Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins captain Sidney Crosby close to signing an extension

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

On Monday morning, we learned that the Pittsburgh Penguins and captain Sidney Crosby are reportedly close to finalizing an extension that would keep him in Pittsburgh for the remainder of his career. Hunter and Patrick discuss why this is good business for the franchise, what it means for the rest of his career, and how they could take one last run with him ( at some point) before he hangs it up. They also discuss how the engagement farming and the unhinged conversations regarding Sid's contract can hopefully be put to rest when this gets announced. After that, they check in with some of the prospects at development camp, including Brayden Yager and Owen Pickering. They discuss how it looks like men against boys out there for Yager against everyone else and how Pickering has put on some muscle. They then end the show with Sergei Murashov coming over from Russia and what that could mean for the Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COMand add a big win to your summer bucket list!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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins and Cindy Crosby are reportedly closing in on a contract extension, and Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. You're Locked-on Penguin. 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 of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

joined by my co-host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet, and you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on our platforms. And finally, this episode is brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more as playoffs wind down. The sports stop sporting like we want them to.

But this summer, Fandle is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There is something for everyone every day. all summer long, visit fanduil.com do get started. So we were blessed with some news to start the day on Monday as Penguins reporter Rob Rossi of the Athletic reports that the Penguins and Sidney Crosby are closing in on a contract extension to keep Sidney Crosby with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the rest of his career. He says the team and the player are confident a deal will be agreed upon and formalized soon.

He also said that a deal within a range of three years times 10 million per season was possible, but the full details of Crosby's contract were not shared with him or anyone else. And that's great for two reasons. Number one, obviously keeping Cindy Crosby as a penguin for life. I don't want to see him play for any other franchise. And number two, so we can stop this useless engagement farming on social media, whether it's TSN or whether it's the Steve Dangle show, Pat, I know you listen to that quite often. And I did take a look at that segment that you kind of hinted at when you were tweeting about it on Twitter over the weekend. There's just So many unhinged conversations, I think, when it comes to Cindy Crosby and the contract talks.

But it looks like this is going to be over, thankfully, sooner rather than later. Right. And let me expand upon that a little bit because I'm a gigantic fan of those guys. I've been listening to them for over a decade at this point. I think they bring a really solid perspective to the sport. they've opened it up for people who aren't traditional hockey fans, and I think that's fantastic. And I'll also add this. I'm sure if you saw my tweet,

you saw me say popping back in, I'm taking a Twitter hiatus. It's been crushing my mental health. So if you've sent me DMs, sorry I haven't looked at them because I just needed a break. But I popped back in to talk about that because I was celebrating 4th of July, just like everybody else. I had my AirPods in.

I was doing some grilling for some friends. friends and family listening to that segment. And I had to look like an absolute madman in the backyard because I was like shrugging and throwing my hands up and with no noise except for the grill. So, but I've listened to their show for a while and they have brought up very frequently what a solid job the Washington Capitals have done over the last couple of years of doing a retool on the fly. And yes, we are Penguins fans and it's hard for me to admit that.

But they have done a very good job of doing a quick retooling to get themselves. into a position to maybe not be a contender again, but to at the very least be competitive within the metropolitan division. That is what the penguins are now doing. And you can tell that there's some sour grapes there with those guys for what happened with Brendan Shanahan, Kyle Dubus, and everything else involved. Because they constantly keep saying, oh, he doesn't have a plan. He's kind of just haphazardly doing a bunch of random moves. That's not the case at all. You can say that about last season. Last season he came in with not a lot of prep time and figured, you know what, I'm going to make one big swing. I'm going to go get Eric Carlson and we're going to see what happens. And yes, the Ryan Graves deal was bad.

The Tristan Jari extension, probably not much better. But once he figured out, okay, listen, this didn't work. So now we're going to hand out two years at the maximum. We're not going to spend a lot of money. We're not going to trade picks and prospects. We're going to try to get this thing built back up for the next two to three years. We'll take one last big swing and then Crosby, Malkin-Littang right off into the sunset, however they may do it. And then to add to everything about Sid, this is smart. Listen, we do a daily show on the Pittsburgh Penguins. We are going to critique them thusly.

When they underperform, we're going to say it. When they disappoint, we're going to say it. We're not going to sit here and carry water for the penguins. That's not what we do. But we at the end of the day, and I think I can say this safely, Hunter, is that you and I are still fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins. We want to see them win. We root for this team. They have done so much over the last 20 years being both a contender and champion multiple times over.

