Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Is Jason Botterill really the right guy for the job?
Episode Date: May 17, 2023It's a day that ends in "Y" so that means there's more to the GM search! Hunter starts the show by discussing Jason Botterill's candidacy and why he suddenly got a lot of love from two separate media ...outlets. He looks at the pros and cons of Botterill's case to be the GM and analyzes why he wouldn't be at the top of his list. However, he gives a couple of reasons why it can work since he definitely wouldn't be the worst choice out there. After that, he dives into Pierre Lebrun's latest rumblings and looks at a few new names he dropped in his article that got Zoom interviews with Fenway Sports Group. Who will likely get a second interview with FSG? Is the search likely to end in the next couple of weeks? Finally, he does a Western Conference and Eastern Conference FInal preview and gives his predictions as to who will play in the Stanley Cup Final in just a couple of weeks.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedonnhl and when you enter promo code, LOCKEDONNHL, they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORKGametimeDownload 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Is Jason Bottsville the right fit to be the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager?
Find out my answer coming up right after this.
You're Locked-on Penguins.
Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.
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Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.
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at LORS for Penguins and of course,
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So when I woke up this morning,
let's send a D.K. Daly shot where he does a very good job
with his Penguins coverage.
I read Josh Shelley's article on The Athletic
and two separate media outlets,
just going ham for James.
Jason Bottswell. I don't know if they know something's up with him potentially being the favor
for the GM job. There's really been no word from Fenway Sports Group. All we know is that he got a
first round interview. Don't know if he's on the second round for candidates. But two set of media outlets
today going hard for Jason Bottsrell, more Penguin's assistant and associate general manager.
Was here under the Ray Shiro days. Was here under the Jermen for days. Went to Buffalo. It's now in
Seattle and see a lot of discourse on Twitter about how he's the number one target. He would be a
great fit here, all that stuff. So I figured I could take my platform here to discuss the pros
and cons of him and why I personally do not have him at the top of my list. Okay, I'll try to be
as clear and as concise as I can be with this. So let's go here. Number one,
Would I be upset if Jason Botryl was the hire?
No, because I think he's an upgrade over on Hextall.
I think he's an upgrade over, especially Mark Version and Peter's Rowley and probably a few others on this list.
But I think underwhelmed is the word that I would use.
You're probably wondering why.
And it's mainly because, honestly, I don't think he did that good of a job in Buffalo.
Yes, you can look at his draft record.
And you can see, yeah, he drafted Dylan Cousins number seven roll.
He's really good.
He was also a top 10 talent going into that draft, so he's living up to his belly.
Yes, Rossmus Dahlin has been really good, well above average defensemen.
He drafted Sam Milsson, who I think is going to be pretty decent, Casey Middlestat.
A bit of a reach at the time was not playing well.
He's finally starting to figure it out, especially this season.
Oka Pekka Lukinen, who has kind of been replaced on the depth chart.
Outside of that, you know, he got them to age Tom,
in the Orion-O-Reilly trade.
But honestly, that O'Reilly trade was aging like pure milk up until last season, the 2021-2020 campaign.
Because that was when Tage broke out.
This year, he broke out even more.
People were running, like, if this was sustainable.
Oh, yeah, it was, because he's become a very good player.
I'm up the opinion that he kind of got a little bit lucky that Tage finally figured
this some things out because before these last couple of seasons,
he literally just looked like a pure throw in that trade.
He didn't really do much.
Still, after him, Dave Thompson, that's good.
You know, he also signed Jeff Skinner to a $9 million per year contract.
Yes, Jeff Skinner did have a good year this year.
But that contract was also aging pretty badly at the time,
and I also don't think he's worth $9 million per season.
Those are the things that I really,
I guess, again, there's pros and cons to it.
Decent drafting.
He got them, Tage Thompson,
even though it took forever for Thompson to,
you know, come out, I guess.
But the Jeff Skinner deal
is just kind of a bit mad.
And honestly, that's how I can describe
his whole tenure there.
A whole lot of men.
He also hired Ralph Kruger,
who was a terrible head coach.
He almost ruined Ross Mistali.
obviously a former number one overall pick he almost ruined dylan cousins and all some of those other guys
that was pretty bad decision you also could argue go devil's advocate that maybe some of this was
ownership driven i don't think it takes a genius to see that i think but the yula family cares more
about the buffalo bills than they do the buffalo sabers you can probably go ask sabers fans how
they feel about the ownership there and i think they would say that i think they would agree that
they care more about the bills than they do the sabers
and working for the Pugulas is a bit hard.
