Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Opening up the Penguins mailbag, Part 1!

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

It's a mailbag Friday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast as Hunter and Pat answer your questions! They first look at who will score more points between Erik Karlsson and Sidney Crosby this season before looking at whether Letang and Karlsson will be on the power play together. They also answer a question about who could be dealt at the deadline for help since the Penguins are up against the salary cap. They then discuss a possible Phil Kessel reunion and why it would be a lot of fun, but in terms of on-ice play, it's probably too late. They even take a question about the Penguins potentially selling at one point during a season with the big three before answering some fun questions, such as the best jersey in franchise history, plus which players post 1990-on would you want to have in the top six (Penguins-specific, which Hunter almost forgot). They even have a great conversation about Ryan Mill and how he's been amazing since taking over for John Barbero. All that, plus much more is on this special edition of the podcast.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNHL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNHL for a free white tech hat with any 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. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires 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.

Today is a mailback edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. We are going to answer some of your questions for this episode 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, welcome back to another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.

That is my co-host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter. Trhodes. You can follow Pat's Twitter at Send Them for Wet. And you can follow these shows, Twitter at Ellen Oswald Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list and slash watch of the day. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandual Sports, of the official sports book of Lockdown. You can make every moment more. Visit fandle.com slash locked on today to get started. So we had over 20 questions submitted by you amazing listeners. Thank you all so much for sending in these questions for this mailbag.

this will probably be, I think, Pat, part one of potential, you know, a two-parter coming in on Monday, maybe Wednesday of next week. But we just had some really good questions. We're not going to be able to get to every question today, but we're certainly going to try our best. Starting things off, a question from King Clarkie on Penguin's Twitter predictions. Who ends the season with more points? Eric Carlson or Cindy Crosby and how many points does each end up with?

I'm going to start with this one. I'm going to go 105 for Cindy Crosby. we kind of discussed that on the Wednesday episode with just how he can maybe hit 100 again. I have him at 105 just because, again, I think he's going to produce a little bit more on the power play. I think five on five, especially when Jake Denzel comes back. I think he's going to have a renaissance year. I think that's going to play a big part instead getting up to over 100. With Carlson, I'm going to say he gets, throughout a random number.

I'm going to go with about 83. I think he's going to give you a little over a point per game player. he's not going to hit 100 like he did this past season, but I still think he's going to be at over point per game. He will be the highest scoring defenseman on the team this season. So those are my predictions for Carlson and Crosby. I have Crosby beating him out by a little over 20 points. Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat.

I would say I think Carlson's probably going to do a little better. I think he's probably going to get somewhere in the 90s this year just because of power play time. and just the fact that he's going to have a lot more talent around him in Pittsburgh than he did last year in San Jose. But I think last year was kind of, I don't want to say an outlier, just because you put up 100 points, your Norris winner. He's always been consistently great offensively. But I think having more talent around him is going to be both a blessing and a curse. You know, you look, one of my favorite things to watch because I'm a very predictable nerd is the Penguin's 15th anniversary documentary.

And I always think back to what they said in that for the 2013 season where they flamed out against the Bruins. There's only so much puck to go around. And part of the reason he scored so much in San Jose was because it was pretty much him and maybe two other guys. Comes Pittsburgh, it's going to be him and four or five other guys. So he's going to factor in an offense a lot, but I don't think it's always going to be in the form of goals and points. It's going to be in the form of possession. It's going to be in the form of breaking the puck out of the zone,

the first touch that doesn't always lead to a secondary assist. So for him, I got him in about the 90 range. As for Sid, the more I think about it after our episode earlier this week, I think he's going to have an incredible year. I just, it feels that way, especially because, oh, we talk about it here. I've written about it. It's got talked to death about since his career. It just seems like every time you start to kind of doubt him, he gives you a proverbial middle finger.

