Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Jake Guentzel hurt, Erik Karlsson in? Kyle Dubas promoted!

Episode Date: August 4, 2023

Hunter and Pat are back for an episode of the podcast on Friday and oh boy, there are A LOT of topics to discuss. They first start off with the Jake Guentzel injury as the Penguins got brutal news on him to start the day on Friday. They look at how this will affect things with the team for the next 12+ weeks. They also discuss who will replace him on the top line to start the season and Hunter even puts Drew O'Connor's name into the fold, even though he has never gotten top six minutes before. They also analyze whether Dubas will sign anyone to replace Guentzel while also realizing that they'd have to be cap compliant whenever Guentzel comes back from his injury. After that, they analyze Drew O'Connor's deal more in-depth before discussing why this weekend looks like it's going to be super important for multiple reasons. Heck, Hunter even makes a bold prediction for this weekend, especially when it comes to the Erik Karlsson situation. Will Mikael Granlund be bought out? They dive into that question as well before finishing the show with Kyle Dubas promoting himself to GM and looking at the other front office moves from Thursday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) 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.

The Pittsburgh Penguins got some brutal injury news on Friday regarding Jake Gensel. Pat and I are going to discuss that injury plus what it means for the team right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts.

Hunter Hodes can follow me on Twitter at Hontra Hodes. also follow the show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. Beside me is Patrick Damp, my co-hosts for the show. You can follow him on Twitter at Synonym Floor Wet. Also, thank you so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. Pat, it's been two days since I last talked to everyone on the show. It's been four days since you last talk to everyone on the show. And in typical fashion, all hell has broken loose with this organization starting off.

Today, we'll get to the Drew Conner and McCaule-Gramlin stuff, and maybe what that means for Eric Carlson a little later on, as well as Kyle Dubus self-promoting himself. But on Friday, it was announced by the Penguins that Jake Gensel has undergone successful ankle surgery and he will be out for the next 12 weeks. That puts his timeline right around October 27th, right before Halloween, I believe.

And if you read the release, it doesn't specify when he suffered this injury. Yeah, I've seen people say it was during the Beauty League, which he participates. He has done that for the last couple of years. I've seen people say that it was during the season and not really no one knew about it. I think that one is more likely right now, at least in my opinion, I'm just fully speculating on that. But obviously, Pat, brutal blow to the penguins to start the season. What was your immediate reaction when you saw it?

Genuine surprise. You know, this kind of came out of nowhere. Like we said, it's an unexpected injury to a key contributor to this team, especially for one that still has cup contention in their heads. And the way I look at it is I'm not going to speculate on when it happened, whether it was the Beauty League or if it was something else. But if I had to speculate, I would say this is kind of similar to Crosby's wrist a couple years ago where we didn't hear a lot about it.

We didn't really know about it. And it was one of those things where they hoped that rehabilitation would help it. and then it just didn't get better. So they had to go the route of surgery, and here we are. You make a good point there, and also it's good to point out that the Penguins, and especially Mike Sullivan, they don't like disclosing injuries, especially during the season. They'll always do upper body injury, lower body injury.

Heck, you don't even know when the player is hurt sometimes for the Penguins. Heck, sometimes someone will miss practice. It's like, oh, you didn't even know he was hurt. They just don't talk about them. So I guess I'm not really surprised in that context, but Gensel will probably miss at least the first month of the season with this injury. And when you look at that, that's your first line left winger, gone, and you're going to have to start figuring out who is going to replace him for the first few weeks of the season.

And also I will tell you this, he's only going to be reevaluated in 12 weeks. We don't even know if he's going to be back by the end of October or into early November. Pat, maybe he's still out by Thanksgiving. Maybe it's end of December. Sometimes you never know with these kind of surgeries. And the Penguins, they're going to have to really rack up as many wins as they can without him. Because, I mean, you're taking out 35, of 35, 40 goal score to start the season. Someone's going to have to do his job in replacing him, even though it's going to be easier said than done.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say they didn't even say out 12 weeks. They said reevaluated in 12 weeks. So for all we know, this could end up as a longer term injury. And then you find yourself having a real issue because this team's up against the cap. And like you said, we're going to talk about the Drew O'Connor, Eric Carlson, buyout window thing coming up here soon. But this is a real pickle right now because as much as I do like Riley Smith, I don't know if he's a first line guy.

