Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Here's to a speedy recovery for Kris Letang...

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

It's a sad start to this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast as Hunter touches on the Kris Letang news. He had another stroke earlier this week and Hunter first focuses on his everyday life aspect, not the hockey aspect. He goes into why it's important for him to be okay to do the everyday things in his life and to be a great husband, dad, and friend before even thinking about getting back onto the ice. He also looks at how this should serve as a reminder to everyone to always tell your loved ones all the time how much you care about them because you never know when something like this can happen. After that, he does look at how this will affect the Penguins in the short and long term since he's a player that's very hard to replace. Who is going to take his minutes? Is replacing him going to come by committee? After that, he previews the Thursday game against the Vegas Golden Knights as this will be one of the toughest tests of the season to date. He looks at how deep Vegas is at both forward and on the backend and why Bruce Cassidy is doing an outstanding job with them. He also looks at some keys for the Penguins to win this game before ending the show with some practice notes and how it's insane that the power play alignment is going to stay the same.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNHL to learn more. 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.

Harry, everyone, happy Wednesday, the final day of November. So the final November episode for the locked-on Penguins Bonacast. For today's episode, we're going to start with, obviously, the sad news regarding Chris Letang go into what this means short and long term for the Penguins, and we're going to give him my best wishes. Then we're also going to preview the game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday and just go over some practice notes as well. So stick around for all of that for today's episode 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 and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host. Hon. Hoides, want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can also follow the shows Twitter at L.O. and 4-Panguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. It's my final episode. in Virginia before, you know, the long day ahead that I have on Thursday where I will be coming to you live from the 4-1-2. That will be from my hotel room, at least. Then the Friday, we will have the house that we are moving into, which, you know, very, very excited about that. But I charge today's show a topic that I did not think I was going to be talking about today. And that is the reason why Crystal Tang was not playing on Tuesday. They said it was

an illness. I figured, you know what? Probably just a cold flu bug. It's the wintertime just about everyone's getting sick nowadays, whether it's that cold. COVID's still going around, of course. But no, the Penguins announced that Latang had suffered his second stroke in eight years. It happened on Monday, and he is out indefinitely. And obviously, you know, I don't even want to focus on the hockey aspect to start. I just want to make sure he's okay. You all know that listen to the show, you've been watching this team for potentially even longer than I have.

And, you know, you've been following this team longer than I have as well. well that, you know, Teng, this happened in 2014. About, I think it was halfway through the regular season, had to miss a couple of months. And that was when it was revealed that he had a hole in his heart. Happened when he was born. I think it was, they said it was going to slowly close over time. Don't think it's fully there as of yet. It's like it's just going to heal on its own.

But, you know, just another one of these happened again. And, Tang, he's fortunate that this one was not as bad as that first one. And, you know, I mean, I don't have to be the one that tell you that this is very serious stuff. You know, I don't even want to, again, I don't even want to think about hockey with this. You know, this is people die of strokes every day around the world. Like, this is a life and death situation. All I care about is his health, you know, just him doing everyday things, spending time with his wife, his two kids, his friends. The hockey aspect comes second.

And it's all about his everyday life. You know, I said the same thing at the time when I was not doing the show about Pascal DuPui when he had the blood clots. You know, he had them once came back to five yards and then it happened again. And he just knew he couldn't play in that situation. And I'm not saying that it's going to happen here with Latang. You know, I think, you know, if the doctors clear him to play, they clear him to play. If they don't clear him to play, they don't. You know, it's up to them and it's also up to Latang.

Whether he wants to play, it sounds like that he does. But, you know, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm this medical professional. And I'm going to give a professional athlete advice. I'm seeing that a lot on social media today. I think that's just ridiculous from people to do that, to be honest. You know, it's his life. It's what he wants to do. The doctors are going to give, you know, their best course of recommendation.

