Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins President Kyle Dubas hints at his offseason plans

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

During the NHL Combine, Penguins President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas spoke about what he plans to do this summer. Patrick and Hunter discuss what Dubas said, how the plan could work, and what fans could expect to see this summer as the efforts to reshape this roster get underway. As part of that plan, they get into how trades might look, who they could target, and more. Finally, they check in on the Stanley Cup Final where the Florida Panthers were able to steal the first game from the Edmonton Oilers.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.PolicygeniusCheck life insurance off your to do list in no time with Policygenius. Head to policygenius.com/lockedonnhl to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save.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. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON 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.

At the NHL Combine, Kyle Dubus gave us a look at what he's thinking for this offseason. We're going to talk about that and more 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 edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet. joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes.

You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. We thank you for making this your first listener watch of the day because we're your team every day and don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. Before we get started today, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more. Right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

Visit fandul.com slash locked on to get started. Here we are on a Monday, and despite the Stanley Cup playoffs being one game in and still being weeks away from the NHL draft as well as NHL free agency, we did get a glimpse into what Penguins president of hockey operations. Kyle Dubus is thinking about this offseason, what he plans to do this summer, and how he is kind of taking both a short and long-term look at this franchise where it is and where it needs to go. And that was all thanks to the intrepid Taylor Haas, who got a great sit down exclusively with Kyle Dubus at the Combine in Buffalo. They had a tremendous conversation.

You can find that on her social media pages at Taylor Haas PGH on Twitter. and you can go give her the web traffic she needs to be rewarded for the great work that she does. But let's start with something that actually wasn't from Taylor's article. This was from an interview with NHL.com where Kyle Dubus was asked about the future of Captain Sidney Crosby. Basically, the too long didn't read of it all is that, yes, they are working towards an extension this summer. We obviously did not get any details because he basically said they want to keep it as quiet as possible. They have said yes. They are talking Crosby's agent Patrysson, Kyle Dufus and the Penguins. They have had discussions about where Crosby's next contract will come

from, what it'll be. But that's pretty much all we got. But Hunter, we pretty much expected all of this, both an extension for the captain, probably the second best player in franchise history, as well as we were never going to get any details about it, just because that is not the M.O. of Sidney Crosby and anybody in his camp. And also, I think it's also the M.O. from Kyle would do this for just this year with how he wants to keep this, as you said, as quiet as possible. And we should credit. I believe it's Adam Kimmelman is how you pronounce his last name on NHL.com. Shout out to him for that story.

and also shout out to Taylor Hoss for her tremendous work on that exclusive with Caldivis. We'll touch on some of those comments in just a second. But for this one with Cindy Crosby, I expect this to get done pretty quickly, to be honest. Again, I haven't heard anything about this, but just knowing how big of a priority that this is this offseason, would you be surprised if this is done by July 1st? Because I wouldn't. I can see this being announced, honestly, at 12.01 p.m. Eastern time right after the new league year starts. And if I had to guess, it's going to be somewhere in the three-year term

range, eight to ten million per season. I've seen some weird takes out there that, oh, what if Crosby asks for more money? Who cares? I'll give him a blank check. I mean, he's taken below market value throughout the last decade plus. If he wants to ask for nine, 10 million, I would give it to him. And honestly, I really wouldn't be that worried about it just because the cap is already going up to 88 million this year. And then for next year, Pat, it's probably going to be up to what, 92 million, 92.5 million, I believe is the estimate right now. That contract is only going to look better and it's also only going to be for three years. But if I did have to guess, eight to 10 million per season for said three-year contract,

that'll be, I think, his last multi-year contract with the penguins before he potentially does, you know, another one-year contract, then maybe another one-year contract after that. And then he can just keep doing that sort of thing until he's ready to call it a career. But no surprise here. And I'm glad that they do want to keep us a little quieter. Remember a couple of years ago with the contract talks with Afghani Malkin, those got out. And they were a bit ugly, a little bit heading into free agency. Obviously, Malkin in his camp were really upset at Ron Hextal and Brian Burke.

