Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins Special Show-Jesse Marshall joins the show for some trade analysis!

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

In this special episode of Locked On Penguins, Hunter is joined by The Athletic's Jesse Marshall to talk about the Penguins acquisitions on trade deadline day. He discusses the fit for Patrick Marleau, how we need to cool it on the Dominik Kahun overhype, plus how Sheary and Rodrigues fit into the lineup. He also adds much, much more on the team! 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 Monday night evening 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's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. We have a very special show for you guys tonight. I know we had the one that came out earlier this morning with the trade bait board with Jeff from Penn's Twitter. That was a lot of fun to do. We got to pick his brain a little bit on where he thinks some of those players could go on the trade bait list board and know whether they were the penguins, of course, some of those players.

we're never going to go to the Penguins because the Penguins just didn't have the assets to give up for them. And, of course, some of them re-signed like Chris Kreider. But, you know, it was a lot of fun to do. And for today, you know, we have Jesse Marshall of the Athletic coming on to the podcast. I've been really looking forward to having Jesse on for a while now. It's going to be really exciting to, you know, just pick his brain a bunch on the Marlowe trade, you know, where he potentially fits in the lineup. The Cahoon trades, sending Cahoon for Sherry and Rodriguez where he thinks,

Those two fit, and if he thinks the team is a lot deeper now than it was 24 hours ago, and you know how far he sees this team potentially going with the changes that they've made. And there's still more coming with, of course, Brian Dumlin and John Marino coming back. So look forward to that. He'll be coming in the next two segments. It'll be just me for this segment. And then Jesse will be on for the final two segments of this day's episode. So, of course, you know, Tread Deadbline Day is always one of my favorite days.

You know, for those that realize that I do tweet a lot, I tweet even more on Deadline Day because it's just a bunch of quote tweets for me. You know, that's what I like to do. You know, I like to laugh at teams doing funny stuff. I like to laugh at bad returns. I like to laugh at my team doing stuff. It's just, it's a lot of fun, you know, getting to see the hockey community come together for one whole day.

It was really hard studying for this test that I had today for one of my elective classes for college. I do not wish that on anyone that had to go through the same thing. I had a test at 2.30. And of course, that's right when the Connoisseherry and Evan Rodriguez trade broke for the penguins. So, you know, I knew Jim Rutherford was going to do something like that. It never fails. And, you know, I never really have been busy on trade deadline day, but it was very, very annoying that I was this year and that I had to study for a freaking test

in my elective class. I hope I did well on it. But anyways, back to hockey. The penguins, of course, you know, acquired the first trade, Patrick Marlum for a third round pick that's going to be a second round pick in next year's draft if the penguins win the Stanley Cup. my overall thoughts on it. You know, I don't hate it. You know, I also don't love it per se. You know, I mean, there's one thing that you, who really gives a crap about.

And, you know, the, I'm just trying to get my words right here. The cost to acquire means nothing. He gave up a draft pick. He makes very little salary. I think it's like, what, below 900K here? That's nothing. He has 10 goals, 20 points this season. Obviously, Patrick Marl is not what he once was,

but, you know, they're paying him to be a third-line winger. That's what he's going to be, and I think it's going to be fine. The only problem, you know, the question that I have, a problem question, whatever, whatever, is like, are his hand still there? Because I feel like, you know, he's lost a bit of step in his game. He doesn't score like he used to. He can definitely skate.

You know, we're going to ask Jesse about that coming up in the next segment, but, you know, can he produce? And, you know, I think playing on the third line with someone like Jared McKenna, Patrick Hornquist, will help him. He's definitely going to be really excited to come here. This is probably one of his last opportunities to win the Stanley Cup. he's 40 years old. I also think when I hear this trade, it just screams like a Matt Cullen kind of deal.

Or if you guys remember way back when the Penguins acquired Billy Garron during 2008, 2009, that's what I feel like this is. And I think Billy Garan, of course, had more scoring punch at that moment in his career than Marlow does right now. Some people have been comparing this trade to Jerome McGinla. I completely disagree with that. That's not what this is at all. Jerome McGinla was better at the time. And they also played him on his off wing.

