Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get a weekend split and add Vladislav Kolyachonok!

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins went 1-1 against the Rangers and Flyers this weekend despite missing some top players and Hunter and Patrick take a look back at how they were able to do it. They start with the win over the Rangers and discuss how gutsy of a performance that was. They dive into how they pushed the Rangers around for 40 minutes and while they hardly had the puck in the third period, they still defended their butts off. They analyze the big goals from that game, especially from Rickard Rakell, before diving into Saturday's loss against the Flyers. They touch on how the Penguins dominated that game but didn't get the result they wanted before ending the show with some thoughts and analysis on the Penguins adding defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok off waivers. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. FactorEat smart with Factor. Get started at factormeals.com/lockedonnhl50off and use code LOCKEDONNHL50OFF to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! 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.

Pittsburgh Penguins got a weekend split against the Rangers and the Flyers, even though they played their butts off in both games, and Pat and I are going to recap both of those games for you all, plus discuss a very fascinating waiver-wire edition 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 Hunzer Hodes. Joined by my co-host, Patrick Damping to follow him on all social media platforms at Send him for Wet. And you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Understore Penguins, of course, thank you so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Right now, new Fandle customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet win.

So Pat Penguins go one in this week. back to back. Now they are on their two-week break as the Four Nations faceoff is getting underway this week. Team Canada just brought out their lines. Cindy Crosby's out there for the skate, and he is skating with his best friend Nathan McKinnon and Mark Stone. So good news that Crosby is out on the ice for practice and that it looks like his injury is, again, not too serious, but he didn't play in both games this weekend. Makes sense he wants to be healthy for Team Canada just because being the captain of that squad really means a lot to him, especially at the late stages of his career. But starting this weekend with the game against the Rangers, this is the biggest

takeaway I had from this game. And I said it on Twitter, the guts that they showed to win that game were phenomenal. I thought the Penguins badly outplayed the Rangers in the first period, even though they were down heading into the second. I was kind of like, I'm not really seeing much from the Rangers here. The Rangers got a really lucky break in that first period, thanks to a brutal turnover from Eric Carlson. Carlson just needs to go off the board. Say, Pat, you and I were texting about that. No reason to send that puck to the middle of the ice. Vince Trochecks waiting right there makes it won nothing. But the Penguins carried play throughout that first period. Igor Shusirkin was the main difference. He's that good

of a goaltender. And then that play carried into the second period. The Penguins were able to tie the game at one early on in the period. Adam Fox makes it two to one, even though there was really no one around him. And then two two, then boom, Philip Tomasino gets the game winner, makes it three, two. By the way, Blake Lausant, really great game from him to able to tie that game. And then Ricard Raquel, what a shift that he had to tie the game at two before Tomasino broke the tie for good. It made it three, two. That was awesome. And the penguins, they kept coming after making it three, two. Igor Shusirkin had to come up with some really good saves to end that second period. And while the penguins didn't play that well in the third period, they still defended hard. Like that was the thing. Yeah, they hardly got any time in the offensive zone.

still defended hard and were keeping the Rangers to the outside. I was texting you this during the game. Yes, the Rangers were getting a lot of offensive zone time, but how much of that time actually resulted in quality scoring chances? Not many. The Rangers only had three at five on five, three high danger chances, that is, at five on five during that third period. When there was a timely save to be made,

Alex Nadelcovic was there to make it. By the way, shout out to him. Since January 17th, he's been at 926 or better. and six of eight starts. This is the best hockey we've seen him play this season. At the very least, he's boosting that trade value before the deadline, but he is playing phenomenal hockey right now. But again, man, the guts that they showed to win that game were awesome.

