Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins drop game 82, Stanley Cup Playoffs up next!

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

The Penguins sat most of their regulars in game 82, and now the playoffs are up next! Hunter and Patrick begin the show recapping the regular season finale, where the Penguins would lose to St. Louis, but it wasn’t all negative. (1:04) They talk about Jake Livanavage’s NHL debut, some of the younger players’ efforts, and what is worth worrying about and not worrying about. Then, they take a trip down memory lane to talk about how the Penguins were able to get back to the playoffs this season, despite plenty of doubters. (15:42) Finally, it’s Wednesday and it’s time to hand out their final Warrior Helmet of the regular season in another Warrior Helmet Wednesday! (28:30) Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join athttp://RocketMoney.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)     Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins dropped game 82 to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, and Pat and I are going to recap that game. Plus give you all our final regular season warrior helmet. That's coming up right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Humber. on Sir Hodes, joined by my co-st, Patrick Damp. You can follow him on all social media platforms at Center for Wet. You can also follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms.

Pat, the Penguins go into this Stanley Cup playoffs on a three-game losing streak. Nothing to be too upset about the Penguins lose. to 5 on Tuesday to the St. Louis Blues. They get off to a really nice start. They go up 3-0, thanks to goals from Rucker McGority, Avery Hayes and Anthony Anthe. Blues strike back late in the first, making it 3-1. Elmer Soder Blum, aka the Shermanator, makes it 4 to 1 early in the second period, and then the Blues just score 5 on end's for goals. Avery Hayes gets the fifth goal, Penguins go for the 6-on-5 goal. Doesn't work, Dylan Holloway gets the empty-end goal to make it 7-5.

My first takeaway is this. I understand that a lot of people are going to go after the goaltending in this one. And don't get me wrong. I have been harsher on the goaltending than a lot of other people have, I feel like, this season. But on a lot of those goals, I just don't think the penguins were good defensively in front of either netminder, whether it was Skinner in the first two periods or whether it was she loves. Yes, a good portion of that excuse me is because they were playing without four of their top six defensemen. No Parker Watherspoon, no Eric Carlson.

No Sam Gerard, no Crystal Tang. A lot of the defense team that we're playing last night are not going to be in the game one lineup on Saturday or Sunday, depending on what day it is that they start that series against Philadelphia Flyers. We still do not have a schedule yet. So, again, I'm not overly concerned. Are there things to clean up? Absolutely. They still have to be better in their own. And even when everyone is healthy, Pat, and I wrote about this for my recap today for the hockey news, I still think they need to clean a few things up.

And I expect that to happen going into this weekend where everyone is going to be very revved up. So back to my first took away team defense. So needs to be a little bit better, but I'm not going to overreact just because this was literally a preseason game at the end of the day. Positives, though, I thought Avery Hayes had himself a great game, five goals and 16 games to end the 25, 26 season. He is going to be someone that should be a full-time NHL as soon as next season starts. in October someone who can really carve out a full-time bottom six role in this team. I loved both goals that he scored by snipe at. The first one uses a burst of speed, gets around the defender, great release to extend the lead.

And then the second goal never gives up on the play, gets the penguins back in it, later on in the third period, also has some great celebration. So those are the two areas where I kind of wanted to start, Pat. Yeah, defense wasn't good enough. I expect this to be cleaned up as they get more regulars back into the lineup or the playoffs and also Avery Hayes, probably the best player on ice last night in my opinion. Hayes had a great night. And I'm going to continue to say that I know people are excited about him and I am too.

And I'm not telling people to taper their excitement. But I do still believe that he is going to need a full year in the NHL to really grow into what we want him to be. I do think some of the up and down yo-yoing between the penguins and the baby penguins was a little bit detrimental for him. But he is one of a few people who are a victim of a numbers game with as well as the penguins played this season. There weren't a lot of job openings. So some of these younger players we wanted to see didn't get the opportunities we expected for how good the team was playing. but I think next year going into the regular season, preseason training camp, all of that.

