Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - It's Craig Smith szn

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

Another weeks more episodes of Locked On Penguins and Hunter is back today talking A LOT of free agency. He starts the episode touching on Josh Yohe's latest article from The Athletic where he looks at some potential targets for the Penguins in a couple weeks. Hunter gives his thoughts on some of those players, most notably Craig Smith who would be the absolute perfect fit with the Penguins. He also touches on a couple other players who wouldn't be good fits, while also looks at Yohe's article from the weekend where he touches on what he's been hearing surrounding the Penguins offseason. Has Penguins management cooled down since the playoff loss? What do the Penguins want for Matt Murray? Listen to Hunter talk about those questions from Josh's article, as well as much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order.KeepsIf you’re ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to Keeps.com/lockedonnhlto receive your first month of treatment for free. 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.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to a Monday afternoon edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. I hope you all had a healthy, safe, great weekend. It's starting to feel a lot like fall out here in northern Virginia. It's dipping down into the high 40s, early 50s now at night.

So, yeah, I'm kind of starting to hate it since I'm a very, very big summer person. I absolutely cannot stand the cold. I only really like snow as it gets colder. But yeah, I'm just, I'm definitely a big, big summer person. But with that being said, you know, big win by Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend. If you guys listen to this podcast and are also Stewards fans, you know, that was a big one. You know, had us in the, at the end of the game, I'm not going to lie, the Steelers always have to make it a little too close for comfort.

Alex Azora always had some great tweets on Stewards Twitter. But, you know, to get to 2 and O. You get Houston coming up coming to Heinz Field next weekend. Chakins to get to 3 in0. Just a really, really good start to the season for the Steelers. But, you know, this is not the Locked-on Stewards podcast. You guys want to go listen to that. You can go over to Locked on Steers.

So we're going to continue to talk about the Penguins. There's a couple articles that came out over the weekend from Josh Yewe. You know, he's been hearing some stuff about the off-season and decided to write that in an article. We're going to touch on that. We're also going to touch on some of his free agents that he thinks the Penguins could be going after. He wrote about that for the Athletic today as well. I'm going to give my thoughts on some of those players that he put in there.

There are six names. I'm not going to give you guys all of them. But still, there are a couple on there that really don't make a lot of sense because they're not good players, and then there's a couple on there that make a ton of sense because there's still good players. You know, they drive possession and all that. Later in the show, we'll talk about the Stanley Cup final.

Really awesome start at the Stanley Cup final. The Dallas Stars take a 1-0 series lead. Anton Hu Dobin has just been a menace all-playoff long. It's hard to see him coming off that heater. But, you know, let's just dump in to some penguin-related content. So this morning, we're just going to start with the free agents who make sense for the penguins. Josh Yoey decided to write on the athletic about some free agency stuff. I mean, we all know Jim Rutherford wants to make a move.

I mean, when he says he's going to do something, guys, probably going to do it. You know, traded for Kisperi Kappan, you know, when he says he's going to make changes. Yeah, he's going to make changes. So, I mean, even with not a lot of cap space right now, they still have to open up more even with the Matt Murray trade happening. Apparently, Josh O, he said over the weekend that Penguins do want a first-round pick in return for him. I'm all for that. You know, you traded a first-round pick for some reason to get Kisperi Kavana.

I 100% get why they want a first round pick back in return for Matt Murray. All it takes, guys, is one team to do it. That's what I'm going to continue to say about this situation. It really only does take one team to overpay for Matt Murray. And who knows, maybe it's out there. Josh said in his article that the Edmonton Oilers and the Penguins have been having a lot of talks, but I think they balked at the a ask of the first round pick. I think maybe they're probably going to have to settle for a second round pick

and prospects for him. I mean, if they can't get a first round pick in return, and I know it still sounds like Jim Rutherfordford is Adam. that he does want that. Like I said, they're probably going to have to settle for someone around there, like a second round pick and a prospect or just prospects or, hell, you know, just Matt Murray for a second round pick straight up. You know, it gets some cap space.

