Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins prospect Rutger McGroarty is here and he loves winning!

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins officially introduced Rutger McGroarty to the media on Wednesday and while he didn't have a lot to say, it was still significant. Hunter and Patrick discuss his comments, how it could impact this team in the short and long term, and what expectations should be for him. Next with about 5 players competing for one spot on defense, who could we see taking on the role of being the Penguins' sixth defenseman? Is there a favorite for the job heading into camp? Finally, the Penguins teased a big announcement on social media all week and we now know what it is - bobbleheads! Hunter and Patrick discuss the news and how fans can add to their bobblehead collection throughout the season. 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 eBayMotors.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. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. 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.

Rucker McGority spoke to the media on Wednesday and looked fired up to be a Pittsburgh penguin. Pat and I are going to discuss that and more right after this. You're Locked-on Penguin, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow my co-host Patrick Damp on Twitter at Sundance for Wet,

and you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Understore Penguins. Of course, thank you also 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 GameTime, download GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download GameTime today. What time is it?

It is game time. So Rucker McGority, he spoke to the media for the first time today. We had a question in the YouTube comments earlier this week, asking, you know, hey, when is McGority going to speak to the media? I responded probably sometime this week. I'm glad I was at least right about that because he did speak to the media on Wednesday. And he's been in Pittsburgh the last several days, skating with some of his new teammates, according to Taylor Haas,

Sergei Muroshov is also here. Brian Rust has been skating a little bit. She's all over. That stuff at the UPMC Sports Complex up in Cranberry. And also, if you're not following Taylor's, on DK. Pittsburgh Sports and on Twitter, you're just doing it wrong. She's one of the best Penguin reporters in the business. But McGority, again, speaks to the media today.

And I was really impressed with what he had to say. He seemed like someone who is obviously very mature for his age. But I love the comment about saying he loves winning, getting to play with Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malk, and Chris Lentang. That quote really stood out to me, honestly. But also another one, he said, I can play left or right. I'm comfortable on both sides. playing with Cindy Crosby, like obviously he's the best player in the world.

That'll be very cool if I could one day do that. Well, Rector, I think that day is going to be coming sooner rather than later because right now, I do think he is one of the top favorites, if not the top favorite to start the season, playing next to Cindy Crosby because I do think he's going to be on this team to start the season. Another quote that also stood out to me when I was going back and listening to that press conference, he said, talking about his leadership approach, he said, I want to hopefully drag other guys across the line with you. and hopefully they get better.

So Pat, I also think he listens to the Locked-on Penguins podcast because you've been saying something similar to that for the last several months, you know, dragging players into the fight. That's kind of what sounds like there. But overall, really nice opening press comments. I mean, you're not going to learn too much from these, but I mean, he said all the right things,

checked all the boxes. This is a kid who I think seems very mature for his age and I think it's ready to go out there and prove some people wrong, especially up in Winnipeg. introductory press conferences like this i don't so much listen to the answers so much as watch the person and you could feel the excitement coming off this kid because and he was he was very well spoken with with his answers especially when he got asked about everything that had to do with the trade

in his very limited time with the winnipeg jets and he basically said it you know it wasn't a bad thing. He didn't feel any sort of animosity or anger toward the Winnipeg Jets. He was looking to make a push to become an NHL player and they disagreed on that. So they amicably worked that out. He even said as much that it wasn't a nasty split. They didn't try to kick him on his way out the door. They didn't try to downplay him or anything like that. They just wanted to find him a better fit. And then you just, like I said, you look at the body language. This kid could not stop smiling the whole time he was in front of these reporters. And let's be honest here.

Yeah, Steelers season is right around the corner. So right now, Pittsburgh is very focused on everything going on on the North Shore at Acresure Stadium and the south side where the Steelers practice. But this is still very much a Penguins town as well. So this isn't an easy market to come into. and feel comfortable. It could have been very difficult for him to go out and face these reporters because, yeah, the penguins have underachieved the last few years,

but they still always have the spotlight on them because of what this team has achieved and who's on their roster. So I thought he handled this very, very well. And the last thing I'll add before you continue here, Hunter, is thank you, Rutger, for listening to the show because we have been saying we need players like this on this team. And I love that answer that you brought up about him saying his leadership style is dragging guys

basically into the fight because it's easy to be a leader who bangs his stick on the boards and says, rah, rah, let's go get him boys, stands up in the locker room and gives some kind of a speech. But you can tell the way he framed that answer, he's going to do that with his play. He's going to go out. He's going to throw a hit. he's going to play 100 miles an hour every time his skates touch the ice. And yeah, he's going to need to produce.