Avery Hayes has done a really nice job, giving himself a runway to make the team as a bottom six forward where I think he will be really, really effective. But then, you know, you send him back to Wilkes-Barre and he's going to play a more prominent role. And I don't, I don't care how good you are. Shifting that role is going to kind of affect the way you play when you don't have that consistency night in and night out. but he was really great against the St. Louis Blues. Also, Elmer Sauterbloom, kid, take a friggin' bow.

What a goal that was. I've probably watched that a hundred times today. The way he cuts to the net, the toe drag, it's disgusting. A dude that big should not have hands that silky. That was an absolutely beautiful, beautiful tally. And to your point, we set it on the show. last night was a preseason game. I know there's going to be people concerned about the amount of goals given up,

the goaltending and X, Y, and Z. But this was essentially putting Stuart Skinner and Arter Sheelovs behind the baby penguins defense. And I don't expect those guys to put on the Superman cape and steal a game, especially when it's game 82. And you know who your first round opponent is. and you are just finishing this season so you can get to the real thing. But end of the day, I do think, though, Avery Hayes, Roger McGrady, Homer Soderbloom,

a couple other guys had solid nights. And it's similar to what I wanted to see from them going into this was when you had the game on Saturday against the Capitals, that was a real Saturday afternoon public skate snooze fest, a lot of these guys last night played a lot better and kind of sent that message going into the playoffs and into the off season of, won't forget about me when training camp comes around.

Right. And going back to your point about last night, you've lost three in a row going into the playoffs. I wanted to take a second to dissect that even further because I'm sure we're going to get a couple of comments about it. Some people are going to DM us about that. Like, hey, we don't like the way the team is playing, going into the playoffs.

all that good stuff. So I went back. Remember last year when the Montreal Canadiens broke their small little playoff drought, going into the playoffs, they had won seven of ten games going in. They lost in five games. How about the four Panthers? They won the Stanley Cup last season.

They had lost seven of their last ten going into the playoffs, including their last two. They won the Stanley Cup. I just think, you know, this, it's overrated. This team is going to be revved up. come playoff time this weekend. I'm not concerned about that. Now, if we still see some poor defensive issues

and miscues in this series, Pat and I will be the first to call this out on the podcast. Just right now, we're not going to overreact to a very small sample size where players are coming in and out of lineup. There's a lot of players being rested. Players are still banged up, all that stuff. So, again, they have some issues in the playoffs once those start. We'll be the first to break the line up.

down here, but I wanted to go look at a couple situations, Pat, Montreal. Again, they were Red Hot going to the playoffs last year, lost in five games to Washington. The Panthers, they were struggling going in the playoffs. They still won the Stanley Cup. So, again, like, I don't take it that seriously. This is where I stand

on it. You don't want to limp into the playoffs. This is something we brought up as the Eastern Conference race really started to tight. And the Penguins really didn't limp into the playoffs. Exactly. What we were saying was because when we were really tracking, this down before they clinched against the devils last week was there was a lot of tightening of

the race, but there was also a lot of teams at the bottom who really didn't seem to at the bottom of the race that is not the bottom of the Eastern Conference, who really seemed like they didn't want to take the spot, whether it was Columbus, Detroit, the Islanders. While the Penguins weren't playing the greatest hockey, they were still getting points, they were still getting wins. They were still doing things that were positive. But those three teams, I meant, mentioned were just limping away and completely imploding. And the thing I said at the time was it's good that they're getting scoreboard help and they're not stuck in this vortex where you can't gain any ground,

you don't give up any ground. The penguins beat the crap out of the Florida Panthers two games in a row. And I know that it wasn't the total Florida Panthers. They're very injured, all of that. But that is a team you expected them to beat. and they needed to beat and they went out and they beat the snot out of them.

They then had a chance to clinch the playoffs against the New Jersey Devils and they did and they played pretty darn well in that game. They pretty much play an HL slash extras roster the first of two against the caps. It goes the way you pretty much thought it would go. Then the next day, they play the capitals again.

