Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get healthy as 4 Nations Face-Off break comes to an end

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

The Penguins returned to practice this week as the 4 Nations Face-Off comes to a close and they welcomed back two of their biggest contributors. Patrick and Hunter talk about the boost the team could get out of the break with the returns of Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust as well as the potential debut of defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok. Then, it's time to wax poetic about captain Sidney Crosby. A new feature in The Athletic spoke with several of Crosby's Team Canada teammates both from the present and the past about what a player and a leader he has been. Finally, it's Wednesday and that means it's time for Patrick and Hunter to hand out their MVP of the week as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONNHL. 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.

We've still got one game left in the Four Nations face-off, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are back at practice. Hunter and I are going to bring you those updates and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4WET. Joined as always by my partner in crime, the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. the Roku channel. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, go ahead and hit that notification button so you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes or any of our special breaking news edition episodes. But we don't have much of that going on right now because the NHL is still on the four

nations face off break. But we're almost out of it. You know we've got one game left tomorrow night, eight o'clock, the United States. and Team Canada for all the marbles at the Four Nations faceoff. But aside from that, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the members of the team who are not a part of the Four Nations face off were back in action on Tuesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. And ahead of that, the Penguins made a couple of roster moves, all of which we kind of expected as the team starts ramping up and getting ready for the stretch run here in the regular season. As practices resumed, the team recalled forward Emil Bemströmström and goalie Yoel Blumquist and Tristan Jarre has been reassigned to Wilkesbury Scranton. All of that pretty much expected.

They wanted to get Blumquist and Bemströmstrom some playing time with the baby penguins. And obviously they are still very committed to seeing what they have in Yowell Blumquist at the NHL level as he runs in tandem with Alex Nadalcovich. And the big news coming out of practice yesterday is that two players who we have had our eyes on since the break are Evgeny Malkin and Brian Rust, both of which were a 100% full participant in practice. And those who were there in attendance yesterday said that both of them looked like whatever was ailing them, they have made a full recovery. so they'll keep ramping up as we get ready to return to action this weekend for the Penguins. So Hunter, your thoughts on everything that we saw, you saw, everybody else saw at Penguins practice on Tuesday. Honestly, it feels like it's pretty standard. And, you know, Malkin was skating before the Four Nations face off break.

So it was only a matter of time before he was going to come back. In the back of my head, I was thinking, okay, maybe just maybe he could come back during the dance trip. And then I really thought about it. And I'm like, eh, let's just hold off. You get a two-week, Ray. You can fully come back from this injury. I expect him at 100% for this game on Saturday against the Washington Capitol. Pretty big game coming out of the break, by the way,

Pat, especially with the division rival coming to town for the first of two games in Pittsburgh. The Penguins and Caps split the two games in D.C. this year, but they'll play this weekend, and then they'll play in mid-April to close out the regular season. So that's going to be a lot of fun. Then Brian Russ, Mike Sullivan really wasn't concerned about that injury. going into the break, he kind of said, like, yeah, he'll be out for the next couple of weeks, but we expect him back after the break. And no surprise.

He's back to practice, full capacity. And it was the same thing today at practice. You know, according to Seth Rorbaugh, the lines at practice today, Pat again, same as Tuesday. Anthony Bavillier with Hennie Malkin and Brian Rust, Danton Hine, with Cody Glass, Emil Benstrom, Michael Bunting, Kevin Hayes, Philip Tomasino, Matt Nietto, Blake Lazott, and Norochari. Then defensively, you have P.O. Joseph, with Chris, Tang, Matt Griswick, Ryan Shea, and then you have the bottom pairing rotating Vinnie Dernay in the right side,

and then you have Goya Chonuk, and then Ryan Graves on the left side. So obviously, they'll get Carlson back in there. I would assume Ryan Shea comes out, and then they'll have to decide what to do on that bottom pairing member, Crosby and Raquel. They'll be back in the lineup this Saturday as well, I would assume, so you'll have two other forwards come out. I would assume one of them is Nietto, and then we'll have to see if the other one is Benstrom, Achari. Again, we'll have to see on that. But I did want to say this about Blumquist. I was surprised at how many people were concerned a couple weeks ago when he was sent back down and Jari came back up. Like I saw so many reactions from fans being like, what's going on here?

