Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins trade Lars Eller, who could be next?

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Kyle Dubas wasn't kidding when he said everyone is on the table, trading Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for two draft picks. Hunter and Patrick discuss the trade and the return as well as what it means for this team moving forward. They also talk about how this shows that Dubas is very serious about this retooling on-the-fly plan. Next, they speculate about who else could now get moved off of the Penguins' roster if their woes continue along with how this could actually be part of a longer-term plan. Finally, there is still a game to be played tonight and they get you set for Penguins-Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena. Link to Taylor's article: https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2024/11/11/penguins-stars-trade-rumors-kyle-dubas-loss-roster-tlhSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Mint MobileTo get this new customer offer and your new 3-month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to MINTMOBILE.com/lockedonnhl. Disclaimer - $45 upfront payment required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customers on first 3 month plan only. Speeds slower above 40GB on Unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, & restrictions apply. See MINT MOBILE for details. Omaha SteaksFrom legendary steaks to mouthwatering desserts and more, save fifty percent off site-wide at OmahaSteaks.com. Plus, our listeners get an extra thirty dollars off with Promo Code NHL and a thirty-dollar reward card when you shop early. Select QuoteGet the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONNHL. PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. 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.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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.

Kyle Dubus began his sell-off on Tuesday night by trading Laura Zeller back to the Washington Capitals, and Pat and I are going to discuss that trade, plus who could be next in terms of being traded right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunters-Hoddies. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunser Hodes. joined by my host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet.

And you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. You can start the season with a big return on Fandle. New customers can place a $5 bet and you will get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit Fandul.com to get. started. So we're low-key kind of doing an emergency episode on Tuesday night. This is going to publish

Midnight Eastern on Wednesday morning because, well, the Penguins have decided to start their sell off pretty early as they have traded Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for a 2027 third round pick and a 2025 fifth round pick that originally belonged to Chicago. So Kyle Dubas, he wasn't joking around. We need to really shout out Taylor Haas of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports who kind of called this. She reported exclusively for D.K. Pittsburgh Sports on Tuesday that Kyle Dubas had made basically everyone available for trade except Cindy Crosby. And you saw that on display here with this trade. Lars Eller, he's already out the door. We're going to get into who could be next coming up. He also put the link to her article in the description box

in YouTube and on audio. We're also going to do that again for this episode as well. But just wanted to start off by saying shout out to Taylor for that reporting. He wasn't messing around. that's for sure. But as for this trade as a whole, I'm going to try to break this up into tears here. So number one, the destination, Washington, definitely not fun because the penguins are going to have to see him a few more times this season. But for Caps fans, it is a nice reunion for him, considering everything he did for them in the 2018 Stanley Cup final. And even after that, as well, it's a place that he knows very much. So good for Eller in terms of that. But for Penguins fans, it's going to suck seeing him a few more times this season. The return.

does it blow me away? No, but this trade was never going to blow me away in terms of value coming back. You were always going to get picks. I don't think you were ever going to get a really good prospect or a good roster player coming back. If he maybe balled out a little bit more closer to the deadline, you could have maybe gotten a bit more in return.

But two picks, I think, is fair value for me. You were never going to get a massive return for someone like Eller. And lastly, this is kind of on a personal note. It is going to suck seeing Eller not be here because he was one of the players that definitely played his ass off every single shift part of my language there, by the way. He gave a crap. He always spoke to the media, called it how it was with this team. I'm going to miss those aspects of this game.

And he delivered some absolute piss missiles for this team this year and last year. He really proved me wrong. After he signed that contract, I was kind of like, his skating feels like it's not there anymore. His production was kind of starting to dip a little bit. Well, he played great last year for the Penguins, and he was off to a really good start this year. So the Penguins are really going to miss that aspect of his game, too.

