Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins prospect Brayden Yager continues to light up the Memorial Cup!

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Brayden Yager continues to shine at the Memorial Cup and that's where Hunter and Pat start today's episode. They discuss how Moose Jaw is on to the semifinals of the Memorial Cup and how Yager played a vital role in getting them there. They analyze how great he was and compare one of his assists to some that a former Penguin had during his time. After that, they discuss another free agent target in Oliver Kylington and how he was super underrated during his career with the Flames. They look at how much he'd cost to get on July 1 and how he'd fill an immediate need in the lineup (as of right now) before reviewing John Ludvig's season. What is his ceiling with the team? What does he need to work on? All that, plus much more, is on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. 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 (K Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Braden Gager continues to kick so much butt at the Memorial Cup, and you know what, it's damn fun having a prospect this good in the penguin system. 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 am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. join my host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet and you can follow the shows,

Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, make every moment more. Right now new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

That's $150 with any winning $5 bet. Visit fandul.com slash lockdown to get started. So Moose Jaw, they will play at least one more game at the Memorial Cup after beating Drummondville five to three on Tuesday night in the final round of the round Robin. With that win, they will play in the semifinals on Friday against the loser of the Saginaw London game. And honestly, Pat, it really doesn't matter who loses that game. Both of those teams have been the top two teams at the Memorial Cup. And you're going to have to go through both if you want to win this. So again, it really doesn't matter who they played the winner of that London Saginaw game will play in the championship this

weekend. So that is how the format works for Memorial Cup. But getting back to this game, Moose Jaw gets out to a three-nothing lead. Drummondville makes it a game, especially in the third period, but it's Moosechaw getting a short-handed goal with less than two minutes to go in the third period. And then Braden Yeager, icing it with an empty-neck goal. And obviously speaking of Yeager, he was fantastic for Moose Shaw once again. Obviously, the empty-neck goal is great, but he had two great assists, one of which came on the power play.

And did you see that no look pass that he had there? That is just stuff you don't teach. And when I saw that pass, you know who it reminded me of? Former Penguin Phil Kessel. That's what that pass reminded me of, because Kessel used to do that so often with the penguins when they were on the power play.

And obviously you had to account for Kessel's shot, one of the top releases in the league, just like how Yeager has one of the top releases in his league. But Yeager's passing is also off the charts, and you saw it on that assist. Again, it's something you don't teach. And Moush John needed its best players to be its best players, and Yeager was definitely that.

Just another fantastic game from him. Once again, he now has six points in three games. in the Memorial Cup. So, but here's, what are your thoughts on Raiden Yeager's performance? I mean, what's left to say at this point? I mean, he is absolutely shining on the biggest stage for the Warriors. And don't look now, but those six points good for second in the tournament, second only to his teammate Denton, Matichick, excuse me.

And then same thing, him and Matichuk both are tied along with Ruslan Gazov or the goals in the tournament with three. Empty net or not, it's a winner, it's a very short tournament. There's not a lot of margin for error. And at this point, he's really stepping up. And like you said in the intro, it's nice to finally have a prospect to look forward to in the penguin system, who's producing this well on such a big stage. And it really all gets into the main theme of what you and I have talked about,

of what we wanted to see from Yeager at this tournament. And that's the fact that he is stepping up in the biggest moments. He's showing that he is a player who, when the games start to mean more, he rises his level of play. And he has done that, especially last night, because that was, for all intents and purposes, Moose Jaws season. If they were to lose, they were done. That was it.

They were not going to play in the semi-final of the Memorial Cup. their season ended last night. But him and all his teammates step up. They put up a great effort and he is a main driver of it and they stay alive for at least one more game. Obviously his release is spectacular, but it's been awesome seeing him add other things to his repertoire. I mean, he's turned into a really nice playmaker for Mooshaw.

I think he's worked on his two-way game as well. I still think he kind of fits the profile of a top six winger in the NHHA. show as of right now, but he just continues to play fabulously. And you can see why at the start of last season before he got drafted by the Penguins, you can see why he was a consensus top five to top 10 pick at that time before I know he slid down some rankings. I mean, my draft board at this time last year, I had Yeager. I believe it was fourth or fifth on my list.

He was someone who I could definitely see the Penguins taking out a couple other players ahead of them that were there at the time. but I was still totally fine with the Yeager pick. But you can see with the level that he's playing at, why he was a consensus top five to 10 pick heading into the draft last year. Oh, it's no doubt that the Penguins got very lucky that this guy fell to them in the draft last year because you look at a player like Yeager and all of the skills and everything that you would want in a pick like Yeager was there.

