offseason, the players that he's bringing on the roster. And I think he's another perfect example. He kind of, like you said, there was a lot of inconsistency with Boston last year. And it would just be nice to kind of see him round out his game. I think honestly, he might be a good fit alongside a Latangor Carlson, because in my opinion, I think he's more, I would consider him more stay-at-home

defenseman rather than Graves. I think that fits the bill for him a little bit more. And, you know, I expect him to kind of find a stride a little bit this year. I don't want to, you know, heighten my expectations too much as we did with Braves last year. Because I'm with Hunter. I was kind of, I had high hopes for Graves. And I think with Briswick, there's a little bit more consistency in his game, even though he, you know, struggled a little bit last year. But he's shown flashes in the past where, you know, he can be a reliable defenseman.

And I think that's all the penguins need him to be. So as long as the expectations aren't sky high, which I don't think they are. this year, hopefully it'll kind of read this environment where he can, you know, get back to what made his game strong in the first place. Yeah, he was an analytics darling just as soon as a couple years ago, honestly. That's when I was really advocating for the Penguins to get him on the team. Obviously, his play has fallen off a little bit these last couple of years, but I am hopeful that he'll be able to rediscover that part of his game a little bit. I do expect him to start the season with Chris Let's hang. I think they're going to do that, Peders and Carlson

pairing that worked really well last year. And then Ryan Graves will go with whoever else is on the third pair, whether that's, you know, Jackson and Ivany, Sadash and Aho, et cetera, et cetera. But last one I have for you here, Kelsey, when you look at the Metropolitan Division right now, where do you think the Penguins stack up? Obviously, I don't think you're going to put them, you know, number one, number two with Carolina and the Rangers and maybe up there with the Devils, obviously, either. But where would you rank them right now when you look at the other team?

in the Metro heading into the season. Yeah, I think it's going to be pretty similar to last season. They're going to be teetering right on the edge of the playoffs, probably in that like four, five-ish-ish spot. Like I said, I mean, I think a lot of what's going to happen depends on the power play still. So if they can get that power play going and Quinn can kind of figure something out,

both with personnel and systemically, I think that they have a shot at cracking the playoffs, but I certainly agree. I don't think we're going to see them in a top one-two standings point at the end of the year. At best, they'll magically get into the third spot, I think. But I think it's going to be more of the same from last year where you see them kind of pushing for a playoff spot at the end and either making it by a few points or missing by a few points,

like it has been the last couple seasons. Right. That's been my take for this team all offseason so far is basically, and I don't mean this in the literal definition of they're going to be a wild card team. This team just is a wild card. You could tell me, hey, they're going to make the playoffs comfortably, maybe even sneak into a top three or just, you know, the third spot in the metro. You could tell me, hey, they're going to just squeak in as a second wild card, or they could miss just completely again for the third straight year.

But I will say this. And this is like the last thing I've got for you because I want to get your quick thoughts on this. I'm actually like mildly excited for this season because the last few years, there's been a lot of knowns. Like we know this guy's going to do his thing. We know that guy's going to do his thing. But we kind of know how this story is going to end. This season, good few reclamation.

projects with a lot of upside. There's a couple of younger players who are pushing for spots. And you know that the big guns are motivated after two straight years of missing the playoffs. So I think low key, this is kind of an exciting season on the horizon. Yeah. And I agree. I think at the very least, I mean, I know I've seen you tweeting about this country like training camps should be exciting this year. There's just going to be a lot of guys battling for a few spots. They actually have some bottom six depth. I don't think. that they have had the last couple years. I mean, I know if you look at it kind of in a vacuum,

the moves kind of seem pretty similar. But the one thing that I just think that kind of separates this season is, like you said, Pat, they're going for reclamation projects. And it's not like these are, most of them anyways, aren't, you know, 33-year-old reclamation projects. Like they're actually going out and getting these younger guys with some upside that might have more to offer. And, you know, I'd rather have, you know, a 25-year-old Cody Glass in the bottom six

than some 33-year-old. I mean, even if they end up dealing Eller, you know, his contract is expiring at the end of the season anyways. But you're injecting that bottom six with some youth and some upside that we haven't seen in the last couple years. And they also have some guys knocking at the door, too. You know, you got Pater Mara, you got Gager-Pawks. possibly. I mean, Poland's still around, hopefully. So, yeah, I mean, they have options. And I don't sleep on Val Terry Pusin either. I think he had a lot of strong underlines last year. His analytics were in really good shape. It was just about the finish. So I'm hoping that we kind of, maybe we'll

get to see him alongside Malcpin a little bit more this year or two, since Raquel has a little bit of positional flexibility. But, you know, I'm, I'm open to being a pretty positive, you know, training camp and seeing what happens this year. For the old team, the bottom six, Kelsey, you can just say Jeff Carter. I know, it breaks my heart, but you can say Jeff Carter. Yeah, that's what I was going for without name dropping. Yeah, Pat's been the president of the Jeff Carter fan of God forever, but I'm sorry, Pat. He is not on the team. He is happily retired and enjoying just, spending time with his family overall. But I was going to say, this team has a lot of very motivated players on it.

And I think that can hopefully be dangerous if they all live up to their billing this year overall. But I think that'll do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Kelsey, why don't you tell the audience where they can find you on social media and, of course, your work. Yeah, absolutely. So you can follow me on socials. I'm at Kelsey Sermat score. There's an underscore between the two names. And, yeah, you can read myself on the hockey news.

I typically share it on social every day. But yeah, check out the hockey news and give me a follow. Yeah, everyone, please check out Kelsey's work. And again, thank you so much for coming on today's episode. We really appreciate it. And Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast on Monday. So until then, hope you all have a great weekend. And we'll talk with you all on Monday.