Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Injuries to the Penguins provide an opportunity for young players!

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without several players for the final three games and that presents an opportunity for some young players. Hunter and Patrick begin the show by discussing Friday's matchup with the New Jersey Devils and how despite the Devils being in the playoffs, there's an opportunity for the Penguins to send a message. Then, with several injuries announced on Thursday, part of the Penguins' future will be on display for the final nine days of the season. It also gives a few young players the chance to prove that they belong with the big club. Finally, we have a tank bowl on Sunday between the Bruins and Penguins! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! 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're into the home stretch of the 2024, 2025 season, and the Penguins will play their final road game of the year tonight against the New Jersey Devils, and Pat and I will preview that game, plus preview Sunday's game against the Boston Bruins right after this. You're 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'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-st, Patrick Damme. You can follow him on all social media platforms at Sendin for Wet. And you can follow these shows, 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 finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Right now, new Fandall customers can get $250 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So Penguins Devils comes your way. tonight, the final road game of the year for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils. They've already clinched their playoff spot. Heck, Pat, we already know who they're going to play in the playoffs. They're going to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round and not to do a small

preview of that, but I will take the Hurricanes to win that series. That's an early prediction. I'll take them to win in probably six or seven. I'll make my official prediction late next week once we know the full playoff matchups, Pat, and we do a playoff preview in one of our episodes late next week once the regular season ends. but as of right now, I am taking the Hurricanes to win that series. But this Devils team still very good. It just stinks that once again, they're not healthy come playoff time.

Jack Hughes, he's done for the year. He's their best player really stinks that he's not going to be available. Dougie Hamilton, he's not playing in the regular season. We still have to see if he's going to be available for the first round. The Devils hope that he will be. But that is still, once again, a major loss, two of their best players, not available for tonight's game and not available for the rest of the regular season. And again, in Hughes case,

he's not available for the rest of the season at all. And it looks like according to Josh Getsoff, Jake Allen will get the start for the Devils tonight. So no Jacob Markstrom and that other big break. Because usually Jacob Markston plays really well against the Penguins throughout his career. Penguins, yes, they have struggled against the Devils in recent years. They have lost eight of their last 10 games against them. However, Pat, Penguins are two and two in their last four.

So they're starting to turn this around ever so slightly. They beat them at the end of last season. They lost the first two matchups this season before, blowing out the Devils at home, 7 to 3. What a win that was, by the way. The Penguins played a really good game in that one. But you look at this Devils team once again. Yes, for Brant, he continues to be awesome this year.

21 goals, 88 points in 78 games. Jack Hughes, he's second on the team in points. Obviously, he's not available. Nico Hesier, one of the best two-way centers in the league. 35 goals, 67 points in 72 games. Timo Meyer. He's also been good once again with 25 goals and 50 points. Stefan Nason, what a debt signing. He's been. He has 21 goals and 40 points this year. Even without Hughes in the lineup, this is still a good forward group, in my opinion. Nason and he's share on the top line

with Yesper Brat. You have to load up, especially with Hughes out. Dawson Mercer with Tim O'Meyer on the second line. Cody Glass, who has actually been a really nice fit for the Devils this year, by the way. He's been really fun to watch for them with Andre Palaz. and former penguin Daniel Sprong on the third line. And then you have Curtis Lazzar, Nathan Bastion, Paul Carter on the fourth line. Without Douging Hamilton, they have Luke Hughes and Brett Pesci on your top pairing. Pretty good as far as top pairings in Luke Hughes. He's really come into his zone this year.

Pesci, you know what you're going to get with him. Great at shot suppression. He can bring you a bit of offense, but he's especially great in his own zone. Brian Duman probably wouldn't want him playing top four minutes in the playoffs, but with Hamilton hurt, they kind of don't have a choice right now. And then, as I said, it looks like Jake. Allen is going to be getting the start tonight over Jacob Marksrum. But when we talk about the Devils, the biggest thing once again, Pat, it's their team speed.

