Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Kyle Dubas MUST get this coach hiring right for the Penguins

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

Kyle Dubas's self-imposed June 1 deadline to hire a coach has come and gone without a hire, now the pressure is on. Patrick and Hunter begin this episode discussing how, with the deadline to hire a coach behind us, it becomes even more of a consequential hire. Dubas now has to absolutely get this right, considering his plan to transition this team into its next era. After that, they talk about Russian forward Mikhail Ilyin signing his entry-level contract and how this could be another late-round gem for the Penguins. Finally, the season in review series continues as they look at the impact Danton Heinen has had on the team in both of his stints. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!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.

There still is not a coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but this means at this moment, for now, we've got to talk about Kyle Dubus. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome into the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Sinnam for Wett. joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. And as always, we appreciate you making this show part of your daily routine because we're your team every day.

Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, go ahead and hit the notification button. And that way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes before we get started. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets if their first $5 bet wins. Hunter, welcome back to the show. You have clearly made it to your destination and show us if you're for the people watching on YouTube where you are. Can you see it?

I think you can see it. Yeah, I think everyone can see it. Yeah. I'm oceanfront, South Carolina, right outside of Myrtle Beach, kind of. I was trying to do a car cast on Friday. It didn't work out. Wi-Fi was really spotty. But, yeah, I made it to my destination.

I'm going to be here for every episode this week because it could be a pretty big week here for the Penguins. We were hoping to potentially go live this weekend if Kyle Dubas wanted to hire a head coach, but they decided not to do it. And there's been a lot of rumors that it could come today. Honestly, Pat, there's been a lot of conflicting reports today. You have Elliot Freeman saying that penguins are kind of taking their time. Then you have Chris Johnson and David Pagiotis saying, oh, higher could be announced as early as today. In summary, I don't think anyone really knows what's going on here.

Right. And with that in mind, today's episode could be rendered a little bit moot by the time we get to even later today because they could announce a hire depending upon what happens. But if they do, we will go live for like 10 to 15 minutes talking about the hire and then we'll have a whole episode tomorrow. Absolutely. But let's start here. We've got to talk about Kyle Dubus in the Pittsburgh Penguins in what this means,

because this is arguably the biggest moment to date of Kyle Dubus's tenure as the president of hockey operations for the penguins, because this is a very, very consequential hire. Not that we're breaking any new ground and saying that, but let's talk about the context that you just like. laid out. Obviously, about a week or so ago during the world championships, he tells Joshua, he has a self-imposed deadline of June 1st to have a coach in place. Well, it's June 2nd. There still is not a coach. There are conflicting reports that it could come later today that you also

brought up Elliott Friedman saying they're taking their time. And normally, I would be okay with saying they're taking their time making this higher because for the last 20 or so years, we know where this organization has been. They have been in win now mode. And that comes with knowing that you have the majority of your roster set. You've got to make some tinkering around the edges. You've got to fill out the depth. But you get what the mission is.

So you want to find the correct coach to lead you to the promise land. This is different. Right now we're looking for a coach who has to walk. an incredible tight rope. He has to both make sure that the core four are still very happy. They have, or three, four, depending on what happens with Carlson, but you have to make sure those veterans are happy and still willing to play and give you their all for when this team hopefully turns a corner in a couple of years,

but also develop the young players that are going to come into the system and that are already here. So there are conflicting reports right now that we've heard it's, Mitch loves job if he wants it. We've also been told not to roll out DJ Smith, which both of us are on record as not being huge fans. So this is a massive moment for Kyle Dubus. And not only does he have to get it right, he's probably got to get it right pretty quickly.

I agree with that. And based on all the reports out there, it feels like it's kind of a two horse race between those two. I also wouldn't be surprised that the penguins are kind of waiting for the Bruins to make their decision here. the Bruins, I think they're going to be making their decision. Maybe today, tomorrow, Wednesday, I think they've wrapped up their final interviews as well. Mitch Love is also a finalist there.

