Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins Second Episode

Episode Date: October 3, 2019

In this second episode of the Locked On Penguins Podcast, Hunter gives a couple of bold predictions for a couple of the Penguins players going into this season. He also dives into the player music playlist that the Penguins tweeted out to the fans on Wednesday afternoon. Finally, he gives his thoughts on the Metropolitan Division as a whole and why the Penguins should still be pretty safe to get into the playoffs. 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 this second episode of Locked-on Penguins. I'm your host Hunter Hodes. And today's a bit of a late episode because I thought we were going to have a guest on tonight, but he had to reschedule for tomorrow night. So hopefully during one of the periods of the game, I'm going to record this episode and we will have him on. His name will be Jeff Kamovic. He is one of my best friends in this world. He is also a diehard penguins fan. And yeah, he's just someone that, you know, we talk hockey. a lot all the time and I'm really excited to get on here, get him on here, excuse me, and just really just grow him about the team, what he expects.

Jack Johnson talk probably, of course, since, you know, looks like the whole Penguins world revolves around Jack Johnson and anything at this point. And it'll, yeah, it would just be great to talk talk with him. It's been too long since I have this way, so hopefully we can get on tomorrow night. As always, folks, please subscribe on Apple Podcast or Spotify. and I think the first episode may not be up yet. I'm hoping it is. I'm going to have to double check,

but hopefully this next one goes up sooner than the other one will because, yeah, that would be great just to get more listeners and all that good stuff. Tonight we're going to be doing a bit of a different episode, I'd say. I'm going to have some bold predictions for this upcoming season for the Penguins. I've thought of a couple already that might be a bit too bold, but, you know, that's why they call it bold predictions for a reason. The Penguins also, you know, I like to do some funny stuff on here at times and for this podcast.

And the Penguins actually release their playlist during games on their Twitter account today. According actually it was their player playlist. And I figured I'd just go over that a little bit and see, you know, like what some of the songs are and, you know, my thoughts on that, you know, just, you know, to pass some time. And then also I think we're going to talk about how the penguins stack up in the metropolitan division. There's been talk of around the town, I should say. There's just been a lot of talk lately that the penguins could miss the playoffs. I've seen it from experts, even people in the Penguins fan base. I don't think that's the case.

It's said in my last episode. I think they'll make it fine. But we'll just see how they stack up against some of the other metropolitan teams that will also be gunning for a playoff spot. And with that, let's get underway with some bold predictions. for this upcoming season. My first one, this is going to be probably maybe a bit too bold. Cindy Crosby and Evgeny Malkin will have over 100 points this season. And we all know Sidney Crosby did it last season.

He had over 100 for the first time since his 2013-2014 season. And, of course, I get a text for my friend. Hopefully that does not be so loud when you guys listen to it. I'm going to have to mute that. But he had, last season, he had 100 points. Yep, for the first time since 2013-14, when he had 104 points for the penguins. The previous four seasons, he was just chugging along, 85, 89 points. But last season, he finally got back to 100.

He got second in the hard voting. And he's still arguably the best player in the world. And he's going to have a monstrous year again. He's going to be playing next to Jake Gensel, who, you know, they're probably one of the best left-wing center. in the league, if not the best. It's definitely up there. And the right wing, of course, it's going to be a rotation of

wingers, you know, Patrick Hornquist, Dominic Cahoon, Brandon Tanev, whoever they want to put up there. It'll just rotate throughout the whole season because that's what Mike Sullivan likes to do. People were freaking out about some of the line combinations this morning. And I know Jack Johnson, we'll get to that a bit later. He should not be playing, obviously.

but it's like people, come on, like this is going to be changed probably in the next two games that they're probably going to change lines because it's the beginning of the season. They like to test out new stuff. You really shouldn't be paying attention to line combinations until December, January, I guess. Because that's when the team usually likes to turn it on

because in the last couple of years, obviously they've sleepwalked through their first couple of, The first couple of months of the season, and this is when they like to turn it around, and that's what they probably will. That's when you start to see some lines get set in stone. Right now they're just going to experiment. But anyways, Sidney Crosby is going to have a monster season again. He's still well in his prime, even though he's over the age of 30.