The capitals are desperate, a lot more of the regulars reenter the lineup. And Logan Thompson just decides to be Logan Thompson for a game. Three nothing does not tell the story of that game. They got goalied. It happens. Last night, that was the baby penguins in one or two regulars in the penguins goaltenders. So they're not going into the playoffs limping.

They're going into the playoffs trying to get healthy. They are going into the playoffs after earning a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They weren't the last team catching the hot potato going in. They are in a good spot. Now, yes, there are concerns. They have done some things over the last month and a half that they do have to clean up. They got to get better in their defensive zone. They got to be a little bit better on special teams, both power play and penalty kill.

But this is not a team that is the example I will use. It's not the 2015 Pittsburgh Penguins where, hooray, they clinched a playoff spot. but you just know they're going to be cannon fodder for the first team they come across. So this is a solid team that played pretty good hockey in a really hectic month that is now resting and getting healthy for a first round opponent that it's probably going to be a little bit more of a challenge than I think people expect. Yeah, and getting healthy and getting players rest should be the priority over those last three games. Like going into those three games, two against the caps, the one against the lose.

the Penguins had won five of six games to clinch a playoff spot. They were red hot going into those final three games. And Damu said, hey, we got in. I'm going to give some of you guys a break. I'm going to interchange some of you guys into these games and we're going to focus on getting healthy. That is the right call.

Are the things to still clean up? Absolutely. Even when everyone is healthy. But there's just no sense to overreact to this loss. Like the Blues were playing also. their entire roster last night. And while they did not have a good season, you know, they had, you know, so their roster still has some pretty good pieces. Logan Tom, not Logan Thompson. Robert Thomas, excuse me, is one of them. You touched on Soderblum. Jake Livenovitch, Pat,

I thought his debut was pretty solid. Logged over 25 minutes. The skating once again really stands out. It really especially stood out in the offensive zone on the power play. I thought he moved the puck very methodically. I thought he was making good decisions. There were a couple of instances where he was caught in his own zone. It's his first game. You can work on that. But at least as far as a debut goes, Pat, pretty solid all round, I think. I like the way he played.

And this is really just me complaining about something that, you know, what's the point? But what the hell we're here? We might as well do it. I wish it would have been a three-year contract instead of a two because he got one game in his first year of his entry-level deal. and I liked his game a lot. You can see the potential. You can see the skill.

So I would have liked to have seen them have that for two more years. Let him develop in the A next year. If you need help sometime next season, he can come up. And then hopefully by year three, he's ready to be a contributor. Because it's there. The skating is there. The vision is there. The puck control is there.

And those are all things that are only going to get better with time. So I really think Dubis found a nice little. gem here. I'm not saying he's going to take over the top pairing. I'm not saying he's going to be the next Carlson, but it looks like they found a useful defensive prospect. I agree with that. And as far as a couple other players that stood out, I'm glad that Rucker McGrody got back on the score sheet. Really nice goal off a face-off win from Kevin Hayes. McGorty really needed that. Just been a tough season for him up here with Pittsburgh. He's had a really nice year with Wilkesbury. He's obviously going to help them in the Calder Cup playoffs. But I thought he played

much better last night. Final game of the year, he's obviously had some history there in St. Louis, Pat. Go back to last year where he scored his first NHO goal. That was awesome. But it was nice to see him,

have a good game at least, to end the regular season, and the Manta. He also gets on the score sheet. I thought Ben Kindle had a really nice game. I didn't think they were going to play him, but thankfully, didn't get hurt. That's the biggest news of the day.

He did not get hurt. Thought he played well. That was nice. I don't really think I'm missing too many others. everyone got out healthy and now the real quest is on to try and get another Stanley Cup for this franchise, game one Saturday or Sunday. I keep hearing Saturday.

Maybe we'll get the schedule tonight, Pat. We'll see. The NHL just continues to wait. The Western Conference series aren't fully finalized yet, but they still want to wait. Who knows? But that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, well, we're going to discuss the regular season as a whole, how the penguins got here, all that good stuff, and that's coming up right after this.

