Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Kyle Dubas speaks on the Pittsburgh Penguins future!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Penguin's general manager, Kyle Dubus, delivered his annual state of the penguins address on Monday, and Pat and I are going to give our thoughts on his comments, plus what you could expect from the penguins this off season 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 Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damby can follow me on. on Twitter at Hunter Hodes and you can follow Pat on all social media platforms at send them for wet and you can follow these shows Twitter at L.O. Understore Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen

Starting point is 00:00:46 slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And Pat, welcome to the offseason, my friend. It is officially, well, we could say it's day two now because Friday was really day one with a locker clean out day. But I guess today we can say it is day two of the off season because Kyle Dubu has delivered his annual state of the Penguins address. and he had a lot to say.

Starting point is 00:01:04 I saw some people tweeting like, oh, he's beating around the bush with some of these answers. He's not saying too much. Trust me, people, he said a lot. And the biggest takeaway I had from this press, where he talked for nearly about 35 to 40 minutes, starting at 11.30 a.m. Eastern time. That's why this episode's coming out a little bit later,

Starting point is 00:01:21 the normal than it would be on Mondays and Tuesdays. But the biggest takeaway I had was that they're not really going to try and make the playoffs next season. To me, if they make the playoffs, they're exceeding expectations. Kyle Dubus said this multiple times during the president that they don't just want to be like a one-off. Oh, yeah, we get back to the playoffs. It's all fine and dandy.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Then we fall right back in the mush middle and we start missing the playoffs for a few more seasons in a row. He still wants to get the team back to contention as urgently as possible, but he wants to do this the right way. He wants them to have the streak of making the playoffs, you know, five, six, seven plus seasons like we just saw with that long playoff streak here in Pittsburgh and have them contending during all those years. years as opposed to, again, making the playoffs for one season and then just kind of being stuck in neutral. He doesn't want that to happen. So I think with that, he really admitted that he doesn't see them being big players in UFA free agency on July 1. He even said that he's not really going to be going after players that are over the age of 30. Beautiful news, by the way. I don't think they're really in the process to be doing that at this point. I still think they're going to mobilize a bit this

Starting point is 00:02:29 summer with some changes on the back end. And by the way, man, he was in. not happy with the defense. He was asked about this multiple times during his presser, and he echoed Mike Sullivan's thoughts on Friday saying that, yeah, our defense is a major problem heading into next season. And he specifically mentioned the left side, like I have been saying on the show for the last couple weeks, that they badly need a top pairing, left-handed defender to play on a top pairing. And Kyle Dubas kind of confirmed that. Like, yeah, like, we're going to have to look at external options, whether it's via the trade market, whether we're trading and signing an RFA that a team doesn't want to sign or they're having contract concerns,

Starting point is 00:03:04 all that good stuff. And speaking of that, Kelsey Sermatch had a really good question of the hockey news to Kyle doves about the rising cap, how it could affect roster building. And he said, yeah, we're most likely going to spend in the trade market or the RFA trade and sign market. He did mention offer sheets, but to me, he hinted that he's probably not going to go down that path because he also hinted that teams are in a better situation now to match those offer sheets because we're not in the flat cap and everyone is gaining cap.

Starting point is 00:03:30 space, which he's right. Like, I do think if a player gets officeted, that team that has the player has a better chance of matching it because they can create more cap room and they already have more cap room. But that is the type of roster building that I do want to see this offseason. Trades, whether it's for a veteran or a young RFA that can come in here and help this team, not just for the short term, before the long term. I've been saying the last few weeks, and I'll say it again, they're not going to be major

Starting point is 00:03:57 players for UFAs going after the players in the, you know, 29 to 32 range and signing those players to long-term deals that would probably rule them out for some like a Mitch Marner. I know that's been talked about a lot, but especially after this press conference, really don't see that happening. I really don't have too many complaints overall. There's one nitpick I have, Pat, is that he did talk about the goal to the situation, and he kind of said that, yeah, like, he expects Jari and Ned to be back,

Starting point is 00:04:24 but I don't think he's tipping his hand too much on that because he's, he could look to move one or both of them. However, I will say this. If you bring back both of them, that's a failure to me. There's really no reason to bring back both of them. We've seen the inconsistencies with both of their games these last couple of seasons, and I don't think you can bring back both of these guys. However, he did say that they are going to be pushed.

