Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins prospects help WBS advance in the Calder Cup Playoffs!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Wilkesbury Scrant Penguins are officially advancing to the Atlantic Division final for the first time in a decade, and Pat and I are going to discuss that coming up 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 to the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host. Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms at Send him for Wet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

Starting point is 00:00:44 And you can find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this. Your first listen slash watch the day. We are free and available on our platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandle. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets. If your first bet wins, head to Fandle. dot com to get started. Pat, for the first time since 2016, the baby penguins have advanced

Starting point is 00:01:11 to the Atlantic Division finals after beating the Hershey Bears 4 to 1 on Thursday night, eliminating the bears in four games. Wilkesbury, they will play Springfield after Springfield had a huge upset over Providence on Thursday. Not many people saw that one coming, considering how great of a regular season Providence had, but it will be Wilkesbury versus Springfield in the third round. Wilkesbury will have the first two games at home. that series will start on Tuesday. More on that in a little bit. But Pat, let's start with the game itself.

Starting point is 00:01:41 That was a lot of fun to watch. I thought Wilkesbury was great in this game. They got things started early in the first period. Thanks to Yona Kopinen with a nice backhand shot, making it 1-0 over Hershey. Tanner Howe, though, he made that goal happen. Was a menace on the forecheck down low, put a lot of pressure on the Hershey defenders,

Starting point is 00:02:01 dished it out to Coppinen who made no mistake. Tanner Howe was a textbook rat in the best possible way. I'm really excited to see what he can do in a full season for Wilkesbury. And then I think he's also going to be up here at some point here in the near future. I think if he really hits his ceiling pat, he's going to be someone who a lot of fans like just the way he plays, especially as a four checker, he plays a ratty style. I think a lot of fans will like him.

Starting point is 00:02:26 So big part of the goal there. And then Hershey, they tie it late, 5.1 seconds left in the first period. and then a crazy sequence in the second period where it looked like Hershey has a wide open net to make it 2-1. They miss. Penguins go back the other way, get a huge shorthanded goal from none other than Harrison Brunick

Starting point is 00:02:44 who had one hell of a series. He was one of the Wilkesbury's best players in that series. So I kind of want to end it there because we have plenty of time to talk about this game, talk about the team overall. But first off, Pat, really nice job by Tanner Howell making that first goal happen. and then Harrison Brunick, he defends the 2-1-1 to the best of his ability, Hershey misses, then he goes down the other way,

Starting point is 00:03:07 scores the game-winning goal, making it 2-1. Just a really nice game for both of those players. There's a lot in those moments that are worth taking a look at for Penguins fans and the organization as a whole. The Tanner Howe part of it, again, remember people, we're talking about the AHL, we're talking about prospects, We're always going to have some hopium that they're going to hit the ceiling. We want them to hit.

Starting point is 00:03:34 So as I always say, when it comes to HL players and HL performances, take it with a grain of salt, it's not guaranteed to work at the NHL level. But the way Tanner Howe set up that goal, that strikes me as a classic depth piece that an organization with designs on winning a championship has. Because he's not going to be a top six forward. He will be a middle six forward that is likely his. ceiling. Third line, second line in a pinch, top line if there's injuries. But when you look at the way he sets that goal up, those players come up in the biggest moments. They go on the forecheck,

Starting point is 00:04:13 they make things happen, they get the puck to players who are supposed to score the big goals and the big moments. So that's the kind of player you want to have in your organization when you've got designs on winning a championship. Harrison Brunick, that to me was a moment that showed how far he has come in the last couple of years because he defended the two on one well enough, but it's a two on one already at a disadvantage, fortuitous that Hershey was unable to hit that open net, but the awareness to know he could jump into that play shows how much further he has developed because in his earlier time, especially in the HL, he's probably going to play it safe.

Starting point is 00:04:58 Penalty kill, hang back, don't take an unnecessary risk. He saw the opening. He got to that rebound in the biggest game of the season to this point to give them the lead. So that was huge. And then the other thing lastly that I liked about the game last night from the Baby Penguins is Hershey ties the game with five seconds left in the first period. That can be a killer at any level. You give up a goal after a solid first period

Starting point is 00:05:28 with five seconds to go. You go back into the locker room wondering, oh, no, is this going to not go our way? But they did the opposite. They came out, got right back to the things they were doing well, and were able to take the lead and then not look back. So that is a huge testament to Wilkes-Barre's coaching staff and the mental fortitude of that group. I agree. And it continues to be a very job well done by Kirk McDonald and the rest of his staff for pushing a lot of the right buttons throughout the season, and especially now in the playoffs, beating Hershey.