He strikes me more as a middle six guy, second, second, third. line. So I don't think he can eat the minutes just fine. But the production, you're losing a big chunk of production to start the season. So we're either going to have to see some offense by committee here or somebody's really going to have to step up coming out of camp. And that's the big thing. I mean, the first person who honestly came to mind for me to try and start up in the top six, I don't care if I'm going to get a little bit of heat for this. do you try Drew O'Connor with Sidney Crosby and Ricard Raquel? I mean, I understand that's been flown around, just him in the top six,

even when everyone in the top six is healthy. I've disagreed with that, but now he may seem like one of your best options to at least try up there for a few games, see if he can produce. Again, I understand he only had five goals and 11 points this past season, but he's young enough. He has offensive upside. Why not try him up there for a few games? he can produce alongside Sid and Raquel, maybe Brian Ross is next to Sid or something like that.

We all know how good Sid is at, I guess, elevating players above their skill level. I mean, let's just put it that way. And I think that could really help O'Connor in that case and, you know, also give the Penguins more offense when Jake is out. Well, here's the blessing in disguise is that this happened in the off season. This didn't happen in December. So you've got all of camp to figure this out. You can do some plug in and some play in here. It doesn't have to be an immediate answer that you have to get figured out in the middle of the season.

So Sullivan and the coaching staff, as well as the first line, are going to have some time here throughout camp in the preseason next month to figure out, okay, who are we going to put with Krosby on the first line? So if that's a little bit sunshine on a rainy day, fair enough. but I do think the only positive we could really glean from this is that we'll have time. And who knows, every year there's somebody that comes out of camp that we weren't talking about right now that we're talking about come October. Could it be DOC? Could it be Alex Neelander? Who could it be that steps up and is a temporary first line winger for a month or two to begin the season?

I mean, I've also seen people throw out Valteri Pustin, but I think he also has to make the team first. I'm not really sure if he's going to make it even with Gensel out. You have Vinnie Hinojarozo, Andreas Yanson. He got the other debt players they signed. Matt Nietto, No, O'Hawrari, Lars Eller. But I don't think they're going to put Lars Eller at first line left wing. I think that's a little ridiculous in my opinion.

But there's also an option, Pat, where could they sign someone, maybe like a Tomas Tatar or something like that? But then you also have the problem. Sure, you can LTIR, Gensel, right? but you're still going to have to find room for him once he becomes healthy. And say you do sign someone like the Tatara, and that would make sense. You can just plug him on the left wing on the first line with Crosby and Raquel,

whoever. That'd be awesome. But then you have to figure out who you're going to ship out when Gensel comes back. And especially if an Eric Carlson trade happens this weekend, got to figure that out too. I'm just saying it's an option. I don't know how likely it is, but it's definitely an option that they could sign someone to replace Jake

for a little bit of time this upcoming season. The question Kyle Dubus is going to have to ask himself in regards to this is, well, it's a twofold question. One, do I think I have somebody in-house that can replace temporarily the production of Jake Gensel? And also, is there somebody out there I'm willing to take a chance on that I'm also willing to lose for nothing? Because once you get that person, whether it be via trade or via signing, you're going to have to lose someone for nothing at some point because somebody's probably going to get tried, they're going to try to bury someone in the minors, and they're going to

have to pass through waivers. And chances are a team will take that person. So you lose an asset for next to nothing. So essentially those are the two questions Kyle Dubas has to ask himself heading into this season now that he knows he's going to be without Jake Gensel for a minimum of 12 weeks. And one more thing before we wrap up, this also affects his contract negotiation, I think. I mean, heading into the season, last year on his current deal makes $6 million per for this deal. You've seen talks about him asking for over $8 million, maybe upwards of $9 million, and I think he's worth that. Now he's going to miss a chunk of time.

Is that going to send his asking price down a little bit, you think? Probably not, just because you never want to go down in a negotiation until you absolutely have to. But after our last episode together, I think I'm done. I'm done predicting contracts. I think I proved I suck at it. We're going to dive into that right after this break coming up, but I'm just going to tell everyone right now, I am him when it comes to that contract projection with Drew Conner.

That's all I'm going to say. Pat is he's done with predicting contracts. But that's coming up right after this break. But yeah, really tough news on Jake. Hope he can get back healthy because, I mean, I was probably going to predict him to score 50 again this upcoming season. He didn't do it this past season after I predict. 50, Pat, but hey, full me once. Shame on you. Foll me twice. Shame on me. I was prepared to do it.

