Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - How much do you trust the front office?

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

We're that much closer to training camp! But first, Hunter touches on some Penguins-related items that came out in recent articles and it starts with their prospect system. Corey Pronman of The Athletic tweeted his article out on ranking the Pens prospects and of course, they're down at 31. Hunter explains that's the price you pay when you win 3 championships but then disagrees with some of the rankings. Is Hallander better suited for the NHL than Poulin? Who is more likely to make an immediate impact in the near future? Are both goalie prospects underrated here? After that, Hunter goes into Dom's front office voting list article and shares his thoughts on what some fans said about the new regime. Has this offseason left a bit more to be desired? Should there be a concern with where the team is going? Hunter then ponders how this offseason would've gone with JR still in charge and then ends the show with some offer sheet talk!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey, everyone welcome to this Monday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Just as a reminder, we still have that top 50 NHL players. You can find out who the top 50 NHL players are with the Locked-on NHL podcast with Joe DiBiase, Rachel Donner, and Mike DeStefano. And let me see here. The next release for 40 through 31 comes out tomorrow, August 31st, and the one after that will be September 3rd, 30 to 21. We'll get the top 10 players on September 10th.

You can subscribe to the Lockdown NHL podcast on YouTube and turn your notifications on so that you never miss an episode. Thank you all so much for joining me a little later on this Monday evening. Just so if anyone did not see my announcement on the lockdown hangman's Twitter account, I'm going to be doing my three episodes a week today, of course, which is Monday, tomorrow, Tuesday, and then Wednesday, September 1st. Starting on Thursday, I am taking my final vacation of the off season before we are back doing three a week, and then, of course, five a week starting a little later in September.

I'm going to Cancun, Mexico with my girlfriend to celebrate our one-year anniversary. So I thought I will let you all know about that. So look for those next two episodes after this one, Tuesday and Wednesday, instead of Monday, Wednesday, Friday for this weekend. And then for the week after, there will not be an episode on Labor Day. I think I'll probably do something like Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday of that week. Because that weekend, I actually have my cousin's wedding to go to up in Philadelphia. Maybe we'll wear something Penguins related. Anyways, we do have a lot to get to for this episode.

We're going to go over the prospect rankings that Corey Pralman brought out today, starting on the athletic, He had the Penguins at 31, which is no surprise really. But I'm going to share my thoughts on that and why I actually disagree with a couple of things that he said. In his article, we also have Dom's list to go over in one of his recent articles where the fans and a whole bunch of other people. I think it was mainly just the fans voted on who the top front offices are in Pittsburgh's was a bit further down the list, but not as far down as it was, I think, the previous year. I think the previous year, when Jim Berthaberg was still here, it was around 29 or 30. it's risen a bit since Ron Hexton and Brian Burke took over, but not to where it was probably in 2016 and 2017. So we're going to touch on that as well. And yes, we're going to talk about

offer sheets because this whole soapbox with Montreal and Carolina is honestly just hilarious, I think, at this point. But to start off this episode, let's talk about Corey Promon's prospect ranking. So he debuts them, you know, once a year, I think, right towards the the offseason is ending. The Penguins won debut today with a couple other ones, and the Penguins are at 31, which, again, is not really surprising. I mean, the Penguins farm system is very barren. That is the price that you pay with winning three Stanley Cups.

You take this any day of the week and you figure this out later. That's what the best teams always do. But for his top player, he has Pierre Olivier Joseph. Do you even really consider him a prospect at this point? He's already played in the NHL. But at least Guto Corey even said, I liked his second pro season. He didn't stick with the Penguins. His time is coming.

I mean, I think it should be this year anyway. But it was curious to see that he's at number one, even though he's played a lot of NHL games already. This is where I disagree, I think, with Corey. And, you know, Corey is always someone who knows a lot more about prospects than I do. I don't claim to be a NHL prospect expert. I never have been. But I think I know well enough, I guess, with the Penguin system to know that same pooling. is not better than Philip Hollander.

