Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins looking to complete a season sweep over Montreal!

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins will start a brief two-game road trip through Canada when they take on the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday followed by the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Hunter and Patrick get you set for the matchup against the Canadiens where the Penguins could get a season sweep against them. They take a look at a young but promising Montreal roster that still needs some high-end talent outside of Suzuki and Caufield. Then, they go over the keys to victory for the Penguins and how there may be a weird lineup decision before they look at how the Penguins could be welcoming back a former prospect as early as next season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Mint MobileTo get this new customer offer and your new 3-month premiumwireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to MINTMOBILE.com/lockedonnhl. Disclaimer - $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details.IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed. Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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 will look to get back into the win column tonight against Montreal Canadiens, and Pat and I are going to preview that game 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 Hunter Hodes. joined by my co-host Patrick Gamp.

You can follow him on all social media platforms at Sinam Verweet. And you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list and slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. You can start the season with a big return on FanDul. New customers can place a $5 bet, and you will get started with $150 in bonus bets.

If you win your first $5 bet, visit fan duel.com to get started. So it's Penguins Canadians tonight from the Bell Center in Montreal and arena that I still very badly want to go to someday. There's a few arenas at the top of my bucket list. The Bell Center right up there. It's an absolutely gorgeous arena. I want to go to Montreal very badly at some point.

Hopefully I can make it happen as I get a little bit older here. But this will be the third and final meeting between these two teams this year. The Penguins won the first meeting in Montreal by a score of 6 to 3. then they won their only meeting between these two teams in Pittsburgh a little bit later, 3-1, and the Penguins will try to go for the season's sweep, just like they did last year. The Penguins are on a five-game winning streak against the Canadians right now. They'll try to make it six tonight,

and this is a Canadian team that is once again struggling, but I'm not too-too-sur-sur-d because they're still rebuilding, excuse me. They're 11 and 14 and 3 this season. That's good for 8th in the Atlantic. They're trying to jumpstart this rebuild. I think they're probably going to get closer to a plight. off spot these next couple of years, even this year. I expect them to maybe be a little bit better,

but I'm still not surprised where they are in this ending, just because, you know, again, it's a process. You got to keep going through, you know, the steps here to try and get to being a contender. And the Gavians, they have some good pieces that will eventually be there when they are a contender, but some of their lineup, it's still not the greatest. I mean, again, in terms of the big pieces,

Nick Suzuki's awesome. He has 10 goals, 29 points in 20 games this year. Cole Cawfield leads the team in goals. He has been on a absolute heater this year. 17 goals, 25 points in 28 games. How Cole Cawfield did not make Team USA is beyond me for the four nations face off. If he doesn't make the Olympic roster in 26, I'm going to have to be calling Bill Garrett and Mike Sullivan

and everyone who runs USA hockey and being like, okay, what the heck is going on here? But, you know, those two forwards up front, very, very good. Layton Hudson, he is awesome with the puck on his stake. It doesn't have a goal this season, but does have 19 assists. So 19 points in 28 games. He's been a lot of fun. He's got to work out some of the defensive kinks in his own zone.

But he is such a treat to watch with a puck on his stick in the offensive zone. Again, I get a little bit of many Quinn Hughes lives. Obviously, they have Mike Matheson as well. You go up and down this lineup, you know, curly docked his second line center. Patrick Linae is back. I'm so happy that he is back. By the way, you know, obviously everything he's been through. He had the injury this year as well.

really glad that he's back. You have Brendan Gallagher still there. Josh Anderson, Christian DeVorek. Obviously, again, we already discussed Hudson and Mike Matheson. You have Cady and Goulde. David Savard. And then in goal, you have Sam Monsonboe and Cade and Primo. Monsonbo, even on a bad Canadians team,

has actually been at least fine this year. You know, 2.8-3 goals against average, 9.060%. So he's giving them at least average to a bit above average goal. This is at least one of the, you know, decent goaltenders in this league. But in terms of keys for this game, it's kind of similar to what the Penguins have done in these first two matchups. The Canadians are not a good defensive team. You saw that on display in those two games. The Penguins were kind of having their way with them in all three zones of the ice. You got to see it similar here. I know the Penguins, again, they're not

very good this year, but this is still a team that they should be able to beat. It is, and it should be. And it would be nice to get a season sweep against a team, even if it is Montreal. But like you said, it's a team that's going through the rebuilding process, and you are starting to see progress in that process. A lot of their younger players are starting to take even bigger steps. You already jumped into Suzuki and Caulfield. Hudson has been an absolute revelation.