How about that? But that wraps up this first seven. Coming up in the second segment, we got to dive into that Drew O'Connor contract, what it means, especially for the second buyout window. And yes, we're going to squeeze a little bit more Eric Carlson talking there because Eric Carlson content remains unlimited until a trade happens. But before we dive into that, we have to discuss Fandul. Take your first wing of betting MLB on Fandul and get 10 times your first bet amount in bonus bets up to $200.

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We're back in this episode of the locked on penguins podcast. I am Hunter Hodes. That is Patrick Damp. As I said coming into this segment, Pat, I'm him, as the kids like to say, you know, those old teenage kids that throw these new sayings out there. Drew O'Connor, re-signs with the penguins. on Wednesday avoids arbitration. I gave some quick thoughts during my intro for that episode before I got into it with John Chick, I've locked on New York Rangers. Two years, $925,000 per year.

Really like that deal. They get it done before arbitration, which was supposed to be on Friday. I saw some people asking, oh, well, does this mean they're not going to get the bout window? No, that does not mean that. They get the buyout window no matter what. It starts this Saturday, and it ends on Monday. And Pat, Pat, I'm going to. get your thoughts on it right now. I think that's very fair value for a player who, again, has offensive upside, is good defensively. You can plug him on the penalty kill. And as is in the first segment, he's going to be an option to replace Jake Gensel on the top line, at least for a few games. He's young enough. I think he's good enough. See what he has. But overall,

I like this contract, gets a fair raise. And I think he could be aligned for a pretty decent season this upcoming year, especially as a middle six-wing or maybe a little bit of a bottom six-winger, I should say. Yeah, this is a nice little piece of business for Kyle Dubus and the Penguins because you got a player that now has a contract that is extremely low risk and extremely high reward because I do think, you know, the metrics show that he's a middle six forward and he's got potential to be better. So you have him for under a million per. You got him for a couple of years. He's going to get a chance to play for, or to play higher up in the lineup due to injuries. And you put a guy like that in your lineup and he shows up the way he has

with the potential that he's shown over the past couple of years. And it's a good bet to take. And this has kind of always been Kyle Dubus's M.O. since he took over in Toronto and now that he's in Pittsburgh. He finds those guys that have higher upside but aren't getting the chances elsewhere, gives them a chance there, lets them go get paid somewhere else, and then finds the next guy. So could this be another chapter of that where Kyle Dubus locks up a guy for two years?

He comes in, produces well above his market rate. And then he says, hey, appreciate it. Go get paid. Go secure the bag. But it ain't going to be here. I mean, he'll obviously have to score a bit more for that to happen, maybe like 15, 17, upwards of 20 goals. He hasn't shown an ability to do that yet, excuse me.

But, hey, he's got to be given the chance to do it. That's the main thing. And I also think this was somewhat strategic for Kyle Dube's. Dubeson company. You do this on a Wednesday, August 2nd, right before the arbitration date. And that sets up a pretty big weekend, I think, coming up for the Penguins back. Saturday, the second buyout window opens. Everyone's speculating about Michael Granul. We can just get into that right now as well. He's the most likely candidate to be bought out, even though Kyle Dubus has gone on the record to say that he doesn't like buyout. But here's the thing.

Forget the salary cap space for a second. And they will get upwards of $4 million if they were to buy out Granland. I don't think Granland fits any part of the penguins heading into this season, even with Gensel-Hurt. He's not a very good forechecker. He's not even close to the finisher that he once was. And his defensive game is also not very good anymore.

The only thing that he can really do at this point in his career is pass. And I'm sorry, the Penguins have enough of those kind of players in the bottom six. They don't have any, many pure finish. down there. And yes, they also have some defensive specialists down there too, but Greenland is also not that. So in my opinion, no matter what happens with the Carlson situation, and we'll get into that in a second as well, I don't think the Penguins have a choice with this

Granlin situation. They have to get him off this team in some way, shape, or form this weekend during the buyout window. They do. They absolutely do. And I think you're kind of spot on about he doesn't really do anything significantly well except for pass. And while that's great, that's not a $5 million a year skill. Right. And I do think that he does have that value as a passer and a playmaker, but again, not at that cap hit. I also love to quote Elliot Friedman of Sportsnet.

Or he was either him or Jeff Merrick, but it's one of my all-time favorite quotes when it comes to roster management in the NHL. One other GMs know that you're drowning. they do not send you a life preserver. They throw you a boat anchor. Everybody knows McIle Granlin's contract is an absolute albatross. So they're not going to just take it. You're going to have to throw something else in or you're going to have to retain.