But cooler heads prevailed and they were able to work out a deal just before the start of free agency. I am glad that these contract talks, though, again, are going to be in-house, even though Sid still does have one year left on his contract, even though Malkin's and didn't at that time. Yeah, we got that news over the weekend. It was floated last week briefly by Elliot Friedman on 32 thoughts, that there were some discussions that there could be a slight bump in the salary cap. That became official prior to game one of the final.

The league announcing that the upper limit now is $88 million, not a ton, but you think about teams like the penguins. You think about other teams that are contenders near the top of the league. and every single dollar counts when it comes to putting their roster together. And getting that couple extra $100,000 could make the difference between extending a player, losing a player, being able to sign a free agent and so on and so forth. So while it does in the grand scheme of being, oh, just a little bit under $88 million to now being $88 million, and seems like nothing in the grand scheme.

It will actually impact quite a few franchises, including the penguins. But now let's get into what Taylor discussed with Kyle Dubus, excuse me. One of the first things I want to talk about, even though we've kind of known about this, it was a little bit surprising to hear it come from Kyle Dubus directly. And that's that the door isn't exactly closed on Jake Gensel returning. While both of us are in agreement that it's more likely than not he is going to sign somewhere other than Pittsburgh or Carolina, the fact that those discussions have somewhat happened is a bit surprising because it did feel like with the way he was traded,

the way he's spoken since the trade. It kind of felt like this was a divorce that wasn't going to end in any sort of reconciliation. So I was a little bit surprised to hear that from Kyle Dubus. I mean, I'm sure they'll reach out once July 1 comes. But I don't expect Gensel to return here just because I think he can chase a lot more money on the open market. I guess I'm not too surprised that Dubas said it. I kind of disagree with you a little bit because what else is he really going to say? Of course, the door is going to be open if Gensel wants to come back for maybe more of a team friendly deal.

But, I mean, that's just not going to happen. if he wants to go out there and chase a lot of money, I think he has every right to consider he won an Assembly Cup with Pittsburgh. He just played really well with Carolina. The world is his oyster heading into July 1. He's going to be one of the top free agents available, and he's going to have probably half the league interested, to be honest.

And just going back to something you said before we jumped into this Jake thing, yeah, an extra 300K for the salary cap man, that's a big deal for a team like the Penguins, because before their estimated cap space was a little below 13 million. Now it's above. almost 13.3 million. It's close, about 13.25 million right now. And if you're able to open up more cap space via trade with a player or two,

again, you can get upwards of maybe $18 to $20 million of cap space like you had last year. So as you said, every dollar counts when it comes to that. It really does. And speaking of every dollar counting, one of the players we've discussed briefly on this show in what the plan may or may not be for him. going into next season. That is P.O. Joseph. Basically, Kyle Dubus confirmed to Taylor that one way or another, POJ will be back in a penguin sweater next season, saying to Taylor that director of hockey operations, Vuki Mpofu, I hope I said that right. I probably but you actually got that right.

That's how you pronounce it. Yes. Look at me go. And his agent have had some conversations already. so I think we'll try to get that wrapped up if we can. He's got arbitration eligibility, if not. So it will come to a conclusion one way or another, but he'll definitely be somebody that will qualify. So that pretty much tells me one way or another, P.O. Joseph will be on the Penguins roster come opening night. I'm fine with Joseph coming back.