And I would never forgive Dan Bosman ford. doing that. So Dan Bosman, if you ever listen to this podcast, you suck for doing that. But yeah, I just, it's not, I like, I mean, I like it, but I just, I have some reservations. I just want to make sure that he can produce. And if he produces, you know what, you know, I'll eat crow. I'll eat all the crow. It won't be the first time I've been wrong. It won't be the last time I've been wrong. You know, I was way more wrong about the Brandon Tannib signing than probably a lot of other people were. You know, you're also talking to some. someone who also liked the Rob Skidari signing at some point. Yes, I actually endorsed the Rob Skidari

signing when Ray Sherro signed him. It was, yeah, whatever. I still can't believe that. You win some, you lose some. And those, a couple of those are big fat Ls for me. I'm hoping that Marlow will be really good in the penguin uniform. It sounds like his wife is really excited for him to be here. Apparently Patrick Marlow grew up a Penguins fan. And if you guys were seeing some of the pictures that she was posting on her Twitter page today of what Marlow looked at. like in those penguin sweaters, please go look at it. Christina Marlowe on Twitter.

Just absolutely hysterical. The Penguins' wives now are one of the best parts about the team. You love to see it. With Carly Zucker, Christina Marlowe, of course you have Latang's wife, Gino's, etc., etc. So that's awesome. But anyways, back to the hockey day.

You can also move Marlowe, I think, up into the top six if you need to be. There's still some injuries going on right now. Zach Astromis, of course, is out for a while. week to week, and then we don't know what's going on with Nick Bukstad, that we did make the road trip. I'm not even sure if there's really a place in the lineup for him when he comes back. But yeah, you know, I have my reservations, and, you know, let's see if he can produce. The other trade, of course, you know, the Penguins, it was a little unexpected. They traded Dominic Cahoon for Connor Sherry and Ivan Rodriguez.

Old pal Conner Sherry comes back, and yes, it is Connor Sherry, not Connor Sherry. He had to correct people when he went to Buffalo. That is, indeed, not Connor Sheary. it is Connor Sherry. So remember that, everyone. My thoughts on this trade, I thought in the moment I was like, wow, like they actually given up Dominic Cahoon. I was like, that's a little bit steep.

And then I was looking at some charts, you know, some underlying numbers. And, you know, Sherry and Cahoon are actually pretty similar. And I know people are going to say, like, well, you know Cahuna's more points. Well, Coon has also had a lot more top six minutes. Sherry has not had that in Buffalo. He's had a really decent season for Buffalo last season. He's had an okay season for them this season. He also knows the Mike Sullivan system very well, and you guys forget,

the Penguins really did not want to give him up a couple seasons ago. They had to do it for a cap problem, and, of course, it was for Jack Johnson. So, I mean, yeah, it was fine to give him up, just not for Jack Johnson. But they were able to get him back. They seemed really, really happy about it. You can plug Conner Sherry anywhere in the lineup, Cindy Crosby's wing. Excuse me, it is obviously going to be a big place for him where he might go. Bottom six, you can put him there.

Yeah, I'm excited about it. You know, people are going to say like, oh yeah, he falls down, man. Now he doesn't. It's really not that often that he does it. So I don't know why people have to keep saying that. Evan Rodriguez, I think, is pretty crafty. I know he only has five goals this season in 38 games. He's also coming off a near 30-point season with the Sabres last season.

So there is some talent there. He's also only 26. I believe he's an RFA after this season, if I'm not mistaken. So the Penguins will have an option to resign him. Goner Sherry is, of course, a UFA. So, you know, this just gives the Pets. penguins more depth. And the penguins are a lot more deeper now, I think, than they were 24 hours ago. I think Jesse is going to hopefully agree with me when I ask them about that in the next segment.

