Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins 1/14- He's Baaaaaaack! Sidney Crosby talk with Cam Easton, plus trade talk, and more thoughts

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

In this episode of Locked On Penguins, Hunter has special guest Cameron Easton join the podcast again to talk about Sidney Crosby's return, Evgeni Malkin's dominance, trade talk, and so much more! 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.

Hello and welcome to a late-night edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And folks, he's back. Cindy Crosby played tonight for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 7-3 route of the Minnesota Wild had four points. Of course, he scored in the game. He played outstanding.

But before we get to the game and we'll recap the game and everything, about what everything the Penguins did right because there was really not a lot of bad to talk about the Penguins got their fourth straight win to get the 29 and 12 and 5. We have a guest for this episode of Locked on Penguins. It is the third time that he has been on the episode of Locked on Penguins. He's been one of my only guests so far on this podcast. One of my very dear friends who always loves coming on, Cameron Easton, Cam, how are you doing tonight, my friend?

I'm pretty good, you know, I probably should be a permanent guest, you know, at this point, but, you know, I love coming on here and talking some hockey with a good friend hunter here. Yeah, that was a good night of hockey. Yeah, maybe we could see about that in the future. Yeah, the penguins, like you said, the 7 to 3 route of the Minnesota Wild, and the penguins just poured it on. On them, it was got maybe a little scary for it a little bit when it was cut to 4-2, but then the penguins got two quick goals to make it 6 to 2 and then even 7 to 2.

But can we got to start with Sidney Crosby, man, four points. He made, I think behind the net, he made Ryan Donato look like a peewee player with that assist that he had. It was just like old times for Crosby. And I just, I'm in shell shock when I watch him because I just, I can't believe that he's just, he's that good. It's just, it's nuts. Yeah, you know, I was a little worried because I saw on Twitter,

there's massive hype, you know, with Crosby coming back, and sometimes they can jinx, you know, but man, I mean, he just he had one of those nights. And I mean, they look like the Harlem Globetrotters out there with those passing, the passing place they made tonight

just everybody. It was just, that was a awesome victory. Oh, absolutely. And even the, I think the other pass we probably were referencing was the Dominic Simone pass to, uh, Jared McCann, I mean, that was probably one of the most gorgeous passes.

I think I've ever seen Simone make. It was just that good. He put it right where Dubnick could not get it with his pad or his stick. And McCann was able to slam it home, and that was one of the early goals that they got. And I think I saw this stat the other day. I think Rob Rossi tweeted it, put it in his article for the athletic. The Penguins are now, after that stab, they add one more win. They're 17 in one in one when Jared McCann scores a goal.

goal for them. I can't believe that. Yeah, and, you know, he's, him and Ross have been putting on an impressive season, and, especially with the lack of Jake Gensel now, you need those players to step up. And, I mean, everyone in the lineup is stepping up. I mean, even your fourth line is playing unreal, too, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Brian Ross, like you said it, got his 19th goal. He's going to get probably over 30 by the time. the season ends, I'd say.

Yeah, and I'd love for the Penguins to keep McCann long term, because everything I love about his game, it just suits the Penguins for the future, especially how he can play center when his name is called. You know, he's a very versatile player for the Penguins, and he showed it again tonight. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, he played on

I'm forgetting Now I'm just forgetting what line he played on Was he on the Crosby line tonight? I'm going to have to go back and double check To I think he was Crosby's left wing tonight I can just go back and double check that right now I think he was real quick Yeah I can't believe I'm doing this live

But you know what? You know what? Whatever I just scroll through all the Penguins tweets Because boy did they tweet a lot considering when they had seven goals. Yeah, McCann was on Carl's Be line with Simone. I figured he was. He was his left wing. So, yeah, he can play any position

and he's going to be here, I think, long-term Cam. He's the RFA, of course, this summer. He's going to get a nice pay raise with his age. I don't think it's going to go to arbitration or anything. And he definitely deserves it with, you know, he had that little rut that I talked about yesterday in my solo one. I think he had one goal in his last 17 games leading up to