Like, why are you bringing back him back up? Is he going to get starts? And it's like, no, this was all very standard protocol. They're basically giving Jari a two-week vacation while allowing Blumquist to go back down and get playing time. And I even said to everyone, guys, he's going to be right back up once this break is almost over. Sure enough, with the title game on Thursday, Penguins playing in just three days on Saturday against Washington. There you go. He's back up. Jari goes back down. He's going to get some playing in Wilkesbury. Again, we both think he's probably going to be down there for the majority of the

rest of this season. It's not the entire rest of the 24, 25 season. And you'll have Blumquist up here with Nadelcov. Larson's back from injury. So he'll be splitting the starts, Jari, that is, in Wilkes. Then you'll have Murashav doing his thing, wheeling. And I know people are going to be mad about that, but they have a lot of goalie depth right now, people. But with Blumquist, I'm curious to see how they split the starts now going forward. I wanted to see more of Blumquist during that few weeks stretch before the break, but it didn't help matters that Alex Nadelcovich went on a massive heater. I mean, I gave you all the stats before the break.

He was at 905 or better in virtually every start. He was at 920 or better in 7 of 9 starts. Like, you're going to keep riding a hot hand in that situation. But now that you've been offered to, weeks, do you go back to Ned or do you start maybe giving more starts to Blumquist, excuse me. So I'm curious to see how that rotation is going to sort itself out. But good news on Malkin and Rusto, excited to have them back. And then once Raquel Carlson and Crosby get back, it's going to be hopefully that much better. Yeah, it will. And on the goaltending part of it,

the along with, and I'll expand on this in a sec, the reason that they did it aside from wanting Yoel Blumquist to get playing time with the baby penguins is, yeah, the NHL season is on a break, but it is still an active NHL season. And the roster requirement in the National Hockey League is you have to have two full-time goaltenders on your roster. Sidney Crosby, Ricard Raquel, Eric Carlson are all still on the penguins roster, despite being at the four nations face off. So you can't just have Alex Nadalcovich.

as the only goalie on the active roster, even when you are in a break. I know it's semantics. I know it's stupid, but at the end of the day, they don't want to violate that rule. So they brought Jari back up since they're not going to be playing. Nadelkovich and Jari get to take the break. Yowell Blumquist goes to the H.L. Blumquist goes to the H.L. gets playing time.

And now that the team is back at practice and the team is starting to ramp back up as we come out of this break, this tells you what the plan is going forward. As for the tandem in the rotation, it wouldn't surprise me, obviously because it's a weekend home back to back coming up out of the break. They've got the capitals on Saturday and then the Rangers on Sunday, both at PPG Paints Arena, both at 3 and 3.30. respectively. Obviously, you're probably not going to give one goalie both starts, but it wouldn't shock me to see Blumquist start the first game since he has been playing hockey games. Alex Nadelcovic

has just been on a break. He's been sitting at home or on vacation or working out or doing whatever, but he's not playing full-time games. Blumquist has. So wouldn't surprise me to see this weekend's rotation, go Blumquist, then the Delkevich. And we'll obviously preview those two games on Friday when we recap the finale of the Four Nations face off and get you ready for the weekend. But overall, one of the other big notes coming out of practice on Tuesday, you said it that Vladislav Kolachanak finally joined the team for his first practice. A lot of people who were the local reporters who were there covering it.

said that the thing that we said about him was evident in practice. Now, let's not get carried away. It is practice. You can't simulate an NHL game in practice. But the skating was what stood out to everybody. Very smooth skater has a good couple of first strides. And he basically described himself as a two-way defenseman, takes care of his own end,

looks to get a good first pass, and can jump into the play if necessary. And this is part of the process. for where the penguins are right now. They're going to get these young castoffs who need a second chance, who need a fresh start, and that absolutely applies to him. And we will see if he gets into the lineup right out of the break.

I would assume he does, in my opinion, you got to see what you have in this kid. I already said in my shouting report of him. He skates like the wind, does have a really underrated shot. And with how young he is, with the playing time that he's had so far, it's not like the biggest sample size,

but it's still a little bit enough where I'm like, okay, I think they may have something here. You still need to see what he can do in a Penguins uniform. I would start him on the bottom pairing. There's the potential for him to move up in the lineup, especially because we both expect Matt and Grizzling to be traded. So Helvashot to move up there. Also, of course, Owen Pickering, we discussed that with Kelsey during an episode on Tuesday, how he could be called up from Wilkesbury after the trade deadline,

which is coming up, by the way, Pat, in two weeks. Like, this is coming up really quick. the deadline is going to be here before we all know it. So that's going to be interesting. But I think he's going to play both games this weekend. I think you're kind of doing yourself a disservice if you're not. You picked him up on waivers. You're at least intrigued by him.