They want to make another move to go out into free agency and do something. So who knows what's going to happen on that front? I think we're about two and a half weeks now from free agency. So, you know, time's ticking here, Jim, if you want to make a move in free agency. But on this list, there was a couple players that really caught my eye. Chris Tanna, you know, Rob Rossi said over the weekend, the Penguins, they do want to go out and get a

bottom-paring right-shot defenseman with Justin Schultz leaving. There's a hole there. They trust Chatterwoodle, but they want him as the number seven guy. I am all for that. I would love for them to go out and get a right-shot bottom-paring defenseman. I know Dylan DeMello was not on this list, but the other player that was on this list is Chris Tanna.

He comes from the Vancouver Canucks. Not great possession-wise this past season, only about 46%. He's never really been an above average coursey Fenwick failure. I mean, the last time he was above 50% was 2015-16. He played in 69 games for that season. He also played in 69 games this season, so very, very nice. I mean, he's fine offensively, I think.

Two goals, 20 points. The 20 points is tied for the most that he's had for his career. So, I mean, he's an upgrade, if you put it that way. He's probably a lot better than Justin Schultz. He can actually put up some points. He's also a big upgrade over Jack Johnson. I know Chris Tandov would not be playing on the last summer. He'd be playing on the right side, but still, produces way more than Jack Johnson.

He's producing better than Justin Schultz. Justin Schultz was just an absolute tire fire this last season. He was also terrible in his defensive zone. So I really don't think I would mind Chris Tannove in a bottom-peering role. I think this season he was averaging 19 minutes per game. But they were also playing Tanev in a top-4 role last season. He was averaging 20 minutes the season before that. So he's been hovering in Vancouver since around the 2013-14 season,

all the way up until now, 20, 21 minutes, 19 minutes, just basically every single season. The Penguins have a solidified top four. Dumlin and Letang, you're not going to move that first pairing. You're not going to move Marcus Pedersen. I don't think John Marino is John Marino. So you want to play him 12, 13 minutes in night. He gives you like what, 20 points, like I said, in 69 games. I think he's fine defensively.

I think that's a slam dunk. I know he's 30 years old, so the trick with that, you don't want to give him too much turn. Maybe a two-year deal, three-year deal at the most. not too big of a cap hit. I think you're doing fine there. But obviously the big one that I want to go after is Dylan DeMello. He has even better underlying numbers than Chris Tenev. Can actually put up some points as well.

Good in his defensive zone. Can also maybe quarterback the second power play if need be, if Marino's hurt or something like that. But still, Chris Tannab, I don't really think is that bad of a backup option. Just please do not go after Cody Cici. That is the big, big fear that I and I think a lot of other Penguins fans have right now is going after someone as bad as Cody CEC because it's not just his regular stats are bad. All of his underlying numbers are just bad.

Basically, guys, if you want a really good comparison, he's Jack Johnson on the right side. He's basically as bad as Jack Johnson on the right side. So, yeah, hard, hard pass. But I think another thing that Rob Rossi did say over the weekend that they're willing to go term for a right-handed shot, and it's not, it would not just be for a player that can just barely move the needle. So that's a little bit scary to me. just, you know, it's obviously not going to be Alex

McRangelo. They do not have the cap space to sign him and they won't have the cap space to sign him during this off season, so that's just not going to happen for that. But, you know, I'm just, I'm a little bit scared. I really don't want them throwing out a lot of term in money, do a right-handed shot. I just want them to go short-term if they go out and get a defenseman, you know, and

just keep the cap hit low because they are a cap team. They also want to not spend up to the salary cap this year as opposed to in a lot of the years that they have contended under Sydney Crosby and and McGon-Malkin. So, yeah, just Hopefully Jim Rutherford remembers that he doesn't go out into free agency and silly season and just be completely stupid. But another defenseman that made the list was Kevin Chattonkirk.

