Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh, PA

Episode Date: October 12, 2021

We've made it! It's finally a Penguins Game Day and Hunter has a fresh new episode ready for you all here with Jesse Marshall of The Athletic. They go into a full preview on the team, with topics that include: Is it right to give Matheson and Marino another shot together? Is the sky the limit for Kasperi Kapanen? How far does he see this team going? How does Danton Heinen fit Mike Sullivan's system? The two also go around the horn a little with some predictions towards the end of the episode. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this Tuesday episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O.

Understore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making the Locked-on Penguins podcast, your first listen of today. of the day, excuse me, today's episode is brought to you by Rock Auto, Amazing Selection, Live, and Real Prices, all the parts you cover ever need. You can visit rockado.com and tell them locked on sent you. We have a very special guest joining the show today. I don't think we've had this particular person on the show, and I want to say four to five

months, but Jesse Marshall of the athletic, an old friend of the podcast, he's come on countless times, but I'm glad that we can do a full Penguin season preview with him now. How was your off season first off, Jesse? It was good, man. You know, watch some soccer, living the dad life over here. You know, so we're trying out different foods. So is she ready to partake in her first 82 game season?

Yes. Way too little. First of all, the playoffs, you know, the penguins weren't in the playoffs for very long, right? So she didn't have a long opportunity. And she was only like weeks old, like three weeks old. like three weeks old when they're in the playoffs so she had no idea what's going on she can only see like eight inches in front of her face now she like will watch tv like yesterday we like watch the stealer game she has no idea what's going on she's only six months old but she'll at least

like react to like the colors and stuff so we'll see how the brightness of hockey goes actually to be frank hunter way past her bedtime she probably won't even be up for the game tomorrow uh but we're gonna get an afternoon one and sooner later yeah those will come up um in just a couple of months especially you know in December and January when those will be on TNT and ESPN. You know, hopefully the Penguins do have a long standing cup run since, you know, if I'm correct here, she'll be over a year. So she'll definitely have more of a sense of what's going on with a deep playoff run, especially, you know, in your household.

Yeah, that would be great. Yeah, we've got the swag already to go for tomorrow, though. So we're at least going to look the part, even if we can't stay up for the game, make sure were dressed for success. That's the best part right there. The Pittsburgh Penguins, they will be in Tampa Bay to take on the two-time defending champions. This is a matchup. I love seeing Jesse just because it's the former back-to-back champions going up against

the new back-to-back champions. I love how the NHL did the schedule like that. I wanted to get your thoughts on that matchup before we do get into a full preview here. This kind of screams like a game that Mike Sullivan, it's just a big. peak Sullivan performance where we know the team can win despite them being so short-handed because they'll play that system where it's very defensive, it's boring, you know, maybe not like the Devils or, you know, how Barry Trots coaches his Islanders, but Tampa Bay is going to have to be careful with how they play against the Pengland, just because I think they're

going to sit back a bit. They're not going to take as many chances, especially because the two-headed monster, you know, Jake Gensel's out, Zach Asson-Reece is not going to play. So just wanted to get your thoughts on that matchup And where's the path to victory in your mind for the Penguins tomorrow? Or today, excuse me, not tomorrow, today. Yeah, well, you certainly love for it to be like a full strength, you know, kick off to the season, obviously. You know, I don't, I don't think that what you can do is, you know, quote unquote, sit back.

Tampa will eat you alive. You know, if you provide them sort of like the free pass to get into your zone, you know, more often than that they're going to turn that into fruitful, fruitful attack on her. So I think what you have to do is try to dictate the pace, take the crowd out of it, get some long cycles going in the offensive zone, you know,

just keep the puck out of your end. And, you know, put your work boots on and slog this thing out for 60. just make it as ugly as you possibly can. I don't mean ugly, like physical and, you know, whatever, but you know how the penguins can get with their forecheckhunter. When they get going and they're rolling lines and everybody's up top the ice and they're really haunting you, making life difficult on your defense,

you have to do that to these talented Tampa defensemen. You can't let them have the time and space. It's like letting a quarterback sit in the pocket with no pressure to let you pick, picking you apart, right? I mean, it's the same thing. So I think the penguins will be aggressive, but a smart aggressive. like a focused aggressive, a system aggressive. You always get the sense on it.

This is like where Mike Sullivan gets the best out of his team. Yeah. You know, like he really does know how to make these trains go when you have players out of the lineup. So you feel like they're in good hands, right? I think the question is that it's a big talent gap tomorrow, right? And I think it's going to be a loud building for obvious reasons. Emotions will be running high.

You know, when the opening faceoff, and dump it. Just set the tempo that way and just keep doing it over and over again. And I think that's, that's to me the path to success for both these games. Because let me be clear, I think Florida is one of the better teams in the league this year. I think they will be one of the better teams than a league this year. They're very talented. You're going to have to play the same way in both games.

I think this is going to dictate sort of the same behaviors for both of these performances. You honestly couldn't pick two worst teams to open up the same. season against, especially when you're so short-handed as the penguins are in the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers just because they were both so good last year and they're both going to be really good again this year. So I definitely agree with you, you know, with Mike Sullivan. These two games until Sid likely comes back during the weekend, they scream like at least a one-one split just because Mike Sullivan knows what he's doing when you're he can coach short-handed and to just dumb the game down a little bit.