He's going to continue to get tested. And right now, I just care that he is okay as a human being, as a husband, as a father, and just as a good friend to all of his friends. out there. So I'm just, I'm really, you know, praying for him, of course. My thoughts go out to him just because, you know, he's been in the situation before we had to miss two months. And, you know, I know he's out indefinitely and we'll get to the hockey stuff in just a second. But I just really want to take these first two minutes to just really say that none of that matters right now. All that matters is that he just gets back to being normal. And, you know, he just can do the

everyday things in his life. You know, he seemed to be in great spirits today when he was speaking to the media. Ron Hextall echoed those sentiments. Mike Sullivan said the same thing. He even said that he just can't wait to get back on the ice. He was begging them to get back on the ice today. And they had to be like, no, Chris. In 48 hours, you got to, you know, you got to stay off the ice. But, you know, I would imagine if he has his way, he'll probably be back on the ice at some point in the near future. But just, you know, my thoughts go out to him just because this is a very serious situation. And I'm glad that a lot of the N-N-Shall community really came together to just wish him well.

I saw a lot of the official Twitter accounts for some teams tweeting out the penguins, a lot of opposing fans as well, giving their support, even though he's been a thorn in their side, you know, that that goes away with something like this. It's a stroke people. But, you know, all the best to him. And, you know, hopefully he will be able to come back. It would be obviously great, but, again, that's not on the highest priorities right now. But, you know, as for how it affects the penguins, it's a big law.

I mean, we all have to, we all understand that. And that just means the defensive group as a whole is going to have to step up. Excuse me. Sorry about that. So, yeah, I mean, all six defensemen, I think they're probably going to call someone up from Wilkesbury. If I had to guess, if the Tang goes on IR or LTIR, I don't know which one it's going to be. That will open up some cap room. You can maybe call up Ty Smith and be your number of seven.

to the number seven defenseman, Mark Freeman, because right now you only have six defensemen since Latang is out indefinitely. And I think you're going to see the same hearings that you saw on Tuesday with, you know, I think Dumolin, you know, back in the top four. Pedersen's probably going to be on the top pairing. Jeff Petrie is going to assume those minutes.

Chabarito is going to play in the lineup, P.O. Joseph, of course, you know, everyone's going to have to step up. You know, you can't replace Latang individually, and it's really hard to do it by committee, but I think they're going to try their best. that's for sure. I think you're going to see Petrie quarterback, the top power play still. He's going to obviously be the top defenseman, the top right-handed defenseman

until he's ready if he is able to come back this season. But, you know, the Penguins, they take a hit. And then this stuff, it obviously stinks, but, you know, that's, it's unfortunate that this, that this happened. You know, they just will have to play for him. and I think him being at the game and being thereafter and being at practice today, I think that's going to give this team a massive boost going forward that, like, hey, he's in your guys' corner, you guys are going to play for him. And, you know, I can't wait for a PBG P&S arena.

If he is able to come back this season, man, that is going to be a raucous ovation. You know, forget that he's closely closing in on a thousand games. I don't even care about that right now on so many other accomplishments that he could have as a player. but, you know, if he's able to come back, that first game back at home, it's probably going to be one of the best ovations in one of the loudest times that, you know, I've ever heard people that you paint screen, and I will surely get a ticket for that game. But wanted to dedicate this segment to Letang and just wish him well. And, you know, this is a very scary situation.

And, you know, I just hope that he can live his life, be a great husband right now, be a great father, be a great friend, as well, I know, been repeating myself. But, you know, that's, that is what is important right now in the grand scheme of things. It's just, you know, his health and the way he can go about his life for the short and the long term. So, Chris, I'm thinking about you. All the Penguins fans are out there are thinking of you. And hopefully you'll be able to come back soon. There's a lot of garbage on social media

that I'm not really going to get into. People are discussing... I don't know. I'm not going to get it. It's just a bunch of crap. People are just using their big brains, is how I like to say. Just trying to be edge lords and saying stupid stuff.

I just, you know, I feel like social media is just ruined so many people. But, you know, here's to a great recovery for you, Chris. And, you know, hopefully you'll be back on the ice. soon. So that will do it for this first segment of this episode coming up in the second segment. We're going to preview the game against the Vegas Golden Knights. But before you get to that, Benonline.com. Net is your number one source or sports betting info stats and use an analysis. You can get the latest odds and trends for every professional amateur league out there.

From football to basketball to soccer and e-sports, we've got it all at that online.net. And if you love sports podcasts, you can find those at that online as well. We're always the fastest and easiest way to get your betting fix. You can head to the website today or do you use your motorlice to know more. That is there online where the game starts. All right. I'm back on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes.