But they added three forwards and they gave up one. And, you know, if you look at the penguins trade deadline acquisitions at a whole, this is what, you know, they got versus what they gave up. Acquired Jason Zucker, Patrick Marlowe, Evan Rodriguez, and Connor Sherry in exchange for a first-round pick in this year's draft. Alex Galcenaic, a third round pick in next year's draft, which could be a second, and Dominic Cahoon. I'm sorry, that is a win in my book for the Penguins, and I don't know how you could argue otherwise. I know a lot of people are pretty high on Dominic Cahoon, but, and he was good, but the thing with Cahoon is I felt like he was a little just too streaky for my liking. You know, he had those 11 games where, you know, he didn't look he was fitting in, and then he

all of a sudden he lights it up with eight goals and 18 games. I wrote about this today for fans attitude, You guys can go check it out. And then he has a stretch where he goes two goals in 21 games. Of course, the concussion doesn't help. But still, even without the concussion, he was still barely not scoring. And, you know, I think, you know, that's kind of maybe driving Mike Sullivan a little bit nuts a little bit. But, you know, it's just, it's not the end of the world if, you know, you're trading Dominic Cahoon for two debt players in return who actually can produce. And, you know, if we're really, you know, one of these, I saw one of the best tweets from Penn's Twitter today.

You know, Eric Emanity, you know, he said, he said one of a good buddy, when you're arguing over reasonably comparable bottom six players, your roster is in a good spot. That is probably one of the best tweets I have ever seen on Twitter.com. That's just, that is it in a nutshell. When you are arguing over reasonably comparable bottom six players who produce almost at the same rate, you have a very, very good roster. And oh yeah, guys, the Penguins are also getting back, John Marino and Brian Dumlin in the next week or two. They're on this road trip. So, excuse me. They're going to get those two players back, and this deadline is going to look even better for the penguins when they do.

So, yeah, I think this, for me, this deadline is about a B for the penguins. I think they could have maybe aimed higher for the Marlow trade. Maybe they didn't have to give up Dominic Cahoon, but still, they're a lot deeper than they were 24 hours ago. This makes them now 14 forwards deep when the team is fully healthy. Hell, it makes them 15 forwards deep if they get Jake Ensel back for the Stanley Cup final. Just remember that, everyone. All right, so I'm pleased to welcome. Jesse Marshall from The Athletic, you know, when I started out this podcast,

he was definitely on the list of people that I wanted to get on the podcast at some point during the season. And what better than to be on trade deadline day? So, Jesse, thank you so much for coming on this episode of Lockdown Penguins. It really does mean a lot. A problem, it's, there's no shortage of stuff to talk about today, so happy to do it. Yeah, absolutely. Let's just get right into it. The Patrick Marlow trade, you know, I said in my earlier segment, I'm still kind of,

I want to see if he can still produce. I know he has 10 goals, 20 points. I know you have a video piece you said coming out tomorrow about Patrick Marlowe. What are your thoughts on the deal overall? I mean, first of all, I'm not really concerned about his ability to fit into the system, right? I mean, you just got to think it was only last year he was keeping up with the Leafs, who, you know, last season were arguably a faster team than the Penguins were. So the wheels are there.

I'm not worried about his ability to keep up at all. Yeah, I think, you know, just in watching Tape Hunter, like, the sharks are so bad defensively. Yeah. They're awful, right? They're really terrible. Everybody's out of sorts. I mean, as you watch him play, it doesn't look very cohesive. But because, you know, Marlowe is at that experience at center.

So I think if there's any problem with him defensively, it's that he leans on those center tendencies. But I also, Hunter, think that sometimes he's doing that because, everyone else is out to lunch. Right. So, like, where's the most threatening part of the ice, the middle, right? The slot. That's not necessarily his responsibility, but just in the games I've watched so far, I've found him there more often than not, and it's sort of like out of necessity.

So these defensive numbers for him look really bad. They looked bad in Toronto, too. I think that's the biggest concern in all of this. But I'm also having a hard time identifying, like, what it is. within his game that's the problem. I kind of just have a tendency to think it's more about the sharks than anything. Because I'm not, like, I'm not seeing deficiencies. I think as long as you set, like, the right expectation here.

This is, to me, like, a Bill Guerrin move. That's what I was thinking, too. It sounds like a Matt Cullen, Billy Garron, when they got him in 2009. You know, I think Billy Garron, I think, had, of course, more production at the time than Marlowe does now. But, you know, it just screams that kind of move. For instance, there was a stretch in December where the sharks went 1 and 10 and scored more than two goals in one of those performances. So like I just, I look, it's bad. Yeah, they only scored two goals in that stretch four times.