I don't want to see Sidney Crosby go somewhere else. If they stink for the next four years, but Sidney Crosby only plays in one jersey, that's more than enough for me because they have done everything that's been asked of them since they came into the NHL and became Pittsburgh Penguins. I look at the Tampa Bay Lightning and yes, they're going to be good again next year. There's no doubt. They're going to be right in the mix like they always are. But the guy who did so much for them in Stephen Stamco's is going to wear another sweater for the foreseeable future. And yeah, maybe Tampa goes on and wins another cup and I look like a jackass. But at the same time, with everything they have achieved as a trio, I don't want to see them play elsewhere.

I want to see them retire as penguins. And you look at what Kyle Dubus has done so far with keeping prospects, keeping picks. They're going to have hopefully lesser of a time to rebuild once these guys leave. But a rebuild is going to happen. Don't you worry your silly little heads about it. They are going to rebuild at some point. So overall, I'm very happy that they have called this, according to Rob's reporting, a commitment to Pittsburgh. Because this guy is the second best player to ever wear a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform,

and he should never wear another in his career. Right. And he also literally went to Miami. It was reported two years ago to help Evgeny Malkin sign that contract. He wanted Malkin and Lattang. to stay as penguins because he wants to go out with them. And I know people will point to them and be like, well, that was two years ago. A lot can change.

Okay, maybe you could be right a little bit, but I still think very much that he wants to go out with those two, just like how he came in with them overall all those years ago. So I really, in my opinion, I don't think much has changed other than the team is not in win now mode right now compared to two years ago. I know some other people will point to Tampa Bay and look like, oh, yeah, they let stamp goes go. he's going to be playing in Nashville. Yeah, they did.

But Tampa Bay is also in still win now mode right now. They have Nikita Kutrov. They have a braiden point. Both are in the prime of their careers. They have Jake Gensel who can score 35, 40 plus goals on that line. They have a Victor Heddon and they have an Andre Vasilevsky. They're still in it to win. The Penguins, they're not.

They're still focused on getting these three to retire together. We'll also kind of building towards the future a little bit. I know I kind of have my qualms with Kyle Dubas is playing a little bit as well. I think, low-key, they're kind of trying to make the playoffs a little bit this year while also trying to rebuild on the fly. I don't think you can have your cake and eat it too. I think you've got to pick one direction or another. If I had a guess, they're probably not going to make the playoffs this year.

But still, at least he's gone into his plan a little bit more this year compared to last year a little bit. And I was having this discussion on Twitter after I put the tweet out when I saw that TSN one. And someone asked me, like, how could you argue he's not better going off to play with his buddy in Colorado, Nathan McKinnon, of course. And I said, yeah, if he wants to go win another cup, sure, he will be better off that way. But he's always been focused on staying with one team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. So that's why I've always had no doubt that this was going to get done.

Obviously, the contract has not been signed just yet. But I've really never been nervous about this just because he's always said he wants to finish his career with the Penguins. And that means more to him than anything else. Yeah. And let me push back here just a little bit. on what you're saying, because I agree overall, like, if you're going into a full scale rebuild, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't try to make the playoffs and still rebuild

because that's a problem. But then you look at the penguins right now. And even after they get this Crosby extension done, you will, let's say it's 10 million, right? Let's say that it's $10 million deal. And they go into the next season after this upcoming one. They're going to have nearly $20 million in cap space. We talked about this earlier last week. I think there's a real world where they might deal Marcus Pedersen as well. And that frees up a lot more space as well.

So the thing that they're doing here is they are going to do this retool on the fly where they don't move out prospects. they don't move out draft picks. But then over the next two years, they are going to have a boatload of salary cap space and all of their big pieces will be locked in. So if you don't trade away your prospects, you hope a couple of the guys,

a few that we're going to talk about maybe in the next segment, as well as going out and swinging a trade or making a big signing, you're right back in the mix. And you're going to have one or two years where you can really still go for it without completely raiding your cupboard. So I get the trepidation of what they're doing right now, but they're in a position where they can do it because the most valuable asset in the modern NHL is salary cap space.