It honestly, if it feels like it's going to be a two-one claw for Tampa Bay or, you know, if Pittsburgh is able to claw out of win there with two-one, that is what I'm seeing right now. I don't feel like you're going to see a lot of goals torn. If I were, you know, making a bet or something, I would probably take the under, even though, you know, there's a lot of questions with Tristan Jari, which we'll get to in a second. But I just, you know, with the way the Penguins defensemen play down the stretch, especially, I know there is a big talent gap with this matchup. I just, I don't know how much space there's going to be for a lot of the Tampa shooters on the ice. And I feel like it's going to be a lot closer of a matchup than what some people are expecting.

I mean, I could certainly see that, you know, I mean, I think that, uh. Now watch them go lose six to. Well, no, I mean, that's really the key is I think there's two pieces to this turn. The first one is you can't give them any free minutes on the power play, right? You've got to be disciplined. I mean, I don't care how good your penalty kill is. You know, that power play is disgusting out there. It's sickening.

It's really what the penguin's power play should look like all the time. Yes. I think in goal hunter, it's probably really the same. I think the goal and the way they want to go about their business is similar. They're just so good at executing it because of the puck movers that they got in that lineup. So for me, you know, I'm kind of like steering my eyes to that special teams, you know, battle first and foremost. And it goes back to what I said at the at the onset of the conversation, Hunter. If you get that puck deep and you make them work for it, you frustrate them, you get those power play opportunities.

You now have the opportunity to go in there and shut that building up, get an early goal and silence the place. with the main advantage. And it's just, it all comes together. You know, I just, you know, you don't want to get into that fire wagon with this team. You know, it's not the night to do it. You could do that later when you have the full complement of your forwards available to you. Then get into the fire wagon, tear it down, burn it down, do whatever you want to do. This is one that's more for me as a little bit more disciplined, I think.

Yeah, this is not the game you want to have a track meet with, especially with all the talent that Tampa Bay has. You know, your point on the power play hits home. pretty well. I mean, they can put, you know, Victor Hebben out there, Nikita Kutrov, Steven Stamco's, Braden Point, and whoever heck the else they want to, just because it's a nasty unit. And, you know, it honestly just reminds me of what the Penguins did, you know, when Phil Kessel was there, where they would try out, you know, Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Gensel, and Phil. And it would just not be fair, I think, to most teams in the league. And I think They actually led the league and power play efficiency.

I mean, at least one of those seasons. I want to say it was 2016-17 or 2017-18, and I think that's what you're going to see out of Tampa Bay this year as well. But, I mean, I'm just excited to watch it, man. You know, we finally get some regular season hockey for the first time in a few months. And, you know, before we do get to the commercial break here, and we broadcast on ESPN. This will be their debut after 17 years of not having the NHL's,

TV deal right, Sean McDonough, and Ray Ferraro will be on the call with Emily Kaplan Inside the Glass. How excited are you for a fresh start with this TV deal and the other one they have with TNT? Because I feel like it's going to be much better just with the overall quality of the broadcast and just, you know, Ray Ferraro commentating a game is such a step-up from someone unlike Pierre McGuire or... It's huge.

I mean, Mike Milberry, Keith Jones, even. on TNT. I feel like this is going to grow the game in a way that we have not seen before. It's important for me, Hunter, because hockey, looking at the game, right, itself, and let's ignore officiating and, you know, the warts that come with that for a second. It said it's probably in its best place, you know? I mean, look at the young talent that is oozing throughout this league and the game's fast, right? Like, it's high-paced.

the playoffs have been insane. It's a good hockey. It's a really, it is a good product, I think. It's as good as a product as we've ever had. It could be better, right? We all, I think, would agree with that. I think if we officiated the game differently, if we allowed forwards the space to skate for Pox.

That's really a big thing for me. You know, I know the league wants to focus on a fissure or a cross-checking this year, which will last through like Christmas, you know, that's how it always works if we get that far. But what I'd really like to see them cut down is like, puck pursuit interference. Or if you have a loose puck race, don't allow the defenseman to,

you know, face the forward and just simply take his path. You know, call that a penalty. That's interference. Yeah. Let them make him turn around and make them both get it. You know, it's much more expecting that way. Anyway, to your point, you know,

if we can get a better quality out of the broadcast, out of the presentation, you know, I don't want to just retrospectively shit all over NBCSN, but some of those broadcasts absolutely suck. They were just painful. You know, we'd watch the same clip of the same innocuous check 15 times. Physicality this, physicality that, you know, like, I expect better out of ESPN.

I hope we get better out of it. And we're at a point, and I said it on Twitter today, like, where we really could see a huge influx of fans to this sport. Yeah. A huge influx of visibility into it. You know, hockey is like a commonplace conversation. hockey fans have always wanted that. Don't complain about it now that it happens, right? Like, we all need to check ourselves here.

It could be a very different landscape. You know, even if you've only been a fan for seven, eight years, you may be a veteran, you know, after this year is over. You hope that happens. You hope the sport gets the visibility. It deserves it only betters everybody with the money and revenue perspectives and things that nature.