So it wasn't, like, there's a multiple one goal performances in there. And what I thought was interesting is in looking at the data. the sharks aren't generating a whole lot consistently offensively but marlow has so even where they've had tickups and they haven't scored and the team's been in you know in shambles in a lot of ways every night you get this sort of solid baseline performance for him and I think as long as we acknowledge that his best fit is in the bottom six as a third or fourth liner that's where he's going to make the most of his hey and he's a guy who I think you could pull playing him with Teddy Bluger and have a really strong defensive presence with like a

Brandon Tanev. I think that you could you could sub them in with Krosby and Malkin when needed. I thought what stood out to me the most so far tonight is how many long shifts he takes for his age. He's not a guy who just bales. He's out there sometimes like a minute 20. Oh my Lord. Wow. Just making sure. But you'd think like the sharks spend a lot of time in their own So some of that is symptomatic of like he's in his own zone. He can't get out. So when he gets the puck on his stick, he's not just going to dump it. Like he's got to try to create something.

So I think the only other thing I would mention, I've gone on a ramble here. But the only other thing I'd mention is super unreliable hunter when it comes to carrying the puck in the zone. I think that's the one thing. He's better suited as a guy that's a four checker that's generating the turnover than he is the guy that you want to give it to him on the wing and let him do all the legwork. I think he struggled there. Not, not again because of speed. It just hasn't been his forte. He's retrieved pucks like crazy.

I mean, he can get in on the fort. You know, that's not been a problem. The carry-in part hasn't worked out for him. He's been super unsuccessful with it. So I think he could get it to the Blue Line Hunter, but once he gets it there, it all falls apart. So I think it's, again, just framing this overall, as long as the deployment is correct,

I think the penguins have a very fruitful bottom six player here. Yeah, and that sounds like, you know, it sounds like a little bit like Patrick Hornquist, I could kind of say he's not really good. I think carrying it in sometimes. He likes to dump it in a bunch as well. And then I also saw people wanted to put, I think, McCann with Marlowe and they maybe use Hornquist down there.

I could see that. I know that they want McCann at Third Line Center a long term. I think that's, I think that's believe, why they required him in the first place. I still don't know what they're going to do with Nick Bukstad. They could play him with him. I'm really excited to see how he plays down there. I think him with Bluger would be really good.

Teddy is really good defensively. I know his face-off has been really good lately too. I'm really excited about it. To that point, to that point, having a guy like a Marlowe on a line with Bluker inherently allows him to be more aggressive on face-offs. Because if he gets kicked, he knows Patrick Marlowe's coming in to take the draw.

Yep. Which, no offense to Brandon Tanev, not great at that. It's just not what Brandon Tannenham's strength is. So, I mean, to me, you kind of get the, you buoy him a little bit with some really good younger defensive players. Same time, you give him the opportunity to bolster Blugers face off work. I mean, I just think it works out in that sense.

I mean, the fact that he can skate is what makes this great because there's nowhere he's out of place. I mean, again, I don't think that he's a solution to the top six long term in any way. But again, spot starts and stuff, you know, ends along shifts, you know, power play comes out. You know, he can jump in there and play a role. So I think as long as you've got him with the right guys, you know, it's an improvement. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I'm really excited to see him play.

Before we get to the next trade, Jesse, there was some rumors over the weekend that the penguins were, you know, interested in Wayne Simmons. And when I heard that, I was just like, what? Not only is he slow, but he doesn't really fit what the penguins were looking at. for Jesse were they ever actually interested in him or was that just like a pipe dream kind of i look you know people hear things from people and stuff flies all over the place i i've poked around about it today and the answer i got was no is that that was never okay that was never something the penguins you know now i will tell you this like sometimes people drop stuff out there um in an attempt to drive prices up somewhere else it's very political uh you know how it is

yeah so i it's one of those things i mean i you know i i you know i i you know i i i you know i i asked this morning. It seemed like the sense that I got Hunter of the way that this all worked, like to map it out, was the Penguins were interested in Connor Sherry last week. And I got the sense, and if you noticed today, all the business Jason Botrell did was with his former bosses. And I kind of got a weird vibe from that because there was like a sense from people that Boswell was being a little bit unreasonable maybe in areas. So I feel like the Penguins came into last night having nothing on Connor Sherry. They made a hard left-hand turn to Patrick Marlowe, got that done. They went back to the drawing board on Sherry and were able to

actually get something accomplished at the final hour. So I don't, but to your point, I don't think Wayne Simmons was ever a part of any discussion for the reasons that you mentioned. Okay, well, at least that's good but yeah Jason Barrel had a very interesting day as the Sabers GM I was you know trading for Wayne Simmons is always funny and then the reasoning for Simmons going there