We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O.R.S. or Penguins. And, of course, thank you so much for making this your first listen to the day. So third game of the five-game homestand-stand for the Penguins on Thursday night at PPG-Pains Arena. And that will be against the Vegas Golden Knights, a team that has just been shot out of a canon this season. Bruce Cassidy has done a remarkable job with the Knights. And I'll be the first day. I wasn't that high on them coming into this year. Thought their goaltony situation was going to be

really bad because Robert Leonard wasn't playing. They lost some pieces over the all season. They traded Max Petruetti for free. It was a cap dump. They got nothing in return. But Bruce Hassey's like, okay, I'm going to come in here. And so far, they're 17 and 6 and 1. They have the best record in the Western Conference. They are up by four points on the Seattle Crowsy. and in the Pacific Division, they are looking like, not just a bona fide playoff team against, this is looking like a Stanley Cup contender.

So far, and, you know, they have a lot of great pieces up front. Chandler Stevenson, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, Eichl is finally playing like the superstar we thought he was going to play like, you know,

while he was in Buffalo. And, you know, he played like it at times when he was with the Sabres, but he was also just banged up. He never had that horrible back injury where the Sabers were just screwing him over and he wasn't able to get the surgery

that he wanted, was able to get that surgery. got traded and now look how he's playing. He's just looking like the jack-eye equivalent. He has been awesome this season. Mark Stone, I think he's one of the more underrated players in the league. Great first pass. His shot is awesome defensively.

Very underrated. He's usually in the Selky Trophy voting each and every season. And then Chandler Stevenson has just been awesome ever since he left Washington. He's scored double digits, I think, every year. He's been one of the better playmakers as well. On the second line, they have their island of misfits. I think it's what they call it, with Jonathan Marcheseau, William Carlson, and Riley Smith.

Remember when William Carlson scored 40 goals a few seasons ago, he's always dangerous. Smith, great player from Florida, Jonathan Marchesoe. He's also solid. And then old friend, Phil Kess is going to be making his return to BPJ Paints Arena, playing with Nicholas Waugh. So that will be a lot of fun. That's on their third line.

And then Paul Cotter is their third line left winger. And then Keegan Colstar, William Carrier, and then their fourth line center who I will just butcher his last name. I don't know. I think he's just a call up from their HL team. So, you know, they have a pretty deep group of forwards. Not as deep as it used to be just because remember that they trade a pectorality of the summer and they also lost Paul Stassney a little recently.

I believe it was all. I think he did play in. He bounced around from Winnipeg to Vegas back and forth before he went to Carolina. But, you know, it was recent that he was with Vegas. This team has been deep, but, you know, they go through players like it's nothing. You know, their roster age is like milk every time. That's just that happens when, you know, you're a win-down team. They don't really care that much.

But defensively, you know, they have the nice luxury of putting two of their best defensemen on separate pairings, though it looks like right now that I did remember. So Alex Petrangelo, he is day-to-day, does not look like he's going to be in the lineup for this game. So that means Braden, McNabb will slide in to play with Shea Theodore. Ben Hutton will play with Alec Martinez. Usually Martinez is on the left side, but with Petrangelo out, he is sliding over to the right.

It's great that they have two bona fide number one defensemen in Theodore and Patrangelo, because they can just separate the workload. They can give the top minutes to Theodore, and then for Petrangelo, who's a pretty good player, but not an elite player. Like, he used to be that he can just get the second pair of minutes and eat those up, like he has been ever since he got to Vegas. but Theodore, he's usually the one to watch out for in that group. He's awesome. You know, great, removing the puck up the ice. Nice shot.

You know, he can walk the blue line like it's no one else's business. He has also one of the more underrated defensemen in the NHL. So their defensive core, very solid. Nicholas Hague, Zach White Cloud on the bottom hearing, Ben Hutton-Oak-Martinez and then Brandon McNabb and Shay Theodore. Power play-wise, very good unit. I goalstone, Stevenson, March, or Soe, and Shay Theodore, the Henguins penalty kill is going to have to be up to a, up for a big challenge.