these past few games. But now he's really heated up again and it's just it's a great sign when he's heating up yeah and the whole team is heating up and um you know i thought about um a couple days ago especially after the colorado overtime win and how they're heating up right now and it's it's almost well it is the second half of the season now and this is the time you want the team to start heating up and make that run towards the playoff and now you got crosbie back and it's It's a whole, an added element to make it more elite penguin team. And we might discuss it later in the podcast,

but adding a player, a top six forward, might even just put the cherry on top for this team. It's a special team, and you're starting to see it with a victory tonight. Yeah, there's a lot to like with this Penguins team. Going into the season, I didn't really know if they could win the cup this season. season or seen as a cup contender. They definitely are now. I think they're probably one of, I could see, three to four teams is coming out of the east.

Obviously, you have Boston up there, Washington, Tampa Bay is, I think now almost one. I think it's like 10 or 11 in a row at this point. They've heated up, Pittsburgh. But yeah, I mean, you know, this is when you want to be playing your best hockey. There are four points behind the capitals again. Which is unreal.

I mean, when you think of the injuries, you wouldn't have thought that the Penguins would be four points out and it's it just it just goes to show how resilient this Penguins team is and you know there's a lot of hockey you know love to be played

especially against the Capitals so this is going to be some entertaining hockey for the fans of Pittsburgh and even Washington because it's it's going to go down to the last couple games I would think yeah you said it yeah they still play the Capitals all four times, which is a little weird because they have usually played them at least once or twice in the first half of the season,

but all their games are in February or later. I think their first game is Super Bowl weekend in Washington. I think that's a 1230 game, if I'm not mistaken. And then, of course, you have Carolina all four times. You play them. You haven't played them yet. You still haven't played the Flyers three more times. They have two big games against them coming up.

One, I think, next week. right before the All-Star break on Tuesday? You do not want to overlook these Metro teams also. I mean, every metro team just seems to have its own dynamic. And, you know, I would even look at their records because just the players and the skill sets they have on each team, I mean, you look at the Rangers and they have Panarin. It's, you know, he's been a little bit of a penguin killer

when he was in Columbus, but, you know, you just, you can't overlook these teams and that's going to be the real test for the penguins. I mean, yeah, they've been playing really good at hockey, but, you know, it's some Western teams, but, you know, again, these next couple months, it's true.

Yeah, this is where the schedule heats up. You know, all of your Western Conference games are basically done now. You only really have the Western Conference trip out to California to play the Kings, the Ducks, and the Sharks. That's not. until right after, I think, the trade deadline. I think that's very, very late February is that trip.

And now the rest of your games are against the East teams. You know, you play Boston two out of three games coming up. Those are massive games. I know you play the Red Wings. The Flyers before the All-Star break. And then after the Bay Week, I think, after All-Star weekend, they play the Flyers. And then it's the Capitals. And you get the Hurricanes come in.

You get the Flyers more. Columbus is playing. Butter hockey. I'm pretty surprised that they are. They're only really bad team in the Metro. was probably the devils. They're just, they're on a runaway train to get the number one overall pick again. Yeah.

And you look at the Bruins too and going into the next game. I don't know if you paid attention to their game against Columbus. I think Tuka Vasq is going to be after that game. Yeah, so I think we're going to be expecting Halok. Yep. Old friend, Yarslav Halak. And it just seems that he's always had some good times against the penguins, But we're not going to talk about that, Cam, are we?

This is a long time ago. Yeah, this is 2020. It's a new decade. We leave Yaroslav Halak in the 20 teens. And with that, yeah, I mean, we're going to talk more about this, you know, coming up after the break here, you know, just about penguins with their schedule and just the way that they're playing on all that, I guess. But so, yeah, Cam, I think, like, the biggest thing that I've seen is I think the penguins, they just, they have so many qualities in a Stanley Cup of Contest. that you would like. I tweeted it tonight.