Like, I think he could be in the 110, 115 range this year just because, again, a lot of talent. Assuming he stays healthy. I mean, he's poised. I don't want to say for a breakout because he's a consistently great to elite player, but I think there's a chance he puts up triple digits this year. I think he will put up triple digits this year, again, with all the reasons that we discussed in our earlier episode this week and fortunate for Carlson, I guess I have him a little below 90 because him and Lattang are kind of,

I think, going to be splitting up those minutes at five on five. He's not going to be the quote unquote guy for the penguins like he was with the sharks, because, again, you know, we've talked about this to death, I think at this point, Pat, he was the shark's offense when he was on the ice. I mean, Timo Meyer, for a good part of the season, was a lot of their offense too, before he got traded in New Jersey. Tomas Hurtle was also pretty good during the season as well. But when Carlson was on the ice, he was the one generating offense.

And he won't be on the ice maybe as often as he was when he was with the sharks. So I think that may bring him down a little bit. But still, I have an overall point per game. He's going to have a really good. good year again. I just think with Sid and just five on five, I think that's going to put him over the edge. And also, he may have some more points when Carlson is not out there because I also think there's a chance that of getting Malkin bogs up Carlson because he usually, usually it's been throughout their careers. Crosby's the one that gets Latang. And then when Crosby's gotten

hurt, Malkin gets him. Now it'll be curious to see what my Mike Sullivan decides to do. I still think for the most part, Crosby's going to get Letang and then Malkin's going to get Carlson. So with that, I do expect Crosby to get some more points with Latang, which will put him over the edges, you know, over Carlson. Yeah, and I think what you said there, too, is another reason for my thought of Carlson kind of regressing, so to speak, points wise, because he probably will cease a little bit less ice time in Pittsburgh since he'll be on the second pair, if you can call a pairing with Eric Carlson the second. But yeah, overall, I think he sees a little bit of a drop from a hundred, but not by a lot. I agree. Yeah,

it's not going to be like this, I don't think, a 35, 40 point drop. I think, if anything, again, it's, you know, 15, 16, 18, somewhere in that range. Next question for the mailbag. This comes from Shell Penguins. What do you think about the Penguins power play this year? run Carlson and Lettang on the same one. And my answer to that is yes, I would. I know some people would rather have Latang and Carlson run their own units. But I think the Penguins are better on their first unit when both of them are on there. You can put out just even more talent with both of them on there compared to one being on the first unit and one being on the second unit.

You can have Crosby, who's the best player behind the net. And, I mean, arguably the best in league history down there because he's just his vision is so good. but of getting Malkin you could put on the right half wall, his one-timer is among the best in the league. Carlson's very good at moving the puck around the blue one. He's also very good at breaking the puck into the offensive zone on the power play. You can have a net front presence in Jake Gensel, very underrated net front presence, I think, around the league.

And then you can put Chris LaTang in that Phil Kessel spot. And we've talked about this so much. The Penguins have not had a player like Kessel on the power plate. since he left. And I'm not, look, I'm not comparing Chris Lattain to Phil Kessel here. They are two completely different players. I'm just saying skill sets wise on the power play, it's a bit similar because Lattang can obviously rip the puck really well,

and we all know how great of a passer he is on the power play. So I think that spot will suit him a little bit better. I would absolutely run both of those defensemen on the power play. And also, in a way, it helps prevent shorthanded goal opportunities because usually the penguins, they like running. one defenseman on the top power play with Letang. Now you have two. And sure, Eric Carlson is not known for his defense, but you still got two defensemen out there.

Yeah. And we saw it this past season. Regardless of your thoughts on the way the NHL runs the standings, every point is precious. So load up. Take every opportunity you can to win a game from start to finish. And if that means putting your five best players on the top power, play unit and keeping them together, you do that.

