Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins welcome Jake Guentzel and the Lightning back to Pittsburgh!

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins have another big week of games this week and it starts with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jake Guentzel returns to Pittsburgh with his new team as Hunter and Patrick discuss what the Penguins need to do to score a win against a Lightning team that's still good enough to make the playoffs. Then, per some reports, the Penguins are still open for business and Hunter and Pat discuss Yohe's latest article and give their thoughts on it. They discuss who could still go and if an unofficial coaching trade between the Bruins and Penguins makes some sense. Finally, the two do a quick look at the week ahead for this team, including the back-to-back this weekend.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed. Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. 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.

The Penguins will continue their homestand tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Pat and I are going to get you all set for that 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. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined as always by my co-Cost. Patrick Camp, you can follow him on,

all the social media platforms at Center for Wet. And of course, you can follow the shows, Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you so much for making this your first list and watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Indeed. Still searching for a great candidate for your company. Don't search, just match with Indeed. So Penguins Lightning comes your way 7 p.m. face off from PBG Paints Arena

as the Penguins will continue their homestand after beating the San Jose Sharks in a shootout this past weekend. And this is going to be a fun game. The Lightning are still very much a playoff team. I don't see the Lightning as a top-tier contender anymore, but this is still a team that I expect to make the playoffs. All of their stars are performing very, very well this year. They're 9 and 6 and 1.

You start the season. That's good for third in the Atlantic. Nikita Kutrov, he's once again playing at an MVP caliber level, 11 goals, 26 points in 16 games. And Hegel, he's also at a point for game. eight goals, 17 points, and of course, old friend Jake Gensel, seven goals, 17 points, and 16 games.

There were still some people, even at last year's trade deadline, trying to say, oh, he's a product of Sidney Crosby. Weren't many people. There weren't many people saying it, but there were still some that were, and I'm like, you people are deranged because he is over a point per game,

playing with a lightning. Yes, I know he's playing online with Kuthorov, but he is not even close to a product of Sidney Crosby. He never was. He can put up production with virtually anyone in the league. And it's going to be awesome when next year comes around and you're going to see him, I think, on the four nations face off team for team USA. He very much deserves to be on that team. But again, Gensel will be returning to BBG Payne's arena. And you look at this lineup, you have

Gensel with Kuturov and Braden Point. And Point looks like he's going to be returning tonight after a few games absence. You have Sorrelli on the second line with Nick Paul and Brandon Hagle, Conor Geeky with Camackinson on the third line. Then you have Luke Glenn Denning on your fourth line. defensively, Victor Hedman, still a very good defenseman. He's not as good as he used to be, but this is still one of the top Defensive League. They brought back Ryan McDonough. They still have Eric Ternick.

You look at the defensive pairings. Headman, again, still very good. McDonough can give you some minutes. Ternac is fine, but it's still not the greatest defensive group on the planet. And even the forward group, their bottom six, it's not that much to be desired. Their first line is where their offense really comes. You know, their second line has been great, too, especially with Hegel. But they are kind of more of a top heavy team this year compared to last year.

So the biggest key for the Penguins, at least for me, got to slow down that top six. That top line, it is a super line. Got to find a way to slow it down. Even their second line is all. The way Brandon Hagel's playing, you've got to find a way to slow down that line. If you're able to keep those two lines in check, the Penguins will have a pretty good shot of winning this, just because, again, Tampa Bay's bottom six, at least on paper, is not nearly as good. as it has been in years past.

No, the horrors persist, but so do the Tampa Bay Lightning. They are still one of the better teams in the NHL. That said, I agree with what you were saying. And I kind of talked about this in the off season. They do remind me a little bit of the Pittsburgh Penguins post 2016, 2017 Stanley Cup, where they don't have the same kind of depth that they had when they were at the absolute height of their powers. But they are still.

very, very good. And I look at this team and I think this is, you're right, it's top heavy, but this is a mismatch for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Do they have a chance tonight? You always have a chance. It's the National Hockey League. They're all professionals. And we have seen crazier things happen in the NHL than the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 19th, 24. It's not out of the realm of possibility. But this is going to be one of the penguins toughest tests this season. It's right up there with playing the New York Rangers, playing the Winnipeg Jets, playing the Edmonton Oilers. This is still a great hockey team. And like you said, Jake Gensel, not a product of Sidney Crosby. Yeah, he's still playing

with elite players, but how many times have I said it, Hunter, playing with elite players is a go within and of itself. Yep. And Jake Gensel just has a scoring touch. He always has. It's something you can't teach. It's something you can't coach. You just have it or you don't.