I personally think that Hollander can have a much better NHL career than Poulin. He has Hollander at 4, Nathan Legerie at 3, and Sam Poulin at 2. When he writes about Poulan, Corey goes, Poulin was an important player for the top QMJHL team this past season. The talent is obvious when you watch him play. He has very good puck skills.

He can put pucks through the legs and stick with control. He sees the ice at a high level, often pulling up well-defined teams to make plays to the high percentage. areas to create chances. I see him more likely as a bottom six NHL forward than a top six. His foot seat speed, excuse me, has always been his main drawback. So, I mean, but this is where I like, I kind of, it's weird, right? You know, you see him more as a bottom six in HL forward, then what do you see as Philip Hollander, who I think has better numbers than him at this point? Well, you know, Corey talks about that in the article and he says he's a forward with high

skill level, good creativity, and vision as playmaker. He finishes from range and in tightness. due to his strong frame and compete level. His main drawback is a sub-scatting, which has held up at the SHL level, but may prevent him from putting up significant scoring totals in the NHL. I see Hollander as a long-term bottom six-winning in the NHL who is close to playing that type of role for Pittsburgh. Okay, so he sees them as two similar kind of players.

My opinion, I personally see him as more of a middle six-winger or someone who can play on the third line, potentially, on the second line as well. I don't know if he's going to make a direct impact this year, but if this team is very banged up and, you know, history says that they will be because the penguins are always banged up. I think he's definitely going to be one of the first players that is called up from Wilkesbury, assuming he makes the Wilkesbury Scrant Penguins, which I mean, I'm sure he will. I don't know why he wouldn't. But I still honestly like it.

I know Corey doesn't like he's skating that much, but I personally think it's better than Poulands. That's just me. When I watch the two, I personally think Hollander is the better skater. I think he's the better finisher. I think he's the better playmaker. I would personally have him in the top two, especially over Poulin. And that's not to say that I don't think Poulin is good. I definitely think he is.

But it's just my personal opinion that I think Hollander is better. After Hollander, he has Tristan Braz, who the Penguins just took this year in the NHL draft. He says he's been a productive USHL player the last two seasons. It was an important player for the top USHL. team last year in Fargo. His puck game is excellent, showing the ability to create with his puck skills in playmaking inside the offensive zone. He can make a lot of plays to teammates through seams and under pressure. If he's given time, he also has a great shot and can pick corners from mid-range. He works hard enough. I wouldn't call him a hard to play against type in its game.

Could he use more game, pacing quickness, excuse me. He projects as a bottom six-winger. So we'll have to see. I mean, he's a long ways away from playing with the penguins. He does have Callie Klan next up at number six and then Joel Blumquist at number seven. These two goleys are honestly pretty interchangeable. They're two of the best goalie prospects in the world right now. When he talks about cleaning, he says a structured efficient goalie who makes a lot of the good decisions in his game doesn't require a lot of movement to square up pucks. He can move to get to tough save showing the lower body strength required to make saves in the NHL. He's not that big. It can be prone to some longer range shots, but his ability to make tough saves as a pro was

quite intriguing for a player his age. I could see a strong NHL back. up goalie here. Again, he basically says the same thing with Joel Blumquist, but I mean, they still are projected to be two of the best goalie prospects in the world right now, as I just said. And again, those two are also really far away from being ready in Pittsburgh. And I do want to reiterate a point that, you know, King Clarki actually was talking about to me in my DMs today. And, you know, he makes the argument, you know, that this team has good prospects. And I agree with him. But, you know, because they're not top 10 picks, they're, they're, like, labeled as garbage and then everyone says the penguins don't have, you know, this ridiculous