And over the next two seasons, following this upcoming one, they're going to have a lot of it and all of their major players will be in place. So then you can surround them with better talent and then go for it. See, I get what you're saying. saying, I think that makes a lot of sense. I just get nervous just because the Corps is going to be another year older next year. Just how much are you going to count on production-wise from Evgeny Malkin from Chris Lattang? Is Sidney Crosby still going to be a 90-plus-point player after his age 37 season with

the Penguins assuming this gets done? And by all accounts, we've been discussing during this segment, this extension is imminent at this point. So I just get nervous from that standpoint overall because Crosby had 90-plus points this year. Gino was great. Le Teng was good for most of this. season before he got hurt for, you know, the final third of the season, I would say. But, you know, after this season, how good are they still going to be, you know, for 2025,

2026 when this team does still have a lot of Saturday campus base. I guess that's just where I get a little bit nervous. Yeah. And that's totally fair. I also think you look at it this way. Like you're not going to totally depend upon them to be 60, 70, 80, 90 point players. You can have them be 50, 60 point players. and bring in younger, more talented players with that salary cap space to fill up that depth chart around them.

So, but again, it's a risk. I said it when I talked about the Steve Dangle segment. It's a risk because there's a very real world where it doesn't work. But I understand the logic and the plan, but it's a risk. So overall, like he said, and I agree, this isn't a tear down, strip it to the studs rebuild yet. That's coming, but not yet. Right. I agree with that, at least.

And we'll have to see what the final contract details are. First, Sydney Crosby, once they come in, once he signs that extension. If it's three times 10, I will be totally okay with that. And honestly, you can easily make an argument that he deserves more than that, considering everything he has done for this organization since he was drafted. But that will do it for this first segment. Coming up in any second segment, Pat and I are going to look into some updates from development camp and how Braden Yeager looks like it's a man against boys out.

there for the first couple of days overall. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandall. I love sports. I love them so much that I never want them to stop. But as the playoffs wind down, we get fewer games. And the sports aren't sporting like I want them to, but Fandall lets me keep the sports going whenever I want. All I have to do is open up the app and dream up bets any time I'm in the mood. And this summer, Fandle is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There are something for everyone every day all summer long. So head on over to fandul.com and start making the most out of your summer.

That's Fandle, the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. All right, are back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Join my host, Patrick Dam. So development camp started over the weekend. All the Penguins' top prospects are in town for it.

And I know I haven't been up in Cranberry watching some of this, but I will say shout out to Eric Majeski on Twitter. If you are not following him overall, you should be. He is doing a tremendous job with his coverage. It's at LGP underscore NetWolf. He's been doing this for the better part, I think of a decade, perhaps even longer. His development camp updates are awesome. And I've been seeing a lot of clips that he's been posting about Braden Yeager.

And I think this is the most clear way I can say it, Pat. He looks like a man against boys out there. The release that he is showing against the other Penguins' top prospects, especially in net. It looks like he's just toying with everyone out there. I know these are only practices. You can only take so much out of it. We'll have to see how he does at the scrimmage or the 4-on-4 tournament,

excuse me, on Wednesday. But he looks far and away the best prospect in the system, and it really hasn't been closed so far. He does. And it's really nice to see the penguins once again have some prospects. They're actually bringing us some hope and bringing us something to look forward to in the future. And like you said, keep in mind, this is development camp. It's glorified practice.

That's really all it is. But this is what we said we wanted to see from him last week. When we got the rosters, when we got the schedule for development camp, you want to see him stand out and look like possibly the best player on the ice. And he has so far been doing that. And yeah, he's likely headed back to the WHL next. year. He is probably going to do one more year in Moose Jaw and then come back and help Wilkes Bear, however they're doing at the end of the season. But you want to see him come in and dominate.

You want to see him use that release that made him so successful during Moose Jaw's run this past spring. So overall, very, very excited seeing what he's been able to do. And you want to see him take that next step next year. You want to see him go dominate the WHL and be one of the best players because while there isn't a whole lot left for him to learn there, he needs now to dominate. If he goes there and struggles a little bit, that might be a bump in the road for his development. But if he goes back, he plays his butt off. He becomes one of the best players in the W, then we're in good shape. Right. And we should add that. I think he does have an outside shot of making the team out of training camp if he fully blows everyone in a way. I mean, he's been off to a great start at development

camp, but I think the big test will be one September comes around. He had a great camp last year as a rookie after he got drafted. How will he do for his second training camp this upcoming September? Can he blow the franchise away even more? I'm going to really be keeping my eye out for that over the next couple of months, but really nice start for him overall. And same for Owen Pickering. So Pickering, former Penguins first-on pick of two years ago, he has not been at the last couple training camps just because of injuries. He's been healthy during the season. But when training camp is coming around before, he's gone back to his junior team, he just hasn't been healthy. But he's looking to change that. I mean, he even said to the media, he's hoping that he can

really take that next step this year and make the penguins. I mean, for me, I don't think he's going to be on the Penguins team this year, but I would love to be proven wrong overall. And he's been really bulking up in weight. He eats six to seven times a day. And Pat, you want to know what else he does? He takes a shot of olive oil every morning. I can't lie, my friend. it's kind of, kind of disgusting. I don't think I'll ever do that for my life. But hey, if it's working for Pickering, more power to him. But I just really hope that he can stand out during development camp.

