Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins lose in embarrassing fashion on Tuesday

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins no-showed on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, dropping a 6-1 decision to the Flyers. Hunter and Patrick open the show talking about the Penguins' awful loss to the Flyers and how goaltending continues to remain a massive issue. They then discuss the effort level and how they weren't seeing the effort from a lot of players on Tuesday, Next, Patrick goes on a long rant about people calling for a full-blown tanking of the Pittsburgh Penguins and how you should be careful what you wish for because there are many cautionary tales. Finally, it's Wednesday and that means it's time to give our MVP of the week.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.Trade CoffeeGet 40% off your first order with Trade at drinktrade.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.

The Pittsburgh Penguins put together one of their worst performances of the season on Tuesday night and a 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. And Pat and I are going to recap that game. Plus, give you our picks for Warrior Helmet Wednesday 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 host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunts or Hodes. Joined by my co-host, Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms at Senator Furwet. And you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore, of course, thank you also much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And Pat, as you mentioned yesterday,

I think my Virginia Tech Orange Effecture really kind of played a role in last night's game. 6 to 1 loss of the Flyers. I apologize, everyone. I love my school. love my Hokies probably won't wear an orange effect shirt though when the penguins play the flyers ever again that's why for today i am at least wearing my team sheet shirt because sheets is better than wawa in philadelphia so hey at least i still have that opinion for this but penguins get absolutely walloped by the flyers last night and started off kind of like how these last

couple of games have started with pretty piss poor goaltending and i will say the penguins they were a bit sluggish to start and that kind of carried throughout the rest of the game but they were really never given a shot because of the goaltending that they got once again from Alex Nadelcovic. I'll keep saying it. He had a really nice three-week stretch before the Four Nations face off, probably the best stretch of his season, probably the best stretch of his Penguins tenure, in my opinion. And then it all came crashing down after the Four Nations break,

looking like the goalie that we saw well before that three-week stretch where he was just absolutely terrible. And to Ned's credit, he was brutally honest after the game, basically saying, I can't stop anything right now. I'm not giving these guys a chance. I'm basically playing like crap. So I get that he's self-aware and that he's being honest. But like some of these goals that he allowed to start the game,

like the wrist-aligned one, his movement there was atrocious. I don't know why he's so slow getting across there and then leaving the five hole wide open. And then the second goal, Noah Cates one, Pat. He shot that one from Mars. That's like from 35, 40 feet out, unscreened. you need to make a save there. He was brutal all game long.

I understand that Blumquist also wasn't good against the Rangers, and I get that Ned is a veteran, but I honestly would have just gone back to Blumquist for this game to see if he can redeem himself because, A, he's the younger goalie, and B, I know Ned had that three-week stretch, but I've liked Blumquist game and a lot of his other starts prior to these last couple where he hasn't had his form. That's why, in my opinion, I would have gone back to him and given Ned a little bit of a reset button.

They didn't do that and they paid the price. But, you know, he was minus three in goals saved above expected last night. I mean, this is absolutely rotten goaltending, never gave his team a shot. And honestly, the game was kind of over after they went down to nothing. It was. I will give credit to Nadelcovich. I pulled up our pal Josh, yo, he's. recap from last night because I want to get the full quote out there. And you guys are going to have to

give me a second here because it's a long one. He said a lot to Josh and I have to give him credit for just coming out and saying this because it would have been very easy for a goalie like Nadelcovic in a moment and a season like this to retreat to safety, to do the typical hockey player thing and say, oh, you know, we tried hard and we got to be better and all the cliches you can think of. But he says, quote, I don't feel any different. I hope it was maybe some rust. It's pretty frustrating. We were all playing pretty well. The final score in the Washington game wasn't really indicative of how we played as a whole. We weren't that bad. I got clean. I got beat clean with five shots. Six more tonight in not even five periods of play. It's hard to look at these games and say we