Starting point is 00:06:02 And, you know, that's no small feat, Pat. You know, we've seen Hershey be very good in the H.L. A lot for these last several years. Some of those prospects have graduated to NHL. They are key contributors right now on the Washington. and capitals. One of them is still down there right now, Pat, Eliaprodis, who we think is going to be a good player for the capitals, probably starting next season when he makes the team full time.

Starting point is 00:06:23 So that's big of a eliminated a team like Hershey, who the bears have been very good in the AHL for the last several years. So just a nice job by Wilkesbury to win that series. And moving on from that second goal, Wilkesbury takes a two one lead into the third period. And you and I kind of talked about this on Thursday. We were waiting for Ville Coivinen to kind of have a big moment in this series. and he did just that, making it 3-1 in the third period,

Starting point is 00:06:48 a really big insurance goal for Wilkesbury. To me, he kind of started that play in his own zone near the blue line, winning that battle along the boards, leads to a three-on-two rush, gets it to Tristan Bros, who then gets it to Mikhail Ilyan, and Ilien had a really nice pass, right back to Coivinen, really nice play there, and he continues to play even better in each game that he plays,

Starting point is 00:07:10 and Coivinen made no mistake with that. So nice to see Coivinen have a good play, there. And overall, just the way that line worked Hershey on that rush with pros and especially Ilyleon was just nice to see. I've got, I've still got my concerns with Coyvenin at the NHL level, but I will still maintain the thought I have had about him for the last few months. And it's that aside from what he's got to do in the off season, he's got to put some weight on, he's got to get stronger because at the NHL level, he was getting worked off the puck way too easily losing board battles.

Starting point is 00:07:47 And I don't expect him to become a grinder, but he does need to get stronger. But the thing that I keep coming back to with him, he needs confidence. You could see a lot of what he was doing at the NHL level this year as a lack of confidence, just thinking a little bit too hard, taking a little bit of that extra half second

Starting point is 00:08:07 to get the puck off of his stick or make a pass that would lead to a breakup or a miss of the net. So the better he plays in this Calder Cup playoff run, as long as the baby penguins are in it, and the more he contributes, I think that's going to hopefully lead to a better off season for him and then a better training camp. And hopefully going into next season, he can carve out a more consistent role with the big club. Yeah, that's the key.

Starting point is 00:08:38 Also, he still needs to be a bit better with his decision making because it felt still a step slow in the NHL. Will you compare it to the AHL? And of course, you're playing against much better players in the NHL. It is a huge step up from the AHL. So I think if he can work on that aspect of his game as well, there could be some hope for him, but I'm still a bit down on him, Pat, after the way he played when he was up here this season, whether it was at the start of the season or whether it was a bit later on when he went down to Wilkesbury, played well, came back up, had another chance, didn't do as well. Same thing. a bit later on in the season. It's at least good that he's playing well in the playoffs. Now it's

Starting point is 00:09:18 about, okay, finding more consistency, getting stronger, and working on your decision-making at the NH level. Also, you know, can he have a more consistent camp in pre-season two? That's something that I want to look for as well because at the start of training camp thought he came out like a house on fire. But, you know, as we went further and further along, you know, the consistency started going down a little bit. So the tools are there for him to be a consistent NHLer. He just has to put it together. He's got to have a better offseason training regimen this year. He's got to come in a little bit stronger. And again, I'll keep harping on it. A player like him, I think what made him look so good down the stretch two seasons ago

Starting point is 00:10:02 when he got his shot at the NHL level, he had the confidence. And it certainly didn't hurt that at that point, the penguins were kind of out of it and you weren't getting the best effort from your opponents. But at the end of the day, it's a snowball effect. If he has a couple good games, puts them together, gets some points on the board, it builds upon itself. So he's got to find that consistency to put those tools together at the next level. I agree. And, you know, outside of Coiffman and Gabe Klassen gets the empty net goal, making it 4-1 for Wilkesbury, winning the series and now they'll advance to the third round, aka the Atlantic Division Final,

Starting point is 00:10:40 with a chance to potentially get to the Eastern Conference Final as well. That's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to continue this discussion a little bit. We got to include Sergey Murshov, Pat, because he was once again outstanding last night, and we are going to discuss that performance coming up right after this. But before we get to that,

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Starting point is 00:12:57 first purchase. Terms apply. Again, grain account and redeem code locked on for $20 off. down on the game time out today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, we're back here on the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-patrick-Tamp. And Pat, Sergei Mershov is doing everything you and I have wanted him to do in these high-stakes games. I know there are a lot of fans clamoring for him to come up at the end of the regular season, into the playoffs. And you and I on this show are saying, hey, pump the brakes.

