Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Kyle Dubas gives his mini State of the Penguins address

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

Kyle Dubas spoke about the current state of the Penguins, where they stand on a retooling, and what they have to do to improve this season. Hunter and Patrick discuss Dubas's comments about how the Penguins have to be better at defending leads and closing out games as well as his plan to both build this team for the present and the future. Then, they look at the lines from practice and how there's now suddenly a logjam at forward with some players possibly looking at time in the press box or back down in the AHL. It also appears that even with the impending return of Kris Letang, Owen Pickering will stay in the lineup. Finally, a player poll from The Athletic brought about some unique ideas for rule changes and Hunter and Patrick give their take on what they'd like to see changed, especially when it comes to overtime. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed. Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kyle Dubus delivered a mini state of the Penguins address on Wednesday night on the GM show. And Pat and I are going to discuss that plus a lot more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your 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 host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunser Hodes.

joined as always by my co-s, Patrick Gamping and follow him on all social media platforms that send him for wet. And you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. You can start the season with a big return on Fandle. New customers can place a $5 bet and you will get started with $150 bucks in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit Fandul.

dot com to get started. So Penguins general manager, Kyle Dubus, went on the GM show with Josh Getsov on Wednesday. He does this every two to three weeks to give his thoughts on all things. Penguins, he was going in on the struggles, what he wants to see moving forward, Lars Eller, all that good stuff. And we're here to break it all down for you for this first segment, starting with his comments about the defensive issues. And he said, I think when you look at the actual problems and the way the goals are going

in the net, the two that tie it, they're both down low plays. around our net. We need to be able to close those out and end these games and help our goaltenders out. Goldenders need to make stops. And we need to make plays to get back onto offense. After the first period, the shots were like 25 to 10. That is not a recipe for success, especially against a team like Tampa Bay. Well, first off, Kyle Devis, thank you for saying to the obvious, but that is not good enough. We've been saying that on the show now for the last several weeks. But I'm glad that he said, yes, we've got to do a better job closing these games out, because this has been the biggest problem for this team this year.

multi-gole blown leads in 21 games. That's by far the most out of any team in the NHL. We're not even at game 30 yet. They're on pace, Pat, to have over 20 multi-gold blown leads in an 82 game season. Can we confirm that's bad, by the way? I think that's bad. I'm not a big math guy, but I think that's bad. Sources say that indeed is bad.

And he also added that it's up to Mike Sullivan and the players to kind of turn this around. And it's like, okay, Kyle, I get that you're saying that, but maybe dial up a little bit more pressure, I think, on the head coach there. I understand that he's not going to go out there and really bury any of these players. He's not going to bury the head coach. But I mean, for me, put a little bit of pressure on him because I know, you know, us, everyone that listens to the show, I think the entire fan base is kind of just done with the head coach and this staff in general.

it's just that the management group and the ownership are seem to be on the same page where they really aren't feeling pressure to move on from him. But I still want to see Dubis at least apply some pressure because a good chunk of this is on the head coach. Oh, for sure. I think when you look at all of his comments and then you couple it with the way Mike Sullivan spoke to the media after the Tampa Bay game, you can tell that there is a bit of a coordinated effort to send a message to this team. And I know everybody wants it to be hard-ass kind of, you know, rain down hell on these players, call them out and do all that.

But a reminder that this is 2024. These are professional athletes. They're not working a shift at the mill and then coming to play hockey in the evening. This is pro athletes a full-time job now. These guys are more dedicated to their craft than they've ever been. But to your point of you wanting to see more pressure, this is Sullivan and Dubus's form of pressure, is they're not known for calling guys out.

This isn't John Tortorella and Brian Burke, where every time they step to a mic, you think they might go scorched earth. They're the kind of guys who speak in cliches. They speak with all of the same things you've heard a million times over and over again. So when they break from that, it's a message to the team. When Mike Sullivan goes out and says, we have to have pride in playing defense.

