Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - NHL Draft Lottery Chaos, plus do the players even want to return?

Episode Date: June 30, 2020

Locked On Penguins is back this week as Hunter dissects what happened with the NHL Draft Lottery on Friday night. He discusses what it means for the Penguins as if they lose to the Canadiens, they would have a 12.5% chance of getting the number one overall pick in the draft. Hunter also talks about a report from Eric Engels today as he was talking to players about returning to play and how a bunch of them aren't to keen on it. Also with the new CBA agreement coming, is the NHL finally going back to the olympics? Find out on this episode of Locked On Penguins. 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, welcome to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Happy to the last day of June. Tomorrow will be July 1st, which, you know, I'm sad tomorrow is not going to be like the normal July 1st, where, you know, we would be glued to our phones starting around 9 a.m. in the morning until about 3 or 4 p.m. as it would be a typical free agent frenzy with Bob McKenzie,

P.M. McGuire, Elliot Freeman, Frank Cerrevelli, a bunch of others would just be tweeting out the contracts that a lot of players will be signing on that day. July 1st has always been one of the best days. I've always made it known to, like, the workplace that I've worked at like the past few years that, yeah, I'm going to take off July 1st. And when they ask why I'm like, you know, just for family stuff, not knowing that, you know, it's just a full day to just stalk Twitter the whole day.

But, yeah, that day is just so much fun. It sucks that we're not going to have our first three-age of energy on July 1st. this year but um here's hoping we do get a big free agent frenzy at some point this year whether it's an october november whenever but still i thought i would um talk about that for just a little bit to open up this show as always the show is brought to you by bill bar and yeah we have a lot to get today it's been a while since i spoke to you guys uh what was it Thursday yeah i didn't have an episode on friday i was going to record one with a buddy on Friday but um he couldn't at the last minute so we were going to do like a live like well not alive but um just a post um

lottery reaction, but I guess I'll just give you that right now. Oh man, that was fun to watch. I don't know about you all, but that was just fun to watch, especially because the senators, they had those two top five, top 10 picks. And so one of the senators picks gets put in there. It's like, okay, you know, the senators, they'll probably pick top four or whatever.

And the funniest part of that whole thing was the number four spot comes up for the lottery. And it's like, oh my God, if this is Detroit, Twitter is going to melt, Red Wings fans are going to melt and it's just, I had the the Locked-on live show where the two Red Wings guys pulled up and I'm just like,

oh my God, if they are number four here, I cannot wait to see the reaction. Sure enough, Twitter blew up. The two Red Wings guys on Locked on Red Wings, they blew up and you know, all the conspiracy is coming out, you know, it's rigged, you know, fix the lottery system.

It was hilarious to read. And, you know, in a way, like, I do really feel bad for Red Wings fans. You know, a team that was one of the worst teams in modern NHL history. I mean, God takes people, they didn't even win 20 games this season. They were just a truly awful, awful hockey team. You cannot put their suckness just in two words just because they sucked so, so, so bad. I think it was what, 17 wins.

It was the actual number. I know it was below 25. I believe it was around 17 wins. Yeah, that's pretty embarrassing. I don't know if they should do it the way the end. NFL does. The NFL just rewards the worst team for being, you know, bad. They get the number one overall pick. But, you know, there might be some changes that they may need to do to the lottery. I mean, I do think it is kind of bullshit. I mean, I guess we'll just get into it now that a team like

the Penguins or the Maple Leaf. So the Oilers, if they lose their play-in series game, they will each have, if all three of those teams lose, they will each have a 12.5% chance to win the number one overall pick. I'm sorry. That's not really fair. I mean, it would be funny if the Penguins somehow won it, you know, we're going to get into that talk in a little bit here, just because, you know, the conspiracies would come out, but still, them winning it, or Toronto or Edmonton, especially Edmonton, after how many number one picks, they've won. Just them winning it, it just wouldn't sit well with me, and I'm sure, of course, a lot of people, too. Now, when it's sit with people with team chaos, absolutely, team chaos is always funny, but a team like the Red Wings who has been

desperate for another franchise player in Alexis Leffron year, the fact that they're going to pick forth and a team from the play-in losers that basically made the playoffs this season or, I mean, if we weren't in a pandemic, a team that was potentially going to be a playoff team in a 16-team playoff is going to get Alexis left in year.