Plus, this kind of circles back to the first question. This is a chance to really run an ideal power play for the penguins. Because, you know, who will benefit a lot from having both Carlson and Latang on the power play? Sidney Crosby. You can put him in that behind the goal line in front of the net spot that he loves to play and is most effective when they have a man advantage. You would have Latang and Gino, like you said, on the half walls. You would have Carlson up top, Gensel in front when he's healthy,

and then Crosby basically being a second quarterback down low on the power play, which if you ask me, in my opinion, that's your ideal lineup and everybody in their ideal spot. because it plays to all of their strengths perfectly. Gino, when he gets in that soft spot for the one-timer, deadly. Chris LaTang being able to work the puck around from the half wall, very, very talented. We've all seen what Eric Carlson can do up top and Jake Gensel in front. May not be the biggest guy, but he's shifty enough to play there and to create chances from the soft spot, which again works to Sid's advantage because he's going to be able to find them there

when everybody's paying attention to Crosby down low, which opens up that slot area in front for Jake Gensel. That's that perfect little T.J. O'Shee area that he used to always kill the Penguins. That's like that slot area, you know, 10, 15, almost 20 feet out from the net. It's where O'Shee always killed him. And if Jake can, you know, be right there too, I mean, he'll score plenty of goals, I think. And think about this, too. all that talent on one unit, who do you pick to defend?

Because if you leave any of them open, they're a threat. Leave Jake Gensel open in front, natural goal score. He's going to find a way to score. Leave Crosby unattended behind the net. He's going to find a way to work the puck to the guys who are open. Leave Gino open for a one-timer. We've seen him nearly turn goaltenders into dust with that shot. Leave Eric Carlson or Chris LaTang unattended.

Good luck. Right. And heck, they also, if they wanted to, you could switch Carlson and Let's Hang spots. You could put Lettang at the point. He knows how to quarterback it. And if you want Eric Carlson to rip shots from that half ball, he'll gladly do it. And he has great vision from over there, too. So you can make your point. And with those five, there is no better substitute for a powerplay than movement in zone. Power plays get stagnant when you stop moving. When everybody says, no, this is my spot. I stay here. I don't go anywhere else. You put those five together and get them in some kind of cyclical

movement throughout the offensive zone, then it becomes a chaos of motion that's going to be incredibly hard for penalty kills to counter. Yeah, I just want them to be a little more aggressive on the power play this upcoming season. And again, there's no excuses for Todd Reardon now. I mean, this is kind of make or break for him at this point. If you can't get something out of this unit, you might be finding yourself maybe a new job or just having your power play duty strip because I know he's the associate, you know, coach right now, but you can't make this unit work.

don't think you're going to be the power play coach anymore, that's for sure. But that would do it for this segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get to more of your mailbag questions. Still a lot more fun ones to get to you. But before we discuss that, we have to dive into Fandall football season. It's about to kick off, and Fando is giving you the chance to win all season long. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl winner, you can get bonus bets every time they win in the regular season. Just make any team to win the Super Bowl, and you'll get bonus bets for every win.

You can use these bets on spreads, player props, over unders, and so much more. So you can visit fendool.com slash locked on and start earning bonus bets with America's number one sports. That's vanduel.com slash locked on. That's Fandul, the official partner of the NFL and locked on. All right. We're back in this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am Hunter Hodes joined by my co-host Patrick Damp. So kicking things off for the second segment, we have a question.

from Jackson Hollister who asks, I know this is way too early for trade deadline talk, but with our current cap situation, how do they go about adding, assuming they are in a position to add and no one is on LTIR, do you have a prediction for who would be moved in a money in, money out scenario?

That is a great question, honestly, because we know the penguins are going to be right up against the cap during the regular season. It would have to be money in money out. I think that's the only way they're going to have to do this. I think it's tricky. to answer this question because the players to who they have on the team right now are all very solid. Now, if you're looking at money in, money out, I hate throwing this name out there, but I have

to. If he struggles, Ryan Rust, he's up there in age. He has quite a few years left on that contract. It makes over $5 million. If he struggles to rebound this year, I could see the Penguins moving him out. They may have to retain some salary to get someone back. So I could see that. Other players on the roster, maybe someone else in the bottom six. I don't know if they're going to deal like a Matt Mietto or something like that or maybe some of these other guys who they signed over the off season to these cheap deals. I think they would maybe be in contention, but I don't think you're going to see someone like Marcus Pedersen get moved or anything like that. I mean, Brian Russ is really the main one that comes to mind, I think. Because, you know,