Starting point is 00:04:45 Yo Woblumquiz is going to push them, and he also did mention Sergei Mirochov in there that is going to try and push them as well. But again, man, overall, I do not think they're going to be trying to make the playoffs this offseason. and if anything, they're going to try and shore up the left side of the defense and mobilize a bit and try to get some more younger pieces in there, whether it's some of their prospects that could be ready, or some players that are RFAs or some other, again, younger players that are ready to play in the week.

Starting point is 00:05:11 Like, that's the moves that you're going to see this offseason to me. Absolutely. The other thing that, because I saw some of the takes as well, people were like, oh, he's sidestepping a lot of the questions, he's not answering directly. Guys, it's been quite a few years. since Jim Rutherford was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rutherford might as well have walked up to the press conference podium

Starting point is 00:05:33 with an LED sign saying exactly what he was going to do. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a certain style. There's certain GMs who are going to tell you exactly what they think and exactly what they want to do. Then you have others who don't answer anything. They talk in cliches. They talk in non-answers.

Starting point is 00:05:55 And Kyle Dubus is the middle ground of that. he understands what parts he can be brutally honest about and tell you about the quote that stood out to me from this press conference was him saying, and this is a direct quote, quote, the defense is a major concern at the NHL level, end quote. That's not sidestepping an answer. And yeah, is it stating the obvious? Of course it is. But you don't want him to do what Ron Hextall and other people who have been with the organization over the past

Starting point is 00:06:26 10 or so years do, where they tell you not to believe your lying eyes. Everyone knows the defense is bad. It would not be a good look for Kyle Dubus to go up there and say, no, I was very pleased with the efforts of our defense. And I thought they came together and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, defense is bad. And for the goaltending, I think that is another part of what I was saying. I think everybody knows at this point that the penguins need an upgrade in net. They have to either find a way to move on from one or both of Jari and Nadelcovic and give themselves a chance to let Blumquist and Mureshov take over. Maybe Philip Larson plays into that equation in some way. But if they come out and say, yeah, we're going to move these guys or we're going to look to move

Starting point is 00:07:15 these guys, you lose all leverage. Right. Whether it's trades, whether it's buyouts, whatever. The minute you say that you're going to try to move them, they're not. not going to have any leverage to make a move. And we're talking about two guys who have struggled pretty mightily and they know it. The penguin staff knows it. The management knows it. But the last thing you want to do with goaltenders especially is bury them publicly because they're already in a precarious position. So if he goes up there and cuts a promo on how bad Jari has been,

Starting point is 00:07:53 that's not going to help him because the one thing we are going to have to accept is you might be able to move Alex Nadelkovich. It's not an expensive contract. There's one year left on it. He can be a solid 1B in the right situation. Jari is a completely different story. That's an expensive contract with term left on it and his struggles are very obvious. So that'll be very difficult to move. So there's no reason for him to go up there and tip his hand. And at the end of the day, I think this is this is what you want to see at this point. They have a plan. They're going to stick to it. And if they make the playoffs next year, it's an overachievement. If they don't, we're still right on schedule for what they want to do. And you might not like that. I know that I

Starting point is 00:08:44 said, I think that there are some solid pieces in the foundation now to maybe get back. But at the end of the day, if your goal is to not just become a playoff team again, who shows up in the first round, gets booted in four to five or six games, and you go home, that's not really doing a whole lot for your long-term franchise health. So their goal is to have a solid stable of talent that can come up and make this team both a contender for the playoffs and eventually, hopefully, a contender for the Stanley Cup, and it's going to take more than a season or two. It's going to take two to three to four for them to get this done. Now, hopefully with the rising cap, hopefully with some of these prospects who have already

Starting point is 00:09:32 shown that they belong in a couple who have been surprises like Harrison Brunick, you might be able in two years to be a surprise younger team that goes on a little bit of a run in the last year of Sidney Crosby, in the last year of Chris LaTang, and we'll see what happens with Hvgeny Malkin. Right. I think the biggest thing is people just got to be patient. Like they're not going to rush this thing this summer. That was also a big vibe that I got from the presser. They're not just going to make hope moves, panic moves, just to really rush this process along because you do that, it could go really badly. And that actually glows with a quote that Kyle Dubas had during this press conference. I'm going to say this to end the segment here,

Starting point is 00:10:16 because this is a diabolical quote. It reminds me very much of a Mike Tomlinism quote that you see with Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh is Mike Tomlin. That's what we call those, Pat. You know, Tomlinism quotes because he has a way with words that is just hilarious during his practice conferences. And Kyle Dubas decided to add to that with this. And he said, you can hope in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first.