Yeah, that's pretty embarrassing. You know, it's not really a good look for the league. Of course, you know, when you have the number three picks, it was like, okay, you have the playing team is at the top three pick, then you have L.A. and Ottawa. I'm like, okay. You can't, you cannot have the playing team get the number one pick, right?

Ottawa gets three, it's like, okay, so let's, everyone, then everyone's like, okay, if Los Angeles gets two, it's going to commence. And like I said, sure enough, it happened. Los Angeles gets two. I mean, they're still going to get a really, really good player in number two. I think they're going to get Quentin Bifeld. That's just, that's what I'm reading, and that's what I'm seeing on a bunch of kings' websites, a bunch of mock drafts and all that.

And, I mean, the kings are going to be pretty decent, I think, in the next few years, especially if they're able to shed Drew Dowdy's contract and maybe shed Jonathan quick. They have a really deep pool of prospects. Copatar is still on Zay Copartar. Dustin Brown is still okay. Yeah, they're young too. They're going to be good, I think, in the next maybe three to four years with the way Rob Blake is rebuilding that team.

I've actually really liked the way he's doing, but still. What a weird, crazy NHL draft lottery night. That was absolutely hilarious. So I guess we can get into an alpha. What does it mean for the penguins? So obviously, you know, if penguins win, they move on. They're not in the draft lottery.

if they lose to Montreal, like I said, they have a 12.5% chance to win the number one overall pick. Basically, so whoever loses the play-in series, they will have a second draft lottery. The eight teams, they'll have an equal percent chance. They'll draw one team out of however they do the lottery, and that team will get the number one pick in the NHL draft. So this begs the question for a lot of people are seeing, well, should the Penguins tank this series? You know, should they just lose on purpose? No. I'm going to say no.

I'm someone I hate losing more than I love to win, even though it's during a pandemic year where there's, you know, who knows who's going to win and who knows if we're going to have a season. We're going to have more on that going up in the next segment, actually. But still, you know, I'd much rather be Montreal. You know, Montreal's not good. Hell, I think Montreal, they should honestly tank this series

just because I think they need Alexis Lafranier. More than I think almost any team in that play-in, I think they definitely need him more than most. You know, the Habs, they need that next franchise player. I don't think they have that true number one elite talent on their team. I know they have a bunch of pretty good players, but still, they don't have like that elite player that Alexis Lepernier could be. So I think, you know, it would maybe be prudent for the Habs to lose that series and kind of tank it.

I mean, I know they're fans. You could read the tweets under the Montreal Canadiens Twitter. Lose, tank. Don't even bother showing up. Lose. Lose. Please stop. Don't win. It was really funny to read those. But still, if the Penguins, though, do lose the series and they get the number one overall pick, you all know just what conspiracies will come out. Oh my God, Gary Bettman loves the Penguins. Oh my God, it's rigged for the Penguins again, just like it was for Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby. Gary Bettman wanted to save the Penguins again when Cindy Crosby retires in seven years.

Same with Heddy Malkin. It will be the same recycle garbage that you've seen for so much. many years on Twitter.com. Now, I mean, of course, I would love it because I would just watch Twitter melt and it would be so on brand for what 2020 has brought us. But, I mean, do I think that the Penguins will get the number one overall pick? No, because I really don't think it's that likely that they would lose to the Montreal Canadians if they resume the season. The Canadians are just really not that good.

I know Kerry Price is, Carrie Price, but still he has not really been that good the last couple of seasons. And I think the Penguins stepped forward and their strength on defense besides Jack Johnson. they can be the Canadians, even though the Penguins do have a couple bit of questions in that, but still. So basically those are my thoughts on that and the whole draft lottery situation. Team chaos happened. It was absolutely hilarious. And can we see potentially more team chaos coming in the near future?