He's going to need to be a valuable part of the team in that regard. But we all know this, especially for something we're going to talk about at the end of the show. Sometimes it's more than just putting up points. Sometimes it's throwing a big hit. Sometimes it's getting into a fight. Sometimes it's just being the guy who in a game where things aren't going your way. you're the guy who goes out and just has an honest to God effort and a hardworking shift that kind of lifts everybody on the bench up and goes, you know what?

He's still going. Let's join him. The energy that he brought at the press conference just seemed infectious. He seemed just so happy to be here in, I guess it may be a better situation, at least for him personally, just because it felt like, again, he wasn't going to crack Winnipeg's lineup. And now that he's here, he signed his ELC, he's like, yep, I'm ready for. a fresh start. I'm ready to help this team contribute in any way I can. And you can tell when he was asked about the core three, you know, Crosby, Malk, and Lutang, his eyes just lit up, you know,

getting him a chance to play with those three players considering everything they have accomplished throughout their career so far. He just seemed super excited about it. Again, you know, that answer about I love winning. I loved that. Even though I know the Penguins have missed the playoffs and back to back years, we all know how much this core leadership group wants to get back there for this year. is going to try, you know, everything in his power to help those players achieve that goal. But, again, it just seemed like someone who was smiling ear to ear, someone who was so excited for a fresh start. And again, I really hope that translates over for the 24, 25 season.

You know, I like the point that you brought out about how, you know, yeah, the Steward season is right around the corner. Paul Skeen's pitch today for the pirates. And yeah, I know the pirates aren't that good this season, but that's still obviously a big storyline in Pittsburgh. But, you know, this is still, as you said. a very, and I mean a very big hockey town. We've seen that throughout the offseason here where so many fans come out and listen

to all the content that we put out there, other people. So many people care about this team. And you're going to see that again this season. Even though I feel like there's not as much maybe quote unquote hype for the penguins just for this season, I think a player that is going to bring the most hype out of like the new guys that have brought in is McGordy. And I think fans are going to be super. excited to see that once October rolls around.

Building upon that as well, he kind of was asked early on, too, in the availability about his game and where it is and where it needs to go. And while there are very few NHL players who come out and talk about how great they are, how good they are, it's just not the culture of the game. But he was honest. He basically said, like, I still have a lot that I have to improve upon. You know, he knows he's not a finished product. He knows that if he wants to play in the National Hockey League this year, he will have to earn it.

And he said that both Kyle Dubus and Jason Spetsa made that clear to him that there was not going to be a high. We've acquired you from Winnipeg. You've been a leader on the international level and at the collegiate level. So welcome to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They told him basically, you get a spot at the rookie tournament. And that's it. from there, you're going to have to earn it. And he said as much that, yeah, is my skating ability where it needs to be to be a full-time

NHL or probably not? Is my game as a whole where it needs to be to be a full-time NHL or probably not? But you want to see a kid who is confident enough in his ability the way he was in Winnipeg in believing that he can contribute at the NHL level while still realizing, hey, this is a man's league. And this is in it's a cliche. He didn't say this. I'm saying this. You hear this all the time in basically every professional sport that the easy part is getting to the league. The hard part is staying in the league. And he is going to have to improve a lot of parts of his game. He is definitely going to have to work on his skating and become a more fluid, faster, better skater to

stick in the NHL. You know that this game is one to two steps faster when you get to the NHL. So some of his offensive ability is going to have to learn and adapt and grow. Otherwise, he won't be able to stay with the team long term. But you hear the way this kid talks, the way this kid conducts himself, I have no doubts he's going to put that work in. And will he become a superstar? Again, I'm skeptical of that, but becoming a true blue NHL