And I can, just because of how much talent that Vegas can throw at you on their top power pool unit. And that doesn't, you know, come into effect with their second power pool unit with Riley Smith, Nicholas Hague, Phil Castle with his amazing shot William Carlson and Nicholas Waugh. They have two very good units.

And then, goaltending-wise, Aidan Hill and Logan Thompson, I would expect to see Logan Thompson that came in. You know, he's been good this year. Yeah, I didn't really think he was going to be all that much, just because, you know, this was really his first big, like, I shouldn't say debut, but, you know, this is like his big, you know, sample size.

I should say he played a bit last season for Vegas when Lennar was hurt at times, but Lennar also played a lot of games down the stretch. But, you know, he was fine, but, you know, he's playing much better right now. You know, 921's a percentage, 2.44 goals against average. He's played in 36 games overall throughout his career, 22 and 9 and 3. 2.56 goals against average 970. It's very respectful in numbers, 921. This year playing like a capable starter in today's NHL.

So he is probably going to be in line to start. This is a very good team. It's going to be a big test for the Penguins to win this game, especially without the tang in the lineup. And I'll be curiously if they do go back, put Dan Hine in there, Kisbury Kappen's at scratch. I'm not really sure. I'll get to some practice notes in just a second.

But, you know, this one should be a lot of fun. Now, going over some other game notes, the Penguins, they're 3 in 1 and 0 all time against the Knights at home, and 5 in 3 and 0 all time against the Knights. The Penguins last season, remember, they won one of the game against the night. They actually came back from 3-0 down against them in Vegas. Team Mobile arena, a very hard place to win, and the Penguins, they scored five unanswered goals to win that game. That was probably one of the games of the season, I think, at least in my opinion. And excuse me, yeah, they were 2-0 against Vegas last season. They outscored them 10 to 5, and they actually played well.

the power play. Two for six on the main advantage. Probably not going to be the same this season with how bad that unit is. Jeff Carter actually played well against him last season, four goals. Actually, you know, four points. One of those was a goal in those two games. The Penguins have also been playing really well as of late. They have points in nine of their last 11 games, seven and two and two. Only the devils have picked up more points than Pittsburgh during that stretch that started

on November 9th. Trishon Jari, who had I would also expect to get the start against Vegas. he has played very well against him in his career. 3-1-0, 2.27 goals against average in a 9-21, say, percentage. Special teams are obviously going to be a big factor. The Penguins penalty kill. They've killed 23 of their last 24 penalties. They killed off 19 straight penalties overall in the last eight-game stretch,

going back to November 15th. It's going to be a big test in that one. I think one of my big keys will be seeing how that unit goes up against Vegas' powerful unit, which is usually one of the better units in the lead. So really excited. to see that. And then, you know, I'll get to the power play and some progress notes in just a second.

But I always have fun when Vegas comes to town. This should be a dandy. I think it's really all I have to say about the Vegas Golden Knights. You know, I just, I think Bruce Cassidy's doing an incredible job. He's one of the best coaches in the league for a reason. This team is very skilled. They're very deep. They defend will.

They're getting good goal tending. Looking every bit of a Stanley Cup contender. So big test for the payments. We'll see if they can get the two points. I have a full recap episode right after that game ends. It'll be nice that I can watch on AT&T Sportsnet and not just on a delay or anything like that. So that wraps up this preview segment for today's episode

coming up in the final segment and getting to some practice notes from today and why it looked like they were working a lot on the PowerPlay. We'll look to see, did they make any changes? That's all coming up right after this commercial break. I'm back on this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hode. follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can also follow the show's Twitter at El Orsau Penguins. And, of course, thank you so much for making this your first listen of the day. So the Penguins, they did, in fact, practice today. Look to be about, I think it was a 30-minute session, but according to Taylor Haas of DK Pittsburgh Sports, two-thirds of it was dedicated to the power play. So at least that's good. They also did a shootout drill, which was cool.

I guess they just still want to work on those because they had a lot of shootouts last season. But top unit, no changes for some reason. I don't know. I think it's legit insane that Mike Sullivan is just rolling out that same unit. Like there's no problem at all. I don't know. Just something's fishy. I think about that.

