Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Is it Kyle Dubas time in Pittsburgh?

Episode Date: May 13, 2023

Happy Toronto Maple Leafs Elimination Day! Hunter starts the show off with a BANG as the GM search in Pittsburgh is about to get VERY interesting. Why? Kyle Dubas has just been eliminated, and there's no guarantee the Maple Leafs will bring him back. Hunter dives into how soon Fenway Sports Group could look to talk to him as they're reportedly already done with their first round of interviews. He looks at how Dubas would be an upgrade over the last regime (Who wouldn't?) before discussing how he still has some faults, as any GM does. He dives into his positives and negatives as a GM while also wondering if FSG would give him total autonomy of the roster. Hunter discusses why that might not be the best idea given some of the mistakes he has made in Toronto and gives his hope of what a front office would look like if Dubas is the hire. After that, he continued the season reviews with Kris Letang and why he still had a good season despite everything he went through. He then analyzes what he expects from him next season before ending the show with some more World Championship and playoff talk.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedStart hiring NOW with a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn. Offer good for a limited time. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.ebay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit is only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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) 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.

I would say the Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager shirts is about to get a hell of a lot more interesting based on what happened tonight with the Toronto Maple Leafs losing. That's coming up right after this drop. 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, of course, your host, Hunter Hodesmer. to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes follow the shows Twitter at Eleanor for Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this. Your first listen to the day, we're free and available on all platforms. Remember this is your team every day. We're recording this directly after the Maple Leafs,

three to two loss to the Florida Panthers. The Leafs are out. We have a Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes Eastern Conference Final. If you are someone that picked, that is a conference final before the playoffs, started, I asked that you step forward. There are probably not many of you out there.

I'm sure there may be some. Step forward. I did not see that coming in a billion years. Those two teams playing each other conference on our first time the Panthers aren't in the Eastern Conference Final since 1996. You can believe it. Yep. There before I was born.

God, I feel, I feel young after saying. I know people that probably be able to listen to this podcast. are a lot older than me. Yeah, I know. You probably should feel old now. But Leaves are out in five games. And, well, first, peers to that.

But you all know what that means. Kyle Dubus. Fenway Sports Group, they will probably be going to Toronto Maple Leafs. And, well, what time is it? 10.30.

What, 15 minutes? No, I'm just messing around. But tomorrow, Sunday. Maybe they'll let them breathe a little. little bit. The team has to make a decision of what they're going to do with this management, this coaching staff. The ownership group is not going to be happy that they just bowed out in five games to the last place team that got in. I know they beat the Bruins, but this team had high expectations coming to the playoffs. They finally got the monkey off their backs and beat the bomb,

and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to get their first series win in 19 years. And that was all for nothing as they got waxed by the Panthers in five games. Well, I shouldn't say waxed. These games were kind of close, but still losing in five games is never good. This was always, I think, the worst case scenario for the Leafs. You win game four and then you lose game five in front of your home bands who are just going to boo you off the ice. Your management's watching. Your ownership groups are watching. It is not going to be a fun time there over these next couple days. But this is about to make the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager church a lot more interesting. Right when Fenway Sports Group had their press conference,

I think it was Mike Stevens and a couple of other people were saying they've already heard rumblings that the Fenway was going to throw a bag at Kyle. If he gets out early enough, there's a chance that can happen now. The Penguins will have the authority to throw all sorts of money at him. I think they see him as a Theo Epstein kind of guy. And they will also have the authority to give him all the power in terms of the hockey ops decisions. Right now, Dubis is only the GM.

There's, Brendan Shanahan is above him. He is the president of hockey operations. I'm not sure if he'll have his job after this. We'll have to see. But Penguins don't have a president of hockey ops or GM right now, obviously. But per Frank Servali, they are going to hire both positions. They could easily give that first one, the president of hockey ops two dubas.

Heck, they can even give him the general manager role as well. Just two peas in a pod there. They will have that authority. It all comes down to A, whether Toronto wants to keep them. And if they don't be, would he take the Pittsburgh Penguins job? Before that, let's get into, you know, you know, overall, how a good of a fitness dupe is here. It's some of the positive negatives, right?

Is he an upgrade over the previous regime? Yes. I think that's a resounding yes. Honestly, anyone that is listening or watching this show, you would be an upgrade over Ron Hextall and Brian Berg. That is how bad of a job that they did, mostly Hextall, because he mostly made all the decisions. You would be an upgrade.

Is he innovative? Yes. That's what Fenway said they're looking for in the press conference. Is he analytically inclined? Yes. Is he a forward thinker? Yes. They said all of that during their press conference four weeks ago, if you can believe it's been 28 days since they fire Ron Hectorall, Chris Pryor and Brian Burke.