I do have to push back a little bit on that, though. I think the work he needs to do in the defensive zone is clear. I don't think he's a shut down defenseman yet, but I think it's more just a product of he's on a young rebuilding team and you're going to have defensive warts just by the fact that it's not a very good team. He isn't a young offensive defenseman who is just playing like a gunslinger. He is producing really well and you can see that he has the fundamentals to play a good defensive game to go along with it. might not be to the level of, say, Kail McCar, who we saw a couple nights ago, but it's definitely there. He's not a fourth forward type of offensive defenseman.

And I think this kid is going to be at least a little bit in Calder conversations this year. Don't think he's going to win it. I don't know if he'll even make the stage, but it's definitely a discussion that will be had amongst the writers because he is a very, very talented young kid. Overall, though, you're right about. what has to happen tonight. This just has to be a complete 60 minute game because this is a team that's taking some steps. They're young, they're learning, but they still have their warts.

And very happy to see what's going on with Patrick Line. They have absolutely embraced him in Montreal. And I'm so happy to see that that he's been able to get over what's been ailing him. And hopefully this is his home. Hopefully this is where he ends up for the rest of his career. and it's a very productive one. And so far, four games, three goals, four points. That's a pretty good start for Line A coming back, especially after the injury he suffered in the preseason. So good to see him back.

But overall, like you said, there is a definite golf on this roster between their most talented players and guys who you can tell are simply placeholders for while they wait for some of their younger, talent to develop and be NHL ready and whoever else they may bring in over the next couple of years. Right.

I mean, and as a team, they've scored only 77 goals this year. 27 of them have come from either Nick Suzuki or Cole Cofield. No one else is even at double digit goals this season outside of those two. I mean, you have Brendan Gallagher. He's at eight goals. You know, you have Alex New Hook. He's at six goals. So you have some players that can still score.

You know, Jake Evans has five, for example, Josh Anderson. has four. So they have some players that can score, but they still, they need some more high-end talent in this lineup if they really want to take the next step in this rebuild process. You can't have only two guys with double-digit goals, you know, halfway through December of a season.

You know, that's not good enough for this team. But go over there. For sure. And another X factor, I think for them, and it's very indicative of where their season has been, is Sam Montembo. He is extremely up and down. You go to his stat page. You look at his game logs. And I don't want to say that he goes from great to unusable because it's not that bad, but he does go from genuinely great to maybe a little bit below replacement level. It's just fun

to look at because they're coming off of a win against the Anaheim Ducks, 931 save percentage. his last start before that, Washington Capitals, one of the hottest teams in the league, 886. And then you go back before that struggling team, Nashville Predators, shutout, 1,000 save percentage. Then, you know, you go up and down and he hovers kind of in and around 900 for the majority of the season. So that, I don't know if he's got it in him to continually steal games, but he has kind of been a little bit of a catalyst for this team where you, know they have their deficiencies, you know they have their weaknesses, but if it's a night where Montembow's in the net and he's feeling it, he is definitely going to cover up for some of those

weaknesses. Yeah, he's always been a solid NHL goalie ever since, you know, really getting those minutes. And again, even this year, he has at least a league average state percentage to a little bit above league average state percentage. And this is on one of the worst defensive teams in the league. So the Penguins will have to be ready for St. Montembow. And also, this is a lot of the is also a big game, I think, for someone like Sidney Crosby. He loves playing up in Montreal. The Canadian's crowd also very much loves him. Same with Chris Lantang. And the two wins against the Canadians this season, the Penguins' best players have been their best players. Crosby has two goals and two games against them. And then also, you know, Chris LaTang. He also has a goal against them.