And if I had to add a bonus, Kyle Dubus has made his plan clear here, people. He's rebuilding on the fly. He's stock piling picks for the future. You are going to see quite a few more moves like this that will probably involve more roster players and prospects and picks going on later this season. But his plan is clear. He's starting to sell off players on this team because he knows they're not very good. Get ready for a lot more trades, people. Yeah, absolutely. And oh, man, I just got a Lars Eller jersey. Not really. I didn't actually.

But you're right. He was off to a very good start this year. He had four goals, three assists, seven points and 17 games. That's very solid bottom six production for a guy like Lars Eller, especially at age 35 in the NHL. So I want to kind of build upon something that you said that I agree with is if this wouldn't be the situation the Penguins are in right now where they are off to a putrid start, they've only been able to beat one Stanley Cup playoff team from 2024 in the Washington Capitals, but have not been able to hang with the best teams in the league. this probably would have been a trade that happened later on in the season. And at the pace Eller was going, you probably would have been able to get a better return for him.

But I also think there's something else that you kind of missed a little bit in your breakdown of this trade. This is a sign as well that I think the penguins are going to start giving the young guys time. I think we're going to start seeing some players like, Vasily Ponamerev come up because by all accounts, we have been told he is knocking at the door. He's almost NHL ready and he could be a bottom six center for this team, which all of a sudden, now you have a need for that with Lars Eller out the door. But back to the trade itself, if there's one thing that I think we have to continue to understand is that this retool on the fly is on because now in the next three drafts as of right now,

and you combine how many draft picks they have, they have 29 over the next three years. They will have 10 picks in the 2025 in 2027 NHL draft, and then nine in the 2026 NHL draft. So Kyle Dubus is doing something that, if I can cross sports here, that some of the best team in the best team of the last 20 years in the NFL, the New England Patriots in Bill Belichick did during their run, people always would ask,

how did they get XYZ player? It was because they did what Kyle Dubus is doing right now. They would forego having, say, a second round pick to get two third round picks or four third round picks or something like that to where you would see this person come up out nowhere, but it was because instead of placing value on, oh, we have a first round pick and the second round pick. It would be multiple picks across mid rounds. So you can see that's where Kyle Dubus is going with that. Finally, again, this would be a chance for players like Ponomarev and Sam Poulan to get a shot now that Lars Eller has been traded.

I think so too. I definitely think this does open the door for someone like Ponomerov. Sam Poulan was already called up. up to the Penguins. So if I had to guess, I think he's going to make his season debut today against the Red Wings. I think he's going to come and slot in. And this also, I think, opens the door for later on this season, someone like a Tristan Brose to come up. He's performing really well in Wilkesbury to start this season. Also, of course, Rock and McGorney, a little bit of a slow start in Wilkesbury, but he did just get his first goal for Wilkesbury Scrant. And that was a beautiful

shot, by the way. Really nice play by Magrory. He is also going to be up. here at some point. So I do think this is going to start paving the way for some of these young players to come up and at least for this coaching staff, if they're still around at that time, to get looks at these players and especially this management group to see, okay, what do we have in these players? Are they able to potentially be on this team full time next season when they're going to have a lot more cap space after the season is up? And also something that I have seen brought up quite a bit as well. You know, that's what ownership said according to numerous reports to Sydney Crosby.

Oh, well, we're going to be better this year. Well, I think plans have changed. They're not going to be that good this season. They're punting on this season right now. And Pat, you had this theory quite a bit during the off season, and I'm kind of starting to maybe come around on it a little bit where they're going to maybe spend some cash this off season to really potentially try and create another go at it, maybe one more time to at least make the playoffs.

because this year with the bad start, it doesn't look like they're going anywhere. I think that you're going to continue to see more trades be made. But with the amount of cap space that they'll have this coming off season, the amount of draft picks that they have. And I think you'll continue to see more draft picks acquired and maybe more prospects and other roster players come in. That can not necessarily help for this season, but for next season. I think you might see that plan come to fruition.

