Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins go bargain shopping to open free agency, but were they smart moves?

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins were active on July 1st, but it wasn't for any kind of big game hunting. To start today's show, Hunter and Patrick discuss the team announcing the signings of defenseman Matt Grezlcyk and forward Anthony Beauvillier. They start with the former and analyze what the Penguins are getting in him. Is there a chance he can get back to the level that he has played at before? Should they have went after some better options? The two ask the same questions for Beauvillier since he had a rotten 2023-24 season. They then look at the Blake Lizotte move and why that's a slam dunk move for the 4C. They then analyze the Reilly Smith trade and how Dubas did a decent job with it before looking at some comments that Dubas made to the media. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins had an intriguing July 1st, and Pat and I are going to discuss everything they did on this Monday right after this. Your 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 am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host Patrick Damp. you can follow him on Twitter at Sun and For Wet, and you can follow the show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this,

your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Make every moment more as the playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, Fandul is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right.

There is something for everyone every day all summer long. visit fandul.com slash locked on to get started. So the Pittsburgh Penguins were at least a little bit busy on this free agent frenzy day, not as busy as a team like the National Predators were by signing Stephen Stamco's, Jonathan Marcheseau, and Brady Shea, they went all out and getting some of the top free agents in this class. The Penguins didn't do that, but they did make some moves of their own. And let's start with a big one here.

The penguin signing defenseman Matt Grizzly to a one-year deal worth 2.75, million dollars so i'll start with this if this move was made two years ago i would have been jumping for joy i remember two years ago on this show i said numerous times i would have loved for the penguins to trade for grizzlic just because i felt like he was one of the most underrated defensive in the nashel his playing time was going down a little bit with the bruin's but he was someone that i really wanted to get just because of how good he was in boston but since then it just hasn't been that great this past season, especially the worst season of his career. I definitely think the Penguins are hoping for a bounce back with him here.

But still, $2.75 million for someone who I think is going down at this point in his career, it's a little bit questionable for me. I think I would have rather than use that money to go get someone like an Oliver Shillington or an Eric Ranstrom or maybe just bring back P.O. Joseph because I think those players are better than Grizzling. but I'm still obviously going to give Grys like a shot. He's been a very good defenseman in the NHL for numerous years. And yeah, I know it's not the case anymore this past year,

but they'll at least try and give him a shot to bounce back. But when you saw that move, what were your thoughts overall? It's underwhelming to say the least. And I don't know if you brought it up, but it was something of a concern that he was a healthy scratch in 10 of Boston's last 11 playoff games. And their defense, is not good.

So that's kind of concerning to me. Yeah, this wasn't the big bad Bruins of the 2010s, where their lineup on defense was just stacked with great player after great player. And he found himself as the odd man out. He definitely earned those scratches, so to speak. But I mean,

one year, 275, it's fine. You know, somebody said it on Twitter today. And I kind of, agree with this. And obviously it's not a defense of everything that Kyle Dubus has done today and in the recent past. But you know good and well if Ron Hextall was still the general manager.

These guys would be getting multiple years in some kind of trade protection to go along with it. So I can understand bringing in Grizzlic for the defense. If he bounces back, that's great. And if this season doesn't go the way you're hoping it goes, you can probably get a nice little return for him at the deadline to send them off to a team that has Stanley Cup aspirations. He has promising upside. I think he can bounce back maybe not to the level he once was,

but I think at 275 he can be a serviceable piece on a defense that definitely needs some help. Yeah, I mean, his underwings, even before this year were tremendous. Again, just a couple of seasons ago, he had an expected goal share of 60.4% with the Bruins, 2021-2020 season. Before that, 61% expected goal share.