We both know they're not making the playoffs this year. But if you didn't enjoy that win, I don't know if this sports for you. Yeah, I mean, you have to be happy not just with the win, but with the effort because that was a game where they were. primed and ready to get their doors blown off against a New York Rangers team that while they still very much have their warts and issues, they appear like they've really gotten a jolt from getting J.T. Miller back into their lineup and on their roster. And they're a team that does have aspirations of not only making the playoffs, but making a run. And again, I say that, yeah, they still

have their issues and they still have their problems, but they're a pretty good hockey team, at least on paper, and they should be making their way back into the postseason picture here once we return from the Four Nations face off break. And the penguins kind of went into Madison Square Garden and asserted their will against the New York Rangers. And I don't know if that says more about the penguins or the Rangers, but at the end of the day, you look at all of the players, who were not available for the penguins in both Sid and Gino, and then the next night against Philadelphia, Brian Rust goes out. This team played like they're a team that wants to make the playoffs,

even though we know they won't. And it would be very easy, especially with all of the injuries, where this team is in the standings, a two-week break on the horizon, and the majority of the roster is not going to this tournament. It would have been very easy for them. to take these two games off and just say, this season's going nowhere fast.

All of our key contributors are hurt. Our leadership group is out. And we just want to get done with this portion of the schedule and call it a day. They did the exact opposite. They played a hard-nosed, honest game. And you're right about the third period. If you just look at the stats for the third period, you would think that the penguins completely took their

foot off the gas. They went into a shell and they really didn't. I mean, yeah, I would have liked to have seen them get a little bit more push and maybe a cut and at least a shot on net. But you look at the way they defended. It wasn't in a shell. They were taking the fight to the Rangers and keeping them to the outside, forcing them to make bad decisions and forcing them to take low percentage shots. Like you look at that at the shot numbers and yeah, the Rangers got seven shots. to the penguin zero in the third period. I can't really remember any of those seven shots really being threatening. So the penguins, yeah, they were in their own end for the majority of the third period,

but the Rangers didn't really take advantage of anything because of how well the penguins were defending. And of course, like you said, Nadelcovich, when he needed to, came up huge. 100%. And yeah, the one main chance I felt like was the Trocheque one at the end of the third, where he almost were really nice saved by Netta than Panera, and I think shot one wide a few seconds later. That was during the 6-on-4, 6-9-5,

which, by the way, that penalty at the end of the third period. Textbook refting to the score, once again, that was a very weak call, but, hey, you come to expect it when you think of NHL refs and that are officiating. But just the way the Penguins were able to take it to the Rangers in that first 40 minutes, especially with how short-handed they were,

it was surprising. I got to admit, like, with the way the Rangers had been playing lately, It was a bit better compared to before they had come back two games in a row from third period deficits. So in the back of my head, I'm kind of like, okay, there's at least a decent chance they might do the same thing here because Penguins, I don't know if they'll be able to sustain that level of play. And while they didn't, they still were able to defend very well in the third, keep the Rangers to the outside. Again, only allow three high danger chances at five on five during that period. And they were forcing the Rangers to really try and forecheck below the dots, which they're not that good at.

A lot of the Rangers offense, once again, comes from off the rush opportunities. It comes via transition. And the Penguins, they weren't allowing any of those chances during the third period. They were very diligent with their pinches. They were bringing players back to the red line. Everyone was in position, especially when the Rangers were coming into the offensive zone, shift after shift, and they weren't allowing a lot of those grade A opportunities. That was a difference in this game, along with more timely saves from Alex Nadelcovich.

Again, once again, Pat, really great performance from him. I can't say enough about the level that he's playing at right now just to take that step further. In seven of eight starts since January 17th, almost a full calendar month, he's been at 905 or better. Really nice bounce back for the last three and a half weeks after having such a rough first half of the season. Yeah, that was a huge bounce back for Alex Nadelcovic.

And the other thing that we do have to acknowledge from that game is the penalty kill. Yeah, the Rangers only had two. opportunities in that game. But if you look at the way they played at five on four with a man down, they continued that trend of defending very hard against the Rangers in this game. They got a couple of looks, but again, they didn't really allow too much sustained pressure by the Rangers. They didn't give them many quality opportunities along those two penalty kills and it just fits right into that trend from this game where the penguins played a very honest game. I keep coming back to that is I will never accuse a team that is coached by Mike