We have to commit more to the defensive zone. That's him sending a message to the team. Then when Kyle Dubus echoes that, it's again a message to the team. and you have to understand the sort of pop psychology behind that because these guys are so used to hearing those cliches publicly from the coach and general manager so that when they stray from them, their ears perk up and they go, oh, man, they're sending us a message.

So now the onus does fall to both Mike Sullivan and the players to turn it around because this message has been sent. now they have to respond to it. And they'll have two chances at least this weekend to respond to it with games against the Winnipeg Jets who are red hot right now, 16 and 3 record, and then they'll also play the Utah Hockey Club. But, I mean, again, based on what we've seen so far, I'm just not sure that message is going to be received because they keep blowing these leads

and just allowing these teams to tie it like people are passing out candy on Halloween. It's that easy right now. Another quote that really stood out to me was kind of his, is quote about the plan, I think, is how I want to say. He says, I'm a firm believer that if you throw everything overboard, basically stripping it down to the bare bones, you really have to be careful what you wish for because you could go a long time before you're back to being a competitive and a contending team. So our focus is on trying to, as I always say, as urgently as possible, bring in what we can using whatever means we have. I will say, I do like that answer because I do

think more fans should be careful what they wish for. You look at some teams in the league right now, and they really stripped it down. For example, the ducks, they really tore it down, and they're still rebuilding right now, and they stink. It's been several years of this. They have a lot of quality, young talent, but it goes to show how long it takes to incorporate those winning ways,

and these players are still learning how to win. Sure, some of it is on the management, the head coach that they have, but these players are learning how to win, and sometimes some of these young players don't pan out as well as some fans want them to. So, again, it's sometimes hard. than you think. You look at a team like the Red Wings as well. Some weird management at times.

I think Steve Iserman is also a little bit overrated. The coaching has kind of been up and down, but they really tore it down as well after the Datsuki or Zetterberg, et cetera, and look where they are now. They're kind of in the exact same place. They haven't been able to take that step and make the playoffs. It goes to show how hard it is to take that step and be a playoff team with some of these other teams in the conference. So I will echo that. I understand that people really want to potentially blow it up. But I will agree. You do want to be careful what you wish for because, as he said,

and as other evidence is out there, it could be a while before you really get back to being on top. You're seeing it right now, as I said, with the ducks, the Red Wings, you could throw other teams in there as well. You know, Columbus, obviously, right now is not very good. And it's been tough for them these last several years, I would say. But still, it's a hard job. This, I have to kind of collect my thoughts here because I could go off on this for like 20 minutes because I agree like you do with what Kyle Dubus said. And I don't want this to come off as some blind defense of Kyle Dubus. He has made several missteps in his two short years with the penguins. And we have not been shy about pointing those out. But I agree with this sentiment because, and I was saying this on so.

media yesterday after this quote came out, I have a feeling that we are probably moving into an era that moves away from the true blue strip it down to the studs kind of rebuild, because you look at a lot of the teams that are in contention or close to contention right now, and a lot of them didn't actually do a scorched earth rebuild. You look at the New York Rangers. They didn't sell everybody, including Henrik Lundquist, off. But they told their fans, listen, we are going to have to hit a reset button here. And outside of Henrik Lundquist and one or two other guys, they did a similar thing that the penguins are doing right now. They kept their big names in place.

They moved everybody else. They drafted well. They got some luck with getting a first overall pick. And then you look at some other teams. You look at the L.A. Kings. They have done something very similar. Dowdy and Copatar are still around, but everybody else, they moved on from. They stockpiled draft picks and prospects.

They took some chances on some players who needed a second or third chance. The same thing with the Washington Capitals. They kept Ovi around. They kept Osi and Baxter. Now they're on LTIR, so that helps them. But people don't move. Forget that, man. The Capitals have gotten a bit lucky with this as well.

Oh, for sure. The management group has been great, but they got lucky. that they were able to put all of that money on LCR, LTIR, excuse me, with the injuries to back from an OSHA. I get very much hope they are okay, but they did get lucky in that respect. Yeah, there's no doubt on that. But then you look at the flip side of it.