This year fell down all the way to 47.4%. His high danger chances, 4 percentage, also went down to 46%. Even his score seed for shot attempts per 60. When he was on the ice, the Bruins only had 45% of the shot of attempts. just a big nose dive for him this year. You'd have to hope that he will bounce back for next season,

but I just get concerned just because of his age and how he just really went down this past season. But outside of that move, the Penguins also signed Anthony Beulieuie to a one-year contract worth $1.25 million. Again, another one-year term. So I think with term with these contracts, I'm not concerned. That's whatever if you're mad about.

the term for these. You should probably just go touch grass or something like that, to be honest. And even the money here, I don't think is that big of a problem. But Bo Villiers was also not that good this past season. Five goals, 17 points overall. I don't think he's going to be nearly as bad as that with the Penguins. That would be kind of insane if he was worse than this past season. Bo Villiers, going back to his Islander days, he was a really solid contributor in the middle six. He would always kill the penguins that felt like every time he played them. but can he get back to the level? It's questionable at this point. So I think both of these moves, they're kind of quote unquote hope moves, kind of quote unquote praying moves. And I don't know,

man, I kind of feel a little bit underwhelmed with that one as well, just when I look at some of the other depth forwards out there that were also being signed today too and that are also still out there right now. Yeah, I'm with you on that. It's another underwhelming move. But I also look at of Villiers is something that they could use in their bottom six. He's still got good foot speed. He's not a slow player. He's a little bit bigger, but at the same time, I mean, he's still got a little bit of a scoring touch.

I think it's better than most of what they've brought in for the bottom six over the past couple of seasons. And there's definite upside there. It's not a guy that I think, though, if he bounces back this year, you fall in love with you shake his hand and say thanks for everything at the end of this coming season and let him go, which kind of gets into another theory I have on what the penguins might be doing right now, but that's a discussion for a later day. And again, it's one year, 1.25 million. I mean, that's the going rate for a bottom six forward at this point. They didn't overpay him. They

didn't give him term. And if he bounces back, great. If not, no big deal. Who cares? Now, I would like to see them make better moves to bolster this roster, but we also knew this was coming. This was kind of hinted at by Dubus for the last couple weeks where he was saying, listen, we're pretty much just going to go bargain shopping this offseason. We're not going to sign anybody with a big name to a long-term deal. We're not going to be players for the big names who are looking for big paydays. And that's understandable because they, they only had about $10 million in cap space going into noon o'clock today.

Yes, I said noon o'clock. That was not a misspeak. But so you knew that they weren't going to be big name players. They weren't going to go big game hunting. And it comes back to you look at both their salary cap space and their contracts. It's going to be really difficult for them to make any big splashes over the next eight to 10 months, just because they're weighed down by a lot of bad deals. So this is where they're going to have to find a way to make it work. The biggest thought I had come to my brain when I saw those two moves was that,

okay, I know what your plan is for this year. It's obvious that I don't think they're thinking about making the playoffs this year. Overall, I think the playoffs for them just in Dubus's mind is a bit of a bonus. So I think he's thinking at it like, okay, we'll sign these two players, see if we can get their value back up, flip them at the deadline. That was the first thing that really popped into my head about that. Otherwise, they'll just move on at the end of the season if they don't get moved at the deadline.

That was the first thought I had just because, you know, as it stands right now, I don't think this is a playoff team heading into next season. So I think they're thinking is, okay, if they can play well, maybe Beauvillee finds his scoring touch a little bit, again, especially on a fourth line role. I do think a fourth line role on this team for him would. at least be decent overall. He's not playing with the awful Chicago Blackhawks like he was for a little bit of last season. But I still think they're thinking about maybe flipping them if the opportunity arises, you know, next February, next March. That's also something I think to

keep in mind about Bavillier too is you look at his career, right? And he was with the islanders when they were still pretty solid. And he contributed in a pretty good way. And he contributed in a pretty good way. I mean, you look at his stat lines from the Islanders. He mostly had 10 or more goals every year he was there. And that was when they were still pretty competitive. Then he goes to Vancouver, who at the time, not that great, nine goals. Back to the Islanders is they're kind of coming back to Earth from being competitive. Nine goals again.