And Jake Gensel certainly does. And we might as well address the elephant in the room when it comes to the penguins tonight. This is going to be a massive game for Tristan Jari. He is getting the start tonight. Yes, we're all cringing and covering our eyes at this because, of the track record and the history. But if there was ever a night for him to show that he can bounce back, it has to be tonight against a team with this many good shooters.

And it also has to fall upon the skaters on the ice to for once this season, kind of like they did against the capitals last week, play with a little bit of discipline, don't take too many risks and beat them on the counter. If they can't do that, this could be an extremely long night for the penguins. And much like I say against some of the other top teams, you do not want to turn this into a track meet, especially against the lightning with how much talent they have up front in their top six. And don't get me wrong, people.

There is a drop off in production after you go down from Braden Point. Again, we already discussed Kutjurav, Hagle, Gensel, Hedman has 16 points. Sorelli's been very good in all three zones. He has 16 points. Nick Paul has five goals. We already discussed Braden Point. Moser, as the lone one after that was six points. So you have seven players with double digit points after that.

It's a pretty big drop off. So again, if you're somehow able to keep Tampa's high-end talent in check, you'll have a shot to win this game. And with Tristan Jari, this is going to be, I hate saying it like this. If he struggles, this is going to be a very hostile crowd. he is going to get booed heavily if he struggles again. A good start is imperative for him. You cannot have a start like you had against Columbus where the first shot you see it's in the back of the net.

And then later on, three of the shots you see, two of them are in the back of your net. You need to have a much better start. I even tweeted this when I saw the news. I even said, sure, why not? Because that's what it is at this point. I'm not surprised that they're giving him another start. I don't think they should, but I'm not surprised by it because they're trying to see if they can somehow, some way, get his value up a little bit. And by putting him out there against the lightning, it's a bold choice.

But hey, we'll see if he somehow goes out there and plays well. I will say, though, the penguins have had some really strong success against the lightning in recent years. There are 6-1-0 in their last seven games against Tampa. Tristan Jari scored the goalie goal against them last year. And they also have wins in seven of their last nine against the lightning and points in eight of their last 10. Seven, two and one in their last 10 against Tampa Bay. At home, the Penguins are 16 and 3 and 1 against Tampa dating back to November of 2010.

So the Penguins have played the Lightning, A, very good these last several years, and B, especially very good at home. Yeah, they seem to, I don't know. if the word correctly here is match up well because, as I said, you look at these two teams on paper and this is a gigantic mismatch. But for whatever reason, and we saw it near the end of the season last year with that great game against Tampa that felt like a playoff game, they come to play when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning. They rarely ever take a night off against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And you can't against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It's just not.

It's not in the cards. If you give them an opening, they won't just walk through it. They'll kick the damn door down and take over the place. They're that good of a team. And back to the jari point that you were bringing up, something else that needs addressed is Alex Nadalcovich hasn't been much better. Now, a lot of this is a product of the fact that this team can't play defense. They are incapable of playing disciplined defense.

They have shown us that all season. long. But at the end of the day, when you have two goalies who have been below the line, you don't have any choice but to play them. You're not going to call up Yoel Blumquist right now, just because A, you don't want to ruin his development by putting him in front of this tire fire that is a defensive structure. And B, what other options do you have? You can wave jari, but that doesn't solve the problem. You can try to trade him. That's not going to solve the problem unless you get a goalie back, which you're not going to do the NHL 25, trade all of our bad players for their good players. That's just not going to happen. And at some point,

they have to figure it out themselves, whether it's standing on their heads against a team like Tampa or just steadying the ship when this team falls apart defensively. So you don't have to like it. I certainly don't. I wish he would figure his game out, but he's going to have to do it himself and part of that process is putting him in the net. Right. And I think this is probably arguably the biggest start of his career to date outside of the playoffs with how everything is going right now. So, hey, let's see how he does in this game against a bona fide playoff team right now.