That checks up all their boxes. Now we can move on to the negatives a little bit. Is he prone to making decisions that go against, you know, just some of the forward-thinking ways? Yes. For example, during the – he made a lot of moves this year. traded Rasmus Sandine to Washington for Eric Gustafson. Didn't really understand what he was doing there. I think getting Jake McCabe was fine from Chicago.

I don't think they needed to go out and get Sam Lafferty for vibes. When he was on the ice, the Leafs were only controlling 43, 44% of the expected goal share. He had one or two points during the whole entire playoff run. And they gave up quite a bit to get. I understand they were going all in. Still, a little bit of weird movie. He also signed Zach Bogosian to his team about a year. year or two ago. He's not really known for his.

Skating is mainly known for his defensive play. Still kind of a weird signing there. And the biggest thing of all, and there's probably still all the moves that I could get to, the biggest one of them all, the goaltending. It was a very weird choice to go into this season with Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray as your two starting goalton. Matt Murray, when healthy, I think is decent. he's not where he once was in 26 and 17, but it can still win you games. It's just how often can you rely on him being healthy?

Elias Samsonov, very, you know, questionable in Washington was okay at times a season. Getting hurt was obviously sunk, but, you know, it was a big risk going into the season. They're lucky they have Joseph Wall ready to go for next season if he's going to be on the team either as the starter or the backup. You know, that part really, really, scares me if Fenway is really considering him to be the next GM.

So there's always some positives, but there are some things that give me pause just based off his work this season. You know, we can go back to other seasons as well, but just based off this season, he made some moves where I was like, I'm not really sure that's going to move the needle much. You know, Zach Austin Reese, okay player, but he's not going to really score you any goals. Good defensive imbanks, though. but to keep on being fair i can also go to some moves that he did well as well you know a couple years ago you know he got marked er donno i think he's been fine for them traded for jake musson a few years

ago when he was still pretty good obviously i know he's falling off low he's been banged up a couple right there you know t j brodie i thought at one time he was one of the more underrated defenseman in the league he has the core four locked up david camp has been david camp has been good. Michael Bunsing has been a decent find for him, especially when he's not playing dirty, I guess. So there's some positives and there's some negatives. Again, is an upgrade?

Yes. What I welcome him here is the GM, yes, but I think the biggest thing is, now we're staying on track here. I don't know if the penguin should give him full control over the hockey ops. And if that, if he wants total. control, the penguins don't want to give him to him, excuse me. He may have to walk and they may have to go get someone else.

But again, I think he's better than some of the options that are that are rumored to be out there right now. It's just that I think this, the only way this can work is if you surround him with quality hockey ops people. You can't just hire a bunch of yes men like Ron Hextall did that are just going to follow. He's like, oh, yes, master, you do that, whatever, something like that. You know, you can't do that.

So this is about to get really fun. Four weeks in, Elliot Freeman said today on the 32 thoughts podcast, he thinks the Penguins want to wrap this up in the next couple weeks. He also did say that the Penguins also wrapped up their first round of interviews. They're going to move on to phase who. He said they've talked to a lot of people to not name any names. Go show how secretive this team is being with regards to the search. They are keeping this a massive.

The only names that have been out there are really people that Frank Sardaleigh put out there. And then Rob Rossi had Jay Greenberg or the Blackhawks. If you count those up, five to six names in four weeks. There is not much out there. But I think you could really start to see this ramping up over this next, you know, a few days, week or two with Dubis. And especially if Toronto decides not to bring them back. Because I do think there are going to be some changes that. You know, you can't lose.

even though the games are close, I don't think you can get away with losing in final games to a team that I think a lot of people expected you to be. Even though the Panthers beat the Bruins in seven games. And that was a great accomplishment coming back from 3-1 down, I think a good chunk of people, I mean, I'll take the L on this, still pick the Leafs to win. I'm 0 for two in series predictions right now. I pick the Devils and the Leafs to win this round. Yep. Massive L. I had six of eight in the first round.

So we'll have to see what happens with the West series. But that'll do it for this episode. Let me know your thoughts. Do you think Kyle Dubus is a good fit for the Penguins? Do you think he should be given total control of the hockey ops? Do you see Fenway SportsCrogo really going after him and throwing him a bag? Let me down around the comments for YouTube. You can also send me a DM on social media and all that stuff.