You might have been on to something there. Well, yeah. And I mean, right now we still don't have a solid idea of what the salary cap is going to be. There's some projections, but right now, Puckpedia is basically setting it at $88 million, just right across the board,

which is where it is right now. But we'll expect to see jumps, however incremental over the next couple of years. But as of right now, the Penguins currently will have $18.5 million in cap space going into next year. And then the year after that, they're going to have somewhere between 42 or $45 million in cap space.

and then when you look at their Puckpedia page, they have pretty much everybody they want to have locked up to that point. So you figure that, yeah, you're going to see some younger guys who have rookie deals or other fringe players have their deals come to an expiration date, but they're not going to be due, you know, $7, $8, $9, $10 million. They'll get $1, $3 million.

So you're going to have a ton of cap space to play with. and you know that there's going to be either free agents who become available because they don't, they get capped out from wherever else they are or they're due a big raise. And you can take one last kick at this thing. So I think overall that that is the two-pronged approach that Kyle Dubus is taking right now in the sense that he is going to stockpile a bunch of draft picks, a ton of young talent, see who works out, see who doesn't. And then if you can hit on three or four of those guys in the next year or two,

and suddenly a big name becomes free on the market on July 1, you can spend a little bit of that money. And all of a sudden, okay, we're talking about this team going on one last run. But the downside of that is you have to hope that the decline for guys like Sidney Crosby, of Gennie Malkin, Chris LaTang, and more than likely Eric Carlson does not suddenly come, as fast as you would dread that it could. Because if they do this the way that I'm game theorying that they do,

you're not going to need those big guys to be 80, 90, 100 point players. But if they're 60, 70-ish range players and you have good enough talent around them, you might have something there. I don't think Carlson will be on the team at that point just because of where they'll be. but hey, we'll see. I'll dive into that a little bit in the second segment. But I do want to close this first segment out with this. Outside of some milestones from the core guys for this season and probably next season,

I do hope that everyone is at least ready for a little bit of pain before this team does get turned around again. Just cherish everything this group has accomplished through these last 20 years, basically because there is going to be a little bit of pain. Yes, it's going to be annoying. but when you watch this team don't have too high of expectations, especially for the season. You can obviously cheer when they win and get upset when they lose,

but this isn't a contender right now, and everyone should at least try to react accordingly when this team is playing on the ice, because again, it feels like they are definitely punting on this season and maybe looking at next season, and obviously the season after that to try and get this team at least back to being more respectable on the ice. So cherish those milestones.

cherish those memories. We're going to be in a little bit of pain for a little bit here. But that will do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss who could be next to get traded. Is it Eric Carlson? Is it Noah Chari? Drew O'Connor, Michael Bunting. We're going to discuss all that coming up here in the second segment. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about one of our first sponsors, and that is Omaha Stakes. Nothing delivers comfort and joy quite like the unwiable quality and taste of Omaha Stakes. this year, skip the holiday hustle and bustle and save 50% off gourmet gifts sitewide at Omaha steaks.com. Plus, get a $30 reward card when you shop early and score an extra

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One more time, selectquote.com slash lockdown NHL today to get started. One more time actually at selectquote.com slash locked on NHL. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Dam. So, now that Lars Eller has been dealt to Washington, what's next? So for me, Marcus Pedersen is definitely on the market. I expect him to be traded before the trade deadline. I'm not sure how much you're going to get back if it's two seconds in a prospect.

If it's just maybe one second in a prospect, maybe if he improves his play, you can get a team to send a first in a prospect. But that's the dream scenario considering that he has struggled this year. Ricard Raquel, I think you'd definitely get traded with a start that he has been off to, I think teams are always looking for scoring, not just at the deadline, but this time a year as well, especially with how some teams have been struggling to start the year. This is where contenders-wise, they start looking for some help well before the deadline. I can see where Kel being moved. Michael Buncing, I know some fans are going to say him. I think management is

going to keep him past the deadline because I think they see him as a piece that can help for next season. That's just my opinion, though, but if they were to trade him, I am not, I won't be too too surprised. Drew O'Connor, I could definitely see the Penguins trading him at the deadline. If you want to get a pickback for him or a prospect roster player or something along those lines, I think teams will definitely at least pay a little bit to get someone like O'Connor. Good depth piece can play on your third line. Don't think on a contending team is a top six player, but again, he's definitely someone that can play on your third line so I could see him getting moved. We can discuss Eric Carlson all we want. And is there a chance he gets moved? I mean, sure,

