Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins READY to take on the Predators in Sweden!

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

The Penguins held their final practice before the Global Series against the Predators! Hunter and Patrick begin the show going over practice notes from their final practice before they take on the Predators at Avicii Arena in Sweden on Friday afternoon. They discuss what the Penguins have to do to get a win, and how some new line combinations could help them get back in the win column. Then, they take a look at the Preds, who despite a solid roster on paper, find themselves in the midst of a 5-game losing streak and look like a team the Penguins can handle. Finally, Evgeni Malkin held court with reporters on Thursday, and the big Russian might not be done just yet!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DripDropRight now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order.Go to https://dripdrop.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL. IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions 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.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins practiced again in Sweden on Thursday in preparation for Friday's game against the Nashville Predators, and Pat and I are going to preview Friday's game right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co, Patrick David, we can follow him on all social media platforms at Cinnon for Wet. You can also

follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can follow the show's Instagram at Locked On 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. Pat, our long national nightmare is just about over as the Penguins will be back in action on Friday. Remember people, different start time. Two o'clock Eastern time. So if you're at work, put it on another screen, try to sneak in on a small TV, something like that. But two o'clock start time on Friday and the member people Sunday, early morning hockey, 9 a.m. right before the Pittsburgh Steelers have tried to bounce back. But really excited for this. And the Penguins, let's just get into some practice

notes to start today's episode, Pat. We're going to dive into the Predator. and a little bit, excuse me, because they have been horrendous this year. This looked like a team that quit against the Rangers earlier this week in Madison Square Garden. They have lost eight of their last nine games, more on them in a second. As for the practice lines today, you continue to see Ben Kendall with Sydney Crosby and Brian Russ on the top line, Tommy Novak, Evgeny Malkin, and Anthony Mantha, Connor Dewar with Blake Lazot and Yonukopopin, and then the equivalent with Kevin Hayes

slash Philip Thomasino slash Dayton Hinen. So potentially Denton Hinen could be coming out of the lineup. We'll have to see what happens. And then defensively, Parker Watherspoon with Eric Carlson, Ryan Shea, Chris LaTang, Connor Clifton with Harrison Brunick, and then Matt Dunba and Ryan Graves. So not sure if Brunick is getting back in.

Obviously, we had a big conversation about him with Kelsey on the Wednesday edition where, you know, two more scratches. They can do that loophole where you send him down to the AHL on a conditioning assignment. All they'd have to do is. scratching for both games in Sweden. But, hey, maybe they're planning on playing in one of these games and starting his ELC. We'll have to see.

He was on the third defensive pair today. Got to see if that sticks. Don't know the goalie rotation yet. I'm sure Dam Euse is going to announce that early morning just because of the time zone difference on Friday, Pat. So I think when we all wake up tomorrow, we'll probably know who is going to be starting in net for this game. But practice lines, nothing really out of the ordinary at all.

But I'm excited for them to be back in action. They've had a nice little break here. They've been able to hopefully get their legs back and be fully recharged. I'm expecting hopefully some good things out of this first game at least. That's the biggest thing. I understand that they had to do international travel and head over to Sweden, but they have not played a game since Sunday. So they should be ready to go.

They should be adapted to the new surrounding by this point. They should be ready and rare and to go. They're rested. They're having some fun, as we have seen through. a lot of both the penguins in the NHL's social media channels. They are really going all out for this thing. But as you said, plenty of time off for the penguins to recharge after what we've talked about was a really condensed schedule the last couple of weeks.

So the penguins played a ton of hockey and then got a nice little respite from that to head over to Sweden. I will say I know we dove deep on Brunich yesterday. and I'm still with you guys in the camp of I do think it's best for him at this point to sit out the next two games and go to the AHL. But I do feel bad on a personal level for him. You travel with the team over to Sweden. You take place in all the fun and games around it.