He had a really strong end to the season. He took a couple of really good strides throughout this. season again you know shout out to taylor for getting that quote and just that entire story as a whole she did a really good job but for me where i stand on this okay if you're bringing joseph back that's great he's shown an ability to be an n-hill defenseman i think he serves him best as a bottom-pearing guy i don't think he's going to cost you that much if i had the yesler going to assign him to maybe a one or two-year deal probably for somewhere below two million per year that that's just my guess on that contract even though he's an RFA. But if you bring him back, you look at the rest of that left side,

Marcus Pedersen, who we think is going to get extended as well this offseason, and then Ryan Graves, who faces a lot of uncertainty and a lot of questions heading into year two of that massive contract that he signed last year. That left side to me, man, is still very weak. I just, it's a lot of risk heading into next year when you have a left side that features Marcus Pedersen who can play on the first or second pairing, Ryan Graves, who stunk on both of those pairings last year and is probably going to have to start the season on the bottom pairing to re-up his value a little bit and just get his playback to where it used to be. And then P.O. Joseph, who I don't think is a top pairing defenseman. I'm not really sure

he's second pairing defenseman, but he's still good on your bottom pairing. I think right now, if you were to run that back, you have at least one top four defenseman and two bottom pairing guys. It's just, it's a lot of risk heading in next. season. It's why I'm so high on them hopefully going out there and getting another defenseman to play on that side. But you can only do so much with the cap space that you have. So again, I don't fully mind that Joseph comes back. He's a good NHL player. But I don't know about that left side as a whole and that plan heading into the season. It's concerning for sure. I will say to build off of something you said, POJ took a lot of very positive steps this season and looks.

like finally a consistent NHLer. Where he lands on that, I'm not entirely sure. However, I will say this, and we're going to continue the conversation on this about everything Kyle Dubas said, because he did say quite a lot. We're going to continue it in the second segment. But I will say this about POJ. Should they, when they, excuse me, because there's not a, when there's, it's just a when, not an if, bring him back.

On July 1st, he, that's his birthday, he'll be 25. And he's got a solid amount of NHL experience. He's still got plenty of upside. This is also a player that if he starts off the season well enough, but not to the point where he looks like he's great, you could very easily interest a team in taking him on with an affordable short-term contract, 25 years old, NHL experience under his belt. That very well could be a solid trade ship to help this roster.

Now, you're not going to get a King's Ransom for him, but when we continue the conversation in the second segment about some other things he has said, that could aid in Kyle Dubus's plan because you would probably get back players in and around the same age, prospects, draft capital, things like that. So I do see a value in both, okay, he took some steps, maybe he continues to grow this year,

or it's somebody that could help you in this long and short term plan of Kyle Dubases. I can see that as well, though. If you were to, you know, say, go out there and maybe move him after he had a really good start to the season, then you have to figure out who's going to replace him in the lineup just because right now, if you just look at their defenseman right now for the left side, they don't have really anyone that can go in there and step in for a full season. And if you want to say Ryan Shea, okay, but I still feel like, the team would need an upgrade over him.

No offense to Ryan Jay. I think he's also a serviceable and angel defenseman, but I see him as a better number seven, number eight guy on the Penguins, for example. So you're going to have to have a plan in place for, okay, it's a good start. You move him. Who's going to replace him for the rest that season?

I just, I continue to go back to it, man. They really need another top four guy on the left side. You're just entrusting POJ for a potential full season in the top four just scares me a little bit. I know P.O. himself had a good end to this last season, but his underlines with Latang weren't that good. It's funny, I'm not big on him playing with Carlson either. I don't really think they're going to be a good mesh if they were to start the season together. But his underlines with Carlson were better than his with Latang. So that is going to be something at least to monitor. It was a bit of a smaller sample with Carlson compared to Latang, but it's still something to at least look out for when the season starts. But I still think overall, a lot of questions about. this defensive group outside of probably three of the defensemen. Yeah, it's a huge question, Mark, and something they're going to have to address this offseason and into the further future.

