Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves looking at a make or break season

Starting point is 00:00:00 One of the Pittsburgh Penguins biggest offseason acquisitions this season was a disaster. 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 edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodies. follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at L0 underscore Penguins. And we thank you for making this your first listener watch of the day because we're

Starting point is 00:00:44 your team every day. And today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. So no need in avoiding it anymore, Hunter. We're going to continue our season and review series on today's episode. and in today's episode,

Starting point is 00:01:05 we're going to get the pain out of the way early before we have some fun in the second and third segments of the show, excuse me. And for today's season in review, like I said at the top, it's going to be about one of the penguins' biggest off-season acquisitions.

Starting point is 00:01:22 That was signed on July 1st, and that is defenseman Ryan Graves. They signed him as an unrestricted free agent. He makes $4.5 million through the 28, 29 season. And to say his first season was a disaster, I would say is both accurate and maybe underselling it a little bit. His counting stats, not so bad, 70 games played, three goals, 11 assists, 14 points, not great,

Starting point is 00:01:51 plus 10, that's fine enough. But at the end of the day, it comes down to this. They signed Ryan Graves to essentially become their Brian Dumlin replacement on the top pairing or the second pairing. depending on how you view it with Chris LaTang. He was unable to live up to that role. And it has just been bad news after bad news after bad news for Ryan Graves. So unfortunately, we've had a lot of positives to talk about with this Penguins team from the last year.

Starting point is 00:02:25 I do, I've said it on the show before. I do believe there's a lot in place for this team to grow on and get back to postseason contention. unfortunately they have a big anchor on the blue line in Ryan Graves. They tried to recreate that pairing, the Dumlin-Latang pairing by signing Graves. And I was one of the people that was actually optimistic for the signing. I know there were other people in the Penguins community who were way more down on the signing. And I understood it just based on some of the results that he had in a couple of his other teams. But when I looked into the film, I saw someone who,

Starting point is 00:03:02 had a really sound shot. I saw someone who was using his skating to his advantage. I saw someone who really didn't have that much trouble skating the puck out of danger in his own zone. But he didn't do any of that during his first season with the Penguins. Whenever he would fire a shot, it was just a little pointless wrist shot from the point. And it was blocked. And then it was sent in the other direction.

Starting point is 00:03:27 His skating also was flat out awful this season. He could not defend to save his life in the defensive zone. He also was not able to escape the puck out of danger just because he was always getting stripped of the puck when it was on his stick. I don't even think any of Graves' biggest detractors saw this coming from him. This was by far the worst season of his career. And you saw Kyle Dubas discuss Graves during his end-of-season press conference.

Starting point is 00:03:56 He basically said he sucked without saying the actual word. And that was genuinely surprising because if you look at Kyle Dubus's track record, that's not who he is. He's not a guy who buries his own players. He will give them the benefit of the doubt. Now, he won't go out there and do the GM thing and tell you to ignore your lying eyes. But he is very, very slow to bury guys in the media. And he came really close to burying Ryan Gray. no pun intended. I mean, I think he basically sent a message and said that if you don't get it together

Starting point is 00:04:36 for the 2024, 2025 season, you're going to be out of here. I really think that's what he was saying when he sent that message to him. I don't think they're going to tolerate another year of that kind of play. And yeah, I mean, I've dug into the data a few times before Graves with Let's Hang, Graves with Carlson. He was a disaster with both of those players. It's no coincidence that this team's defense looked better in the final stretch of the season when he wasn't on the ice. I'm not trying to be rude about that, but it really shouldn't be a coincidence. You brought in a couple of other younger players like a Jack St. Ivony, like a Ryan Shea, and the version of Ryan Shea that we saw at the end of the season blows away the version

Starting point is 00:05:23 that we saw at the beginning of the season. He really developed into a stable, potential number six, number seven, number eight defensemen, and they were both out playing someone who just signed a six-year contract that past July. So he really needs to up his game for this season. Again, he was awful with Letang, awful with Carlson. I think they might give him another shot with one of those two guys. If they're up to me, I wouldn't. If he's going to be on this team next season,

Starting point is 00:05:53 I hate saying this just because of the term that he has and the money that he has, but I would stick him on the bottom pairing. He's not going to hurt you that much. That way you can kind of up his value a little bit. That way you can play him with Jack St. Ivaney a little bit if St. Ivanie wins at number six job. And they played a little bit down the stretch of this past season, only two games, about 17 minutes of five on five ice time. But when they were together, 55% of the shot attempts, 88% expected goals full rate,

Starting point is 00:06:21 five high danger chances for, no high danger chances against 71% scoring chances full rate. Yes, I know people. Very, very small sample. But it's at least something that you can look at for making your pairings for next season. Graves' numbers with Ruiedel when he was down there. Kind of, I mean, 45% of the shot attempts. 10 goals for, eight goals against, that's fine, but only a 46% expected goals full rate, 42% swan chances full rate.