when I look up and down this roster pat, there really isn't much where I'm like, hmm, money in, money out, in terms of players who could struggle. I don't think I'm going to say Drew O'Connor because he's going to get a full look this year. Who do you have in that scenario? Brian Rust is definitely up there. He has a no move, so it's a little tough. The one thing I keep in mind to when questions like this come around

is a lot of guys outside of the Corps three aren't Kyle Dubis acquisitions or signings. So there is no real loyalty there. It's not to say that he doesn't like the player. not to say that they aren't good players, but keep in mind, this is outside of a handful of players, this is not totally a Kyle Dubus constructed team yet. So, you know, Brian Rust is a good candidate, you know, 5125, but that goes through the next few years. So that's going to be a little hard to move, especially if he struggles, because it's really

hard to move a $5 million contract for someone that's not producing. But at the same time, I think he's due for a big bounce back. he just had an unlucky season last year. The main name that comes up to me is Marcus Patterson. And I know Kyle Dubus likes them, doesn't want to move them out, but it's just a $4 million deal. It's got one year after this left. So that's enticing to other general managers. It could probably get you some good return, especially if POJ and Ty Smith actually start to show some promise at the NHL level.

And you have some good replacements for them. but yeah, I mean, that's the bad, that's going to be, that's the other thing with this question is there's nobody right now on the roster that you look at and go, oof, like, that's somebody left that we should get rid of. So, you know, that's not even me saying it's a great team. There's definitely some improvements they need to make. But overall, like, I don't know who you move yet. We got to see how the season plays out. We also don't know, on the other hand, there's always a team or two. that you expected to be good or competitive that ends up having a rough year. And they might be looking to hit the rebuild button. So we'll see. But for me, it's Marcus Pedersen or Brian Rust or two guys you would actively look to move if you had the chance, especially if you wanted to, say, get a scoring winger in the bottom six or somebody to fill out the defense.

Right. And I didn't want to say Marcus Pedersen. I mean, it's an obvious one. but I just don't want them to move him because, you know, think about it. I think he's one of the most underrated defensemen in the league. His underlines are tremendous. He ranked in over the 85th percentile this past season for five-on-five, even-strength offense and five-on-five even-strength defense.

You just don't move that kind of player, especially when he's only making $4 million. He's on an absolute steal-over contract. I mean, only way I would maybe do it is if you're getting just a bona fide, like, top-line winger coming back. or something like that, but even then, I don't think that's going to be up at the Penguins' wheelhouse this upcoming season just because of how good their top six is heading into the year. But yeah, those are definitely the two main ones for dollar in, dollar out.

Other ways, I mean, they would have to create cap space. But again, there's not really a lot of bad contracts outside of Jeff Carter. And this is his last year of his contract before he sales off into the sunset. Next question, this comes from Chad Hess. Is a Phil Kessel acquisition plausible. Good old Phil the thrill. I knew this one was coming from someone. He'll comes into the year coming off a 14-goal, 36-point campaign for the Golden Knights.

He helped win them their first Stanley Cup. He won his third Stanley Cup overall. Only played in a few games during the run. He's 35 years old right now. Had a decent year, 12 of his 14 goals were at even strength. But as much as I love him, I think it's probably time you move on. It would be fun seeing him come back on a PTO. You get the vibes going to see if he can make the team out of camp.

He probably would because it's Phil Kessel. But I think at this point with how the roster is constructed, how there's also plenty of older players already, I don't think that's going to happen. I will always cherish the memories that Kessel had with the Penguins. He was tremendous in 2016 of the HEPK line. He was awesome in 2017. He was awesome after that before he got traded to Arizona.

but he is not the same player anymore, and it's been shown, especially over the past couple of years. I would pass, in my opinion. I would love it for the story. I would love it for just the general vibe because he's such a great locker room guy and such a great character,

but it's just they're gunning for a Stanley Cup, and I know a bunch of people who say he just won it with Vegas, but he wasn't that much of a contributor outside of a locker room presence for some of the younger guys. The time has passed, unfortunately. I wish they never would have traded him in the first place because he was still very productive when they traded him. He was still very much in a position where he was going to be productive

and a goal score for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And because Jim Rutherford had to go ahead and Jim Rutherford it up, they got rid of him. So I wish it would be. be fun for the memories, but I don't think it would be great for the stated goal of winning a Stanley Cup. I agree. Again, it's always fun thinking about getting the band back together.