He's approaching also some very big milestones this season. He's only a little over 50 goals away from reaching the 500 goal mark. He's only 30 assists away from each reaching 8. 800 assists and he's only 84 points away from reaching 1,300 points. He has 1,216 points right now in the NHL. And he's going to climb up that most points in NHL history list pretty, pretty quick, folks. I mean, it's right now, if I'm not, I got to find the list that he has. Yeah, here it is.

Cars right now, 44th all time, 12, 16, tied with Jeremy Rodick. And he's set to pass Larry Murphy this season, Jean Belaview, Norma, Phil Housley, Peter Stassney, Jean Rattelli, Al McInnis. I mean, he could potentially try Jerome McGuillah by the end of the season. I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if he broke that because he has, he did finish with 1,300 points. And it wouldn't be out, maybe Gilbert Parrault or Pierre Turgeon, if Sidney Crosby gets over 100 NHL points, which would be quite extraordinary. He hit Sydney Crosby is likely to get into the top 35,

time for most career NHL points by a player. So, he has that coming. He's going to get well over $1,300 by the time his career ends. I mean, if it weren't for the concussions, he'd be well over there right now. But, and then moving on to Ugany Malkin, he's been talking all along this offseason. Now, you know, this is going to be his best season he's had yet. He wants to put last season behind him where he just, I mean, it didn't take. a fool to see that he was not himself.

I know, guys, he had 72 points in 68 games. That's still over a point per game, which is great for him. But still, he battled injuries. He just, he looked lost out there. He only had 21 goals last year, which is a lot lower than usual. I mean, that's the lowest he's had since 2016 when he had 27. But, and that was honestly a far cry from his last season before, where he had 98 points for the penguins, 42 goals, 56 points, 56 assists, excuse.

me and it's just if he's if he's going if he backs this up and he says that he's going to do this then he's going to this is going to be a great season for him he's going to have alks calchenyuk next to his wing obviously right wing they're going to move people around looks like brandon tan of is going to start there tomorrow night um but you know i mean i think he's i think he's going to have a heck of a season. He's going to be on the power play. Even strength was not good for him last season. It doesn't look like at times last season he was just sluggish. His defensive game was going down there. I mean, obviously, he beginning Monkin is not going to be known for being a defensive player. I mean, he never has. He never will be. It was just like, it was just

that bad last season, I'll say. And, you know, it should improve. His offensive number should improve. And if he and Cindy Grasb, we both got up 100 points, that this could be a very special season for the penguins. I'm probably a little more bullish on the penguins and some of the fans are and some of the media, but I really do think with this team, with how deep their forward group is, and I know there's Jack Johnson there on the defense, somehow he's getting second pairing minutes potentially. This has the makings of a very, very good team. And I'm going to be very curious to see how getting all can plays. You know, he's worked out really hard this summer. He had that awesome interview with Rob Rossi from the athletic, just in, and, and

Moscow detailing what he went through, you know, stuff with his family, his off-ice training this past summer. He's in line for a monster season. And if, and if, and he, this is going to be great. And it'll be very interesting to see if he can get back to 100 points. He has not had 100 points since he did it in 2011, 2012, where, of course, he won the Hart Trophy for the Penguins, 50 goals, 59 assists. The only time he scored 50 in his career.

And then, of course, he scored 100 points. The 2009 Cup run for the Penguins when he had 113 points, 78 of those being assessed. Another, I guess maybe I'll give you one more bold prediction. Let's see here. This is going to be too bold, but, you know, let's see. Matt Murray is going to be a Vesna trophy finalist at the end of this season. And, you know, that's probably going to be a bit too hot of a take.

But, you know, I think Matt Murray is in like. to prove a lot of people wrong. Also, this is contingent on Matt Murray staying healthy. Everyone knows. He's only appeared in 49, 50 games the past few seasons. He's been hurt a couple months out of the season at a time. But if he has a fully

healthy season and he plays the way that he played from mid-December through the playoffs last year, and he does that for a whole year, I really do think that we can see a Vezna-type year for Matt Murray. I don't think he'll win it, obviously. There's so many good goaltenders in this league.

Pecorine, Sergei Bobrovsky, Cary Price, Hennerklonquist, John Gibson. But he could definitely, I think, be a finalist. I don't know so. Do I think he'll win the award? No. But when he's on his game, there are not, I will die on the hill that there are not many goaltenders in this league that are better than him. And as I said in my last, in the last podcast, the fact that he got his save percentage overall up to 919 from where it was when it was below 900 at the start of this season. is nothing short of a miracle.