played well, but we have. I can't stop anything right now. It's pretty frustrating. These guys deserve better. First shot goes in on a crappy angle. Second shot beats me from 30, 40 feet away. We start to get some momentum back and I can't come up with the save. Then they score two quick ones on face-offs. I'm frustrated right now. It's disappointing. The guys in front of me are playing really well. They were flying tonight. It wasn't a six to one game. You put anyone else in net. I don't know if we win, but it isn't six to one. I'll tell you that. We have to find a way to be better in net for them. Back to basics, we aren't even making those saves right now, end quote. I have to give them credit for that. Again, doesn't excuse his play, doesn't excuse the goaltending they've been

getting. But for me personally, in this season where we know they're rebuilding, we know that they're not seeking a Stanley Cup or even really a playoff berth, I appreciate that honesty because it would have again been very easy for him to break out the cliches say we got to be better say all the safe things that you don't come out and say he knows and he knows he's been bad and he knows he's got to be better that said on thursday i will have an absolute meltdown if we find out he's back in net i understand he's a veteran i understand he's a good dude i understand his teammates love him. That's all well and good. I understand Mike Sullivan is a very loyal guy, but at this point, you have to give Blumquist some runway here. You have to find out if that game against the Rangers

was a blip on the radar screen or if you have a goalie who can take the reins and start the majority of the games the rest of the way out. And for being a 23 year old goaltender, Yoel Blumquist gets nothing from sitting on the bench for the majority of games in the NHL. If you're going to do that, if Sullivan is going to do that, Dubus needs to have a conversation with him and say, listen, if that's the case, we're sending him back to Wilkes-Bear and we're bringing Jari back up because I would rather Blumquist get playing time and I would rather Blumquist continue to develop

than sit on the bench. and I know Jari stinks. I know that we don't want to see him in a penguin's jersey anymore. But if this is truly a rebuild and a retooling, you have to do what's best for the young players. And what's best for Blumquist is to play right now. And if they're not going to play them, send him back to the A. Yeah, I think the thing is with Blumquist, I agree.

I would start him on Thursday. But if he doesn't play well, we might have to have more of a serious conversation about, okay, do you send him back to the A to get some playing time? Do you bring Jari back up as the quote, tank commander as I know some fans are going to say jokingly of course but still that could be a discussion for a different day but at the very least you have to start him on Thursday to try and see if he can bounce back from how bad he was on Sunday where it felt like every clean look from the

Rangers beat him even though the Rangers played like utter crap in that game but moving on over to the other players in this game the only player that I felt like actually played well for the Penguins was Philip Thomas you know not trying to disrespect anyone else by saying that, I just felt like Thomasino was the most noticeable player in that game, Pat. Beautiful goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 for a time, forehand, forehand. He continues to drive offense more than a lot of their other forwards on this team. And I'm excited about his potential heading into next year. I just want to see him do this on a more consistent basis.

I want to see him play with Gino on a more full-time basis because what you saw last night, like that's the type of offense that he can provide when he's going. I really liked his performance last night, but I still need so much more from every other player on the ice. After last night, I'm fully in your camp of giving Tomasino a longer look in the top six. Again, it's not, I wasn't against it. I think it was just one of those things where you have a few options on the roster, so to speak. And after the way he played last night and the way he played this past weekend, it's definitely time. for him to get an extended look up there because he has shown he can fit in.

And you want to see if this is more than just a guy who can fill in from time to time on your top six or if he can become a bona fide top six winger. And last night was another brick in the wall to show that he might be able to do that. Away from that, though, I didn't like much of anything from last night. Defense wasn't great. again, Eric Carlson had himself an extremely rough night. And he looked out of sorts, except for one play, he got back and broke up a two-on-one, which was really nice.

But outside of that, he had a extremely difficult night. And keeping with the defense, I thought P.O. Joseph was horrible last night. Way too many bad plays in his own zone just wasn't getting back to defend. Oddman registered or just even regular scoring chances. he got beat cleanly to the net on one of those chances. He was awful last night. I thought Chris Let's hang was really bad. Just a really awful night for the entire defensive group,

if I'm being fully honest. It was not good. And this is kind of the problem with a player like P.O. Joseph, who I like, but he has to find some kind of level. Because when he's on, he looks like he could potentially be a top four defensemen for the penguins. When he's not on, he looks like he belongs in the American Hockey League.