It's given the Penguins a lot of fits over these last few years. Even that game of the Penguins won 7 to 3 over the Devils, you can see the Devils really skating circles around them at times. They're just that hard to play against, especially when you are an older team. That's not as fast. it's just a big mismatch. So penguins are going to have to be on high alert for some of their high impact fast players tonight. Obviously, yes for Brad. Nico Heesh or him going up against Sidney Crosby,

going to be a really fun matchup to watch there. And I also think the Crosby line is going to get the Brett Pesci minutes, which that makes a lot of sense. The devils, when they're healthy, they are so good at really mucking things up, kind of not giving you much in the neutral zone, not much in the offensive zone. But they're not healthy right now. So the penguins, they'll have to look to take advantage of that tonight against the devils. We've talked about it plenty of times with the New Jersey Devils.

It's really cool to see how they have kind of meshed their golden era with this new era in the sense that, yeah, they are a very fast uptempo team, but they are still very defensively accountable. and they take advantage of other team's mistakes, but rather than the old days when it was taking advantage of one or two mistakes and then hanging back, they bait you into mistakes. And then they just beat the snot out of you on those mistakes with their speed, with their skill, but they use it within a system that is both defensively accountable and works to the strength of all the fast,

talented players they have. This is also for me a team that really difficult to get a read on because you were running down their lineup, right? And they don't have Hughes. They don't have Hamilton. And you look at their lineup as it's presented right now. And you're not that impressed by it. But you still know that this is a very good team. This is a team that, again, we hate see i hate seeing this because i really want to see what this new age devil's team can do going into a postseason at 100% or very close to it we know no team goes in 100% always bumps and bruises always the occasional injury but at the same time it it comes back to what i was saying regardless of who's in their lineup they run a system that bates their opponents into mistakes

and forces them to counter, and it's a game they're very good at. So even without some of these big names, they still play a system that is very difficult to beat. For the Penguins tonight, it's our first bullet point here on the rundown. It's going to be a big proving ground for a lot of players tonight, because we got a big update yesterday that a lot of players are done. And I know that sounds menacing, but at the same time, you would think some of these players might want to come back for a game or two

and make a little bit of a mark and have a moment or two in those games. But the Penguins will be without the services for the remainder of the season of Noel Achari, Matt Nietto, Blake Lazot, Tommy Novak, and Rutger McGroarity. So McGority is a question mark for the AHL playoffs. They don't know how significant this injury is yet. He might not get back. He might. We'll see how deep they go.

for the rest of the penguins though this we talked about the guys who got called up yesterday this is a big moment for them three games left obviously there's no there's no meaning to them they're out of the playoffs but you're playing two of the three of them against very good teams so can you go out and look good against these teams can you raise your stock going into next season and into training camp. So that's, you know, putting aside the score, putting aside the results, that's what I'm looking for over these last few games is how do some of these callups, how do some of these younger guys look? And are they going to put themselves into the conversation to be part of the solution over the next couple of years? Yeah, what really sucks is the McGrody one because he was playing super well

before getting hurt. And Josh Yo, we have the athletic report yesterday that there is a chance that he comes back at some point in the HL playoffs, but Pat, it seems like Wilkesbury is going to have to advance at least a bit far to get McGority back, which again, that stinks, man.

Like, I wanted to see what he could do in the HL playoffs, at least a star. I didn't want to see him get hurt, but hey, you know, he put his body on the line. He's playing his tail off for the penguins.

I get it. I really do. I know some diehard Wilkesbury Scranton fans who are maybe not as big. Pittsburgh Penguins fans are going to be really upset and being like, oh my God. like, why, why did this happen?

Why did you even calm up? But you know what? Guys, he earned it, man. You can't tell a player like that, oh, don't put your body on the line for a team that you're trying to make next year. He'll just tell you to piss off. Literally, he will. So I, I think I said it.