See what he can do against two division rivals. Like that's a really good first litmus test for him, honestly. Yeah, you might as well see what you got against two teams that you have absolutely battled with for the last. Jeez, 15 to 20 years. There's a lot of heat between the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers, and the Washington capitals. But that is going to do it for our first segment. When we come back, we're going to switch back to some Four Nations talk.

A great piece in the athletic this morning from Chris Johnston about the legend of Sydney Crosby. We will talk about that when we get back. So stick with us. But first, we've got to tell you about our sponsor today. And that is wonderful pistachios. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts, and each one ounce serving has six grams of protein giving you over 10% of your daily value. Plus, they're packed with fiber and better for you unsaturated fats to help keep you feeling fuller longer.

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I'm Patrick Damp. joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes and said it before we went to break. There was an absolutely marvelous piece this morning by Chris Johnston, one of the hardest working men in hockey. And he spoke to a ton of current and former team Canada people about Sydney Crosby. And I want to start with this hunter. we both know after this season, he's still got two years left on his NHL deal.

And I am of the mindset, unless a dramatic drop-off comes, I don't see the end of that extension being the end of his career. I think he's got maybe a year or two, possibly three left in him, again, unless a dramatic drop-off comes. But you can kind of see that everybody in, evolved now is starting to realize the end of the Sydney Crosby era in the NHL is coming to a conclusion because you read this story. And there was another story a couple days ago from somebody at the athletic.

I apologize. I can't remember who it was. But it was basically saying that he's leaving his legacy on the younger generation at the four nations face off of Team Canada. and what it means to play for the national team. But let's dive into this. There was one anecdote that I got to start with that stands out amongst all of it. And it is from the captain of the 2010 Winter Olympics Team Canada Squad, Scott Niedermeyer.

And he said, quote, he could have been captain in Vancouver. He understood what it took to have success, not only as an individual, but probably more importantly as a team. That's a guy who, yeah, he somehow flies under the radar when you talk about some of the best players in the modern era, the NHL, one of the better players of all time. And the fact that he was named the captain of that team in 2010, which as many Team Canada rosters have been, was an absolute juggernaut. And he's looking at this young guy who's only a little over 20 years old, only been in the league for a couple of years, but says this guy could have been leading this team. I can't think of any higher praise.

100% man. And again, like he's been so great at continuing to live up to the hype year after year after year. It's always great. Like no matter what sport, right, when you take a player first overall that they live up to the hype and then some. That's what's going on with Sidney Crosby here. He has more than lived up to the hype. He is a top five NHL player. of all time. He will go down also as one of the best international players of all time. You mentioned the streak path so much during this Four Nations faceoff break, 26 and O. Yeah, I know. That was broken by the U.S. They won after that, but he still has an opportunity to be 28 and 1 if they win on Thursday in his last 29 international games.

You can see how many players on this team speak so glowingly about him. Drew Dowdy with the quotes in that article too. Chris Johnson did a great job with that. some of the younger players, like you can just see, like, I know he's no Nathan McKinnon for a long time, but look at the way McKinnon lights up when he's on the ice with him. Like when Krosse makes these crazy passes, like he looks at him and just like kind of laughs and then points. Like, holy crap, you still can make plays like that despite being almost 40 years old. And, you know, it was the same thing with Mark Stone on the line during this tournament.

Connor McDavid as well. It's so great still seeing him lead this stacked team. even though some of the players on this team are better overall, Crosby is still that great leader and everything about the way he conducts himself both on and off the ice is tremendous. And you've seen that on full display these last couple of weeks. It's going to be the same thing at the Olympics in 26. That could be the final Olympics that he plays in the NHL.

I do agree with you. I think after this current contract, I think he may wee up for maybe one or two more years before. potentially calling it quits. But, I mean, it's not going to be with another team, by the way. I think it's going to be with the Penguins. He's going to retire a member of the Penguins unless something very, and I mean, very weird happens.

But again, it all goes back to him just as a leader and as someone who, again, people just love playing with. And you've seen that on full display at every single Olympic tournament, the World Cup, this tournament, et cetera. It's fantastic, man. It really is. Hey, that's a little bit of a tease for our final segment for Royal Your Helmet Wednesday, at least for me, people.