Nashville, a couple seasons. Remember, he was included in the Bohortat trade. So he was traded to Vancouver. So 18 total goals that season overall. Yeah. And this past year, really bad Chicago team and doesn't do well. So I think there is room for a bounce back because then you also remember he's only 27 years old. He still has some hockey in front of them.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that he's going to show up and light the world on fire. He's not. He could be a very good depth contributor if this team makes a couple smarter moves, but that's yet to be seen if they will. So overall, I think it's a solid depth move, if still underwhelming. I think that's fair to say as well. I also could see him play potentially on the third line, depending on what else they do this off season.

I think we also have to remember everyone. It's still July 1st. There are plenty of moves that get made throughout the month of July. Heck, we even sometimes see a couple moves in August overall. I know GMs like vacationing during that time, but you still see some moves made during that time. I think the roster you see right now for the penguins is not going to be the full final roster that you see come October. But one more move before we head to break here.

Kyle Dubas announcing during his presser that the Penguins have signed, Senator Blake Lazot from Los Angeles Kings. All we know right now is that it's a multi-year deal. I think that's the only multi-year deal that the Penguins have signed today. I don't know if it's two years. I don't know if it's three years. But based on his underlines, based on his production, I really like this move overall, Pat.

I mean, he spent the last several seasons with the Los Angeles Kings this year. Seven goals, 15 points in 62, 22, 23, 11 goals, 34 points in 81 games. I really like this as someone that can be the fourth line center, brings some good offense, is good in his own zone, can penalty kill. And also, based off the way Kings fans are tweeting, they're not happy that he's gone. So I really like this move from Kyle Dubus and company. Yeah, I'm excited to have him on the team. I think it's a good fourth line center option.

I also think, and this is something we can dig into later in the week, that they're probably going to be dangling Lars Eller out there in a trade. But at the same time, I still want to see what the deal is. I don't want to overpay for a guy like this. But there is promise there that this can be a very solid fourth line center. You brought up his numbers. I'll bring this up. He'll be 26 when the season starts.

This is the kind of player that Kyle Dubus has been talking about getting. Now, again, is he overly spectacular? No, he's not going to play on Crosby or Malkins line. He's not going to score 25, 30 goals. But if he's your fourth line center and he chips in between 5 and 10, puts up 30, 35 points-ish, then you've got a good young player here. So without seeing the details of the contract, I'm happy this guy's on the roster for now.

If it's a good deal, I'm even happier. But we will see. So this is a nice, savvy little move by Kyle Dubus, if you ask me. I agree. And it will be interesting to see what the domino effect now is at center because you bring in Kevin Hayes. He's going to start at center. That's what Kyle Dubos said during his presser today. You have Noachari.

He can play center. He can also play wing. And I do think he should be moved to wing if he is on this team next year. I think he's better at wing overall. you also have Lars Eller on the team right now. Does that make him expendable? And now you have Blake Lazott, who's coming in, who is a peer center. Something's going to have to give there.

I think if I had to guess right now, I think it's Ellert that might get moved at some point this off season, but we'll have to see what their full plans are as we go through the month of July as a whole. But that would do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss the Riley Smith trade and why Kyle Dubus did a fairly decent job with that move.

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So, Pat the Penguins did make a trade on Monday sending Riley Smith to the New York Rangers for two draft picks, number one, a 2027 second round pick, and number two, a 2025 fifth round pick. The penguins are also retaining 25% of Smith's salary. So that comes out to 1.25 million overall. They're able to clear 3.75 million in caps base to send Smith to the Rangers. And I'm fine with that move. They get out of the contract, at least mostly. I know it's kind of annoying they're sending him to a division rival, but I wish him all the best overall. I really hope that he's able to at least find his form a little bit again for the Rangers. Just hopefully he's not scoring on the Penguins overall.