there's a chance, but I don't think it's going to happen this year. I think if he gets moved, it might happen a bit later on. That's going to also be a hard trade to execute for some teams looking to acquire him. Obviously, the senators are very much out there. There's been so many rumors about them, maybe being interested in reacquiring Carlson. It makes sense just because he had so much great success there and Ottawa is still trying to make the playoffs for the first time in quite a bit. But I still, right now, I think he's going to be on this team after the deadline. But again, that's just my personal opinion. Noah Chari, I could definitely see him getting moved at the deadline for some sort of mid-round pick, something like that.

But those are just some of the players that I could see Kyle Dubis, you know, being in talks about trade-wise or just flat-out moving before the deadline. What say you, Pat? And would you add anyone else to that list? I mean, I know Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks, but I wish you would have left some food for my plate on that one. Good Lord, you ran through every player I was thinking. I was going to say, I think an enticing one for some teams would be Drew O'Connor.

I think he is a very solid middle six forward that could really bolster the depth of a contender, especially with the way we've talked about him this season in that he's really started to come into his known as a bona fide NHL player. We talked about how in the early years of Drew O'Connor, which were only a couple of years ago, he was very deferential to the other players on the ice. He always made a safe play. He didn't really take many risks or drive to the net. He was a very pass first forward who was looking to get the puck on other players' sticks. But the last couple of years, he's really shown a willingness to go to the net, a willingness to shoot, a willingness to play, willingness to play the kind of game that a contender would want to see in their middle six.

So I could definitely see him being someone they could look to move, especially considering he's a pending UFA. He's making less than a million dollars. That could be a very, very enticing piece for a contender. Well, I agree with you that teams are always looking for scoring. I do still think it would be kind of difficult to move Ricard Raquel. He's got three more years at $5 million, as well as an eight-team, trade list. So that could really gum up the works for trying to get him moved. I do think the biggest

name for the penguins to move is Marcus Pedersen because he is a very stable defenseman. Yeah, he hasn't been great to start this year. But I mean, at this point, I think it could be safe to say that the penguins just aren't a good environment this year. And if you can pry someone out of a team like Pittsburgh this year, he could still be a very valuable piece on the back end for a team. And he's only making a shade over $4 million. He's a pending UFA in teams, as we have seen year after year, teams will empty the vault for defense at the trade deadline

or the lead up to the trade deadline. And Marcus Pedersen would be a very, very good piece for a lot of teams. And lastly, you beat me to the punch on Eric Carlson. I think there are 30 teams that it would be very difficult to trade him to, but the one that might not be that hard is Ottawa. Because they have done a lot of good things, but they eventually have to take a step, and they're starting to get desperate.

And what better way to take advantage of that if you're Kyle Dubus than to say, hey do you want your old captain back? Yeah, he's a little expensive, but you need that kind of player on your team right now to really try to turn that corner. So I think if there's a world where you could make a clean Eric Carlson trade, it would be Ottawa. But again, with a player like him, it's a no movement clause. He would have to agree to it. And given the way this team has been the last two years, it might not take that much convincing because he left a situation. just like this in San Jose to come to Pittsburgh, and it's kind of been the same stuff.

So those are pretty much who I'm looking at. I wouldn't hate the idea of shopping Tristan Jari, but again, contract is going to be extremely difficult. That said, he does strike me as a very, very big change of scenery guy. We know the talent is still there. We know the athleticism is still there. but that mental block, I think, is just there for him in a penguin's jersey in the sense that he probably knows that it's just not going to work here.