It looks like he's been doing well in some drills. I really want to see this kid succeed just because he has been kind of taken back by some injuries for training camp. He's had a couple of good seasons in junior, but I really want to see him take that next step in his development and at least maybe start to make a push for Ross or so. It's been a couple of years since he was drafted in the first round by the Penguins. And I want to see what he can do going forward. Yeah, he put up a lot of promising numbers this year with Swift current.

46 points, seven goals, 39 assists in 59 games. That was a career high for him. And the Penguins basically have been telling him the last couple of years. Like you need to go out and you need to get stronger. You need to add muscle. You got to get bigger because when he was drafted, He was on the smaller side, but he was drafted at, I think, 18 years old. And he still had room to grow.

And he went from 5-7 on draft day to 6-5 now. And so he got the growth spurt that everybody was waiting for. And he's starting to fill out that frame. And the thing is, you want to see a guy like him take that step, becoming a bigger, younger defenseman. you want to see him be able to use that now found size to his advantage because it may not sound like in everyday life, oh, 5-7 to 6-5. I know that's nearly a foot, but at the same time, in pro sports, that's a huge jump.

That is, that opens up an entire new realm of possibility for his game, gives him more reach, it gives him more size, it gives him, and once he packs on the muscle, he can be more physical than he was before because now you've got more size and weight to work with. So you want to see him continue some of that offensive output, but you want to see him really hone his defensive game now. You want to see him be able to play the angles properly. You want to see him be able to know when to throw a hit, when to throw a stick check, when to step up, when to step off.

So very excited for his development. I don't see him making the team, but I will take a motivated prospect who says they want to take the next step and make the roster over whatever else has been in the penguin's system for the last few years. Right. And because he's 20 years old, he can be assigned to Wilkesbury at the start of the season if he does not make the Penguins roster. So if I had to guess, Wilkesbury is probably what he's going to start. He's going to turn pro overall this year. Excited to see what he can do if he makes that team. And he's also put up over 20 pounds throughout this off season. Jason Spetsa has even said they're really excited for him. He said, we're excited to

have and we're excited to see that he's healthy. This is a big summer for him turning pro. It's a big jump from junior hockey. I love that he has the enthusiasm and wants to come in and bang the door down and hopefully make the penguins. And yeah, I mean, I agree with him. I think it would be a dream come true if he were to make the team. But I also think right now, people need to temper their expectations a little bit. I still think Wilkesbury is probably the place where he's going to get most of his playing time this year. And if there's a swath of injuries on defense, I think that's when he could potentially come up and make his penguin's debut during the season.

But it's nice to see the top two prospects, I would say, in this system, you know, at least start to maybe make a push for the team overall. Tanner Howe, he's also had a really nice start development camp.

One of the other top Penguins prospects in the system. He was just drafted in the 2024 NHL draft. And again, my friends, I think you all are going to love him overall. He's very much a Sam Bennett type player, someone who can really get under your skin. And his release is also a lot of fun.

He's just a lot of fun to watch overall. When I was diving into the film, he's a total wrecking ball of a player. I think everyone is going to love him. But I think that would do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, a new goalie has entered the fold for the Penguins organization. Sergei Muroshov is here at Development Camp after it looked like he was not going to be here. Pat and I are going to discuss what that means with the organization right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodeys, joined by my co, Patrick Dam. So, Pat, when we were discussing the Development Camp roster last week, Sergei Moroshov, one of the Penguins' top goalies in the system, was not on it. And for good reason, you know, he was over in Russia. No one thought he was going to be coming over. I even responded to a YouTube commenter on our page saying, like, yeah, don't think he's going to be coming over.

He wasn't on the roster. And then just a few hours later, the Penguins were like, oh, yeah, he's coming over. He's going to be here for Development Camp, excuse me. that's a big deal. For people that don't know who Sergei Miroshov is, one of the top goalies in the penguin system, he has been awesome in Russia over the last several years. This past year for his hometown team in the MHL, he played in 34 games, had a 2.03 goals against average, 930% percentage, 4 shotouts. And the playoffs, 2.07 goals against average 926%. He also played 6 games in the KHL, 1.84 goals against average 925.

state percentage. This kid right now is very much the real deal, and the penguins are trying to get him to come over to North America full time. According to Jason Spets, a penguin's assistant general manager, he did say right now, it's a little bit to be determined. Things are a little bit more complicated right now, but we would love to have him over if it works out. But if not, we'll put him on the right development path over in Russia. So far, he has not signed a new contract with his hometown team in the MHL. but if the penguins are able to work out a ELC for him, I think he can come over as soon as right now

and I think he would start in Wheeling. I don't think he's going to be starting in Wilkesbury, if that's the case. But getting him some games in North America, especially Wheeling, I think that would be a slam dunk for him considering how great he's been over in Russia. He has been.