Starting point is 00:10:36 Just diabolical stuff from the GM of this hockey team. But again, he's not going to rush this. He's going to be patient. and they want to do this thing the right way so that they can be contending for a while. And that's why I will continue to say, I think the summer of 2026 going into that season is going to be when the big moves happen.

Starting point is 00:10:58 They will have more than double of the salary cap space that they will have the summer. And it's so crazy, Pat, because they're going to have over 20 million of space this summer. And then with a couple of trades, if they want to, they could have upwards of 30 million if they really wanted to. But it's at least going to be a little over 20 plus.

Starting point is 00:11:13 They're going to have over 40 million. enough cap space next summer. It is going to be a lot. And that's when I think the big, big moves are going to happen. And the biggest thing that's going to help them when it comes to that is if you're trying to get a reclamation project, if you're trying to get a younger talented player, you will have the ability to take on some bad deals. Because all of the majority of their contributors that they're going to need for the next few years are. locked up. They're not going to have to spend any big money on contracts. So you'll be able to call a team that's maybe starting to pull the shoot, maybe is going

Starting point is 00:11:55 to have to start facing facts that they have to rebuild. And you can take on something like Kevin Hayes to get a young player, a player who has two, maybe three years max left on a bad deal, because you're going to have compared to a lot of your competition, a massive amount of cap space and you'll have the option to say, listen, we want this young guy and we know that you're looking to do sort of a rebuild, a retool. So we'll take that six, seven million dollar contract off of your hands as well. That way we can facilitate this trade, get the young guy. We'll give you some assets back, but we get what we're really gunning for in a young talented player. 100%. And again, I think the main news you're going to see this summer are trades. He even kind of

Starting point is 00:12:44 hinted that during the presser that it looks like they're going to be way more active in the trade market than the free agent market, at least for UFAs. For RFAs, I think it's more likely bad that they'll trade for an RFA than just offer sheet one just because of, you know, draft capital and players, excuse me, teams can just match those offer sheets. But as I've been saying the last couple weeks, I think you're going to see a lot of trades the summer, which, hey, I trust Chicago do this more with trades than I do UFA signings, at least so far with his tenure as Penguins GM.

Starting point is 00:13:12 but that'll do it for this first segment coming up in the second segment we're going to discuss a couple more takeaways that we have including what dubas said about er carlson and something interesting about evgeny malkin as well but before we get to that we have to tell you all about our first sponsor and that is game time the Stanley cup playoffs are here and if you've never been to a live nchl playoff game it is unlike anything else the intensity the speed the energy in the building it is next level and thanks to game time getting in the door is easier and more affordable than ever game time is the fastest way to grab playoff tickets, even for those must-see matchups. Prices actually drop as Puck drop gets closer. And with last-minute deals, you can save up to 60% off. Here's what I love about game time. They have priority last-minute deals. Save up to 60% off buying last-minute tickets for sports, concerts, comedy, theater, etc. They're all in pricing shows a total upfront.

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Starting point is 00:14:29 Download the game time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodeys, joined by my co-host Pat, D'Am. So, Pat, of course, Dubus was asked about Eric Carlson a little bit about his future. And he did admit that the penguins want to see more from Carlson. And they want him to be more consistent as a penguin. But he also did say, we expect him to be one of the people who pull us back to contention.

Starting point is 00:14:57 That quote first put on Twitter by the Pittsburgh Post against Zets Matt Venzel. And to me, of course, he's going to, what's the word I'm looking for here? You know, pump his tires, I guess a little bit. he's not really going to show his hand that much. Though the vibe I'm still getting from that presser in the way that he answered it is that I think he's still going to get moved this off season. Of course, he's going to say like, yeah, we want him here to all, just get back to contention.