One last hurrah, all that stuff. But I think right now, you know, the Penguins goal is to win the cup either this season or just, you know, future season, whatever. I just don't think he's like that missing piece that he was back in 2016 and 2017. So, again. And who knows? Maybe one day down the road, especially since his sister works here, he decides to sign a one-day contract and retire as a Pittsburgh penguin.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I figured you were about to say that, but I was like, yeah, maybe he retires a member of the penguins or something like that. But everyone will always remember what he did here. It's just now is not the time, I think, to bring him back. One more question before we head to a break. This comes from Kyle from Penguins Twitter. there any way, it's funny, he's talking about Kyle Dubus and his name is Kyle, so I absolutely love that. He goes, is there any way Kyle Dubus will go into sell mode over the course of the

bakery's remaining contracts or will he always be going for it? I only think the penguins sell if they're truly bad. And I mean flat out bad, bottom 10, especially bottom 5. If they are anything but a bottom 5 or bottom 10 team, you will see him continue to try to buy or I guess tinker with the team. You are not going to see him sell just for the sake of selling. Now, if this season just goes off the rails, goes down the drain that are way worse than everyone expects them to, then yeah, I could see him selling a little bit at the deadline or same for next year. But right now, I don't really see him selling at all throughout the big three's remaining contracts. I think he's going to be continuing to go for it for as long

as Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and especially now Carlson are playing at elite levels. Yeah, this might extend this segment a little bit longer than it needs to be, but a couple things on this. One, I think Kyle here is asking two different kind of questions. The only way, like you said, he goes into cell mode is if this team is truly awful. And like, I'm talking worst case scenario of the worst case scenario of the worst case scenario. So that's the only way I see a cell happening. One thing I will say, there is a scenario in which I can see this kind of happening in a way during the big three. time, big four now that you have Carlson.

Let's say this season just goes completely off the rails and they are bad. They're bottom of the division, near the bottom of the conference, not looking like they'll have a playoff season. I could see him selling just about everybody that isn't named Crosby, Malkin, Latang, or Carlson and just saying, you know what? I'm hitting the full reset button with these four. And I'm going to build around them. I'm going to sell Gensel.

I'm going to sell Rust. I'm going to sell Pedersen. And with the cap skyrocketing next, or skyrocketing relatively because it's the National Hockey League, the cap going up, he'll go into that free agency and go, I'm going to make trades, I'm going to make signings. I'm going to completely retool this roster top to bottom and do a frame-off restoration of the franchise where he keeps his big names

and does everything else around them. And for the last part, as long as Crosby, Malkin and Latang, are productive, yeah, you go for it. You absolutely go for it. You get a fourth banner in the rafters with those guys. Who cares what happens at the end? You hit that immortality stage at that point when you have four banners. Like, you're already legends right now with those big three, with three Stanley Cups.

You hit four, that's that immortality stage. Like, no one can say anything about you right now. I mean, no one should at least. You get four, no one better dare say anything about it. value, that's for sure. But I mean, you can also throw Raquel in there, too, if you want to sell him off if the season goes off the rails too. And Pat, I'll just say this, they'll have a lot of cap space next summer too to really just revamp that team around that poor four. I mean, they're going to have cap space this next off season no matter what. But, you know, should this season, hopefully it doesn't,

but should this season go off the rails, there's a scenario where Dubus maximizes that by selling just about everybody that isn't the big four. And you'll definitely get some really good returns for those players, that's for sure. But that'll do it for this segment. Coming up after this, we have a few more questions to end this mailback edition of the Lockdown Payments Podcast. I stick around for that coming up right after this. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locked on Paywin's podcast. I am Hunter Hodes.

That is Patrick Damp. This is a question here. This person asks, if you could bring back two wingers from any team post-1990, one for Crosby and one for Malkin given their play styles, who would you pick? This is such a fun question. Yeah, shout out to my buddy John. He was, him and I played in-house might league together in 1996. That's awesome.