I would be for that, but I mean, I think Kevin Chattonkirk's going to be looking for a raise. He took a one-year deal, basically on a prove-it deal for the Lightning and has been pretty, pretty good for them. His stock fell quite a bit after that trade to Washington, but in 70 games this season, guys, eight goals, 34 points. I mean, that's a lot better than he's been in the last couple of seasons with New York. you know, five goals, 23 points, 46 games in the season before that, only 28 points. Possession-wise really was really bad with New York, 47%, 50%, but with Tampa Bay, about just about at 54%. So his all-around game just really, really improved as he took that one-year Proved-it deal

with the Lightning. I mean, his five-on-five numbers just went up through the roof this season. So I'm thinking he's going to go longer term, especially because I think he's looking to cash in again. That last contract really didn't work out for him. He's 31. He's going to try and maybe go after like a four to five year term. I'm not really interested in that. If I'm the Penguins, who knows, he could honestly bottom out again next season with them. And then guess what?

You're stuck with that contract for, like I said, three to four to five years. So, you know, it would be nice in theory, but I just really don't see Shattanker coming here. I think he would be well out of the Penguins price range as well. But the last player on this list I do want to talk about is our good pal Craig Smith. So Jeff of Penn's blog, Danny Scheiber Irving of Penn's blog, I do want to have both of them on the Locked on Penguins podcast here at some point because they are awesome followers on Penguin's sweater. King Clarkie. We are all on the train of bringing Craig Smith to Pittsburgh.

He is a very, very solid debt player. He's scored 20 goals and I think five of his nine seasons down in Nashville. You can plug him in on your third line. You can put him on the right wing, put him on the left wing, and he would just make the third line just a lot better. You know, him with Jared McCann, that would just be a lot of fun to watch. And Brian Bastin actually wrote an article. if we're on the forecheck.com, which is the SB Nation site for the National Predator,

is basically looking at Craig Smith season. Overall, just basically like his big report card. I mean, no, for percentiles, his points per 60 was in the 74th percentile, offense, 94, defense 66, power play 60, penalty is 65. I mean, zones exits and zone entries, he kind of struggles. But still, I mean, offense at 94, points for 60 at 74. That's pretty, pretty good, guys. I mean, he also finished tied with Nick Benino for second and goals on the team last

season, 18 goals. He had 14 goals at 5E5 last season. That is really, really good. And this was a big thing from the article that I was reading. So he had a line with Nick Benino and Rocco Grimaldi, and among lines in the league with a minimum of 200 minutes played at 5E5, that line, they were third in the league in goals 4% with 72%. And they were also on the ice for 29 goals 4 and 11 goals against throughout the season. So, yeah, he drives offense. He also is good defensively, and his underlying numbers are just absolutely through the roof. So, yeah, Breeze bring Craig Smith to Pittsburgh. I would be in favor of signing him to maybe a three-year deal.

Maybe around a few million per season. Again, the campaign can not spend a lot in free agency here because of the cap and all that. But still, I would go out of my way to sign him to about maybe a three-year deal, pay him about $3.5 million per season. He is in his 30s now, so I'm not really sure what he's going to be looking for contract-wise. I know he's coming off a contract where he just got $4.25 million per season. So, you know, maybe there could be a hometown discount for the Penguins if they can get him.

But yeah, he is definitely the big guy that I would want this off season. I know he hasn't played a lot of center. You stick him on the third line with Jared McCann and that line would be rocking and rolling in no time. All right, welcome back to this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. And just to finish up with that article, you know, there's a couple names on there that I just really didn't care for. I mean, Tensi bringing back Ron Hainzy, hard pass. He's slowed, really not good defensively. He doesn't bring any offense.

And then Justin Braun, I know he's a right-handed defenseant, but he's into his mid-30s now. He's not really that good defensively. He's just coming off a contract with Philadelphia. I would honestly play Chad Rue Edel over Justin Braun. I really don't think Justin Braun is that good. But, you know, I don't want to spoil the whole article for you guys. So definitely go to the athletic and check out that article from Josh Yo.

But the other article I wanted to talk about was what Josh has been hearing about this off season. I know I touched on it earlier in the episode with Matt Murray potentially going for a first-round pick. You know, God help us if they can get a first-on pick. I will go absolutely berserk if they can get a first-round pick in return for Matt Murray. But, you know, he just touches on the Jared McCann situation. I know sometimes he writes about, you know, they could still trade him.