I will say in his career against the lightning, he has six wins, three losses in a 926, 8 percentage. So I think Mike Sullivan could be looking at past history year with how he's, he's played against the lightning, but I think for this game, you might have to throw all that out, especially with the way he's playing this year. A couple more line-up notes before we had to break. Crystal Tang, he skated this morning. He's still not playing due to an illness. We wish him all the best in his recovery from that illness. Blake Lazotte, he still has a concussion. He's continuing, excuse me, is off-ice we have. And I feel so bad for Blake Lazot, man, multiple concussions

to start his Penguins tenure. He was playing fairly well. It felt like after coming back from that first concussion, and now he has another one. It just really stinks. overall. Cody Glass, he also has a concussion. He's skating on his own. And then Kevin Hayes, he's skated with the team. Hopefully he's getting closer to return as well. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to discuss Josh Yoey's article from Monday and why there could be other players traded that won't be the usual suspects that we expect to get dealt like Marcus Patterson and Drew O'Connor. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is indeed. We're driven by the search for

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I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp. So, Pat, you read Josh's article, I'm sure too. We're going to put the link to that in the description box for YouTube and on audio. And he kind of went into the other trade candidates outside of, again, the usual suspects that we expect to get moved, considering how bad the penguins are this season. We all know that Marcus Pedersen expects to get traded. And he even reported that Edmonton and Vancouver are interested. if I had to pick between the two, I'm going Vancouver.

They have the better prospect pool. They have better roster players to offer than I think the Oilers, because the Oilers, they're not going to really send you anyone important back. I mean, obviously, none of their big guns are coming back from Marcus Peders. But you look in their bottom six, compare that to Vancouver's bottom six, for example. If a forward comes back for just that purposes, I would rather go towards Vancouver for that compared to Edmonton. And again, I think Vancouver's prospect pool is so much better.

As we all know Jesse loves to say when we bring him on for Marshall Monday, he wants his boy, Niels Hoglander back in that trade. And I'd have to co-sign that because he is awesome in this league. I think he'd be the perfect fit as a middle six forward for this team. But Yoey brought up Crystal Tang. And again, I still don't see that happening. I understand that his game is very down right now. His game is rotting away.

But A, I don't see a lot of teams trading for him right now, especially with his salary. And B, I don't think the penguins want to move him. Because say you do move him, what are Evgeny Malkin and Cindy Claus be going to think of that, for example? They could honestly just be like, hey, if you're moving him,

you can send us out to it because I think all three of them together think we want to go out together. And if one of them gets moved in this example of what's saying, I think both of them are going to be like, okay, what the heck. So I think with those two factors,

I really don't see that happening. We've discussed Eric Carlson a little bit. we both think Atolla is probably the only realistic option at this point. But he also brought up Rickel. And that is someone who I do think you could get something back for you. Maybe, I don't know, second round picking a prospect, maybe a second round picking a roster player coming back. I don't think he's going to have this massive asking price.

But I do think you can get some sort of okay return for Raquel, considering the season that he's had this year. He's been able to rebuild some of that value. I think there's a better chance he gets dealt compared to someone like Russ, who I think is a bigger leader in that locker room compared to Raquel. I'm with you on pretty much everything that you said. I also want to put this out there as well. I think a lot of people right now,

because we know that this team is retolling on the fly, forget that there is another asset to be had at this juncture. And that's cap space. Yeah. And if you can move out some of these contracts and get cap space, that has value. you in and of itself because you'll be able to take on certain contracts. You'll be able to sign certain players in free agency if they come available. So that's an asset in of itself that we kind of

take for granted as fans and analysts. We kind of forget that, hey, if you have cap space, it's an asset in for the two things that I said of you can sign players and take on certain contracts, but also you can weaponize it for other teams who need to shed salary and get rid of certain players for cap reasons. So if you have it, it's a valuable asset. The thing about Chris LaTang that I keep coming back to is we remember the saga of Evgeny Malkin when he resigned with the team nearly went to free agency. The push to keep him wasn't just Crosby and Mike Sullivan.

