Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Noel Acciari and Lars Eller reveal the plans for the Penguins bottom six!

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

The dog days of summer have arrived but that doesn't mean there are not things to discuss! For this episode, Hunter is joined by Tyler Weeks of Around The 412 to discuss what Lars Eller and Noel Acciari had to say to the media on Tuesday. They look at how the plans for the bottom six were revealed and whether or not it's a good plan with a core that's a bit older. They look at the potential of a Nieto-Eller-Acciari line and whether that will be the third line heading into the year. After that, they look at what the backup plan is if the Penguins do not land Erik Karlsson. Could the team have interest in Matt Dumba? Will Jeff Petry be on the team at that point? Finally, they end the show with what the top games were this past season even though they missed the playoffs.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNHL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNHL for a free Yeti-style tumbler with your order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.AG1If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkAG1.com/NHLNETWORK.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) 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.

Lars Eller and Milichari spoke for the first time as members of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. And with that, revealed what the plans are for the team's bottom six heading into the season. I'll have my thoughts on that coming up right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode.

episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes, and follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at Elin-Ongle Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Joining me now is Tyler Weeks from around the 4-1-2, a special guest for the Tuesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast, someone who has not been on here in quite some time, but I figured he could come on after I had his co-host, Zachary Smith, on about a week and a half, go to recap free agency. But Tyler, really appreciate you coming on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast, the final Tuesday Daily Edition before it goes down to three episodes a week next week.

Exciting stuff for you there, Hunter. Thank you for having me on. This is my first time that I'm on by myself, like you mentioned. I had been on previously with Smitty, my co-host for Around the 4-1-2 as well. So thanks for having me on. Yeah, and I figured we could just dive. right into it here. So both Noel Achari and Lars Eller spoke to the media on Tuesday for the first time as members of

the Penguins. And it looks like Achari was told the plan for the Penguins bottom six heading into the season. That was probably the money quote from his little media Zoom conference that he had with some of the local media. And he said that Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan want more of a shutdown bottom six that can ship and he actually said that he takes being scored on personally. So what this means, I think, heading into the season is that you're going to see a pretty quote-unquote low event bottom six.

What I mean by that is nothing's going to happen at either end of the ice. You'll maybe get some offense from this unit, but you're not going to get a lot of teams scoring when the bottom six is on the ice. And that's a big deal, especially after the Penguins were a minus 20. last season when the Crosby and Malkin mines were not on the ice. When I look at that kind of plan, I think the penguins want to have the top six carry the load and think that Cindy Crosley,

Hedgani Malkin, and all the rest of those guys are going to continue to score at the paces that they did this past season. And if the bottom six can just not be bad in their own zone, there'll be a playoff team, excuse me. I think that's what the plan that they're going for is. What do you make of that? Yeah, that's something that I think

it's become more clear as the signings have came in for the Penguins because when you look at what we expected after the season, you expected a revamp of the bottom six, but I feel like as Penguin fans, we were mainly looking to get some more scoring, but I don't really think that's necessarily what we've gotten. We've gotten some guys that have had scoring in their past as players, but not only a lot of guys that have been chipping in quite a lot of goals recently in their careers. what you have had is guys that have been an massive improvement, I think defensively, like you were saying. And I think that that is the main thing that they were going for with the bottom six.

And if the plan is for them to go into the season with the expectation of Crosby and Malkin and Co. To really carry this team offensively again, I don't necessarily think it's a bad team considering that your two superstars came off point per game seasons. but I do think it is somewhat of a gamble, though, that you're not really trying to address scoring in that bottom six. You are getting better defensively,

but you're really expecting the 36 and 37-year-old to carry this team again up front. And I think that it's possible, and I think that you're building a team that is different than last year, but I actually mentioned this on our show. And I don't know that I can necessarily say their overall net better than what they were just a few months ago. I think they're better defensively on that bottom six.

But when I look at some of these guys like Achari and Nieto and Eller and some of the other guys they brought in, I don't see a lot of guys that are going to contribute on offense that much. And honestly, one of the guys that I expect to contribute the most offensively, assuming he gets the playing time in that bottom six role is Alex Nealander. That's who I would expect to drive the most offense to the bottom six. But based off of the guys that they're bringing in, I just see a more shutdown bottom. six and I think that's really what they're going for. I think it's a little bit of a gamble considering the age of some of your scores up front, but I do think that they are addressing the bottom six in a certain way. And I think it's very clear from all the signings that they've had.