And it just, it goes to show how good he really was. And also how underappreciated, I think, he is in the Penguins fan base. I know there is a contingent of Penguins fans out there that still miss Mark Andre Flurry. I know they love to rip on Matt Marie's glove hand. Oh, well, yeah, all the goals go through his glove hand. But, I mean, like I said, like, and like I said, though, I mean, that, I mean, that, That's where a lot of the goals that are scored in this league. I mean, look at St. Louis, Washington tonight.

Petrangelo slapped a shot right past Brayton Hopi's glove. And that's where a lot of the goals go. So, I mean, and anyways, in memories, he's even straight-saber stage last year. 9-30. I mean, that's unbelievable how good it was. And it wasn't his fault in the Penguins that got swept. He gave it his all in the playoffs. I know he had a 906%

he was left out to drive by a really porous defensive group and just the penguin's not getting back, pinching at the wrong times for whatever reason. I don't understand. But yeah, I think those are my two very big bold predictions

going into this season. Do I think that that'll happen? I'm hoping because maybe I'd win the lottery, but maybe they're two bold. So, yeah, I think that would be, those are my two bold predictions going into this penguin season. Next up, but for you guys, I want to talk about the penguins.

They tweeted their player playlist today. And I figured I'd have a little fun with this segment. The Penguins have honestly never really tweeted this out before. And I'm curious to see which players chose which song. So right now there's Can't Help Me Now by Rob Thomas, The Race by Wiz Khalifa. You always have to have a Wiz Khalifa song on there. I mean, for God's sakes, he's from Pittsburgh. He is Pittsburgh, basically.

Where It's at by Dustin Lynch. We got St. Tropes, Post Malone's song. Of course, you got to have a Post Malones. Imagine Dragons Bad Liar. Another Post Malone song, Circles. Hippocampus Waco's. Tarkini, JVG. Higher Love, Whitney Houston.

Always have to have a Whitney. Kigoan, Whitney Houston. That'd be, that's a good. Whoever picked that song. I love you, basically, because Whitney Houston is outstanding. So maybe that was like one of the old-timers, like Sid. I wonder if Cindy Crosby

chose that kind of song. Cherry Blossom Horror Show, Where the Hood at DMX. There was one on here that I saw. There it is. Yeah. Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance.

I would love to know who picked that song, and it would not surprise me in the slightest if it was Chris LaTang that actually picked that song because he's just,

he's the kind of guy that would like, I think he's like the kind of player that would love that band. And then, Fuel by Metallica. Always great to have a Metallica song.

That's like one of the only rock songs that they actually put on here. For those of you who probably don't know me and who haven't listened to me before, I'm a big classic rock 80s hair band person. I love that music. I've loved it since I was a kid. Wish there was at least one of those songs on there. But I mean, at least I know some of these artists. I don't know some of the other artists like Dustin Lynch and JVG.

DMX, but obviously I know Selena Gomez and all those pieces, I just can't know, but, you know, I figured a lot of these hit songs on here would be like hits from like today and all that, but, you know, you know, also I could see who picking my co-mooker-romoomucal romance was Brian Dumlin because, you know,

Dumas, they, the Penguins have tweeted out these videos of like the DJ in the locker room and Dumlin always plays like these, something like these old-timer songs. So, like, I feel like he would totally picked that. Oh, apparently each player picked a song during their creative day. That's what the Penguins just tweeted. That's what the Penguins tweeted in their replies.

Oh, so that makes sense. I just, I would love to know who picked these songs. And I also would love to know who picked Post Malone because that's obviously a massive artist out there. Yeah, all this, apparently the Penguins in their reply say the country music is mostly from Casey to Smith. who did actually, speaking of Casey to Smith, he did not get picked up on waivers, which was very, very surprising. Definitely thought a team that needed a backup goaltender, like maybe Edmonton or something, that, you know, could pick him up or whatever.