I just I probably laughed about that for five to ten minutes because they think they can make the playoffs which is probably not going to happen but uh anyways I'm getting off track here but it's crazy because like last week he complained nobody wanted to dance with him yeah he was expressing this public frustration

and I'm just thinking you know And look, Dominic Cahoon, I'm sure we'll get to this in a second, but it could give up for Connor Sherry. You have to wonder if that's where you ended up. What was it before? Right? Like, where was the starting point? Exactly. Because this was something that went on over a period of days.

Like, it took a long time to get to the end point. So, you know, I have to question if maybe there were like picks involved at one point. And then I think maybe, you know, it could have been honestly Hunter, and I don't know this for sure. But maybe when Jim Rutherford traded that pick to San Jose, Jay, Jason Bottero knew he wasn't going to get it. And then that started the conversation all over again. And I could see it going like that just based on the timetable. But, yeah, it's been an – yeah, it's interesting the way it all worked out.

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, now we can just get to the next trade. Jesse, there was a lot of people on Penguins Twitter today that, you know, when they traded Dominic Cunit, the Penguins fans do this for some players. You know, it's like that we traded Jesus or Wayne Gretzky in Jesus. Or Kalin Addison for going to things. I mean, it was like, I mean, I like Dominic Cahoon. I think he's a good player.

I also think he's streaky. I wrote about this in my article today for when I broke down the trade. You know, of course, he started out, I think, scoreless in his first 11. Then he had eight in his next 18. And then he had the 2 and 21 stretch. And of course, it sucks that he had the concussion. That always will derail part of your season. Excuse me.

But, you know, it just seemed like people were really overreacting to trade in Cahoon. And I also think, this is just me speaking, that. This also had a lot to do with them being cap crunch at the end of this season with RFA's, because McCann is going to be eligible, Simone, Murray, Jari. And I think they made the choice that we're choosing McCann and Simone over Cahoon. And we can also just get two players for him right now who honestly are, you can make the argument that they're just as good. I mean, what do you think about this deal? So, I didn't know Dominic Coon scored 40 goals this year.

Let's start there. I'm blown away by the reaction to this trade. So, and look, I get it. Dominic Coon was an RFA, right? But you have got to give me something that tells you that the penguins are going to sign him. Mike Sullivan consistently demoted him to the fourth line. Or scratched him all together, right? Like, there was a serious, serious issue.

And I don't know what it was. I don't know what the cause was. I didn't see anything alarming. It was a confusing thing for me, but I don't think the Penguins, yeah, I don't think they were resigning him. Yeah, I completely, right. It leaves you with a situation now where, you know, I know a lot of people seem to complain that Conner Sherry is not having the most impactful year. I would argue that the Stapers are also not very good. They're a team that isn't really great at generating a bulk of scoring chances.

you know, when you look at Connor Sherry in the context of that and you start to adjust for things like teammates and deployment and environment, he's arguably a more impactful player than Dominic Kahun this year. Now, people don't want to hear that because people focus on points and points are important and goals are important, but they're also random hunter. So like there's a process that gets us to those, right? The process for Connor Sherry, I would argue, is as sound or more sound than it is for Dominic Kahun. throw in the fact that I would say that Cahoon struggled to meld into what the penguins are. It took him a while to get there. Even when he did get there, the penguins didn't seem to trust him in it. We know Connor Sherry can fit into this system.

And then when you add in getting Rodriguez, who in and of himself, you know, I think it's a player who's been looking for a good opportunity and I think is better than some of the depth players the penguins have, it's a two for one deal. So today the Penguins got three players. We're not going to look at this as a Cahoon for Marlowe thing, but would you rather have Connor, Sherry, Patrick Marlowe, and Evan Rodriguez, or would you rather have Dominic Cahun? To me, this is a no-brainer. I mean, Dominic Cajun is not good enough to tell me that having him is more valuable than having the aforementioned three.