You know, they mow teams down. Their speed, I think, just pisses off the other team. I think they're the best defensive team in the league, which I never thought I would utter those words with the defensive corps that they have right now, even with two regulars out. They have some of the deepest forwards in the league. They're still going to get Nick Bukstad back at some point,

and I don't even know if he's really going to play a bunch. I think they're going to get a top six forward closer to the deadline. you know Trader Jim, Uncle Jim, likes to make a trade, especially with Jake Gensel, of course, out for potentially the rest of the season, but he could come back at the Penguins make a deep playoff run. And this is, it's just, I even wrote about this the other day. It's just such a philosophical difference in the way the penguins play. You know, they're not that old slow team that you saw when they got embarrassed by the Islanders.

They went back. It's almost like, wow, when you go back to something that works, it's going to keep working. and they did exactly that, and now you're, you have one of the best records in the league, and you're playing like a team that I don't think a lot of people want to play. I don't really think the Islanders won't want any piece of this team if they have to play them in the first round.

Yeah, I mean, the depth is unreal for the penguins. I mean, it seems like they were playing with the, playing the Wilkesbury Penguins in the NHL for a little bit there. You know, and I just, my only worry with this team is the defense. I mean, they're playing, you know, outstanding with the likes of Marino and, hey, we're part of the Latin Colt, right? Absolutely. But, you know, I just, there's a part of me that's like wishing, you know, Johnson just doesn't screw up, you know. But he's, I will admit, he's been playing much better than he was, you know, his first time around here.

Not a high bar across either, folks. Um, but yeah, I mean, the defense is definitely playing really good, but, um, that's just my only worry with the team. And, um, you know, we'll see, but. And yeah, I mean, the goalie situation is going to shake itself out. I mean, you know, Matt Murray's turned it on the last three games that he's played in. Um, that's, you know, really good stepping stones. I know they're giving jari.

It looks like it's a 1A, 1B kind of thing right now with the way Murray, Murray is working himself back. Jari keeps having really good games. I know he gave up three goals tonight, but still all three of those goals were really not on him. One of them was a breakaway. One of them was a perfect shot by Paris Aid, and one was a garbage time goal with 10 seconds left in a 7-2 game. No one really cares about that kind of goal. But they're obviously probably going to split this back-to-back coming up.

I'd imagine Jari goes against the Bruins, but I would not be surprised if they throw Matt out against the Bruins because they did that against Colorado. Worked pretty good. besides, of course, his little hiccup, which, I mean, I would point to more bad luck than anything. But, I mean, it's good that both goalies are now playing really, really good, Cam, and, you know, they can go to either one in these game situations now. You really don't, I really don't think it's that big of a deal. Yeah, and it's really excited to see Jari to be a All-Star, too. I really didn't think that would happen, to be quite honest with you.

if you were to ask me at the beginning of the year or heck probably like two years ago you know when we knew Jari was in the system because we knew they had Flurry at the time and um and Murray and and it's just like you know here comes Jari um they've done a fantastic job on developing their bullies I mean Casey DeSmith is still down in Wilkesbury and you know if God forbid um there's an injury. I definitely think Casey DeSmith can come up and, you know, fill that role as well. That's if he finds his passport again, Cam. What's that?

That's if he finds his passport again. I felt so bad. Oh, yeah. They tweeted that out. I was like, no, baseball. Hey, but Larmie got a nice paycheck there. Yeah, he got to come up for just to sit on the bench for a game and then right back down. But you know what?

It was good for him, but he got to come back up. Also, tonight cam, someone probably up their trade value, and that's Alex Gowchenyuk. You got the seventh goal for the penguins, got the extra point. That's his fifth goal on the season, and, you know, just up that trade value, Alex. That's all we can ask for at this point. Yeah, that's the extra point is good goal. You know, kind of, I wouldn't say, well, garbage time. Yeah, I mean, the skills are there for Galec.

I just, you're seeing shades of Brassard almost with Galchaniuk. Oh, yeah. It's definitely not a fit with Pittsburgh. You know, I was kind of in the Phoenix game, in the shootout when he went up. I thought it would have been great, especially right after Kessel went to shoot, that if Galchaniuk just went and scored on his attempt, that would have been such a morale booster for Galchaniuk. but him missing it right there.