Sullivan and captain by Sidney Crosby, whether or not Sydney Crosby is in the lineup or not, of playing kind of showman hockey. They never really do that. But you can see there are games over these past, I'm literally going to say 20 years, where the penguins would get frustrated. They would look at their roster and think, we have all this talent. Why are we not winning 5-0 right off the rip? And then they start to cheat. They start to focus more on offense. But the penguins against the Rangers, it was a full 200-foot effort, all three zones,

doing the little things right, being in position where they need to be. and really smothering the Rangers attack for the majority of the game. And again, I don't foresee this becoming the start of some long run that the penguins go on and resurrect their season as they get healthier and bring a couple people up from Wilkes bear after the trade deadline. But you can see the makings of guys either doing one of two things. They're either boosting their trade value and looking like they're trying to send a message. to Kyle Dubus of, hey, I want to go be part of a contender that goes on a run this spring.

So can you get me some value and get me to one of those teams? Or these guys are saying, I am a Pittsburgh penguin. And when this team starts to turn a corner in a year or two, I want to be part of the solution. So very encouraging victory by the penguins on Saturday night. And we'll talk about it in the second segment, but a lot of the same things carried over to Saturday night in Philadelphia. Right.

until your last ball, you know, someone that could really still be here the next several years. You know, Philip Tomasino gets the game winner. Really beautiful one-timer man, especially on the power play there. Great job by that unit. And you also touched on the little things here, just two more points to make before we had to recap that game against the flyers, blocking shots. I thought the Penguins did an outstanding job, getting into shooting lanes. That might have been the best game I've seen Nola Chari play in over a month. I felt like he was all over the puck, played really well in his own zone, blocked a lot of shots. Same thing with P.O. Joseph. I thought P.O. Joseph played a really strong game in all three zones in this one.

He struggled a little bit this year. I feel like he's been better in most of the games compared to not, at least in my opinion. But I especially felt that way in this one, locking a lot of shots, playing well in his own zone, good on one-on-one opportunities. I felt he played well. And then last point I want to make is mainly about the Rangers man. How, if you are the Rangers front office, how are you watching that game and thinking, man, I got to add to this team at a deadline. Like that team, I'm sorry. They're not very good. I don't think they do much of anything well except get timely saves from their number

one goaltender. It feels like I've been watching the Rangers on repeat for the last 20 years. Oh, we have an elite goalie. Let's only pay him, but not worry about anything else. We did that with Lundquist. Let's do the same thing here with Igor Shasturkin, not worry about anything else. They just haven't decided to change up that strategy at all. So, again, just very weird stuff from the Rangers.

But hey, Penguins will gladly take that win. And again, man, I just loved the effort. I loved the guts I saw for the Penguins in this one. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to recap that loss against the Flyers, even though the Penguins badly outplayed the Flyers in that game, especially given the circumstances they had with road travel and it's a back-to-back. But before we get to that, Pat, I have to tell you all about our first sponsor,

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Jesse Marshall on from The Athletic for another Marshall Monday day. But right before we were about to record, he texts us, yeah, he's in some meetings for the next hour. So you know what, Jesse, shame on you for doing your job and not coming on the show for 10 to 15 minutes on this Monday. Now we're just messing. Hopefully we'll have them on next Monday. But we will say Josh Yoey of the Athletic is coming on the show on Tuesday to discuss all things, penguins, tread deadline, probably a little bit of Four Nations face off talk, and just again, everything relating to this team. So stay tuned for that.

you all on Tuesday. It'll be normal time for everyone. But getting back to the meat of the second segment, Pat, Penguins lose to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. Three to two in a game that I thought the Penguins deserved a better fate. I thought they played very well in this game. Yeah, the Flyers took that early lead in the first period, kind of a bad defensive breakdown from the Penguins,

but they still dominated that first period. I mean, you look at the numbers, Pat, 34 shot attempts to only three for the Flyers. 15 scoring chances four. one scoring chance against. They ended that game with 40 scoring chances at 5 on 5. And you don't even have to look at the numbers to see that the Penguins dominated that game. They were all over the Flyers in the offensive zone.

Sam Erson just had a great game, people. Sometimes that's a difference, even though he's had a really rotten year this year for the Flyers, even though the Flyers' goaltending has been bad overall with either of their three goalies. Samerson still put together a really sound performance and net made a lot of really big timely saves. did get a little bit of help from the penguins because a couple of players missed some wide open opportunities, including Denton Hinen.