Starting point is 00:13:34 Let's see him finish off this season style. let's see how he does when the stakes get even higher. And my goodness, Pat, was he outstanding in this game and in this series? 37 saves on 38 shots, a 9-74 save percentage. He finished this series in those four games with a 937 save percentage. He was making a lot of 10-bell saves in each game, especially when they were a few defensive breakdowns from Wilkesbury. He was there to bail his team out, made a lot of timely saves.

Starting point is 00:14:06 even in situations where the defense wasn't really bad in front of him. He did everything he needed to do to help Wilkesbury win this series. And now we'll get to see what he can do in the next round. But he continues to very much look the part down the stretch here as these games continue to get bigger. The numbers for Murashov in the playoffs speak for themselves. What more can you say? He has a 974 save percentage in the series clinching game, 930. in the series as a whole.

Starting point is 00:14:38 That's video game stuff. But the biggest thing for me in this most recent series for the Baby Penn's was the fact that he was a calming presence for the team. Hershey, we will say it again and again. They are and always have been a really good HL program, no matter what their NHL affiliation is. And going up against them in the postseason is always. difficult. Hershey's a difficult place to play. Always a good team. And in this series,

Starting point is 00:15:12 Hershey had their moments. They had their opportunities and they had some extended stretches where they were giving it to the baby penguins. And Murashav was there to make the save. That kind of feels like to me the final exam for the AHL level is we know how good he is. We know how athletic he is. We know that he makes a lot of big saves. We know that he's a talented goaltender. But when you get into those high leverage games, those big time moments, can you step up and be a calming presence in net for the team? And A plus gold star, whatever analogy you want to use, he did just that. And he continues to make the case that when we get to camp next year, he is going to get himself an NHL job.

Starting point is 00:16:02 Yeah, assuming he finishes these playoffs in style, and it looks like he's going to as of right now, and assuming he does a really good job this offseason, he comes into camp ready to go, and he shows out there and in the preseason, I think he will make this team next year, at least as a backup, potentially a 1B. I don't think he's going to be the full-fledged starter. He only has a few games of initial experience to date. But I think best case, at least to start the season, maybe he's the 1B where he's splitting starts with Artie she loves because I do think Artie is going to come back as one of the two goalies.

Starting point is 00:16:39 And you know, you keep getting the reps going for someone like him. So again, time will tell Pat how good he's going to be at the NHL level because I don't want to sit here and fully project. Oh my God, he's going to be, you know, an elite goalie because to me there's only like five to seven elite goaltenders in the NHL right now anyway. But I think he definitely has at least the tools to be a solid to good starter in the NHL. but that's where I'm at right now. I just don't want to get too far ahead just because trying to project goaltenders is very difficult,

Starting point is 00:17:10 especially in the NHL, but he is passing every test right now, and he's playing great. I mean, I'll be the skunk at the garden party for this one in say that we have been down this road for the Penguins organization in the very recent future,

Starting point is 00:17:25 or past, I should say, not very recent future. That would make zero sense. That's not how the English language works. But I digress. Matt Murray looked like he was going to be the next one, made a mockery of the HL. Now, he did come up and have two incredible playoff runs that ended in Stanley Cups, but after the 2017 playoffs turned into a pumpkin.

Starting point is 00:17:47 Tristan Jari after him, great at the HL level. We were clamoring for him to come up and be the Penguins next starting goaltender. If you listen to this show, you know how that went. know where he is now and the fact that he was signed to a bad deal, traded to Edmonton, couldn't even be their starter for the playoffs. So it's difficult, like you said, to project how a goalie is going to develop at the NHL level. I do think the best thing for him going forward into next season is the penguins bring back Arter Shilovs.