Starting point is 00:06:50 A lot of that pairing really didn't work. But in the couple of games that he did play with St. Ivany, it was a bit better. I'll be curious to see if they look into more of that pairing for next season. and assuming Graves is on the team. But I think at this point, he probably will be. I would be a little surprised if they were able to get out of that contract. I mean, I would do it for sure with the way he played in year one. But I do think they're going to give him at least one more shot to play a lot better

Starting point is 00:07:18 because this past year, complete disaster, F grade for me overall. I think we'll probably concur with that. Yeah, I would agree with the grading, absolutely. The thing for me with Ryan Gray, is that he has to pick a style of play and stay with it. Because one of the complaints I had about him all season long was big for nothing. He's 6.5, 220, according to the Penguins website. He was routinely beat in front of the net.

Starting point is 00:07:48 He could be beaten in the corners in the defensive zone. And when you're that big, you should not be beaten like that. He was soft. That's what he was. But if you're not going to play that game, just like you, I watched his previous footage going into the season, and he has a good stride. He can skate. He can move the puck.

Starting point is 00:08:09 And when he makes the right decision, he has a good shot. Pick one of those and stick with it. I'm not saying he's got to become a big bruiser and go out there and throw a bunch of big hits, but move guys from in front of the net. Give your goalie a chance to see the puck. Win those battles in the corner. don't be afraid to angle a guy off and put him into the boards at a one-on-one or two-on-one or any sort of oncoming rush like that.

Starting point is 00:08:37 He just can't try to do all of it. He has to pick a lane and go with one of those games. And I do think they are going to give him, like you said, another opportunity to prove himself as well they should. You pay that much money for a free agent. You got to at least see it through for two years. I know a lot of people are going to yell about sunk cost and no, you know, that's sunk cost.

Starting point is 00:08:58 I don't have to do it, blah, blah, blah. But there is a history of this guy playing fairly well. And with a rising salary cap, with the way the league is going, he could have some value on that deal in a year or two. But all of that is dependent upon him living up to the deal. That's when it becomes a problem. And year one did not live up to the deal. Years two, three, four, five, and six, he has to find a way to live up to said deal.

Starting point is 00:09:27 Right. No, I agree with you. And I mean, just a few seasons ago, he was legitimately good in Colorado, the final year that he was there, 20, 20, 21. I mean, he was on the ice in 54 games. The avalanche had 57% of the shot attempts, 38 goals for, 28 goals against, about a 56% expected goals for rate, 57% scoring chances for rate, 55% high danger chances for rate. He's shown an ability to play at a decent to good level throughout his career. he just needs to find it again. I appreciate that you brought up his size

Starting point is 00:10:02 and how he didn't use it to his advantage. He needs to do that. And maybe kind of be like a hybrid a little bit. Use the size to your advantage. Don't be so soft in your own zone, but also get back to the player who you were just a season or two or three ago where you actually were using your shot to your advantage.

Starting point is 00:10:20 You weren't just blindly firing the puck at the net, having it blocked and being sent the other way for an on-man rush. He was doing that way too often with the penguins this past season. Use your skating to your advantage. I felt like he was a pretty decent skater in Colorado and New Jersey. And yeah, I know some of his underlines at times were not that good there, but he was also never this bad with both of those teams.

Starting point is 00:10:44 And by God, if he's worse this upcoming season, they have a big problem to say the least. You got to huff a little bit of the copium and think that last year was rock bottom. that he may go the route of either Paul Martin or Zabeneck McCollick back in the day and just have a rough start and become fairly solid to good in his superseding years, but we will see what happens with that. Right now, they miss the eval. That's what it looks like after year one.