That's the thing, Tyler. It looks like they actually have a plan for how they want the bottom six to look this upcoming season and not just, oh, we're going to throw crap at the wall and hope that a six, especially during the Iran Hextal era. You know, it's definitely a big risk considering Crosby and Malkin are a bit older now. They also played 82 games this past season, something that they've never done in the same season together. It's a big risk to think that they're going to just play at that level. Again, I mean, who says that they can't consider how great these players are?

But, you know, it's still a bit of a, it's still risky, I think, heading into the season overall. Lars Eller also spoke today to the media. And it sounds like he's going to be the third line center heading into the year, which is a little concerning to say the least. I like Lars Eller. Don't get me wrong. I think he's a perfectly capable fourth line center.

He's going to give you really strong defensive impacts. He'll give you really strong impacts on the penalty kill. But he's not going to score for you now. That's just not who he is anymore. There was a time where he was probably want to be better third line centers in the NHL, that time has passed. But when I look at, I guess, mock lines right now, it's hard to not think that the penguins are going to have maybe a third or fourth line.

That is Matt Nietto on the left wing, Lars Ellerett's center, and maybe someone like Noah Chari on the right wing. You can organize this any way you want. Maybe they'll want Jeff Carter on the fourth line to be the center there just because they like his face off ability, but I think he's better at wing now. Yeah. But that kind of line is what I think they may be going for. But man, if that's your third line and you want to contend, I don't know.

I mean, again, I like Eller. I just don't think he's suited to be a third line center. I think this team is still another center short. Yeah, I don't either because that's one of the positions I would have addressed in the off season to try to get some more scoring in your bottom six. And if Lars Eller is going to be your 3C, I think you're improved defensively, especially compared to like Jeff Carter at center last year. Jeff Carter in his age at 38 years old,

he's suited to be more on the wing. If he's going to bring any value to the penguins at this point, that's where it's going to come from. But in the transition game, Lars Eller can't turn. I mean, his skating, he can no longer turn anymore that fluidly. I think his defense is fine and his palely kill is fine, but I just don't think that he has the legs anymore to really offensively be what you would like out of a third line.

center. And so if that's going to be the case, that's fine. But that basically cements kind of what we were saying, where you are just really relying on Sid and Gino to provide all of the offense. And your bottom six is basically to shut down everyone else. It's prevent, it's prevent them from scoring and hope that your top guys are able to do so. And of course, get some goals from the bottom six on some nights where the top six just can't handle the load, at least score more than what the bottom six did last year where the bottom two wines only had 49 goals at five on five when the Cid line and the Gino line were not on the ice.

Very concerning to say the least. As for Oler Skating, Tyler, I think it was a bit better than what I thought it was when I went into some of the tape after the signing. It's not great, but it's not the tire fire. I think that I thought it was going into it. But at least we know the plan. I may not fully agree with it heading into the season, but They have a plan, and I think they're going to stick by it.

I would still like to see another score down there. But hey, they just signed Vinnie Hino Shroza. They just signed Andreas Yonson, two players who have scored at the NHL level throughout their careers. Janssen has a 20-goal season, also a 13-goal season. Hinesstrosa has a season where he scored almost 15 goals. I actually was going to get your thoughts on those two signings, Tyler. Do you think that both of those players could be everyday players for the Penguins this upcoming season? Or do you think it's going to be someone like an O'Connor or a Newlander

in there that can beat out both of those guys because I'm really looking forward to that competition. Well, O'Connor's situation is interesting because he's in arbitration right now and we are getting into the last day of arbitration. So I'm not sure what the whole situation with O'Connor is going to look like. Smitty and I on our show actually discuss whether we think could they potentially be dangling him as like a trade piece potentially. But I don't think that the two signings from this past weekend with Vinnie Hennistroza

and Andreas Yohant, or John. I don't really think that they're going to be everyday players because I look at the game totals that they've had last season. And they weren't even everyday players last season. I look at this as it's depth assurance for your bottom six. And it is Wilkesbury guys, if you're over the cap, which is what I look like now, because right now they're $2.3 million over the cap, which when I saw these signings, I was like, okay, we're just going for it. The cap doesn't exist to Caldubus.