This is such a tough one because I feel like you could go. I know my first one for Crosby. I have one too. And it's Alex Ovechkin. That's mine for. I think he means, I will say, I think he means penguins, like guys who played for the penguins. Oh, because I thought he said like any winger or something like that. I think it's two wingers from like the penguin's history.

So the one I would have for Sid is my all-time favorite penguin because he would be a better Chris Koonitz. And that's Kevin Stevens. Give me Kevin Stevens on Crosby's wing and watch them both put up 150 points. That will be a lot of. of fun. Yeah, because I thought it said any team post-190. My brain went, oh, any NHL team, let's just put Alex O'Betskin in there. But if we're just talking strictly penguins here, for Crosby, man, I don't know. Seeing, this is tough, seeing him in Yager would be a lot of fun, but I'd also maybe put him with Gino considering their play styles.

See, that's who I was going to go with for Gino. Yes. Is if you could have prime or even going into his prime yags with Malkin, oh my God, would that connection be electric? Because they both in a way played and play similar styles in the sense that they just use their big frames to just get around people and shield the puck, that it would be like those videos you would see of Datsuk back in the day where people just couldn't get the puck off of them because people would just like, oh my God, these two are just so big. What do I do? Right.

Yeah, I'm going to go Yager from Malkin. You had, you had, no, I almost said Ron, Francis. Kevin Stevens for Crosby. I'm going to go Marion Hosa. I know he was only around for a little bit, but the chemistry they had together was absolutely unreal for the late stages of the 2008 season and into the playoffs. I just thinking about them.

playing for multiple years together. Had he stayed in Pittsburgh, the amount of points that Hosa and Crosby would have together would have been unbelievable. How Hose's release was, he's also one heck of a playmaker, but that release was something else. Sign me up for multiple seasons of Marion Hosa playing next to Sydney Crosby.

Dude, and you remember that 2008 run to the final, they slept walked through the Eastern Conference. Yes. They swept Ottawa. They beat the Rangers in five, and then they beat the Flyers in five. They played 14 games on the way to the Stanley Cup final. And the only reason they didn't win was because that was a stacked Detroit team. Right.

I mean, I will always say that Red Wings team is easily by far the best of the salary cap era. I mean, that's a debate. And not to disparage 2009, but let's be real here. They had no business beating them again in 2009. Like that should have been a back-to-back Detroit Cup. And just because they got a couple of huge saves from Flurry and a couple different games, they just snuck away with that Stanley Cup.

Oh, 100%. I mean, that game seven, when they were holding on for dear life in the third period. I remember I was watching the game, I'm like, they get the goal, make it 2-1. And I'm like, I am just waiting for the Red Wings to tie this game because all the penguins were doing. skyhooking it out, dumping it down past a little to the red line at center ice.

And they, oh, the red wings would come right back into the offensive zone. And that cycle repeat itself. And I'm like, can this talk, can the clock tick down faster? Go faster. It's a loose comparison, but it very much was the 1980 US team against the Soviets. They were just like, we don't need to score. Just don't let them score. They didn't even like make a play almost for the empty net.

they were just like, we are being hemmed in their own zone so bad. We're just going to collapse the net and make sure Mark Andre Fleury doesn't allow anything through. And that shot from the crossbar from, was it, was it Eric's? No, it was it Erickson or Cronwall? Which one was it? It was one of the two, but it hit the crossbar. And it was like, like, you could feel all the blood pressure across Western Pennsylvania

spike in that moment. Yes. Yeah, you're right. I mean, that, I remember that shot. I mean, it was, I think I literally almost collapsed to the ground because I was so nervous there. But yeah, I was blanking on which one it was because one of them scored the goal

and then the other one hit the crossbar there. So I believe it was actually Erickson that scored it and then Cronwall hit the pipe. So, yeah, that game was something else. Moving on to our next question. This comes from Alan T. Yoder. Other than the actual games, what is your favorite part of attending

food, entertainment, all that good stuff. Another really fun question here. Honestly, I love the habachi place outside of section 104, 105 for food. That is probably the best place to get food in the arena. I know you have permannies there. I know you have the typical chicken tenders. You have the burgers, all that stuff. But in my opinion, the best place for food at PPG paints arena is the habaachi place

right outside of section 104, 105 in the lower bowl. I absolutely love that food. entertainment-wise, I mean, seeing Iceberg screw around is hilarious. He's probably one of the funnier mascots around the NHL. But those are probably my two favorite things from going to games. And, you know, just hearing a bunch of weird people doing the woo, because that always triggers me in a way, but it's also just kind of funny. It's really hard for me to pick because, well, first off, let me give a shout out to one of my colleagues at Katie