You know, that contract is really, really good. I don't think you sign a player to this kind of contract if you're just going to trade him. Why? I mean, why do that? It really does not make any sense to trade him after. you just sign him to a two-year deal, and he does not even be getting paid $3 million per season. And then McCandes had all the comments saying how excited he is going into next season, wants to win the cup, wants to improve upon his really, really bad second half of the season.

It just makes no sense to trade him. So, yeah, I mean, it's just there's really no need to write about that, I think, in my opinion. But the one good thing that, I think the best thing that honestly came from this is that the Penguins' executives are the front office. They've kind of backed down a bit from like asking for major, major changes. Josh basically wrote you I mean they remain disgusted by the way the penguins performed but as time has gone on many in the organization have come to the conclusion

that on paper they still have a great team and that basing their decisions on the four games in August probably is not the best course of action it's like wow I wonder who saw that coming it's almost as if yeah you only played four games for the first time in five months you really don't need to shake up the core

especially during a year where you know the Dallas stars might be winning the Salem the Cup because I don't think anyone saw the Dallas stars winning the Stanley Cup when this whole thing started. So yeah, it's almost as if, you know, just give people time. They're not as angry. And then voila, you know, you get back to where cooler heads prevail and you don't have to go out and be stupid. But Josh also talked about the possibility that Casey DeSmith could be Tristan Jari's backup. I'm in favor of that. I talked about it on Friday's episode. If you guys didn't listen, I did say, it's fine if DeSmith is there because

he's just cheap. You know, you don't want a lot of money tied up to goaltending. You know, you look at the Montreal Canadians, for example. They're, what's up, 14 million against the cap for Cary Price and Jake Allen. Hell, they almost added Devin Dubnick instead of Jake Allen. I think that almost would have been even more than what they're paying right now. They're two goaltenders. So, yeah, that's just not the best way to go about your business. You really don't need a lot of money tied up to your goaltending, especially if you are a cap team like the Penguins. I know people are going to be clamming for M. Andre Fleury to come back. Hard pass. We really don't need Mark Andre Fleury back here. I don't need to hear the argument that, oh, yeah, you're

the top 15 goaltender in the league. It just, it makes no sense to bring him back here because he's going to want to start. He's not going to do a 1A, 1B situation. He's done that twice now in his career. He wants to start for a team. And that's that guy. That's really, really the end of that conversation. They're just, they're not going to bring him back. I would be absolutely stunned if they did. People can speculate all they want. It's just not going to happen. The last big thing from that article, I don't want to spoil all of it, of course. Josh just, they did say that they want add another assistant general manager and another assistant head coach. For the assistant general manager, guys, I think Jason Botterl is going to come back here.

He's probably going to get his job back either as the associate GM, assistant GM. He'll be the salary cap wizard. I would be pretty surprised. Honestly, if Botterl is not back here by the time the next season starts, whether it's in December or January, hell, even February at this point, who knows when that next season is going to start. But, you know, he's very familiar with the organization. Jim really, really likes him. I know he definitely likes working with him.

So yeah, I'd be pretty, pretty stunned if Jason Botterl is not back here for an assistant coaching job. I'm not really sure, you know. There was talk that they really liked interviewing Mike Rupp. That's a hard pass. I don't know what Mike Rupp brings to a coaching staff. He really honestly was not that good of a player, in my opinion. But, I mean, other than that, I really have no idea who they will bring in as an assistant head coach. I think that will do it for this segment.