So that wraps up this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we are basically done with all the forwards for our season reviews. not going to do Brock McGinn and those guys are not on the team anymore. We are going to start with a defenseman and of course I think you all know which one I am going to start with. So that's coming up right after this commercial break. But before we get into that, for a championship team, it's all about making sure every player is a perfect fit. It's the same when it comes to your vehicle. Every part needs to fit just right. So the next time you need parts and accessories, you can head to eBay motors with eBay guarantee fit. You can be sure every part you need

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exclusions apply. All right, we're back here on this episode. of the locked on penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at Ellen Shore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list in the day. We're free and available on all platforms. Okay, so let's jump right into this. So, continue our season reviews. We have to start with Chris Latang for a defenseman. We got through all the forwards again. I'm not really going to do Brock McGahn, Teddy Gluger, and Casperi Cabin. They're not really on

the team anymore. They had underwhelming seasons, to say the least. I don't really think it's worth it to just do them at this point. But we're going to continue with our defenseman. Chris Let's hang, played 64 games this year. 12 goals, 41 points in 64 games, back to max seasons of double-ditcher goals. Also, the four-time in the last five seasons that he has scored 10 or more goals in a season.

Points were a little lower this past season. Actually, they were cut in half last season. He played 78 games. 10 goals, 58 points in those 78 games before that. Actually, excuse me, 10 goals, 68 points in 78 games. This season, again, almost cut in half. Well, 68 to 41. I was looking at the assists real quick.

That was me being stupid. But 41 points still pretty decent. He struggled at the early parts of the season. No, I don't think that's a secret to anybody. His play in the defensive zone was lacking. he wasn't producing as much offense, had the stroke, which was obviously awful. And now he's a finalist for the Mastersington, by the way.

I have him winning it. I don't think it would be a total snub if he lost it because I think Clayton Keller with what he had to go through with that gruesome, I think it was a leg injury. That would be a deserving winner. It won't be as bad as when Devin Dubnick won for remembering how to play a whole tinder again. That said, I will still be bummed out if Letang does not win because it will be the second time he's lost after coming back and playing some really good hockey from a stroke.

So I do have him winning after that. And then after the injury that he had and when he was also hurt when his dad passed away, he just went through the ringer this season, people. He really did the stroke. His dad passed and got hurt. But he came back and played some really strong hockey. for the penguins down the stretch. I was pretty impressed with his play in the final month or two of the season. I understand the Penguins are not getting the playoffs,

but I don't think it was his fault by any means. 64 games, over 1,200 minutes of ice time at 5 on 5 for the Penguins. When he was on the ice, Penguins had 51.7% of the shot attempts. They also had about 50% of the goals for, 54% of the expected goal share, which is very good. 52% of the scoring chances, 54% of the high danger chances for,

50% of the high danger goals for a shot 7.5% in season. So the numbers, all back it up. Very good year for let's say again, but I do think he has another level to reach for next season. It may sound a little weird just because he's getting up there in age, but I still think he has some really good hockey ahead of him. He's going to have a full off season to train the other. stroke is behind him.

It's been a little bit since his dad passed away. Obviously, he'll carry that forever just because, you know, losing a family member is so hard. But he is one of the hardest workers during the offseason. And, you know, his conditioning is just through the roof people. We all see when he plays 28, 30 minutes at night. he looks like he hasn't even broken a sweat yet. I'm really excited for what he can do for this team next season.

The biggest thing for him, and I think he will really benefit from this next season, is getting him a new defensive partner. Whether that's someone via trade, trade agency, or it's Marcus Pedersen sliding out to a full-time role, I would personally still, if it were up to me,

I wouldn't mind Pedersen being up there. I would still go out there and get him a new partner or someone like a prime Brian Duel. one because when when let's hang i understand what tang is going to say i am most comfortable around doom one i would like him to come back what else is he going to say people he's not just going to trash a teammate that he's had a lot of great success next to but the time has come for him to transition to playing with someone else and that i think is another main reason why he could be in line for a big year next year playing with someone has doom one capabilities of being

responsible in their own defensive zone, someone who can break the puck up the ice when Latang doesn't have to do it all himself, and someone who can beride a little more offense will go a long way to helping Tanger. Also, someone again who can cover it for Tanger's mistakes, because we all know there are games each season where Latang does not have it. He stinks. There's probably about 10 to 15 each season where he's just really bad, but I will still take, if he's fully healthy for a season, he plays all 82 games, and he has 10 to 15 games off, and he's great for the other 65 to 70 games, something like that, I will take that any day of the week for my number one defense. He's just, he's always rotten in some games. That's how he

always is. But he is still great. He had another good season. And I think he's in line for another great one next year or two. Again, start off the season tough. His the underlines were not good, but he was able to rebound down the stretch and play some pretty solid hockey for this. I'm not going to say it was as good as it was last season because it was not. Latang was actually awesome the season before this one, but I still think this year he was mostly good and that should continue winning next season, even though he's a bit older. So overall my Latang grade, I'll give him about a B plus, you know, B, B plus, not his best work, but still solid enough from your number one defenseman, even though he's getting.

up there. So really like his work, solid way from him. Again, I'm really curious to see what this new management regime does with potentially getting him a new defensive partner. Because again, I have that at the top of my priority list for this team this all season. But that does it for this segment of the Longtime Penguins podcast coming up to end the show. We're going to miss himself about the World Championships. Also get into more of the playoffs, maybe the Eastern Conference final preview and all that. So don't go anywhere. Stick around for that coming up after this commercial break. I'm back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, all the shows, Twitter, at our show, Penguins.