But I think that's a nice piece of business from Kyle Dubus. You get more back for him than you paid for last year. So I am totally fine with that trade. Yeah, this is good asset management by Kyle Dubus. He turned Riley Smith into more of what he sent out, so to speak. One other thing to add about the trade, though, the fifth round pick is conditional because the New York Rangers have both their own 2025 fifth round pick and Minnesota's 2025 fifth round pick, whichever one is lower in the draft,

that's the one that the penguins will get once this trade comes to its completion at the draft next year. But I want to add this about Kyle Dubus. When it comes to him as a manager, I don't like the way he signs players. I have never really been a fan of his signings going all the way back to Toronto. I think he loses those quite a bit. I think we're seeing he's lost quite a few of them here in Pittsburgh when you think of the Ryan Graves deal and now the Tristan Jari deal. But on the flip side of that, he never loses trades.

He may not win them, but he never loses a trade. You look at a lot of the deals he makes and it's either very good asset management or he gets something good in return. you can hem and haw about the Jake Gensel trade all you want, but he got all of that out of Carolina, and all Carolina got was a few playoff games of Jake Gensel, and now he's in Tampa Bay. And the Penguins now have a couple of good prospects. They got a draft pick out of it,

to which looks like a guy who might have a lot more upside than one's thought. You have Michael Bunting, and that's a good deal. And then you look at this one. Yeah, it's going to sting a little bit holding on to 1.25 million of his salary, but it's only through the end of this coming season. And with the way Dubus has been cooking in the second round the last couple of years, I'm good with giving him another second round pick. So overall, very happy with this trade.

And I also agree with what you said. Obviously, I don't want him scoring against the penguins. That would suck. But by all accounts, this is a good deal. dude who's a pretty good hockey player. And this was just a square peg round hole scenario for him. He just didn't fit here for whatever reason, whether it was personal.

He didn't want to play here, wanted to stay in Vegas, or it just wasn't the type of team he fits in with. I would love to see him get his game back and get one last big deal before he calls it a career. Because he has gone, you look at his career pre-Vegas, this is a guy who's been a steady soldier,

been in some bad situations. you always want to see players like that succeed. At the end of the day, the move just really didn't work out. I loved it at the time. I thought he was going to be a great fit with the penguins. He was, I think, everything they needed for another winger for Fgeny Malkin, and it just kind of fizzled out after a month. Sometimes those things happen.

But I wish him all the best with the Rangers, and I do hope he plays a bit better this year overall. But now that he's dealt, this kind of does leave a little bit of a hole in the lineup for the penguins. You know, you look up and down this lineup right. now. I mean, it's great for the top six. You have Michael Bunting. Ricard Raquel is still there right now. The Penguins are hoping for a bounceback of Gennie Malkin, Sydney Crosby, Brian Russ. I think that's five of your top six players right now. Who else is going to play in the top six? I think Drew Connor can do it in spurts. I think he's a very good depth player. If someone gets hurt,

can come up there for 15, 20, 25 games, do the job. But do I trust Joe O'Connor to do the job for a full 82 game season. Not yet. I'm not there just yet. And it's why I think they still need to go out there, whether it's via trade or free agency, and get Crosby a winger to play on his left wing. Whether that's someone like Jeff Skinner, who, as of this recording at 5.30 p.m. on Monday, he has not signed with the team yet. There's been interest from multiple teams. I'm not sure if the penguins are in on him. But I think if the penguins can get him on a short-term deal where the money makes sense, I would definitely do that. that or whether it's someone else, this team badly needs another top six winger, I think.

They do. And you hit the nail on the head. I like Drew O'Connor. I was very happy to see the way he developed and performed this past season. That has been something this organization has been missing since the Stanley Cup runs. A younger guy who comes in makes his mark and develops pretty well. But I'm still skeptical on him as a full time. top six winger. I would love to see Jeff Skinner as a penguin, but I also want to add the caveat that I feel like I have to add every July 1st. This is not NHL 24. You can't just click a button, offer a guy a contract, and he signs it. He has to want to come here. There is always that aspect that I think people forget. I would love, I would, I would have loved for them to sign Jeff Skinner at 12.02 p.m.