But, you know, I'm surprised that no one wanted to pick him up. He actually was pretty, he actually had a good year as a backup last year, which was weird because, like I said, 917s, same percentage in excuse me no 916s 8 percentage and 36 games appeared in last year and he started 30 games for the penguin so you're telling me no no team wanted him at a discounted price

on waivers so okay then that's that's interesting there's also let's see what else about here oh so the Metallica so I'm scrolling through actually scrolling through the Penguins' replies

on their Twitter right now so Eric Good Branson put Metallica on there. Good man, Eric. That makes me like you a little bit more. Just hopefully your play can, just have your play keep going from that 19 game stint where you were

just on fire. So that's great. He picked Eric and Branson. Let's see. I'm trying to look to see who else picked the other songs here. Someone thought Jack Johnson did the Imagine Dragons. That's actually pretty funny

because, you know, I think a lot of the times the Imagine Dragons gets hate hated on a lot by people. But, yeah, I thought this would be a really good segment. Wish there were more Roxons on there. But like, like I said, Eric Good Branson, you're a good man for picking up on the Metallica.

Maybe next time someone should put some, like, guns and roses on there or something because that can really get you up. Yeah. Anyway, so for my last segment, guys, I'm just going to talk about, like, the Metropolitan Division as a whole. I've been seeing a lot of folks out there,

Penguins fans, media, whatnot. say, you know, you know, it's going to be really a dog fright for the penguins to make the playoffs. I'd be really surprised if they make it. And it's like, I mean, if you guys want to count out Sidney Grosby and McGee Monk in out of a playoff spot, I mean, your funeral. I mean, that's as politely as I can say. That's your funeral. Because, I mean, this happens every single season. People say, oh, yep, this is the year the penguins missed the playoffs.

This is the year where it all goes down to the crap. It all goes down the drain. And yet every year they still make the playoffs. And look, they have three Stanley Cup championships out of it. And they have four Stanley Cup final appearances out of it. So, I mean, what are you going to do? I do think the Metro has gone better. But I also think there's a lot of question marks surrounding some of the other teams in the division that have gone better.

Excuse me. Such as like the New York Rangers. I've seen, you know, a couple of people I was talking to today say, like, oh, you know, the Rangers are going to be a lot more handful. which they are. I mean, obviously they got Artemey Panera, they got Caco, Jacob Truba, Adam Fox. They, they improved. And they saw Henrik Bunkwist in net, who still wins in his high 30s, but

is, you know, he can still play at a very high level because he's still one of the best in the league. But when I look at them, I mean, I see that Ryan Strom is still their second line set. He's, going into the season, he is their second line second-line, second-hundred. And their second best defenseman is like Brady Shea. So, I mean, like, I don't really

see it this year for the Rangers. I think they're getting close, but they're not going to finish above the Penguins. The games will be tougher, obviously, because the Rangers, I mean, they'll be obviously better than they were last year. The Rangers were not good at all last year. And they sold some of their players for spare parts, such as Matt Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes, who are still no longer there. But, you know, they still have Criner, Zabana Jed, Panera, and all the other guys that I listed, it's going to be a better team. They're just not there yet, and they're probably a year or two away from actually making the playoffs and getting back into contention. The rebuild is still going there. They've done a masterful job doing it. I can't give enough

props to Jeff Gordon for that rebuilding. I have a couple Rangers fans who are really excited about it. Shout out to you, Nick, buddy, if you're listening to this. You guys are going to be really good soon, and I'm probably going to hate it. And then I saw some talk about, anyways, I saw some talk about the New Jersey Devils. And I do see like the boom, a little bit of the boom hype with them Taylor Hall is going to come back. He was not healthy last season at all. He missed most of the season. Last season, only appeared in 33 games, 11 goals, 37 points.

But the season before that, 93 points, the Hart Trophy winner, he's one of the best players in the league when he is on his end game. And this is a big year for Taylor Hall and the New Jersey Devils. The Devils need to show him that they are ready to compete. And because he, this is the last year of. his contract that he originally signed with the Oilers. And there's been, apparently there's been some contract talks, but nothing's been finalized yet.

Nothing's been really been set on. There's been some preliminary talks I've read. But like I said, this is the big year for them. I don't think they're there yet either. Like, and the biggest thing I think with them is their goaltending. I don't think, yeah,

that ain't going to be enough to de-throw the Penguins from down of a playoff spot. Corey Schneider and McKenzie Blackwood are their two goaltenders. I mean, Schneider just hasn't been what he once was. And he used to be one of the best goaltenders in the league. We're talking about a goaltender that for, excuse me, for, I mean, he was 920, like, every season up until 2016, 2017, where it just went down the drain. But also, guys, he's been really hurt these past few seasons. I mean, a couple seasons, I should say.