He could be one of the final two candidates. Though I still think Marco Stern is probably going to be the higher there. If that's the case, then hey, maybe the Penguins say to Mitch Love, okay, this is your job now. But if the Bruins hire Mitch Love, for example, maybe the Penguins are like, okay, now we have to go hire DJ Smith and all that. And I know I wasn't there for the episode on Friday where, you know, you discussed DJ Smith a little bit. But I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine last week about Smith in his time in Ottawa. And I know what his pitch probably was to do this. And it was like, hey, you see how successful the senators are now.

Well, I kind of kickstar that. And I did help develop some of these young players like a Tim Stutzelaw, like a Matt, not a Macri Couch, obviously, like a Brady Cachuk, Jake Sanderson, etc. but the conversation my buddy and I were having, it was like, did you help develop them or did you just play them top six minutes and they kind of learned on their own? I kind of feel like it's the latter a little bit more than the former, but that's also just my opinion on that. So I think his development with those young players, excuse me, it's a little bit overblown, which is why I would just rather go with someone who I think did a great job, especially this year in Washington, did a great job for Calgary's AHL farm system in Mitch Love. Now, are you going to see a crash out from Pat and I if they hire DJ Smith? No, we're going to give our objective thoughts about him. We're going to see how his tenure goes as a whole.

But we just think there's a couple better candidates right now than DJ Smith. We'll be the end of the world if they hire him. No, but it'll tell us that he's also probably only going to be the head coach for two to three seasons, if that honestly. But that said, he's still not close to my first choice because I don't think he did that good of a job in audible. of that. Hey, we'll see where this goes. It's still, nothing is official yet until it happens. You know, we can just only give our takes and kind of speculate a little bit, a little bit. But that's kind of my overall thoughts on DJ Smith a little bit more as a candidate. But it also kind of says to me that, you know, Judas is kind of hiring one of his buddies a little bit.

They have a history together, Pat. They work together in Toronto. I don't want you just hiring one of your buddies for the sake of hiring your buddies. I just want you to hire the best candidate. That's all. That's where I am. And I've said it on the show. I'm not going to completely rehash it. I think that there is a lane where you can understand that Ottawa was not a great organization during DJ Smith's time. And maybe that worked against him.

We'll never truly know. But I agree with that overall point is you're in a position now where you need to just hire the best candidate. Obviously, one thing, a caveat I want to add here is it's the same conversation that we have with free agents. they have to want to come here. And let's be completely frank on this. Pittsburgh's not a destination right now because they're backsliding from 20 years of contention in being one of the best franchises in the league to where they're kind of in the wilderness right now.

You still have a couple all-time grates on the roster, but clearly their careers are coming to an end. you've improved your farm system, but in no world is it a great farm system yet. So this is a difficult hire. Obviously, Kyle Dubus is making the big bucks, so no excuses on that. You're paid to make this work. But to kind of wrap up this portion of the first segment, he has to get it right because it is a very crucial hire. and it's going to be a pretty big linchpin for where he wants to take this franchise.

And if you don't get the right coach who can do what you want this, what him to do for this organization, it's going to set this plan back pretty far. But real quick, before we end this segment, I was just also going to say this too. For Mitch Love or DJ Smith, it comes down to really two things for me. I think Mitch Love will A, do a better job developing some of these younger players,

especially the majority employee and boy, hand. And B, I think he'll also make them a bit tougher to play against, especially in their own zone. I think he will get them to be a little bit better of a defensive team. Now, I'm not expecting them to play like the Florida Panthers in their own zone or even as stingy as the LA Kings, for example, but I do think he will install a bit more defensive awareness in some of the Penguins game. So that's what it comes down to for me when you look at those two candidates. And that's why I would prefer song like a Mitch Love over DJ Smith. But continue. That's right where I am. So real quick, before we had to break.

There was a coaching hire in the organization, just not the head coach of the top club. The Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins announced that Brad Malone has been hired as an assistant coach. And this is kind of part of where this organization is right now. You're going for younger players. He is all of 36 years old. And his coaching experience is simply he was originally the player development coach

for the Oscewa generals, then takes over as interim head coach. Team goes on one hell of a run under Malone going 23, 11, and 4 in the regular season, and then 13 and 8 in the playoffs heading to the OHL finals as the Eastern Conference Champions. He was mostly an AHL guy throughout his career. He was drafted in the fourth round, 105th overall in the 2007 draft by the adjunct. He had 32 points in the NHL, but he also played several seasons in the A for the Lake Erie Monsters, Hershey Bears, Chicago Wolves and Bakersfield Condors. Pretty good NHL career, 105 goals, 291 points.