And you know they're not going to retain on this because it's not what they're, it's not an asset people are trying to get. So it's not like Eric Carlson where you're trying to get him on your team, but you need them to retain because he's a talented player with a big contract. This is a contract they want to shed. So buying him out come tomorrow because we're recording this Friday afternoon is imperative. So that to me. Anytime during the 48 hours, to be honest.

Yeah. But why waste the time? It's not like you have to do any big math or any big contractual decisions. Just say, hey, Mikhail, thanks for everything. Sorry, I couldn't work out. Best of luck elsewhere. hope someone signed you. And I don't think the penguins would want to part with futures to get out of that contract.

I know teams have done that in the past. Heck, the Islanders just did it with Josh Bailey trading him to the Chicago Blackhawks right around the free agent time. And they had to trade a pretty high pick to get out of that contract because Josh Bailey is not that good anymore. I know former penguin killer, of course, but just not. And there's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong with parting with draft picks to get rid of bad contracts. but right now where the penguins are as a franchise, that's just not the right thing to do.

And where Kyle Dubus is taking this team over and where he wants to take this team as Poho and GM, that is not part of the strategy. Right. I agree. And I think at this point when they obviously have all their picks available to them, but they want to use those picks to acquire players who can come help right now, not to ship them out just to get out of a player that, you know, the former GM got. I just don't think that's in Dubis's wheelhouse right now. And the final thing for this segment, Pat,

we saw this. Elliot Friedman said this on an international network last night, for those that did not hear it, basically said that he's going to watch this weekend to see if anything happens on the Eric Carlson front. And we've been kind of circling this weekend for a while, even before Friedman said that, to be honest. I mean, they were going to try to take this O'Connor situation

to as close as it could be to the arbitration window. I'm like, heck, if you wanted to get really close, you could have just signed up today before the hearing. But they just wanted to do it on Wednesday. I'll say this. And maybe I look stupid. Maybe I don't. I think this is the last big weekend to get Eric Carlson. If this weekend comes and goes, and especially into Monday, and a trade is not finalized, I'll say to here, Pat, I don't think he's going to become a member of the penguins for the rest of the offseason heading in a training camp.

I may sound stupid for saying that. Don't get me wrong. You could definitely see a deal maybe happening right before camp, but I'll go on a whim right now and say, this is the last best chance for it to work. And if that doesn't happen this weekend, I think they might be out of luck. I appreciate you being willing to step out there and have the take.

But I do also recall what our pal from Locked on Sharks told you, where the Brent Burns deal took right up to camp. Right. So granted different management. I may get all takes exposed here. Don't get me wrong. But here's the thing. I don't disagree with you. I do think this is the last best chance. But I also think it'll really show us what the status of the deal is. I think there is a little bit of a game of chicken here. I think Greer and the sharks have overplayed their hand. I think they don't have. there aren't enough teams interested, nor is there enough caps space in the league right now

for teams to take on Eric Carlson. And now they have Eric Carlson in a Swedish newspaper straight up saying, I am not going to play for the San Jose Sharks next season. Right. So they lost all of their leverage. And no disrespect to Elliot Friedman. He's the best of the best of the best. But let's not pretend like he had to follow any big breadcrumbs to figure this out for this coming weekend.

Like, the buyout window is open for the penguins. They can get up to $4 million in cap space should they buy out McIle-Granlin now that they've signed DOC. It's everything short of a flashing red light saying, Carlson watch, Carlson watch, Carlson watch. Now, granted, maybe he's talked to a couple people who said the penguins and sharks are talking and this could happen, especially because the hurricane and cracking have made moves that tell us maybe they're out on this. So all in all, I think this is a big weekend for it. I don't know if it's going to be the end all be all,

but I think we're going to learn a lot come Sunday or Monday. I think so too. I mean, we'll see at the end of the day. It's been the same information I feel like for the last three to four weeks. I'm tired of talking about it. I think you are probably tired of talking about it. Let's just see a trade happen. And then we can talk about it then.

Because then at that point, he'll be a member of the penguins, and then we can really dive into so many topics relating to that. But just the same old song and dance. Let's just get something on the road here, people. Come on. Listen, I love talking mobile offensive defensemen, but this has just been taken forever. Dragging on and on and on.

But hey, again, maybe it happens this weekend. Stay glued to your phones. Everyone that listens slash watches. We'll see what happens this upcoming weekend. That wraps up the second segment coming up to, end the show, Kyle Dubus, Sol promoted himself on Thursday. Pat and I are you going to discuss that right after this.