Starting point is 00:18:26 You give Sergey Mureshov the 1B, and you kind of just do what you did this year, with Shilov, Skinner, and Jari, where you just go with a platoon. And if Murashov continues to rise to the occasion, continues to put in really good performances, as the year progresses, maybe he slowly takes the crease. But if he's up and down, if he's a little inconsistent, but he's showing that he's got the potential, you keep the platoon going, just like you did this year. Because despite getting eliminated, Arter Shilov's had some real. really great performances in the playoffs. So if you give him that runway to develop, to get better,

Starting point is 00:19:07 to build confidence, he has a pretty high ceiling. You just have to put him in that position to reach it. Yeah, that's fair. And I think also with Marischov, you saw the potential there, at least a couple of those starts doing regular season. The one in Sweden, for example, where he had that game against Nashville, where he was cool, calm, collected. He was challenging shooters every time he was positionally sound he wasn't giving up too many juicy rebounds but then you have the game for example against seattle where it's like okay you see a couple small warts there where you can work on those in the ahl so as long as he continues to do what he's been doing here rives at camp keeps putting on a show he's going to be just fine and he'll be able to work out some

Starting point is 00:19:55 of these small kinks along the way once he's in the nachel because that's how it is for every young goaltender ones they get there where you know you have a lot of hype but they still have to work out a couple of things in their game so i don't want people to still rush him or get mad as for example if he messes up early next season in the in the nchel this is why there's development it's like that for a reason so i am very excited everyone has every reason to be excited because this goalie is just lighting it up in every league he has been obviously the NHL, that's going to be as big as test yet. But right now, playing great and we'll have an opportunity to continue that great play, Pat, next week because Wilkesbury series against Springfield is

Starting point is 00:20:38 officially starting on Tuesday, May 12th in Wilkesbury. Game two will also be in Wilkesbury on Thursday before this series shifts to Springfield for games three and four. And then, if necessary, a game five will be back in Wilkesbury on May 23rd. If Wilkesbury wins this series, which is a best of five, by the way, they will advance to the Eastern Conference. final to take on potentially the Cleveland Monsters or the LaValle Rocket or the Toronto Marleys. That series between the Rocket and the Marleys is tied at 2-2. Whoever wins that will play the Monsters in the North Division Finals. And then again, Eastern Conference Final and the Calder Cup final, those are best of sevens.

Starting point is 00:21:15 But the division final and this past series, they are best of five. So, Matt, let's see if they can take the next step and get to the Eastern Conference final. Also, before we go, Pat, the Wheeling nail. start their next series tonight at home against Maine. Oh, man. My old team. I'll say this, and I know I've said it on the show before, I'm not going to get into any of the X's and O's or the preview of the series.

Starting point is 00:21:45 But if you live in the greater Pittsburgh area, go down and see a Nailers game, especially as they start to make deeper runs in the playoffs. That atmosphere at West Banko Arena, when that team is good is unmatched. It is one of the best in the ECHL. So if you have the opportunity to head down to West Virginia for a game or two at West Banko Arena,

Starting point is 00:22:09 I know I'm biased because I used to work for them, but it is a lot of fun. There you go, people. So if you heard that from Pat, go ahead and do it and go down there for Wheely-Naylor's game. They played tonight, game one. Tomorrow will be game two. and Wheeling. By the way, if you're looking for some really good work on the nailers,

Starting point is 00:22:30 Sam Wismer of the Hockey News, one of my colleagues, she does great work with the Wheeling nailers. Check out her pieces on the hockey news. She'll be there for games one and two, covering both of them, so we'll see if Wheeling can have a good start to this series against Maine. But that's going to do it for the second segment coming up to end the show. It's Friday. Yins know what that means. It's time for another edition of Fan Take Friday, where we react to your takes and your questions, and that's coming up right after this. Hello, I'm JD Young of Locked-on Sharks, and as a father, I want to make sure that my kids will be protected in case the unimaginable happens. When my wife and I sat down and discussed life insurance, we found that ethos was our best option.

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Starting point is 00:23:52 Rates may vary. All right. we're back here on the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hans-Rhodes, joined by my co-s, Patrick Damp and Pat. Let's get into some of the questions slash comments here for Fantay Friday. This one comes from Lenny, not a question, but I really hope for Gino to have been re-signed by now. Hopefully he is extended soon. There's no free agents this year that come close to Gino's production.