It's just a numbers game to me. And knowing how this team gets hurt, hurt, knock on wood, something happens down the stretch. You're not in a position where you've got to have Anthony Angela take a regular shift to the playoffs. Yeah, absolutely. And I have to look this up. I don't know off the top of my head who his most common line mates were in Buffalo. I know for damn sure it probably was not Jack Iko or Sam Reinhardt. And with the year that Jeff... Oh, Johansen, Johansson's up there, I think. Okay, yeah. I have him. Yeah, I didn't look at it. I know he's in there somewhere.

I didn't think there may be a dose of Jeff Skinner in there But if you think about that Hunter Like Jeff Skinner is a pure finisher, right? A great one at that, a sniper. But like, I don't know that the best player to play with Connor Sherry, you know, and it's, so I think you could really, honest to goodness, put him on any wing in Pittsburgh.

It doesn't really make a difference. What side he's on. And, you know, I know there's a lot of jokes about I'm falling down a lot with something I really particularly notice. But I mean, I think that he's still a player that can help you drive offense and create shots of scoring chances and Benz solidly sound defensively throughout the year.

Yeah. I think they're going to, what my guess is, they may start them with Crosby with Zucker. And then, you know, they always like to rotate that. And then, you know, I know Crosby loves playing with Dominic Simone. It's just so obvious that they really, like they click together. I like that line. I just, I can see them flip-flopping and putting Simone on the fourth line. But then I just, I always, they just always do that.

I know people like to harp on poor Dominic Simone, and, you know, if goal scoring was easy, he'd be doing it all the time. I found it interesting, Hunter, the conversations today, Dominic Simone was as discussed today as any Penguins player. I saw that. That was ridiculous. It was just like, I felt like in my replies were very Simone heavy, and not just because of him wearing number 12.

It seems like, you know, a foregone conclusion that will stick with Crosby, but I mean Look like you said that If you put Concher-Sherry with Crosby We know that it works We've got a historical precedent for that And you know here's the weird thing Like the penguins

Jason Zoker has to continually progress And there's more he has to learn But I think he's been fine Like I think so too You look at an area pass He laid out for Crosby That was disgustingly beautiful Ridiculous

Yeah So I mean I am I got no complaints Yeah I would really like to watch that line. And then for Rodriguez, you know, I think he was coming off almost a near 30-point season for the Sabres last season. Saw Joe Yarden, Sabers reporter. He said apparently he had requested a trade right before the new year. Didn't look like he was getting any playing time. I think he's, he hasn't even played in 40 games this season. So have I read it right that he's been basically

a healthy scratch for a lot of these games? Yeah, no, 100% true. Yeah. And here's, you want a real, like mindblower, somehow or another Michael Frolek has been getting time over Evan Rodriguez. So what I found interesting today was like it seemed that 50% of the Sabres fan base was happy to be rid of Rodriguez.

And then the other 50% was kind of frustrated that he didn't get any playing time. I wonder what Duane did. Yeah, my sense is that he fits in that he's fast. He's uptempo. Yes. Plays heavy, can hit.

doesn't have really much in the way of hands. But, you know, ironically enough, me, like, people, here's what I walked away with. I walked away with the impression of some of the same things people said about Jared McCann. Now, I'm not here to tell you Rodriguez can do what McCann does, but I felt like the descriptions were applicable to both players. I got to sink my teeth that is some tape on it.

Probably the player that I am going off word of mouth of the most. Yeah, I need to watch more with him as well. I know he hasn't had the best production this season, but like I said, you know, he hasn't been playing a lot. And like you said, for some reason they have Michael Frolic in the lineup over him, and he's been absolutely awful. Another thing I do wanted to get to real quick, is there a spot for poor Nick Bukstad, man? You know, he's on the road trip. He's hopefully coming back soon. He's only appeared in 10 games this season.

Is there a spot for him in the lineup with all these four, I think that's about 14 forwards now when fully healthy? I'm not including Jake Gensel when he's on my own. So it's worth mentioning too, by the way, like a lot of people freaked out today about Jake Gensel and said things like, oh, like this dunes him to never coming back. There's no cap in the playoffs on it. Like this thing. Like people are to remember that they do whatever the heck they want at that point. It doesn't make a difference. So this doesn't have anything to do with Jake Gensel.