How do you sky that one, man? Five feet out, you got to put that one in the back of the net. That's got to be in there. But still. I will say about that Dan Hinen chance. I think Erson, I said it, I texted it to you during the game. I think Erson got a piece of it. And I went back and watched that replay.

And it was definitely a desperation save by Erson. And yeah, we can definitely criticize Hinen for not putting it in. but I got to at least tip my hat on that one because he just sprawled out and put his arm in the exact right spot to get a piece of it because that thing was ticketed for the middle of the net when I went back and watched it

and he somehow got a piece of it. So as much as I want a clown hide and for missing that, I can't in good faith not acknowledge what was an awesome desperation save. I hear you. I still, I want him to put that pocket in the back

to the net wide open opportunity. score on that chance then please but going back to other parts about the game with this with the penguins and the flyers 17 high danger chances four six high danger chances against the first goal i already discussed bad defensive breakdown but the goal that tied it thanks to eric carlson what a play that was pat the way that he was able to fit that puck in the smallest of margins in the net was awesome sam arson was basically covering the entire net and i say basically because there's a smidge of room upstairs. Carlson finds it,

and his shot continues to be so underutilized for how good it is. I want him to use that release more because it's so good. He just doesn't use it enough back. Like, that's the thing. We all know how good he is as a playmaker. We've seen it throughout the season. We've seen it last season. Has it been as good as he was with the sharks?

No, but I still want to see him shoot the puck a bit more. And you saw why with that one. And then the goal that made it two to one, Pat, when you're a goaltender, what are you supposed to do? Tend the goal. You can tell that Yel Blumquist had not played in two weeks because he was a bit shaky coming out of the net there. He was kind of like, should I do it? No, no, no. Should I do it?

No. He's like, okay, you know what? I'm going to full send it. Comes out, just banks the puck off guard. Had Hathaway goes in. Hathaway's just laughing after that. It's like, if you're going to make a play on it, commit to it. Don't just, excuse my language, don't half ass it.

And I think that's kind of what he did on that play. And you can tell even after that play, he looked really rusty with the start. But hey, that's what happens when Alex Nadelcovic gets quite a few starts these last few weeks. Yeah, you could definitely see that there was some rust for YOL Blumquist in this game. He definitely looked like a cold goaltender who, like you said, had two weeks off, basically. So that that's a tough position for him to be in. And all I could think of when Garnett Hathaway gets that goal is all it made me think of was if you've ever played EASHL on NHL and you have someone on your team or the opposing team manually controlling the goalie because that was just an absolutely absurd decision. And again, putting the joke of it aside, you're right.

If you're going to do that, if you're going to leave the net in that instance to stop a breakaway and keep them from getting possession with a clean look on the net, you've got to commit 100% to it. And he kind of hesitated. And that hesitation made all the difference because he kind of meets Hathaway right at the puck. And that is the exact risk that you run in that moment when you do that. because if it becomes a 50-50 puck,

you either are able to clear it out and your defense may get help you, or what happens is what happened, where it deflects off the guy you're going up against, it goes behind you and either goes in the net, or that guy just gets a look at a completely void cage. And it was just, again, it was a rusty play. It was a rusty game for Blumquist. And you go back and watch that game.

I did yesterday morning. I watched a lot of the highlights and the penguins were head and shoulders, the better team for the entire game. They outplayed the flyers in all three zones. They brought the attack to them. You even pop, like I like to say, pop the hood and look at the advanced analytics.

The penguins had 65% of the shot attempts at five on five. They dominated this game. And just one blunder from Yoel Blumquist ends up becoming the difference. And it's funny because, you look at this season and how many times have we said the reason they lost was goaltending. And in this instance, by literal definition, yeah, they lost because of goaltending because Blumquist made a curious decision that ended up in the back of the net.