And I'm truly surprised that the penguins were able to snag them where they did. Because like you said, going into the draft last summer, I had him on a wish list. He was a guy that I was very impressed by. You could see it in the numbers. You could see it in the film. Solid player with great top six potential at the NHL level, should he develop correctly. And again, that's something we do have to add. You know, when he gets to the big stage, you see this all the time.

guys who dominate juniors. There are guys who put up great numbers in the minors. And then once they get to the NHL level, it doesn't always translate. But I look at the fundamentals of his game. And I see a guy who can develop into a full-time NHLer in two, three, maybe four years. Because the things he does, all he has to do is continue on the track that he's on. He has to be willing to work. He's going to have to put on some muscle. He's going to have to have to to get that almost trial by fire over the next couple of years, whether it's having another dominant season with Moose Jaw and then moving up to the NHL or AHL level in showing he can do it there. But right now, all the fundamental of the game, the shot, the vision, he works

on his speed a little bit. He is definitely someone I can see carving out a nice NHL career. Agreed. And training camp for him alone is going to be really interesting to follow. If we've talked about this on the show before, just because we've been following Mushaw's run to potentially winning Memorial Cup, but if he fully blows away everyone at camp, it might be a little bit difficult to send him back to junior. I still think at this point he probably is going to go back to junior. And I think right now still it's best for him if he does. But if he goes in there and does what he did at Lasher's camp, but ups that to, you know, four to five degrees higher,

the Penguins will have a really fascinating choice in that situation overall. I think regardless, what has to happen with him going into training camp this fall is basically give him damn near all of it, give him right to the end with the understanding that, yeah, we're probably going to send you back to Moose job. Put them with the big boys too. Put him up with Malkin, et cetera. Because you think back to last year, he did not look out of place.

He started to fade near the end a little bit. And you expected that because he's a young guy, new pick, only has his junior experience. But with everything he's done this season, I think if nothing else, he has very much earned a full look at training camp next year, a chance to play with the big guns, a chance to stick around for. the entire camp. And even if he doesn't make it out of camp, he is going to get exposure to guys like Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris LaTang, Eric Carlson, Michael Bunting, and whomever else the penguins bring in this offseason.

So he'll get a taste of what it takes to stick in the NHL because it's an old cliche. And it sounds silly to say, but getting to the NHL is the easy part. The hard part is staying there. because once you get that call, all that work, everything you did, you feel like you've reached the top of the mountain,

but then you find out a lot more goes into it than just making the show. So you get to learn from some absolute living legends in Crosby, Malk, and Latang, Carlson, etc., etc. Those guys will teach you, hey, getting here's only the first step. If you want to remain here, it is a very expensive price to,

pay and it costs quite a lot. Yeah, and even if he doesn't make the team, he can take those lessons back to Junior for just that last season. And then for next year, whether it's with the big squad or the H.L. With Wilkesbury, you know, we'll have to see. But I think the time is getting real close to seeing him on the NHL roster. And that's getting me pretty excited overall. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment.

Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I have another potential UFA defenseman to discuss as we're almost four weeks away from the start of free agency. And can you believe that, by the way, about a month to go until July 1. It's going to be here before we know it. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, which is Fandall. It's winner-take-all-time in the NBA and NHL, and Fandle's giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

That's $150 to bet on spreads, money lines, player props, and so much more. All you have to do is visit fandul.com slash locked on and make every playoff shot count. That's Fandle, America's number one sports book. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunts or Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp. So, Pat, we discussed quite a bit about the left side of the defensive group for the Penguins during our Tuesday episode and how there's quite a few questions still outside of Marcus

Pedersen, whether it's Ryan Graves and whether he can bounce back, whether it's Joseph and whether the Penguins want to resign him, etc, et cetera, but one player that I could see the Penguins potentially going after in free agency is Calgary Flames defenseman Oliver Shillington. So he only played in 33 games for the Flames this past season. He made his comeback in January of this year. He had not played since May of 2022. He was dealing with some mental health issues.

And Pat, I know I speak for you with this. We both just hope that he is very much okay after coming back from that, just because he hadn't played hockey in almost two years. But he spent seven full seasons with the flames. And, you know, even though he hadn't played hockey in over a year, he played pretty well in only 33 games. Three goals, eight points during that time. In his last full season with the flames,

2021, 2022, in 73 games, nine goals, 31 points in those 73 games. He can play on the left side. He can play on the right side. But I'm looking at him as a purely left shot deep for this team. his underlines are also really sound. And another big thing, he's only 27 years old right now. So I know a lot of people out there, myself included, want this team to get younger. Well, you would definitely be doing that with this move.

But he can move the puck up the ice. He brings decent offense. He can play well in his own zone. If your top four is something along the lines of Marcus Pedersen and Oliver Schillington on your left side, I think you're doing something right. For sure. And it kind of feels like this guy's flying under the radar a little bit. this upcoming UFA class.