And you can't keep having these many, this much wild swings at this time in your career. You have to be able to find a level of consistency. And we all know that there will be off nights. There will be nights where you have, you don't have it. Every player has that happen. You're never going to have, it's exceedingly rare, save for a handful of players, that you're going to have 82 solid games. You're going to have nights off.

You're going to have rough stretches. But with P.O. Joseph, it's the wild swings. And last night was an example of when he's off, he is damn near unusable. And I mean, again, the goaltending was a problem, but he did nothing to help the goaltending woes. Because that's a game where as a defenseman or even as a forward, yeah, we know that this goaltending. tending is struggling right now. The team knows the

goaltending is struggling. You can see it in their body language when they give up goals. But that is also a moment where as a defenseman, as a forward, you have to lock in, you have to lock it down, and you have to be willing to help a struggling goaltender. They continue to

try to play the same way. You're going to have to adapt when you're having poor goaltending because with this roster right now, chances are you're going to have a struggling goaltender, so you've got to change the way you play. Maybe not so much from the coaching standpoint, which it probably does, but different discussion, different day. As a player, you have to become hyper aware of where

the open man is, where your defensive positioning is, and how you can't constantly sell out for offense, because if you do, you're leaving a struggling goaltender extremely vulnerable. I agree. And again, I just need to see more of an effort level because I don't think I got that while I was watching that game last night. I'm not going to sit here in question about whether these players care because I know I 100% know that they do. But the effort level last night was unacceptable. Again, man, you want to lose games.

That's fine. You know, they're on a fast track right now to get a top five pick in this year's draft. But the effort level last night was pathetic. You need to, you need to at least show so much more than that. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment on today's episode. Coming up in the second segment,

we're kind of going to dub this as the Pat segment because here's a pretty big rant coming for you all in the second segment. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor and that is Indeed. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job posting on other sites. Indeed's sponsored jobs put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates.

faster. I've been in that spot where you need the right hire like yesterday. The pressure's on, and every day without the right person is a setback. That's exactly when Indeed's sponsor jobs come in handy. They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. Now you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsor job credit. Just go to Indeed.com slash locked on right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. If you're hiring, Indeed is all you need. All right. We're back here in this episode. of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Dam. So Pat, I'm honestly going to give the floor to you right now. You were texting me last night while

I was getting my notes together for the show today. You were getting your notes for the show. You said you had a big rant about tanking that you wanted to discuss here. So my friend, the floor is yours. You can talk for however long that you want to. I appreciate that because I want to begin it with this. for my OGs out there, the people who have been out on these hockey internet streets for well over a decade at this point, probably coming close to 20 years at this point, if you remember the old Penns blog days, they used to have a gift from Stephen S that was a cop car with a pens blog logo on it that would steer into a skid. And it was basically them saying, for this time, at this moment, we've got to play fan police. I hate playing fan police because I'm a huge believer in, especially when it comes to sports and entertainment, let people enjoy what they enjoy however they want to enjoy it. Don't get in the way of people's joy.

I hate doing that. But there is one thing where I do have to pull up the Penn's blog fan police car and play fan police for a minute. I'm getting sick and tired of a lot of people talking about the penguins need to tank. And I understand that it's very enticing after 20 years of unprecedented success. The team won three Stanley Cups, went to a fourth Stanley Cup final. They've been to the conference final five times. And yes, we have set a standard here of this team needs to be good. I get it.

But the Kyle Dubus plan right now, while frustrating, is the right one. I'm getting tired of seeing people saying this team needs to tank because we're not going to see, and you're starting to see this across most sports at this point. The traditional idea of just stripping everything down to the studs in rebuilding is leaving. We are now going to see what the Washington Capitals did, what the LA Kings did, what the Dallas Stars do, what a few other teams do. because we have now seen a lot of teams that just trade away everybody that's not their core guys, start to rebuild through the draft, get some second chances,

wait for their younger guys to develop, and then they're right back at it. The other issue I have with this talk that everybody's saying, oh, this team's got a tank, just throw it in the tank, throw everybody out. And Sidney Crosby, well, he signed up for this. He absolutely signed up for this. why did he sign his extension if he didn't so they should just tank we're talking about the ultimate competitor and kyle dubus is not a gm known for pulling punches on a personal level he may come out and do some gm speak to the media and to reporters but by all accounts

when he talks to players when he talks to coaches when he talks to staff he doesn't pull punches so i don't doubt he sat down with sidney crosbie and said listen we're going to have to through some pain for the next couple years. I'm going to have to trade away some guys you like. I'm going to have to kind of strip away a lot of the things you might have gotten used to over the past few years. And he agreed to it. He signed the extension.

