Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Let's have a talk on "deterrence"

Episode Date: March 27, 2021

Although the Pittsburgh Penguins were not in action on Friday, the content doesn't stop there. Hunter starts off this episode by talking about the "need" for toughness and why the Penguins don't need to go down that road again, especially the last time they did this with Ryan Reaves. Does it really deter anything when players go after Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, or Kris Letang? He then gets into more trade talk now that Eric Staal has been dealt to the Canadians and brings up two players who may not cost a lot going into this trade deadline. Hint: Both are in Nashville. Finally, Hunter brings up the poll he released on the Twitter page and says who he'd rather face if the playoffs started right now.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodey's coming to you on a very, very late Friday night. I apologize for doing the episode at what time is it right now? Basically a little after 11.

So you all weekend to listen to this. But follow me on Twitter. at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at L0 underscore Penguin's. Today's episode is brought to you by Lockroom. You can download the app and join me sometime this week. I got to look, sometime next week, excuse me. I have to finalize the date on which I'm going to do it again to get in on the action. Locker Room, changing the way we talk sports.

So today's episode is going to be a little bit different in the first segment. Right now I'm going to talk to you about a little bit about some deterrent since I saw some the members of the Penguins media were bringing that up after the latest Penguins win against the Buffalo Sabres. Penguins, of course, are 4-0 against the Sabres this year. And then we're also going to talk some stuff about the Eric Stahl trade. Obviously, he is not going to be a Pittsburgh Penguin as I have been wanting to happen. He is now going to Montreal for a third and fifth round pick in this year's draft.

And we'll get to some other goodies for this podcast as well. But let's start with some deterrence talk. So now both of the reporters from the Athletic Rob Rossi and Josh Joey, you know, they talked a lot this morning, Friday morning, you know, especially with, Rob Rossi, he wrote the article about the penguins needing some protection for someone such as Cindy Crosby in the lineup because Raxman's first of the line was taking some, you know, shots in him, being a bit more physical with him, and it looked like the penguins weren't doing anything about it, as I think the article basically said.

You know, all respect to Rob Rossi and Josh Rosey, he quoted the article in saying this has become a big problem. They have come on this podcast so many times. I absolutely love their work, but I got to disagree with them on that, and I got to disagree with a large section of Penguins' Twitter on that as well. I feel like it's like kind of like a 50-50 split. You have a very large section of fan base who thinks the team needs protection and deterrence and there's a large section which I'm in and a lot of you are in as well that don't think the team needs protection and deterrence or more physical players, someone like Ryan Reeves,

to protect the start players. I'm going to tell you why right now, why this team doesn't need that. The Penguins won in 2016 and 2017 because of speed and skill. They didn't need someone such as Ryan Reeves out there protecting the star players. This is not in 1985 anymore. You're not going to have a lot of players just running your stars. I mean, is Ryan Reeves or some other deterrent really going to stop Tom Wilson from headhunting people, especially on this team? I mean, the Bruins, they just got Brandon Carlo.

I think he's back in the lineup now. I think so, at least. But he was out for quite a while after Tom Wilson knocked him senseless. And I think he was sent to the hospital. Wilson, of course, was suspended seven games. but no Bruin player ended up fighting him right after that just because it doesn't happen. I mean, you go back a few years ago with this team.

Crystal Tang, I think, was hit pretty hard by Cory Perry and Dustin Brown, basically boarded into the boards, and Ryan Reeves was on the ice for that. Nothing happened. It's like these teams and players on these teams are not going to stop going after the star players, even if a deterrent or a physical player is on the ice. It's really not going to happen.

We've seen players go after Cindy Crosby in so many years, and literally a player such as Ryan Reeves, he didn't do anything. He's been on the ice for times where players have gone after Cindy Crosby. They've gone after Cresolene. They've gone after Gennie Malkin. And the same you can say, you know, even when Jamie Alexiak was here, Eric Reed Branson, it doesn't change a thing. And I really don't understand why so many people are so big on this toughness part.

You know, and for the players that are a bit physical and can be a bit tough and are really good playdrivers at 5V5, which is what I would love in that kind of player. You know, you don't need to go out and get someone like Tom's De Stito or something like that. You know, that kind of player is basically extinct. You know, a Ryan Reeves. I mean, the times for a Sean Thornton even are way past that.

But the thing is, these kind of players that drive play at 5V5 can be a bit physical and are annoying to play against, they are a dime a dozen, and they do not become available very often. Jeff from the Pennsball had a great tweet about it. They're also on long-term content. I mean, I would love if Matthew Kachuk came to this team for whatever price the Penguins could get him out of Calgary. He would drive Tom Wilson and the Capitals and every other team in this division. Absolutely nuts.