I can't remember if I said it to you on our show yesterday or if I said it to our pal Kelsey Sermats on Pucksanat, but it speaks to the character of the player that he is. Right. He's not going to go out there in half asset. He's not going to go out there and say, hey, I'm the prized possession of this organization. So I'm not going to block shots. I'm not going to play hard.

He and let's call it what it was before he got hurt. He wasn't playing his best in that game. Wasn't playing bad. But of the games we've seen him play, that was one of his weaker games. The sample side was still going. He was still busting his ass. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I didn't mean to interrupt you there. I was just saying like the sample size was still fairly good. in worlds better than what we saw at the beginning of the season. I don't think he was playing bad in that game. It was just the weaker of the ones prior, which, again, is no slight to him. But it just thinks that he's a bit banged up.

And also, ditto for Tommy Novak, Pat. We got him for what? Not even a full game before he got banged up. I'm excited to see what he can do next season, but it really stinks that we didn't get an extended look out of him and seeing what he could do with Philip Tomasino down the stretch. Because I felt like at least to start they were meshing pretty well together.

But with Thomas Sino probably coming back next season and for probably the season after that, with Novak returning next season as well, we'll get to see how those two really mesh once we get a bigger sample size when the 25, 26 season starts this October. And then for Archari and Nieto, Pat, that might be the last time they ever suit up as penguins.

For Nieto, I mean, he's a free agent. I don't think he's coming back. Achari, he'll be the subject of some trade rumors this offseason. We'll have to see if he's back for next season. But still, stinks that both of them also got banged up in that game. People were asking me when they got hurt. Honestly, man, I didn't see a play where they got hurt. I went back and watched the tape.

They seemed fine after the game. So something must have happened during one of those ships where they got banged up. Yeah. And one last thing I want to add about tonight's game against the devils. It really doesn't have anything to do with X's and O's or the breakdown of the game. It's just a very fun fact that I noticed when researching for today. episode. The season series is two to one, New Jersey. The Devils won the first two matchups, and then we had the St. Patrick's Day weekend beat down of seven to three. But despite the scores

in this series being three nothing devils, three two devils, seven three penguins, the cumulative score of this series this year is nine to nine. So penguins could come out with a season split and get the cumulative goal scoring win on this game if they find a way to come out victorious tonight. This has been a very weird season series because the penguins got shut out on the first one, three nothing. I didn't think they played that well in that game. The Devils also did a great job of mucking that one up.

That was in December of 2024. But then the game after that, that was in February. Penguins lose three, two. They had a chance to win a shootout. They didn't. Penguins played a lot better than the Devils in that game, by the way. They deserved a better fate. And then they crushed them in the third game.

So honestly, you could make a real argument that the Penguins should be up in the season series right now and could try and win the season series tonight, but they'll at least go for a split against the devils and gas people for all you sicko draft lottery people. Oh, there are the Penguins right now. When you look at the draft lottery simulator, they are at pick number seven right now. So lost tonight, potentially gets a little better, a win. You know it's the opposite. But right now, pick number seven.

We'll get to the Bruins preview a little bit later on. They are fourth in the tankathon ratings right now, and they've had quite the tank. over the last few weeks after trading their captain. But again, that's a bit later on in the show. That will do it, though, for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to talk about the kids, the other kids, that is,

that have a big opportunity ahead of themselves, not just tonight, Pat, but in the final two games of the regular season as well. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandle. The NBA playoffs are almost here, and Fandle is giving new customers

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Don't miss out. Head to fendul.com and claim your $250 bonus in bonus bets today. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join my co-os, Patrick Dampin. Pat, with players like Achari done for the year, Nyeto, Tommy Novak, Rucker McGority. This is a big opportunity, my friend, for some of the players that we saw got called up on Thursday to at least have an impact for the final three games. Like some of these players, they're going to go out there, play their tails off

because they are playing for potential jobs on this Penguins roster for next season. in point, Dalitrae Pustin. He's been up and down over the last year. I thought last year, there were games where he looked apart. He was in H-Elready, but then there were other games where he just looked like he didn't really belong at times. Fast forward to this year, where I really want to see him dominate in the HL. He's been fine, just hasn't been at the level that I want him to be at. I said during the Thursday episode, I kind of see him as a tweener at this point, maybe at best in 11th or 12th Ford. I wanted him to try and iron out. out of spot in the top nine heading into this season.