But I'm excited about it. You know, I'm looking forward to see what they do. And, you know, it's certainly nostalgic for me. like having grown up you know i think back to like when ray bork won the cup with the avalanche and gary thorne calling you know steve uh levy and bill clement and the old crew like you know it's like kind of how i was raised so it's been a really long time obviously so um i think i'm looking forward to it just like everybody else's yeah i mean i was only just you know kindergarten first grade when at espm was finishing up the original deal with the n-chill

before I went to verses, which of course, you know, was bought out by outdoor network. NBC. Yeah, geez. I mean, I was just way too young at the time. But, you know, I'm sure when that theme music hits tonight, man, it is going to be, it's going to be awesome. I'm sure it's going to be all over Twitter. And I'm really excited to just, you know, see how the broadcasts are different than NBC. And with the network like ESPN, it will grow the game.

honestly like we've never seen before, at least in my opinion. But still have a lot more to get to for this episode of locked on payments. Before we do, get to that, though. Betonline is back and better than ever. All eyes are on the Great Iron and his teams are back on for another football season. As always, Betonline is your number one spot for all the pro and college football action this season. You can head to the website or use your mobile device to sign up today to receive your 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit. it. Don't forget to use our promo code locked on to receive that bonus though.

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That is directtv.com. All right. So we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So, Jesse, I feel like a lot of people, either, you know, fans, you know, media, just a lot of stuff I've seen on Twitter or just, you know, other social media is YouTube as well.

People are sleeping on the penguins this year, you know, saying this is the year that they're most vulnerable. The Metro is too competitive. But I kind of see the Metro as a division that has a lot of middling teams. And then there's a couple teams that you know are the contenders. And I think the Penguins fall closer to that edge than to the middling teams. I'm of the opinion that the Penguins will finish top three again. But as you look top to bottom on this roster,

where do you see the team being at for most of this season? You know, it's tough for me to say this because, like, I'm going to think back to last year. I thought that they were going to be like a four, you know, the final team in the division to get in. And they won it, right? I don't know that they're going to do that again. I think there are a lot of people that are kind of like surprisingly bullish for Philadelphia on Philadelphia for me. I'm not there on the flyers at all. I think the Rangers took a weird deviation from their plan to specifically address Tom Wilson.

Sandpaper. Which is weird, right? Like, that's bizarre. Never discount, you know, obviously a Barry Trots team. Although I don't think they care about being good in the regular season. I think they just care about their process. You know, the caps are going to be banged up. So the problems that the penguins are having, you know, in Washington, they're very real problems there too, right?

No, Nicholas Baxter for a while. Yeah. So here's the thing, right? Like, I think the environment is such that they could conceivably, comfortably maybe get in like just above a wild card spot. I think that's probably where my expectation for them is. just sneaking in above a wild card position. That being said, again, right? Like, they just won the division.

And that's not something I think that's completely out of the realm of possibility for them. Yeah, I don't think it is either. I mean, Carolina, I like the hurricanes. They're deep forward. Their defense is still good despite Dougie Hamilton leaving. But their goaltending is a big question. The Islanders, they don't usually play well in the regular season. But as you said, I don't really think they give a damn.

that just because they'll go into the playoffs and they'll play their asses off and you know they've you know had we've been within one to two games of going to their first Stanley Cup final since the 80s on the last couple of years so they don't really care about that um outside of that though I just don't really see any other team in the division that when healthy you know when the if the penguins ever do get healthy this season God willing um that can stand up to them you know maybe watching can because they're on kind of the same trajectory. But I really do have Pittsburgh as a top three team in this division. I think they will finish there towards the end.

You know, obviously they got to get the good goal tending. I wanted to ask your thoughts about that as well. Do you think Andy Kyoto is going to be a big difference maker in both Tristan Jari and Casey DeSmith's game, especially Jari, of course? You know, it's tough for me to say that. I mean, like if you listen, like Callie Kling, like, who I have a big fan of personally has already been talking about Andy Kyoto

overseas and saying that he stayed in contact with him and speaks very highly of him you know I don't know I don't know I also think honestly my my gut says that the problems quote unquote that Tristan Jari has are deeper than anything Andy Kyoto can fix you know like that's that's a

It's a mental thing to me. And I look back at the mistake he made in that Islander series, we've got all day to make a pass. Yeah. You know, wide open on both sides of the icy, throws it right up the middle. You know,

you don't need a goalie coach. That's, that's like, that's so elementary. Yeah. That Mike Bales, when not they're saying, like,

throw it right up the middle. You know, so I guess my point is, is that like, I think personally for me, Hunter, he's got to defeat this like himself, right?

Like, and I'm sure, like, be a technique perspective, there's things that can be honed. But this is more mental for me than it is anything. Yeah, and he's always someone that he's not going to say much. He's not going to really tell you how you're feeling, or how he's feeling, excuse me, after a game.

He just, he keeps it cool, calm, and collected. And, you know, I guess that rubs some fans the wrong way. You know, I don't really have a problem with it either way, to be honest with you. You know, it's probably a weird thing to say after what you just said. But it definitely is, a lot of it is mental. Some fans were freaking out, Jesse, that, you know, he didn't play well in the last preseason game. I'm always someone that I don't really care about the results of preseason games, just because it's so different than the regular season.