But we will talk more about Kyle Duvus's comments at the Combine after we take a quick break here. But we will keep that going when we come back. Before we do that, we have to tell you about our first sponsor. And that is Fandle. Summertime means baseball and the NBA finals and more. and you can bet on all of it on Fandul. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

That's $200 you can use to bet on everything from the finals MVP to who's going to hit one out of the park. Visit Fandul.com slash locked on and add a big win to your summer bucket list. Fandul, America's number one sports book. All right, we're back here on the Monday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. We're going to keep this discussion about Kyle Dubus's summer plans and his interview going. And there is one quick thing I want to touch on before we get back into roster construction because we know that's obviously the biggest question and topic of discussion going into this offseason

as this team is coming off a second consecutive year of not making the postseason. and that was his quotes about what's happening behind the bench. First and foremost, he said that they are basically in the home stretch now of finding their coaching staff for the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins, saying we'll have the final round of interviews this week. That's this current week and maybe next weekend or the week after. Certainly before the draft, we hope to have that wrapped up. No names were given, so we don't know who that could be.

and it's the same deal, according to Dubus, with the NHL coaching staff, because as we know, Mike Sullivan has been retained, but there are openings around him on the bench. He said that Sullivan and him have been working on that, and they are going to dig deeper into it this week, and hopefully by the draft,

they will have everybody in place and ready to roll. This is one thing I will say that they need to get done ASAP, because going into the draft, going into free agency, obviously Mike Sullivan is the head of the table. He is the guy who's running the show when it comes to day-to-day operations of the roster. But you want to know what your coaching staff's plan and identity will be for the roster before you start building it because we kind of saw that under Ron Hextall and Brian Burke. the way they wanted to build a roster was at odds with the way Sullivan runs a roster.

Now, again, this is not me providing cover for Mike Sullivan. I think the questioning of him this past year and a half or so has been very justified. He has made very questionable decisions, but he was frequently at odds with Ron Hextall and Brian Burke. And while it feels like Kyle Dubus and Mike Sullivan have a much better working relationship. This needs to be firmly implanted and ready to go by the time you start drafting prospects, by the time you start signing free agents and making trades. So I really want to see them get this done before the conclusion of the Stanley Cup final. Agreed. And we've been asked lately about, you know, who could it be? Who could they be looking

to hire? And I will say, it's kind of funny that none of the top insiders have had a clue as to who the Penguins have interviewed for the assistant coaching job after Reardon got fired. I just kind of find that funny a little bit. I had to put that out there on the show. But there's still two names that very much come to mind, at least for me, that if you wanted to hire one of them, I think would make a lot of sense. Jay Woodcroft, I'll continue to put that name out there. Pat, he did a great job.

I feel like in Edmonton before he got let go earlier this season. I know Chris Knoblock has done an even better job in Edmonton throughout the season, but I do think Woodcroft did a good job. if he were to get an assistant job with the Penguins, I think it would be a seamless fit for him, and I could see him getting a head coaching job not long after. Also, how about Dean Eveson, man? I thought he also did a pretty sound job with the Minnesota Wild.

And I feel like to a degree as well, hiring one of those two coaches does put at least a little bit of pressure on Mike Sullivan, if Sullivan starts performing next season a little bit poorly, just because those two coaches have had success at their last two teams. So I'm just really high on those two overall. I'm sure they're speaking to quite a few people for this position as well, but those are just two of the names at the top of my list. I'll just continue to throw out there to the listeners and the watchers.

Woodcroft is my number one target on my wish list right there with you, mainly for special teams because, yes, we look at the Edmonton roster, and it's at the top of the roster, especially, obviously loaded with talent. but that power play was a five-man cohesive unit that used the talent it had on it to its advantage. It wasn't just give the puck to Connor McDavid and hope everything works out. It was make sure that Connor McDavid's the focal point, let everybody key in on him, and then use the rest of the talent around it, which is something the penguins similarly could do with the likes of Crosby or Malkin or Carlson or whomever to wear.

you can make them the focal point and then use the rest of the talent around it to your advantage, which is something Woodcroft showed he was very able to do, or at the very least had a hand in doing with the Edmonton Oilers, and we have seen that continue to flourish as they are in the Stanley Cup final right now. Now, moving right along on the talks about Kyle Dubus and everything for this summer, this one was also from the NHL.com article. where he basically is talking about what they want to do moving forward, saying, quote, the major focus for us is on right now acquiring as many young players, as many prospects, and as many draft picks as we can to try to infuse this team with really good

young talent, young players, and then have that stocked up for the future, as well as attempt to get us back into contention as quickly as we can. Now, a lot easier said than done, because you look at where this team is. I appreciate this idea. This is the fan bases, I think, most excited part of all of this because everyone has been yelling at us that they need to get younger, they need to get prospects, yada, yada, yada.