And we're just going to keep signing these players. But you look at what they're making. it's like 775,000 and an 800,000. That's easily variable in Wilkesbury. It's not like you have to eat that money. So I think that it's depth-scoring guy or depth guys for your bottom six. I don't necessarily think they're everyday players, though. I think that the players that you signed more around the free agency window when it opened,

like Achiari and Nietto and Eller, all those guys, those are going to be your more everyday players. This is just more depth moves. Well, we're going to find out one way or another when training camp rolls around. in mid to late September. I might be higher on Janssen than some. I think he's a very underrated playmaker when I was diving into his film over the weekend. He threads the needle beautifully on the ice when he has the puck. So I'm excited about him hanging into the season.

I'm just excited about these changes as a whole. Even though this unit may not score that much, I still expected to score a bit more than the unit last season, and I don't think they're going to allow a lot of goals in the defensive zone. That wraps up this first segment. coming up in the second segment, what is the Penguins backup plan if Eric Carlson goes to the hurricanes

or if a mystery team comes out of the woodwork? We're going to dive into that with Tyler in the second segment. But before we get to that, take your first swing at betting MLB on Fiend, you'll get 10 times your first bet amount of bonus bets up to $200. That's right. Just bet $20 and you'll weigh in $200 in bonus bets,

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All right. We're back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am Hunter Hodes. That is Tyler Weeks from around the 412. So this Eric Carlson situation. I hate that I have to keep discussing it because. No one wants to do anything about it. And trust me, I know.

It's still no one knows what's really going on. There's a lot of reports out there saying, oh, he prefers the penguins. Maybe he prefers the hurricanes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I kind of think this is just a game of who blinks first. That's how I see it. Someone's going to have to blink. And then this show, I think, is really going to get rolling. But if the penguins do not get Carlson, what's the backup plan?

Do they go out and trade Jeff Petrie and sign someone else? Do they go into the season with this defense now? Do they sign a third line center and say, screw the defense, we're going to continue add to the Ford Group? What do you think is the backup plan? I don't think that they can go into the season as the roster sits and expect that to be okay. Like I mentioned last segment,

I view this team as is constructed right now, where there's not necessarily, a net positive based off of where they ended the season last season. I think it's different, and they're different in different areas. But I think that it's not necessarily a better constructed team overall, and it's not a team that I think is going to be pushing for a playoff spot right now. I still think as it sits, you are going to be fighting for that last playoff spot in the wild card, similar to they were last year.

And I think that, and I'll just touch on Eric Carlson myself, I am all for an Eric Carlson trade. And the reason being is because when you look at the way the bottom six is set up, like we were talking about, you were set up to shut down other teams offensively, but you're not really set up to provide a lot of scoring yourself. So what is a way to contradict that? You can sign a player like a trade for a player like Eric Carlson and open up the scoring on the blue line more. And that completely diminishes what problems you have with the bottom six scoring if you bring in a guy like Eric Carlson. As the Penguins sit right now, though, you're still exposed.

The player that we thought we were getting more offense from on the blue line is Jeff Petrie. That didn't really happen in 2022. So you have to look to improve off of that. I do think, in my opinion, they should trade for Eric Carlson. And I would look at moving Petrie out in that deal just to bring him in and have a replacement there because that replaces offensively what you're lacking in the bottom six. Now, as far as replacement goes, if the Eric Carlson trade doesn't work out, I still think they need to do something for the reasons I mentioned. I don't really know what players out there because I feel like everybody in the Penguins fandom is so focused on Eric Carlson now.