All right. We're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am Hunter Hodes. That is my co-host, Patrick Dam. So Pat, on Thursday, Kyle Dubus had the perfect Barack Obama meme, putting the medal around himself and just basically promoting himself to general manager. He had been the interim GM for the first two months on a job, as well as present hockey operations.

And then it was announced on Thursday that he is assuming the full-time role as GM. I was watching the clip from Elliot Freeman on NHL Network on Thursday night. And he kind of made it known that it sounded like they were trying to go after Brain and Pridim and then Pridum decided he was going to stay in Toronto. I'm not surprised by that, considering how close Pridum and Dubus were. But I'm not surprised by this move. I mean, he's been the one calling the shots. and he is going to continue to call the shots for this team.

I still wish they hired someone as a first-time GM so that they could learn on the job, be groomed on the job, so that this person could eventually make the hockey decisions, and then maybe Dubus is just advising the person in that next phase, similar to what Colorado does. But I understand why Dubus did what he did at this point, just because, I mean, you look at this last month, I mean, how many teams are going to let GM candidates interview at this point?

It's probably not that high, right? So I'm not surprised in the slightest, and he's going to continue to call the shots for this team. Yeah, and I do think, I don't think he wants to set up the same situation he was in in Toronto. Because as much as we think we have clarity on that, I don't think we ever really, really will. he doesn't want to have a situation like he had with Brendan Shanahan.

I almost said Kyle Shanahan. It's almost football season. But basically, I also think that he really wants to put his stamp on this Penguins team in the first year. And I imagine there probably weren't many candidates that he could have, you know, gotten to come in his GM because the wheels are in motion here. The draft has happened. Free agency is open. Buyouts are happening. training camps are going to open very soon.

So I think at this point he was like, you know what, screw it for one season at least. I'm general manager and president. We'll see how this season goes. We'll see how the workload pans out. And then we'll reassess. Plus, and we're going to get into it here in a sec, he put a pretty nice little team around them.

So it's not like he's a one-man show dictator here. It's a pretty big team so far. I agree. And I do want him to add more assistant GMs to this front office, I think. My dream is to have a front office like it was under Rutherford where you had people like Billy Garon, Jason Botryl, Jason Carmanos, just a dream team of a GM, at least when Rutherford knew what he was doing at the time. Well, I was going to say, really good time for assistance, but go ahead, sorry. I was going to say, let's not make it like that where they all have to coexist together in order to be good,

because as soon as a couple of them splintered away, we saw some bad moves. That's true. That's a very good point. But man, when they all were together, they were making some dang on good moves. But he's now been new GM, present hockey operations, but he's been that way for the last couple of months.

A couple other moves as well, Pat. Andy Sosier is the director of professional personnel now, excuse me. Really nice to see him rise the ranks in the organization throughout three different management groups now. He was there under Jim Rutherford. He was there under Ron Hextall, and now he's there under Kyle Dubus was the video coach, but he's transferred their duties over to someone else.

And he was great at that, and now he continues to stay in the organization. I'm really happy for him with his new role, Eric Heesley, director of minor league in amateur scouting operations. And then Amanda Kessel and Trevor Daly, both special assistants to Kyle Dubis, really love those two moves.

I think they're probably going to be assistant general managers at some point in their careers. Trevor Daly has been in the organization for the past few years, was there under Rutherford and under Ron Hicksall. I'm really happy for him and especially for Amanda Kessel. I really like these moves overall. Yeah, it gets back to what we talked about last time when we kind of had our discussion over this with Amanda Kessel.

He's building a front office that has a bunch of different experiences within hockey. It's not just the same 15 to 20. guys who cycle in and out from every organization in every in each conference i mean you you have Trevor daily who is a stanley cup champion with the pittsburgh penguins so you got that little bit of home cook in there a guy who played for the penguins in their glory days so also knows kio dubus for a long time yeah you also have amanda kessel who now has experience with the organization her brother won two stanley cups with the penguins she has won olympic gold and silver she has won world championships She's heavily involved with the PHWPA.

These are people, and then you look at, you know, guys like Heasley, guys like Saucier. They aren't traditional everyday hockey people. They're not just NHL people. They're people who have views and experiences from around the sport, which is really important when you're an organization that needs to get creative and where this organization is right now in regards to everything. They're core aging. they'm not having a great prospect pipeline. The fact that the dark days in a rebuild are not that far off,

they are going to have to get creative. So having a guy like Kyle Dubus running the ship in a diverse group of opinions under him puts them in a better position to have a soft landing. Exactly. And I saw this take during, not during, after the announcement was made on Thursday where people were like, why are Amanda Castle and Trevor Daly getting these jobs? It's like, how are you expected to get experience in a hockey operations role after your playing career?