I think that's true.
But again, I think it's mainly just a lot of very men during his tenure in Buffalo.
Does he deserve another shot?
You can certainly argue that.
Again, I do think he could fit here if you surround him
with a good supporting cast of assistant GMs and analytical people.
But if you're not going to do that,
not going to work here. I also think another way it could work here is if he's maybe president
of hockey operations and you hire someone like Eric Tolski to be the GM or another young guy
who's never been a GM before. I just don't think it makes sense to hire him as the GM,
have someone above him like a John Chica, whoever, and then you roll into the next season
in the year's next year next season after that with that as your front office. I think you're just
doing yourself a disservice with so many young and upcoming and hungry people ready for
a GM job.
And also my last thing is, if Jason Botryl had never been in Pittsburgh, would you be seeing
all these people clamoring for him?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
Again, I'm not trying to be a party pooper here or anything like that.
I'm just a little skeptical because of his work in Buffalo.
Some highs.
I feel like there's more lows than highs, though.
Again, you can argue that the ownership group of the Pugula family had more input with maybe the Kruger hiring and the Skinner extension,
but I think that was more so Boddle just trying to save his butt.
And then the O'Reilly trade was really bad before it turned out to be at least a little bit better because Tate Thompson finally panned out.
But, you know, he also traded Brandon Montour.
He didn't really get that much in return.
Granted, I know Montor has turned it up quite a bit since leaving Buffalo.
He was never that good in Buffalo.
So I'm not really going to hamper bottle that much for that one.
But he just, he never really got the Sabres truly going.
I wouldn't say Kevin Adams had to come in and clean up his mess.
That would be unfair to say.
He didn't leave him a mess.
But I just don't think he did that good of a job to the point where everyone's like,
well, this has to be the guy.
this has to do. The guy, no. I mean, I would have, I have Eric Tolst gives my number one target.
I will maybe put San Ventura over him, maybe even Jason Carmanos, Steve Greeley,
people like that. I am just of the opinion that this organization needs new, fresh blood,
and mostly away from the retreads. There are ways it can work if you do hire a botrol
and you surround him with a good staff and you have a decent president of hockey operations above
him or if you hire botterl as your president of hockey operations you have a younger
gm like eric tulski in there with a good supporting cast of assistance and analytical people
but if you're just hiring botterl and you're not giving a good staff and you have someone up up
above him who's you know more so on like it's the dinosaur side i just don't think that's going to
make too much sense so that's kind of where i sit on that in terms of botterill i understand the
the familiar factor when it comes to him being here he knows the organization he knows what it
takes to win here he was jem rutherford's right-hand man when he was here worked under ray shiro
but again i just don't when i look at his work in buffalo i just don't think i see someone where i'm
like yep that's the guy you want to press all your buttons for and go all in i i i am i just don't see it
That's where I stand on the Jason Botterol stuff.
Let me know your thoughts.
I know this might be an unpopular opinion to some people within the fan base.
Well, let me go down the comments.
If you agree with me or if you disagree, don't worry.
I don't mind if you disagree.
If Botterol is the higher and it comes and proves me wrong, I will eat crow.
I am perfectly fine with taking an L.
I've done it plenty of times on this show.
I am just here to give my expert opinion on why or why not.
I would like something.
Again, would he be an upgrade?
Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. But would I have him as one of my top candidates? No. No, I would not. You know, it's funny. It's as if, you know, it's as one of my buddies said to me today. It's a lot of, you know, kind of not sure what to make, make of this a little bit in terms of his overall tenure, but not a lot of, but not a lot of, wow, he absolutely crushed it in Buffalo. It's just a lot of, eh, okay. That's, that's kind of.
I'm not aware on that with that.
But again, let me know your thoughts.
Do you agree?
Do you disagree?
Do you think I'm stupid?
Do you think I'm smart with this one?
Let me know.
That wraps up.
This first segment when it comes to Jason Botrell.
Coming on the second segment,
we're going to get into more GM updates from Pierre LeBron's article today
and why there are a few new names on there if you do not have a subscription to the athletic
or if you don't read or if you don't follow Pierre LeBron on Twitter or anything like that.
So that's coming up after this.