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All right, we're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. That's my good friend and co-coast, Patrick Amp. And, Pat, what a fun regular season. It was a lot of ups. some downs, especially when you look at December where they had that long losing streak and they could not keep a lead to save their lives, whether it was a four-goal lead with 13 minutes left, a three-goal lead with less than 20 minutes to go and everything else in between. But they got to the playoffs.

And obviously the biggest reason for that, the way they have scored goals this year. Thirdmost goals in the NHL throughout the regular season. If you look at goals for a per game, again, they're right behind Colorado and Carolina for three. 3.5 for goals for per game. And that's another thing that despite a lot of regulars being out last night. And I know they still gave up seven goals. A lot of their defense when we're playing. This team scored five goals on mostly an NHL roster.

Like there weren't a lot of HL players playing out there for the Blues. Like that was their full varsity roster. Penguins still put up five on them. Hey, I'll take that going into the playoffs where a lot of the regulars, even outside of Crosby, Malkin, Carlson, saying, you know, Russ was not playing, Raquel was not playing. You know, Chinacov didn't play. Can keep going down the list.

You know, Lazot, Dewar still found a way to put up five goals. So this team, they scored a lot at five on five. They had a top five power play throughout the season. There was times where it was the number one power play in the NHL. It's not number one right now. It's kind of slid down a little bit. But for most of the season, it was top five. For a time, they had the number one penalty kill.

It's slid down a little bit. Part of it is due to Blake Lazavitt. also they're not defending as well on that unit, but they've had top 10 special teams units throughout the year. Those are two big things for a lot of the year as well. You know, the goaltending has stabilized. There have been stretches, even towards the later stages of the season where it has looked questionable.

You and I have called it out on the show, but it's been manageable. They have been able to get fine enough goaltending to get into the playoffs. So there's that. There have been times where they have defended a lot better where we have praised that, but it's kind of gone downhill a little bit, and I want to see that improve going into the playoffs. But those are my main things, man.

And also depth, depth, and more depth. This is arguably the deepest four group we've ever seen in this Indy Crosby era. They have a 30 plus goal score on their third line. I mean, come on. I've seen some takes on social media from some Flyers fans being like, man, the Flyers have more forward depth than the Penguins. And I'm like, I don't think that's accurate. The Flyers have them beat in a.

couple of areas for death pat that's not one of them no forward depth is absolutely not where the flyers have the advantage going into this series and this isn't going to be a playoff preview we got plenty more coming this week definitely keep an eye out especially Friday we're going to talk to those dastardly locked on flyers people to get perspective from the other side of the commonwealth but yeah i mean let's just let me just put it to you this way the pittsburgh penguins they have Anthony Mantha who has scored 33, Sidney Crosby, Brian Russ, 29, Ricard Raquel, 24, Igor Chinkov, 21.

When you go to the Flyers, they have Owen Tippett with 28, connect me with 27, Zegroos of 26, Mishkov with 20. Those are the only players who got 20 or more on the flyers. So they don't have the same forward depth. But anyway, back to the Penguins,

back to this season. For me, cliche or not, begins and ends with the special team. teams units all season long start to finish pretty much they have been in the top 10 in power play and penalty kill which not to spoil something for the preview the Philadelphia Flyers are the first team since I believe the 2000 Buffalo Sabres to make the Stanley Cup playoffs with the worst ranked power play in the league so something to keep an eye on but penalty kill needs to wake up for that series, especially if they get Blake Lazant back.

That's very good matchup, at least on paper for this penalty killing unit. But the thing is, when we look at seasons, when we look at playoff series, they are so decided on the margins and special teams can flip games for you. They can get you victories. They can end up costing you victories if you don't kill off a penalty, if you don't take advantage of a power play. And pretty much for the entire season, the Penguin Special Teams unit, it's delivered. You brought up depth, which means I got to almost step on a little bit,

but maybe I'll just say tease wore your home at Wednesday. Kyle Dubus deserves a ton of credit for this season because you can go back and cold takes expose us and it's deserved because going into this season, we looked at a lot of the people that were brought in. Anthony Mantha, we knew it was a risk. We knew it was a second chance, third chance opportunity, and he absolutely delivers with 33 goals and 64 points. Justin Briseau, another guy that he took a chance on. And I said at the start of the year, he was my X-Factor player because the trajectory of his career has been his first two years, kind of quiet, kind of quiet.