July 1st to a one year, hey, go out and get your cookies with Sidney Crosby and then next year you can go get paid. But there might not be interest from him in coming to Pittsburgh. I also think that you could probably still keep your eye on Patrick Lining. I think that I look at some of the moves Columbus made today and they're still very much Columbusing in just being completely baffling despite having a better GM now. And if you can pull him out of there and send something back, I would take him and see what he does on Crosby's wing. Yeah, I think that's also pretty reasonable.

I think he's at least worth a flyer to me if you can make that work, but you also have to figure out the salary situation as well. And I know the penguins that are leaving some salary cap space open this summer, just for that type of deal. I'm just not sure they are going to maybe go after L'A, but I think it's at least something that I would take a flyer on overall. A couple more moves to discuss before we head to our final segment, the Penguins.

Also, Pat, resigning defenseman Ryan Shea to a one-year contract, $775,000 at the NHL level. Really good depth overall. I'm happy with him. I think at the start of the NHL season, he did not look like an NHL caliber defenseman to me, but as he got more seasoning towards the end of the season, it looked like he at least belonged to the NHL level. he's a good number seven number eight defensemen to have very happy with that signing and then also they signed amel benjamin to a one-year deal seven hundred seventy five thousand dollars as well

sixteen points in fifty six games this past season he's going to be in contention for a spot in the bottom six and yes pat i have the same reaction that you have where i'm just like okay cool i guess we're bringing him back they didn't qualify him as one of their rfas he turned into a ufay i thought that that meant they were going to be moving on from him but i guess they decided to bring him back for one more year. I don't know. I guess it's fine, but what do you think? I'm going to give our listeners who are wearing headphones a moment here to turn down their volume and address the Bemstrom resigning. Why? He isn't good. Like, it's a nothing contract. It's less than a million. It's whatever. Maybe it works out. Maybe it doesn't. But

he's not good. Like there's no need for this. I don't get it. But whatever. It's 775. Who cares? Ryan, Shane,

on the other hand, I like that a lot. Him and Jack St. Ivany showed that they had some real chemistry as a bottom pairing. Obviously, they've got more defensemen they know what to do with right now. After signing Grizzlick and bringing him back and still with everybody else that's on the roster. But that's a good safety blanket,

I think, to have for your bottom pair. with those two. So, I mean, again, I know a lot of people are overwhelmed and unhappy today, and I don't blame them at all, because, you know, we have been on a carousel ride in space the last 20 years with how great the penguins have been.

So this is a little bit different territory. But overall, I mean, we knew this was coming. Kyle Dubas said that there was going to be bargain shopping and bargain hunting at this free agency, free agency day. So overall, I don't get bringing back Bemstrom, but whatever, it's a nothing contract, and Shea's good defensive depth to have on your roster.

Yep, I agree on both there. And with that said, we're going to discuss what Kyle Dubas said to the media on Monday right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Dam.

So Kyle Dubus had a lot to say to the media on Monday when discussing the moves that he made, whether it's Gryslerc, Bavillier, Ryan Shea, Blake Lazotte, etc. But it's a comment that he made about the Penguins on ice direction, just because I think a lot of fans want to know, like, is this a reed tool? Is this a massive rebuild?

Are you tearing it down? Like, what's going on at the core? And Dubas said they're not looking to squeak into the playoffs but become a contender as quick as possible. He said, we're not going to strip it down to the stud situation here. We're trying to use every method we can to acquire future assets. and he did say he would like for the Penguins to be a contender by the time Crosby, Malkin, and let's hang it up.