But before we touch on that.
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time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right I am back here on this
episode of the locked on penguins podcast I am your host hans or hos or hodysmer to follow me on
Twitter at hondra hodys follow the shows Twitter at antlers or penguins and of course thank you all
so much for making this your first listen today we're freeing
available on all platforms. So let's jump into Pierre Lebrun's updates for the GM search as there
were a few new names that came out today in his new Rumblings blog slash article. So Pierre starts off
by saying Penguins have been busy conducting interviews as they seek to fill out their front office.
I have been told they're looking to hire both a president of hockey operations and a GM.
He said they chatted with a dozen or so people via Zoom in the first round of interviews and they're
now cutting down the list to a short list for second amount interviews, which
will be in person.
He's also heard that they have already informed some people as early as today, Tuesday,
that they will not be in the running anymore.
If I had to guess, based on the list that we've had so far from numerous supporters,
I think Peter Sorrelli and Markers,
and I've probably been told that they are out.
I cannot see them going for either of those two guys in any capacity.
It just goes against what Fenway wants in a GM or present hockey operations.
It makes no sense to me.
He then goes on to say,
I have confirmed seven people who are part of the version of Zoom interviews.
Mark Bergen, Eric Tolski, Peter Shirelli, Jason Carmanos,
and a hat trick of Devils Front Office people,
Dan McKinnon, who is the Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager,
Kate Madigan, who is Assistant General Manager,
and Megan Duggan, who is Director of Player Development.
So if you're unfamiliar with those three people,
well, that's what I'm here for, Megan Duggan.
So she was recently hired last year.
She was captain of the U.S. women's team in the 2018 Olympics.
Very bright future for her.
Kate Madigan, assistant general manager.
She was hired by the organization about several years ago back in 2017.
She worked under Josh Harris.
She was just doing some scouting and player development at the time.
She has now risen the ranks and is an assistant general manager.
I don't think it's going to be long before.
She is also a full-time general manager in this league.
And then, Dan McKinnon, you may recognize.
him. He did some player development here in the Penguins
record. He believed he was actually the director of player development here with
Penguins from 2006 to 2016. He was then hired by
Ray Sherro. If you remember that Ray Shiro was the
Jevils DM before Tom Bex Gerald got the job.
He worked for the Penguins from 2006 to 2016 before he went to the
Devils and then Rose to the ranks as well.
And he is now senior rights president slash assistant general
manager. The fact that Penguins are targeting the Devils were
organization is not surprising they have made some very good hires over the years as i just said
tom vizgerald has also done a great job as being the gm of that team he got them to being a contender
this year had some lawyer luck but he's also had some true moves with the signing he was like
hamilton tom os tatari even though he wasn't that good in the playoffs he's he's done a really
nice job for them so not surprised at the penguins are looking at the devil's front office because that is a very
a good crop of people there.
And also, it's interesting that
we did not get those last three
names until just now before the second
round of interview started. That just goes to show
how tight-lipped the Fenway Sports Group
has been about this. Pierre then
also said he has not confirmed
if Baudrill or Matthew Darsh have
interviewed, but he said he would not be
surprised if they did. Remember, that was
reported by Frank Sorvali of
Daily Faisoff. He then says,
summarizing here,
I'm John Chica for a president of Hockey Ops role,
but he also said he would not be surprised
if Chica comes to a different organization in a few weeks.
So it looks like he has a couple, you know,
irons in the fire himself.
And then lastly, he did confirm the Penguins
were trying to interview Brad Trillivine,
former Calgary Flamesian,
but they declined it even though he's not with the organization anymore,
but his contract runs until, what, June 30th, July 1st, whatever.
I think that mainly has something to do.
do with the flames really not being interested in just trail living, sharing their draft
projections or what they're thinking for the draft or what they're thinking of adding.
And so I don't know.
I think it's a little weird, but I also understand where they're coming from there.
But those are the new names when it comes to Peter LeBron's latest for the Penguins.
If I had to guess who gets a second around their interviews, and this is just me speculating
here.