Didn't have as good of the camp and preseason as I wanted to. You know, he ended up playing at Wilkesbury for a lot of this year. But I want him to utilize that wicker release that he has, especially tonight against the Devils. I want to see him do it obviously against Boston and Washington as well. That's what I'm looking for with him. With Ashley Ponomero, I mean, he's also going to have a really good shot at making this team next season.

Good defensive bottom six center. If he does make the team next year, I still want a little bit more offense out of this game. But this is a big opportunity. to impress the coaching staff because, by all accounts and purposes, Mike Sullivan is returning next season. I know your thoughts on it. I have my thoughts on it.

I have shared my thoughts on this 500 times on the show. You all know how what I would do. If I were the penguins, they're not going to do it. I know a lot of fans agree with us on that. But I don't think his seat could be any corner right now, if I'm being completely honest. But it's still a big opportunity for Solmik Ponomero

to really impress the coaching staff. I think he's had a really, sound year in Wilkesbury. And I want to see what he can do in the bottom six these next few games as well, Pat. For sure. And I kind of want to weave something you brought up there into the whole narrative is that I think over the last couple weeks, Sullivan has quelled a lot of concerns of people because we have seen him on multiple

occasions bring the young guys up and kind of maybe not bury them, but protect them, I guess would be the better word, where they don't get a lot of ice time. They don't get a lot of big assignments. And for McGority and Coivinen, they were thrown right into the fire. And he never pulled him out. He let him keep proving themselves. And I also don't think he's had prospects this good in quite a long time during his

tenure. I will say that people. Yeah. And that was a point I made a while back was we kind of all convinced ourselves that every prospect coming up was the next one when in reality they were probably bottom six players at best or second or third pairing defenseman at best. And that's what happens when you're in go for it mode for 20 years. But when you look at what the projected bottom six could be tonight, you have Connor Dewar with Kevin Hayes and Valteri Pustin and Yona Copan, Vasily Ponomerovin,

Emil Benstrom. Those are the six players that could be in the bottom six tonight. And that is Kevin Hayes and a bunch of young players. Yeah. And a lot of players who really do have a chance to prove themselves. I've liked Connor Dewar's game since becoming a penguin. I think he he's had some down moments a little bit here and there, but overall his body of work has been solid. Valteri Pustinen, chance once again to prove that he belongs on an NHL roster. It's been a struggle for him this year. Hasn't been great in the American League, hasn't really had any moments that make him stand out, but the opportunity is now being presented to you. It might be because of injury, but you're getting the opportunity nonetheless. And then Copan has been fine in his time here. He hasn't really stood out.

He's been a bit of a cardio merchant, but at the same time, you're now going to be with Ponomarev and Emil Bemstrom. Bemstrom's had moderate success as a bottom six forward. I say moderate, very little, but he is a guy who put in the right role on a deep enough team. And I know this team isn't very deep right now, but when he's in a bottom six role, he can play. fairly well. So you put that, that those six players together, five technically, because Kevin Hayes is Kevin Hayes. There's a real chance here for a lot of these players to carve out a role for the next few seasons because you look at all of those players combined. Doer, not going to be a top six player. Pustinen, there was a time where we thought he could be,

but if you can be a productive third line winger who chips in every now and then, that's a solid asset to have on your roster. And then Copan and Ponomerov and Bemstrom, that can be an energy line. That can be a good line that, yeah, maybe they don't go out and light up the scoreboard, but they're not going to be, it's not going to be what we've seen or couldn't. What we have seen over the past few years is we have had at the very least, the fourth line and then oftentimes both the third and fourth lines go out, get caved in defensively, maybe don't give up a goal, but they don't do anything to help you offensively, you look at that fourth line,