This is going to be very difficult because you still have a core of a few players that keep you outside of bottoming out. You're not going to bottom out with this group of players, nor should you, because they, still have good hockey in front of them. How much? We'll find out. But getting all those draft picks and getting all those young players requires losing. And I know as long as this team has Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Carlson, Rust, and a couple of others, they're not going to lose, at least not enough to get themselves into that place where they can start stockpiling. So I appreciate

this idea, but I also think this tells us who and what Kyle. Dupus is going to target when he makes trades. So I say the same warning I have been giving everybody all summer long so far. When you see trades made right now, your instant reaction is going to be to be underwhelmed. So be prepared for that because they are going to get prospects you may have not heard of, draft picks, and roster players that may not exactly excite you, but they're going to fit a certain mold.

So just keep that in mind this summer with what Kyle Dubus does. You know what this says to me, at least what I've been thinking ever since I read that quote. I think he's not going to be as aggressive in free agency as he was last year. I think you'll see him go out there, maybe sign a couple of players to some shorter term contracts, maybe someone like a Jake DeBrusk, for example, if you can get him on a shorter term contract. Maybe you can say the same for Max Domi for a third line center or maybe even someone like all for your defensive group, if you can get him on a shorter term contract. What it says to me is that, you know, maybe he's not going to go out there and sign a

Sean Walker to a five or six-year contract, something like that, or even a, obviously, we've gotten questions for the mailbag last week about Sam Reinhart. No, that's not going to happen. You're not going to go out there and sign Sam Ryanhart. What that says to me is I think you're going to see him sign a couple of players to maybe, you know, one to two to maybe three-year deals that can really help this team this year. and then maybe next year. And then for the trades that he makes,

those are going to help longer term. And for the players that he potentially sends out from this team, maybe someone like a Riley Smith, as we've discussed a lot, maybe someone like a Rickeld if he decides to go down, that route, other players. And if he's able to stockpile picks and prospects, you know what I wonder about, if he's then able to flip some of those assets

to get a better, younger player via trade that can help out now and in the future. It just seems like his bigger moves this offseason might potentially be more blockbuster trades bringing in some better, younger talent that can help this score right now and in the future. And then for free agency,

he can go out there, fill a couple holes. Again, maybe someone like a DeBrusk, et cetera, where he's not breaking the bank like you saw him do for someone like Ryan Graves last year and then obviously for Tristan Jari as well. That's the thought that at least I get when I read some of those comments. For sure. And it also gets into an early quote he had in Taylor's interview where he said,

I just don't know that we're the type of team right now that needs to be trading draft pick, any draft picks for player rights. And that kind of tells you what his whole plan is because there's no Martin H. just off that then, sad. Yeah. So there is no world where he's going to. send Carolina a third round pick just to have the opportunity to talk to Gensel early. So that tells me, building on what you said, that he's going to be aggressive but not in

the traditional way. He's not going to be sending out the farm in order to get these marquee names, but it's going to be more quantity over quality. You're going to see a lot more draft picks, prospect pools, and things like that, rather than I'm giving up all this to get one big name. So I think that is a good strategy to go about it right now because we have seen that this organization, despite its flaws and everything that has happened over the past decade or so, they've had a good record of turning lower round guys into long-term contributors.

So we want to just hope that that trend continues. And a guy who you don't think of when his name gets called on draft day, all of a sudden is the next guy knocking at the door. Right. And I mean, he also does have a point that they don't have, I would say, too many holes to fill. I mean, we've said it a lot. Third line center, another middle six winger. So hopefully two guys potentially for your third line.