consistent contributor, I think that's in the future for this kid. I agree. I think at the very least, he should be able to be a full-time, good contributor for this team. As for being a star or superstar, we'll have to see it just because, again, he's still very much at least a prospect at this point. He hasn't played in an NHL game yet. But in terms of him working out some of the kinks with his game, that's what, you know,

the rookie tournament is for which as of this recording, I don't think he's been added to that roster just yet. I think he might be in the coming days. coming weeks, we'll just have to see. And then also that's what training camp is for. That's also what the preseason is for as well. He's definitely going to get a lot of reps, I feel like, in the Penguins preseason games this year. So he'll have plenty of opportunities to kind of fine tune certain parts of his game, especially his skating before the regular season starts. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to look at who the favorite for the number six

defenseman job will be at least heading into training camp right now for the Penguins. Let's see if Pat and I agree on who the favorite is and just what the main competition for that spot is. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is game time. Game time has a new feature called Game Time Picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite live events even easier. Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. You can also have game time picks.

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Terms apply. Again, credit account and redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it? It's game time. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes,

joined by my host, Patrick Damp. And Pat, you were discussing this a little bit. It looks like the pirates have actually blown a 103 lead during this recording. So for everyone that's listening to this, that's a big pirates fan, I flew bad for all. you that you guys go through this basically every season. I'm a nationals fan. The Nats aren't that good this year either, though I think their time for being a contender is coming the next couple of

years. But yeah, even though Paul Skeens was pitching today and I don't think the seven run blown lead was his fault. The fact that they blew that lead is just sad. But anyways, getting back for prayers up for Ethan unlocked on pirates, man. I don't know how you're doing this. I feel bad just for everyone out there that watches this team on an everyday basis. Again, I don't know how you people do this. But okay, again, that was just a minute, a minute little rant about the pirates overall, even though I myself am not even a fan of the team. But getting back to the local hockey club, because that is what this main podcast is about, looking at the competition for the number six defenseman this year. So when I look at the defensive depth chart, I kind of see

this. And I've discussed this a little bit on the show throughout the off season. I think they're going to start this season with Matt Grizzlic, with Chris Leng, trying to recapture the magic that Grizzlick had during some of his earlier years in Boston, maybe not this last year or the year before, but a bit before that, seeing if he can, you know, have a fresh start with a new team, get him back to the level that he's played out before.

I think that's going to be the top pairing to start the season. I think Marcus Pedersen is going to be playing with Eric Carlson. That pairing was very good on the Penguins last year. I expect that to continue to be the case for this season. The third pairing, in a perfect world, Ryan Graves is not on the team because his contract is very bad. That's not going to happen. Ryan Graves is going to be on.

this team to start that you're bearing something unforeseen at this point. And I do think he is going to start on the left side on the bottom pairing. Now, the competition for the final spot, I think, is mainly going to be between A, Jack St. Ivany, and B, Sebastian Aho. I think Ryan Shea could definitely be in there as well. The main two options, though, I think for me, are Aho and St. Ivany. If I had to pick a favorite right now, and yes, I understand this is a very small sample size, I'm going to go with St. Ivney to win that job just because of the way he played in his own zone last year. It felt like even though the stakes got bigger for a player like St. Ivney, who really didn't have any NHL experience heading into last season, he played better and better during those games in March and April. And even though, again, Spassanahou has more games played at the NHL level, I still think right now with the way St. Ivany played, he's the favorite going into the competition.

but I could easily see Aho winning out this job if he does have a better camp in a preseason. So right now I'm going to go St. I've any six, Aho seven. I can easily see myself being wrong, but that's how I see it. Pat, what say you at least heading into camp in a few weeks? Because wow, I mean, training camp really is about two and a half weeks away at this point. Well, let's keep the little theme here going of comparing it in talking about other Pittsburgh sports. Like Russell Wilson, I think Jack St. Ivany is in pole position to get that spot just because he played, like you said, he played extremely well for a sixth defenseman at the end of the year, did not look out a place, had a very mature game for his age. And I liked a lot of what he did. He fits into that box for me when it comes to defensemen of his like where you don't notice him throughout the course of an entire.