You're in practice and skating with the team only to not get into a game. So I do feel bad for him on that regard. I will say I winced a little bit when I saw that Graves Dumbah pairing during the practice notes out of today. But I'll say this. I have liked the little sample size that we have seen from Ryan Graves since he returned. We'll see if he can keep that up with a partner like Matt Dumba. But as I have said on the show, with Graves coming up and everything that he did, I'm wiping the slate mostly clean.

new coaching staff. He had his AHL assignment. He has been passable to good since coming up back up to the NHL. So we'll see. But at the end of the day, the biggest thing that stood out to me is I am really, really intrigued by that third line of Hayes, Covenant, and Tomasino, because I understand people's hesitancy when it comes to Hayes. The foot speed never been there, still definitely not.

there. But for the most part, when Kevin Hayes has been with the Penguins, he has shown he can more than compensate for his lack of foot speed. He is a great puck possessor. He has really good vision. And the way Vela Kovinen has been playing, he has quite literally done everything but score. But I think you put a guy who can possess the puck and get possession of the puck and Kevin Hayes with a player like Tomasino who needs to jumpstart his game combined with the way Covenant is been playing. They might be able to figure something out together as a trio

and I'm really intrigued to see how that line looks when they go up against the Predators tomorrow afternoon. You said it about Kevin Hayes. We all know the foot speed's not there. He has really never been that good of a skater, but he does protect the puck well. He has good vision, strong playmaking ability. And I thought last year he was totally fine.

as a death player, and he's going to play, again, at least some games this year. I think when the team is wholly healthy, there's still probably not a spot for him in the lineup. If he does play, I think it would maybe be one game in, a couple game out, and then maybe he's rotating just because I think they're going to want to at least gauge what his value is, since his contract is up at the end of the year, and maybe they could still look to move him around the trade deadline, even if this team is still kind of in the playoff picture, which, again, right now they're still top three in the Metropolitan Division.

And as for Tomasino, again, I think we might be getting to the end of the runway here with him, Pat. It's really put up our shut up time for Thomasino. He has not been good in the games that he has played this year. Outside, I think, of the first game against the Rangers where he had a couple of decent chances. But since then, not really much. And I think as the team is going to start getting healthier in the next couple weeks, the chances for him to really prove himself are going to keep getting slimmer. So this is a really big opportunity for him.

It just hasn't been there. His game, that is, hasn't been there for a lot of this season. And then for the, like, O'Voven, yeah, I mean, a poor guy is just snake-bitten right now. He's getting some really good chances in these games. I think he's skating better. I think his vision has been there on the ice. And the process, for the most part, has also been there.

You know, you look at his on-ice-expected goals, 61% so far this season per money puck. It's really good, man. Again, the process is really there. It's just not translating to actual results. Again, still early in his end-jole career. Once he gets one, I think the goals are going to start coming a little bit in waves. But I agree with you.

I'm curious to see how that line is. We touched on the first line yesterday. I don't really have much to add on that. I continue to want to see Novak with Malkin. I wrote about that again during the offseason, how I think those two could have good chemistry together. And you saw a little bit of that, excuse me, on display on Sunday against the Kings. So let's see more of it on this Friday against Nashville. And just to end this segment on a fun note, Pat, we saw a little reunion in Sweden on Thursday.

Carl Hagelin came to watch the Penguins practice, Stanley Cup champion, Carl Hagelin, that is, and got to reunite with Nick Benino. So two-thirds of the Haglum Benino Kessel line was reunited. And I'm sorry, I smiled the whole time while seeing it. It's great seeing Carl Hagelin doing well, man. It is because, as we know, his career did not end very well with the injuries and everything. and the worst part of that was it looked like Carl Haglin still had something left in the tank. It didn't look like he was just done.

So happy to see him doing really well. And with that, he also did say that he is not doing the ceremonial faceoff tomorrow. So there's a lot of speculation that another Swede and another former penguin and predator might be the guy doing the first puck drop. and that is two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mr. Irrelevant himself, Patrick Hornquist. That would be really fun to see a really awesome kind of full circle moment for Hornquist, who was drafted by the Predators, then traded to the Penguins, became an absolutely integral part of the Penguins' two championships in 16 and 17. and just genuinely one of the most fun and entertaining penguins we've seen in this era, just the way the man had no off switch.

I think it was Crosby who said, I'm pretty sure he walks into the rink screaming. So that was the kind of energy Patrick Hornquist brought to the game. One last thing that I really wanted to also touch on, and this is more about the complete picture, of everything that's happening this weekend with the global series. I know it was on the NHL's TikTok. I'm sure they've put it out on other platforms on social as well.