By year three, he figures it out, kind of fell on that trajectory this year, 17 goals, 34 points. Tommy Novak, who was in addition last year but got hurt and then ended up missing the entirety of the regular season, save for one game. He had a big year, 42 points. Eric Carlson, he finally becomes the Eric Carlson we all expected. And of course, Igor Chinikov. After watching Rick Boness absolutely torch his team last night, I am only last last. laughing harder that Columbus said, yeah, you can just take him for Danton Hinen in a second and a third.

We don't want them. And now he has put up career highs in every metric. And it is all thanks to the general manager who right now he is on some kind of heater. Yeah, we'll get into more of that in the final segment. Again, that's another tease for that. But you said about that rant from Columbus last night. Oh my God. I mean, I felt like I was listening. to Michelle Tarian, just rip the penguins during his awesome rant all those years ago. Like, that's what it felt like when I was seeing Rick Bonas, you know, three hits, 23 giveaways. These guys, they don't care. Losing is not important enough.

It's like, oh, my word. Like, he comes back. I feel like that roster is going to look a lot different for next year. But again, you can look, you can dive into more of that on the locked on bluejacket. So if you guys want to go hear more about that because. that's a whole different conversation. But yeah, Pat, the work from the GM, you said it, it's been fantastic. You know, Parker Watherspoon, his first year, stabilizing, helping to stabilize Eric Carlson.

He's been great. The work that Dan Mews has done, he has pushed literally every right button as the head coach this year. Even later on in the season, when you and I were not a fan of the Gerard LaTang Bear, it was not mixing very well. but down the stretch these last couple weeks, something clicked with both of them. And Gerard, he looks really comfortable now in Dammeuse's system. Chris LaTang,

I think down the stretch played his finest hockey of the season as a penguin. And if that pair can continue to ride that momentum into the playoffs, that's so huge for a defensive group that really needs that game-changing second pair. You know what you're going to get from Watherspoon and Carlson. Watherspon is going to stabilize him. Carlson is going to bring you all the offense. But if you can get what we have seen from Gerard and Lettang in the playoffs, man, that changes a lot. Because they can log, you know, 18 to 20 plus minutes in night.

You can have Ryan Shea and Connor Clifton as your third pair maybe play. I don't know, 12-ish minutes, maybe a little bit more. Ryan Shea, he's been consistent all year. Clifton's been a bit better down the stretch. I haven't really minded his game, you know, a lot of this last, you know, week to 10 days. Sometimes he does scare me just because his play in his own zone is a little scary. but he also brings that edge, that bite that I think is going to be useful in this series going up against, you know, your biggest rival.

So again, you have that. But again, every right button, excuse me, was pushed this season. I can't stress enough how great the coaching staff has been. The bottom six, especially the fourth line, when that fourth line is healthy with Dewar, Achari and Lazot, it's arguably the best fourth line in hockey. and two of those guys are hurt right now. And Pat, I'm really hopeful that both will be ready for the playoffs because they really do help this team in so many ways.

Lazot, he helps drag this team into the fight. Doer, I still think he's a straw that stirs the drink on his line. He's also going to the PK. They need both of those guys here. They do. And we've said it a million times about that fourth line. They're not just minute eaters. They actually go out and they're productive.