It's all or nothing. It's Carlson or bust at this point. So that's honestly where I'm at too. I can't think of a specific player that I would want outside of him. But if they don't get Eric Carlson, I do think that you need to add some score. whether that is to the blue line or the bottom six. I think that you have to. I don't think you can rely on the top six to carry them,

carry yourself like they did the entire season and not improve at least one of the two areas in the scoring department, whether it's defensively or bottom six. So they have to do something. I would still prefer that they improve their defensive scoring a little bit more. I think that they have slacked in their blue line scoring over the past couple seasons. And I think that's something that the past, penguins had when you look at those cup runs they had a lot of blue line scoring and chippins from

the defense and that's something that's lacked and i think that's part of the reason that they've they've kind of diminished their game a little bit so i do think i would improve the defense prior to improving the uh the scoring in the bottom six but like i said i'm on the eric carlson train and i am eric carlson is a penguin in my mind until he's not and i'm just waiting for the trade to happen and like you said it's waiting until someone blinks and i i i i i i I really think that the penguins are in on this one. I think it improves this team greatly. I think this is also an opportunity to get some money out

because you're expecting the sharks have to retain money. There's no way that they're probably going to bring in another team to even potentially retain more money. And so it's going to be a three team trade. But I think this is a great opportunity to get some contracts that you don't want like Petrie and potentially even like a grandlin if you could potentially match him up in the trade as well to get him out as well. But I think it's going to be really interesting to see how this one

unfolds because eventually I don't think you can get closer and closer to the season and wait for this happen. I think this is going to happen sooner than later. It's going to have to. I really think so. And for me, in terms of a backup plan, Tyler, I've seen people asking a little hunter, what do you think of Matt Dunba? He's so out there. He's been linked to Arizona a little bit, still below 30 years old, 28 coming off a contract where he made $6 million this past season with the wild. But his underwines have kind of just gone downhill a little bit. He's a player who only had, when he was on the ice, the wild only had 48% of the shot attempts, 49% of the scoring chances, 49% of the expected goal share,

49% of the high danger chances. If you go to transition-wise, he's decent when it comes to carrying the puck into the offensive zone, ranked in the 57% percentile this past season. Pretty decent in entry passes ranked in the 67th percentile, but he's not good at exiting the zone, only ranked in the 22nd percentile for possession exits only ranked in the 35th percentile for defensive impact at five on five. So I'm not really super big on Dumba as a replacement, especially if Carlson goes to the hurricanes and they send Petrie out in another deal.

I would rather just go for other options at that point. But yeah, I mean, this is the big thing that the penguins are waiting on. Eric Carlson, it's a standoff. That's what this is. The sharks are waiting for one of these two teams to blow them away. with an offer. And if both teams don't, they're going to probably have to circle back and be like, okay, which one do we like the most? Because again, the sharks have no leverage here. They never have. Carlson controls where he goes. He has a movement clause. And he already has said

he would go to Pittsburgh or Carolina when the player has all the leverage. The team is not going to get a lot in return. I have seen some wild trade packages. out there. I think people on Penguins Twitter, other places have said, oh, they could be giving up two first-round picks. In what world are the Penguins giving up two first-round picks to a team that has no leverage? And I saw

Owen Pickering was in a package. Yeah, I believe the package that you're talking about, we brought it up on our show too. It was a three-team trade, and it didn't mention the other team, but it was Mikhail Greenland, Jeff Petrie, P-O-J, two-first, and Owen Pickering. And the Penguins only got Eric

Carlson back. Yeah, that's just not going to happen. I don't know where that came from, but Eric Carlson, he's probably worth that. Don't get me wrong. He just had 101 points this past season, but the sharks have no leverage here. They are not going to be getting that much in return. I think when people see this trade go through, they're going to be blown away by how little the sharks got in return. But again, in terms of a backup plan, if the penguins don't really get Carlson, you know, Dumba again, I'm not really a big fan. I think they honestly may have to go into the season with Petrie there, and that's something that I don't think is good.