So if he didn't want that, he very easily could have played this year as a pending UFA, told Dubus that come the trade deadline, go get your haul for me. Send me somewhere else. Get a bunch of first round picks. Get a bunch of players. get everything you can get out of me and I'm going to go somewhere else and try to win. He didn't do that.

Now, some of that's loyalty, but also Kyle Dubas had to convince him to do it. Keep that in mind. And the other thing, and it also comes back to the goaltending. Everybody's like, oh, you know, they're just going to tank. Just bring this guy up and tank.

You know, yeah, you don't need to try Blumquist. Now, Alex Andalkovich sucks. Keep Alex Nadolkovic in the net. Keep the tank on. We're talking about Crosby. Malkin and Latang, and just professional athletes in general. They're not stupid. They know that this team isn't good.

They're well aware this team is not very good. But you still have to have an appearance of trying. Or you're going to alienate them. You're going to take away their ability to play and want to play for this franchise. And it's going to make things even worse. So yeah, you can keep playing Ned. You can bring Jari back up and go for a tanking and go for a higher pick,

but I compare it to, it comes up this time of year without like clockwork. Everybody brings up, oh, the NHL should institute the gold plan. They should bring in the gold plan instead of doing the draft lottery. They should make it so the teams

who are out of the playoffs have to compete to get a better pick. So you're going to tell dedicated, hyper-competitive, proud athletes to go play hard so their franchise can pick someone to take their job. It's a great idea in theory.

It's an awesome idea. I would love it personally as a consumer of sports. But are you really going to convince a bunch of athletes go out there, play well, win and your reward is we're bringing someone in to take your job? They're not going to go for that. It's great in theory. It's dumb in practice.

And this is my last point for my rant. Tanking brings a stench to your organization that takes forever to get rid of. Look at Edmonton. Yeah, they're good now, but it was a decade plus that they were terrible. They couldn't get out of their own way. And yeah, a lot of that was management that wasn't good at what they did,

but even the first handful of years of Connor McDavid, that Edmonton got, or Edmonton got in its own way frequently. Look at Buffalo. They have been rebuilding for what, 15 years now? And again, part of its management, but you make losing a habit. You make underachieving acceptable. And it takes a long time for that to go away.

And this isn't me saying that all these young guys they've gotten the system or the golden ticket. And in two years, they're going to be Stanley Cup contenders again. It's all a chance. It could fail. It could fail miserably. It could also work. but at the same time for what Kyle Dubus is doing, getting young players, stockpiling draft picks, getting more prospects through those draft picks and or trades, what kind of

organization do you want to bring them up in? Do you want it to be one that is okay with tanking, okay with losing, has a poor culture? Or do you want it to be one where they say, no, you have to hold yourself to the highest standard. That's Sidney Crosby, that's of Gennie Malkin, That's Chris Latang. And yes, they're not long for the league. Their careers are coming up coming very quickly to an end. But if you just suddenly jettison those guys out, you bring in a bunch of scrubs, you go for high draft picks, and these guys get to the NHL.

And the coach is just like, you know, we're trying our best. We're doing everything we can do. Or is it you are going to be held to a high standard and you're going to have to help us win? So I understand the appeal of wanting to tank, of wanting to start it all over again, because, yeah, we're probably not going to see Sidney Crosby, of Gennie Malkin and Chris LaTang lift another Stanley Cup. They have probably won their final championship. But this idea that you have to completely rip that culture that they spent 20 plus years building out from the wall and start all over. It takes a whole hell of a lot longer to rebuild that culture. And it's not a switch that you can just flip.