Eric Tolski
there's something
is seriously wrong
if he is not advancing
to the second round
of your interview
I do think he will
get a second interview
I would not be surprised
that Jason Carmanos
also gets a second interview
any of those sweet
devil's people would not be surprised
if they get a second interview
Jason Botrell
assuming he did get interviewed
and I think he did
I think he's definitely going
to get a second interview
not sure about Matthew Darsh
not sure about some of these other people
I doubt version and Shirelli did
but it seems like the penguins
they are in the process of cutting this down
and I think they're going to have a second round
away with, excuse me, of interviews
this week. If they want to bring Tolski
in, for example, for an interview,
you're probably going to have to do that
if you haven't done it already
today, Tuesday, tomorrow, Wednesday
because the hurricanes start their Eastern
conference final later this week.
Again, you can
basically make hires
even if someone
is with an organization, but you
really just can't announce it, I don't think,
until after that team is done playing.
That's going to be the tricky part with hiring Tulsi,
but I think the Penguins would still be able to pull it off,
even if the hurricanes go all the way to the final,
and even if they win the final,
I know it wouldn't end until mid-June.
So I guess it wouldn't really officially start.
He wouldn't really officially start until then,
but I still think they can make it work,
even though the draft is only a couple of weeks after that.
He would just have a long way to go in terms of getting ready for the draft
and all that.
But most of the candidates on this list are pretty forward-thinking, pretty innovative,
pretty analytically inclined.
You can't go wrong with a lot of them outside.
I think of Mark Bergevin and Peter Schrelli, John Chica.
I'm not too big of a fan of, though.
You could maybe convince me a little bit Jason Botry as I discussed.
I would be fine with it if a couple of parameters were set beforehand, but also not the top of my list.
But overall, there aren't really a lot of, oh, my God, this is an easy no in terms.
terms of candidates on this list. I think Fenway has done a pretty decent job. They've put out a very
wide net of candidates. We all knew this was going to take place from the start. They even said
during their press conference almost five weeks ago, they were going to talk to a lot of people.
Remember, a search firm is involved, according to DK of DK Pittsburgh Sports. I said this on a Monday
episode. How many of these people do you think the Fenway Sports Group knew before they started
this search? Two or three, it wasn't many. That's why you hire a search room. And honestly,
someone said it, someone said it great on Twitter. I don't know who said it, but I'm going to try
to do my best to repeat it here, that when you interview people such as Peter Schrelli or Mark
Bershman, you can get their ideas from what they think about your team. While in turn, you're like,
okay, thank you for the ideas, but you know, we're not going to move forward with your application
because we value the team a certain way. But it's still good to get that perspective
while also seeing other perspectives for maybe what lines up with what you want. It still doesn't
hurt to get that outside perspective. When it does hurt, though, is when you get those people
two second round interviews because it's like, okay, that is weird to me.
So again, I don't expect them to be in the second round, but, you know, you never turn.
Now, I'm sure that's going to be reported at some point as to who got, you know, a second round of interviews and all that.
So those are the latest updates when it comes to the GM search of Rawl.
I think we're probably going to see something in the next couple of weeks.
I don't think they want to drag this out too much longer.
We're already in mid-May.
The draft is at the end of June.
Free agency is in a month and a half.
They got to get the ball rolling at some point of year.
but, you know, I also want them to take their time.
Make sure they get the right people in place.
It's a very important hire, especially at the end of the Sid, Gino, and What's Hang era.
You have to get these hires right.
And I'm hoping that they do.
So that wraps up this segment.
Coming up to end the show, we're going to do a full conference final preview.
You'll get my picks, who I think will represent the East and
the Western Sanika final because I am really looking forward to these two series.
They start Thursday and then on Friday.
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I'm back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.
I am your host, Hunter Hodes.
Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes for all this shows Twitter at Enroner Hodes.
And of course, thank you all so much for making this.
Your first listen to the day.
We're freeing available on all platforms.
So conference final preview.
We're down to four.
Stanley kept semifinals, in other words.
Dallas ended their series against the Cracken last.
night, I went two for four in the second round.
Thankfully, Dallas and Vegas were able to bail me out.
Got the East Final wrong.
I'll take the hell on that.
I guess we'll keep with the West.
Vegas, Dallas is going to be a lot of fun.
These two teams last played in the COVID bubble.
And that was a really fun series.
Dallas won that.
They got to the final, lost of lightning in six games.
It's when the Lightning Dynasty truly got underway.
This star's team, though, a lot more potent than that.
And I think that's going to make things dangerous for the Knights.
But I will also also say that the Knights are more potent now with the addition of Jack Eichael.
They got Mark Stone, Chandler Stevenson's on another level, Shade Theodore, Alex Bertrangelo.