Just kind of summarized his season with Pittsburgh for me. Absolutely, yeah. It was just, he's missed a lot of those. He just missed a lot of shots this season. He's basically summed up his Pittsburgh tenure so far, and I still would be surprised as he and traded almost any day now. You know, you kind of expect it with the way all these, you know, Pierre LeBrah and all the insiders have just been tweeting,

you know, oh, the Penguins are taking calls on Gauchina. They're looking to move him, so I'm just mostly expecting it any day now. But also tonight camp, Evgeny Malkin, he's on another world right now, two-goal game, three-point game. He's been absolutely outstanding this season. He's not going to be a candidate for the Hart Trophy, but I think he's been the Penguins. Other than, you know, he's probably been, honestly, the Penguins' most valuable player. You know, maybe outside of him in Brian Russ Tristan Jari, he's just, it's been a completely different player. And I don't know if he saw that pass that he had to, it was almost like a no-look pass to Brian

us. That was absolutely disgusting. Yeah, when Malkin plays like this, they're going to win some hockey games. And I, you know, personally I thought when, especially tonight with Crosby coming back, I thought he would silence his game a little bit, but that was not the case at all. And I think he'll continue to be on this role because, I mean, going into the season, Malkin was definitely working towards being a better. player, especially from last season, and building on, you know, the negatives from last season.

And it's definitely showing, it didn't necessarily show at the beginning of this season. But when Crosby went out, Malkin definitely stepped up to the plate. Yeah. And now that he got his centerback, number one center back, he can kind of, you know, it doesn't have to carry the team every night. He can kind of just ease back into what he's been doing. and, you know, he's definitely doing that. But, yeah, I just, I thought his game was outstanding tonight.

You know, when both- And the power play looks outstanding as well, too. I mean, you know. There are 20-f games in the league, but that number is going to skyrocket in probably the next couple weeks now that cross-off. Oh, yeah. They'll be top 10 probably before you know it at this point.

But, yeah, Cam, it's just, it's been really, really, really fun to watch this team the past month, month and a half. And I just, I can't get enough of it. I think at this point. But we'll probably talk more about after the break, you know, probably some more trade targets that I'm thinking of. Maybe some hashtag Zuckerwatch,

as some Penguins Twitter is also having that trending after every game now at this point or just in general. All right, Cam, so now the way that Jason Zucker was playing tonight, I would hope that they would have the Minnesota Wilde could just leave him in Pittsburgh, considering that he was probably one of the only wild players that actually, I think, had a pulse, maybe besides Zach Parise, who, of course, had two of the goals.

I think he scored the second goal and the third goal for the wild. Actually, no, it wasn't the second goal. It was the first and the third goal for the while. Marcus Felino had the second goal. But, yeah, I would be all on board to get Jason Zucker out of there. Penguins, I know, tried to acquire him. Of course, in the Phil Kessel trade, it would have been completed. If Kessel would have waived his no moon clause there, obviously it didn't happen.

but yeah he'd probably be on one of my number one trade targets to get as a winger for uh crosbie now that jake is potentially lost from the season yeah and i just i hope we don't um overpay for sucker because especially with go garren at jm i don't think he's gonna want to make a trade that um looks good for the penguins if you know what i mean yeah um if he took if he just took gel chenioch and a pick um that would definitely not

look good in the eyes of wild fans, I would think. I think Zucker I think Zucker would have a high price so I mean that that leaves you looking at other options Criders within the division

I'm not always a big fan of trading within the division but when you have the talent of Malkin and Crosby and their years are getting there you just say why not and you just you know rip the band-aid off and

make that trade he's one of my favorite players to watch chris rider um you know i know he's can kind of be a little bit of an ass at times front of the net just you know kind of a little like patrick horroquist at times when he's a straight line player he's fast he's really skilled um i just don't think the rangers would trade him inside the division there's always the tyler to foley talks i think that would be a good fit um obviously you know playing on the kings is no easy deal

because the kings are so bad offensive and then of course you have the Brandon Zod connection. He's not really close, I think, to coming back. And he also makes $6 million for the rest of the season, so that would be hard. I'd take Sond in the heartbeat

if they took back some cap, honestly. They would have, I think they would have to. My friend the other day threw around Jacob Silverberg from the docks. I saw that, yeah. I'd have to look into that

a little more to make sure that he's still playing pretty decently. But he's always been a good player that has career really underrated. Maybe someone like Andre Kachet. He's always, the Ducks have almost moved him, I think, in a trade for Justin Falk. And I think that would have been a really bad trade for the Ducks if they had made that deal. Because I think Kasei is really, really good.