McCall has a goal against them as well. You know, Lars Zeller, he had a couple of goals in those games, too, even though he's not there anymore. But one of the biggest reasons why the Penguins have won those two games is because they're best players have outperform Montreal's best players. So again, I really want to see a nice performance from the big three tonight, Eric Carlson as well. I think Carlson has been playing a lot better these last couple of weeks, I would say. But for Crosby, his goal scoring total, it's a bit down this year, but he can really take a step forward and getting that back up a little bit with another big performance against Montreal, considering how much he loves playing up there. Absolutely. And I'll say this about Crosby's goal scoring drought right now.

It's something that is a cliche. I've said it plenty of times. When it comes to players like Sid and players in that caliber, my worry begins when they stop getting chances. And Crosby has been getting chances. He is just in a shooting percentage drought right now. The shots are there. The scoring chances are there. And that's both top line counting numbers with shots on goal.

And when you dive into the analytics, he's getting high danger chances. He's possessing the puck as much as he usually does. It's just a matter of he's in a drought that every big time player goes through in the NHL. As long as those chances keep coming, I won't get worried because we have seen the trend of Sidney Crosby's career to this point. Eventually, he breaks out of this and he starts scoring,

whether it's a couple of goals every few games or, or if he gets a two to three goal performance and then follows it up with three, four goals over the next week, I do think the time is going to come where he breaks out of this little slump. Hey, I hope so because you're right. He's getting the chances, but I feel like once one goes in, Pat, they're going to start going in in bunches. And he's going to have a stretch where maybe he has, you know, six goals in four games, you know, maybe seven goals in five games, something like that.

And everyone's going to be like, oh, look, guys, he's back to his career average in terms of scoring goals in the league, even though he's a bit older now. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into more of the lineup for tonight. Could we see a couple of changes to the Penguins lineup? Who's starting goal and all of that stuff? But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandul. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fandle. That's America's number one sportsbook week is right now. New customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandlew or Spotsaberg gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place.

So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. Just visit fandwell.com to join today and you will get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's fandle.com, never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandul and official sportsbook partner of the NFL. And we're not done. We still got to tell you all about another sponsor, and that is Indeed.

We're driven by the search for better. When it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate is not a search at all. Don't search, match with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. It is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indy data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work, use Indeed, for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates fast. and Indeed doesn't just help you hire faster.

93% of employers agree Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites according to a recent Indeed survey. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show, you will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs, more visibility at Indeed.com slash locked on. Just go to Indeed.com slash locked on right now and support our show. by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's Indeed.com slash locked on terms and conditions apply.

If you need to hire, you need Indeed. 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 Dam. So, Pat, we could see a small lineup tweak tonight. So this comes courtesy of Taylor Haas of DK Pittsburgh Sports on the Penguins fee. Taylor, one of the top hangar reporters out there. If you're not following her work, you're, you're doing it wrong at the end of the day. She is fantastic. And she was saying during the morning

skate, Ryan Shea, Yesy, Poo-Yarvey, and Kevin Hayes were the last players on the ice. Matt Nieto came off with the other guys. So judging off that, it looks like Matt Nieto might be coming in for Kevin Hayes. And if that is true, and yes, I know we're recording this at 3 o'clock right now, this is not going to be the case once January rolls around, by the way, because Pat's work schedule is changing. So we're going to have these preview episodes out a lot earlier in the day for everyone. But going back to this, if that is the case, I just don't understand why we're just rearranging deck chairs. Why are you scratching both Poole-R-V and Hayes and bringing in Matt Nietto? I was fine with Nietto his first two-three games, man.

I thought he actually looked like a serviceable NHL bottom six player. His skating was very much there. He was penalty-killing nicely. He was even fore-checking well in the offensive zone. But after those first two-three games, he looked like a player that had just missed a lot of time and just really wasn't contributing a lot on nightly base. I was totally fine with him being scratch. I think it probably shouldn't happen a bit sooner.