that could be an energy line. And not in the traditional, they're going to go out, bang bodies and be physical, but they're going to play fast. They might chip in every few games, but they're not going to be a liability for you. So I know I'm looking at this very optimistically,

but this is what we want to see these guys top out as. And over the next week, they're going to have the opportunity to start planning, that seed that, okay, these guys could work out in these roles in the future. And then some of your bigger prospect names, your Billy Covenins, your Rucker McGroortys, Tristan Brose, so on and so on can start filling in your top six. And all of a sudden, you've got a nice little workflow. Yeah, I mean, just give me some shifts in the offensive zone.

The biggest thing is I don't want any of these kids to get caved in. I mean, Yonukopin, he's kind of a tweener as well. Emil Benstrom. I kind of throw him also pat in that Carterio merchant category where, he's okay, but I don't think he's going to be, you know, a full-time NHLer going for, at least on the Penguins, that is. So, you know, he's been in Wilkesbury for a lot of this season, but I don't think he's going to be on the full-time team next year.

But still, give me some shifts in the offensive zone. Don't just get caved in your own zone every single time you're out there. That's not, obviously, that's not going to do anything for, you know, it's not going to do anything for the team. And it's just going to make you look pretty silly. But, you know, for Ponomero, I want to keep seeing that defense of proudness. I want to maybe get him some reps on the penalty kill. And I want to see some of that offensive ability as well, if he can unlock a little bit,

a little more of it, excuse me, for these final three games. Yes, if you look at their standings, it's probably in their best interest to lose these last three games, to get as good of a draft pick as you can, especially because they are officially eliminated. And these games are meaningless for the team. But again, for players, some of these guys are playing for jobs next year. contracts, all that good stuff. So you're still going to get 110% best effort in these three games. But as I just said, it's probably in the team's best interest to lose these last three,

maybe see if you can sneak into the top five. But you look at the schedule, Washington, they're probably going to be resting some guys next Thursday if I had to guess. Boston's not very good. They're having an elite tank more on that in just a second. And then New Jersey, they don't got much to play for tonight either. They already know who they're playing in the first round. they're just going to want to, obviously they're going to try, but it's not going to be,

I don't think at least zero to 100 like they will play against Carolina. So these three games, they're pretty winnable for the Penguins. We'll just have to see how these results go. But I think that'll do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're going to preview the third and final meeting against a Boston Bruins team that is going through it lately, people. Holy goodness, they are just flat out awful. You look at the tank of fond standings, as I just mentioned.

They are number four right now. So they have a chance to get one of the four best players in the draft. They stay in that spot. Obviously, the penguins, they're trying to sneak into the top five if they do lose these last three games. But we're going to preview that game against the ruins coming up here in the final segment. But before we get to that, we have to tell you about our final sponsor, and that is game time. There is nothing like the energy of a live game, whether it's catching a last-minute MLB showdown or soaking in the excitement of an NBA matchup. But finding great seats at a great price, that used to be a challenge

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off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right we're back here for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Join on my co-s, Patrick Hampton. Bad, this will be a game between two teams that their best interest is to lose.

So it's going to be a fun game, regardless. Obviously, one team has to win, but it is within both teams' best interests right now to lose and try to get the best traffic possible because both these teams are eliminated from playoff contention. What a fall from grace it has been for the Bruins

ever since the trade deadline. We had a discussion about Don Sweeney earlier this week and how he really set up the Bruins to fail heading into the season because he did not do a good job over the off season. Jim Montgomery takes the fall for whatever reason. I guess you had to, even though he's a great coach or seeing that on display with the St. Louis Blues Blues. They're going to get into the playoffs and they will be a tough out for whoever they play,

whether that's the Winnipeg Jets or the Vegas Golden Knights. But, you know, Jeremy Swamen has also not been nearly as good this year as he was last year. That's been the thing for me, man. Like he signs that big contract, but there was also a little bit of that hold in slash holdout situation. He's played 57 games, but only in 894, same percentage, 3.08 goals against average. He has been woeful this year compared to where he has been the past couple of seasons where he's been well above league average. One of the biggest reasons for the Bruins struggles this year is that they have gotten some rotten goaltending. And I felt