It was Chris Lattang. He had a huge role in convincing of Gennie Malkin to, stay despite the disrespect he was given from Ron Hextall and Brian Burke at the time. So that inextrably links these three together. And while I do in a way agree with Yohe's sentiment of the big three, he's maybe the one you could see thinking, I can go somewhere else and play there for a couple years. But I don't think it's as pronounced as Josh is making it. I think if things got so bad over the next two years that you don't see any kind of improvement with this franchise,

they're in the same spot or worse over the next couple years, then yeah, I can see him saying, you know what, we did our thing, we cemented our legacy, we won our championships, I can go somewhere else. But at the end of the day, all of the reporting and all of the storytelling on these three shows that they are three best friends. They want their legacies to be linked and they don't want to wear other sweaters. So on the whole, I can see it, but it has to get really, really bad for it to happen. And you saw it last week when Evgeny Malkin was talking to the media as my dog starts parking at someone walking down the street downstairs.

You saw what Malkin said last week. He was basically like, yeah, it's me, it's Sid, and it's Tanger forever. Like he doesn't want any of those two to leave. And I do think if one of them were to leave, again, it's not going to be Crosby because we all know he's going to retire as a member of the Penguins. It's not going to be Malkin because they've shown no interest in dealing him. But if Letang goes, I just wonder what those two think. Like, are they going to go to ownership and be like, hey, get me out of here?

Because again, they control where they go. Like they have full no move clauses in their contracts. They control where they want to play. So the only way, again, those two leave is if they go to ownership or Kyle Dubus and like, okay, you want to trade Chris Tang, okay, you can send us out to it because we don't want to be here without him, just because they all basically came up together all those years ago. So that's really the only way I see those two leaving. And again, even Letang, I feel like the only way I see him being traded is if he goes to

ownership and Kyle Dubus and is like, okay, things are working out. I'm tired of this. Send me somewhere where maybe I have another. chance of winning. But again, I don't see that happening at this juncture. Other players we've discussed a little bit on the show, you know, Noel Chari can see some interest there, Michael Bunzing, but I think they might keep Michael Bunting past this trade deadline a little bit. And there's one thing I did want to discuss with you to end this segment. And it is coaching related. I thought about this last night. The Boston Bruins are continuing to really struggle

this year. I really wonder if we could see not a legit coaching trade, but kind of an off-the-record coaching trade with the way this is going. Because I think Jim Montgomery's days are numbered in Boston with the way the Bruins are playing. He would be very high on my list. If he were to be made available and the penguins were to move on from Mike Sullivan, I would go after Jim Montgomery very hard considering the way his teams play. in their own zone. I think he's the exact type of coach the penguins need to maybe, you know, get this retool slash re-belt on the fly going in the right direction. And I think for Sullivan, going back to Boston where he's coached before, I think that would make a lot of sense for them

if the penguins want to move on from him at some point later on this season, after this season. So I want to pick your brain on that, Pat. What do you think? It does feel like these two franchises are having a little bit of a game of chicken with one another. other waiting for the other to make the move and neither are doing it. But I agree with you. I like Jim Montgomery as a coach. And what I'm about to say here, I don't want to come off as an indictment of Mike Sullivan because his track record speaks for itself.

I continue to say that he is one of the best coaches in the world and will continue to be wherever he ends up. But if there's one difference between the two. And again, I don't want to get carried away with this. He seems like he's more willing to hold players publicly accountable than Mike Sullivan is. But the big difference in my estimation is that Mike Sullivan, understandably, has become too close with this team, with these big players, because they have done everything together.