You know, who knows? So that's going to be really funny to see what happens with the second draft lottery. If the season is resumed now, if it's not resumed, apparently I think the four teams, I think it's based off how you do. did it in regular season. So I think it's teams 9 through 12 in the east that would have an equal chance and then 9 through 12 in the West. So I believe it's basically the 8 teams that would not

have been in the 16 team playoff. Would each have a 12.5% chance to win the number one overall pick. At least that's why I think I saw from Elliot Friedman. So just thought I would say that as well. Also guys, remember the Lockdown podcast network, we stand against racism and social injustice. That's why

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You'll get $10 off your first order. That's promo code lock. Off, $10 off at Billbar.com. All right, so we're back here on this episode of Locked on Penguins. So we've had some hub cities. Well, we've had some potential getting closed announcements. And then Bob McKenzie's like, well, no, they're not going to do this today. And then today's like, well, we could get one today.

And then it's like, nope, it looks like it's going to be delayed. I think they're basically just waiting for like the phase three and phase four protocols, basically. But Bob did say it sounds like they're down to four main cities. They're going to pick two of them. So Las Vegas, Toronto, Edmonton, and Chicago. So basically they're going to pick two of those four cities. Emily Kaplan actually of ESPN had a report today. Basically, she said it looks like Vegas and Toronto were expected.

I'm told that choosing the two Canadian cities is still not ruled out. I've said many times. I'll say it again for you guys. If you guys have not heard this from me say this before, that is what the NHL should do. I have no idea why they're bothering with Las Vegas. The spikes are really, really happening there right now. Though Emily and a follow-up tweet, she did say apparently

the NHL feels comfortable with the bubble environment that they will be able to create there. Really don't, I don't feel comfortable with that. I mean, you're just going to tell them, yeah, go to Vegas, but you're not going to be able to do anything. So, I mean, like, that's just, like I said, just do Edmonton. You know, there's not really not a lot to do in Edmonton anyway. You can put the West teams there and then put the East teams in Toronto. I mean, I don't really see how it's that hard. But, you know, the NHL loves to be complicated.

I saw a tweet yesterday, which was honestly so true. the NHL is honestly like procrastinating this the same way like a college or high school student is procrastinating like doing a test the day it's due or like turning in a final paper final exam the day that is doing waiting until about like 10 o'clock 10 30 11 p.m. at night. I thought that was absolutely true. I have to figure out who tweeted that. But that was one of the, I just got to find a tweet. But that was one of the best comparisons that I've seen because you know, I was very guilty of this back in school. I'm sure many of you guys that listened to this podcast have also done that at some point in your line. as well. But still, you know, we could be getting this at any second now. Who knows when the Hub Cities will be announced. There was also an interesting thread today. Eric Engels, who covers the Montreal Canadiens, you know, Sports and NHLB. He actually spoke to a bunch of, he was speaking with players about who are apparently are very concerned about a return to play. He had basically a whole tweet thread. This was very interesting to read, I would say. Apparently, Eric said, you know, one of his tweets, apparently one player said the majority of the players do

not want to return to play this summer. He estimated that about 75%, so three quarters. Though they're concerned with the financial pitfalls of that decision, they're more concerned about risking contracting the virus or getting a serious injury before cramming in the 2021 season. I mean, I 100% understand that. I mean, I do think you will see some players opt out of playing. I mean, with baseball, I mean, I'm a Washington nationals fan. Ryan Zimmerman, who has been with the franchise ever since it came back to D.C., you know, he's sitting out this season because, you know, he doesn't want to get. hurt and most of all he does not want to contract the virus and put his family and friends in

harm's way you know i 100% understand that decision i respect that decision i respect any decision from a player who does not want to play this considering they do not want to contract the virus and put some of their family and friends in harm's way it's 100% understandable you can rest up get ready for the next season um i did it was interesting with that point you know before cramming in the 2021 season that was what stuck out about that as well because of course you know they didn't show for some reason they wanted to do that for some reason they wanted to do a full 82 game season next year and that would start in like December

January and then that would probably not end until what? July what are you going to get rid of by weeks now? I mean that's just a mess waiting to happen. I think they may also have to shorten the next season too. You know you also had the test results come back yesterday. I think the first

results that came in I think 5% of the players that were tested tested positive and then yesterday it was up to 6%. Again, that's still too high. I had a couple friends me say, you know that's like on par with like someone like the national averages or the averages with other leagues. I'm like, I don't care. 6% is still way too high of a positive test rate.