Swayman was ready for the number one role after they traded Lina Solmark. But he's had a terrible season. And then they trade Brad Marchandah, the trade deadline. I think the rest of the players were like, yeah, I think now we know the direction that we're going in. And honestly, over the last 10 games, they've lost eight of those 10 games. Like they have been one of the worst teams in hockey since the dead line. That said, they still have some good talent up front. Morgan Geeky with Elias Lindholm and David Posternuk on the top line. Posternuk, Penguin's Killer, and one of the top goal scores in the league.

You always have to be aware from him when he's on the ice. Pavel Zocka with Casey Minlstadt on the second line. You have Fraser Mitten on the third line. you have John Beecher and Jacob Lacko on the fourth line. And then Andrew Peek defensively, Henry Okiharu, Nikita Zadourov. They also don't have Charlie McAvoy defensively, which is really unfortunate. And then Hamphus Linholm is still hurt right now. This is a team that is not only bad, but they're banged up and they traded their captain to the deadline.

This is a Bruins team that can very much be had on Sunday. Absolutely. And keeping the focus on the Bruins, I know that you kind of gave me. some crap for this and understandably because I was essentially praising an arsonist for putting out his own fire with Don Sweeney. But the way I wanted to frame it was if you look strictly at the trade deadline, he identified, listen, this team isn't going anywhere. We got to do right by a guy like Brad Marchon and get him to a team where he can have a chance to win the Stanley Cup and get us a better draft pick. Now, if I'm the Bruins, Don Sweeney's got to go.

He just has to because look at a lot of the names. You just ran down. There is a good team here to be had. They have to fill it out a little bit better. They still have some good talent in Providence that could come up and make a difference next season. But the problem is Don Sweeney has shown over the past few years doesn't have the ability to fill it out.

So I know people are tired of the Bruins the same way they're tired of the penguins because for the last 15 years, it's been penguins, the lightning, the Bruins, and a couple other teams that constantly hang around the top. I can put the capitals up there as well. But you look at this Bruins team, and their key contributors are very good. They've still got a lot of very good talent on this roster. The problem is they have not done a good enough job surrounding them with the supporting cast. And that's something with a rising cap and some young players on the way for Boston. and you get the right GM in there,

this isn't going to be the start of a slide. It could be an extension, but I don't think they have the guy to do it. As for the Penguins tonight, I mean, they have shown that they can hang with the Bruins. And the two times they played them, it was before the Bruins threw up the white flag.

Right. And they beat them two to one early in the season. They lose a tough one, three to two to the Bruins back in March. And now you've got this one. So again, the biggest thing, yeah, would it be in the organizational best interest for them to lose? Of course. But it's another opportunity for all the guys that we just talked about in the second segment to go out, play a good game,

and really show that they can be part of this team moving forward. So while we may be rooting for a better draft pick over for this summer, I still want to see how these young guys carry themselves down the stretch. And I want to see that fight, that energy, all that good stuff that we have talked about ad nauseum on the show over the last few weeks, since we have known for a while now that the Penguins were not going to make the playoffs. Obviously, it was made official only a few days ago, but we've still known for quite a bit that this team was not going to make the playoffs. Even before the season, I predicted that they were not going to get in. As for what you said about Boston, I get what you're saying, but they still, to me,