Let's see how he does for the first couple weeks of the season. If he's still struggling like he did against the Allenders, well, he probably won't be that bad again for the first couple of weeks. But if he is still struggling, then let's have that discussion. And maybe Ron Hextel will have to go out and get a goalie. But I also think that Casey DeSmith is going to get more starts this season than some people realize. Because I thought he had a good preseason. And he was at a lot of times last season, the better goalie, I thought, than Tristan. Yeah.

And we said this, Hunter, in our post-mortem of the series, like, if he had been available, you know, what do we, what's our conversation, you know, look like, you know, did the penguins get out of that first problem? Probably, you know, I mean, honestly, like statistically speaking anyway, that probably would have been the case. So it's, it's vital, you know, it's vital. You hope, I think, that Philip Winberg goes down to the American hockey league and just tears it to shreds, you know, and in the interim, you know, he gives you a little

Ray of Hope as a third option, right? Yeah. But I still think, you know, this. The landscape of the league, right? Every year changes by Halloween because of injury, right? What's priority for general managers today and what's no touch for general managers today rapidly changes as their roster changes. So this goalie stuff might be cooled off now. That can just flip at the drop of a hat. It only takes one guy to go down for somebody to come knocking on the door and saying like we need something. So I'm just saying there's actually. deals happen throughout the year. I don't think this is something that, like, Ron Hextall has just hung his hat up on and said, like, we're fine.

There's no need to really pursue this any further. No, there's clearly a need to pursue this further. There's tons of problems, I think that, you know, from a depth perspective, from an experienced perspective,

you know, not really knowing whether either of these guys could hold like a 65 game, 60 game, you know, rigor of a grind there. It's something he's definitely got his pulse on. And I wouldn't be shocked to see him make a jump if that's absolutely, you know, if that shows itself at a very early point.

Yeah, I've been talking about that on my show, you know, the last, you know, a week and a half to two weeks, you know, if both of these goys or, you know, at least one of them, is struggling by Thanksgiving, close to Christmas, you better believe that Hextall, you know, obviously because he was a goalie himself, will be on the phone with at least one team. I look at the Dallas Stars. That's going to be an interesting situation down there just because when has Ben Bishop coming back, they have Anton Kudobin, they have Braden Holby,

and they have that other kid. I'm just blanking on his name right now who is probably going to be getting some starts this year. I think he's on an ELC. Is it Ottinger? Yeah, Joel Ottinger. Oh, yeah, Onger, yep. He's potentially going to be really good,

so they have an interesting situation there. I'm sure there will be other situations that would come up as well from other teams. So I think he'll definitely keep a close, close eye on it. You know, I know a lot of people were upset during the offseason that they didn't address it, but you know, Jesse, look what Darcy Kemper went for. First round pick and Connor Timmons. I mean, that's

a price that Pittsburgh would not be able to pay. Well, that was true in free agency too. And there's no way that the penguins had interest in, I think, a lot of those guys, but there was absolutely no way that they were fitting them under the cap. It just wasn't going to happen. Even Linus Omerk. I mean, he got like $6 million per. And, you know, I liked him as an option to a play Shishinjari, but you're giving that guy 6 million.

I mean, I'd rather just roll the dice on Tristan again and see if he can bounce back. I think that's just way too much money for someone who had kind of the same results as Tristan last season in terms of, save percentage. Goals above expected. It was, I think it leaned Torn Linus Olmark a little bit, but I mean, just in terms of, you know, say percentage and goals against average and other goalie stats, it was pretty neck and neck, I would say. Last thing here before we did you get to another commercial break, Jesse. It looks like when I look at the line combinations and the defensive pairings, I'm talking about this a lot lately as well.

I want to get your thoughts on this. They've been trying out the Mike Matheson-John-Marino pairing, which was an utter disaster last season. I thought, I think their shot attempts for course, you know, 45%. Expected goals, I think it was around 42%. I think the expected goals against was close to three, if I want to recall correctly. Do you agree with Mike Sullivan about giving this pair another go?

Because I just don't see how this pair is going to work. A lot of people have pointed out, well, first of all, let me say this. I don't think Chad Rueedle specifically needs to be like, quote, unquote, babysat. I don't think you need to put a better partner down there with him. And I say better partner. What I mean by that, Hunter, is like I think Marcus Pedersen's better defensively. We would all agree with that, right? that's not a hot take.

You don't need to put a guy like that with Chad Roo-Widdle. And Chad Roo-Widdle has proven, pick a year and look at his performance, he's proven he'll just take those minutes. Really, like regardless of who's on the other side, he'll take those minutes and it give you a good result, a livable result. You have to, you know, get babysit at the point in a little bit and be reasonable with it, but good results. So I don't see a need for this, right? Like, I think, you know, Rueedal is going to do a job regardless of who you put there. I think for me, you know, you struck not in gold with the Pedersen-Marino pairing, but you've got, I think that pairing allows John Marino to blossom into like that Paul Martin Roll Hunter. Like, like, that's what I think his peak is.

I think that's where he's, that's where his ceiling is. So I don't want to put him with Mike Matheson because you've two of the, it's, it's, you know, you're two of the same player here, right? Like, I don't, let's split this up a little bit. You know, I think spread the love a little bit from the puck movement perspective. It just to me is sort of redundant, if that makes sense. Yeah, I mean, there are two similar players that I just don't think mesh well together because, you know, Matheson is that total chaos player, right?