They set the table for the top six and they chip in from time to time, which is absolutely huge if you have aspirations of not only making the playoffs, but going deep in the playoffs. Last thing I will add that was big for this season, and I will caveat it to say that I'm not telling people not to worry. I'm not telling people not to have concerns because I certainly have them myself, but I do have to shout out the goaltending from Tristan Jari to Stuart Skinner to Ardor Shilov. The thing that has been missing from the penguins for the last five years has just been good,

goaltending. Not great. Not game stealing. Just good. Just plain good. Have there been slips and stumbles? Absolutely there have. There have been games where stew, she loves, and even Jari before he was traded,

made you wince a little bit. But the thing is, there have been very few games in very few goals this season. and where I have looked at the goaltending and gone, I need a save there. There have been games where I haven't thought they were very strong, but they didn't lose the game. There has been very few opportunities, or very,

not opportunities, I should say, very few moments where I look at a loss or I look at a moment and go, yeah, that's on the goaltending. And that has happened quite a bit the last few years. So at the very least, the Penguins goaltending this year trended in a much better direction, and you can see the difference.

Yeah, and I feel like I say this a lot. They really just need average goaltending in the playoffs, especially with how potent offensively this team is. Yeah, we've said it. They need to defend a bit better. But if they can get average goaltending where either goalie doesn't lose the game for them or crush them, they're totally fine, goaltending-wise. That's all they really need from either Skinner or she loves.

I think it's going to be Skinner for game one. As long as he plays fine, they're going to have a chance to win every single game in this series and then potentially going forward as well. But that's going to do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, it's Wednesday. Yins know what that means. It's time for our final regular season warrior helmet. Don't worry. This will continue in the playoffs.

And then when the season ends, whenever that is, we will crown our official winner for Warrior Helmet Wednesday this year. but the final regular season edition is coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor, which is five-hour energy. If you've got a sweet tooth like I do, you know how tough it is to find that perfect treat without all the sugar. And that's why cotton candy, five-hour energy shot brings that nostalgic flavor back in a whole new way. This is that classic cotton candy taste you remember, but with a tasty caffeine boost in zero

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You don't need to adjust your podcasting apps, your YouTube app, whatever you're listening to us on. Yes, I did once again steal the host chair from Hunter Hodeys like I do every Wednesday because I am Patrick Damp. And this is Warrior Helmet Wednesday. We do have some new listeners and viewers here. So if you are new, we do this every single Wednesday. we give out our MVP of the week for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it pays homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins, where from the start of the season,

all the way through their championship, after victories, they would hand out a warrior helmet in the locker room for their player of the game. Holy crap, that was 10 years ago, if you're thinking of anything about that right now. But like Hunter said before we went to break, this is our last one of the regular season.

It is going to keep going throughout the playoffs for however long the penguins are in it. We hope that's quite a while. But since this is the end of the season, Warrior Helmet Wednesday, Hunter and I both went in a very similar direction. And instead of splitting it, I'm giving out one, Hunter's given out one. Let's check the graphic. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can see it. Hunter's given his warrior helmet to Kyle Dubus. I am giving it to head coach Dan Mews.

I am going to start with Dan Mews. Two words. And it was a feature on the Penguins website today. When Dan Mews got the job, he got a note from his daughter and he kept it in his office. And it was two simple words. Be you. And that has kind of been his coaching philosophy with the penguins. You saw it with Eric Carlson.

You have seen it with Ricard Raquel. You've seen it with some of the younger players. He's letting them play their game. He's letting them figure it out. And he's working it into his system in a way that I do think for some of the top of the line players the last few years wasn't quite happening with Mike Sullivan. But he has pushed every right button. And while a lot of us last summer saw the hire and went, who is this guy? Why did the penguins hire this guy?

There were so many other options available, and you go with this guy who no one's ever heard of. Egg on all of our faces, because here we are, April 15th, 2026. We're getting ready for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and a lot of it is thanks to Dan News. We said it earlier in the show. He has pushed every right button.

He has gotten more out of players who are there under Mike Sullivan than Sally did, namely Eric Carlson, again, had his best season as a penguin this year, 15 goals, 66 points, and 75 games. Pat, I was so close to that bowl prediction of 70 points. I needed four more points, but I was on the right track. So I'm going to pat myself on the back just a little bit for that, but didn't get to 70. I can't fully pat myself on the back for it. But, you know, so my Blake Lazot also play better under him. Noel Chari, the same way.