But even then, it wasn't like they dominated and lost because Blumquist was bad. It was because he made one bad decision in the absolute worst moment. 100%. And flyers make it three to one, right? after than the penguins in a very weird awkward sequence make it three to two the refs originally rule no goal because it looked like it was the intent to blow call and then all of a sudden they're reviewing the play and i was texting you this i'm like are you allowed to challenge intent to blow because i don't think you are i've never seen that before but then the nchel actually clarified it

after the game saying that the referee's initial call on the ice was no goal due to goaltender interference it did not seem like that at all they didn't even announce that it was a cold tender interference when they said originally said no goal. And they said after video review, it was determined no goaltender interference and fractions occurred. I mean, we knew that. It didn't look like there was any goalie interference there to begin with. But it felt like that was not what happened at all.

It felt like to me that they were trying to challenge intent to blow, which again, I don't think is as a challengeable play. I've never seen that happen before. But if the NHL says it was for goal tender interference, I guess I'm going to go along with it even though, again, Pat, didn't feel like it was for actually goaltender interference. I mean, if there's one thing that I know that it's uniform across all sports, people love to complain about officiating because it's the lowest hanging fruit, but as Jeff Merrick likes to say, low hanging fruit is still fruit. But at the end of the day, if there's one thing that

the NFL gets right when it comes to stuff like this, is they will tell you, they will have the official tell you in agonizing detail what happened. They will come out. say we are reviewing this. After reviewing this, this is what we saw, and this is why this is the call. The NHL has to take a page out of that. And that's not even getting into saying that the NHL needs to take a page from the NBA and do a two-minute report or anything like that. But the fact that everybody, including the broadcasts, thought that they were going off of the intent to blow call and not goaltender interference. And then they just come out and say, after a view, the call has been reversed. We have a goal. You need to say the penguins have challenged the call on

the ice, which is goaltender interference for no goal. We are going to video review and then come out and say after review, we have determined that there was no goaltender interference on the play. Therefore, we have a good goal on the ice. So at the end of the day, they just need to describe it better because here's the thing. They got the call right. They didn't get it wrong here. They got the right call. They used video review and the challenge system to get the correct call. And that is the goal of what you want to do with this system. But if you don't come out and explain it, everybody is confused. And yeah, they don't owe us explanations. But if you're going to have this system in place, you need to describe what is going on, not just, hey, we reviewed the video. It's a goal.

Deal with it. And because if the penguins were on the other end of this, I would be furious just like Flyers are. And they're right to be furious because there was no explanation. It was the correct call, but in real time, they did not explain what happened. It was the right call, but the way they went about it was, I think, the wrong thing to do in my opinion. But just to wrap up this game, I loved the six on five at the end. Considering how short-handed the Penguins were, no Crosby, no Malkin, no Brian Rust, they still got plenty of really quality chances with that second unit, in quotation marks with the six on five. They loaded up Latang and Carlson up at the points.

They had Ricard Raquel out there, as well as, you know, Philip Tomasino and a bunch of others. And they still put together a really strong push. Kevin Hayes was out there for quite a bit of time as well. And Samerson had to make a couple really big saves to end that game to not let the Penguins get a point in that game and send that game to overtime. And even when they lost, I was like, you know what? I will still gladly take that effort.

all game long, considering their circumstances, road travel, back to back, the way they outplayed the Flyers in that one, I was pretty happy. I wouldn't say, obviously, I'm never happy to lose a game, but the way they lost, and even though I know they're not really going anywhere this season, I will still take that because they fought until the end,

they played really well of both games this weekend. I am very happy with the guts they showed, the effort they showed, the heart they displayed, and all that good stuff as well. Do you have anything else to have before? Friday night, was a night where they had at least a minimal excuse to say, hey, we're going to throw in the towel and just we're playing a team that's better than us.