You know, you know what you're going to get with him when he carries the puck up the ice, but you also know he's not good in the defense zone, but you also have John Marino, who is a great puck mover as well. So I just don't see how they complement each other. You know, I don't think Mike Matheson would have to baby try Ruedo. And I am glad that Ruehito is winning that number six job. I think he is a better defenseman than Mark Freeman. You look at, you know, the expected goals against when he's on the ice comparator of

Freeman. I think that's, I want to say, 0.4 or 0.45 better. than what I saw, I think it was on Micah, Blake McCurdy's hockey biz when I wrote an article earlier in the off-season. So I'm glad about that. But, you know, I just think Madison and Roedel would work better together because... I agree with you. I mean, I have to say this before you move on.

Yeah. Do you know what, do you know where Mark Friedman has the leg up? Pretty sure it's expected goals. No, not even. I'm talking intangibles. Oh. The perceived physicality. Yeah.

Which has really done nothing but get him into trouble. right like last game probably being a prime example of that but i i i think that in their kind of ongoing search for you know more of a physical presence um for better or worse you know he he provides it yeah yeah i did not know where you were going with that so i apologize yeah that's okay yeah it's not even a statistical thing i mean i think it's just a want for them you know um we know the Burke and, you know, the Burke of the outlook on that stuff, right? Yeah. I think that it's, for them, that is a really big piece,

is that he can, he'll throw if he has to. And, I mean, he's, look at, look at some of the hits he's, I mean, he's, you know, certainly not afraid of towing the line, you know. Yeah, as long as he doesn't do, like, a stupid spearing play that he had against Columbus in that last preseason game, he should be fine, though. It is pretty weird every time he plays the Flyers that they're just taking runs Adam so I don't know what he did to someone like some players like

player's wife or something like there yeah I don't know what it is but still I am glad to see that Ruehiel won the job because I think he is he is better than him again you know going back to what I was saying as well Matheson and Rooidle would just work it would be like two peas in a pod because again

Mathes it can be your puck mover up the ice and then Ruehiel can kind of just be that defensive stalwart in his defensive zone that's what I would do at least with the pairings you know let Duma and letang go out against the top competition. But obviously, you know, Mike Sullivan is trying something a little different, seeing if they can, you know,

put some magic beans into that Matheson-Marino pairing and hope it sticks. So I'm curious to see where that goes. If you have any more thoughts on that, you can just share the now before we go to a commercial break. I agree with you. That's it. That's my final thought.

There we go. Have a lot more to get to for this episode of Locked-on Penguins. before we do get to that though why should you choose to spend 30% 50% or even 100% more for the same parts of a chain store car dealership Rock Auto is a family business or and do it yourself for over 20 years

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and you can write locked on in their how do you hear us box so they know we sent you. Amazing collection, right of low prices, all the parts of car we ever need. That is rock auto.com. All right. Welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So, Jesse, the Penguins didn't do too much this long season. That's a typical Ron Hextall. You know, summer though, just doesn't like to make a lot of moves. But, you know, I think that's exactly what this team needed. They didn't need to blow it up. I kind of sometimes I sit back when I'm not really thinking about anything and I just think about what Jim Rutherberg would have done if he were still the GM of this team this summer.

And I don't think it would have been good. Let's say that. But bringing two new faces, Brock McGinn and Danton, Hinen. I want to say I'm more intrigued by Hinen. One of my bold predictions, man, is he's going to be back to the player that he once was with Boston, where he was about a half a point per game player. And he was, you know, shooting the puck a lot more, being more involved with the play. He's playing with David Kratich on a nightly basis. What are you hoping to see from Danton Hine in this season?

I think the thing that if you go back and watch the tape from that time period where he really was playing the best hockey of his career, he leaned on some pretty sneaky hands. I think overall it shocked me how adept he was it making smart, savvy, plays with the puck in tight spaces. You know, great physical presence for the net, certainly, you know, that's obviously a big piece. But I think overall, there's a lot of creativity there. Really, like almost feel like an untapped creativity that could thrive in a system like the Penguins.

So it's the quick decision making. He's going to be able to get up ice quickly and make an impact on the fork check. You know, maybe unassuming in some other areas. he is, right? Like it doesn't pop, I think, other than the times you say, like, wow, where did those hands come from? Yeah. But really, I think it is a good fit overall. I do really think that he's a good fit for the system especially. And the potential, I think, again, just because of some of the talent he's shown with what he could do with the puck on a stick, the potential to really, I think, surprise some people in a top six role surrounded by other talent. That, well, you mentioned the

crazy piece right there. I mean, that's perfect. And I'm like, it's one of those players that I think is better, you know, not to say he's a leech by any structure of the imagination, but when you put him with other talented players that can think more like he can, right? That's where things really start to click. Yeah, and Hainan is a player. You can play him all over the lineup. I would be curious to see when, again, Malkin comes back if Mike Sullivan tries him up there with Kisbury Kappan.