Yeah, we'll stay tuned for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. We may not be in agreement on this one, but you'll have to wait and find out. Anyway, though, one of the biggest through lines to me, and I think it kind of shows how he's been able to get to the level he's at, he, he is at both on the ice and off the ice is there's this quiet, intensity about him. You know, you look back, especially in the modern era in the 2000s, the 2010s, and now into the 2020s, and you think as some of the best players of all time, whether it's a guy like

Tom Brady or LeBron James and so many others, one of the things that you hear about them is that they have this almost, and I'll even say it for his buddy on Team Canada, Nathan McKinnon. They have this almost over the top intensity where they're very demanding. They're very over the top. But you read this story by Chris Johnston in there's no yelling at guys. There's no screaming in being this over the top figure. He is just a quiet, calming presence. And the thing that a lot of these guys talk about, and it was also Brad Marshawn talked about it as well, where they were like, he's just a calming influence. You see him in these big moments. You see him at these big games.

And he's running through the same warm up routines. He's running through the same game day routines. He's sitting at his stall quietly. Or he's very calmly talking to other players and saying, this is what we need to do. this is what you need to do. This is what I'm seeing out there. And that's a very calming influence because it was, I believe, it was Matt Dushan who said it, who played with him at the 2014 Olympics and said, it's just the aura he gives off in there, the quiet intensity and confidence he has. You know there's no moment too big for him. Even if he maybe feels nerves or whatever

inside, he doesn't show it. And we have seen that. on so many occasions with the Penguins, you go back and you watch some of those behind the scenes shows. I believe it was Showtime who had it during the 16 and 17 Stanley Cup runs. They had that all access quest for the cup show. And yeah, during game action, Crosby was loud. He was screaming. He was in it.

But any time he was on the bench or in the locker room. And even sometimes on the bench, because if you remember during the 2017 run there was the game where Malkin and Koonitz go down on a two on one and Koonitz makes that one extra pass and they don't score on a wide open net and everybody on the bench is chirping it. They're like, why didn't he shoot that? He's got to shoot that. Cooney's got to shoot that. Why is he not shooting? And Krosby just turns and goes, guys, I think he knows, drop it. Let's get back to work and everybody gets back to work. And then you see the locker room things where before they win the Stanley Cup in San Jose.

He doesn't get up and scream and yell. He's not rah, rah, rah, rally. And the troops just says, it's going to be a grind, boys. It's going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it. And if you don't hear that from Sydney, Patrick Crosby, and you don't want to run through a wall that night,

check your pulse because I don't know if you're alive. Yeah, man. And honestly, it's probably going to be something similar on Thursday, when Canada plays Team USA as Canada tries to get its revenge after losing in Montreal during the round Robin. But another thing that reminds me of that. And I'm glad that you brought up the situation with Kunitz because it felt like that video just came out a few years ago where everyone saw it. And it's like, yeah, that is the type of leader that Sidney Crosby is.

He is, in my opinion, the best captain in the league. He's been the best captain in the league for quite some time. And then you saw that on display again, not even against, you know, Sweden or Team U.S. say, but against Finland. Finland was making that crazy comeback in the third period. They cut it to 4-3. Crosby's on the ice to defend the lead after Granlin gets another goal. And then he's like, you know what?

Screw this. I'm putting my body on the line once again. I'm going to hit Granlin, separate him from the puck, and then I'm going to fire the puck into the empty net from center ice. Like, again, man, he's doing this banged up, knowing everything is on the line. Again, it continues to show what a great player, and especially what a great leader he is. You saw how he was mobbed by all his teammates on the ice.

They knew what that meant from their captain, who's 37 right now is banged up that, hey, he still got us. Like this is again, this is Sid's country for hockey, man. Everyone else is just a guest. Yeah, absolutely. One last anecdote from the story that I wanted to mention because it really does sum up Sidney Crosby as a hockey player and as a person. and it's from Brad Marshawn.

I guess prior to the tournament, Crosby had some of the players on Team Canada at his home in Pittsburgh for a dinner and a get together to kind of get everybody in the same room and on the same page, again, showing what a leader he is. But Marciaun said during a recent dinner at Crosby's suburban Pittsburgh home,

he walks into the living room and sees a rocking chair made entirely out of wood from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Arshawn goes on to say, that's what he sits in every day. He's just a very down-to-earth guy, which at this level and the things he's accomplished doesn't happen often. A tremendous amount of respect for him. Hey, Sid, I get it. I've got shirts.