You know, I remember going back to that last Capitals game. Apparently Wilson said to the Penguins bench, you know, are you fucking scared or wherever? You know, I'm sure Matthew Kuch would have barked right back at him basically saying, hey, you know, I'm a better, better player than you'll ever be in talks and trash and all that. But, you know, he can back it up while also being a damn good player, you know, a prime win. Simmons every penguin fan including me hated going up against Wayne Simmons because it was a pain in the ass to play against but he was also a damn good player and a physical player you know you have Evander Kane in his prime Evander Kane was probably one of the more underrated players in the league yes he

has a bad contract right now yes he's going through a lot of stuff with San Jose and I think like the bankrupt and stuff like that but in his prime he was a physical player and he also drove play at an elite level at 5v5 and all situations so Like I said, a lot of these players, they just don't become available very often. Even Tom Wilson, you know, if he didn't even have a lot of those dirty hits and he wasn't a dirty player, I think everyone would love to have that kind of player on their team because he's good offensively at 5E5 and on the power play. And, you know, he's not just a big body that can go around and throw him. So, yeah, even if he wasn't a dirty player, every team will be lining up to have a player like that.

But like I said, you know, these players are a dime a dozen. They don't grow on trees. You know, Blake Coleman is the same way in Tampa Bay. People were saying, oh, my God, Tampa Bay won on toughness and size and all that. It's like, you look at Tampa Bay, that was the fastest team in the league this past year. That is why they won the Stanley Cup. Are you going to say that Nikita Kutjurav and Steven Stancoast and Victor Hedman and Andre Palant and Andre Vasselowski and Kevin Shackirk at the time and Ryan McDonough and all these other players?

You're going to say that they won with size and Tons and Andre Palant. toughness. I mean, I'm sorry, they didn't. They had the best roster in the league, and they proved it by winning the Stanley Cup without really any toughness. I mean, you want to call Blake Coleman a tough player, sure, but he also contributes at an elite level at 5B5 and all situations, and they got him from New Jersey, basically on a steal. You know, that was a hell of a trade that they got Coleman from with the devils, and if I were the penguins, you know, I wish they could have been in on a player late play Coleman because that's exactly the kind of player that they could use right now. And like I said, I love to trade for Matthew Guchuk, but the Penguins, the last thing they

need right now is deterrence, toughness. It legit does nothing. It never has. You know, like I said, this is not 1985 anymore. These tough players that all they do is they go around and fight people and throw big hits and they can't do anything offensively, they're almost extinct in the league anyway. I understand Brian Burke and Ron Hextall. They've talked about wanting to make the team bigger.

That's not necessarily about. bad thing, but bring players in that actually contribute offense, and that's fine. They can throw some clean hits. They can scare a player like Tom Wilson or whatever the hell they want. But bringing in a player that does nothing but hit people and fight people and throw dirty hits or whatever, that's not going to solve the issue of Sydney Crosby getting hit every single night. I mean, he's the penguin's best player.

Of course, teams are going to try and go after him. The thing is, you know, Mike Sullivan, I think he even answered in his media. session on Thursday night. We just play. We skate through it. We play. We win the game. You know, the best thing, you know, if Tom Wilson or, you know, Brad Marshawn or any other

player in the league makes a stupid hit against a penguin player, say thank you. They're giving you a penalty. Say thank you. If you get a two minute minor, four minute minor, I mean, a five minute major, like I said, say thank you. Score on a five-minute major. Score two to three goals on the power play on a minor even. Score a goal.

And that could potentially win you the game. I mean, like, they're giving you the game with that. A great quote from Brad Pitt in Moneyball as Billy Bean when he was basically describing, like, a team bunting. He was basically just saying, hey, they're giving you an out. Say thank you. And like I said, these players that throw stupid hits on Cindy Crosby, have Guinea Malk and Crystal Tang, they are giving you a two-minute minor or a five-minute major to say, hey, go score on this powerplay. And then after the series, especially in the playoffs, once the Penguins win that series, you can go up to him in the handshake line, point to him, laugh at him, shake his hand, and say, hey, thank you for costing your team. series. I really appreciate it. We won the game because of your stupidity and then you can