Like, I just, I don't understand why so many people just got mad for the sake of being mad. Like, again, do you want a bunch of hockey men running your team? No, like, you want new people involved in hockey ops to get that experience. She just had the program. Trevor Daly has been with the organization for a few years. They know what they're doing. And this is just an entry-level job to probably. get a better job, whether it's with the penguins or whether it's with a different team.

And we went from Ray Shiro to Jim Rutherford to Ron Hextall and Brian Burke. No disrespect to any of them. They all have, except for maybe Hextall again, no offense. They all have great resumes. And that includes Brian Burke. You may not like his opinions. You may not like his takes on the sport or on Sportsnet, but the guy has championships. He has a ton of experience. Jim Rutherford is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ray Shiro is one of the, his father is one of the founding hockey people ever. And they're all great. They've all done great things.

But we have done hockey man, hockey man, hockey man, hockey man. Now we have a new approach. And I don't want to sound like annoyed yinsert here, but we haven't been out of the first round since 2019. So are you going to try the same people and then just get the same results? because that's what's happened. And I know a bunch of people were, you know, punching their steering wheel or throwing their earbuds out or punching the screen right now,

but the Leafs only got out of the first round because of the other Kyle Lewis. That organization is cursed. That franchise is cursed. I don't know what ancient burial ground in Canada they built the Scotia Bank Arena on top of, but they're taking a new approach. They have to take a new approach

because they have not had success since 2018 when they got knocked out by the capitals in the second round. Right. And I agree. I mean, there's nothing wrong with these moves. Again, we can argue for days about them

maybe not having enough assistant GMs. I would like them to have another assistant GM or two. Absolutely. Heck, I mean, I also wouldn't be surprised, and I'll put this out there for you right now just to end the show.

Would you be surprised if Kyle Dubas hired someone to be the full-time GM next year and just give that up? I wouldn't. I mean, what if someone becomes available that you can't pass up on

and you're like, okay, I'm going to hire this person to be a first-time GM next. GM, let him learn on the job, and then boom, he can make the decisions. I think part of that, part of him becoming the full-time GM was because no one was out there to take the job right now. Yeah, I absolutely agree with you on that point.

I don't think anybody was left. And I don't think anybody was going to get permission at this point in the offseason. Now that the draft and free agency are behind, teams are already putting their plans for the season in motion. you know, as much as Fenway Sports Group has truckloads of cash they can offer people, we're into the point now where teams have to say, yeah, you can talk to so-and-so, and by this point of the off-season, they're going to go, no, you cannot talk to them. So next year when contracts run out and, you know, there's going to be six or seven teams

that have cup aspirations for this year that don't win it. And we see every offseason, teams that are very much contenders don't win it and overreact. So who knows who knows come next June, there might be some big names available that Kyle Dubas can go, come on home. Come on. I need a GM. I mean, you're right. You know, who's to say a top team doesn't flame out in the first round. I mean, there's going to be teams that obviously flame out in the first round.

But who's to say another big upset doesn't happen in the form of maybe not as big as the Bruins, but close enough where a different team loses. and then they clean house. They fire their coaching tab for someone in the front office where Kyle's like, okay, I'm going to hire you to be the first time GM. So you know who I'm looking at for that, for that to happen to? Carolina, because everybody has been penciling them in.

They're going to be a Stanley of Champions. They're going to stand like of champions. They're going to stand like of champions. And it's been going on for five, six years now, and they haven't done it. So at some point, Carolina's ownership is going to get impatient and they're probably going to roll some heads. You're not wrong there.

I mean, it's time for them. I mean, they got to stay healthy. I mean, the Svetchnokov injury was really brutal this past season, but they got to stay healthy and they got to get the goaltending. And I think they also need another top score or two for the time. You can tune into Locked on Hurricanes to hear that. But I believe that will end this episode, oddly locked on Penguins podcast.

Really appreciate all of you listening to slash watching this episode of the show. Please note if something big happens this weekend, whether it's a buyout or especially, and Eric Carlson trade, Pat and I will be here right after it happens. We'll have an emergency episode for you all. So stay tuned for that if anything does happen. But again, thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this episode of the show. If nothing else happens, we'll be back with another episode on Monday.