You mean, maybe you can bank on him having a little bit of better season, but where is the offense coming from on that blue line? Chris the Tang, obviously, Ryan Graves will bring you something in the offensive zone. Marcus Pedersen had a decent year offensively, but he's known for his defense. Outside of that, though, no one else on that back end is going to bring you offense. Honestly, I would go as far as to say that 90, 95% of the offense that the Penguins had from the back end this past season was Crystal Tang. I'll throw P.O. Joseph in there a little bit if he's still on the team and not in this Carlson deal if that goes through. He actually

had a pretty decent year offensive league for the Penguins. It's his defensive work that I think could use a little bit of polishing. But still, they're not getting enough offense from their back end. And man, a Carlson trade would fix that in a heartbeat. Also, I don't think I've discussed this on the show either, Tyler. It would make the end of the Crosby, Malkin-Latang era so much more fun. I don't think it's a bad thing to say, or it's a hot take, excuse me, that Penguins have been kind of boring to watch over the past couple of seasons. Even though Crosby, Malkin, and Latang and Jake and some of these other guys

have been doing their thing, excuse me, the team has been kind of boring. And Eric Carlson would make them not boring in the slightest. Yeah, I agree totally. I mean, there were times last season, it felt more like a chore than a leisure. to watch the penguins. It felt like I have to watch them just so I know what's going on. And that was it, especially during some of those losing streaks that they had.

So yeah, absolutely. I think Eric Carlson would immediately light a spark in the fan base to draw more interest to the penguins and make it definitely a more fun watch night in and night out. And just to touch on Dumba, too, I think that in my opinion, the reason I don't like Dumba as a backup plan is because when you look at Eric Carlson,

you know you're not even going to get the defensive play from him, but that's not what matters. You're getting the 101 point Eric Carlson. And so I think that his offense way outweighs whatever defensive liability you're going to get. I don't think the same way with Dumbah. You're not going to get the same offensive output to outweigh some of the defensive liability he would be. And so that's why I wouldn't want him as a backup plan and probably just staying put with Petrie. If you do that going into the season and your blue line looks,

exact same as it did last season, you're really just banking on Petrie to start scoring more and look like he did more in Montreal. That's the only difference I see with Petri because I don't think Petri was as bad as a lot of people want to make him out to be at least defensively. But the problem is you traded for him to score and he just didn't do that. That's the issue with him. And so if you're moving on from him, that's great, especially if it's for Eric Carlson. But if you're going into the season with him, he needs to put some more pucks in the net. because otherwise that trade is getting worse and worse because that's what you added them for. I agree.

And I definitely did not expect him to be a little underwhelming offensively this past season. I was someone who loved the trade at the time because he had a pretty good end to the season with Montreal when Marty St. Louis was the head coach. He had 21 points in the final 30 games after Marty St. Louis took over for Don Dush. So we'll have to see when it comes to that. There's a lot of moving parts when it comes to this deal. I don't think anything is inevitable. But hey, just keep all of your eyes peeled to social media, turn on the notifications for Elliott Friedman

and everyone that will be reporting on this trade. That will wrap up this second segment. Coming up to end the show, what was the penguin's best game from a miserable 2020, 22, 2023 campaign? Tyler and I will have our answers on that coming up right after this. All right. We're back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. on your own to swipinglings. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So, Tyler, I thought this was a pretty fun topic to discuss to end another episode of the show. I have my answer for what the most fun game of this past season was, what is yours? So I thought of a few games immediately. And I don't even know.

it's hard to describe fun with any a lot of the games from last season because like I said last segment that it was a chore to watch some of these games but some of my favorite games I actually listed down just a couple to to bring up so the one I first brought up to you before we started recording was Malkin's thousandth game I just think that the buildup to that final moment where Malkin wins it in the shootout it was like a perfect ending to to that night and a perfect send-off for his 1,000th game against the flames. I don't think it,

the only way that I think it could have gone better is if that was an OT goal instead of a shootout goal because I am hashtag to the shootout sucks. But, and that's one of them. Another one that I thought about was the Rangers with the Latang winner in OT. I felt like that game was very exciting.

And that was part of the dog days of the season where all the points were starting to matter more because the penguins kept losing games. And so whenever they won that game, it just felt like a huge win, especially because they were fighting with, with the Rangers and a few other teams for some of these playoff spots. So that was an exciting game for me. And then the last one, and the reason I thought of this one, too,

was because it felt eerily familiar to 2016 in the playoffs was, I don't know if you remember that Penguins Capitals game, where the Penguins were winning, I believe, three to nothing, or two to nothing. And, I know, it was three to nothing. and the capital score three unanswered goals in the third period. And I immediately thought back to game six in 2016. And I'm like, it's happening again. We are blowing this three-goal lead and it's happening again.