There's a couple other things in there about like surgeries and all that and just more about cap space. But I'm not going to spoil all that for you guys. But before we talk about the Stanley Cup final, it is time to talk about the wonderfully new and improved Bill Bar. Six new amazing flavors, a couple of them are the caramel brownie, cookies and cream, and the carrot cake. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They're soft and easy to chew. They're also very, very healthy, low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber. One of my favorite flavors is still the coconut almond, 18 grams of protein, 180 calories,

5 grams of sugar, 5 grams of net carbs. They reset the promo code for this relaunch. you can go to buildbar.com and use promo code locked on and you'll get $10 off your next order. That's promo code locked on for $10 off at buildbar.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. And yeah, guys, in case anyone is living under a rock, the Stanley Cup final has begun. I just wanted to touch on that a little bit going into tonight's game. The one thing that I did like before the game, they had the Stanley Cup literally overlooking the teams playing because of course there's no fans allowed.

and they just have the cup all the way up in a press box, and it's just, it's so badass. It's basically like center ice, and it's like, wow, I honestly wish the NHL did this every single season. My buddy was texting me during game one, and he's basically like, for next time when the fans are allowed back,

they should have the cup in between the benches, and it's like, yeah, man, sign me up all freaking day. That would be absolutely amazing. But just, I mean, yeah, that was the first thing I know. It's just seeing the cup there. It doesn't have to like travel back and forth, you know, especially when one team is one win away from winning the Stanley Cup. It can just be right there and, you know, you can look up and basically saying, hey, you know, I'm playing to win that trophy right there. So that was just absolutely awesome.

But let's get to the game itself. Of course, Dallas won four to one. They take a one-0 series lead against the Lightning. And Anton Hu Dobin, man, have a freaking night, man. He is just absolutely ridiculous. I thought Dallas was dominating Tampa through those first few periods. Tampa Bay was not showing up at all, to be honest with you guys. But then Tampa just is in an onslaught in that third period,

just firing every single shot that they can. I think the shot attempts during that third period at one point were 30 to 2. And I think most of them were not even high danger chances. They were just firing them from anywhere because they were just losing. And of course, you know, no shot to the net is a bad one. I will always die on that hill. But Anton Fudobin was just standing on his head again that third period. He's just been absolutely awesome to watch.

Dallas now three wins away. Jamie Ben's been great. Alexander Radgelov. I can watch Mero Hayskin and all damn day. I always forget that Blake Como is now on the stars. Of course, Blake Como was here with the Penguins in 2014-15. Kind of hard to believe that it was that long ago already. But also the legend of Yuel Kivirontah continues to grow.

He had another goal in that game. And yeah, Dallas was able to take a one-o series lead. But going into tonight, this is my big thing. Can Tampa continue that little bit of momentum that they had in the third period over into tonight's game, but for a full 60 minutes, because they really only showed up in that game for 20 minutes. And, you know, also, can Anton Kudobin continue this? That's just going to be the question that everyone is asking. We all know the stars have been kind of getting caved in these playoffs a bit, but it really doesn't matter as long as your

goaltender just continues to be a rock in net. And that's exactly what Anton Kudobin is doing. As I've said so many times on this podcast, he is going to be making a lot of money next season. I think he's a unrestricted free agent. Ben Bishop is unfit. to play. He'll be the starter next season. But yeah, I mean, even if Bishop was healthy, I don't even think you take him out. I know I was saying something completely different about a couple weeks ago because I wasn't sure if Kudoman was going to be able to continue this. But yeah, he's proved me and I think a lot of other people wrong and he's just been absolutely awesome. So let's see if he can continue that tonight. Game two is tonight at 8 o'clock p.m. Eastern time. And then I

believe game three is Wednesday, game four Friday, game five Saturday, game six Sunday. No, no, game six, be Monday and I believe game seven would be on Wednesday of next week. So yeah, we are almost at the end now of the NHL season. It's pretty hard to believe that the Stanley Cup final is here and that the NHL draft is now just about two weeks away and then now for the agency is about two and a half weeks away as well. So yeah, very, very busy times ahead for all the teams around the league. Hopefully we get more trades during the Stanley Cup final. I know the league doesn't really like when teams make moves during the final or like just when they announce stuff. But you know, who gives a shit? it's 2020. It's a wild freaking year.

And I always love when trades are basically announced, like, during a game or just when during like a big series is going on. But that'll do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Really hope you guys liked listening to this one. Please like and subscribe it, whether it's on Spotify, Apple, or if you listen through Megaphone. And yeah, we'll be back with another episode tomorrow for this podcast. And I will talk to you all then.