We're missing Sid and Gino. The Four Nations face off break is right around the corner. Saturday night, you can double that because you find out in the afternoon that Brian Rust is hurt and he's not playing. And he has been one of the most consistent and best players on the Penguins roster for the last two years. but they still go out and play one hell of a game against the Flyers. And as we've talked about, one silly mistake makes the difference, but the effort they put out there,

it fits right into that narrative of what you and I have been saying about where this team is. We understand that this is an undermanned, undergunned roster because of where this franchise is at the current moment and what they're trying to do. But just as long as you're not getting embarrassed, I can live with a loss. I can live with this loss because you played really well. One mistake makes the difference, but you went out and played a full 60 and absolutely took it to a team

and one bad bounce makes the difference. That's hockey, man. Sometimes you have games like this. And if they can replicate that effort down the stretch and the rest of the way, and it doesn't lead to wins, but you're seeing progress from some of the younger guys, you're seeing the key contributors still continue to be themselves. It gives you an ever so slight glimmer of hope going into the next couple of years

that maybe this is the right plan and maybe they are on the right track. Hey, speaking of a fun player, that's exactly what Kyle Dewis added via waivers on Sunday. The Penguins got a young defenseman that has a chance to play right away and has some really strong underlying numbers. Pat and are you going to dive into that player coming up here to end the show. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor, and that is Indeed.

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Just go to Indy.com slash locked on right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed, on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, indeed, is all you need. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp. So, Pat Cowdubus was a bit busy during Super Bowl Sunday yesterday, adding defenseman Vladislav Koya Chonok to the Penguins via waivers after he was placed on waivers by the Utah Hockey Club. And admittedly, people, I did not know much about him after he was added. I looked into the numbers. I watched a little bit of tape. And I really like this edition.

He has the chance to play right away and potentially some even bigger minutes once the Penguins trade Matt Griswick. And I would not be surprised if he gets traded during the Four Nations Day of So break. You know, two weeks off. I think you might see some teams considering how many players are not going to this event, Pat. I would not be surprised if you still see some GMs be pretty aggressive during this two week break and try to get some trades done, especially with a deadline coming up in about a month now. And again, I would not be surprised if Matt Groslick gets traded here.

coming out of the break. But with Koya Chonok, there's a lot of intrigue here. I really dove into the film a bit late last night. I did a little bit more this morning. Skates like the wind. He is a very fluid skater, especially with a puck on his stick, really responsible in his own zone. His shot is also a lot of fun. That thing blasts off his stick. Again, a little bit of a small sample size. I mean, he's only played this year, 23 games. You know, his most games played during a season was 32 with the Arizona Coyotes, which of course are now in Utah that came during the 21-22 season. But again, really like his shot.

I really like his skating ability. There was one goal that I even retweeted for everyone on Twitter on Sunday that showed him have quite a great move earlier this season when he went forehand backhand on a little bit of a mini breakaway to score a goal. And you look at the underlying numbers for this player this year. And when he's been on the ice, 277 minutes for Utah, 23 games. When he's been on the ice, Utah highs 53% of the shot at 10. They also have 56% of the scoring chances, about 62% of the high danger chances.

So he helps drive offense when he is on the ice. He's only in his early 20s. This is the exact type of player that you should be adding to your lineup. Considering that you want to get younger, see what you have in him. It's always good to take flyers on players like this, and especially with how weak this defensive group has been for a lot of this season, and you're probably going to be losing Matt Grizzlick soon. easy slam dunk edition here.

I'm excited to see what they have in this kid. It's all, it's no risk, all reward. He's, he's signed through next season. It's less than a million dollars. He's 23 years old. And for being 23, he's 6 to 195. And like you said, he can skate. Watching some of the footage of him this morning,

he is, I don't want to say he's a burner because he's not obscenely fast, but he is a very fluid skater. It is very effortless. In two, three strides, he's gone. And looking at his shot, I mean, what did we talk about in the last segment about Eric Carlson? And I'm not comparing the kid to Eric Carlson, but Eric Carlson has a really underutilized shot. So does this kid. This kid, when he has an opportunity, he can fire the thing.

And at the very least, as you said, 23 years old, less than a million dollars. You know what this organization is trying to do right now. They're trying to stockpile as much young talent as they can. And part of that process is finding players like this who Utah has a lot of really young players. Utah has a log jam of young players. Because for as much of a tire fire as the Arizona coyotes were before they move, they actually were doing a fairly good job stockpiling draft picks and younger players