farm system, which the penguins are never going to have a ridiculous farm system until they start picking in the top 10. I mean, you people forget that the penguins, I think, last had a top 10 pick was in 2012 when they selected Derek freaking pool yacht. And, you know, look how that turned out. Obviously, it's not what you want to happen. But it's hard to get one of the best prospect pools in the league when you consistently are drafting towards the end of the first round. That's why this team has basically been all in every year's because, you know, they're not getting as good of players as some other teams have been getting towards the upper picks in the draft. And I think moving forward, this team is probably going to start getting higher and higher picks because the window

is closing really fast. So they're going to keep getting better and better prospects. I really liked this year's draft class that Hextall got. I think he's a better drafter than Jim Rutherford was, because with Rutherford, you always knew what type of player he was going to draft. You know, that that big hard-nosed player who's tough to play against and he's six foot five or whatever but with hextall and prior running the show um it's a bit different as you know they they look for different traits than rutherford did especially i think when it comes to you know like a puck pursuit game or someone who um is a better skater than they are a hitter and so many other things but i did want to touch on that for this first segment he also thinks jordi bellaby has a chance to play this season of

Terry Pustinen. This is another player that I am also really high on. I don't know if he's going to be up on the major team this year. I think it's probably more likely it's Wilkesbury or his other club team, but he says he's a highly skilled wing with Great Vision and a better shot. He's a small guy, though, with good but not great skinning precise, who will need to prove that he can play at an NHL pace. There's John Grood in the Wilkesbury Scranton player, Philip Lindberg,

who, of course they just signed. He's probably going to start in Wilkesbury this year. year. I'm sure they'll give him an opportunity to make the team out of training camp, but with Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jari here, there's just no chance he makes a team in my opinion. So, again, it's not surprising that they are at 31. This is the price that you pay with winning three Stanley Cup since 2009, but I think the prospect board, the Cup board, excuse me, at this point, it's better than where it was a couple years ago, and I think it's going to continue to get better as long as Hextall and Pryor are running the show with the draft.

I mean, especially if the Penguins don't keep doing that well in the playoffs, and there's definitely a chance that keeps happening. They'll keep picking higher and higher in the draft if they don't trade their first round picks, and they'll be getting better players as a result, which will, you know, restock the farm system, excuse me, and this team definitely needs that as the Sid and Gino era comes to an end. But that's all I have for this segment when it comes to the prospects. I think in terms of, again, of all those prospects who I think could make the biggest impact of the

NHL level this season, I'm going with Philip Hollander, and I'm not thinking twice. Again, I love Ligari, I like Poulan, but I think at this point, Hollander has the better upside and is more suited to play in the NHL than Ligari and Poulan is. But coming up in the next segment, we will touch on that article that Dom wrote where he pulled all the fans and they did their rankings of who are the best front offices in the league or who they trust the most, basically, and we'll talk about the penguins and what some people had to say about them.

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So Dom's full list of the NHL Front Office rankings, you know, all the fans got to vote in it. So starting off, obviously, Tampa Bay was at number one. I mean, that's Julian Brisbane Brisbane knows what he's doing down there. Colorado at number two, Joe Sackick, has definitely become one of the best GMs in the league. Detroit at number three was definitely interesting just because they haven't really done anything under Steve Eisenman,

but we've always known this was going to be a tough rebuild. Florida at four, Islanders at five, that's just really odd because I don't really think Lou Lamarillo is the architect of that team. That is all Barry Trots, at least in my opinion, Winnipeg Jets at six. That is interesting just because Kevin Shevold-Dayoff is kind of a bit of the wild card. Los Angeles at seven, I think that the kings are on their way back up. Boston at eight. Carolina at nine, New Jersey, 10. But if we scroll down a little bit more here, let me just do this real quick. Do you do. The Pittsburgh Penguins come in at number 20. So for roster building, 3.4 public opinion, that's 10th among teams. Fanbase 3.1, 21.

Cat management at 3.1. 16th. 3.5 for the fan base. So that's 17th among fan bases. draft and development, obviously, that's going to be towards the bottom for both. Trading, it's kind of mid-tier, free agency, I guess mid-tier as well, then Vision, also in the mid-tier. So here is what some fans said in the comments. So one of them said, it's only too soon to evaluate in most areas, but the earlier returns on the off-season are concerning. I don't understand that comment by someone that commented that.