And if you can get him moved, I would be willing to bet he bounces back in a different uniform. I mean, I'm not willing to go that far yet in terms of him bouncing back on another team. I'd have to see it first. But he would definitely have a shot too just because he wouldn't have, I feel like, the same pressure there that he did in Pittsburgh. So he's obviously someone that could be moved, but it is going to be a bit harder just because you look at his contract. His value is still pretty low right now. They got to, if you want to move, and I feel like you've got to at least give him a couple of starts up here with the main squad to see if he's able to carry over that play from Wilkesbury to the NHL once again.

Because we've seen him be a good goalie in the NHL before. It's just few and far between. It's not as consistent as everyone has wanted it to me. Matt Greslick, number 24, I mean, he only was signed to a one-year contract. Obviously, you would want to move him before the deadline, but I feel like right now, I'm not really sure who's going to want him. His value is probably at an all-time low. He's not playing well.

He's probably playing worse this year compared to last year. And last year, he was scratched for quite a few games. He's not playing well at all. And Anthony Bavilli, I could see him getting moved, of course, as well. But again, he's only really had a couple of good games this year. excuse me, I think you're probably only going to be getting a mid, late round pick if that back for Beauvillier. And again, just not really sure how many teams are going to come calling.

And then Ryan Graves, we can, I guess, discuss that a little bit as well. I don't see it before this deadline. Things can always surprise me. But I think that's the move you're probably looking at a bit down the line, considering that his value is also a bit low right now, I'm not really entertaining. I'm getting himalkin. I'm not entertaining Crystal Tang.

I do not see those happening whatsoever. Maybe Alex Nadelcovic at the deadline, but then you have to figure out, okay, if you do that, and you potentially move Jari, who's backing up Yowal Blumquist? Because I feel like at this point, you know, thinking about it even more,

you might only have to move one of them. So if you say, for example, you move Jari, then you might have to keep Nadelcovich with Blumquist, but if you move Ndilkevich, you might have to keep Jari with Blumquist, and then during the off season, can figure out that stuff whenever, if you want to have Lomclos for your new number one and all that. But again, I'm just kind of spitballing out there, just looking at all the players that I think

could potentially be on the market slash be traded before the deadline and then potentially into the summer as well. Yeah. And I think this really does, at least with this move of Lars Eller, really does justify and prove our pal Taylor Haas's reporting that everyone's on the table now. And I bring it back to what I've been saying for a while to a lot of people because I know I have seen this take crop up. And it now officially applies with who Lars Eller was traded to in the Washington Capitals. I have seen so many people make that comparison, but completely miss the point of what the Capitals did because it's always been a discussion focused upon the coaching rather than what the organization did. the capitals did more than just fire their coach after they won the stanley cup in 2018 they struggled in 2019 they obviously struggled in the bubble like a lot of teams did and then in

2021 they made the difficult decisions to move on from a guy like larzeller from a handful of other players it also helps that they've got guys like baxter and oshi on l t i are until they retire but they started to do what the penguins are doing right now yeah they moved on from a coach that might not be too far removed. I actually just wrote about this before we started recording about how I expanded upon what we talked about on yesterday's episode that it might just be an end of the season firing and then you figure out where to go from there.

But the penguins are starting to do this. They're moving pieces out. They're bringing in young players. They're bringing in draft picks. And they're going to do this retool on the fly. You can argue that it happened too late. And I would obviously most likely agree with you. But this is where we are right now.

The penguins are going to try to move out everything that's not bolted down and not part of the core. And they're going to try to do this quick retool. And we're going to have to just wait and see if it works out. Yeah, I mean, I said it when you were in Mexico last Friday. I mean, the capitals front office has been skating circles around the penguins runoff these last couple of years. But they were a bit earlier making those decisions. And then you saw this year after last year went and how they got very lucky to get in the playoffs. Their manager group was like, okay, that wasn't good enough.

That was low-key kind of a fluke. So we're going to go out there, spend some money wisely, spend some of our assets that we've cooped up wisely, and we're going to go and make this team better. And that's exactly what they did. We're not at that point yet for Kyle Dubus, but I think he's trying to get to that point as soon as possible, in my opinion. But I think then I'll do it for the second segment.