They've won championships, they've underachieved, they've had heartbreak, they've had struggle, they've had success. And that's just human nature. When you spend that much time with people, you become close to them and you are less willing to criticize them or hold them accountable for certain failures. And we saw it this year with Montgomery and Boston. He has called out Marchand. He has benched Posternak. And it has, in both instances, it has been completely.

deserved. It wasn't, that's the other thing I want to get at is you don't need Michael Tarian anymore. You don't need a guy who's going to come in and be an unnecessary hard ass and pick fights with players and the media and turn into some dictator behind the bench. But there's because if you remember the beginning of Mike Sullivan's tenure, he had no problem calling out this team when they underperformed. My favorite story with him is not long after he started, He pulled in the top power play unit to his office and said, give me a reason as to why I should keep you guys together. You're underperforming, and there's no reason for me to keep you together.

They said whatever they said, and Sullivan basically looked at them and went, you got five games. Proved to me that you belong together. And they went out and they didn't light the world on fire, but they played a lot better. And he said, all right, you have proven to me that you belong together. That's accountability. And I'm not saying that it's the Penguins Country Club again,

where the inmates are running the asylum and he's got no control over it. But there's too much at this point familiarity. And if you can get someone like Jim Montgomery who doesn't have that familiarity and can maybe give them a little bit of a kick in the pants, it's not going to get them into Stanley Cup contender level because this roster's not built for that. But at the very least, you could turn some things around and maybe be a bit more competitive. And also it's a new coach that can bring in some fresh new ideas and be a bit more innovative for this team and the big three right now. I totally get that there's been some reporting out there that Crosby doesn't want to play for another head coach and all that.

But I think at this point, Mike Sullivan just gotten a bit too comfortable with his gig. And that's probably the best word. Yeah. There's just a little too much comfort right now. And let's also make sure that's clear that there's nothing wrong with that. They have achieved everything they should achieve. Like, have they underachieved? Of course they have.

But it's the National Hockey League. 31 teams go home and one team gets to have a parade. And that happens every year. So at the end of the day, he's a fantastic coach, but it's probably just time for a different perspective. Right. New, innovative, fresh ideas, I think are needed. And I definitely know Jim Montgomery would bring that,

considering the success he's added with Boston. And I know this year, it's not going well. I mean, they just got blown out by the blue jackets at home. Bruins fans were booing them off the ice. Swam and has not been good this year, but he would definitely be very high on my list if he were to be made available, and the Penguins were looking for a new head coach

if they let Mike Sullivan go. But that would do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to take a quick look at the week ahead and a couple of big games on the horizon of the penguins, especially this Friday against the Red Hot Winnipeg Jets. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our final sponsor,

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first $5 lineup. One more time down the app today and use code locked on NHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That's prize picks, run your game. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join by my co-s, Patrick Damp. So, Pat, after this game against the Tampa Bay Lightning,

it does not get any easier for the Penguins in their homestand this week. They'll have a back-to-back this coming weekend. On a Friday and Saturday, Friday, they'll be playing the Winnipeg Jets for the second and final time the Penguins had a really nice start against the Jets earlier this season. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead,

and then the Jets just totally blitz them from there on out. They scored three-street goals, goals to make it 3-2, Penguins tied at 3-3, and then right after that, the Jets just said, hey, see you later. Thanks for coming. And they made the Penguins look like complete fools in their own zone like a lot of other teams have to start this season.

So that's going to be very tough. The Jets are 15 and 3 to start the season. They were once 15 and 1, though they have lost two games in a row. I will say they have a very unusually high shooting percentage to start the season. I think that's going to be coming down in the second half. This is still a very good team, Stanley Cup contender. but I do think they're a shooting percentage. It's a little bit of a mirage right now.

It's going to be regressing to the mean a little bit, even though Connor Hellibuck has been gone. And then after that, on Saturday, the Penguins will play the Utah Hockey Club. Sorry, Pat, I'm still going to call them the Utah Hockey Club until they get a real name. 7-8-3 to start the season. They have 17 points tied for fifth in the central.