If you are a listener to the Lockdown Penguins podcast, I completely disagree with that take. The early returns, they signed two players, both of which I think could be really good for this team this season. And the only, I guess, bad move was trading Jared McCann when they should have protected him. Otherwise, what else are you concerned about? I mean, you know, sure, they could have used another goalie, but, you know, they're taking a bit of a risk by promoting the goalie coach and also hoping that that's going to help Tristan Jari turn himself around and Casey to Smith as well. I mean, sure, you want P.O. Joseph. to be in the lineup full-time, and, you know, it's maybe a bit annoying, but haven't traded

Mike Matheson, but I don't really understand how the early returns are concerning when they signed two players to two totally fine contracts, one of them of which, if he gets back to being a half a point per game player, I mean, that's just going to be, that's going to open up a whole world of new possibilities for this team next season. That said, he did end the same, and with, I have more confidence in the current front office than I did in the one led by Jim Rutherford. So, okay, we agree there, but I definitely. disagree with the early returns are concerning. I do not think anything of this is really concerning other than the McCandray. They should have just protected him. You know what?

Whatever. I'm hopefully he'll kick butt up in Seattle. Another one says, I sleep better at night knowing Jim Rutherford isn't about to blow up the second line or something every time there is a full moon out. Yes. If you are a listener of the Lock-on Penguins podcast, just know that I love you very much. And I again, I probably said this a couple times on this podcast during the off-season. I would love to know. Actually, you know, what I actually love to know? Maybe not. But it would have been something to see what Jim Rutherford would have done to this team

if he were still allowed to be in charge of it. I mean, how many trades with this guy would have made? I mean, for all we know, we could have seen an of Gunny Malkin trade. I mean, it honestly, no one would have been safe outside of probably Sydney Crosby, John Marino, Chris LaTang, Brian Dumascon. in that might be or excuse me in jake gensel i think other than that everything would have been on the table for jim because that's how he is he's that total chaos gam who just you know basically is a be a gmode on every nchl game so um i just i'm glad as well that he's not about to blow up the team every five

minutes um and the last comment says i want to give hex doll and burke a chance by the team as it's currently stands leaves a bit more to be desired so i think with that comment I definitely agree it leaves a little more to be desired. They're not as deep as they were from a season ago, but they also haven't had a lot to do. That is, I think, something that so many people are not understanding when it comes to this all-season. Jim Rutherford, in every single way possible, screwed them.

I could say a worse word, but, you know, I'm not going to drop the F-bomb on the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm not allowed to do that anymore. The best you are going to get is screwed. You know, it's basically someone, okay, I'll say this. It's like someone ripping a fart and then just walking away and having everyone else smell it for like five to ten minutes. That is basically what Jean Rutherford did on his way out

after being the Penguins Jam. And Ron Hexel just, he's never had the assets to do a lot. He didn't have a lot of cap space. And when you put those two things together, you are probably going to have a very quiet offseason, which is exactly what the penguins have had outside of their two free agent moves, trading Jared McCann, promoting someone else to be the goalie coach, and that's it. So you are definitely giving Hextall and Burke a chance,

and sure, you know, the team leaves a bit more to be desired because they're not as deep and there's definitely still some holes left on the team. But I really don't know what some of you people want Hexel and Burke to do. They don't have all these magic beans where they can just trade. for whatever player they want whenever we want. That's just, that's not how this has worked here in this city for however many years now that Cindy Crosby and McGee Malkin have been with this franchise and how they keep spending to the salary cap year after year.

And as Dom writes, after those fan comments, he says, the Penguins aren't out of the woods here, but they make a pretty big leap in the rankings, jumping eight spots just outside the bottom third. So last year when Dom did this, the Penguins were at 28th with what fans think of their front office. It's good to see that improvement has definitely come, and we're not in the Jim Rutherford era. He says the team is pretty much average across the board with fans liking the team's cap maneuvering this summer, and the public still relatively high on the Penguins roster building.