They did a video where they asked both people on the penguins and the predators to describe Sidney Crosby in one word. And while everybody understood the assignment, there was one person who didn't. And that was Stephen Stamcoast. one of the best goal scores of the modern era and a sure-fire Hall of Famer. The man went on like a 90-second long tirade about how great Crosby is. And it just makes me want to re-emphasize on this show.

I understand that we are in the day-to-day business when it comes to evaluating the Pittsburgh Penguins. I understand we're going to critique them when they play poorly. We're going to praise them when they play well. we're going to talk about everything that they need to do to get back to the Stanley Cup playoffs and get back to contention and everything in between. But one more time for everybody in the back. Appreciate this while you still can.

Because if you go find that video, you can just see in both his face in the way he talks about Sidney Crosby, in the way a lot of these players talk about Sidney Crosby when they're asked this question, they understand that they are in the presence of greatness. And I will continue to say it. Unfortunately, the end is a lot closer than the beginning.

So even when you're frustrated with this team, make sure to take a moment to remember how great it is that Sidney Crosby is the Penguins captain. 100% getting old sucks, man. I mean, I'm about to turn 28 in two days. So I'm going to be 30 in two years, brother. Again, it's nasty. I'm about to be. Some of people are going to keep calling me an unk, I think, soon.

You already are at home. I can turn 35. I don't want to hear it from you. You already are an unk, dude, but I'm going to be an unk pretty soon. So, but yeah, getting old stinks, but we've all been blessed, spoiled whatever word you want to call it to watch Sid and Gino and Chris and everyone do their thing for the last 20 plus years. And I'm going to keep feeling that way until these three, especially retire. And I still don't want to happen anytime soon. but as you said, I know the end is getting close.

It just, it stinks. Again, getting old is really annoying. And as for Hornquist, I would love if that happened. He was the player who just, again, great on and off the ice. Whenever the penguins needed a big goal or needed a spark, he was right there to provide it in the locker room. When some of the big guns didn't want to talk to the media, he was always like, hey, come over here.

I'll deliver a big quote. He turned into such a leader really quickly. on this team. And I'll always have the utmost respect for him. Just a great penguin through and through. And that would be awesome if he got to do that. So I just wanted to speak on Hornquist a little bit there. But that'll do it for this first segment of today's episode. Coming up in the second segment, we are going to discuss how bad this national team has been to start the year and why. Again, it would behoove the penguins to sweep this little back-to-back against them, even though they're playing the Predators in a different country. That's coming up right after this.

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All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-os, Pat, Stamp, and Pat, the vibes in Nashville are pretty rancid right now. They've lost five in a row, eight of their last nine games, I alluded to it at the start of the show.

It felt like they quit on Andrew Burnett on Monday in New York, that 6 to 3 loss against the Rangers. UC Soros is doing everything in his power to try and will this team to wins, but no one else is just bothering to carry the load at all. You see Ryan O'Reilly come out with a pretty damning quote recently saying, I only had one good season in my career. He went back on it, of course. But the vibes are just not good.

can't score they're one of the worst offensive teams in the league defensively again they're still giving up a lot of goals a lot of really good chances in their own zone this is a team that is ripe for the taking for the penguins penguins they've lost four or five they have an opportunity to really get back on a high note here as the schedule is easing up a bit again you play the predators twice you play seattle coming up buffalo is not very good Minnesota is still very this year things have already beaten them. So they got to get back to banking points and it's got to start tomorrow against the Predators team

that really can't do anything right this season. It's a really bad time in Nashville for the Predators. And the thing that is most confusing about it is you look at this roster and it doesn't jump off the page at you. It's a pretty good roster. You look at the Western Conference and I think if you were to not actually play the games and play them on paper, you would solidly put Nashville in the playoffs. You look at their forward core.

Their top six is pretty damn good. Philip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, Luke Evangelista, Stamcoast, Eric Halla, Jonathan Marcheseo. On paper, that's top six I'd put up against just about anyone when you look at how good those players are. And then you add that on top of having UC Soros, who, what do you know, Nashville just continues to be a goaltending factor. with everybody that comes out of their program. And then you look at their injuries.