He doesn't really get talked about a whole lot, but like you said, 27 years old, you look at his underlines, and last season only playing in 33 games, let's remember Calgary was not that good of a team this year. And even considering that I always say, when you look at those teams that are kind of near the bottom of the standings, you take the statistics and the analytics with a grain of salt

because you do remember that it's not one of the better teams. So you look at his underlines, 48% of the shot attempts last year. On a team like Calgary, that's a solid number, just a shade under 50% of the high danger chances for it with Calgary and expected goals percentage also on just a shade under 50%. And like you said, you look at his last real full season in 21, 22. Now granted, that was probably a little bit better of a Flames team,

but still nine goals, 22 assists, 31 points in 73 games. This is a player who has a lot of value, but then you look at, unfortunately, he has to take a break to focus on his mental health and get himself right, which we're always happy to see a player do. He only made $2.5 million in his last contract, and that was an RFA arbitration deal. So now he's a full UFA, and you don't figure putting that all together that he's due for some big raise. he might get the same kind of deal, maybe around 3 million. But if you can get a 27-year-old defenseman with this track record at $3 million for three to four years, I think that's a bet you make all day long because he has shown that he can play at a fairly high level.

And if you can sure up your defense with a guy like that, you take that chance all day long. Yeah, I mean, a three-year deal for, you know, 12, 13 million, I think would make sense for someone like Shellington. And it also makes sense for the Penguins. especially with their salary cap situation. But you don't have to give this guy a bunch of term. I don't think he's going to be out there looking at five to six year deals in free agency. I think you can be able to get him for three to four years.

And his last full season, you look at the underlines for 2021, 2021, 2022. When he was on the ice, the flames had 54% of the shot attempts. Plus 26 at 5 on 5. That is very good. Again, I don't look at plus minus very often. But if you are a plus 26 at 5 on 5 and almost 1,200. minutes during that time, you're doing something right. Also, 55% of the expected goal share, 56% of the scoring chances, 56% of the high danger chances. He had a great year in 2021,

2022 before taking a break to focus on his mental health. So he still has quite a bit of real good hockey left, and he would make this team a lot better in numerous ways. You could put them on your second power play if you want. You can put him on the penalty kill, great at five on five deck. You can interchange. him with Chris LaTang or Eric Carlson, it just makes sense for a variety of reasons. And this is one of those savvy signings that you can make when you're where the penguins are at this juncture because he's going to hopefully get you a good amount of productivity. He's going to come at a cheaper cost more than likely.

And an underrated part of his game, you look at his career statistics. He's only take, he only has 52 penalty minutes in total. In his high watermark for penalties was 2019, 20, the season that got shortened by the pandemic. He only had 16 penalty minutes last year, only 12, 21, 22, 14. So this is a disciplined player who brings you a lot of positive value. So this is, in my opinion, the exact kind of signing that the Pittsburgh Penguins need to make. Because like I said, good track record of success. he has been a positive player in most of the seasons he's played in,

and you're not going to have to pay top dollar to get him. You look at a lot of the UFAs, especially defensemen that are on the market this year. They are going to command top dollar, and you look at where the penguins are both as a franchise and just with the salary cap, you're probably not going to be in play for a lot of those guys, if any of them. So if a guy like Shillington is available and Calgary does not want to bring him back, that should be one of your first calls on July 1st. This free agent class may not be good, but there are some good diamond in the rough

options for the penguins. You know, we've discussed a few others on this show. Shillington definitely fits that bold where I think you could be getting a steal with for sure. And like I said, only making $2.5 million on his current, well, now formerly current contract. I don't see a world where he gets much of a raise, maybe up to $3 million, but I don't see him going much higher than that. Yeah, 3.3.5 million, I think, is the range that you're looking at for this player.

I'd be kind of surprised if he got 4 to 4.5 million per year or anything like that. But I also know that GMs tend to throw out a lot of money in term on Free Agent Frenzy Day. But that would do it for this second segment of today's show. Coming up to end the show, we're going to continue our season in review series with John Ludwig and look at his future with the Penguins organization. That's coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join on my host, Patrick Damp.

So, Pat, we continue to inch closer to being done with our season in review series. And today we have defenseman John Ludwig up after doing P.O. Joseph on Tuesday. Ludwig played in 33 games for the Penguins this past season. Three goals, five points during that time. His underlines were, I think, okay, when he was on the ice, the Penguins had 51% of the shot attempts. also had about 50% of the expected goals, 51% of the scoring chances and a whopping 54% of the high danger chances that he played, 351 total minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.