The jury is still on Hextal and Burke, but the fans do believe it's an improvement from the chaotic final chapter of Rutherford's tenure. Better doesn't warrant full confidence zone. The question remains whether the new leaders can do enough to squeeze one final cup out of Sid and Gino, after yet another first round loss in a summer not fixing the team's biggest problems with its goal-tending and ring this slow does feel apt. I mean, again, you know, I was someone who supported them bringing back Mark Andre Furi, especially with how he got traded to Chicago and it looked like he wasn't going to play there. You know, that's where it made the most sense. It didn't happen, so they're rolling with Jari and to Smith because they didn't like their options in free agency.

And again, I said it just a few minutes ago. Is it a huge risk? Absolutely, because this is going to make or break their season. I mean, there's no other way to say it. It is going to make or break it. They could be a top team in the division or they could be a team fighting for a while. out card spot with these two goalies. You just, you really don't know what's going to happen with them.

But they're taking a chance with a new goalie coach. And here's another big thing that I've also touched on a couple episodes ago. If their goalies are not playing well by mid-December, late December going into 2020, give a team a call that's maybe a bit out of it and trade for a goalie. I'm sure Hextall would love to do that. And I'm sure he would be looking to do that because, of course, Former goalie being a GM, he knows that position very well, and I don't think he's a total idiot. So you have that to go back on if the two goalies struggle a little bit out of the gate.

So again, not the worst ranking for Hextonberg and the Penguins, but again, it is a big upgrade from where it was with Jim Rutherford. So I'll be curious to see moving forward what both of those two guys do while they are in charge of this organization. but I'm definitely feeling a lot safer that they are in charge, again, over someone like Rutherford. But we still have a little more to get to for this episode of Locked on Penguins, including touching on the offer sheet stuff. And also, before we go to the commercial break, it looks like a decision on the NHL players going to the Olympics will be coming this week. As it stands right now, Emily Kaplan's reporting that it looks like a deal is going to be reached, but they're just, you know, sniffing through the last few issues when it comes to the Olympics.

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So there's a bit of funny news that happened around the league this weekend. So we finally did get another offer sheet. This is our first offer sheet in two years. And it is Carolina going back at Montreal for what Montreal did to them in 2019. And they have signed a one year, $6.1 million offer sheet to Yersperi Kockiniemi. So it's definitely a bit interesting. You know, they did the $20 signing bonus in case anyone was not aware. That is Sebastian Oahu's number.

also in the statement for why they did it. They basically copy and paste and Mark Bergevin's statement for, you know, he released with the Aho one and then basically just changed it and say, you know, well, we know Kakinemi wants to be a hurricane, you know, as Bergevin said, with Aho to going to Montreal

and just a whole bunch of other stuff. And, you know, there's been a lot of debate here as if Montreal should match this, and I'm not really sure that they should. So with this kind of offer sheet, so it goes by in tears in case some of you are on. where. So there's one tier you don't have to give up anything. I think there's another where it's

one to two million. I think it's like a third round pick. Then there's like four to six, which I think is like a second and a third. And then you actually know, you're two to four, excuse me, which is I believe a second and a third. Then I think four to six, which is a first and a third. So if Montreal decides not to match this offer sheet, they would get a first round pick in next year's draft and a third round pick in next year's draft back. So it's basically you're making a trade for a player that's, you know, a restricted free agent, excuse me. And what I think the Canadians should do, they should take those picks and try to go get another center, maybe like Jack Eichol, you know, they've been rumored to kind of be in and out of the sweepstakes.