Only 40 games played in 2017, 18, 2018, 2018, 19, only 26. but still I mean 907, 903 in the games that he played in. He finally came back healthy last year, but still, this is a big year for him to see if he can get his mojo back. But he's still, though, he's 33. He's past his prime years. I just don't see it. And then, I mean, I know they added, like, and they did add a lot of good parts.

You know, Wayne, they added Gusev from Vegas. He's an intriguing piece to them. I mean, I think he can be really. good. Wayne Simmons, he's not what he once was, but he's still better than about, probably a handful of their forwards. But the thing with them is, like, they overachieved so much, I think, a couple seasons ago by making it with someone like their luck, I should say. Well, I shouldn't really say luck. They overachieved. That's just the way to put it. And last year, they were 26 points out of a playoff spot with Taylor Hall being hurt.

I think with them, with that Hall healthy and with everyone healthy, they're probably somewhere like more towards being a playoff team, but not a playoff team. They're not as bad as being 26 points at a playoff spot, but they're also not as good as they were in 2017. I think a lot has to go right

for them in this division. And I know that they did get P.K. Suban, he's going to really help their defensive corps. And I just like, and I also think you know I mean

Jack Hughes is obviously going to be big for them I mean he's gonna he's gonna I think he's gonna have a really good year and yeah I just

I'm just I'm curious to see how they just how they you know just how they do it comes you with terror hall back healthy

I just don't see it though but we'll see you know and this league is so random anything can happen and then of course you have the Philadelphia Flyers, I give up predicting a flyer season. You literally, you literally cannot predict a Philadelphia Flyer season. They can, they can win 10 in a row, and then they can

lose 10 in a row. Hell, they could win 20 in a row, and then they can go and lose 20 in a row, because that is the Philadelphia Flyers. I think they're going to be in the playoff hunt. I mean, Claude Jureux is still very good. Jacob Borchek is still very good. They did sign Kevin Hayes to that very long contract, which I think they will, regret in a few years. It's not going to be as bad for the first few years because he's still a good player. But I think as that contract gets into gear,

it's not going to be as good for them. Van Reeves-Zike is still very good. I really like Ivan Pro Grove on their back end. But also Carter Hart. You know, he had a I'd say a pretty good rookie season after being called up from the

H.L. And now this will be his first full season as a starter. So there's still, I think, kind of a little bit of an unknown there with Hart, his first full season. You got to see how he does at the NHL level for a whole season. But I still expect him to be in the hunt,

but I still would say the Penguins are better than them. The Penguins last few years have played the Flyers pretty good. I know last season they did lose three out of four of them. I should somehow remember that off the top of my brain.

I don't know how. But before that, they played them very well. But, I mean, the division obviously is a lot better. I just don't think these three teams can take out the Penguins

as one of those top three spots in the matter. You know the capitals are going to be awesome. You know the hurricanes are going to be even better than they were last year. Their roster is already better than it was last year, actually. And then the Islanders, I think the Islanders, I think I have them making the playoffs. I think they'll regress a little bit, but I can see the Penguins and the Islanders flip-flopping each other in the standings. I really good.

And then the Blue Jackets, I think they will surprise some people, but I also don't think they're going to be that good because of Artemmy Panerian. But, of course, I have everyone leaving. I still think they'll be better than people think, but a lot of goaltending questions there with Corpusallo. And they have that other guy's name is eluding me right now, but he's a rookie out of the KHL, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, he has never played in an HL game. So, yeah, I guess that was a short Metropolitan Division preview.

In case you guys didn't see me on Twitter, I see it on my Twitter. You guys can follow me at Hunter Hodes. I have the penguins getting second in the metro because the capitals will likely win it again because they do every season. And I had Carolina 3rd, Islanders 4th, Rangers 5th,

Flyer 6th, Devil's 7th, and the Jackets 8th. Will that I'll be right? Probably not, because none of my predictions ever go right. So, yeah, thank you guys so much for tuning in to this second episode of Locked-on

Penguins. I know it's a bit late. We were trying to, of course, like I said, schedule Jeff in, but I think he's going to come on the next episode. And we'll talk to you guys then. Can't wait to get the season underway against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, October 3rd. All right. Catch you guys soon.