They've lost seven or the last 10. They have a minus-13 goal differential, though they still have some players playing at a high level. It's still going to be a pretty tough game. for the Penguins. So there's a quick look ahead here. Pat, real quickly, what are they going to have to do to somehow score an upset over Winnipeg? It's the same thing that they're going to have to do tonight. They're going to have to find it in themselves to play a disciplined game. Yeah. Because as you said, you look at their last matchup against the Jets, it was a lack of discipline

in the defensive zone that led to their demise because despite Winnipeg's high shooting percentage, throwback stat they are a very high PTO team. They're riding a serious PTO bender, but they also have Connor Hellebuck. So even if they're shooting percentage regresses, they've still got one of the best goleys in the world so they can live with that. But they basically, until Winnipeg took over late, they went shot for shot with the Winnipeg Chets. They were able to score on them. And that part of that was because Connor Connor Hellebuck did not play that night. But at the same time, if they would have,

if they would have had even just a crumb of good defensive hockey against the Winnipeg Jets, they probably go out and win that game because they were the better team up until they fell apart defensively. So that's pretty much what I'm looking for for the next two games, because we have seen that this team can get some scoring. The penguins have been able to get scoring from their top guys. And some of the depth players have been chipping in when,

need be. So if you can clean up the defensive game and at least play a little bit disciplined, they'll be okay. Are they going to suddenly become a great team? No, but they can, they'll be able to at least hang if they can figure that out. And you know what's funny, we saw the blueprint in place for that win in Washington where the penguins played easily, the finest third period they've played all season. They held Washington to without a shot for the first half for that period before Washington got a couple more chances in the final half of that period. But the Penguins still were great defensively in that period. And that just, again, left me wondering, where in the heck has that been all year? It's definitely what's the word

I'm looking for? An outlier when you look at all the other third periods they've played this year with the leads they've blown so far. So if you can somehow some way bring that blueprint back, that would also be great in go in terms of winning at least one of those games on the back-to-back, if not sweeping them. But I think a successful week this week for the Penguins, results-wise, at least winning one of these. And if you can squeeze another win out of it, win two out of three,

I think that is a successful week for this team. Even honestly, if you go, I don't know, one in one-in-one, you get three out of six points. I even think that's successful with the teams they have to play this week, considering, you know, Tampa Bay, they're in a playoff spot. Winnipeg, they're in a playoff spot, Utah. They're fighting for a playoff spot as well. well. But if, you know, a success for me, two out of three this week. I just don't really know if we're

going to get that. No, it's, it's a question mark. But again, I keep bringing this up. The East is such a mess this year. Even with the Penguins being seven, 10, and three, they currently still sit two points out of the second wildcard spot. So if you can get a winner to, you are still in the mix. And I know people don't want to hear that because they're doing this retooling on the fly, but the East isn't good this year. So you get a couple points here this week and suddenly you're finding yourself a little bit more in the mix. And we have seen when this team kind of puts themselves in a position to be in the mix, they start showing up. We saw it last year. I don't know if we'll see it this year, but at the very least, they may have one foot in the grave and another on a

banana peel, but they're not dead yet. It's funny because when you look at the standings right now for the playoffs, you know, Florida, they're in it this year, they made it last year. Toronto, same thing. Tampa Bay, same thing. Boston, same thing. Washington, same thing. Carolina and the Rangers.

Seven of the eight teams that made the playoffs last year are in the playoffs right now. It goes to show how hard it is to crack into that top eight when all those teams are so good. the only difference is the devils are in the spot that the Islanders had last year. So I know they're still technically in it if they get a win or two this week or especially if they go two and one or even if they go three and O, but they still have a massive hole to climb out of. So that's a discussion for a completely different day.

And heck, I don't even know if we're going to have that discussion this year, considering how poorly they're playing right now. But I think that would do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back on Wednesday to recap this game against lightning and give you our picks for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. That's right. It is returning this week after taking a little bit of a hiatus last week. But for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in.

And we'll be back on Wednesday.