skate away. Maybe it's not the most sportsmanlike behavior, but you know what? I mean, that's what probably should happen. So I just really wanted to get that out of my chest. I mean, like I said, you bring in a tough player that doesn't do anything. It is not going to deter other players from going after your star players. This is not the 80s, as I said, for probably the 1800 million time in the last whatever nine minutes that I've been recording this podcast. So I'm really just sick and tired of these deterrent talks. Hopefully they go out and get a center or a winger or whoever they want to get that can actually play, contribute it, even strength,

and don't listen to this deterrents talk that some of the people in the media are talking about. Like I said, I respect Rob Rossi and Josh Shioi a lot. I've had them on the podcast and I will continue to have them on the podcast in future dates. But I just wanted to say that I disagree with them on that and share my reasoning for it and take the stance that it really will not do anything if they go out and get a tougher player that doesn't do anything else on the ice except hit people. But, okay, before we do get to the next segment, it is time to talk about bet online. It's the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be ever up with the NBA, college basketball, and the

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with the promo code locked on. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. In order to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes all the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. So let's get into some trade talk. Obviously, the big news from Friday

was that the Buffalo Sabers, they finally have started their fire sale a bit, center Eric Stahl, who was probably, I think, a penguin's target from Ron Hextall and Brian Burke. A player that for a lot of this fan base, they wanted the Penguins to get, myself included. I've talked a lot about that on the podcast in recent weeks. He has been traded to the Montreal Canadiens. Just a few days after Mark Bursman said, yeah, I'm not going to really do anything at the deadline.

I mean, he is probably the most full of shit general manager in the league. He'll say something and then he'll do the complete opposite. You know, almost just reminds me of, you know, stuff that my girlfriend does. Literally, she will say she's going to do something and then she'll do the complete opposite. So, you know, basically I'm comparing her 2-Marg version right now. So, yes, that is the content that I'm giving you all on a Friday night. So, yes, Berger, he just, and he's like total chaos mode, honestly, you know, he doesn't really

care what he's going to give up. I mean, and the price to get Eric Stahl was not bad. A third and a fifth round pick. It's not, they don't have a high chance, those picks don't have a high chance, excuse me, of panning out in the NHL. So you're basically just getting a player, a rental player for almost nothing. I think Hextall would have paid that price. I was just specifically talking with the penguins, if the penguins had their third round pick in this year's death.

But, you know, thanks to Jim Rutherford, they do not. I don't think the Sabres were probably looking at picks in the 2020 draft. They were obviously looking for picks in this year's draft. They got that. They got the fifth round pick. I think the penguins do have a fifth round pick, if I'm not mistaken. It's either they either have a second and a fifth or it's a second and a fourth. I'm going to have to double check that.

But they potentially might not have had a third or a fifth to, work with in that trade. So I can understand why Ron Hextall did not want to trade picks from this year's job just because, you know, the cup board is so barren and I don't think Hextel wants to trade a lot of picks from this year. I remember he talked about that with Seth Roar, Bob of the Pittsburgh Tribune review a couple of weeks ago saying, you know, I'm not interested in trading some picks for this year for Reynolds. Though I will say, you know, that the price on Taylor Hall continues to decrease. I read today. I'm from Pierre LeBron. I listened to Elliot Freeman the other day. It sounds like the Sabers might not be getting

a first-round pick in this year's job for him. And, you know, if the Penguins want to give up their second-round pick and a prospect or a second-round pick was Marcus Pedersen and someone else for Taylor Hall, I know a lot of people are against the idea of the Penguins trading for Taylor Hall, and I get it. You know, he's been bad in Buffalo. You know, people can say he's a locker-room cancer. I understand that, but I don't think that he is a locker-room cancer.

He's just been in a lot of really shitty situations. And if this team gets healthy, which, you know, God-willing, they will, You can roll out a lineup such as, you know, Gensel, Crosby, Rust. You can go maybe McCann, Malkin, or Hall, or you can just do Hall-Malkin-Captan or something, and then just have a third line of Zucker with McCann and, what, Evan Rodriguez down there, and then, obviously, Ashton, Rees, Blugren, Tanneth,

and then the Penguins are really cooking with four damn good lines going into the postseason. I think they would probably be a top two team in the East in terms of depth. And like I said, I understand the naysayers with Taylor Hall. I get it. He only has, what, 17 points in 30-something games with the Sabres this year? His value has really declined this season. You know, I think that was one of the big reasons why Montreal only gave up a third and a fifth was just because Eric Stahl has not been that good this season.