Buffalo has been terrible for the better part of almost 15 years at this point, outside of a few years in the early 2010s. And then you look at a team like Ottawa. And now they had ownership issues, they had management issues, so they get a little bit of a pass. Then you, like you said, you look at Anaheim, they've been doing this for quite a while now. Columbus has been doing this for the majority of their existence. And there's no guarantee that it works. And you look at teams like Florida, like Tampa Bay, like the New York Rangers, who I already brought up,

they have had some semblance of, okay, we're not going to totally bottom out. We're not going to move on from literally everybody and start over again. Same thing with teams like Dallas. Same thing with teams like Vancouver. And if there's one team you can point to that has had a successful tear it all down and restart, and I know I'm going to get laughter out of this,

but stick with me. It's Toronto. because even in their tear it all down rebuild when they got guys like Nealander, Matthews, and Marner, they still kept guys like Jake Gardner, Nazam Codry, Riley. So they still kept key pieces around, but sold everybody else off and said, listen, we're going to bottom out,

but we need to have guys here who can set a culture, who have been around the block, and can bring these new guys up. because it only happens every five or so years when a truly generational talent, Sidney Crosby, Connor Bedard, Alex Ovechkin, Cain and Taves come around and they are just so good that they can set the culture themselves. Oftentimes, you have to have guys who have experienced this around, or have the very least experienced your organization when they were at least,

least close to contending to help these young guys out. So while there is no guarantee this plan from Kyle Dubus is going to work, I do think at the end of the day, we're moving into a different era of rebuilding in the National Hockey League because we have seen a million nightmares of stripping it down to the bone where it doesn't work, but we've seen plenty of success stories where teams do this kind of retool, rebuild, where they keep some guys around, but then sell it. everybody else. Right. And the Rangers did do that, but I also will say the Rangers got a little bit lucky as well. Adam Fox only wanted to play for the Rangers. Also, Artini Panarin only wanted to

go play for the Rangers. You need at least a little bit of that luck if this week, if that retool-tool-was going to work. In sure enough, it did. They're one of the Stanley Cup contenders now. The stars, while you say, for example, you know, Ben and Sagan were getting a bit older and, you know, Radulov was there as well. Look how great they were drafting, Pat. Rupé Hince, Jason Robertson, etc. Their drafting in particular was tremendous during that time. And it allowed them to do that little mini-witual and then look at them now. They're a bona fide contender, not just in the Western Conference, but in the league as a whole. So you need a little bit of luck, but you need to hit on your draft picks. And you also, again, need to hit on your prospects as well. So the Penguins,

as you said, there may be a year behind the capitals. And while there's no guarantee that it's going to work, they're at least trying to see if it will. Was there anything else that Dubas said during the GM show that you want to hit on before we hit the break? I mean, not particularly. I know he had a lot of nice, nice things to say about someone like Owen Pickering. We talked about that earlier in the week. I think he should be here until the wheels start wobbling a little bit.

But I mean, overall, like I said, I think similarly to Mike Sullivan's answers to the media after the Tampa Bay game, moving into the GM show yesterday, this is them sending a message to the team. Right. No, I hear you. And speaking of Owen Pickering. He was again involved in line rushes on practice on Thursday.

Could be an indicator that he will remain in the lineup on Friday, even though Chris Lattang, it looks like, is very close to returning from his onus. We're going to dive into the practice notes coming up here in the second segment. But before we get to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandall. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. A Fandall Sportsbook app gives you every.

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the full defensive pairings out. Anthony Bavillier with Cindy Crosby and Mercard Riquel, Michael Bunting with Afghani Malkin and Brian Rust, yes, he pull you RV with Drew O'Connor and San Juan. And by the way, I like that they're using O'Connor a bit more at center. He's played center before coming into the NHL. He's been mostly used as a winger on Crosby's line or on the third line. But I like seeing what he can do a little bit at center. And as you pointed out on Wednesday, and I agree with you, I really like the potential of that, you know, OPP line, as you called it. I am down with OPP, baby. We need to keep that line rolling.