Okay. I appreciate him saying that. I don't think this team is going to be a Stanley Cup contender by the time those three are ready to hang it up. And I know that's in about a few years at this point, probably about three overall. I don't think they're going to be a contender right then. I think it's going to take a little bit more time overall for this team to be back to a bona fide Stanley Cup contend.

tender. And I just wish he would go out there to the media and just say, yeah, we're doing a small rebuild right now because that is what this is. You look at the moves you've seen today. You look at the moves you've seen during the draft and heck, even during the trade deadline, this team is doing a rebuild on the fly. He's not saying it, but that's exactly what he's doing right now. Yeah. And okay, so I hinted at it earlier in the show. This is my theory of what I think the penguins are doing. If you follow me on. Twitter. You've seen me say it already today. I may expand on it in a blog post later on sometime this summer. But I think they are punting on this season, this upcoming season.

I think they are fully accepting that, listen, this season with the amount of mistakes that we have made over the past couple of years, we're in a bad spot. Sydney Crosby still has a couple of good years left of hockey. Fgeny Malkin likely does too. Chris LaTang likely does as well, Eric Carlson, same deal. Next summer, they at this juncture right now before our friends at cap friendly go dark, which Puckpedia got to step it up here soon because if you're our go-to, you got a lot of improvement to make. But right now, at this moment, with the salary cap expected to be $92 million in the

2025, 2025, 2025, 2006 season. the penguins have $36.3 million of cap space. I think next season, 2526, is going to be the last go-for-it year in this era. I think that they're looking at that and saying, all right, chances are over the next year, we can move on from some of these big contracts. We can maybe move Jari. We can maybe move Raquel. we can maybe do something with Ryan Graves to get rid of him.

We'll get Crosby on some kind of a three to four year extension in the next few weeks or over the next year. And then you figure they're going to have anywhere between $20 and $30 million in caps space, depending on what they do with Crosby and maybe even Marcus Pedersen, although I don't think it would be the worst idea to maybe move Marcus Pedersen and recoup a bunch of assets. But we'll see. And I think at that point, you'll have $20 some million in cap space. And the only notable UFAs you are going to have are, like I said, Sidney Crosby, but we know an extension's coming.

Marcus Pedersen, we'll see what happens. Grizzlick will be a UFA, doesn't matter. Eller, UFA if they hold on to them, Pavilion, UFA, UFA, UFA, UFA, and Matt Nietto, UFA, if he's still here. So you hope that some of these younger guys that you've drafted over the past couple of years can come up and make some kind of a difference. And then you can go big game hunting on July 1st. And that'll be all she wrote for this era. That'll be the empty the tank. And I know a lot of people are saying to me, well, you can't guarantee that the core guys are still going to be great.

If you go big game hunting the right way on July 1st, they don't have to be. You can surround them with enough talent that they can contribute and so can. the guys you bring in. So I think you're right. They are doing a mini rebuild on the fly. And next summer, if they play their cards right, they can make sweeping changes to this roster. I can understand what you're saying. I know I've said numerous times on the show that I felt like this year had to be the last all-in big year just because of the way Crosby played this past season, the way Lettang played for most of the season, the way Malkin looked rejuvenated once Bunting got to his line. but I also do at least understand a little bit the direction that Dubas is taking the team in right now.

And to your point, I do get that why they could go big game hunting next year. Hopefully the free agency class, though, is a bit better than this year's one, just because this year outside of a few guys, there really wasn't too, too much. I mean, some of the deals that we've seen today have been absolutely outrageous, man. So we'll have to see there. And then with the Sydney-Prosby extension, I know it hasn't been announced yet, but we got to think that's coming very soon, right? I know some people are a little bit concerned about that,

but I really don't think this is going to be a problem at all. He's going to sign that three-year extension sooner rather than later, I would think, and then this will all be moot. I don't think this is going to take too much longer. I mean, he said numerous times that he wants to retire a penguin. this should not take that long for negotiations. He also wants to follow in the footsteps of his hero, Stevie Y. He wants to play his entire career with one franchise like Izerman did with the Red Wings.