Starting point is 00:24:17 Just had to rant a little. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. I'd like for it to be done by now, but I guess there are still taking a little bit of time like this one. I'll still continue to say it. This deal should probably take five minutes, if that to get done one year, five or five point five million with the full no move glove clause should probably get that done. Hell, if you wanted to do one year for his salary from last year for a 6.1 million, I don't really think anyone else would get too triggered by that. Honestly, it's literally one year and then his contract gets off the book. So

Starting point is 00:24:49 Kyle Dugas, I believe Pat is set to talk on Tuesday of next week, if I recall correctly. So hopefully we'll have an update on the situation by then i hear you on it lenny i like for it to be done by now but i guess they're still you know talking through things i guess i don't know i believe it was taylor hoss of dk pittsburgh sports who brought this up so if it was her shout out to her if it was someone else please correct me in the comments but i do think one of the holdups she said could be the type of contract they're trying to figure out for gino because Kyle Dubus has been known to give out bonus laden contracts where most of the deal, like the base salary is next to nothing, but it has the incentive structure of if you hit

Starting point is 00:25:37 X amount of goals, X amount of points, X amount of games played. And where Gino is in his career, he might not be too excited for that. He may be wanting just a regular base salary. The thing that would upset me about that personally is that we're not talking about a team up against the cap. We're talking about a team that still needs to hit the cap floor. So if that's the case, I do think that's a little bit of malpractice on Dubus's part. But again, that is just some speculation. I do still, I am still very much in the camp that they are going to get this done. It is still quite a ways away from July 1.

Starting point is 00:26:19 and they do have some other business to attend to before that. And I know it's Evgeny Malkin. I know he's a franchise legend. I know he's a first ballot Hall of Famer. But when you know that he wants to return, when you know that he is probably not going to be contentious this time around in negotiation, it doesn't have to get done right away. Yeah, that's fair.

Starting point is 00:26:42 As long as it doesn't turn into the circus that it did last time under Ron Hextall where you had him and his agent basically go to the media saying, hey, we're actually going to test the market tomorrow. And then just a few hours later, they agreed to the contract. I think it was kind of Ron Hextel might have just caved to it and said, hey, you know what, screw it. I'm just going to do this. As long as it doesn't get messy like that because, let's be real, Gino doesn't deserve

Starting point is 00:27:06 garbage like that. He deserves to have an answer well before July 1, which is when free agency starts. So I'm with you. I still think this is going to get done. And he will sign a one-year extension. to remain a member as the Penguins. Moving on, though, this one comes from Robert. Hopefully the Penguins can make a nice splash with a good young stud

Starting point is 00:27:26 that we can lock up to join the mix. Yeah, that I think is one of the big goals for the summer is continuing to get younger and potentially bringing in another big-time player in his early to mid-20s that they can have around here for a while. The tricky thing, obviously, is that a lot of these players don't become available super often. And I'm talking about potentially an elite player who you can have. for the long term.

Starting point is 00:27:50 So it could get a bit tricky. But I do think that is going to be one of their goals this summer is bringing in, you know, almost like their next version of Igor Chinat, but someone potentially with an even higher ceiling, Pat. Yeah, that does feel like that's the way they're trending. I also,

Starting point is 00:28:06 the thing I constantly want to remind people of is the playoffs break brains. There are a lot of teams that will get eliminated in the second round or the conference final or even the cup final that, will be so emotional that they didn't go further and didn't win the Stanley Cup that they might make some irrational decisions. So much like I was saying about Gino, and I know this wasn't part of Robert's comment, he was just saying what he hopes for. This all doesn't have to get done right away. There are going to be things that pop up that we did not think of today that could be there in a month. So there's a lot of time between now and then. And I guarantee there

Starting point is 00:28:48 is going to be a team either in the east or the west that gets knocked out in a way they didn't expect. And the GM might get a little irrational. So Kyle Dubish just kind of has to keep his ear to the ground. And we know that even though that every team is going to benefit from an increased salary cap, there are a couple teams that are going to be up against it that have some high priced players coming up for renewal. So some things are going to shake out. It might not be the exact player you want. But as Hunter said, you can find that next Igor Chinikov, who is underperforming with his team, but has the potential and you can give him a more elevated role here. That is the ideal. Yeah, I agree. And I think the next step potentially is finding that player for your back end,

Starting point is 00:29:33 whether it's on the left side or the right side just because they need to keep, you know, fine-tuning their back-end a bit just because it's still not where I or probably anyone wants it to be right now, which is, again, it's fine. They're still undergoing this transition. They're still rebuilding on the fly. You're not where you want to be yet. But again, this is a process for a reason. Morbius talks about how, you know, he's excited to see what Dubus is going to do

Starting point is 00:29:57 with all the cap space that the penguins have. They only spend around 20 million just to hit the floor. Should be exciting. I agree with you. It's going to be really, you know, cool to see what happens. And another thing with Dubus is, you know, he comes from the school of Louis Amarillo where he doesn't let a lot leak out. So he has surprised us quite a bit with some of the moves that he has made.