And his value ended up going down. Also, I apologize for the Discord notifications. But, you know, getting out to an original point, it's just because he's playing in Buffalo. A lot of their players are not going to get what they should get. in a trade. I remember the last time Eric Stahl was traded at the deadline, he was traded to the Rangers from the Hurricanes,

and he put up, what, like three points in, like, 23 games, and then was a total no-show in the playoffs. I think that was 2016 when the Penguins beat them four games to one. They just took the Rangers to the Woodshed. I honestly was still so... I am still surprised to this day that that was not a four-games sweep. I don't even honestly know how the Penguins lost that game two, other than it was just Jeff Sackoff started,

because in games three through five, the Penguins just took a total double. on the Rangers. But I mean, yeah, like I said, you can go Gensul, Crosby, Rust. You want to go Hall, Malkin, Kaepernin, Zucker with McCannin-Rodriguez, and then Ashton-Reeceau, and then Mawkes-N-R-R-E-N-E-N-E-Ker-E-E-N-E. I mean, that would be absolutely sick if they could pull that off. Oh, excuse me, in this hypothetical, Pedersen would be traded, so maybe you could have P.O. Joseph in the lineup. So still, you substitute P.O. Joseph for Marcus Pedersen. Still, the defense is probably still pretty fine, and P.O. Joseph is not getting

25 to 30 minutes a night with Crystal Tang. He's getting more like 18 to 20 minutes a night on a second pairing, or he's being sheltered on the bottom pairing with potentially Cody C.C. So I really think that's a damn good option for the Penguins. I mean, if they want to go for someone cheaper, you know, I'm going to Micah's page just to look at some other options. One that I've really liked, honestly, for just the last few weeks now is Callie Yarncruck from Nashville. I'm going to look at his chart on Micah's on HockeyViz. If you are not subscribed to that, by the way, everyone, it is $5 a month based in the United States.

It is damn good. It is well worth it if you are into the underlying numbers. If you look at his offensive impact for this season so far, plus 0.4% expected goals for, so there's a bit of red on his isolated 5-5 impact. His best came when it was 2014-15 with plus 2.5, but his defensive impact this year has been through the roof. Minus 5.7 expected goals against for his 5E5 impact. Last year, everyone, it was plus 0.4%.

So he has gone back to where he was in 2017-18 and 2018-19, where he was outstanding defensively in his own zone. And offensively this year, if you just look at the regular stats, he has been putting up some decent numbers with the Predators, nine goals, 15 points in 28 games. Last season, 15 goals, 34.64 games of season before that, 26 points, 35. So, you know, this is a player that he's a good-depth player. He's only still 29.

You know, he's a center, obviously. So if you want to do, you know, Zulker, even with Yarn Crook and Rodriguez, that still looks pretty damn good going into the playoffs. You also can go with Mikhail Granlin from Nashville. He has seven goals, 13 points, and 30 games this year. It's obviously been a little bit of a decline for him from last. last year, we had 17 goals, 30 points, and 63 games. He's obviously a two-time 20 goals scores. So if you want to get one of those two players, I think that makes a lot of sense for the Penguins.

There's a lot of really good players out there on the trade market. Like I said, like these two, that would just make a ton of sense. And, you know, I've already talked about Eric Hall. There's Anthony Manth out there who has quite a bit of term. I know it would cost a lot to get him. That would make a lot of sense because he has a lot of elements that would just really push this team to being a true contender for the Stanley Cup. this year. So I'm curious to see what Ron Hectoral is going to do. By the time you all listen to us, it's probably going to be 16 days out from the trade deadline. So yeah, we're less than two and

half weeks. I'll be curious to see if the action starts picking up here in the next few days. We have the first domino fall. Would not surprise me if we have more falling on this weekend as the deadline is now, like I said, just about two weeks away. But, okay, before we do get to the next segment, it is time to do the Bill Bar Madness. So we have cookie dough chunk still, versus birthday cake. Again, this is a great matchup. I'm probably going to go cookie dough chunk. We still have, we have two of the flavor for fours.

Finalized for the final four. This bracket, cookies and cream ended up beating coconut almond and then mint brownie and ended up beating coconut puff. I'm still, though, guys, I would probably have cookie dough chunk against cookies and cream going into that final four. Then for the other one, it's probably going to be caramel brownie versus mint brownie. I think I'm going to take mint brownie versus cookies and cream

in the national championship as they like to call it. But don't remember, go to Billbar.com or Bar underscore Bill on Twitter. Remember to use the promo code Locked 15 to get 15% off your next order. That is Locked 15 to get 15% off in your next order at Billbar.com and check back to see who won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting protein bar. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

In order to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show is Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. So not too much else to talk about. with this team right now. Obviously there's two monstrous games. This, well, starting this weekend, excuse me, Saturday at 7 p.m. The Penguins will get the Islanders at PPP's P&S Arena. And then they'll conclude the eight games set against the Islanders on Monday. That game will be on NBC Sports Network nationally televised for those not in Pittsburgh.