And so again, Pete Tree Crosby, Malkin, Russ, Gensel, second unit, Joseph Raquel, Jeff Carter, Jason Zucker, is very captain. why Ricardo Raquel is not on the top power play unit. I have absolutely no idea. I analyze that unit on my Tuesday episode, going into what the heck is going on with it. I have the same answer now. It stinks.

And it sounds like they didn't really do anything different. Again, outside deployment-wise, I think strategy and just moving the puck around and getting to the prime swing areas. I don't really know fully what they did just because I'm not there. I'm hoping to be there for some practices is a little later on.

But it's just really weird to me that they're not making any changes. And heck, even Brian Rust, who's really struggled this season, I think he should be one of the first people to come off that unit, if not the actual first to come off. So, I don't know.

Weird to me, I feel like they need to be doing a lot more than just running it back and thinking that it's okay. Other than that, the lines were the same today. I think you're probably going to see Hein and as a healthy scratch again tomorrow. I gave my thoughts on that for the most part. Well, I think I did.

But if not, I'll just relay them to you all again here. I get it just because he just hasn't really been doing much in the last month. I think we're at 17, 18 games in a row now where he just hasn't scored. Had that really nice hot stretch this season. We're like, oh, yeah, he's going to score double-digit goals again. And I have people saying he was going to score 20. And I'm like, you know, I don't know about that. He had 18 last year, which was a career high.

That's why I kind of lower my expectations a little bit. I said 12 to 15 is probably in the ballpark for what you're going to get. And right now I don't even know if he's going to hit that, especially if he just keeps being healthy scratch. Now, I know the best thing is, you know, you don't want Casperry Capman on the ice just because, you know, you're just making a change for the sake of it. He's just not a good player at this point in his career.

I think if they really want to make meaningful change, they're going to have to call someone from Wilkesbury or just trade for a third liner at this point. That line, I think, is still their biggest issue, in my opinion. And until they make an acquisition for it, I don't think swapping out wingers is going to do anything. I think another big problem is the play of Jeff Carter right now. It's just a black hole at both ends of the rank. I understand he's played well.

In the faceoff circle, he's actually been one of their best centers in face office here, so I'll give him that. I get that he has a veteran presence. I get that he's one of the team's leaders. But at the end of the day, if you're not producing and your underlings are really bad defensively, too, you know, sorry, I don't really think I'm going to give you the benefit of the down just because you're good on face-offs and stuff. But that's just, that's my opinion. Oh, man, I think that they're, if they want to make a meaningful change to that line

really improve it, they're going to have to go out and get someone or, you know, come on. I'll call up Drew O'Connor, Vartary, Pustinen, from Wilkesbury, something like that. And speaking of call-ups on the show of this, again, the Pinguists of 6th defense from right now, would not be surprised if Ty Smith does it get the call-up if Latane does go on IR or L-I-R, hopefully, you know, I think Ty would probably make his NHL, not his Angel debut, his Penguins debut, in that case, in case they just don't want to see any more of Chad Ruedle or something like that, they could also call up Mark Friedman

because, you know, he's also playing on the top pairing, Den & Wilkesbury as well. But thou do it for this episode of the Logged on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one, even though the opener was just a bit of a somber start to it, but, you know, that's, this team is, is never boring with anything, with anything that happens to it.

And, you know, I got to cover something like that just because how serious it is and just how, you know, this is not the first time this has happened. So again, Tanger, get well, please. You know, all that matters right now is your health and your everyday life. If you can get back on the ice, that's great.

I think it's honestly a bonus for him at this point. If you can get back to be, if you can get back to playing, it's even more of a bonus to me. But again, that will do it for this one. I'll be back with another episode where for you all on Thursday when I recap the game against the going nights. And also let me know about your Spotify raps.

Don't post it on your Instagram stories. Just, you know, post it to me on Twitter. Or is the Lockdown Penguins podcast one of your top five most listened to podcasts? Let me know. Tag my Twitter account. Tag the show's Twitter account. Heck, you can even request to follow me on Instagram and just give it to me. Just don't, you don't need to post on your stories.

And as such, I keep going on there. And I'm just like, ugh, every story right now is just that thing. But anyways, I'm not talking about that. Thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back on Thursday, and then Friday we'll be previewing Saturdays game against the St. Louis Blues. So hope you all enjoyed this one. I'll talk with you all on Thursday.