They looked really good earlier in the week. Yeah, no, I agree. And then on the fourth line, Matt Nietto, Noah Chari and Vasily, Panamara. Then defensively, Matt Grislich is still with Chris Latang, Marcus Petterson with Eric Carlson,

and then Owen Pickering with Ryan Shea, Ryan Gray's and Jack St. Ivanian is the four pairing. So based on practice today, we'll learn a little bit more for the morning skate on Friday. But based on practice today, it appears that Owen Pickering is going to remain in a lineup with Chris Tatang coming back. And that is the right call. He has played two very good games at the NHL level.

He hasn't been out there for any glaring mistakes. He's been very good to the puck on his stick. He knows when to pinch and knows when to come back and not be too aggressive. He's been good in his own zone, very much reminding me again of a mini version of Paul Martin. I really like his game right now. You got to keep feeding him to the wolves a little bit and see what he can do against more NHL talent. He'll be facing a big test on Friday against Winnipeg if he's in a lineup, which I think would be good for him.

The Jets are playing some outstanding hockey this year. Is there shooting percentage a bit high right now? Yes. Is it going to probably come down in the second half of the season? Also, yes, but that's still a very good test for Pickering. If I had maybe one or two complaints, A, I would put Jackson and I have any in for Ryan Jay because I don't think Ryan Jay is playing well right now. And I'm not sure he's a number six-s-caliber defenseman.

And then we discussed a lot. I'll say it again here. I don't think Matt Grisly should be in the lineup right now, even though I do know that they're trying to showcase him to other teams. I would scratch Griswick as well. But that it looks like, again, Pickering might be staying in the lineup with Letang, and I am very happy about that. I am as well. I'm going to push back on a couple things that you said, though, starting with Ryan Shea and Jack St. I have any two quick things on this. One, this is kind of what we predicted and thought would happen at the start of the year that those

two would kind of rotate in and out as your number six and number seven defensemen. And I agree, like, overall that Ryan Shea has not been great this year, but I thought he played a really strong game against Tampa Bay. So you can continue to keep him in the lineup to see how long he keeps that up. And it was a good enough performance for him that I'm fine with leaving him in the lineup, at least for now, so we'll see what happens with him. As for the Grizzlic stuff, while I agree in theory that he should be out of the lineup, I look at these eight defensemen that were part of practice today. And I don't know who you would put in his place that would even be

close to an improvement. You could say Jack St. Ivaney, but I I don't know how well he plays with Chris LaTang and or Eric Carlson. Ryan Graves, we have a mountain of evidence that he does not work well with Chris LaTang or Eric Carlson. So really at this point, he's just going to, we're going to just kind of have to deal with it. And it sucks because he's played so poorly. But I look at the eight available defensemen right now and I go, by default, he's in. And it stinks because you don't want to use him as much as you've been using him, but you're not ready to give Owen Pickering second or first pairing minutes.

You definitely don't want to give Ryan Shea or St. Ivany those minutes just yet. Maybe St. Ivney in a year or two, but right now he's not there yet. So really at this point, it's just a bad news situation. So you kind of just have to hope that he figures it out, which is terrible to say, because there has been no evidence to show that he's going to figure it out. But this is just kind of where we are. It's an annoying problem to have because I do hear you if you take out 24, you put Graves back in.

We've all seen what he can do with Letang and Carlson. Their underlines together with either Carlson or Latang are disastrous. He's worse with Carlton. Maybe later in the year, maybe in a month or two, if Graves gets back in and he continues this rebuilding, so to speak of his game, you can start to maybe see if, all right, is he ready to take minutes with Chris LaTang again and they figure it out? But right now, I look at this lineup and these available defensemen and just go, he kind of, Grizzlick kind of has to stay.