And yeah, they're without Roman Yossi, which is definitely a tough blow. You lose your captain, didn't even make the trip to Sweden, which is tough for them. But still, they're not missing anybody big. They've got a talented roster.

It's genuinely confusing as to why they're this bad. Roman Yosi is pretty big, though. I did want to say that. Yeah, I'm not discounting that he's, I'm not saying like, oh, who cares about Roman Yossi, it's tough because then you look at their defense and that's a little bit suspect without him. But still, at the end of the day, this is a really good roster and I don't understand what is holding them back so dearly from whatever is ailing them.

I think you kind of nailed it. It feels like Brunette might be the wrong coach for this team. They're wildly inconsistent. They can't string together a. 60 minute effort. And I was doing a lot of reading from the hockey news, Nashville Bureau, I guess is the best way to say it. And the same word continued to come up and it was inconsistency. They either don't start games on time or they just kind of call it a game halfway through.

It's a team that feels like if they put together a 60 minute effort, they will be difficult to beat. They just have not been able to do that for the better part of the last two seasons. So if you're the Penguins, you cannot take this team lightly. Yes, they are struggling. Yes, they don't seem like they're going to figure it out anytime soon. But if you don't go out and play the way you have been playing for the past couple of weeks and think, ah, we're on a nice little Swedish vacation,

we're playing a team that's not very good, you're going to pay for that. So for the Penguins has to be the exact opposite of everything I was just saying about the Predators. Full 60 minutes, stay to your system. And when you get up, if and when you get up on this Predators team, do not let them back up. Right. And that's been a little bit of a problem for the Penguins this year where they'll take a good lead. You know, just go back to the Washington game, Pat. We'll take some time off.

Oh, boom, the game is tight. You go back to the Toronto game. You play 40 perfect minutes and then you'll play a period off. And then you don't even get a point at that game. you lose in regulation. So that has been a little bit of a problem. It can't happen even though the predators are bad. They still have some pretty good high-end talent.

Philip Forsberg is still a great goal score. Seven goals, 14 points and 18 games we've discussed. O'Reilly, he's still off to a good start. You know, Matthew Wood actually has six goals and 10 points in only 11 games this season. He's been fairly good in a third-line role for them. Former Penguin Michael Bunting is in a third-line role for them. You got Jonathan Marcheseau still there. Stephen Stamco's is obviously still there

And I know he's a bit older now But we all know how deadly he is as a goal score I don't care how old he is He will snipe the puck from wherever on the ice So I know this team is bad You don't want to fall into a trap game situation If you will Well in here

Preders special teams you got 22nd power play So the Penguins PK That should be a good matchup for them Predators PK they're 13th in the league but every P.K just really can't do anything against the Penguins power play right now. So I'll continue to say that every team that we preview, I'll always say that the Penguins have an advantage power play-wise just because they have the best power play in hockey.

So both those units favor the Penguins. As for the goaltending, hey, UC Soros can get hot whenever, man. I will continue to say that he is one of the best goaltenders in the league. He's played 14 games this season, has an 892 save percentage, 3.11 goals against average. I know his save percentage is below 900, but he is trying everything in his power to try and will them to victories. No one else is just wanting to do it.

So, hey, he's great. He gets hot. Good luck scoring on it because I think he's one of the five to seven best goalies. So you got to get him off his game. The fact that he has an 892 save percentage is miraculous with the way this team is playing. The funniest thing about this Predator's team is they have the 30th worst goals against per game average, but that doesn't tell the whole story of this team. It's the fact that the team in front of UC Soros is just completely dropping the ball.

It's not on him. He is a man without a team right now. And that gets into my other point about what you have to do against this Predator's team. It's really got nothing to do with X's and O's or systems or anything like that. It's all mental. you need to jump on this team right away because this is very clearly a fragile team. It is very clearly a team that is in, as you said, five game losing streak right now. You pop an early one or you pop a couple early goals.

You know this Nashville team, their mentality is going to go right to, here we go again, here we go again. And you have to take advantage of that. If you let them hang around, again, we went through the roster, we went through everything about this Preds team. You let them hang around, they're going to start believing in themselves. They're going to start feeling themselves and thinking, all right, we can pull ourselves out of this. We can figure this out. We can get this done.