So solid little higher to get on the bench, guy who has a lot of experience in the HL can be almost the good cop for an HL bench relatable to the guys who were there, kind of showing them the ropes and helping them develop to the next level. Right, 100%. He's someone that some of the young players can go to for, you know, whatever troubles them. And heck, he just retired in the spring, man. That's also what's crazy to think about. He had just retired in the spring.

He takes over as the interim coach and Osha went on one heck of the one. So this is a really nice hire for Wilkesbury. Nice to see them really building up their coaching staff a little bit. Speaking of Wilkesbury, Pat, they might be getting a player at some point in the next couple of years after he inked his ELC over the weekend. Probably not going to be this year, though. That's right. A promising young forward has officially signed his ELC with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

We will talk about that player when we come back right after this. But first, we got to tell you about today's first sponsor in that is Fandul. The NBA playoffs, they are in full swing and weather and every night gives you highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can't miss moments. Whether it's a game winning shot or a breakout player, there has never been a better time to get in on the action. Fan duel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and during the game with player props, performance trends, and same game parlays.

Fans have more ways than ever to bet smart and win big. You can pick things from like which players are going to show up in the biggest moments, combine live prop bets based on how the action unfolds, and you can win a $200 bonus if your first $5. bet wins. Speaking of, if you're new to FanDuel, it's the perfect time to sign up. Head to FanDuel.com and place that first $5 bet. And if it wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel in official sports betting partner of the NBA. Welcome back to the Monday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp, alongside that beach

bum hunter, hoodies. He joins us live from the beach, as he will always. week. So get used to that background for the next few days because that's where Hunter will be. But let's get into a big signing over the weekend. The Penguins announced that they have signed forward. Mikhail Ilyan to a three year entry level contract. And he was a Penguins draft pick in the fifth round in 2023. But this looks like another draft steal for the Penguins, a fifth round pick. He's 19 years old.

He had 30 points this past season in the AHL. And that is a solid thing I want to focus on because he is the, he is just one of eight players in the history of the KHL to score 30 plus points in a single campaign. And he set the team record for points by a 19 year old with a guy who carved out a pretty nice NHL career guy named Pavel Bouchnevich. So obviously not a one-to-one doesn't mean that he's going to come into the NHL and be that guy. But this looks like a player that could be pretty valuable for the penguins moving forward. Right.

And we should clarify that he is on a loan for the KH all this next season. So he will be playing still in the K and then he's probably going to be coming over to North America. It was weird at first because it sounded like he was going to be coming over this year, kind of like Sergei Muroshov just did with the Penguins when he signed his ELC. but then it came out a little bit after that he will be on loan he'll spend this next season in the k and then he'll come over to north america probably will start with wilkesbury and that's going to be a lot of fun seeing him play in wilkesbury eventually get to see him on north american ice and play with some of these other young and promising players in the penguin system he has a lot of skill is playmaking ability is

especially great i know the tape isn't as big as some of the other prospect just because the khl It's a little bit limited. But in the limited tape that I have watched of him again, his playmaking ability is tremendous. It feels like he has five eyes, like two here, two in the back of his head, and maybe one to the side or something like that. Like the way that he plays with a puck on his stake, the way that he distributes it is fantastic, very smart player.

I think those are the two biggest parts I like about his game, his hockey IQ and his playmaking ability. His year this year, seven goals, 30. points in 64 games. Last year, he had 12 goals, 29 points in 65 games. He's been developing really well these last couple of years, and it really feels like the penguins may have found something here. If he keeps it up, I think he can definitely be a middle six player in the league. I don't think he's going to be a star or anything like that. If you look at some of those analytics charts, Pat, like his star comp is someone like a Marty Natchis, you can turn into that.