It's funny because I'd rather have Graves in the lineup right now than Grizzlik, and I can't even believe I'm saying that. But I also don't want Ryan Graves playing top four minutes. And I also don't want Matt Grisleck playing top four minutes. I think if I had to pick one of those two guys to do it right now, I'd probably pick Ryan Graves to 50. I will say this. If there is a solution to be had to this problem, you have to now be more willing to spread minutes out. Rather than playing Chris LaTang and Matt Griswick for 22, 24, 25 minutes, play them

19 and 20 and evenly spread out the minutes between your. defensive pairings because we've seen that right like I said Ryan she played a solid game against Tampa Bay Owen Pickering is at a very solid debut we know Carlson and Pedersen work together so if you can spread these minutes out a little bit better obviously special teams is going to play a factor in that depending on how many penalties you or your opponent take but if you can kind of give them all close to even minutes 17 18 19 minutes this might work out a little bit bit better because like I was saying the other day, I think part of the problem with Grizzlic is usage. He's a guy who's at his best when he's playing 17, 18, 19 minutes a night rather than

20, 21, 22. So if you can find a way, whether it's Sullivan or Quinn, to give them a little less time, but make it more equal for all three pairings, you might have a little bit of a solution here. Well, at his best, in quotation marks, just me. I mean, he was at his best. He was playing kind of second pairing minutes. Maybe not on the quote unquote second pairing, but the type of minutes he was taking suited him better than playing 22, 23 minutes a night. Okay.

I think that's fair. I was just going based off this year where, you know, at his best. Right. This year it's been a disaster. Yeah. It's just him this year not, you know, being. looking like just a complete fool of himself in his own zone. But yeah, to sum it all up, it is a bad problem to have.

But hey, I don't think he's going to be on this team past a trade deadline. I think they're going to figure something out. They signed into a one-year contract for a reason. And, you know, again, you're going to see that play out over the next few months. And finally, Kevin Hayes, he was also back at practice today, full capacity, wasn't taking line rushes. But there's still at least a chance that he comes back for this. game on Friday. Pat, if you had to pick a forward who comes out for him, because we all know that Hayes is going to play. Who would you say it comes out for Kevin Hayes? I would say it's probably

Ponomerev just because he's been fine, but I haven't really noticed him. He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been good. I really like the games of both Nietto and Achari of the last week or so. I really want to keep that third line together, at least for another. couple games to see if there actually is something there or if it was just a flash in the pan. And then you look at the top six. I know that a lot of people are down on Anthony Bavillier, but he's been producing as of late. So you can't take a guy out who's been producing. And obviously, bunting, Malkin, Rust, and Raquel are playing very well.

So as well as they can be, so to speak. So realistically, I think it's just a numbers game in Pondamarev would, just kind of be the odd man out of Hayes's back. I think it's either him or Poulan. If I had to have a preference, I'd kind of want to see more from Pondamara than I would Poulan. I understand that the OPP line has played at least fine over these small sample size. But if I had to have a preference, I would keep Pondamara in the lineup and see what he can do a little bit more over Poulan. I know that's going to be a hot take to some people. But I mean, it's really, it's It's a coin flip to me.

Like we haven't seen a whole heck of a lot from Sam Poulan in his time. But you can also say the same for Pondamara. But with how good that third line was against Tampa Bay, if I'm the head coach, I look at that and go, I want to see if this is real or if it's an aberration. And that kind of just gives Pondamarev the short end of the stick. Fair. And I also would wonder if Mike Sullivan would consider scratching. I don't know, someone like Matt Nietto, even though I think he's been totally good.

since coming back, he's shown that he's a serviceable NHL player in the bottom six, but it's just something that, you know, puffed up in my head for a little bit. But I do think Hayes is going to find his way back in the lineup. It's just going to be, I guess, a little unfortunate when it's more than likely that one of the younger players is going to have to come out. But I think that would do it for this second segment coming up to end the show. We got some player proposed rule changes in a new piece in the athletic. And Pat and I definitely have some thoughts about them.

It's going to make for a pretty fun end of the show here. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our last sponsor, and that is prize picks. It's the best place to get real money in sports action, and with over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash, run your game all season long on prize picks.

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One more time, down by app today and use code locked on NHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That is prize picks. Run your game. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Join my co-host Patrick Dam. So, Pat, this piece in the athletic today was awesome.