I don't know, man. Like a line of Patrick Marlow, Nick Bueckstad, and Patrick Hornquist. pretty frustrating. That would be a lot of fun to watch. I guess the question is this, right? Like, Nick and Buestad has just been lingering around this organization for like a month. He's been present. He's been on the ice.

He's been skating by himself. We know that he had a core muscle problem. I think the question is like, you know, with John Marino and Brian Dumlin, they're going on the trip because I feel like they're at a point where, like, contact. is imminent and it's just like the next step of the process but i don't like get that sense of nick buchstad it's kind of just continuing to linger so i think it's less about whether or not there's a spot for him and more about whether or not he can play um you know i that's concerning i mean it's been a long time that he's been out of the lineup um and it you know you know

sidney crossey came back and even he had i think probably like a two to three game dip right after he got back where it was like you could see he was acclimating again Yes, absolutely. And that's Sidney Crosby, right? It's the best player, like, arguably in the world. And that's not Nick Bugstead. So I just don't know, man. Like, I don't know there's been no status on his health at all.

Nothing formal anyway. So I just think for me the question is health more than is space. I mean, it's obvious, you know, I think if there was just nothing there, they would have tried to get rid of him today. Yes. So the fact that they held on to him says something. We'll see what that something is. Yeah, I mean, I hope that he can come back.

I think, I mean, I want to see more of him to see what he can do in this lineup. And, you know, like you said with Dumlin and Marino, you know, I want those two guys back more than ever. You know, I probably can't watch this defense anymore with Jack Johnson on the top pairing and just Jack Trotman on the third pair. It's just, it hurts my eyes. Here's the problem, right? Like, if you've said to me, like, are you going to take out Teddy Bluger at the expense? Like, is Teddy Blugher coming out at the expense in at Bukestat? Yeah.

I don't know that the answer to that question is yes for me. Like Teddy Bluger has been very good, very good. And I know that like there's this perceived drop off for him offensively, but like, the penalty killing and the role playing stuff that he does. His defensive point is through the roof. Yeah. So I, you know, I don't know that that's a yes for me. I think that's, I'm concerned.

You know, that's a big question. Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. Yeah. I mean, I've really liked the way that Teddy has really come up this season. It makes me really happy. I still kind of last season, I'm still kind of aware that he was not playing that role because they, for some reason, wanted to give it to Matt Cullen,

because Matt Cullen was still kind of a corpse, I think, at the time. That's probably a little mean to say to poor Matt Cullen. It's just nostalgic, you know. We love Matt Cullen on this podcast. Yeah, but yeah, I was talking about the defense as well, Jesse. It's going to hurt my eyes if I can't see more than one person. and make a good breakout pass because I need those two back in the lineup now. And hopefully it comes within a week or two.

I was listening to Jim Ruther for today. Sounds like it's getting closer. Yeah, when they're on the trip. I mean, you know, Saturday was big. Saturday is the day that they got the formal update about both players. So if that report was anything less than positive, you're probably looking at a situation. and think about how horrifying this is,

where it's Connor Sherry and Marco Scandella and not Conor Sherry and Rodriguez. That's terrifying, man. Even in like a Mark Strait kind of role, I don't want Marco Scandella on the Penguins. So the fact that Jim Rutherford didn't get a defenseman today is a sign that these guys are going to be back, you know, sooner rather than later. Yeah.

And that's huge. It's just huge. You can't say enough about it. Boy, do they need it. Like I said, I need to watch someone other than Crystal Tang actually make a breakout pass. And, you know, actually, Marcus Pedersen. Actually, Marcus Pedersen, had a rough game, but he's been okay as of way. But lastly, Jesse, you know, with these additions to the, of course, to the lineup,

how far could you see the penguins just going? Like, how do you see them stacking up to these teams? I guess my real question is, how do you see them stacking up to the other contenders in the east, like a Tampa, Boston, or Washington? So, I mean, like, let's assume for a moment that you have Brian Dumlin and you have John Marino. Let's just, and we can just even throw Nick Abug's dad to the wayside for a minute. Let's just assume he never comes back or something happens. You know, you're looking at Latang Dumlin.