Give them that window. They're going to take it. So if you're Dan Musen the coaching staff, your goal on Friday afternoon is take the fight to them from the second the puck drop. and make sure that that wounded mentality of theirs sticks around 100% again people 2 o'clock start time on Friday I want to see a full 60 I want to see all four lines contribute and whichever goal he starts I'm going to guess that she loves as we continue this rotation here want to see him keep it up to you because outside of shootouts of course he's been tremendous to start the season but as I've said you don't want to take any team lightly even though they're at the bottom in the standings

You let UC Soros get hot. He has the ability to stonewall you throughout an entire game. And you don't want to give all of National's top players time and space because they will make you pay. They still have some really, really good talented players that, hey, at some point, Barry Trots may look at trade some of them just because they are at the bottom of the standings. But that will do it for this segment coming up to end the show. Evgeny Malkin spoke to Penguins reporters in Sweden on Thursday. And when that happens, it's always big news because Gino always has a lot to say.

Pat and I are going to discuss a little bit of that right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our second sponsor, and that is Fandall. The NBA is back, and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, Fandle has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot. thought at a bigger payout.

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One of the money quotes, and this comes courtesy of Josh Yoey, was, you know, Malkin said, we read articles before the season that said, we're not good enough anymore. It's hard. Hey, Gino, if you also listen to the Lockdown Penguins podcast, you can just tell us that, too. by the way, I'm just messing around a little bit. But he says, last three years, we didn't show our best game, but we changed coaches, a couple of new faces. We try our best.

Cindy Crosby is playing unbelievable. This is a good group. If we stay healthy, for sure, we can make the playoffs. Hey, again, I love the confidence, man. They're proving everyone wrong so far. We're two weeks away from Thanksgiving. I still will say that these next two weeks are going to tell us a lot about this team, just because they've struggled a little bit lately.

The schedule is easing up. If you're still in a playoff spot in the next couple of weeks, Pat and I might be pressing that we're back department. We'd like to file a claim. So they're still third in the metro, nine, five, and three. But you look at the standings in the division right now, Pat, Rangers at 20 points,

Flyers at 19, Islanders, 18, cap 17, Blue Jacket, 17. Everyone is really just clustered together. Obviously, you have New Jersey and Carolina in the top two spots that's expected. But everyone else, you know, right around 500 to a little bit above 500 but you also look around the league too pat it's where a lot of teams are currently too outside of some bottom feeders so it's still going to take a little bit for some separation to happen but they're still in a good spot as for that quote though again i love that he's believing

in himself he's believing in this team they proved everyone wrong so far so why not just try to keep doing it we're exactly two weeks to the day yes for american thanks because I know we've got some Canadian listeners and you guys don't celebrate Thanksgiving the same time we do, but we are listeners around the world. Yes, we do. But that is the traditional first post.

That's the first benchmark of the NHL season. You get to US Thanksgiving and the majority of the teams that find themselves in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving usually end up making the post season. And that you are right, that you look at both conferences. there is a cluster near the wild card in the tops of the division, especially for the metro.

You look at it the capitals are in the blue jackets are the two at the bottom. And they're all of three points out of a wild card spot behind the New York Rangers at 20. You go to the west. There's really only two teams that find themselves far out. And it's the penguin's opponent this weekend in Nashville. They're six points out. And then Calgary's 10 points. points out. Those are two teams that probably not going to find themselves in the postseason.

For the Penguins, I kind of agree with Malkin. The way they have played through this first month and a half, I will say this and it's going to sound like it's something that can end up on cold takes exposed. But I look at the way this team has played through the first month and a half and it's not a lot of luck that the process is there i like the way they're playing i like the way they're performing it's a team that they find that consistency and get to american thanksgiving in striking distance or in the same spot that they are i look at it as a team that can make the playoffs and are they going to win around i'm very skeptical but it's not a team that's going to be cannon fodder they're not going to show up in the first round get their

butts padded and be out in five. They'll, they'll give a scare to whoever they play. But they got to continue playing this way. They can't just say, hey, look at that. We're 20 games into the season. We did great. We're nobody expected us to be this good mission accomplished. They got to keep it going.