Starting point is 00:11:18 Let's see how it looks like in year two. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. If he can improve, which I don't want to say I'm optimistic, but I can certainly. certainly see improvement happening, but only time will tell for us when it comes to Ryan Graves. But that is going to do it for the first segment. When we come back, there might be a player in net that the Penguins could become a player for when in the trade market opens. It is silly season. We're going to have a little bit of fun with it.

Starting point is 00:11:48 But we'll talk about that when we get back. Before we do that, we got to tell you about our first sponsor. And that is game time. It's the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's the NBA playoffs, and you know as well as I do, there is nothing more exciting than playoff hockey and playoff basketball. We don't get to experience playoff basketball in Pittsburgh. And unfortunately, for the second straight year, we don't get to experience Stanley Cup playoff hockey live. But you can do that if you are in a city with those games with Game Time with killer last minute deals,

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Starting point is 00:12:57 comedy, theater, etc, etc. Zone deals can help you save even more when you choose a section and let GameTime choose the seats. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Locked-on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-O-N-N-H-L for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, we're back here on the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp, joined as always by the illustrious Hunter Hodes.

Starting point is 00:13:35 And we know that the penguins have to make some moves in net. We do know that they've got a young prospect coming up, but they still have Tristan Jari, who as we have seen for the last couple of years, when the calendar flips to February and March, when the games get bigger and this team finds themselves either trying to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs or better their seating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he starts to fall off a little bit. So with that in mind, there is one big name that most people expect is going to be available this offseason via trade, and that is Bruins' goaltender, Linus Olmark. And this is a quote from Bruins' GM Don Sweeney addressing the goaltender situation.

Starting point is 00:14:20 In a perfect world, we'd love to keep the tandem because it's damn good. And then he added that the Bruins will need to weigh Swayman's new contract. He is an RFA this summer. And he said it might not be feasible to carry two goalies and paying around $11 to $14 million for two goaltenders against your salary cap. So Hunter, do you see a world where the penguins could be a player for Olmark? Yes. if I am the Pittsburgh Penguins and Kyle Dubus, I have one million percent, at least give the Bruins a call to see what it would take to get Linus Olmark if he's available. And I do think

Starting point is 00:14:59 he is going to be available because the Bruins have to pay Jeremy Swayman. I mean, he was a rock for them during the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. You look at how he did in 12 games, saved over 13 goals above expected, 933 say percentage, 2.15 goals against average. is going to get paid and very handsomely so. If I had to guess that contract's going to be very long term and somewhere in the six to eight million dollar per year range, it might actually be close to eight with the way he played during the playoffs. And if it is eight, you combine that with Allmark salary for this upcoming season, that's

Starting point is 00:15:40 five million. So that's combined. So say it's eight for Swayman, five for Allmark, that's $13 million title than goaltending when they have other problems they need to address. I don't think they can do that overall. And I think they would want to do right by Allmark by sending him to a team that was either a playoff team this past season or one that's trying to get back to the playoffs. And the Penguins obviously fall in the latter category.

Starting point is 00:16:02 But with Allmark, he was great during the regular season. One of the best goaltenders in the league. You look at his numbers, seventh and goals stayed above expected with 14.8, also had a 9-15-saber percentage, 2.57 goals against average. played in 40 games, Swamen played in 44. They did that 1A, 1B situation. But you can give Allmark upwards of 50 to 55 starts. And that is a true upgrade on Tristan Jari.

Starting point is 00:16:30 I look at the free agent market. There's not much there. But once you go to the trade market and you look at someone like this, this is someone who I 1 million percent go after. The small tricky thing is you just have to hope that the penguins are not on his, you know, no trade list. Allmark does have a modified no trade clause and outside of him, his agent, and I think the team probably nobody else knows who's really on the list.