Connor Deer, I like the way. played under Sully at the end of last season, but he took it up another notch this season under Dammeuse. I can keep going if you want me to. Those are just a few examples. But I agree. And I feel like at the time of the higher, you know, it was almost like a wait and see. We were fine with it. We wanted to see how he would do since he had never been in NHL head coach before. And now he's hopefully going to be at least a nominee for the Jack Adams. I still think Lindy Ruff is probably going to win it right now. But Damuz just did one of the best. coaching jobs in the NHL this year.

Me, I'm giving it to Kyle Dubus. If he does not win GM of the year, you can just throw the award in the trash. You can overnight the award to him. You don't even need to hand it to him at the GM awards. You can literally just mail him the award right now for the job that he has done over the last year. I mean, bringing in Anthony Mantha, one year, pretty much a show me contract. Dude scores 33 goals and compile 64 points in 81 games.

He is going to get paid this summer. It's not the Penguins giving him. him like a two-year contract. It's going to be another team giving him term and a whole bunch of money. Tommy Novak, he acquires at the end of last season. We don't really see a lot of them. This year, 16 goals, 42 points, 82 games, basically half a game per game. I know he frustrates some of you guys at times. I understand it. I still like what he brings to this lineup on a nightly basis. He's going to be in the playoff lineup, in my opinion. My bowl prediction of 20 goals, I was almost there. He finished with 16. Really like him as a playmaker. You saw that.

on display. The Igor Chena Cock trade, just unbelievable stuff. I'll take a, I remember when I first talked about the trade, I said, hey, felt like at the time it was a little teeny too much to give up. Shut up, Hunter. Don't ever say anything like that ever again. Hey, I agreed with you to an extent. I said, I said, I think the juice is worth the squeeze at the first, but I was like, hey, if this doesn't work out, that was a steep price to pay for a guy who's disappointed. the last couple years. And buddy, he did anything but. 100%. Just with the Penguins, 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games and looks like a bona fide top line winger going into next season in the future. The Penguins need to make him a priority

this offseason. And I expect they will be. Justin Brzo, Pat, he gets 17 goals and 34 points this year. Parker Wather Spoon stabilizes Eric Carlson. He gets the 30 point mark. He has been awesome on a short-term contract. You know, I can, you know, Elmer Soderbom, five goals in 10 points in 20 games since coming over from the Red Wings, the Jari trade, bringing over Skinner and Kulak and then flipping Kulak for Girard. Just everything that Kyle Dubus has touched has basically turned to gold over the last 12 to 18 months, drafting Ben Kendall, who finishes his first regular season with 17 goals and 35 points in 77 games. Again, Pat, I can keep going if you want me to. Even Connor Clifton played a bit better down the street. stretch. He has done such a great job for not just this season, but positioning this team to do well into the future as well. His job is still not close to done. He's still got to get more into this

system. But man, he is on a heater and he deserves the warrior helmet because he did play a big part in getting this team back to the playoffs this season. Can't say it much better myself. Big year for Kyle Dubus. Let's close this episode out. Because now that we are at the end of the regular season, let's see where the Warrior Helmet Wednesday ranking stand as we play 82 games this season. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can see it on your screen right now.

At the end of the season, leading the pack is Captain Sidney Crosby with five Warrior Helmets, Eric Carlson, Evgeny Malkin, and Anthony Mantha, each with four. Justin Brazoe, and now Kyle Dubus and Dan Mews have three. Avery Hayes, Ben Ken, Sergey Miroshov, Ricard Raquel, and Archer Shilovs all have two.

And then rounding us out with one apiece. We've got Nolichari, Igor Chinikov, Connor Dewar, the special teams units, Stuart Skinner, and Elmer Sauter Bloom. So as I say every Wednesday, we keep that tracker together because once the full year is over, because we still got the playoffs to go, ladies and gentlemen, we will hand out our season end awards as well as a season-long warrior. Helmet Wednesday award. But that is going to do it for the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Thursday, continuing our preview of Penguins versus Flyers and covering any other news that might happen between now and then. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. And we will talk to you on Thursday.