It's just, that's not good enough for me. And I don't think that's good enough for a lot of people who, of course, want to see this war return, but not at the expense of this. Another tweet from Eric Engels, apparently a player told him that some of the calls of the Players Association have been a joke and that they have only revolved around the financial situation. That's a big yikes in the chat for me if they're only really discussing money. I mean, we all know the NHL is projected to lose so much money.

I think all the sports leagues are projected to lose a shit ton of money. But still, the fact that they're only revolving, according to a player, around the financial situation and not about the safety and stuff like that. That doesn't say well with me either. I think that's pretty embarrassing. There's also a text chain that Eric actually received from a player. So one player said to him over text, everyone is going to play, but no one will opt out.

The playoff bonus will be higher than ever. that's free money if we play. Hockey is a different culture than other sports. No one is opting out. So, yes, because of hockey culture, no one will opt out unlike the other sports where, like I said, you're seeing Ryan Zimmerman opting out of the nationals,

Ian Debs been opting out for this season as well as posting a very outstanding statement about some of the issues that's plaguing this country despite the pandemic that we're in. And, you know, like this is just like the problem. You know, like the players, they're going to just risk their long-term health because of the hockey culture,

and they know that this is a very terrible idea for them, but you know what? I guess they're just going to do it because, you know, just because of hockey culture and the way it is. And perhaps, honestly, like, the biggest tweet from this, Eric says, all players I spoke with are frustrated about being kept largely in the dark about how they'll safely be able to resume play. That is unacceptable on the highest levels.

How are you going to be keeping the players that play in this league in the dark about how you're safely going to be able to resume play. I really don't understand that. I think this is why these calls, they cannot be just an executive board call. You need to have a lot more players on these calls so that they can voice their criticisms, voice their concerns about all this,

and let the other players that probably are more positive about this, let them hear it so that there's another side to it. But I guess the executive board call is really not doing that, I guess. It just doesn't really make any sense. me. That tweet just really, really honestly pissed me off because, you know, if the players are being kept largely in the dark about it, that's just unacceptable. I mean, I think, I remember reading in Elliott Freeman's 31 thoughts. I think there's, there's going to be a whole vote that has to pass about this. I'm going to be curious to see if a lot of player concerns are brought up during

that vote, if some of those calls are going to get pretty raucous. I didn't see it in Freeman's thoughts report that apparently the Canadians call was pretty raucous. I mean, you did see me, you saw Carrie Price last week, guys, who the Penguins, of course, will play with the Canadians, if the season resumes. He didn't really seem like he was too thrilled with the season resuming that he has to leave his family. You saw, if you guys didn't see, he had a very heartfelt Instagram post about his family. You know that he has to leave his family to go to Montreal to start practicing again because training camps I think are expected to open now in 10 days.

I think it's about a week and a half now that training camps expected to open. But Bob McKenzie did say yesterday. I think they could potentially push that back three to five days. Elliot Friedman also said that in his 31 thoughts a few days prior to that. to say this though to wrap up this segment um i would love for live sports to return at some point this season i know a lot of you guys um would want live sports to return as soon as possible but you know we're not going to be able to do that until a lot more people start taking this pandemic more seriously it has been three months this thing is not going away it is spiking in so many parts of

this country right now i'm lucky that it's not in virginia i want people to stay the hell out of my state but still you know i know this is just me ranting but please when you go out wear a goddamn a mask and social distance. Please do not go out to bars and party your ass off. We're throwing house parties with all these people. You're just contributing to the problem. You know, at this right, you know, there's not, maybe not even going to be a college football season.

We're not even going to have fans allowed to be in the stadiums for NFL games, football games. Hell, we may not be able to have fans back in games for the 2021 NHL season, if we're just going to continue down this path. So please, limit the spread of this thing. Wear a mask when you go out, and please for the gut love of God social distance. We continue. If we do that, we will get fans back in games a lot sooner than later. I'll just, I'll end with that.