And it was a genuine stunner to find out he showed up at development camp because all signs pointed to him just remaining in Russia for another year or two, especially because he's all of 20 years old. So at this point, he's not really go. You don't expect Russian goalies at 20 to make the jump. A couple have over the past few seasons,

but for the most part, Russian goalies don't come over until they have a legitimate chance of making an NHL roster. So it was surprising to see him. But you look at the way he's played, and the way he played in what is essentially the KHL's AHL, A HL, which is the MHL, he dominated. You rattled off the stats. He was genuinely great.

He goes up to the K for a couple of games, does extremely well there too. And I think at this point, if they do get him here and he doesn't resign in Russia, Wheeling is pretty much his starting point because there's a very big log jam in that in the penguin system right now. Obviously, Jari and Nadelcovic probably have the, NHL slots locked up should Jari remain a penguin, which I think all signs at this point, point towards him staying. Joel Blumquist is going to keep the Wilkes-Bare job. You don't want to give him backup minutes in the HL. You want to get him playing. So he would probably take over the

starter's crease in Wheeling or at the very least, platoon it and play every other game. So very excited to see what this kid can do. And it's just funny to me, because for all of the lamenting we rightfully have done about the penguins not having prospects and not having a full covered, they just continue to stack their system with goalies. So it seems like for the last decade, everything they have gotten wrong with drafting and prospects and development. They seem to do a pretty damn good job when it comes to the people in that. Yeah, I mean, they've been stacked. I feel like at that position for a very long time, you know, whether it's Mark Andre Fleury,

Matt Murray, Tristan Jari, Philip Gustavson, of course, he's in Minnesota right now, Blumquist, Murashog, you know, Philip Larson, I think is also going to be in Wilkesbury this year. They have a really nice pipeline of goalies right now, and I would have to agree. I think at the very least, he would platoon in Wheeling. I think maybe a 1A, 1B situation where he gets half the games for Wheeling. And just seeing how he adjusts to hockey in North America will be really intriguing. He's been able to dominate the MHL. He dominated a few games of the KHL, even though it's a small sample size.

And I mean, if he doesn't sign his ELC with the Penguins just yet, I think seeing what he could do in a full season, the KHL would be better for him at this point, just because I'm not sure he has much else to learn in the MHL. But I also do know that getting a starting gig in the KHL is a bit easier as other than done, considering how many good goalies and just good players overall in Russia play in that league. But I still think just outside the MHL, he just doesn't really have that much to learn And I think getting him here ASAP would be just a slam dunk home run for this organization. That would be huge.

I also want to, I say this a lot about the KHL. And this isn't me downplaying his numbers because they are genuinely great. But I do want people to keep in mind because we've talked about it on the show before. The KHL doesn't have the same level of scoring as the NHL does. It's a good league, but yeah, I agree with you. It's a very good league. It's the second best professional league on the planet. Yeah.

But it's not as high as scoring a league as the NHL. So some of those numbers when it comes to goalies are a tad inflated just because guys don't score it the same clip. It's what we said about other prospects last week where you look at how they produced in the KHL. And it's impressive because that's not a high scoring league. Say it goes the other way for goalies. We're like, okay, 9.30. save percentage. That's awesome. Not a lot of guys are scoring over there. So it's a little bit easier to be a 930 goalie. But then you look at how often he got wins, how often he put up those

performances. There's a trend line there that shows he's a very promising goalie prospect. Yeah. No, I agree with you. And I just want to see more of him over here in North America. If the penguins and him are able to come to agreement on an ELC and he doesn't go back to his hometown team in Russia. But I think that'll do it for this addition of the law. on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Tuesday. And just so everyone knows, we will be daily every weekday in the month of July before the show goes down to three days a week starting in August and then will be three days a week until mid-September or until

right around when training camp starts. Overall, just wanted to give you all the heads up for how many episodes you can expect from us each week for July and then in August and then mostly September as well. But again, that will do it for this episode. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. We'll be back on Tuesday.