But when you have guys like of Gennie Malkin, who are first ballot hall of famers and living legends saying this, it galvanizes the rest of the roster. 100%. And was someone like a Malkin on the roster, was someone like a, you know, a Crosby, a Latang of Carlson, they're always going to go for the playoffs everything weird. It's what they've known throughout their career. I mean, for God's sakes, three of those guys have three Stanley Cups. Obviously, we know that Carlson has never won a Stanley Cup, but still, when you have players like that on the roster, no matter the direction

that Kyle Dubas has chosen to go, and we all know that he is trying to rebuild this team as quickly as possible and get them back to contention as urgently as possible, the big guns are always going to be like, hey, our goal is to make the playoffs. And so far, they are proving everyone wrong, 17 games into the season. It's still only 17 games. We have 60 plus games to go. But it's as good of a start as you could have asked for outside of a little bit of struggles and shootouts. And obviously, that three-go-blown lead against Toronto.

Malkin himself has been one of the best players in the league to start this season. He looks like 29-year-old of getting Malka compared to someone who was almost 40. So, again, when you see Malkin playing at this level, It gets everyone going. When you see Sid playing at the level that he's been playing at lately, it gets everyone going. When you see Eric Carlson looking like the best version of Carlson we've seen since he's come here, it gets everyone going. When the goaltenders are making more timely saves us here compared to the last couple of years, that also gets everyone going.

And then you add in the new coach that obviously has provided a spark. The new coach bump is something that I don't think it's talked about enough. They're really rotting that new coach bump right now. obviously it's like you know quote unquote a little bit of the honeymoon phase but game news has also done a great job overall with the team to date and i've seen spencer carberry comparisons out there and honestly i don't necessarily disagree with that so far so when you when you combine all of that you get a team that has started really strong for sure and the other part of this that we got to discuss and that malkin was not exactly shy about was that this is

the last year of his contract, but that is something that he has said he's not really thinking about. The thing he's thinking about is that he doesn't want to finish playing in the NHL by not making the playoffs three, four plus years in a row. And I will say this. This is my hot take prediction about of Gennie Malkin. If this team does do what he thinks they can and makes the playoffs. And even, messes around and maybe wins around. I wouldn't be shocked to see him retire at the end of it. But if they miss, I could see him coming back for a year.

Because I've said this on the show as well. Everybody ran with these reports that, oh, Kyle Dubus isn't interested in bringing Malkin back. They don't have any interest in extending of Gennie Malkin. That wasn't really what was said. Now, what was said was they don't have a plan at the time this past off season. The plan was, at the Olympic break, Dubus and Malkin are going to sit down together and talk about his future. Again, if he keeps this level of playup and he continues to show that he's maybe found a little bit of the fountain of youth, it wouldn't shock me, even if they, even putting aside my recent, my most recent prediction of the playoff thing, it wouldn't shock me to see, have them say, you know what, let's do a one year deal for like five million bucks and we'll see what happens and you can continue to mentor some of the playoff.

of these young guys and take another shot it, making the postseason, and maybe going on a run. So I do think that between the expiring deal and missing the playoffs three straight years, this is a motivated core that I know everybody wants the rebuild to start. I know everybody wants them to kind of not blow it up, but really hit the reset button. All these guys are showing, at least for now, they still got some game left. So you don't have to pick one or the other. You can continue to stockpile assets and take shots on second chance players and your young prospects and hope that they give your older core a kick in the butt and they maybe get a little bit ahead of schedule. I think no matter what, there is a distinct chance that Gino comes back next year, whether they make the playoffs or whether they miss.

He obviously has shown this year that he has more left in the tank. Why not potentially come back for one more year? as of right now crosbie has a year left on his contract i expect that to change at some point as he'll probably sign a one-year extension down the line or whatever but as it stands right now he has a year left so why not come back on another one-year contract honestly pat i don't even know if he's going to ask for five million he may ask for less it honestly wouldn't even matter because the penguins are going to have a boatload a cap space but but i still don't see him asking for that much on a one-year contract to be honest for someone that's going to be 40

next year. So that's how I see it. We just got to see what happens the rest of the year again. But I think that's going to 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 a fresh episode for you guys right after Friday's game. So if you do the math, it's probably going to end around 430, 445, right when it ends. Pat and I will be on here breaking down what happened and then getting you guys set for the rematch on Sunday. So again, that will do it for this one. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode on Friday.