K.A. who is stepping aside from Penguins game day, and that's Selena Pompey Annie. She's not going to be the in arena host because she is her and her husband, Mack are just about to welcome their first child. But, you know, hard worker, great person, did such a good job as the in arena host and everything she did for the penguins. But for picking my favorite part, as much as I, you know, as much as I write a column about the team and try to be an analyst and do all this on locked on. And I'm still at my core a fan. And I just, I absolutely love everything about a game day.

Like I'm going to be 70 years old at a game and I'm still going to get goosebumps and get all pumped up during the opening video. I'm still going to, you know, when the, when Ryan Mill does the introses and Crosby starts, I'm always going to shout along with it. It's just, I love the atmosphere around the hockey game. It's just everything about it. it makes it so much fun and just it's the best live entertainment product in pro sports. So it's so hard for me to pick what my favorite is. Plus, you know, I grew up as a middle class, working class kids. So going to games was a rarity.

It wasn't like I had season tickets. I'd get to go to maybe one or two a year. So I still always have that special feeling that, hey, I get to go to a Penn's game tonight. and it's just, it's the most fun. And Pat, can we just take a second to say how great Ryan Mill has been since taking over for John Barbarrow? Because it takes a lot to follow a legend like him. And Ryan has brought his own voice to the Penguins. And he has been nothing but spectacular since taking over as the PA announcer.

I think he's tremendous. Agreed. The best thing he did was. he didn't try to be John. He didn't try to be a carbon copy of him. He found his own voice. He carved out his own niche. And it's a very good follow-up. I know at first he was a little rough around the edges, but one, you follow a legend. How are you not going to be? And two, it's a brand new voice. So people aren't used to it right away. So especially after someone who had been there for decades. So I think he has done a really good job. Plus, he's a great voiceover guy. I mean,

I'll watch you in the room all the time. And the guy, like, at this point, the guy could read me bedtime stories. And I'd be like, this is awesome. It's almost like, like, to the point where I would, I would want this guy to just come over and like narrow it a part of my life. Because it would sound so interesting. He's that good. And his Crosby goal calls are awesome. His of getting Malkin goal calls, I think are my personal favorites. Oh, yeah. He has that down to a T. And I'll never forget during the 2016, it's like a final game five against the sharks,

when the Penguins scored those flurry of goals in the arena and everyone outside was going crazy. And he took his time to announce it, waited for the crowd to settle down of it. And then he just let it rip. And I'm like, he knows exactly what he's doing. He has been awesome since taking over for-jol. And that's huge for PA announcers. and just broadcasters in general. Sometimes you just got to let the arena in the game tell the story.

Exactly. And I think he's definitely one of the best in the league at it. Finishing up this part one of the opening up the mailbag, this comes from one of your, you know, someone DM'd you on Instagram, Pat. Alex Shailer on in MDMs. Yes. Anyone wants to do that? You can follow me on Instagram, though.

I only mainly just post pictures of me and my lady. So that's all that I always post there. but this comes from Alex Shaler. Is it, Pat? That's his name. That would be my pronunciation. If we're wrong, Alex, shoot me a message and we'll get it right next time. Have to just make sure.

Got to do it. But this final question, what are your all-time favorite penguin's jerseys? Mine, the OG diagonal penguin. I love it. Don't care if people say it looks like the Rangers, whatever. you know, I think that's a hot take. I think it's a tremendous jersey. They had the OG one, I think is better than a reverse retro one.