in salary cap space and not the salary cap space where they just take on dead money. They were actually doing a good job of building a young core with a lot of talent, but that means that there are always going to be odd men out. There are always going to be talented players who for some reason can't break through in an organization that's chock full of them. So if you're Kyle Dubus, when you see a player like this hit the waiver wire or hit the trade block, you have to be interested in it. Because again, with where the penguins are and what they're trying to do, unfortunately or fortunately, depending upon how you view it, they have to go pretty much quantity over quality because they don't have a lot in their system that's homegrown. So if you can get four, five, six, seven, eight, or more young players,

they might not be your franchise cornerstones, but if two, three, or four of them can become legitimate NHL contributors. And with this kid, he's shown he can play at an NHL level. So maybe he becomes a contributor for this team in the future. Or at the very least, you have a serviceable player that sometime in the next 12 to 16 months, you can move for more assets. So very, I would say next to no risk, all reward for the penguins with this move. Yeah, there's no risk at all with this.

If he doesn't pan out and just put him back on waivers, it really doesn't matter. You just want to see what you have in this player. And if he does pan out, that's good because you obviously have another option, potentially long term in Owen Pickering. He showed quite a bit at the NHL level earlier this season. If both he and Koyatronach pan out, that's two options. on your left side for quite a bit. And then you have Harrison Brunette coming potentially next season that you might have,

again, this is best, best case scenario people, but you might have half of your decor, fairly young, by the way, potentially set for a little bit. But again, I just want to see how Koyo Chana plays coming out of the break. He's going to get opportunities. I had a couple people coming on my mentions yesterday. Well, he's not going to get the opportunities, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like he is going to play.

Matt Grislich is going to get traded. They really have no other choice. Like, are you going to play Ryan Shea over him? No, there's no need to. Like your left side, once Grizzly gets dealt, it's going to be something of P.O. Joseph, Ryan Graves, and Coyachanock. Like, you're not going to play Ryan Cheang in that situation. Then your right side, you're going to have Vinny DeRNA, Eric Carlson,

because I don't think he's going to get dealt at the deadline at least. And then Chris LaTang. Like, you have to see what you have in this kid. Oh, by the way, he ranks eighth out of 205 defensemen and expected goals for a percentage this year. Really strong underlying numbers, even though it's a little bit of a small sample. but still, the earlier turns, pretty fascinating for a player like this. I'm excited to see what the Penguins having him once they come out of the break. One more thought, though, before we end today's episode.

Going back to the two games this weekend, I had something. It came out of my mind, and it came back right at the end of the show. Ricardo Raquel, man, 25 goals, outstanding play in that Rangers game. I only trade him if you get the sun and the moon. I will continue to say that on this show. if you can get a first and a good prospect, I would very much consider it. But I am not dealing him unless you get a pretty big call.

I am more than comfortable keeping him until the summer. Yes, I understand. His value might not be higher right now, but I am only dealing him if you can get a monstrous package back. That's just my opinion, though. I'm right there with you and I also want to put this caveat on to it as well. I think again, if you get an offer,

if you get a godfather offer you can't refuse kind of offering for ricard recal with the deadline, it would be malpractice on Kyle Dubus's part to not take it. But it's setting up for them to get an even bigger haul in the off season for him, because between a rising salary cap, a lot of teams who need to go for it next year, and a lot of a really good pending free agent class on July 1, You mix all that together. It is going to cost teams a lot of money to get players like this on their roster. And that's an opportunity to Kyle Dubus to say, hey, I got this guy who just had a huge year.

And he's only signed at $5 million for the next three years. Do you want to take a shot on him? Or do you want to go get one of those free agents who might cost you $7, $8,000 or $9 or even more million? dollars. So if you just want to pay some assets rather than burn a bunch of cap space, I'm your go-to guy. So I think it actually would behoove them to hold on to him pending an offer you can't refuse at the deadline because this summer you can get a king's ransom for him. Right. And again, man, the first is the bare minimum for me, but I want something a bit extra good prospect or at least a decent roster player coming back for Raquel in my opinion. But

that will do it for today's episode. of the Lockdown Penguins Cup podcast. Remember everyone, Josh Joey of the Athletic is joining the show on Tuesday to discuss all things Penguins, how they played the season so far, what do you expect to the deadline, maybe some four nations faceoff talk, all that plus so much more coming your way on Tuesday. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one,

and we'll be back on Tuesday.