We know that that's reliable, and we know more than ever now that Latang really needs him. I just don't think there's another defense on the team that understands Chris Latang the way that Brian Dumlin does and knowing when to give him to puck and where to be. his default and all that comes with that. John Marino really booed up Marcus Pedersen, and the two of them really seemed to understand each other. That was a phenomenal pairing when it was healthy, which makes your third pairing Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz, and knowing how Mike Sullivan deploys his third pairing,

those guys are going to be fine. They're fine. I really do. I have no concern about that. I sure hope so, man, because poor Justin Schultz, man. Here's the thing, Justin. Poor Justin Shultz, man. Here's the thing, Justin.

Here's the thing, Hunter. They were at their best in those low minutes, right? And these are the minutes that, like, Chad Ruby and Uso-Reckel or can eat up, right? So they're going to be out there with the heavy hitters defensively on the forward side. You know, they'll get deployments with the Crosby line, which, you know, you can't, you know, what I mean by that is they're, they kind of get the extra, the extra, the bump from them from time. to time where, you know, they're going to lift that pairing up a little bit. So, you know, look, I think they'll be, I really honestly think they'll be fine. Defensively have no concern.

And if one of them goes down, you know, Chad Ruehle is more than serviceable or use or Eureka for that matter. Goaltending, I'm not, I'm not worried. They have two really good guys right now. The forward depth is almost insane. I think that they batch up great against the caps. Excuse me. I'm not really worried.

about that. I think at a seven-game series, the Penguins just going to be too much for the Caps to handle defensively. I think the team, honestly, that worries me the most is probably Tampa. And it's just because Tampa seems to be able

to open up a game that tempts the Penguins into all their worst habits, right? Whereas, like, you always think Boston's more heavy, they're more methodical, they're more conscious defensively. They don't open, you know, they don't open, And they don't open games up like that. You know, Tampa almost like they want to get into that track race with you.

And you would think that would benefit Pittsburgh. But I actually think it exposes them in their worst areas. So, I think it's, you know, they can be, you know, disciplined. And they can, you know, kind of play Tampa the way they did in game six and seven of the 2016 finals. They can beat them. You know, I truly believe that if the penguins could get back to those good habits and if Dumblin and Marino have the effect that we think they're going to have. They're going to be as tough as out as anybody is.

Yeah. And, you know, of course, you know, the big thing with Tampa is, you know, are they going to actually not be a paper champion as some people would like to say, though? I think them against Boston, that's going to be absolutely ridiculous, though. I mean, I think with Boston, it's just they, like, they bring something out in the penguins that for some reason I just, I just don't like about it. And, like, I feel like they're, the only team that can kind of get. get under their skin a little bit. I think it's always been like that. And also, that's a team that, I mean, also,

I've never really seen the Penguins win a playoff series against. I think some, I saw some talk about, you know, that it's the last, it's one of like the last hurrahs of Bukrano's Marcos, you know, beating the Big Bad Bruins. And, you know, if they were to get to them in the conference final, I think it will be a really cool series. I think I would like the Penguins in that series. It's just,

something about the Bruins, man. I just, I don't trust. especially with the Bergeron, Aposton, Marshawn line that just gives me the creeps. I just, it's so good. And, yeah, I just, I'm really excited to, you know, watch this team going forward that hopefully they're going to get healthy. There's no more injuries and all that.

But, Jesse, I really appreciate you coming on this episode, man. This was a lot of fun, great insight on all the trades. And I'll be also really looking forward to your piece tomorrow on Patrick Marlowe. I'm really curious to see the video. Like you said, I know the sharks are a terrible defensive team. They lost Eric Carlson for the season, and they also have a bunch more injuries. They're goaltending. That is absolutely atrocious, too.

I feel bad that they keep trotting out those two guys. But yeah, thank you so much for coming on, man. I really appreciate it. Anytime, I appreciate it. Yeah, so I'll another episode coming tomorrow. I'll figure out what I'm going to do for that. I'll make it up on the fly probably. So keep it right here on Locked on Penguins, and we'll talk to you guys tomorrow.