Starting point is 00:15:25 And in a little bit of a way, I wouldn't be that surprised that they kept him, but I still think as of right now, he's probably going to get moved. There's two schools of thought on this that I think we need to approach the Eric Carlson situation with. And it starts with what you just said. He is not going to tip his hand on something like this because this is going to be a pretty consequential deal if it gets made because you're moving out a ton of salary cap space. Now, I really don't see any team taking on the full deal. Now, obviously we have to remember because we do everybody loses sight of this, including us, that cap hit and money owed are two very different things in the

Starting point is 00:16:09 modern NHL. He's worth, he's a $10 million cap hit, but as far as I remember, he actually isn't commanding $10 million in salary over the next couple of years. It's less than that, but given the way his deal was structured, it's a $10 million cap hit. You also have the retention from San Jose from the trade a couple of years ago, but the way I look at that is one, he's Eric Carlson. his body of work speaks for itself. Has it been a disappointment in Pittsburgh? Yeah, it has, but he's still one of the best defensemen to have played in the modern era

Starting point is 00:16:45 for everything that he does. So it would be both wrong and disingenuous to come out and say he stinks because he doesn't. So you're going to pump his tires a little bit. On the other hand, the other school of thought on this is, if you're going to move him, which I think they should, you're going to have to talk about him in a way that pumps up his tires. You're also going to have to say, listen, we like this guy.

Starting point is 00:17:18 We went out and actively got him. So we're not going to come out here and say he stunk because one, he hasn't and two, you're never going to say that. So you look at it this way and you think, similar to the Tomlinisms and all that stuff. And I'm also going to square this circle, pun absolutely intended, with pro wrestling, because this was WrestleMania weekend. They will give you hints of what is going to happen rather than beat you over the head with it.

Starting point is 00:17:52 He's not going to come out and say, hey, part of my long term plan is to get a bunch of assets for Eric Carlson and free up a bunch of salary cap space. there are things he said about the defense needing to be better, the team needing to get younger, the team needing to be active in the trade market. You read all those quotes on their face and you think, all right, that's all obvious and I get that. But you start putting it all together in the larger narrative and you think, okay, one of the things they're going to do

Starting point is 00:18:23 is try to move Eric Carlson. Right. And the big quote that I probably should have led with was that Duba said my push would be his actions have to match his ambitions. Pretty big quote there. Can't lie, man. Like that's definitely a damning quote about, I guess, his last two years here in Pittsburgh. But you're right. He's not going to go out here and say, like, oh, yeah, like, he's available.

Starting point is 00:18:48 Give me a call. He's going to pump his tires. He's going to talk about a good chunk of his positives, but he's going to play things close to the best. He's been doing that a lot during his penguin senior. Again, if I had a guess right now, I don't think he is on this team. Come on. And the other thing, I got to give a hat tip because he just continues to churn out the best content, in my opinion, for the penguins.

Starting point is 00:19:10 And that's Josh Yohe. He wrote a piece over the weekend about the penguin should move on from Eric Carlson. And one of the things he kind of brought up in that article was this is a team that needs, like, yeah, you have Sidney Crosby, the most serious leader to ever leader. but Eric Carlson is a guy who is a legend, is a future Hall of Famer. But he has a bit of a casual attitude. And it's not, we obviously don't know what happens in game because we're not on the bench. We don't know what happens at practices in intermission because we're not in the locker room or anything like that. But you can kind of tell he's laid back and not in a bad way.

Starting point is 00:19:52 It's not that he doesn't care. It's not that he doesn't want to win or anything like that. but you look at what they're doing and you look at their prospect pool there are a lot of guys coming up especially on defense who and again i don't want this to come off as disparaging to eric carlson because he is a legend but realistically who would you want them to be under the tutelage of eric carlinson or chris latang and the thing is i don't think eric carlson is some locker room cancer. I don't think he's going to be a bad influence, but he doesn't give off total leadership vibes to me. Chris LaTang, on the other hand, we know how much of a legend he is off

Starting point is 00:20:39 the ice and on the ice when it comes to conditioning, when it comes to working out. And he's also a guy who, when you need it, is going to give you a quote that smacks you in the face with reality. He'll come out and say the team has stunk. He'll come out and say the team's not achieving what they need to achieve. Eric Carlson, the last couple years, has been a little defiant. He's been a little, oh, no, we're not playing poorly. We're not doing poorly. We're doing great. Well, he did crush the power play last year. Like he went off about that in an article with Josh, which I actually really like to see that because, well, it was a top 10 unit in the league at the end of the season. Yeah. And but again, that was very obvious. You look at the way he kind of talked about his own

Starting point is 00:21:21 play and I can always appreciate confidence. I can always appreciate a guy believing in himself, but there didn't seem to be a lot of self reflection from Eric Carlson, where it was, no, I'm Eric Carlson. I'm great. I'm doing awesome. And it's like, I'm not going to say you're doing bad because you aren't, but let's not pretend like your Ottawa senators Eric Carlson right now because you're not. Like you're, and again, I don't want any of this to come off as me saying, I think he sucks.