A player pool by the athletic NHL staff just going into proposed rule changes, three-on-three overtime, goalie interference, video review, offsides, puck over glass penalty, so much. And we've had many conversations about what we would change before during some August episodes when there's really not much talked about. But for today, we figured we'd kind of revisit it because there's some pretty fun changes in there. And of course, we have to start with overtime. time, one player says continuous overtime, abolish a shootout, another player says, how about let's do three on three, then two on two, it could be kind of fun.

Two on two, I feel like, would be a little too much for me. I think that's just a little too chaotic for my liking. I would be more of a fan of 10 minute three on three compared to two on two. But I do agree, though, it is time to get rid of the shootout. You can tell when, for example, like Penguin players, because they played in at least a few you else this year. You can tell, but some of these players hate it because they don't even try to make a move. They come in, they go a little slow. They just fire a shot. It's just like, there's no, you know, big deak that you're going to see on SportsCenter. It's not EA Sports

NHL when you're trying to deek someone out of the socks and stuff like that. And even other teams, the Penguins have played as well. Some of these moves are so nonchalant. It's just like, okay, yeah, let's get, let's get rid of this. And again, another player says, yep, 10 minute overtime. I think it's the best for fans. I used to have. have a take. I changed it because I love three on three so much. I used to have the take where I would love to see playoff overtime in regular season games where it's five on five, another 20 minute period. But I think those games will just go way too late into the night. And people have walked the next day of school. I think for the playoffs, that's great. It's a very unique

thing. But as I got older and as three on three came into the league, I was like, okay, I like this better at least for regular season. As much fun as five on five, 20 minute, overtime would be in the regular season. I think it would just be too much. I like the idea of continuous just because I think eventually guys would just go all out and end the game because you don't want to play the entire night. And I do think eventually a winner would come just because there would be fatigue. There would be more risks taken and guys would try to end the game.

And you're right. You watch a lot of the shootouts from this year, not just with the Penguins, just in the NHL in general. You can tell the players are over this. They don't want to do this anymore. The fans don't like it. The players don't like it. Its novelty has completely worn off. So at this point, just get rid of it.

There was one in there. And Hunter, I was like tired as we were planning this episode. And then we started talking about what we were going to do before we hit record. And now all of a sudden it's like I've mainlined energy drinks because I could talk about all the stuff we're talking about today for hours at a time. there was one in there that is my Roman empire of rule changes that I have loved for a long time. And I think you could try it in three on three overtime and make it better. And that is the floating offensive zone.

And one player recommended it. So for those who don't know, the floating zone, if you're American, it's deck hockey. if you're Canadian, it's ball hockey. But the rule is basically in deck and or ball hockey. They have a floating offensive zone. And what this means is you still have your red line and your blue lines. But to enter the offensive zone, you have to cross the blue line with possession,

with the puck or ball crossing the blue line first. But once you do that, the offensive zone extends back to the red line. and I would love to see this in three on three overtime because it would get rid of the annoying neutral zone regroups. You would have a much larger offensive zone. Defenders would still have to defend once you take it past the blue line and it would open up so much more space. I would love to see this in three on three overtime. That would be fun. I think it would make the game a bit more chaotic.

Another thing I saw as well, someone said a power plate overtime. should be three on two, not four on three. And I don't think so. I think that's even more unfair than a four on three. A four on three is already puts you at a big disadvantage. But again, that just goes to show why you shouldn't take penalties in that situation. But I think a three on two, I don't know. I think that's a little too much for me.