I've got pieces of memorabilia. I've got electronics that no matter what I do in life, I'm never getting rid of. So totally get you on that one, Sid. But that will do it for our second segment. When we come back, it is Wednesday. my dudes, and that means it's Warrior Helmet Wednesday. And despite the Penguins being off, we're still going to give out our weekly MVP as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

So stick with us. We will do that when we come back right after this. All right, welcome back to the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp, joined as always by Hunter Hodes. And I know we've got some new listeners, thanks to the Four Nations faceoff and some of the Breaking news from the penguins the last few weeks. So if you are a new viewer or listener, it's Wednesday. In each Wednesday, Hunter and I give out our team MVP as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

It's us paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning Penguins. That team that season in the locker room would give out their Player of the Game Award as part of a Warrior Helmet. So it's Wednesday. we give out our MVP for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. And Hunter, since I'm sitting in the host chair today, I'm changing some rules for Warrior Helmet Wednesday since I'm the host today. And instead of just picking one of the Penguins, who is part of the Four Nations face off,

I'm just going to pick a player. But to keep it like a locked on Penguins episode, it's going to be a former penguin. My Warrior Helmet this Wednesday is going to former Pittsburgh Penguin and Team USA standout. Jake Gensel. Absolutely great performance against Team Canada last week. And he has just continued to show that he is a complete player. If you are still all these years later saying Jake Gensel,

was only a product of Sidney Crosby. Give your head a shake, man. This dude can play hockey. He is second in the tournament in points with three goals, one assist, four points. He has the same amount of points as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichol. The only two players with more points than Jake Gensel in this tournament are Zach Werenski, his teammate, and Sidney Crosby, both of which.

which who have five. And Gensel is also tied with the likes of Nathan McKinnon and Mikhail Grandland hilariously for the most goals in the tournament. So great week for former penguin Jake Gensel. He gets my warrior helmet this Wednesday. I like that one again, man. We got to get the milkshake factory to do Jake shakes this week, especially if Team USA wins on Thursday.

If he scores a goal in that game to help the team USA win, we got to do J shakes on Friday. Come on, guys, just for old time's sake, got to bring back the J shakes. Yeah, I know we have the rush shakes going on right now, but you might have to do it for old time's sake on Friday. I actually almost thought you were going to do my Kyle Grayland for a second, because let's face it, he actually did play really well throughout this tournament, and he's been playing very well throughout this year. Good to see, didn't work out with the Penguins,

but he is playing fairly well throughout this year in the NHL. Really nice to see, but my pick people, very obvious. I'm going to give Mike Worry at Hama to Cindy Crosby five points tied for the tournament lead with Zach Werenski. He has been fantastic. Playing banged up, some of these passes that he's throwing the needle on are disgusting. He hasn't been shooting the puck as much.

I mean, that's expected people. His arm is a bit banged up. But his passing has not lost any of its luster. And he continues to be, as we said in the second segment, such a good leader for Team Canada in his closing in, on potentially another trophy throughout his illustrious career. Five points in three games, he's a chance to up that even more in the championship game on Thursday. I think we could be seeing, no matter what happens, I think we could be seeing a really vintage performance from said,

especially with so much on the line in this game. This is the last international game, best-on-best, until the Olympics next year. I think he's going to do everything he can to go out with a bang. But for this week, it is Cindy Crosby. He gets my helmet. Was great against Sweden. We'll quite against Team USA. But then he was awesome against Finland once again.

He gets my helmet. That's a good pick. And Hunter, two quick things before we close it out here today. To build on your point, he hasn't been shooting very much. You know what Sidney Crosby's shooting percentage? Is it the four nations face off? 50%. Oh, well, yeah.

Yeah. He has two shots on goal, one of which was the M. empty netter. So Sid is shooting 50% at the Four Nations face off. And last thing before we go, if you have stuck it out this whole way, you'll get to hear this little Easter egg at the end of the show. Per Rob Rossi of the athletic. Evgeny Malkin says he will play on Saturday night. So Evgeny Malkin will be back when the penguins are back. But that is going to do it for this edition of the locked on penguins podcast. Thank you as always for tuning in. Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Thursday. We will preview the championship game of the

four nations face off as well as bring you some notes from Wednesday's practice for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But until then for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in and we will be back on Thursday.