year, but that's a good thing. Because by the end of the year, you go, okay, this guy was very solid. He made the correct play. He was in position, didn't do anything too flashy, played the role of sixth defensemen very well. I also think, like you said, Aho, another possibility for a guy who could get that spot. The other two names I look at that could have a chance to get that sixth defenseman spot, you briefly brought up Ryan Shea. I think he played pretty well when he got his opportunities last year. But I think that's more of an outside shot because similar to St. Ivany,

not a lot of experience there. He doesn't bring a whole ton to the table that would make you go, okay, let's give a spot to this guy. And then the other one is John Ludwig. I think he brings an element that this team lacks a little bit. I think they're getting back to it a little bit with some of their offseason acquisitions. He just brings a sandpaper.

to his game that realistically they're getting better at having that up front with a lot of these offseason acquisitions, but they don't really have it on defense. Now, it's not the late 90s, early 2000s anymore where you got to have a big bruiser on the blue line, but it still doesn't hurt. But similar to what we talked about in the first segment with Rekraig's biggest concern is his skating. He is not a great skater. Yeah, and I also think I just haven't seen enough out of them in all three zones to really have him warrant being the number six defensemen on a full-time basis. I think he has more to give offensively. I also think he has more to give defensively. Yeah, it's great that he brings a physical presence to this team. They definitely need it

on the back end. But outside of that, I just really haven't seen too much else that he has to offer. Granted, small sample size, but I want to see a little bit more there. And I would agree with that too. I also look at it this way that depending upon how the year plays out, what other moves Kyle Dubus decides to make between now and opening night, whatever their situation is, they really have some good, and I put that in quotation marks, good depth at the bottom level of their defense, where I wouldn't be upset if really any of those.

names that we've been talking about in this segment get a chance to play. And honestly, I've suggested it this offseason before to where you really could platoon that position to where it doesn't have to be Jack St. Ivany for 82 games. It doesn't have to be Ryan Shea Ludwig, Aho. You could give these guys four, five, six games at a time, give them a night off, bring one of the other ones up and let them play and see what they can do. but the other issue we have there gets into the Ryan Graves situation, where the goal of the bottom pairing to start the year has to be to stabilize Ryan Graves.

He has to, you really have to build this guy back up from the ground up to where you've got to play him in sheltered minutes, let him get his game back, let him figure it out, start increasing his workload and see if you can eventually get him onto a top two pairing for what you're paying him. So when I say it that way, I would much, much like to see Jack St. Ivany as the sixth defenseman just because he is a very, and again,

small sample size, but he showed he can be a reliable stay-at-home six defenseman that makes the right in the simple plays. I hate saying this, but I feel like whoever wins that number six job is going to have to babysit Ryan Graves a little bit. I know that might be a little unfair to, whoever that player is.

But with how Graves played last year, how much of a disaster he was in all three zones, I feel like whoever wins that gig is going to have to just take care of him a little bit on that pairing, make sure he really doesn't screw up. Even though Graves has more games played than someone like a Ludwig, a Shea, a St. Ivany, and even an Aho, he's still going to have to be the one that is kind of carefully watched over

throughout the season. And I could see them also, as you said, Pat doing a platoon situation where maybe, you know, one player gets, you know, a five to six game sample size and another player comes in. You see how that happens throughout the regular season. Maybe it's a quote unquote, you know, trial on the run during the regular season and something like that. I could see Sullivan doing something like that.

But in the long run, you're going to have to have a long-term answer at some point during the season. I know that's going to make a player or too mad, but that's why you have these competitions. And you're right. I mean, it is a little unfair. to whoever wins that job, that you're essentially going to become the bottom pairing babysitter. But that's, like you said,

along with the competition aspect of it, that's life in the big leagues. And you've got to take the role you're given, especially when you look at this roster, in how essentially you've got four to five defensemen battling it out for one spot. So overall, I mean, to put a fine bow on it, Jack St. Ivany is my leader in the clubhouse, but we have seen guys emerge in training camp before.

And we've seen guys who show promise at the end of the year. And that's all they ever show you. Yep. I agree with you. But I think that I'll do it for the second segment of today's show. Coming up to end the show, we have a very fun little segment to end today's episode. As the Penguins announced some bobbleheads that they'll be giving out on select game nights during the 24, 25 season, 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 by my host, Patrick Dam. So the Penguins for a few days were kind of teasing some sort of announcement

because they were posting some iconic moments from their five Stanley Cup championships, one of them being Mario Lemieux's iconic goal in 1991, same with the Armory Jagger in 1992. You had Max Talbot's fight in 2009. You had Phil Kessel in 2016, and then you had Patrick Hornquist game winning goal in 2017. And some people thought this was maybe. be going to be some Hall of Fame, something for the Penguins. Another people thought this was going to lead up to Crosby's extension, which has not been announced yet.