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us box so they know if you sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. That's rock auto.com. All right, for this last segment, I know I didn't record yesterday, but yesterday was the anniversary of the Phil Castle trade. Josh Joey of the Athletic wrote a magnificent piece on the trade. You know, some theories that were basically, I guess, rampant after the trade happened. He actually was able to speak to Jim Rutherford.

I think Rick Tocke was also interviewed for the story a bunch more. It was a really, very great story. I urge you guys to definitely check it out. Yeah, I mean, I still miss Phil Kessel a bunch. You know what I mean? But, you know, the thing with Phil Kessel is they brought him here to win championships and do his part. He did his part. And in a big way, he brought this team to more Stanley Cups.

And it was a wild, wild ride. I know it probably ended a little bit too soon. I wish we could have had maybe one more season in, but still. his play definitely declined a lot more than I think people would like to admit that it did. He was really not scoring at all at even strength this season. Just did not really look like the same player on the power play either honestly. I don't know if it's the fit in Arizona. You know, he also, like I said, he also could be getting older.

But still, he definitely just was not the same this season, though. Like I said, I still wish we could have gotten maybe one more season out of Kessel. And then I think he maybe looked to move it. But still, I mean, when you look at it now, I guess it all worked out. The Penguins now have Jason Zucker. were supposed to get Jason Zucker in that trade for Phil Kessel. That would have sent Jack Johnson on the way, but Victor Rass coming back with Zucker. So it all worked out.

The voniest piece from that article, I'll spoil this, though, is basically Rick Tocke telling the penguins that, yeah, guys, Alex Gautchenyuk is not going to fit your system. He's just not going to. He's going to carry the puck to the middle of the ice, which is what Cindy Crosby and Gennie Mughey, according to Josh Joey. And, you know, sure enough, he did that, and he did not fit. And he was shipped out before the trade deadlock. He didn't even last a year in Pittsburgh because he was just not good at all.

So, yeah, I mean, Rick talking, you know, he hit the nail on the head on that one. I will say that. We also saw some more pendants players getting back to Pittsburgh for the many more formal skates. I saw Patrick Marlow was back. I think Tristan Jari was officially back. I think Evan Rodriguez might be back too. I think he's, congratulations to his wife. She just had a baby.

So congratulations to him and his wife on the birth of their new kid. Also, some big news as I'm finishing. this recording of the Locked on Payments podcast. Some big news from Elliot Friedman. So the NHL and the PA, they've been trying to agree to an extension for the CBA, the collective bargaining agreement. I believe it has two more seasons right now. I believe it's going to be about a three to four year deal.

And in this article, Elliot Freeman says, from what I understand, as part of this agreement, if it's expected to pass, the NHL players will compete in at least the 2022 Olympic Games. And apparently there is a financial agreement with the International Olympic Committee. Apparently, prior to the pandemic, Elliott writes, the IOC indicated that we consider these incentives for the NHL and the PA to return to the Olympics after they did not go to South Korea in 2018.

Apparently, he also said we're expecting some kind of clarity about the negotiations over the next few days. Also, it's challenging to predict how the NHLPA membership will be act. Yeah, I mean, that's just how the NHLPA is, but still outstanding news if this passes, the NHL players will be back in the Olympics two years from now. That is absolutely monster news.

we would finally get to see Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid on Team Canada. They will probably smoke everyone. But still, Russia's team would be stacked. I think Team USA, if they make the right moves, they have a lot of young talent. They could be really, really good as well. There's a bunch of countries, I think, with the talent that's coming in the last few years, that could be really good. But still, I'll see any news I thought I would leave you guys with some really, really potential good news at the end of this episode. But still, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Locked on Penguins.

we're back tomorrow or Thursday with another episode so I haven't decided which days I am going out of town at the end of this week for my mother's birthday so I may try to just do tomorrow and Thursday then have the day with my family on Friday but you know it's still up in the air

so like I said thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Locked on Penguins and we will talk to you all potentially tomorrow