I mean, I will gladly take that on the penguins. Well, obviously, that's best case scenario. But he's been developing really nicely. I think more people in the fan base need to see just how good he is. Because I think the Penguins really knocked it out of the park with that pick. I'm going to be really following his year this year closely. Also, I just want to say for Brad Malone, he retired last spring. Obviously, it wasn't this spring. He would have been way too fast over turnaround.

He retired last spring and then got into coaching. And now he's already an assistant. It looks great. Pretty awesome in just one year since retiring as a player. Yeah. And back to Ili. And one thing to keep in mind, the caveat I always add when we talk about KHL players, you brought up those stats and you can't look at them with an NHL lens because the KHL is much different league.

Scoring is not as is high. So being able to do that as a 19 into 20 year old in the KHL because this isn't like, say, Sweden or something where you have, well, they do have multiple leagues. but he's in the top league and he's playing with grown men. He's playing with former NHL players, even some former NHL legends who go over there after their NHL run ends. So being able to do that at that age is very impressive. Now the next step is obviously being able to build upon that next season.

Because as you said, on loan, he's going to remain in the KHL next season. So you have to keep an eye on what he's able to do. The biggest thing for me looking at a player like this is that he's blending something that we're seeing a lot in the modern era with that skill and that hockey sense, but also the size, not a small guy. Six foot three, one hundred and ninety one pounds. He's a solid skater, obviously like most 19 and 20 year olds, got to work on it a little bit. But as I often say with the KHL, bigger ice, bigger surface. So he's got to find a way to be able to make that translate into the NHL. But overall, I think this is a very promising prospect, but I want to see what happens when he comes over in two years.

Because I don't think this is a player that when he comes over, unless he has the training camp to end all training camps, will probably start with the baby penguins. 100%. I think he's going to start with Wilkesbury whenever he's ready to come over here. Again, probably going to be after this season. I still want him to work on his release a little bit more, and his skating could obviously be a little bit improved as well. But again, playmaking and the hockey IQ, very much present when we watch his tape. And I think his two-way game has also really developed these last couple of years ever since he was drafted.

So, again, I really, really like this pick from the penguins, and I've really liked his development over the last couple of years. Really good news here over the weekend. I know he's not coming over right away like Marashaw did, but the fact that we probably know it's coming within a year, that's big news. Yeah. And I will add this one last caveat before we move on in our final segment today. We're going to continue our season and review series. We're going to talk about Dan and Heinen, a solid depth forward. But one thing about this player is I do think, think he is a little on a fast track. I think there is a world where he will start in the HL more than likely when he eventually makes the jump. But he strikes me as a player where

if he develops on the track that he's on, you won't see him there very long. It's not going to be like Rutger McGroity where he's got to spend a large portion of the year in the AHL refining. He feels like a player who the raw skill and the talent in the hockey IQ is there to, hey, get a feel for North American pro hockey, get a feel of how it works. And once you show us, you can put together a solid, let's say month or two, you're probably coming up to the NHL. But that is going to do it for our middle segment. When we come back, as I said, we continue our season and review series, this time

talking about depth forward, Danton Heinen. Welcome back to the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And it's time to continue our season in review series for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This time, we're taking a look at a depth forward, and that is Danton Heinen. Reacquired by the Penguins in the Marcus Pedersen, Drew O'Connor trade, ends up playing 28 games for the Penguins, three goals, eight assists for 11 points, and a plus three overall this season.

79 games played nine goals, 29 points in total between the penguins and the Canucks. And this is a pretty simple one for me, Hunter. He's a depth forward in the sense that there are times where you think, great, this is a good depth guy, can play in your bottom six, can give you some solid production, but at the same time always leaves you wanting more. You think, man, is a breakout coming.

Can he be a fill in in the top six? Can he turn into a top six forward? But at age 29, it kind of feels like Heinen is who he is. The thing with Heid is he's going to go through a lot of stretches where you don't really notice him that much. He's not doing much on the ice. And then he'll whip off like a nice little six to eight game sample size pat where he just scores. Everything he shoots goes in the back of the net. And it feels like you can say the same thing about a lot of other depth forwards in the league

just because a lot of these guys are streaking in. They'll go on these little runs of scoring and then they'll disappear for about 10 to 15 to 20 games. And then they'll have another little run here of scoring and then they'll get to disappear for 10 to 15 to 20 games. That's kind of what you saw here for Hinen. And yes, the sample size was a bit small. After the end of that trade, he only played in 28 games for the Penguins, a little over 320 minutes of five-on-five ice time. When he was on the ice, the Penguins had about 50% of the shot attempts plus two goal different. show 48% accepted goal share, though 53% of the scoring chances at five on five.