Then you can fill out your fourth line however you want. You have Ponamara, obviously a couple other players in house as well. And then really just, again, this is just my thinking, though, a top four defenseman. it's really only three to four holes. Maybe you can argue another one as well. That's just how I see it right now. It's just some of those holes are a bit harder to fill than others. But I do think he is right in that regard.

So again, you know, this is going to be a very fascinating next few weeks. You know, how many trades does he make during the draft? How, what type of players does he go after during Frangery? Maybe it's a few players that we really haven't discussed yet on the show. to discuss someone like Yaakov Trennan, that's a potential third line center option. He would come cheaper, I would think, and also not command a lot of term. What about him? So it's going to be really fun to see how he changes this team over the next three to four weeks.

It's going to get busy soon here, folks, right after the Stanley Cup final. It really is. And before we talk about the Stanley Cup final in our final segment, before we do, just a full-throated, passionate and total screw you to the Washington Capitals. If you have not heard the news, the caps have agreed to purchase the popular salary cap website, cap friendly. This is however not the first time this has happened in hockey fan to NHL front office history. If you remember the old website, General Fanniger, the founder of that was hired by the Vegas Golden Knights once they came into existence. And then prior to that, there was Cap Geek, which was ultimately just shuttered by a third.

owner because they did not want to hand it off to anyone because unfortunately the original founder of that did have a terminal illness and was unable to continue their work. But this is just a kick in the gut because we use this website every single day. It is a great resource. Obviously, we will see what happens with Puckpedia. They also have a lot of salary cap information, but unfortunately they are not to the level of cap friendly, at least not yet. We could see that change now that there is an opening in that market. But man, this sucks. Oh, brother, this guy stinks.

That truly is what the Washington capitals are right now. This sucks, man. I usually have cap friendly open when I'm doing my show notes every day just because I'm looking at, you know, especially for free agency and player contracts and salary cap space and all that, et cetera. and to not have that resource available after a few more weeks go by is going to suck. And screw the cows. That's another reason to hate the capitals even more.

But I will say to everyone to be fully objective, of course, Puppedia is a very good resource. They do great work on that website. And I think you're going to see that really boom after cat friendly, sadly shuts down. But I will be using that a lot more. but and Pockpedia is very, very good. So just so everyone knows, that agreement goes into place July 1, cap friendly will still be available for the first day of re-agency on July 1,

but at 1201 a.m. July 2nd, it will go dark and no longer be part of our lives. But that is going to do it for this segment of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. When we come back, the Stanley Cup final is underway with Game 2. set for tonight. We will talk about game one and more right after this. All right, we're back here for the final segment of the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

One last time, I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And here we are. As Connor McDavid so eloquently said, game one appeared to be some revenge from the hockey gods on the Edmonton Oilers as they drop game one to the Florida Panthers, three to nothing.

And there really is no better way to say it than how Connor McDavid put it. Sergey Bobrovsky with an absolutely transcendent performance for the Florida Panthers as they take a one-nothing lead in the Stanley Cup final. And man, I know this is a nationwide kind of or hockey nationwide talking point, but at this point, it's so loud and so obvious that if the Panthers pull this off and they finish off the Oilers and win the Stanley Cup under a great performance by Sergey Barbrofsky, he officially is a no doubt, Hall of Famer.

I mean, I said that last week when we were previewing this series, if he's able to finish this off, he's not only a sure doubt Hall of Famer, Pat, he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. Stanley Cup, two Vesnas, he's already one of the top goaltenders of this generation. He will fully put his stamp on that if he's able to win three more games. That performance was amazing. It reminded me a little bit of how Matt Murray played at times during the 2017 run to the Stanley Cup for the Penguins. And also before that, Mark Andre Fleury as well, especially against Washington in the second round with how Florey was making save after save against the capitals. Well, Robrovsky was doing that against the Oilers, whether it was breakaway after

breakaway, odd man rush after odd man rush. He was shutting the door on every Oilers player. And He was the main reason why the Panthers won. But I'll also say this about the Panthers. I don't think they're going to play that poorly again in this series. I think the Oilers, they gave them quite a fight in game one. I think they kind of caught the Panthers a little bit off guard. You know Paul Maurice is going to adjust or maybe tweak his system a little bit to where the Panthers can go out there and try and smother them a little bit.