Starting point is 00:21:48 I think that he's been a bust, anything like that. But given where the Penguins organization is and where Eric Carlson is as an individual, it might just be a divorce of necessity. It just doesn't fit with where they're trying to go. Great player. And that quote from Dubus, his actions have to match his ambitions. He wants to win a Stanley Cup. That means you have to be the top dog for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Starting point is 00:22:14 Even on a roster with Eric Carl or Chris Latang, excuse me, on the back end. And he hasn't done that. He's been good. He's had his moments, but there has been rare moments where I would say he's the best defenseman on the Penguins roster. And if he wants to help this team get pulled back to contention, he's got to do that consistently. See, I understand what you're saying. I disagree with you a little bit on your last statement because I think, I think it's been obvious that he's been the best Penguins defense on this roster these last couple of years. At least for me, man.

Starting point is 00:22:43 Like, I know. He doesn't play that good at defense in his own zone. He was in the 1% of 5-on-5 defense when he got here. We all know that. But my point to that is Hunter, it has to be every night. There can be nights every now and then where he has a bad game and he isn't, but it needs to be like 90 to 10%. 90% of the time he's the best defenseman on the penguin's roster,

Starting point is 00:23:10 10% he has a rough night and he just doesn't do the things he needs to do. I would say it's probably more 6040 over his time as a penguin. And if again, that gets to the dubus quote of his actions need to match his ambitions. And I think he's right on that. So either way, I don't think it's fair to say that he's been bad as a penguin. I just don't think it has been the fit they had hoped. And it's probably not going to be the fit they want moving forward. I get what you're saying to a degree.

Starting point is 00:23:42 I do think, you know, part of it, you know, maybe being 6040 was like, yeah, has there been inconsistencies? yes, but still, like I looked at this defensive group these last couple of years. And again, still, to me, it's not really close. A Crystal Tang's game has fallen off a cliff. I love Marcus Pedersen, but his game this year at least wasn't as good as it was last year. And then the rest of the defense, like Matt Gray's like good on the power play, what wasn't good at five on five.

Starting point is 00:24:07 They reacquired P.O. Joseph, but he really wasn't that good. Ryan Shea is a number seven to me on this team. Ryan Graves. He's had two years to show that he can play in the top four of this team. and he's completely lost his confidence. And at this point, I'm not sure he's ever going to get it back. Like, I'm not even sure he's going to be on this team next season. And for this season, like, again, I understand that he is very polarizing.

Starting point is 00:24:29 I get that. And I still think they're going to move on. And I totally get why they will. I totally get it if they do do it, why they will. However, again, he was still tied for fifth and five on five points this season among defensemen. So if you look at points, Zach Wrenski was first with 48, Kail McCarr was 42, Rasmus Dahlin was 38,

Starting point is 00:24:49 Quinn Hughes, 35, and then there's a, actually a pretty good tie for fifth with Evan Bouchard, Eric Carlson, Lane Hudson, Tomas Shabbat, Adam Fox, Bowen, Byram, and it goes down while Victor had it at 32, but still,

Starting point is 00:25:00 pretty big tie for fifth among points at five on five for defensemen. He was still pretty productive at five on five, despite how awful this team was this year. Were there inconsistencies, 100%. I have gone on this show plenty of times

Starting point is 00:25:15 this past season, saying that yeah, they need more out of him. He hasn't been as consistent. This kind of reminds me a little bit of the Derek Rassar trade when I loved it. I thought it made perfect sense. They went all in to get them. You tried to really push your chips in.

Starting point is 00:25:29 Derek Rassar didn't work here. And they moved on. Like that was what happened. With Eric Carlson, again, I applaud the trade. They acquired a 100 point defense in for San Jose. You pushed out a lot of bad contracts to make it happen. I was a totally big fan of the move. I would do it again if I had to.