But you're scratching Hayes now for Nietto. And don't get me wrong. I don't think Hayes has been that good either. I get why he's been on the top powerplay or at least one of these split powerplay units. And we'll get into that in just a second as well. But why bring Nietto in for Hayes and potentially scratch Pui RV? I know the lineup isn't out yet.

We're recording about four hours before this game. I just don't get the thought process there. Yeah, I got nothing, but I will say this. I don't get the Hayes for Nietto move because I'll say it this way. Nietto is very quickly moving into the category of cardio merchant where he's not bad, but he's not good either. He's just kind of a body. That's what's okay.

Jansen Harkins was kind of that player last year. He was a great. He wasn't good. It's not that he's bad. It's also not that he's good. And I think Hayes, at the very least, gives you a little bit more punch in the bottom six than Matt Nietto does. Same thing goes for Yesy, Poo-Yarvey.

And I understand that there is a process happening with Poolyarvi. I think we're all reading a little too much into the whole, oh, they're working on his game and they don't like certain aspects of his game. I really do think after thinking about it that the Puyarvi thing is entirely health and conditioning related because, again, I made the joke on the show before. It's not NHL 25 where his name pops off the injury list and his health bars at 100%.

The guy got double hip surgery less than a year ago or maybe a little over a year ago at this point. But so he is probably not anywhere near completely ready to play in 82 games. season. So I get that to an extent, but that's what this switch with Hayes in the etto. I just, I don't get it. No, I don't either. I think if you want to make a move for the bottom six, again, just pull your RV in there. Don't get you wrong, Pat. I understand your point, but I just want them to give him at least a fair runway here to see what he can do. You know, again, I get that there's a process here, but he's been in and out of the lineup a bit

too much for me. So either give him a runway or, you know, just, I don't know, send him to a different team or something like that. I just don't want to keep flip-flopping back and forth here, but he plays one game. He comes out. He plays one game. He comes out. I just don't really think that's going to do anything for his development. I want to see what he can do for another five to six to seven game sample size, especially in a third-line role, to see what he can do because he's been a bright spot for the team this year. I just don't get why you have to go with the season veteran over someone who I think A is better and B can be here for a bit longer than, you know, the other player. Again, that's just my opinion.

Chris and Jari will be in net tonight for the Penguins, which I'm not surprised by. He definitely did not have a good start against the Avalanche. We already discussed that third goal, especially, and why he's got to be quicker going side to side. The last time he played in Montreal was this year, the first couple of periods weren't the greatest. I'll say that. He played a really good third period, bounced back a little bit there. I need to see another bounce back here from Jari.

That was a really bad start from him earlier this week, was right around 800 for his same percentage. I get not wanting to start NED just because he hasn't been good for the last several weeks at this point. But I still need to see Jari have a much better start here compared to what we saw earlier this week. For sure. And this is just the theme of the episode is process.

This is part of the rebuilding Jari process is you have to give him the opportunity to bounce back. Now, you can't hold on for dear life and continue to let him have poor starts, but you do have to give him the opportunity on a night like tonight to rebound from that start against Colorado, because if there were two reasons that they lost to Colorado, Colorado's top talent outperformed the penguins and Tristan Jari had a very subpar of performance. So part of this process of either rebuilding him and making him your goalie of the next few years or artificially inflating his value and eventually moving on from him is you have to give him opportunities to play out of the funk that he's in. And I do think overall in the last month, he has played a lot better.