You know, he always likes his lines kind of in duos. You know, Gensel Grosby, Malkin Kappan, Aston. in, Astin Wies Bluger, and then, you know, whoever else on the fourth line this year, there's not really a duo down there just yet. But, and then he just adds just that third player

to that line to form the trio. And I'm curious to see if that sticks. And then maybe they move Zucker down or move Zucker up, you know, with, I don't know, Brian Rust may have something to say about that as well. There's going to be a lot of interesting combinations that Mike Sullivan can try. And a lot of it does have to do with how good Heinen can be.

this season. I've seen, you know, take so he could be, go ahead, sorry. No, to your point, Hunter, that's like the other sort of quote-unquote benefit him is you can play on either side. Yep. So, you know, there's a versatility there that I think, you know, ultimately, you know, gives him the opportunity to, you know, I think be more of a utility player than maybe initially thought. Yeah, exactly. You know, one funny story I have for you. One of my buddies has a bet with me right now that if he scores 10 or more goals, he gets me a free order of this place in Ohio, called Cockerye Barbecue. I took that in a heartbeat because I think he's going to score way more than 10 goals for this team this year. I think that has the potential to be one of the biggest steals of the offseason and not a lot of

people are talking about it. But here's the thing, man, like I've never been to Cockay Barbecue, but it's got to be good based on the name. Yeah. From what he has always told me and the pictures of it, you know, with one of his other buddies, it is, it looks top tier. So I took that in a heartbeat. If I lose that, you know, I'm more than have.

happy to pay it because I get I get Cockney Barbecue, but he should still score at least 10, if not 15 to 16. Another player, Jesse, that I think should score a lot more this year as well as Jason Zucker. One of my bold predictions that was on the locked on NHL's total podcast, you know, that's, you know, a couple of the hosts hosted a couple times a week to talk about the league was, you know, Zucker having 25 this year. I really firmly believe that. I think he can get back to the level that we saw in 2019-20.

Last year, I mean, I don't have to tell you what you saw, because I think we saw the same thing, was not shooting and obvious shooting situations, was coming down on odd man situations, was making the wrong play each time, his confidence was shot, just wasn't playing like the Jason Zucker that we saw the year before, and it definitely really affected his game.

What were your expectations for him this season? I jokingly said on dying alive on today, that I never in my life will bet against somebody who says they sucked. If they come out and say, like, I sucked, believe them and believe that they're coming back, you know, better, right? Yeah. So, you know, look, here's the thing. What I'm focusing on personally is the peripheral to his game, you know, we know that he struggled in a lot of areas.

I think when you really sort of start to peel the onion back. to speak, you start to find that he really lacked in a couple areas. One, zone entries, he wasn't carrying the puck in at all, right? Really reliably in any sense. I think the other one was, you know, just retrievals and going in and getting the puck and successfully walking away with it. Another place where he really wasn't really seen at all. And that should be vital parts of his game, right?

I mean, I think that was the bill of goods that we were sold on. him, you know, when he arrived here. So, you know, you got to get back to that. And if you, if you were to say to me, hey, here's a player, I don't care what his name is, it doesn't matter who, they're not generating zone entries. They're not getting to the puck battle areas and winning it. You know, they're not, they're not getting to shooting areas reliably. I'm not going to be surprised that they're posting, you know, career lows in other areas. You know what I mean? I mean, that stands to reason, you know, given the circumstances. So, you know, for me, it's got to get, you got to get back to those basics, right?

You got to get into the situation where, you know, you start to drive, play off the little things. And, you know, a lot of people have said, and I think I agree with some of this, right, that there's an element to maybe grip in the stick a little bit too tight in his play, you know, things that nature, possibly. You know, I think whatever the case may be, though, whether it's shooting more, et cetera, et cetera. I think we've got to kind of get back to some of that day one stuff. Yeah, because he was so good when he came over from Minnesota, 12 points in those 15 games. He was rocking, I think, an expected goal percentage of close to, I think was right around 57, 58%, was one of their best players in the return to play

against Montreal. And then having a little bit of an awakening, I thought, in the playoffs, though, Jesse. He actually scored, I think, a goal or two against the Islanders. I think it was one of their best players in games. when they eventually lost them. So hopefully that can carry over to this season. And, you know, he's also a player. Can play on the top line, can play with Hvgeny Malcon, can even play on the third line.

So I'm curious to see where Mike Sullivan uses him this season. Real quick, though, Kisperi Kaupinen. Mike Sullivan has been really talking him up during training camp and the preseason saying that he can be an elite player in this league. My only concern, though, man, is that's shooting Mr. Mosch. 16% I think is what it was. He's a career 12 to 13% shooter. His underlying numbers were a bit down, but still, 30 points and 40 games. That's what a 71, 72 point pace over a full 8-2 game season.

I don't have to tell anyone that that is a very close to a point per game player. Are you expecting that kind of year from Kaplanet again? Or is the sky the limit for him at this point with what we've seen from the preseason? The sky's the limit, man. He looks fit. He looks fit. He looks fast. He looks, you know, he's built like a brick shit house. You know, he really is. Like, just an absolute tank. And you saw it. I mean, look at some of the forechecking he did, you know, last year we were separating man from puck using the body. I kind of expect more of that, I think. That's kind of what we've gotten out of the preseason. He looks primed and ready to go. I think he looks like a player that's going to be more than willing to carry the load on his line and wants the puck. you love to see that, right? I think that's, that's, you know, best case scenario.