Starting point is 00:25:44 But sometimes, you know, things don't work out the way that you have wanted them to, and then, hey, you're forced to move on. It's, it kind of reminds me a little bit of the Derek Rissard situation, but I know we've talked about Carlson a lot during this segment. We didn't even get to the Afghani Malk quote, which I felt was interesting, but we're going to get to that here coming up in the final segment, but again, they trade them. I'm totally going to understand it. I think it's likely, but I do think there have been sometimes this season where I think some fans have been, or have gone a little too overboard with some of their takes about him.

Starting point is 00:26:15 And I just think people just got to be, how do I want to say this? Maybe a little bit more fair. Because don't get me wrong, I get what you're saying. But again, to me, he is by far the best offense from this point. And I know people, that's not a big ring endorsement because how bad this blue line has been for the last couple of seasons. But I think that I'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're going to get to a quote about of Guinea Malkin that I found interesting and whatever else Pat wants to discuss since he was also diving into a lot of the quotes

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Starting point is 00:27:48 select devices including Fire TV stick 4K second generation, fire TV stick 4K max first and second generation and fire TV cube third generation. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp and Pat. There's really one other big thing that stood out to me during this presser and it was a quote about Evgeny Malkin. Like I know some people are going to be talking about how Kyle Dubus didn't fully commit to Mike Sullivan returning, but Sullivan kind of said it himself during his press room Friday that he intends to be the head coach.

Starting point is 00:28:22 Dubus did say he's meeting with Sullivan on Tuesday. As of right now, he's going to return as Penguin's head coach, unless something weird happens where they mutually agree to part ways or something like that. But again, as of right now, I personally think that he's going to return. but Dubas really talked about Evgeny Malkin and how they want to find more consistency with his winger's next season. He still gave Gino credit for not letting that

Starting point is 00:28:47 revolving door wingers impact his play. But the biggest thing for me, I think that scream is Billy Coivinen for next season. Put him on there for a full 82 game season. He shows, to me, he has shown that he is ready. He was great down the stretch, seven points, eight games. He wasn't on Gino's wing for all those games, just because, you know, at times he was a little bit banged up,

Starting point is 00:29:08 But still, as well, with Rucker McGority, at least as well, he started with Sid, Coivenden, once you know, came back, played with Malkin a little bit. And then when Rucker got hurt, Coivin went up to the first line. But to me, I felt like Coivinen fit a little bit better with Malkin. I feel like he, at this point in his career, needs another good playmaker on his line to get him the puck. And I think this would make all the sense in the world to me. So I think, to me, this scream is Billy Coivinen for a full 82 game season on his line. for next year. Right. And this has kind of been the story of

Starting point is 00:29:42 of Genie Malkin's entire career. Yeah. Is that he kind of plays second fiddle for everything, whether it's because he's on a team with Sidney Crosby or when it comes to the players he has at his disposal on his wing. So it's good of dubus to acknowledge that. And I agree. I mean, you look at the way Vili Coivinan played. He has NHL puck distribution abilities just with the way he sees the ice, the way he makes passes, and it would be a phenomenal fit on Evgeny Malkin's wing. And I think that would get another year or two out of Hvgeny Malkin because, one, the kid can skate. And that has really been kind of the

Starting point is 00:30:27 decline of Hvgeny Malkin's game for the last year or so is the legs just aren't there as much as they used to be. And that's understandable. He's pushing 40. He's not going to have the same level of foot speed, the same level of power just because of father time. So you totally understand that. And at the end of the day, he brought up a good point. And it's something that I've said as well is he still had a solid season, all things considered. And you look at the revolving door of wingers that he had all year long. It's impressive he was able to do that because he wasn't given much. So we'll see what they decided to do. But I do still think there's a good amount of hockey, not a significant time, but I still think there's good hockey to be had out of

Starting point is 00:31:11 of Gennie Malkin, and you find him a good winger, it'll happen. He also has shown that even when he misses a little bit of time, he more than has his legs. Again, it's kind of a little bit like load management in a way, Pat, where he misses a few games with, you know, whatever small injury he has, he comes back. He looks like Prime Gino, just because like he's a little bit older now and maybe at times he feels like he doesn't have his legs for a full age. game season, but I still felt like when he was in the lineup this year, he contributed on nightly basis. He just needs some better and more younger wingers to just help him out a little bit.