Starting point is 00:16:55 But if the Penguins aren't on that list, I would, again, definitely give the Bruins a call to see what it would take to get Allmark. And then if you were in some world be able to get Allmark, you'd have to move Jari probably in a separate deal. I don't think the Brumans are going to be taking him back in that type of trade. But hey, again, this is silly season. one million percent that's an upgrade that I would love the penguins to go after if he's available it would be ideal because like you said they they're going to have to pay swayman he played

Starting point is 00:17:26 incredibly well in the playoffs and in the regular season as well he also is only 25 years old compared to omar who is 30 and he has a 15 team no trade clause in his uh in his contract so there's probably a world where the penguins might be on it. It's about a 50-50 shot because you're looking at just about half the league. At the same time, though, the biggest thing is they will have to find some kind of a suitor for Tristan Jari because at this point, you will have to move him out. You will have to find somewhere to send him. I look West Coast. Maybe you look at maybe Edmonton, L.A., maybe Utah, if they need goal tending, teams that could need one or two, I don't want to say need one or two more pieces, but could at the very least use an upgrade

Starting point is 00:18:21 and goal? We talked about it on the show a couple episodes ago. The biggest thing with Edmonton, and I know they are in the Western Conference final, which kicks off tonight, but they have a tandem that isn't exactly inspiring confidence. And if that tandem kind of falls apart here in the Western Conference final, you figure they might be looking for somebody a little bit more stable. And while that may not be Tristan Jari down the stretch, they will have an opportunity to rebuild their goaltending room like a lot of teams want to do. So if you're the penguins, you absolutely should make a call to Don Sweeney and say, hey, what are you looking for for O'Mark? Because this isn't exactly a situation where they're dealing from a point.

Starting point is 00:19:08 place of strength here. This isn't them saying, hey, we've got a lot in the pipeline so we can maximize the return. They're going to have, like we said, they're going to have to give a lot of money to Swamen. And one year left on Allmark's deal at $5 million, that's going to be very attractive for teams, but they also know that they're probably going to have to move on from this guy. And as Elliot Friedman always says, when opposing GMs see that you need a life preserver, they throw you a boat anchor. I like that. I've heard him say that quite a bit on 32 thoughts when I do listen. But, you know, if you were able to get Allmark, maybe send out Jari and a separate deal, that also would allow Blumquist to come up if he's ready and just be a pure backup. I don't think it's going to be, look, you saw this past season, a 1A, 1B with Jari and Adelkevich. You know, Allmark will be the starter. I think he'll get at least 50 to 55 games. And then Blumquist would get somewhere, you know, 20, 25 games somewhere in that ballpark. Now, if they don't. feel like he's ready.

Starting point is 00:20:08 They can go get maybe a stopgap backup in free agency of the guys that are available. Again, you know, the market's not that good. But there's still a couple of guys that you could probably get for cheap to back up all market and still give you the same type of starts. But, yeah, I mean, obviously a lot of questions about this position heading into the offseason. But that is someone who, if he's available, he's by far the best goalie. I think that will be available via trade this off season. and you got to at least make the call.

Starting point is 00:20:38 Absolutely. It's going to be maybe not a fun offseason for the penguins, but it's going to be a very interesting one. I'm still of the belief that we're going to see a pretty different team going into opening night at PPG Paints Arena. But that'll do it for this segment. When we come back, the penguins in Yarmier-Yager appears like some old wounds have been healed and some new relationships might be forged moving forward.

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Starting point is 00:23:04 I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And we retired 68. We tracked down the bobbleheads that were stolen in California and handed them out. And now we might see a reunion with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Yarmier Yager, as Rob Rossi of the Athletic reported, Penguins, as vice president of business operations, Kevin Acklin, was in Prague for the world championships, along with a contingent from the penguins,

Starting point is 00:23:32 who were there to watch the tournament, do some scouting, all the other fun stuff that you do during the world championships. And part of that was Acklin's birthday dinner had a very special attendee, and that was Yarmir Yager. In Rossi's report, he did talk a little bit about how the penguins have been in discussions with Yager to kind of play more of an active role with the Penguins organization. So it appears that hard feelings have absolutely been left in the past. And it looks like he is going to be part of the Penguins organization moving forward.

Starting point is 00:24:09 So I ask you this, Hunter, what exactly could you see Yarmier Yager doing for the penguins? I have an idea. I want to see if it's a similar one. I think one of the things I could see him being is maybe just a European scout for the Penguins, someone who can identify talent over there, especially for the NHL draft every year. And I really think with how much he knows about hockey, especially with how long he's been playing the sport, he could be a great asset to the organization for the draft, heck, even for maybe free agents coming over from Europe to North America for the Penguin. as well. Another thing I could see him being, even though I think he's going to be overseas for the

Starting point is 00:24:53 part if I read Rossi's report, which I believe I did, is that maybe he's a special assistant to Kyle Dubus in the front office, someone who helps the front office with maybe some decision making for parts of the roster, someone who isn't an assistant general manager, not someone like Jason Spetsa or anything like that, but just a special assistant who gives us input on some trades, signings, draft, etc. And just helps the organization that way. So those are the two things that really come to mind for Yager potentially working with the Penguins.