But also another thing for the Oilers, they got to stop trying to load up Drysidal and McDavid like that. You're making it easier on the Panthers by doing that. It's still better if you're able to separate them overall. But I think the Panthers are going to be better tonight. We'll see if that matters and if the Oilers are able to tie this series back up. But Brobowski has already started this series out with a bang. He's continuing right where he left off when the Panthers beat the Rangers in six games. He has been awesome throughout these playoffs.

I mean, I still think Barkov is going to win the Con Smife if the Panthers win, but you can easily make a case for Brabowski as well. I think it's a one-two race right there. It really is. I mean, we've already gone over how well Barkoff has shut down some of the best offensive players in the Stanley Cup playoffs so far. And as far as game one goes, you can say he did it again. But keeping that in mind, let's talk about how dominant the Oilers were. At all situations, according to natural stat trick, outshot Florida 32 to 17, and they held an advantage of high danger chances at all situations, mind you, not just five on five, all situations. 18 to 6.

This was, without a doubt, the Sergei Bobrovsky game. I will say this, though, for the Oilers, they played like a team that's going to win. Again, they played it like a team that knows they want to win the Stanley Cup. And I don't think it's too far to say, and I agree with you, I don't think Florida is going to play that poorly again in this series. I think they know they cannot rely strictly on Sergey Bobrovsky, just because, and this isn't even a shot at Bobrovsky, if your only strategy is to depend upon your goalie,

you're not going to have a ton of success. Ask the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final. That was essentially their plan. But you know that there's going to be pushback. You could see the seeds being planted throughout the game. There was a clip that went fairly viral of Kachuk running over Connor McDavid with the puck nowhere in sight. And you can see that Florida is going to start playing that kind of game. And their big guns are eventually going to actually make a big difference in this series.

Oh, they will. I 100% think they will. You know, McDavid, I mean, he's still going to get matched up against Barkov. every shift. I'm curious to see if McDavid can win that matchup this time in game two. Leon, he's going to have a bit of a better matchup if they do split them up. But also another key for the Oilers, if you're looking at the morning skate notes, Cody Cici might finally be scratched, former Penguins legend Cody Cici, I should say. The Oilers, I think they're finally recognizing that they cannot run out that God-awful nurse in C-C pairing

because they were brutal in game one, giving up chance after chance when they were on the ice. Chris Knoblock, it looks like, is finally making another good adjustment for the Oilers. You just can't rely on that pairing at all. They've gotten destroyed all playoffs long. Panthers took advantage of it, and I think Knoblock definitely realized it after game one.

So it looks like that's a change that they're going to be making. Stuart Skinner, I think could be maybe a little bit better, but I still feel like he played okay overall. And then switching to the Panthers side, I think you're going to see a better Matthew Kachuk. Very quiet in game one. He really didn't do that much. He loves playing the Oilers.

I expect him to have a better game in game two as well. This series is far from over, really looking forward to a really good game two. That's right. Game two tonight at 8 o'clock. We will see what happens. Obviously, we will continue to follow it here on the Locked on Penguins podcast,

as well as hopefully Kyle Dubus or somebody getting more exclusive interviews so we can have more to talk about. But that is going to do it for the Monday edition. For Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Dam. Thank you. We'll get an exclusive interview with Kyle Dubus one day, people. Maybe we could. Maybe we can reach out, get Duby on the pod here. But as I was saying, 400 Hodes, I am Patrick Damp.

Thank you, as always for tuning in. And we will be back with a fresh episode for all of you on Tuesday.