Starting point is 00:31:45 Again, he's 38. He's going to be 39 next year, man. He needs a little bit of help at this way, especially going into the final year of his contract. Did you notice anything else that really stood out to you during this presser? I mean, nothing really stood out that much, but I do appreciate, I said it at the top of the show. I appreciate that he's sticking to this plan. because you look at the last 10 to 15 years in the Penguins organization, there was a lot of stopping and starting. There was a lot of we're going one way and then we're going to turn it around and go the other way. And obviously, a decade ago, we were on the precipice of getting the Penguin's second Stanley Cup in 2016.

Starting point is 00:32:30 We were going into the 15-16 season with a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. and it turned out to be consecutive Stanley Cup championships. But even after that, we saw, it looked like Rutherford was committed to making this team a little bit speedier, a little bit more skill. And then after the second Stanley Cup, all of a sudden, he's back on his, we got to get bigger and tougher train. And it kind of derailed the progress that they had made. The Ron Hextall era, we don't need to relitigate it in this final segment, but it was concepts of a plan. You couldn't really figure out what he was trying to do. So to have that kind of consistency in dedication to what they're trying to do,

Starting point is 00:33:12 rather than, oh, we had a 90-point season from Sidney Crosby and Rutger McGorrie and Ville, Coyven, and look like they're ready. So we're going to pivot hard and we're going to try to make this team a contender again. No, you want to have success for the long term. You have to commit to this for the long term. So at the end of the day, that was my biggest takeaway is that this plan is in place. They are sticking with it and they are going to see it through. He even mentioned, yeah, Crosby's going to be grumpy because we're not going to make the

Starting point is 00:33:42 playoffs. But again, I know that everybody wants to pull out their Crosby to Colorado. He signed up for this people. Like, again, Pat, like, I know you were going to say that. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but he signed up for this. He knew this was going to happen when he signed that contract extension last summer. And I know he's going to be grumpy, but he signed up for it. You don't, people don't need to feel bad for him. man. And I don't see a world where Dubus BS them. I don't think Dubus sat down with them and went, no, no, no, of course we're going to be contenders in two years. Just hang around. It's going to be great. He probably said, listen, this organization doesn't have prospects. It doesn't have young players.

Starting point is 00:34:20 Don't have a lot of draft picks. I have to rebuild that. And I want you to be the guy who ushers in the next group that'll take this team back to contention. And he agreed to it. So, unless he suddenly has a change of heart, he's here for this. He signed up for it. But the other side of that, as I have said multiple times, he's still Sidney Crosby. He is going to help these kids and he is going to set a standard in this organization that will last longer than his career. So we will see what happens with that.

Starting point is 00:34:56 But I'm very happy that they are sticking to this plan and they are going to see it through. this might be more hopium than anything as I end the show. I am more confident in this quote unquote plan right now than I was

Starting point is 00:35:08 six to even 12 months ago. I am confident in it but the biggest thing is go out there and prove it. Go out there and execute because at the end of the day the results are going to be what matters more than anything.

Starting point is 00:35:22 Again, Pat, I can sit here and keep saying like, you know, I'm more confident today than I was but you need to go out there and show why I am confident. You need to go out there and make the necessary moves to bring this team back to be a contender. Again, not going to be this off season. I don't think they're going to make

Starting point is 00:35:38 the playoffs this season. But the next offseason, especially when I think there can be big moves coming, I need to see how this front office can really roster build into this next wave of a contender. That's going to be where the big results lie. And then we can really judge Kyle Dubus's full tenure at that point, I think, as Penguins, GM and present hockey operations. But that'll do for this one. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. We'll be back with another show for you all on Tuesday. Probably going to start our season and review series. We'll probably start with

Starting point is 00:36:08 our captain, of course, Cindy Crosby, but that'll take us through the month of April, well into the month of May and all that good stuff. So look for that in any other Penguins news, and of course we'll be discussing this in like a playoffs along the way as well. So for Patrick Tamp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you guys so much for tuning

Starting point is 00:36:24 in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Tuesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Kyle Dubas speaks on the Pittsburgh Penguins future!

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