Starting point is 00:25:28 But I got to say, that gets me really giddy, man. Seeing how the fan base treated him, he was in town for Murillo's fantasy camp, and just the ovations that he got at the arena after the Jersey retirement for the camp, it was just awesome. And he brought so many good vibes to the team when they really needed it. I know the Penguins didn't make the playoffs this year, but you could just tell the vibes around the team were so much happier. And I do think that can play a role in him being with the organization more on a full-time basis. Even though he's not going to be in Pittsburgh full-time, like not living here, I still think just having him work for the organization,

Starting point is 00:26:12 that it can only be great for them overall. Yeah, you kind of touched on what my thought was, which is maybe not so much a European scout per se. And obviously, a lot of this has to be cleared with the rules and regulations and the collective bargaining agreement and all the other rules and qualifications within the NHL. But I could kind of see him being like a European liaison to the penguins, to where he identifies some talent over there,

Starting point is 00:26:46 he speaks with them, he plays like, I would say, a hybrid role of like between scout and ambassador to where you could, because you know that especially in North America, a lot of teams have informal kind of relationships with NHL teams. A lot of Canadian junior teams have informal relationships with pro teams. they're kind of looked at as almost feeder systems to those NHL organizations.

Starting point is 00:27:18 And we've seen that the penguins, when they're at their best, they have pulled some really good talent from across the pond. And I'm not just talking about Yager, Malkin, guys like that. They have gotten some really good role players from over in Europe throughout their history. And if you have a living legend like Yarmir Yager out there spreading the good words, so to speak, of the Pittsburgh Penguins, that can help your organization. And if he can also say, hey, you know, I saw this guy in the Czech League when he was playing Cladno or he's on Cladno. And I think he's worth a look. He's going to be draft eligible.

Starting point is 00:27:58 Stuff like that could really help the organization as a whole because we've seen a lot of the most successful teams for the last. 30, 40 years, they've got a strong foothold over in Europe and in Russia and other places that isn't America, Canada, anything like that. No, I agree with you. And if he's able to maybe do even some more scouting for future, you know, world championships just for example, that would help as well. There's just, there's no bad thing I think that could come from Yager being in the organization. Just anything he does would help this team in the short term and the long term.

Starting point is 00:28:42 And I mean, it's just, it's really good PR for the team. I know that is often looked at as kind of a boogeyman thing to say like, oh, this is a PR move. It's PR move. But you can tell even though he's no longer the majority owner that there were a lot of scars about losing Yarmier Yager to Mary Olamyew because they never wanted to lose him. And that's a whole different discussion for a different day because of poor ownership and all of that kind of stuff. But you want to let your future players know, especially the ones who are at the top of your roster,

Starting point is 00:29:19 who are driving the bus to feel like this is a familial organization. It's a place that is going to treat you right, is going to do right by you. And I know a lot of people also cringe at that because sports are ruthless at the end of the day. but if you take care of your top talent, your top talent will take care of you. Another thing that really popped into my head during our discussion about this, you know, he can watch all the Penguins games and maybe give the front office and the coaching staff some feedback that they're maybe not seen on the ice.

Starting point is 00:29:54 You know, everyone has been kind of like joking, oh, you know, make him the power play coach, make him the power play coach. Honestly, probably wouldn't be the worst idea in the world, considering how good he was on the power play in the NHL. But if you can have him do something like this where maybe he sees stuff that the front office and coaching staff don't see and he tells them what's going on and how they can fix it, I think that's another bonus to have a Jagger in the organization as well. No matter what, it's a great day for hockey when Yarmair Yager is involved with the Pittsburgh

Starting point is 00:30:27 Penguins. I'm so happy he got his jersey retired. I'm so happy that they are getting him back. into the fold because he is one of my all-time favorite, not just penguins, hockey players, one of my favorites of all time. And I'm sure most of our listeners would agree to that statement. But that is going to do it for the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will return tomorrow with the new episode. We'll have a little bit of fun, probably do another season in review. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in.

Starting point is 00:31:02 we will talk to you on Friday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves looking at a make or break season

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