So I think either way, he's going to go down with the ship and he's only going to play for the penguins. Maybe of Gennie Malkin and Chris Lattang play out their contracts and go somewhere else. I would hate to see it, but it's a distinct possibility. So either way, we're going to get a Crosby extension. I would be totally, totally beside myself if it doesn't happen. Right. I would agree with that. And then one more comment from Juba's that I really want to highlight.

He said during his presser that they want to add another good young player or do another deal similar to the Kevin Hage trade where they take on a contract, but they also get a sweetener to it. He said we're wide open on what we want to do. I'm curious about that. What younger player do you want to bring in this offseason for your lineup? Or who else would you take, along with a sweetener from another team that's trying to unload a contract? I'm not to come up with some options.

I think one that comes to mind potentially for me out of Vancouver is Connor Garland, if they want to do that. But I'm not fully sure what that means overall in terms of who they could be targeting. Yeah, I'm very curious to see who that is because you look at it right now as it stands today. There's only three teams that are above the cap, and it's Vancouver and Toronto who are less than a million over. So that's going to be very easy to rectify. But it might be time to give your fellow Metropolitan Division rival, the Washington Capitals, a call, because they are 14 million over the salary cap.

And for some of the guys that they could put on LTIR or move out, they still have a long way to go. Because, yeah, maybe they LTIR, T.J. O'Shee, before he retires, but that's still only 5.75. And then you look at the rest of their roster. And it's just, there's a lot of guys on there that could be moved. I mean, if you're really looking for someone to make a difference in your middle six, you could maybe call up for Sonny Milano.

You could maybe see what they want to do with Dylan Strome. But again, that's $5 million forever. They won't trade Dylan Schroen. But they're not going to get rid of Connor McMichael. That's a good young player. But again, you look at the capitals and $14 million over the cap, over the cap, they better hope that their buddies that they just bought and cap-friendly have some magic up their sleeves because this could be a disappointing summer for the caps who have been

pretty savvy, but $14 million over the salary cap is very hard to rectify. Oh, well, you know they'll figure it out. I'm sure they'll have maybe a little bit of problems at the start, but I think they'll have it all figured out by the time this season starts. I don't think for a second they're going to trade Dylan Strom. I didn't mean to interrupt you there, but I think they see him as a core piece for a while. I do think maybe also someone like Nick Robertson, formerly of Toronto, could make sense with the Penguins.

Dubus also knows him. So yeah, that factor. But I do think just as an option forward for the bottom six, I could see Robertson as an option too. Is there anything else you want to highlight from Dubas's comments today before we call it? Not particularly. I mean, I do agree with you in the sense that I would like him to admit what's happening here because this is a rebuild retool on the fly. But you know that that's a no-win situation.

He's going to come out and say what he said now. People aren't going to like it. He comes out and says, hey, this is a rebuild retool on the fly. Everybody's going to say, well, you still got Crosby, Malkin, Latang, and Carlson. What do you mean you're doing a rebuild on the fly? Like, so it's just a no win. I'm fine with whatever he's saying now. Again, react to the moves.

Don't react to the words. I think that's a very good way to put it. And again, people, it's only July 1st. More moves are going to be made around the league as this month goes by. Would not be surprised if Dubos and company do have another trick up their sleeve overall to at least improve this team a little bit heading into the season overall. And for as much as I am at least a bit underwhelmed by some of the moves today, I don't think they're quote unquote awful bad moves.

anything like that. I just want to put that out there to everyone. It's just like you said last off season. C. Yeah. I think that's very fair. I felt very meh last off season. I'm feeling the same today. Even though I kind of knew what to expect going in just because I knew they weren't going

in on a lot of the top targets. It's kind of been a interesting change of scenery as this team goes from being a bona fide cup contender to a team that's in a transitionary period overall. but I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Tuesday to discuss more moves that were made today, including the AHA signings that Dubas made, and also look ahead to the rest of the month as well. But for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes.

Thank you all so much for tuning in, and we'll talk with you all on Tuesday.