Coming up to end the show, hey, Penguins do have a game to play tonight. They're at home against the Detroit Red Rings for the second of three meetings this year. So Pat and I're going to preview that game and go into how the Penguins can win this game against the Red Wings. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor, and that is Fandul. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fandul, America's number one sportsbook, because right now new customers can bet five dollars and get $150 and bonus bets if you win.

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and official sportsbook betting partner of the NFL. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join with my co-host Patrick Dam. So, Pat, the Penguins are back in action tonight against the Red Wings after getting absolutely slaughtered, by the Dallas stars on Monday by a final score of 7 to 1.

I didn't say this on our show on Tuesday, but the Dallas stars scored more goals in that game than the Dallas Cowboys scored points on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. That is how bad, down bad, excuse me, the Dallas Cowboys are right now. And then I have Jerry Jones bark into the media about the sun coming into the state, even all that.

Yeah, it's total mess. Again, not here to rain about the Dallas Cowboys. Not a fan of them, that's for sure. But getting back to this game against the Red Wings, this is the Red Wings team that still really hasn't been able to figure it out this year. Right now, they are seventh in the Atlantic Division, six and seven in one through 14 games, only have 13 points. Granted, they are three points out of third in the division with two games in hand on the Bruins,

but this is still a team minus nine goal differential. They've lost a couple games in a row. Their defensive group is not pretty. I mean, Mo Sider, I really like as a top pairing guy, but got Ben Chirot as a second pairing defenseman. He's not very good anymore. Jeff Petrie is fine, I guess, but, you know, Edvinson on the top pairing. Okay, Justin Hall on your bottom pairing, Eric Gustafson.

Okay, but like for a team that's trying to make the playoffs, that is not a good enough defensive group. I mean, at the forwards, at least in their top six, the Britain gets awesome. Dill Marken is very good. I love me some Lucas Raymond. He is off to another pretty good start points-wise. he has 12 assists, 13 points in 14 games.

He just got to start scoring a bit more. He only has one goal in 14 games to start the season. I think that's going to come at some point for the Red Wings, but points-wise, he's still producing fairly well. De Brinke had six goals, 12 points in 14 games. He was really good in that first matchup against the Penguins. And also, Dylan Larkin, he leads the team in scoring with nine goals, 11 points in 14 games.

Even outside of those guys, he still have Patrick Payne as a second-line winner. They got Tarr Senko as a third-line player who the Penguins almost signed during the off season. You got Joe Valeno, Christian Fisher on your fourth line. So for Dougwise, it's not the worst in the league, but it's still not close to the best. I think it's kind of average, if you ask me, but this is still a pretty big year for the Red Wings. If they're not able to take that next step, I do think you're going to see some serious changes there. And for the Penguins to win this game, you got to do similarly what you did in that first matchup. Obviously, you have to start the game better because the Red Wings completely outclass them those first 12 to 15 minutes.

but those final 45 minutes, the Penguins took it to them in all three zones. They made the Red Wings defenders look really silly in the defensive zone. And they got contributions from everyone in their lineup. I mean, Anthony Bavilli had a two-goal game. Crosby had two assists. Carlson had a great goal. Evgeny Malkin had a two-point game. Marcus Pedersen even got a goal.

Kevin Hayes got on the score sheet. And even though he's hurt right now, still all the depth came out and showed in that game. I want to see more in that one. And also, I want to see some. some fight. Just some nice pushback from this team. Show that Monday was not even close to who you want to be for this season. We talked about this so many times on the show, you want to lose games 3-1, 3-2. Okay, you know, we can live with that. I don't need to see you getting embarrassed here in the first month of the season in quite a few of these games. That's just, that can't be

who you are for an entire 82 game season. You're absolutely right. The, They have to show some fight tomorrow or tonight, excuse me, because if they don't, it really continues to prove that this is who they are. Again, you don't have to go out and blow the doors off the red wings. You don't have to win six, seven, nothing. And even if you lose, if it's a hard fought three, two, four three game, whatever, and you do a lot of positive in it, this is just who this team is. We've been saying it all season long.