So, you know, for me, I'm looking forward to seeing him in action. I think, you know, especially we talked about how difficult this first slate of games is. You know, the tempo is going to suit him. The style, I think, will suit him. You know, I serve the play to crow up to me, Hunter. Boy, was I wrong. I didn't think he had it. actually I wasn't really wrong because I didn't think he had it to play with

Sidney Crosby and that is true they obviously see they won't even try them together at this point right so that part I was right on but I didn't think he would be as individually good as he is and I think we're about to see the extent of that yeah I mean playing with him again he comes back is sure going to be a sight for sore eyes and just watching him in the preseason Jesse knife through guys left and right I think that was just He was out there just kicking ass and taking names. So if we see more of that in the regular season,

he's going to get a payday from someone next summer, whether it's the Penguins or a different team. It probably won't be the Penguins if he has close to a point-for-gang season. He will price himself out of the Steel City. But I'm excited to watch him. Real quickly, though, going to give you a couple rapid-fire questions to end the show. Number one, do the penguins win a playoff round this year?

Yes. Okay. Yes, they do. I think I have them winning at least one round. You know, I can see them winning too, but there's that one. Now, some of these will be out of the penguins, some of them will not be. That's fine. That's fine.

So going out west a little bit, do one of the Los Angeles Kings or the Vancouver Canucks make the playoffs? The Canucks. I have them as well. My bold prediction, actually. I have Vancouver and L.A. getting in and Calgary missing. Quinn Hughes is really good. He's fun. I like him.

I like their top six. They got Garland from Arizona. I remember that. Very good. Yep. Yep. And, you know, I know they have the corpse of Oliver Ekman Larson, but Quinn Hughes can still.

Hey, listen, if you're going to have a corpse, I'd rather have that one than Duncan Keith's. Yeah, that might be. I have a really good buddy who is a die-hard Oilers fan, and he just keeps telling me how he hates the defense. I said, man, I feel for you because clefbaum's not there. And if he were there, he'd at least be able to carry one pairing. Now, to the Metro a little bit, do one of the Rangers or Flyers make playoffs to you? One of, yes.

Yeah. See, I have both missing. Interesting. Because I have four from the Atlantic getting in, and I have four from the Metro getting in. Okay. Boston, Toronto, Tampa, Florida, Pittsburgh. Washington, New York, Carolina are my eight teams from the east. I could see that, though, now that you mentioned it.

I just, I don't trust Philly. I think the Rovers. No, that's, I mean, that's out for me, yeah. Yeah, a lot of people are thinking that the Flyers are going to be really good again this year, but I just don't really. I don't get it. Yeah, I don't. I really. And I would be, here's the thing about this, this whole, uh, whatever you want to call it, Hunter, I don't know, fervor about the flyers is it's not even like it's something just solely based on Carter Hart.

And I can understand it if it was driven, you know, almost entirely by goaltending. But it almost seems like they really believe in this team. Like this team is very good. And I'm like, you know, guys, like, folks, what, like, what about Rasmus Ristelainen were we watching that was different? You know, like, where are we at here? Like, I don't understand. I don't know. You know, I just think that there's, I have serious questions about that, that team.

I mean, to bear if I have a serious question with the penguins, but, you know, for me, it's, I don't know, it's very bizarre. Yeah, I mean, I like some of their top guys, but, you know, Ryan Ellis was a great acquisition, but, you know, Ristadine and a couple other guys. And I don't really trust Elaine Big No, either. So, um, and then there's Robin Lainer. Yep. Yep. That is true as well. The Rangers, I like them.

I think they're going in the right direction, though. They just paid a bunch of money for Barclay Goodro and a bunch of sandpaper just because Tom Wilson. a ragdoll of or Temi Panera which you know was pretty bad but you don't need to pay

all this money to just try a headshot them and then that doesn't really solve anything right anyways now this one

um is penguins related if I can actually oh here I almost like lost it for a second um do we get the rookie version

of John Marino this season yes I think so I think we do um yeah go ahead for me, you know, a large part of last year seemed to be, for me, anyway, driven off of him just simply not playing on the right side of the eyes, you know?

There was a lot of, he didn't handle that well. You know, there's, again, like I go back to, it's almost a tale of two seasons, right? Because it started really poorly and then it got so much better as the year went on. And I think some of the same things I said about Jason Zucker are almost applicable to John Marino where he started to kind of take control of the game, zone entries, et cetera, et cetera. All these things kind of got better, right? For me, it's one of those situations where more of that, I think, you know, that's where it goes back to what I said about that math is impairing, right?

Some of the, what frustrates me about it a little bit is it kind of takes some of that control away, right? from from from from from reno and that that's you know it's kind of stinks so yeah i you know we'll see what happens but um for me anyway that that's where i would bet in that direction if i was a betting man yeah absolutely and they better hope so because this is the first year of that six year contract that he signed to with what worth about what four point i'll say four point million with the potential to be a real a real bargain you know if if he gets back to that level and that you mentioned

that it is a bargain deal for sure. Yeah, no, it absolutely is. They just have to make sure that he's playing at that level and not that what we saw last season because if they get that version of him, that contract is starting to look a little like an overpayment. Just I think a couple others here. Do we see a call-up that makes a difference

on this team this year, like POJ? Yeah, that's one for sure. they got to find a way to get space for him because I don't think that they can play him on the wrong side of the eye so that it'd be a mistake. I don't think he's necessarily equipped for that. Nathan Lagerie looks great, man. Looks really good, slim down, more of a four checker. I think that when he came into, when he was drafted, Hunter, I would have pegged him to be a little bit more of like a James Neal, which is to say, I think, that he was a touch one dimensional.

whole, you know, probably, you know, probably lacking in certain areas, you know, from an overall game perspective, but his shot was so good, you know, who cared, you know, it didn't really matter all that much. You know, now I think there's elements that have rounded out. I think he fits the forechecking sort of theme that the penguins have, right, and sort of fits what they're trying to do on the whole. And I think, you know, there's already scored. down in the preseason in the American Hockey League.