I would add this quick amendment. I think you could treat overtime penalties the way the NFL treats a lot of penalties where you can have rather than not an option to accept or decline. but I think you could put it in the coach's hands and say, do you want to do a four on three power play or do you want to do a five on four power play and see if, okay, do you want to run your full power play or do you want to put four players out there

and do a four on three instead? I think every, well, I wouldn't say every. I think most coaches would probably choose the four on three just because. I do too, but I do think there are a lot of teams, and we've seen it over the past couple years that have absolutely lethal five on four power plays. So if you're one of those teams

and you get to overtime and they say, all right, two minute minor, you can have your four on three or we can do a five on four. Coach decides. That's also fair. I just think personally, I feel like most coaches would go for the four on three

because, you know, A, zone entries are easier and B, I think it's easier to create chances that way, even though, again, some coaches could go five on four. another one, this was cool for PowerPlay's. Two-minute measure. Powerplay shouldn't end if a goal is scored. That would be really cool,

but I'm not sure how many people would sign off on that. I will say, though, it would make a player think twice before taking a penalty during a game. It would be pretty chaotic, I think. Yeah, I love that idea just because I think it increases scoring. And like you said, it makes players think twice about their actions. The other thing that I would love to see the NHL adapt, and another player recommended this is the PWHL's jailbreak rule.

If you score a shorthanded goal, your penalty's over. I think that is, I think if you put that rule in place, you're going to see a lot more risk taking from penalty kills. And it will, again, it's an opportunity to increase offense. And we have seen it across every other professional league in North America. offense sells. People want to watch offense. So any excuse to get more goals, you should take every single one.

And two more based off of that. Someone said, if you score on a delay penalty, you should still get a power play. Yes, I agree with that if you want to create more offense. Also, if you're on the power play in a period ends for that next period, you should start with an offensive zone face off. That is another way to create offense. I would be down for that. Yeah, I know it kind of screws over the penalty killers,

but hey, maybe don't take a penalty at the end of a period. I think there. Another one also eliminate offside reviews. These off sides that are a centimeter off on the league is preaching, scoring more and more. It is stupid. I'll say this on that. I think the offside review, as it's constructed right now, is stupid because they are looking a bit too deep. We shouldn't have to dive into, you know, centimeters or millimeters to see if a skate is barely offside. This was put in place to get rid of plays like the Danny Breyer goal that you saw in 2012. He was a mile offside. The NFL official should have caught that if their challenge were in place,

that easily would have been caught. It would have been taking off the board. That is why you have an offside challenge, not for 95% of other goals that come off the board now. Yeah. I don't have a ton to add to those. I agree with what you're saying. The last one I want to bring up.

And I think this is a really unique one. And I think it would make a lot of sense. Basically, somebody suggested that if the team ahead at the end of the game takes a penalty with less than two minutes remaining, you get the full two minutes on the power play, where if there's a minute 45 left, the penguins are up three to two, and they take a penalty, whoever they're playing gets the full two minutes. And once that two minute ends, if they don't score, game over. Because we see it in the NFL a lot where you can have that one last play at the end of

regulation where if there's zeros on the clock, they don't blow the whistle and end the game. You can have a Hail Mary pass that goes in and with the clock's on zero. So I would like to see that as well because you also know that if you take a penalty with less than two minutes and you're up a goal, and we know how the NHL is called. It's going to turn into prison rules. So you might as well just say, all right, you took a penalty with 1.45 left on the clock. The game clock is now dead. It's two minutes left in the game.

I think that's fair, especially because in the NFL, like if someone takes a penalty as time expires, the defense that is, the offense will usually get one more play to see. They get the untimed down. Yeah, if they could put the ball in the end zone. And then if they don't, the game's over. Last but not least, I've said this on this show a lot. I'll say it again. Another person said, get rid of the puck over the glass, delay a game penalty. Whoever you are, you know what?

Yes. I agree with you. I cannot stand that call. I'm going to get hate for that in the comments. people are going to DM me something. I'm sure of it. I have never liked that penalty. I can't stand it.

I never have. I maintain what I said over the summer. I think it should be a one strike kind of penalty. You get one a game, goes over the glass. It's more than likely not intentional. So you just say, all right,

there's your one. If you do it again, then it's a penalty. And hey, maybe at some point we can talk about the point system and how some teams are kind of abusing the loser points. The New York Islanders, especially. But I think that'll do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode of you all on Friday to get you all set for the game against the Jets and then the game on Saturday against Utah. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. And we'll be back on Friday.