But Dallas, Rupert Hens is playing on another planet.
Jason Robertson was better in that last round, but he hasn't even fully awoken yet,
which is something I don't think the Knights want to happen.
Got the old guys, Jamie Benn and Tyler Sagan are playing well.
Wyatt Johnston.
What a playoff he's having.
What a rookie year he's having.
And they got the difference maker and go,
all these four teams left,
Dallas has the best goalie.
And that's why I'm going to take Dallas in a very hard-fought seven games.
I just like them a bit better depth-wise.
I think their top forwards are going to be a little bit better
than Vegas's top forwards.
Mero Hayskin, I think, is the best defenseman in this series.
I think he's going to be huge for the stars.
And when it comes down to it,
I trust Jake Ottinger more in a seven-game series.
And I do, Lauren Brousswalt or Aidan Hill,
it's going to be Aiden Hill, I believe, to start this series.
But I trust Jake Ottinger more.
He's played very well in these playoffs.
He's had a couple of little bit of off games,
but I trust Ottinger a bit more.
I like the stars to go to the Stanley Cup final.
And what a job by Peter DeVore.
It's funny.
Peter DeBore, 7-0 in Game 7s.
He's done really good in his first few years with the teams.
that he's coached, it's only after that where it goes downhill.
So the stars are living life to the fullest right now.
I think of these last four teams, they are the best team.
I honestly think they should win it.
They have what it takes to be to Vegas.
They have what it takes to be the winner of Carolina or Florida.
It's just all about them going out there and taking it
because I think right now they are the best constructed roster on paper.
They have the goalie that can steal you games.
I think they are the favorite right now of these final four teams to go all the way.
Switching gears to the east with Carolina, Florida.
I also have that series going to seven games.
That is going to be interesting because you have the hurricanes who play a bit more defensively.
They can still fire a lot of shots to the net.
They rely on their point shot reflections and all that, but they're also, you know,
they're pretty stingy in their own zone.
Versus the Panthers who are high flying.
Well, not as high flying as they were under Andrew Bunette,
but they drive offense a bit more than Carolina does.
and Cichick is having a hell of a playoff run.
Carver for Hagee scores in almost every game.
Anthony Duclair has come back with a vengeance.
Brandon Montor is having an unreal playoff for the Panthers.
I think if they go all the way,
he should get some serious consideration for the Cun Smyth
if it's not Matthew Cichick.
And playoff Bob, Sergei Bavrovsky.
Ever since he came in for Alex Lyon
and after that 3-1 series deficit to the Bruy,
He's been right around 930, saved nine goals above expected,
playing like a $10 million goalie.
This is a Bob that we have not seen in a while.
And he has been electric for the Panthers.
Carolina, though, they're going to get Terra Vining back at some point in this series,
if not game wins, Sebastian Ajo.
He has been great.
Seth Jarvis has been good.
Marty Natchez.
Jordan Martin Hook had a heck of a second round,
scored almost every game.
Stefan Nason,
for a Penguin's been playing well.
They got an electric top pairing of Jacob Slavin and Brent Burns.
That's going to be really interesting.
You know, a defensive first team versus another team in the Panthers that can
really come at you offensively.
An unstoppable force meets an immovable object.
I am going to take the Hurricanes in Seven.
I know Panthers, pull me once.
Shame on you.
Fole me twice.
Shame on me.
For me three times, well.
But I like Carolina.
who take it in seven, would not be surprised if these two series go the other way around.
They are that much of coin flips.
These two teams, these two series, excuse me, are between two teams who are very evenly matched.
I think it's going to make for some great hockey.
I'm really excited to sit down and watch it.
But that's my small preview on the conference finals.
We will resume player evaluations for my Wednesday episode.
We'll continue looking at the defense member for the season,
and then probably in the next week or two, we'll start to get to the goalies,
and then we'll finish off with the coaches for my season reviews.
And then I think we'll be done, basically, unless we want to do Ron Hexton, Brian Burke.
But I think you already know where I stand on that.
But that does it for this one.
Thank you all so much for listening to class watching.
Really appreciate it.
I'll be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday.
I was supposed to have Josh Yogi on today.
I think we're going to reschedule that for later on in the week, if not next week, had something come up.
So look for that coming soon again.
Thank you all so much for tuning in.
I'll talk with you all on Wednesday.
Bye.