I certainly a player that has quite a bit of potential, I think, to, you know, slot in specifically because of how well I think he's adapted to the way that this team's identity is playing out. Yeah, my only question is just, you know, where is he at in the pecking order of call-ups, right? You know, is he going to be kind of saying, redeemed to Hornet? It's a thing for me where, like, the conversation for all these younger pups, you start to get into the holiday season, you know, again, injuries being what they are. I think they've got to take some time to like simmer down there, not marinate.

Marinate to me means longer. Just simmer, right? And then you'll start to see what the pecking order is. It'll play out, it'll play itself out organically. Buy an AHL TV package. I'll tell you that right now. It'll be worth the investment this either. I might have to take you up on that offer.

I'm definitely buying ESPN Plus, though. I'll say that, you know. You don't have a choice. I don't. There's four games. If you don't watch all the games, there's four of them you're not going to be able to see unless you get a subscription. And I wish I could do the bundle, but my girlfriend has Hulu that I use. My family, we have our whole Disney Plus that I don't pay for.

You know, our family just pays for that. So I'm just going to just buy a full year of ESPN Plus for, what is it, 50, 60 bucks, and I'm just going to try to watch as many games as I can on there. I think that's just too easy of a decision. Two more here, Jesse. One, who is your surprise team this year? to who wins the cup? I think I kind of gave it away, right?

My surprise team, I think, is the Panthers. I don't know how much of a surprise that is. I still think that they're a team that is like relatively heavily slept on. They better hope Spencer Knight plays well this year. That's awesome. I think Minnesota is another team that I'll throw in there that is probably, I think, could be pretty good again this season. for the cup.

I am going to Las Vegas hunt. I think that team has gotten its own set of warts, but I think through some tinkering can get back to what it was previously. I'm going out in the desert, my friend. That's my prediction. There you have it, everyone. Jesse Marshall picks the Vegas Golden Knights

to win the Stanley Cup. I personally, I think the abs do it this year. I think this is their time. They got the best quintet, if you will, of five players on the ice that they can throw out there at any given moment. And I like their gold-hitting situation. Let me ask you, I'm going to put you on the spot, Hunter. I'm going to ask you a question.

Go ahead. What round does Toronto Maple Leafs get eliminated in? I'm putting you on the spot. I want to know. If they play Boston in round one, it's round one. Round one. Could you imagine? If they play Florida,

see, I think they can beat Florida. But I think Florida, that series is going seven no matter what, but, you know, Matthews, Marner, Neander Tavaris versus Barkov, Huberdow, you know, Toronto. A lot of star power there. I mean, who, boy.

That is, you know, Riley on the back end. You got Ekblad, Weeger. And that's just, that would be fun. I think they can win around, but they better start winning, man. I mean, it's sooner or later, Kyle Dubus is going to, he's going to do something rash, and he won't be patient forever because the fan base is almost, if not already, done. Yeah. But if they play Boston, it's round one.

If they play Tampa Bay, say good night, man. I don't think that's happening. You have anything else, Jesse, before we wrap this one up? Enjoy tomorrow, man. Soak it in, you know. It's the best day of the year. It's always fun. Hope springs eternal. Sit back and take a deep breath and enjoy it.

It is a hockey night in Pittsburgh. And of course he's saying tomorrow, I also said that too. We are recording this on Monday evening. No, it's okay. I've probably done the same thing 500 times during this 50-minute recording. So it's really not the heavy of a deal. But, yeah, it is a hockey night in Pittsburgh. I'm so glad that this is back, especially with how the Steelers have been this year.

I think some fans in the city just, you know, they need a break, but you know, Steelers also won this past weekend. So everyone will celebrate that for as long as they can. Jesse, you got anything coming to the athletic pretty soon? I talked a little bit about Dan Hinen in those hands. I got some historical video that we're for sure going to look at, but I also kind of am going to let these first few games play out, and we're going to take a look and see what the future may hold there for him.

Yeah, I'm excited to see him on the top line, it looks like, with Jeff Carter. and Ryan Russ. You can follow his Twitter at Jay Marshoff. Again, Jesse, thank you so much for coming on this episode of Lockdown Penguins. It was really a pleasure, and, of course, I can't wait to have you on later on in the season. Looking forward to it, my friend, anytime, as you know. Yep, absolutely, everyone. So I'll have a recap episode on Wednesday of the Penguins opener against Tampa,

and then looking forward to a preview against the Panthers that episode as well. Then Thursday, I'll have a recap of that. game after that one end. So enjoy tonight. We're finally back. It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh. I'll talk to you all on Wednesday.