But then instead of winning an overtime with Benino, Malkin scores the goal, I think with like a minute and 20 seconds left on the clock. That game just brought back so many memories from that game six in 2016 because it just felt like I was watching the same game, same type of atmosphere. But yeah, those were some of my favorite games from the season. And honestly, it was tough to pick some of these games because there weren't that many that I could remember from last season

because there was a lot of games that I wanted to black out because we're talking about a season where the Penguins missed the playoffs. So there weren't a ton to pick from. But those I think were some of the good ones. And of course, the Blackhawks game that got Ronan, Hextall fired at the end of the season. That was also one of my personal favorites. But, you know, that's just for me. that's the one I think everyone will remember just as a turning point, honestly,

in the franchise's history, if I'm being completely honest. Yeah. But my favorite game from this past season, January 24th, 2023, I was in the building for that crazy Penguins Panthers game, back and forth a fair, 7-6 overtime winner from Crystal Tang. No goaltending in the slightest. Alex Lyon finished with a 846, actually no, 857, say a percentage. Casey DeSmith was the one that had an 846 safe d'all.

Honestly, he looked like the Smith couldn't even move in the crease. That was just how bad that he played in that game. Letting comes back from his injury before that. His dad passed away, came back from his stroke. He had his moment in overtime when the Penguins scored on a four on three. Penguins were in a playoff position at that point. And, man, that was just such a great game.

Honestly, a big throwback to the 80s there. to be honest. Another game that I really liked as well was that 3-0-0 comeback against the Vancouver Canucks a bit earlier in the season when it looked like the penguins were just going to get blown out in that game.

And then all of a sudden they scored three unanswered goals to end the first period. And then they were able to win that game against the Canucks a bit later on. That was a very fun one. And also, I'll add on, even though it's the Columbus Blue Jackets, seeing the Penguins come back from 4-0 down,

Sydney Crosdy winner in overtime. That was such a big win at the time because the points were really mattering for the team and just seeing them win that game when it looked like they had absolutely nothing for the first period and a half. Honestly, first two periods was a sight to behold. So those are honestly my three favorite games

from this past season, even though the payments to make the playoffs, I still thought they had some pretty memorable ones to say the least. Yeah, I will say with that Florida game, it is interesting to think about what could have been. Whenever you think, I mean, that game was very competitive. And I personally don't believe the Penguins would have done anything in the playoffs if they would have made it. But then you had Florida going to the Stanley Cup final and you look at how competitive the penguins were with Florida. I mean, you never know if the team getting hot at the right moment. That's what I think happened with the Panthers.

But yeah, that's a fun game to look back at. After we were done recording this, I think I'm going to watch the highlights of that game. Yes, please go ahead. because, again, you will be transported back to the 1980s, that's for sure. The game they beat the Rangers in overtime. It was right after Alex Nealander almost won it in overtime, and Yarsopalak just slammed his stick coming off the ice. The Penguins won that game in overtime off of a Chris La Tang power play goal as well.

So it was another fun game as well. But even though this was a miserable season, there were still at least a few really fun games where it's like, okay, this team is still at times fun to watch, even though they missed the playoffs. But Tyler, I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I really appreciate you coming on to share your insights on these topics. Now, where can everyone find you on social media and the show? Well, you can follow me at at Wiler underscore Teks 33.

A little bit of a weird username, but it's underneath my name if you're watching on YouTube as well. And then the main one that you need to go follow is around the 4-1-2. That's my show that I do with my co-host, Smitty, Zachary Smith. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, at Around the 4-1-2 everywhere. Yeah, so go listen to their show. They do a tremendous job covering all three of Pittsburgh sports teams, including the pirates who stink right now. But sorry, I had to throw that in there as someone who. Hey, they picked the right guy for the draft.

I'm happy they picked one of the LSU kids. Skeens is very good. Don't get me wrong. But I'm a nationals fan, of course, and I am very excited. You got your guy too. There you go. Yes. Very hyped about that.

But again, thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'll have another episode for you all on Wednesday as hopefully we'll get some sort of news here at some point. If we don't, I'll still have topics to discuss on the show. So I'll talk with you all on Wednesday.