So some of his numbers were good. Some of the others weren't as good. But if they can get, you know, double-digit goals out of him next season before the deadline and then flip him to a contender, I think that's as good as you can do. They also may look to move him during the summer. We'll have to see on that. But if they don't, you can keep him for the season. He can play a top-nine role for you if you want.

You can put him on the third line. He can put him on the fourth line if you want. He scores double-digit goals. He's a little bit of that streaky player. You can get a draft pick for him at the deadline. Totally good with me. He has a year left on his contract. He's not making that much money.

That's kind of what we're looking for from Hinen for next season, honestly. Yeah, you look at his contract. It's $2.25 million for just next seat or this upcoming season. And considering where the salary cap is going, what Hinen's history is as an NHL forward, that's a guy that you can move for a mid-round pick. It's a guy that you can maybe get, if he goes off, you can maybe get a little bit more. But at the end of the day, you don't see this as a player who is part of really any of your long-term plans.

He very much is, I don't even know if we can say that he's a Mark Donk or a Buzz Flibit because he hasn't really turned into a top six forward. But for a lot of teams, especially teams battling to get into the playoffs, teams maybe battling to be to jump into that upper echelon of potentially being a contender. He's not a bad depth forward to have at your disposal because he can get you anywhere between 10 to 15 goals in a good year, maybe a little bit more. He's not a guy. I think this is really maybe the best way to describe him.

He's not a liability. You're never going to have Danton Hinen on your roster and think, oh God, they got to shelter Danton Hinen. and you got to try to hide them. You got to try to keep them away from certain matchups. He's a solid middle six to bottom six forward. And that's exactly what he's been ever since he's been in the league and since he's been a penguin.

Yeah, you can trust him in all three zones. You can play them on the penalty kill. You can put him on your second power play unit. He's just kind of a utility guy at best, honestly. And again, if you can get an okay draft pick for him, if he has double-digit goals at the deadline, I will take that. You know, if someone gets hurt in the top six, he can fill in for, you know, five to six to seven games, maybe a little bit more.

But at best, he's probably on your third or fourth game going in the next season. I was fine with him down in the stretch. I don't think he let the league on fire. He obviously did not. I also don't think he was overly terrible. He just kind of is what he is. He's just fine at this point. He's a little bit streaky, but that's what you get from him as a debt forward.

So if he's in the middle six to bottom six next year, how the worst thing you rolled in also people, we know they're not trying to be competitive next year. They're not going to be very good. So he was fine. That's all I'll say. And the last thing that I'll add is that he's a player with considering the contract, like I said,

2.25 million. There's no risk involved. It's not eating up a significant chunk of your salary cap. If he stays right within his career averages, of right around 10, maybe 15 goals. It's not the worst thing to have in your lineup is a depth forward. There's always a possibility, even though I'd say it's more unlikely than likely at this point that he might go off and have a big year.

But realistically, there is no issue having him on your roster. Affordable contract, solid depth. And if he performs, say, like a guy like Anthony Bavillier this year, who knows what kind of contender. could come knocking and ask for his services. So at the end of the day, no problem with Nantan Hinen. I've never had a problem with Hinen as a penguin, and hopefully you can get something for him at the deadline or in the lead up to the deadline.

And if you don't, you didn't really, you don't really lose anything per se if he walks into free agency. But Hunter, unless you've got anything to add, I think that is going to do it for the Monday edition of Lockdown Penguins. Obviously, I will keep a close eye on what happens with the coaching situation and allow Hunter to enjoy his time at the beach. But if they hire a coach, I will wrangle him off the beach to come do an emergency episode to talk about the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. For now, for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. We will be back with a scheduled brand new episode on Tuesday.

Thank you.