I think the Ducks is probably a team that you could try to price someone out of there like that, like a Kase or a Silverberg, since the Ducks are just really, they're just not that good anymore. I'm not to have to come up, I think, with more targets. some of these tanking teams don't have a lot like the Red Wings, they don't really have a lot there that you could try to pry out. Maybe Thomas Tatar in Montreal.

I think I sense Mark Bergerman is maybe going to try to go for it. Yeah. He's always been someone that doesn't really like to sell. And even though Montreal is so far out, I don't see him just selling a lot. He's just not the kind of GM that does that. Yeah, but let me ask you,

to acquire a top 6-4, would you give up a prospect of the likes of Addison or Pierre Joseph that were we acquired from the Kessel Trade. There's a couple. Yeah, I think those two would be off limits for me. And maybe, well, I'd maybe deal Poulin, but I don't think I'd touch a Joseph or Addison. Poulin, I'd maybe touch if it's really, a really, really good deal. But I think those three would be the ones that I keep off limits. I think otherwise you can trade the other prospect.

in the system, almost any other ones. Your first round pick is obviously in play. Almost all your draft picks are in play. Jim Rutherford's always never hesitant to trade a first round pick for a rental. You also have to know what the price tag is for these rentals. They've kind of gone

down a bit, I think, in recent years. They're not always at like the level that you expect them to. I mean, remember Eric Carlson was a rental for a little bit, and the package that they got in return for him was absolutely garbage. And that was for the best defenseman in hockey. Yeah, but you were you were paying for that huge

contract as well. You knew well, going into it, you were having the hopes of signing that huge contract. But yeah, I mean, the return on Carlson was kind of mediocre. And just, one thing that's always

interest to me, it's kind of left me a little I wouldn't say confused, but it's just that I wonder about is we hear about these rumors, especially from Penguin sources and my dad kind of did his

Jinser rant it's like why why is Jim Rutherford letting the league know about these that we're interested in these players that's only just going to jack up the price on the player it's always calculated yeah and you know

the GMs know who's talking to who and you know oh absolutely I would and I would hope that you know Jim brother friend in Bill Gair and we're in the same suite tonight talking. Oh, I'm sure they were talking before the game, during the game, and hopefully after the game, if they can keep Jason Zucker in Pittsburgh, you know,

just not have them go anywhere. Maybe you can go back to Minnesota to get all your stuff and your family, and then, you know, just come right back. Yeah, I'm just, I'm rapidly refreshing my Twitter feed, just hoping for that. But I remember the one night, I don't know why I stayed up that late that one night, but the Carl Hagelin trade from Anaheim. Oh, I was sounding asleep that night. I remember that.

I woke up the next day. I don't know why I was up. I was like, is this like one of those fake accounts? Like it just didn't seem real. And I'm like, okay. And obviously, getting Haglin,

um, sparked that team. That was yeah, awesome. And, hey, I mean, the way this team is looking,

maybe a trade like that will, you know, spark the team even more. I did read the other day that Jim's talk to me to. He's like, yeah, a lot of teams are just offering me depth forwards, and I'm like, I'm not really trying to bite on that at this moment. So, I mean, getting from that, I think he kind of wants something major. He's not really trying to settle for anything like that. But, Cam, I think that might

do it for this episode of Locked on Penguins. I really appreciate you coming on again. We're definitely going to be doing this more in the future, probably a lot more in the future, considering I think Cam loves to come on this podcast and talk some of Penguins with me. So, Cam, thank you so much for coming on, man. Hey, it's always a pleasure, and I'd like to say my Twitter handle. I used to use Twitter a lot, but I'm starting to get back into it. It's not that fair, F-E-H-R, Occup Player Fair. But yeah, good to be back on Twitter, and thank you for having me.

Yeah, of course, Cam. And thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Locked-on Penguins, and we'll be talking to you guys tomorrow with another episode of it. All right, so take care, guys.