They're not a team that's built to winner content. They're a team that's built to retool on the fly. Now, to the actual game itself, this is going to be a big moment for the Penguins power play because they are going to have to take advantage of a Red Wings penalty kill that is 31st in the league at 65%. And yeah, losing Lars Eller hurts, but you still have all of the players that you have had on your top unit available tomorrow or tonight. So I'm really struggling with recording the night before, but you guys get it. but you have to be able to take advantage of a Red Wings team that has a struggling penalty

kill. So that is going to be paramount to me. The other thing that I look at in this game, it's related to saying that you have to show some fight after getting embarrassed, but similarly to when a coach gets fired, when a player like Lars Eller, who has been playing a pretty prominent role on this team for the last year and a half gets traded, that is the management sending a message to you that they don't think you are good enough. I'll do you respond to that. You have to go out and at least push back on Kyle Dubus and the management to say, no, you are not going to sell all of us off.

We still have something to prove here and we are going to prove it in this game. So I want to see that from them. And we talked about it yesterday. They have a stretch of games coming up here against some teams that are pretty much on the same level as they are. This has to be a building block to at least getting yourself back up to at least some respectability, and it starts with a win against the Red Wings.

And just having some fun when you go to the rank. You know, you play three teams in a row who are kind of on your level to start the season, three teams that are not very good. The Red Wings have not played well. The Blue Jackets are not very good. And the Senaze Sharks are definitely not very good. They're tanking this year again. And they have a real shot at getting the number one overall pick in the NHL draft.

And right now, funny enough, Penguins also have a pretty good shot at getting the number one pick in the draft with where the record is at least a month into the season. So you have an opportunity here to at least maybe string three wins in a row here if you're able to play responsible hockey in your own end, your stars produce, you get decent goaltending, and your depth steps up as well. I like the point that you made about Kyle Dupus because you're right.

He is sending you a message saying, okay, what happened on Monday? That was pathetic. And I just traded someone who was pretty important in that locker. room. You want to keep doing that? Okay, I'll keep sending out more players and we're going to promote more players in Wilkesbury. He's kind of just saying, you know, like Captain America, I can do this all day, guys. Really, he's probably saying that I can do this all day if you want me to. So it's up to the players to again, try and prove dubous wrong, even though that hasn't come close to happening this season. Yeah. So, I mean, we'll see. I really want to see how this team responds to that, how they respond to both

the absolute drubbing they got from the Dallas Stars and how they respond to a pretty important player being traded away in the middle, in essentially the middle of the night before the night before a game. So I'm very curious to see what this happens here, but just so everybody knows this is a 730 game because unfortunately TNT is going to subject a national audience to these two teams playing a primetime game at Pee. VG Paints Arena. I'm not sure who the full broadcasting crew is, but I swear to God,

if I hear Eddie Olcheck say one more freaking time that Siddy Crosby is going to be a Selky trophy finalist this year, I might throw myself through my TV. Please, Eddie, O, if you somehow listen to this show, which he's not going to probably. But if you are, please do not say that to everyone listening. If you are calling this game,

I wasn't able to find the press release for who's calling the game before this. I'm sure it's going to come out tomorrow. but please for the love of God, do not say that. But also, Pat, that trade happened at like 7.30. We're recording this at 8.30 right now. He said the middle of the night. Shame on you. Is everyone in bed at 7.30 or something like that?

Some people must be sickos. But I know, so you go to bed pretty early on weekdays mostly because you have to wake up at like 3, 4 o'clock in the morning some days for work. So, hey, maybe some people are in bed at that time. But I think that'll do it for today's episode of the lockdown. Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one is. And if some people are wondering, well, where's your helmet Wednesday? Don't worry, people. It's going to come back next week. We just had quite a bit to talk about

for the Eller trade, who could be next, and then obviously previewing Penguins, Red Wings. But for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. And we'll be back for you all on Thursday.