So I know that it's not a lot of people, but I really, as a Penguins fan, especially in this era, I do not want us to become a culture of losers. Okay, so there's a lot of layers to that. I very much appreciate your full rant there. I'll say this. Teams like front offices, coaching staffs,

you can position your team to not really be that good for a certain season. That doesn't mean the players aren't going to go out there and give their best effort every single night. I mean, I think back,

this was not to compare sports, just a couple years ago. I remember the Houston Texans had a chance to clinch the number one pick in the NFL draft, and they went for the win and they beat the Colts. They didn't get the number one pick.

They still eventually got C.J. Stroud and I think he's awesome. But that's what happens, man. The players, they will play their tail off. Like, that's what's always going to happen. And I think with Crosby and Malkin, you know, they're never going to be on a team that's intentionally tanking. Like, if they get a top five pick this year, which is getting more likely as we go throughout the season, if they got top five pick, it's not going to be for, you know, oh, like they intentionally did. Like, No, these players, they tried. It's just that this team is that bad like this year.

Like, that's the bottom line. And don't get me wrong people. I would love if they got a top five pick this year. Like, I'm not going to obviously root for them to intentionally tank. I just, I'm at the point now where I think a lot of other fans are, where these losses just really shouldn't make you that mad anymore. You know that the team is rebuilding on the fly. You know that this team is not very good.

So it really shouldn't be affecting your day as, much as maybe would if the team was all in on winning a Stanley Cup and was falling well short of expectations. I will say, I picked them to miss the playoffs this year. I didn't think they would be this bad and potentially bottom five in the NHL bad, but I still thought they would miss the playoffs. But I'm also, again, just, you know, here for the Ryan, I'm here to give my best analysis on an everyday basis. So are you. And I agree with your culture of losing because you look at the Buffalo Sabres. That's been a decade plus at this point, man, of just. pure losing. It's taken the ducks a long time.

Like they are still losing. Like they can't get out of that. I think it's still going to take a while for the Chicago Blackhawks to get out of that. Even though they have Connor Bedard, that's still a franchise that doesn't have a lot of talent around him. So I agree with you on that. I don't want it to get to a point where you're losing like this or five, 10 years. You can't find your way out. I would much rather do one of these.

Again, rebuilds on the fly that Kyle Dubas is doing where he's trying to maybe get this team back to the playoffs in maybe two to three seasons instead of, you know, again, four to five. But I think that those are my main thoughts on the situation. I'll never tell anyone how to root for their team. I'm never going to be like that as a fan. All I would say is with these results, with how this season is going, we got two months left, a little less than two months at this point.

Just don't, you know, let these losses fully affect your day just because we know where the team is. We know they're not going to make the playoffs. just enjoy the ride. Hopefully Sidney Crosby gets his point for game season and all that. We want to keep seeing great moments from Evgeny Malkin, Chris Let's Hang, whoever else on this team. And no, whatever happens happens.

You know, again, I will be happy if they do get a top five pick because they have not had a top five pick in a very long time. And they could be drafting a player pat that could legit play next season. Like, they have not had an opportunity to do that again in a very long time. But in the biggest thing, why intentionally root for it? No, I always want to see this team win. Like I want to see them always beat teams like the flyers, the Rangers, the capitals and all that. But again, man, whatever happens, happens.

And to put a fine point on it from everything I'm saying, there's a difference between needing a savior, a player that, and I understand that this is going to sound incredibly hypocritical from a fan of an organization that went from Mary O'Mew and Yarmour, Yager to Sidney Crosby and Havgeny Malkin. But the difference is Mariela Lemieux, they very much intentionally through games. Don't let them gaslight you and tell you they did. They intentionally threw games to get Mary Lameau.

With Sidney Crosby, the Dark Ages lasted all four years. And they were trying. And they just did not have the resource to do it because the organization was broke. And they were trying to get players. in that could help that they could afford. It was a different economic structure in a different time in the NHL. And because the players they were able to get stunk,

they were able to go get a Sydney Crosby, Mark Andre Fleury, Jordan Stahl, of Gennie Malkin. But there's a difference between needing a savior and wanting this one player to come in and change everything, as opposed to we're trying, we've got some pieces, now we've got another guy. And that is what Kyle Dubus is trying. It's what the LA Kings have done.