The biggest thing, though, minus 12 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. So that is not that good there. But there is one main thing that he brings that I like, and that is physicalness. I know that the penguins don't have a lot of very physical players on this team. It's something that's definitely lacking, especially when you're not. you know, when you look at the final four teams still playing in the NHL playoffs right now. But Ludwig is never afraid of throwing the body. He's never afraid of stepping in, especially when a player gets hit hard.

He's also never been afraid of fighting. He was doing that throughout the season as well. But that said, I still want to see more of what he has to offer outside of being physical and being able to lay the boom. I want to see what he can do in his own zone. I felt like he was lacking a little bit at times throughout. up a season there. I also want to see if he can maybe bring a little bit more offense. I just think there has to be more to his game than just being physical. I think that's what I'm just trying to say.

Yeah, I'm right there with you. I do like the fact that he is a physical defenseman. It's something the penguins have lacked for quite some time. They don't need a big time bruiser. They don't need a guy to go out and be intimidating or anything like that. But they definitely need a physical presence. I hate to use this word, but I really have a lack of a better term at this. point, they do need a bit of a deterrent, a guy who you know that is looming and can throw those big hits. But at the same time, Ludwig will be 24 when next season starts. I know everybody has screamed and yelled about wanting this team to get younger. Well, there's a young defenseman, and he's only played 33 games, and you brought up his underlines. Like, when he's on the ice,

this team isn't playing poorly. It's not like he's a drag on possession. He's not big just for big sake. And the fact of the matter is he's actually not that big. He's 6-1, but he is 2-13, which is pretty heavy. So he plays a pretty solid game, but I would like to see him get better at some puck movement. I would like to see him drive offense a little bit. I'm not saying he's got to become Chris LaTang or Eric Carlson, but you would like to see him have a little bit better of a shot selection, move the puck a little bit better, and make a little bit better of first breakout passes, because he did struggle with that at times. But I really like what they have in Ludwig because it feels like at 23, he did not look

out of place on an NHL blue line. He's got plenty of room to grow. And for a defenseman like him who's going to be six, seven, eight, five points in 33 games is not a bad workload at all. Right, and I still want to see him defend a little bit better one-on-one in his own zone. I felt like he was struggling a bit with that during the games this past season. But, I mean, yeah, he obviously has more room to grow. He doesn't even make 800K on his contract.

I think at this point, he's a very sound number six to number eight guy. I don't think I want him in the lineup on an every-night basis. I think if he is your number six defenseman, you're maybe not doing enough overall. And yes, people, I understand he's young. He has more room to grow. You want to give him a little bit more of a sample. But I think right now they still have, you know, if they bring back P.O. Joseph, I would want Joseph to play over Ludwig. I think he's a good depth option to have that you can play 40 to 45 to 50 games

a season, something like that. I just don't think at this point he can play all I, too. Maybe he can grow into that a little bit. But I think overall, he's just a really good depth player to have on your blue line. There's a lot more worse number seven options out there to say the least. For sure. And we, you know, kind of building off what we talked about with Shillington, this is also another good thing that you can have in the penguin system. If you bring back POJ, you go out and get a guy like Shillington. You still have, you might still have Ryan Shea.

You're still going to have hopefully Jack St. Ivany. You're going to have a lot of competition at the bottom of the defense. And that's a luxury you'd like to have between both having. depth and guys who are going to have to continually bring it every time they get a chance. You know, to steal the Mike Tomlinism, it's going to be iron sharpening iron because all these guys are going to have to make their mark when they get a chance. And it'll show you, okay, what do we have in these players?

And they're going to have to do their best to stay in the lineup and hold on to a lineup up spot and that usually if those guys are up to it will bring out the best in them or you learn okay maybe this guy isn't a full-time NHL defenseman but this other guy is and the way Ludwig has played and the way he's carried himself he strikes me as a guy who's not going to shy away from that kind of competition yeah i would agree there and that's another camp competition that i'm really looking forward to seeing one september rolls around who's going to be that number seven defenseman heck who's going to maybe be that number six defenseman depending on other moves they make for this defensive group for this season.

As for an overall grade, it's kind of incomplete, but if I had to give one, I guess I would go with a B minus to a C. That's about where I am. I liked a lot. I think you have to go incomplete. I liked a lot of what I saw from them, but there were injuries and other circumstances that kind of held them out from getting more of a look. But I liked what I saw overall, but incomplete grade because we only got 33 games of it.

He also had a very rough injury early in the year. So tough to give a grade. But I would say at this point, I want to see more of them. And I liked what I've seen. And I'm curious to see how he grows as a defenseman for the penguins. Yep, I agree with you. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the locked on penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one.

Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Thursday to discuss the latest news surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins. and to potentially finish our season in review series. I think we only have one, if not two more players left to review for this year. But for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one, and we'll be back on Thursday.