Starting point is 00:30:18 Look for that the summer. If he acquires a player that comes out of nowhere, don't be surprised just because he doesn't let a lot leak out from that front office. And you can see again, Pat, where he learned from. The two biggest things that I will always have reverence for, for Dubus, especially as it continues to work out if he stays on this heater, is you said the first thing. He comes from the Lou Lamarillo School of, you never show your hand because we know the old Elliott Friedman line of, if you're calling for a life preserver, other GMs will throw you an anchor.

Starting point is 00:30:56 The other thing, I've said it on the show before, and I know he's a name that Jensers don't like, he also comes from the Bill Belichick School of Asset Management. I know it's a meme that he likes to trade down and get more picks in the third round and fourth round, but he understands you have the ability to get more prospects and make them compete more rather than saying, all right, we've got six picks, this draft.

Starting point is 00:31:24 We're going to hope that the guy in the first and the guy in the second battle it out. And hey, you know, if that third, fourth and fifth round pick, maybe if one of them pan out, that's great. You can have seven, eight, nine picks and hope that three or four of them pan out rather than one or two, you're in a much better place. So those are the two things to keep an eye on for him because like Hunter said, there's a chance they're going to acquire someone this summer and we're all going to go, the hell's that? And then by December we're talking about buying his jersey and extending him.

Starting point is 00:31:58 Not even just like who the hell is that. I think it's more of, oh, wow, you were in on this player, but yet no one was talking about it. I think it's more that just because, for example, Shinikov, no one was talking about them even, you know, having the penguins in on Shinikov and all of a sudden, they're trading for him. So I think it's more of, oh, wow, you were actually in on that player when it wasn't really being reported that you guys were in. The better example, even though he's still developing, is Rutger McGroarty. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:32:26 No, it's all that coming out of the most coveted prospect on the market out of Winnipeg and everyone, well, you know, it'd be cool if the penguins could get them. And none of the reports said, oh, the penguins and Dubus are in on Rutger Magrory. and then we woke up one morning to the Penguins acquire Rutger McGrory. Yeah, that's a fair one too. So again, kind of expect the unexpected a little bit in a way from him. And, you know, if there's a report that they're not in on a player, they very much may be in on a player.

Starting point is 00:32:56 The Penguins just don't want you to know about it. And we're going to end here with a really fun one. Pat. Sarah left a very long comment here. And I want to discuss the part where she gets to dunk on herself, which, hey, we dunk on ourselves quite a bit. on the show. And she even admits her previous hot take age like milk, where she said, Jari was their best if it was consistent goaltender this year and trading him was a mistake.

Starting point is 00:33:18 She said that Duba should have waged she loves and done the Jari-Murashav tandem instead of trading Jari to Edmonton. Hey, Sarah, just want to say it's okay because Pat and I, we had our fair share of L takes throughout the year going into the year that age like milk. But we can laugh at ourselves for it. So that's okay. Hey, I'll say this much in the moment. She was right. He was the best and most consistent goalie on the roster. And Dubits did the whole sell high.

Starting point is 00:33:50 And what do you know? It worked out. So slam dunk trade every day of the week. And you can dunk on yourself for it not aging well. But I mean, at the time, we were all like, hey, you know, maybe Jari's back. And then they traded him at the height. and he never reached it again. Well, maybe not never.

Starting point is 00:34:11 Maybe he does next year, but at the time, it was right. First half, Jari showed up at. Second half, shari had not shown up yet, and we wanted to see if that was going to be different. And it was not different. So, slam dunked trade once again by Kyle Dubus. So I think that's a good time to end the show. So that's going to do it for the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Starting point is 00:34:33 Thank you all so much taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode for you all on Monday talking all things penguins. Oh, and by the way, shout out Parker Waterspoon. Congratulations, making the team Canada roster for the World Championships. The only Pittsburgh penguin on the roster. Pat, actually, yeah, let's go there. Quick thoughts before we wrap up. Sorry.

Starting point is 00:34:55 Well deserved. I mean, you don't got to go too much deeper than that. He had a great year alongside Eric Carlson. He showed that he is more than just an afterthought, depth defenseman. We'll see if he can continue it. to next year, but well-deserved honor for Parker Wetherspoon. I agree. Very physical throughout the year. Great in his own zone. Really nice partnership with Eric Carlson deserved to be on that very veteran roster that team Canada is bringing

Starting point is 00:35:19 to the world championships. But now that, we'll do it for the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Again, we'll be back on Monday to discuss all things Pittsburgh Penguins. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunzer Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday. Thank you.

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