I did a poll to see the results on the Twitter page. You know, the playoffs started today. Who would you rather play? And after looking at the results, 50% of you think that you would rather play the capitals, 33.3% for the Islanders, and 16.7% for the Bruins. Honestly, I'm not surprised by that. I think as well, I would rather play Washington than any of the two other teams. I do think these are going to be your final four teams. I talked about that yesterday, Pittsburgh, Washington, the Islanders, and the Bruins. I know a lot of people are

hyping up the Rangers, but they have a tough end of this season with their schedule, and I just don't think they can make up ground against a team like the Bruins. I know the Bruins are playing like dog shit right now, but I can't see them playing like this for too long. I know Tuka Rask also got hurt, but it is the Bruins. You know, if they miss the playoffs with the super line of Marshaun Bergeron and Posternak and a whole bunch of other dept pieces that I know they haven't played as well this year, I would still be relatively a little bit shocked. But, you know, I still wouldn't want to play the Bruins in the playoffs just because

the Bruins always have the Penguins number. So far, Pittsburgh is one and three against Boston. This year, the Islanders, I honestly wouldn't mind playing. playing the Islanders this year. I know that it might seem like a hot take to some of you, but I feel like the Penguins have the personnel this year when healthy to go up against them and actually beat them in a seven-game series. They learned their lesson from 2018-19 where they thought they could just run and gun against them,

but Barry Trots obviously had other ideas. You have to be very patient to be that team, and I'm sure Mike Sullivan obviously knows that now, and almost all the players that, you know, a lot of the players that were on that team are still on this team now, well, at least all the core players in the foundation. players. You know, some of the depth pieces at the time that were there are not there anymore. And some depth pieces that were added in like the last year or two

were not there at their time as well. But I really think the penguins could be the founders, but it would just not be fun hockey to Watts because Barry Trots hockey is, well, it's low event hockey and it almost takes you back to the 2000 Devils and the 1990s. Basically the same thing, but you know, I had to throw that in there. As for the

Capitals, I know they're playing really good hockey this season, and I respect that. Alexoveskin is obviously the best goal score of all time. Backstrom's a great player. Jacob Verona has really come into his own. T.J. Oshy, for as much as Penguins fans, and myself included, I've never really liked him. He's still a damn good player. I know the contract is a little long, but yeah, I mean, he can still score goals at any time.

If Enneku's nets off is obviously great. John Carlson is great. Offensibly, defensively, though, you can kind of have this number a little bit. But I like how the Penguins still match up against them, and of the three teams, I would rather play them just because of how the Penguins have played Washington this year. I know they have the same record against Washington as they do against Islanders. That's four and two. But in the six games, I think the Penguins have outplayed Washington more than they have outplayed the Islanders. And they outplay the Islanders in most of their games too.

But mainly in the games against the Capitals, Pittsburgh has just been the better team, I would say. I'm probably five of the six games. You know, I don't think the Penguins deserve to lose one of those two games that they lost. but you know you can also make the argument that they probably didn't deserve to win one of the four games that they won against them. So it kind of all evens out. But like I said, when healthy, I like the Penguins' depth more than the Capitals. And I trust the Penguins' goaltending. Yes, I can't believe I'm saying that as well.

I trust the Penguins goaltending a lot more than I would with Washington with Ilyas Samsonov and VTek-Vanecheck. I know that they put up decent numbers for Washington this year. But, you know, it would also be the first time that Samsonov or Vanichek is getting playoff minutes. Tristan Jari has already started one playoff. game. I know a very, very small sample, I get that, but I would rather have Tristan Jari and then I think one of those two, but still, big game

against Allenders on Saturday. I will be back on Monday to recap that game, and then Tuesday I will recap Monday night's game. Islanders, obviously without Anders Lee, he's going to be out for the rest of the season. The Penguins will have to try to take advantage of that. For injury updates, I'm not sure if they're going to have

Brandon Tannib or Jason Zucker back tomorrow. I'm going to guess no, but you know, we'll see if Mike's Sullivan, surprise me, and we'll see if potentially run Hextel and Brian Burke making trade this week. I would not count it out. That's all I'm saying right now. But, okay, thank you all so much for listening to this episode, and I will talk to you all starting next week.