There's been really nothing new going on with Eichol outside of him switching agents. They could put those two picks in a package, considering they have a lot of picks in next year draft, add in a top prospect and another player. And boom, there's her package going back to Buffalo for Eichael. and that all of a sudden puts Montreal even more on the map for next season because right now I don't think the HABs are a playoff team, especially when you look

at that division with Tampa Bay there. Florida's going to be really good again. Boston's going to be really good again. Toronto is going to be a playoff team, I think. Ottawa is a bit on the rise. I know Detroit is not that good. But you have a Montreal team as of now that they're likely not a

playoff team, especially with Shea Weber also going to miss the season. How's Carrie Price going to play in the regular season. I mean, can he channel that inner playoff price for an entire regular season? Who knows? But I personally think that the HAB should not do this because they should, again, they should just take those picks

and just do something with them. Because Kock and Yemi at this point has not been good offensively. I think in 200 games played, he only has 30 goals, and this was a former third overall pick in the 2018 draft. That's not something that you want

from a player that would make 6.1 million on your cap and you know these are the type of players that more teams should be targeting on offer sheets because it's a player that you know has not done very much but also a player that has some upside and teams think

that he could really break out finally that coming season and that is what Carolina is hoping what happens with Cochini. Is it definitely a huge risk that they're signing him to a one year $6.1 million dollar contract? Absolutely because if he plays his ass

off and he puts up production like we haven't seen from him before. Imagine what his next contract is going to look like in the NHL. Then you're talking a long-term deal for a Hurricanes owner in Tom Dundon, who is a bit cheap and is kind of like the Bob Nutting of hockey. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen with that, but good luck, basically. I mean, he kind of cheaped out with Alex Nadelcovich and didn't want to pay him $3 million, but, you know, signed Freddie Anderson, who was just kind of washed at this point. So they've definitely been making some, I guess, interesting.

decisions when it comes to their front office, but Montreal would be able to replace him via a trade. I know Eric Engels talked about this with Christian DeVorak. That makes a lot of sense. I think the Penguins are potentially going after. I was a little in favor of it until I saw about contract. I think it's like, let me check Christian DeVorek's contract real quick, just to see. So on cap friendly, so he's 25 years old right now, makes 4.4.4.4.4 million for the next four seasons. Modify no trade clause in that contract. And with his stats, this is the type of player. These are just his counting stats. I haven't dug into the underlying numbers. 17 goals, 31 points in 56 games this past season. 38 goals, 70. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Excuse me. 18 goals, 38 points. 70 games during the shortened 2019-20 season.

So that's really not a player that I would be giving up a lot of assets for, especially because he has four years, 4.45 million per on that contract. And just he's not a top six center on most contending teams, at least, in my opinion. Obviously, you know, a lot of people are saying that the hurricanes are taking this too far with the trolling. I kind of see that take. You know, I think, you know, you got to know how to troll if you're going to troll.

Sometimes there's a little too much of over. overkill. I understand that Tom Dunden is probably taking this personally because, you know, a lot's been made of how cheap he is and, you know, he kind of is in some areas and, you know, and how other teams think that he's not going to pay star players. I mean, I know he obviously just did it with Svetnikov, but he didn't really offer a good contract to Dougie Hamilton. Again, you know what happened with Nadelcovich, but he's taking what happened with Ajo pretty, I guess, pretty personally just because the Habs thought that they weren't going to pay him that contract and then he matched it basically right away.

All that being said, I loved the French tweet that Carolina put out. That was just, that was a really good mocking of that. You know, they put the LOL on one of the tweets. But after that, you know, it's kind of like, okay, you don't need to overkill it a little bit. You don't need to change your whole Twitter profile to being in French for the sake of doing that. I think that's just a little too much.

But I hope we see more offer sheets. They're fun. It's not really often that you see two teams kind of going back and forth on each other that of not really, you know, their front offices liking each other, but I really do want to see more of these. And hopefully we get Elias Pedersen an offer sheet with him sign at some point because the Canucks cap situation is also really bad this point as well. But that will do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I appreciate all of you listening to this one. And we'll be back tomorrow on Tuesday for another one of these. I'll talk to you all then.