But this is all led up to the Penguins announcing bobblehead nights for this year, which is something very exciting. It's their championship bobblehead series. So February 27th will be one of them against Philadelphia. You also will have Yarmour Yager's Night, January 11 versus Ottawa. Please, can we not have a repeat of what happened last year when the bobbleheads were stolen? That has a chance to be probably one.

one of the funnier days in Penguin's franchise history, but let's pray to God, nothing weird happens with those bobbleheads. Again, you will also have February 1st against Nashville for Patril Hornquist. You'll have October 18th versus Carolina. And then you'll also have March 21st versus Columbus. March 21st for Columbus, that is Phil Kessel, October 18th, that is Lemieux, Yager, January 11th, Talbot, February 27th, and Hornquist, February 1st. Those are all the five Bobble head series nights for the penguins, and they go to the first 7,500 fans that are attending the game. So it's something cool. Obviously, it's not Crosby's extension, but fans are still going to go

out for those bubbleheads. No, these are all really cool. And I was one of the people who was hoping that I's emoji tweet was about the Crosby extension. And I was disappointed. But then thinking about it. I mean, these are awesome. I mean, the funniest one to me is the Talbot one, because you guys know I'm a gigantic nerd. I've watched the 50th anniversary documentary a million times. And the best part of that is when they get to that point in the franchise's history, Ray Shiro just laughs and goes, he went out there and got beat up. I don't know if it really did anything, but it got the guys going. So it's such an icon. moment, but you think about it.

And it was just Max Talbot going out and getting beat up. But yeah, I mean, the one that I'm looking forward to that I may have to just go buy tickets for once we finish recording is the Phil Kessel one, because even though that wasn't the Benino overtime winner, it was that game. And I've said it before. They'll never admit it. The arena staff will never, I'll never be able to prove it from the arena staff. But when they beat them in overtime, I will go to.

my grave believing that they blared the horn louder than they normally do just to rub salt in the wound for the capitals. So that is one of my favorite games. Oh, I mean, me too. Even though we probably all had like 10,000 heart attacks during that game, especially in the third period and overtime, I definitely subscribe to the notion that they blared the horn a bit louder just to kind of troll the capitals a little bit. And just also look how great that bobblehead looks for a Kessel. Just full on diving on it. I mean, they did a really good job with that bobblehead. The Yager one is also really good. I still feel like the one back here is a little bit better, in my opinion, but this one is still pretty good as well. And then the Talbot one,

I feel like it also looks a lot of fun. The Shush is also such a great iconic moment because right after that, the Penguins just absolutely took it to the Flyers. And I also think the Marial one is also pretty good as well. I think they did a really fine job with all these bobbleheads. And I expect a lot of fans to be pretty happy when they walk home with those bobbleheads on those select game nights. And I will say this for the Lemieux one. I know, I know that the statue's been up for years now. So that's not an argument worth having. But I figured that the North Star's goal was going to be his statue. So it's cool to see it memorialized this way, because that goal, man, just, I mean, when you think of Mario Lemieux goals,

like that is probably the first one that comes to mind in his career just because it was so iconic. In the context of that game, they needed that goal. They were, the game wasn't really in doubt, but you could see that Minnesota was pushing back. And that goal just made the penguins look like they were going to win the Stanley Cup that year. So these are awesome.

And Penguins, Fenway Sports Group, make sure these are delivered before the night of the game. Get those in the building because we don't, as much fun as we all had with the Yager videos and the memes, we don't need a repeat of that. No, we don't need another FBI investigation like there was for the Yager situation from this past season. So hopefully everything is in smooth order for these bubblehead nights stop the season. But that would do it for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Friday.

That will be the last episode in the month of August before the month turns to September, which means training campus coming up. The season is at this point a little less than a month and a half away. We are super stoked for the season to almost be here. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. We'll be back on Friday.