He maybe not to the level we would like him to, maybe not to the level he has shown in years prior before he fell off last season. but the improvements have been there, however, marginal. So you give him this start tonight, you see how he does, and I imagine Ned will be between the pipes on Saturday in Ottawa. Yeah, I can see them going to Ned on Saturday, Ottawa, but I will say if he does have a really good start tonight, Jari, that is, I could see Sullivan kind of riding this out a little bit, be like, okay, I'm going to reward Jari with another start in Ottawa

against the senator's team that is also still failing to take that. next step this year. They have some good talent up front, but Linus Allmark just hasn't been playing at the level this year that we saw him play at in Boston or Jim Montgomery, which makes sense. I mean, the Bruins were a better defensive team under Montgomery when you go to a team like Ottawa who, you know, is still trying to be a bit better defensively, though this year, it's been better than recent years, but it's still not all the way there. It's still an adjustment process. And also, Allmark just has to play better. But again, that's up. We'll preview that episode for Friday when Pat hosts the show. But I still could see Sullivan rewarding Jari

on Saturday if he goes out there and has a really good start tonight against this Canadian scene. But I think- Well, and also, who knows what the, what's going on with Ned right now away from his play because we didn't really touch on it in our recap of the Colorado game. He got hit in the face with a puck while sitting on the bench. And it cut right under his eye. And yeah, it's a cool little picture where he's got the- the Shiner and the stitches under his eye, but that might be something that hinders him from starting because you kind of need your eyes to play goal. And if he's having some issues with that, which again, have not heard any reports about it, have not seen them say anything about

any injuries or any limitations, but it is just something to keep in the back of your head that he did in fact get hurt while being the backup against Colorado. Colorado. Right. No, he did. And you saw that it left a pretty big mark on his cheek right there. So obviously, he'll be everything is all right with him. But that'll do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I could dive into some news and notes around the Penguins and Halle. Former prospect could be rejoining the organization at some point, either during the season or after the season. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our final sponsor. And that is prize fix. It's the best place to get real money sports action. with over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarding.

Price Fix has made Daily Fantasy Sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shop to one up to a thousand times your cash. Run your game all season long on Price Picks, America's number one daily fantasy sports app. Make your holidays bigger and brighter with Price Picks be best place to get real money sports action while watching your favorite sports.

You can now went up to a thousand times your money on Price Picks, and it's the best way to get action in sports in more than 30 states, including California, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. You can join over 10 million members and sign up today. They also offer MasterCard for quick and easy deposits into your account this sports season. Join now because this holiday season, prize picks is giving away two free picks in December, and they're giving away $30 plus million in rewards during Picksmas. Send up today and get $50 instantly when you play $5.

You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It is guaranteed. Down back today and use code Locked-on NHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. One more time, down back today and use code Locked-on NHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That is prize picks. Run your game. 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-s Patra-Dam.

So, Pat, we could be seeing the Penguins re-acquiring a former prospect that used to be in the system. And that is Philip Hollander. So this report came out Wednesday morning from Jennifer Engstrom. I believe that's how you pronounce her last name. And she reported that Philip Hollander is getting closer to return to North America and the penguins would like to get him according to her sources. So for people that don't know who Philip Hollander is, so he was the Penguins second round pick in 2018. He was traded to the Maple Leafs in the deal that brought back Casperi Capman. And then they acquired Philip Hollander in 2021 when the Penguins dealt Jared McCann to the Maple Leafs, and then we all know what happened with

McCann being selected by Seattle expansion draft. And yeah, I don't need to go into how bungled the whole Seattle expansion draft process was. I know it's been a few years. Still hated, but there's the history with Philip Holland. These last couple of years, he's been spending some time in Sweden. And honestly, he's been putting up some decent numbers. You know, last season, 14 goals, 36 points and 51 games. This year, already 12 goals, 27 points and 24 games.

he's projected to finish the year, where 26 goals and 58 points in 51 games. Before that, again, he was with the Penguins organization just because he came back over in the McCann deal. In 21, 22, he had 14 goals, 28 points in 61 games, and then the year after, 11 goals, 33 points in 43 games with Wilkesbury. He's played a few games at the initial level. The Penguins really hasn't done much of anything.

But, Pat, what are your thoughts of potentially getting back Hollander? At the very least, it's some organizational depth. Yeah, it can't really hurt. he's still only 24, which by NHL and professional sports standards, still fairly young. And the one other thing to note is that if this were to happen, it's reportedly a two-year NHL deal that they're looking to offer to him. It wouldn't start till next season simply because he cannot leave his team in Sweden until the end of the season.