I have both jerseys sitting in my closet. I just a diagonal outside my door here. I love both of them. I like the OG one a bit better, but everything about it is just so awesome. I always have a little bit of nostalgia for that video with Snoop Dogg, even though that was before my time, I still absolutely love that jersey. If I had to pick a second, like a close second, I'm going to go with the Robo Penguin. I know people will say it's cursed.

I know they missed the playoffs this past year. Wasn't because of the Robo Penguin people. I will say I am one of the people who believes that it's a knockoff of the Rangers, but that's how deep that rivalry was in the 90s that they literally were going to copy the jersey. But I will say this about it. I liked it when they brought it back for the reverse retro. I like the way those colors popped a little bit better. I also will say when they brought it back again this year,

or two years ago, whenever it was, I like the fact that, like, with modern jerseys, they tightened it up so it looked better because Pittsburgh is such a long word that, like, it's not great for a diagonal name. But my favorite is right behind me. And not just the Uncle Pat one. Shout out to you, DJ and the boys for that one.

But it's just such a classic jersey. everything about it works. It's the best logo they have. It's the best color scheme they have. And, you know, why fix what isn't broken? I think part of the reason I have such a disdain for the Robo Penguin isn't so much because of the dark ages of the 90s and early 2000s. It's because they won back to back Stanley Cups and completely changed their brand. Like, why? Why fix what isn't broken? But I'd say a close second to me is a Robo Bo Penguin jersey, it's the late 90s, early 2000s alternate with the gradient across the middle. That jersey is just, like it captures that era perfectly.

And it still looks good, man. Like if they would have done something for that this past season as the reverse retro or alternate or whatever it was, whatever they were branding it. Oh, man, I would have been first in line outside of Penn's gear to buy that one. I feel like the Penguins, for the most part, have always had some of the best jersey. in the league. And their current home one is fantastic. Remember, that was one of the alternates to the, what was the last jersey? Oh, it was the Vegas gold.

That was the word I'm looking for. The sand colored jerseys. Yes, the Vegas gold. It was all black home jerseys. And I wasn't that big of a fan of them. I understood why people liked them. But it just wasn't, it just didn't feel like the Penguins back. That's why I think of what I'm trying to say.

The best description I have for those Reebok edge jerseys is Blame. That's just they were just they weren't great. They weren't bad. They were just there. Yeah. I think that's probably the best way to describe it. I just didn't like those, you know, those black home jerse, Vegas gold, whatever you want to say for it. I just didn't really like it that much.

There are away jerseys were kind of met too. But once they made the change to the alternate home jerseys at the time and now they're their regular home jerseys, I loved it. And then, you know, you have the jersey behind you. their current road jerseys, I think those are one of the best road jerseys in the league. Am I? Just everything about them works. They're aesthetically pleasing. All the colors complement each other well.

And just, again, we're all sports fans. That means we're nostalgia freaks. So why not? And to your point about them having some of the best jerseys, they overdid it in the early, or the mid-2000s. but the initial winter classic powder blues, just perfect. I was never a fan of those. Just didn't.

I couldn't get into it. If they bring back a blue jersey, I'm going to be upset. Yeah. It just, it doesn't fit anymore. No. It's not,

I liked it as a novelty and then they over did it. They just wore them too often. Just, winter classic, even the first one in 08, and then after that as well. And then they will also wore them during the regular season. And I'm just like, okay, this is a little overkill. Can we just go back to the home in a way jersey at the time, which really weren't that much better, but I could tolerate them a little bit more than those ones.

But I think that'll do it for this special edition of a Locked on Penguins podcast. Pat, I think we're going to have to do a part two on Monday because we have some really good questions that we haven't gotten to yet. Yeah, man, look behind the scenes for our listeners and viewers here. Hunter and I were worried. We were like, man, it's late August. Like, we've kind of covered everything there is to cover in the off season. Are there going to be questions?

And then you guys delivered, man. Yeah, you guys asked some insane questions. We only got to close to half, I think, for today's episode, we're going to try to get the rest of the second half for the Monday edition of the show. So again, thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this episode of the podcast. We'll be back with part two of the mailbag on Monday.