And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list in the day. We're freeing available on all platforms. You all will probably be listening to late Friday night into Saturday. Again, I wanted to, I was going to record this earlier in the day, but I kind of was like, I might just wait until after the least game just to see if we can talk. about Kyle Davis, which you know, I'm glad I did because we did have that full segment early on. But the World Championship started today, and Drew O'Connor put on a show. He was great in the exhibition game earlier this week with two goals and assist. And he was awesome again. And that one was against Germany. But he was awesome again today over Finland,

scored three points again in a 4-1 win over them. He was said he is centering a line with checks notes. Red Wings prospect Carter, Missouri, and Canadian's prospect, Sean Farrell. You better be able to carry those kind of players to consider that they're not even the NHL full time yet. And sure enough, he did. And he was actually promoted to the first line that had Alex Tuck and Rocco Grimaldi on it.

He broke the tie midway through the third period. Blue Rister right past Emil Larmi, who I'm sure some of you all recognize that name for Pittsburgh Penguins goal-tending prospect makes it two to one. So he had the game-winning goal for the team for Team USA and this. And then he also made another great play that sprung Grimaldi and had the primary assistant on to make it 3-1. He was awesome today. And that's what you want to see.

I know he's not playing with some all-star talent on his regular line. I know he got promoted. But it's still what you want to see from someone who. who will definitely be very much in the mix to play a lot next season. I mean, if it's up to me, I think he should be playing full time. But really nice start from him. We also saw Casey DeSmith. He got the start and goal for Team USA.

He actually earned player of the game, 23 saves on 24 shots. Congratulations to him. Nick Minino, though, did not record a point. But still, congratulations to Smith. Andrew O'Connor, really strong efforts for Team USA. I had the stats in front of me. I want to make sure I had my notes correct from what I recorded down earlier. But that's all from the World Championships right now.

One more coverage on that next week. We have an Eastern Conference final set up. Carolina versus Florida, a Southeast Division clash. I don't know who I'm going to take it. I'm leaning Carolina. I know, fool me once. Shame on you, fool me twice. Shame on me.

full me three times. Well, let me some problems there. But I like the way Carolina is playing. I obviously, I love that. I love how Florida is played. They have that team of destiny-type feel. But Carolina, the way they smother the opposition, I think it's going to be really tough for the Panthers.

So right now, if you're asking me, and there's a chance they could get Tavo, Tara Vining back. I would favor the Canes ever so slightly, but no one should be surprised if the Panthers win that series and get to their first final since, well, in the same year they got to their last Eastern Conference final. Last year, funny enough, when they beat the capitals in the first round of the playoffs, that was their first series win since 96.

That was how long it had been. Of course, again, that was the last time they got to the Eastern Conference final. So it's pretty crazy. Again, I did not expect that to be the in East Final, but it's going to be a lot of fun. There's going to be some fresh blood. This is the first time that we're not going to have a Washington, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay in an Eastern Congress final,

or Stanley Cup final in quite a long time. Going back, I think here, last three years, Tampa was in it. Washington was in 2018. Pittsburgh before that. Tampa was in there as well against Pittsburgh. Tampa Bay was in the final in 2015. It's been really rare over the last eight years

when one of those three teams is not in the Eastern Conference final. Changing of the Guard here. I know Carolina was just ended a few years ago, but definitely a bit of a weird feeling to not see one of those three teams in there. And I know Washington's falling off a little bit. I think the main one will probably be Tampa because they've been at the top of the league, but Pittsburgh as well, you know, changing of the guard here in the NHL. Dallas up three games to two on Seattle.

I think Dallas is the best team left. They can beat you in so many different ways. The young guys are killing it. Jason Robertson finally woke up in game five. Rupa Hins is awesome. They have a goalie. They have the defensemen. They have the forward depth.

I think that's proving to be too much for Seattle right now. But of course, you should never count the cracking out. That should be a fun game six on Saturday night. And then right now you have the Vegas-Edmonton game five, which is still ongoing. I checked it was two to one. I have to see if that holds going into game six, which will be back in Edmonton. But that does it for this episode,

the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Really appreciate all of you listening slash watching. I'll be having another episode for you all on Monday of next week. Five fresh new episodes will continue our season reviews, continue for updates on the GM search, and all of that good jazz. So again, thank you all so much for tuning in.

Really appreciate it. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll talk with you all next week.