So he will have to play out the year there before he potentially returns. but at the end of the day, I mean, I don't mind this deal. He still has some promise. And we also talk about this with leagues overseas. You have to wait the scoring a little bit differently because bigger ice and they're playing a different brand of hockey. So when you see his stat line this year, which puts him third in the SHL of 12 goals and 15 assists in 24 games, that's a pretty solid production. for that league. So clearly there is some potential here. And scoring 25 goals in 104 AHL games isn't all that bad either. Is he going to come over and immediately be a top prospect? No,

but like you said, organizational depth, there's familiarity there with the organization to some extent. Obviously, since he has left, there's different management, there's different coaching staffs, especially at the HL level. So he may have to get a little bit reacclimated, but this is a player that I think is worth the bet because it fits

right into this Kyle Dubus plan. Younger player has some solid production looking for a little bit of a maybe a second chance, but not really, but there is potential there. And if nothing else, they

have his rights and you can see what happens. And the guy clearly has relationships over in the SHL. So if it doesn't work out here, it's not like he's going to become a minor league journeyman. So at the end of the day, it feels very low risk, very high reward for the penguins. Right. And I think he's probably going to start in Wilkesbury to begin with. I don't think he's going to be just given a job on the NHL main squad after this season. I think they'll try to ease him back in, assuming that this deal goes through. And you know, you do have that familiarity with Michael. Sullivan, who has been here for quite a long time.

You know, Kyle Dubus, you know, obviously, you know, knows him quite a bit, you know, going back to his Toronto days too. So it makes sense for the Penguins to be interested in him. And also, again, his production has been pretty solid these last couple of years. And at least in Wilkesbury before that, he was producing only a few game sample signs at the NHL level. But again, I would assume they'll start him in Wilkesbury to try and get his feet back, you know, for North American hockey.

Does there any other news and notes you want to get to you here before we call? in a show? I didn't get a chance to really dive into this and we'll keep it brief so we don't run long here. But I think an underrated thing that we need to start seeing from the penguins in the weeks and in games to come is eventually they have got to get Drew O'Connor back on track. He has really struggled mightily. He hasn't scored since October. He hasn't had many points since then. And just everything we spoke about with him in the lead up to this season has really not come to fruition. It looked good the first couple weeks of the year, but it has severely regressed. He's not playing with the same intentionality, I guess, would be the word I would go for.

He's second-guessing decisions. He's not playing with that straight line physicality. He's not being as decisive with the puck. And maybe some of that is just, he has. hasn't been used correctly, but at the end of the day, they have to find a way to get Drew O'Connor going again. Because even if you don't want to hold on to him, you clearly viewed him as someone you thought you could get some value for at the trade deadline. And right now, maybe a team takes a bet on potential because he's still young, but right now, there is not a lot

there for Drew O'Connor. Yeah, I think his value after each game right now is continuing to plummet just with the way he's playing. I mean, the thing is, he's getting chances. He's had some glorious chances these last couple of months. A, the puck hasn't gone in the net. There's been some great saves by the opposing netminders. But B, I also feel like at times, his forechecking also hasn't been there compared to what we saw last year. This was someone heading into this year. I thought he was going to potentially go for 20 plus goals this year, especially after what he did last year. So it's really stung to see him just not playing. at that same level.

Again, he's gotten some really glorious chances. Puck hasn't gone in, and I also think I need to see a little bit more, especially from him forechecking. If he's able to get that goal scoring touchback a little bit, I definitely think he can re-up his value at least a bit to the point where the Penguins can get hopefully something decent back for him at the deadline,

because I still think as it stands right now, I don't think he's going to be a penguin past the trade deadline. But, hey, you know, something can always surprise me at this rate. But I think that I'll do it for today's 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 episode of fuel on Friday to recap this game against the Canadians and get you all set for Penguins Senators on Saturday.

So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We will talk with you all on Friday.