It's what the Washington Capitals have done. And now these teams are again among the best in the league because they held steady with the talent they did have, got rid of the dead weight, and got guys in who could help. So at the end of the day, I understand the temptation to want them to tank. but I think the plan in the track that they're on right now is going to be a lot better for the long-term health of the team and the franchise than just ripping everything out, root and branch. I hear you. No, I definitely hear you on that.

I mean, they'll have an opportunity also next year to potentially draft high as well. If they want to have a similar season like this year where they're not really making too many big moves, they're still very much thinking towards the future and potentially be 26, 27 season, where they'll have even more cap space, a lot more of the players will be done with their contracts. Again, we had Josh Joey on about a week ago. That could be the year where they really want to really accelerate this and potentially get back to the playoffs that year.

But I think that will do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, it's Wednesday. It's Warrior Helmet Wednesday. Pat and I are going to give out our MVP's for this last week, and it's probably pretty obvious who's going to get it. Not many candidates for this week, considering how the Penguins have played, though that's coming up.

up right after this. All right, rack here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp. So, Pat, I think I kind of speak for you with this. We have the same pick for this week. Once again, it is Sidney Crosby. Congratulations to him, adding another trophy to his resume. Wins the Four Nations face off.

It was great throughout that tournament, even though he was banged up. And then plays outstanding hockey against the Capitals and the Rangers. He was all over the ice. setting up chances, getting chances of his own. Did he play a well against the Flyers last night? No, but outside of Philip Tomasino, I don't think anyone did, but he still very much cares about this team. He's very loyal to this team.

You're going to get his best effort, basically every single night as a member of the Penguins, easy choice for me for this last week. I could have also given it to Evgeny Malkin because he's played really well since coming back, but based on the way Sid has played for the Penguins since come back from the break, and, of course, winning the trophy.

I'm giving it to sit this week. Yeah, it's a no-brainer this week. It was a very good week for Sidney Crosby, Four Nations champion, two very strong games against the Capitals and Rangers. A runner-up is a guy we talked about, I think, in the first segment, could also be Philip Tomasino.

I thought he was noticeable in all three games, and that sounds like faint praise, but it really isn't because given, you know, to kind of connect the whole thread of the episode together, he was one of the only players who had a good game against the Flyers. He was great over the weekend. And he is that young second chance guy that this organization is looking for. And it's starting to bear fruit a little bit.

The challenge now for Philip Tomasino is putting it all together, doing it for multiple games at a time, weeks at a time, and then a full season. And there's a lot of positive signs from him. But the Warrior Helmet this week absolutely goes to the cap. in 87. His legend only continues to grow. And we just really got to hope that for this season,

with the way it's gone, we get that points per game record. Yeah. The season will be a success if they get that. And then if it continues the way it's going right now, they get a top five pick. Again, I will take that going into the draft and hopefully someone that can help

as soon as next season because I know this draft is not nearly as deep as the 2026 draft, but don't get twisted people. They get a top five pick. They will be drafting someone that has a chance to make this team as soon as the 25, 26 season and could be on this team for the foreseeable future. So just want to finalize that.

But do you have anything else to end for this episode before we preview tomorrow's game against the Flyers and then bring Jesse on because he's coming on on Thursday. Do you have anything else? No, I ranted my way out in the second segment. I think I'm done. Pat told me last night he had a page and a half of notes last night, people. he got all those notes out for everyone to hear.

Let us know what you think of Pat's rant, whether it's via, you know, via DMs, YouTube, do you agree with him? Do you not agree with him? Just let us know in the comments and all that. But again, thank you all so much to take the time to listen to slash watch this episode of Locktime Penguins.

Pat and I will be back with another episode, if you all, on Thursday. Jesse Marshall confirmed on Monday that he will be joining us on Thursday unless something happens with his kid or another life event happens. Hopefully not, but he is expected to join us on Thursday to help preview this game against the Flyers and discuss everything else relating to the Penguins. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you so much for tuning in. We both

appreciate it and we'll be back on Thursday.