a lot of holes to fill on that team. They have some of the big pieces. Obviously, David Posternach, one of the best goalscores in the league. And Pat, would you believe me if I told you that he has 102 points on this disgusting Bruins team this year? Yeah, I would. He's that good. Yes, he's that awesome, like 42 goals, 102 points. He drives their offense. Morgan Geeky has also been good, 31 goals, 55 points. He's been getting a lot of top line minutes this year. You know, Pablo Zaka, Elias, Linholm, he has not really been the fit that they wanted, only 16 goals 44 points this year. You know, it's after Pasta Rike and Geeky, man, it's a steep drop off in terms of production

on the current team. You know, you look at the team website, it's like, oh, look, Brad Marshall is right there, but obviously he's on the Four of Panthers now. But again, after you look at pasta and geeky, pretty steep drop off. And again, Pat, they don't have their best defenseman, Charlie McAvoy right now, which obviously hampers a lot of their offense for sure. But, you know, you look at guys like. like Charlie McAvoy.

You like I don't hate their center depth. I mean, Elias Linholm, Casey Middlestat, Fraser Minton. You need to get a better fourth or third line center. He's a dude. I think he can develop into a good player, but I'm sorry. Like I don't think Elias Linholm is a top line center on a playoff team.

No, but that's the point I'm making is that like you can see the foundation, the building blocks. there are pieces there to where you look at this team, and especially in a tight Atlantic division, would put them right back into the mix. The problem is coming back to the original point. Don't think Don't Sweeney is the guy to do it.

So that is kind of their Faustian bargain right now, is you've got the pieces. At the very least, you've got the foundational pieces to be a good team. Here, let's make it about the penguins. Take a look at the last few years. they had a lot of the pieces, but they had Ron Hextall in the general manager's chair. And he made a lot of stupid decisions. Don Sweeney has made a lot of stupid decisions.

And here they are now. Hey, and you know, just to take that a step further, you know, I've liked a lot of Kyle Dubus's work over the last 14 months, but he made some silly decisions during his first offseason. I know he didn't have the staff in place, Pat, but he still made some silly decisions that didn't help matters. And I think that was part of the reason why. they missed the playoffs that year.

Just had to throw it out there. He's been very good the last 14-ish months, but I still did not like a good chunk of the work that he did during the first off-season outside of maybe the Ned signing, Eller, Carlson, a lot of these other signings that he made were not very good. I don't need to do that. Right. And not to make this a whole litigation on Dubis's first year,

but the thing I keep telling people about Dubis's first year, he obviously deserves criticizing criticism for it. but he comes into a team that missed the playoffs by a single point. You kind of look at that and go, well, they miss by a point. Yeah. We can find a way to get back. And then once he realized, oh, wait, there are fundamental flaws with this team. They didn't just miss the playoffs by a point.

They missed the playoffs by a point, but they're not very good. So it's time for us to hit this retool. So you look at Don Sweeney, and you had a team that just two years ago was one of the historically best teams ever. and here they are now. Yeah, and they also need a new coach after the season. So a lot of big questions coming up with the Boston Rubens, but for the Penguins perspective, obviously I want to see Sid hit 90 points.

Maybe he even hits it by Sunday against the ruins. That would be great. He needs three points in the final three games. God, slow down pasta, and I still want to see some more of these young kids cook. And also, Vili Coivident, want to see how he does on the top line next to Sid and Brian Rust. But I think that'll do it for today's episode

of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another show of you all on Monday to recap this game against the Devils and we recap Sunday's game against the Bruins. And believe it or not, my friend, we only have one game left to preview next week, the Washington Capitals game. I will be there for that with a couple friends. And then we just have to recap that and we'll dive into all the other latest news and notes surrounding the Penguins.

And then after that game, we got season reviews to start and playoff previews to discuss. So don't worry, people, even though the season ends now, next Thursday. We still got a lot of content coming your way for locked on penguins. And of course, some draft stuff. I'm still working on my Penguins specific big board for the first round. There's some obviously very good names on there. I'm a little bit different than some of the other draft people that definitely know more than me. I'll say that. But I'm still excited to unveil it a bit later on in the year. But again, that will do it for this one. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday.