Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins win a WILD ONE against the Red Wings!

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

The Penguins were victorious on Thursday night in a wild victory against the Detroit Red Wings! Patrick and Hunter break down the Penguins' crazy victory over the Red Wings in overtime. Thanks to some heroics from Kris Letang, a great penalty kill, and some resilience, the Penguins find themselves on a three-game winning streak. (0:00) Then, it's time to have the big discussion about the officiating. On Thursday night, it was wildly inconsistent and nearly cost the Penguins the game. Along with that, they also preview the weekend back-to-back against the Red Wings on Saturday and then the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. (13:33) Finally, the Team USA roster was announced on Friday, and Patrick and Hunter give their reaction to the roster and discuss how the country's top decision makers are operating with an outdated ideology. (26:10)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern.A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. 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 Pittsburgh Penguins won an absolutely wild game against the Detroit Red Wings in overtime on Thursday night. Hunter and I are going to recap that game. And yes, we are going to talk about officiating all that and more 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. Welcome in to the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4 Wet.

Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins, as well as TikTok at Locked On Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, which you should be doing.

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every Friday from 6 to 7.30 Eastern Time. More on them later. Hunter, what a crazy game on Thursday night. It had just about everything you can enjoy as a hockey fan. back and forth action some physicality overtime and then the one thing you can enjoy which I know I know you all want to talk about it Hunter wants to talk about it he's like a dog seeing a bone he wants it he wants it but we're going to hold off on that for a segment because we do got to talk about the game itself four to three in overtime Chris LaTang in his

1,200th NHL game wins it for the Penguins in overtime. And before we get into any of the extracurriculars, the officiating, anything for that, this is a point that I want to make sure does not get lost from Thursday's game. When this team found itself down in the month of December, when they were struggling, this had the markings of a game that would have crushed this team they would have crumbled they would have fallen apart and detroit would have gotten away with two clean points instead they kept battling all night they kept coming back and they get rewarded for their effort it was in my estimation a full team effort on Thursday night. Obviously, Crosby getting two quick goals in the first period was part of the

storyline, but then Blake Lazot gives them a lead in the third period after a monstrous shift, one of many for the fourth line. And then unfortunately, Jack St. Ivany takes a bit of a boneheaded penalty. Yes, dumb rule, but them's the brakes. But they stick to it. They keep pushing in an overtime. Chris LaTang plays the role of hero. Everything else aside, I loved their effort. I loved how they stuck to it. I loved how they kept battling and they got rewarded. Let me start with Chris Letang because he needed a moment like this. He had been really struggling for the last three to four weeks, making all the wrong reads, not playing well in his own zone, not really giving the Penguins anything offensively. I thought this was his best game.

in quite a while, honestly, Pat. I thought Brett Kulak was even stabilizing him a little bit. I had been a little down on that pairing. I wrote about this for the hockey news, how I expected Kulak to get a look with Lettang. I felt like that was the next step in this process. And to start, it wasn't performing that well, that pairing. This game, though, I saw a lot of progress.

I thought Kulak did nice job stabilizing him, and I thought Latang especially was really good. He was making all of the right reads, wasn't playing bad in his own zone. He was moving the puck with authority along the blue line in the offensive zone, and he unleashed an absolute piss missile past Cam Talbot there and overtime. Great feed from Sidney Crosby, but that Latang shot was an absolute piss missile, a rocket, whatever other word you want to call it. It was an outstanding moment for a player that really needed it.

And I really hope that gives him some more confidence going forward because he really needs it. But I just thought that game in general was Latang's best in quite a while. And I have to start out with that because it was really nice seeing him have that moment and get the penguins, excuse me, that extra point because I think they deserved two points from this game. From a full team perspective, I thought they outplayed the Red Wings at five on five. There were numerous shifts throughout this game where they were hemming the Red Wings in their own zone. doing a great job cycling, going from low to high, getting to the high-peger areas.

Camp Talbot was good in net. But I just like the way the penguins were really forechecking in this one and not really letting the Red Wings get going a lot of times in the offensive zone. I think more so than not, the Red Wings got a lot of bounces to go their way, especially the one off this, Stanchin, Pat. I mean, the first thing that reminded me of was the Kevin BX the goal that sent the Canucks to the final in 2011, just very sensitive. similar vibes that were. Kevin B. Exo was the only one that knew where the puck was.

No one else did. Kind of similar here. No one else knew where the puck was. And the puck ends up in the back of the net. Just a very strange play. Crosby doing Crosby things. He continues to light the league on fire. Patty's on pace for over 40 goals this season. He continues to play great. And also again, Blake Lazot in that entire fourth line, shout out to that line. They were a great presence. in the offensive zone all night. Blake Lazotte in particular was so good in this game. He is an absolute puck count.

You see the way the other penalty killers really feed off him as well. I thought this was another great performance from him. I thought Artie She-Lovs had a good game as well. And you said it. It was just an overall strong team effort. I never really felt like they were ever outplayed in this game. And when something went bad like the Jackson Avenue play, they just said, you know what?

we're going to go back to work we're going to go back to doing we're not going to go puck watching we're not going to be like oh no here we go again we blew another one late in the third no they went back to work they secured the point and then they got the extra point in overtime over the last week and a half i've seen this team get more confident they're making quicker decisions more decisive decisions and it's everything they were doing in october and you're really seeing it over this five game stretch very quietly that's three wins in a row in four out of five and they're one point out of a playoff spot again one thing i i really was impressed by on thursday night and it builds off of what you said was their forecheck because there are

two aspects of their offensive zone game that when they work and everybody's pulling in the right direction they work really well the first unit you obviously went over it was the low to high play they it's not quite like the carolina hurricanes where it's cycle point shot cycle point shot but when they have the opportunity to work the points they work the points pretty well and they get players to the front or they give you an option in the bumper position or they even give you an option down low they did that really well against the red wings The other part of what they did really well, and it's a bit high risk, but if you do it correctly, it works. They flip the ice quite a lot in the offensive zone, whether it's a cross-ice pass, whether it's reversing the puck behind the net or around the boards.

But the thing that they do really well when they're on their game is the puck support is there. They follow the play. Guys get into positions. Everything shifts across. accordingly, whether it's players getting to the front of the net, players going behind the net, the point men pinching in ever so slightly to give them more options. And they were doing that a lot against the Red Wings. And when that works, it gives you extended zone time because the opposition has to adjust. They have to get into different defensive positions. They have to fill out a different defensive posture.

And it gives you a second or two to find an open. And they did that really well against the Red Wings. One thing I want to talk real quick about before we head to break and then talk about what I know everybody here wants to talk about is the play of Ardarsheelovs. He deserves a ton of credit for battling because there were two goals you brought up the Andrew Kopp goal, which, what can you do about that? That's a crazy bounce. And frankly, you go back and watch a replay. he didn't come terribly close, but given the bounce, I'll take that effort all day trying to get back to his net.

And then the DeBringcat goal. It hits off of Eric Carlson's inside leg and bounces right to DeBringcat, and there's nothing he can do about it. He deserves a lot of credit for battling against the Red Wings because there were moments where they did get some extended looks, and he made the saves he needed to make. They weren't the prettiest of saves, but he made them when he needed to make them.

I agree. I thought he was really good when he needed to be. That's another good start from him. We all know they're going to rotate the goalies this weekend. Skinner is probably going to go on Saturday for the game at noon in Detroit. And then Sunday, I think Skinner, not Skinner, Shilovs will get the game in Columbus. But, you know, he's starting to find his form a little bit again after a bit of a rough December, though. Again, it was a rough December for basically almost everyone on the team, but especially him.

I thought at the end of November as well, he wasn't really on his game. but his last couple starts he's starting to find himself again which is really nice so i agree i like the way he battled again i just really like the way everyone on this team battled when something went wrong they didn't pout they didn't get upset i mean they got upset at the officials but and everything else they didn't pout they didn't get upset they just said all right we're going to go back to work next shift next shift and they outplayed what is a pretty sound detroit team so far this year. So I just really like this win. Solid stuff from all four lines, all three pairings. Though, Jackson, I havenie, Pat, you might have to sit down at some point because, you know,

you and I talked about it earlier this week. We were down to maybe give the third pairing of Shay St. Ivney a little bit. You can't make that play at the NH level, man. You simply just have to skate the puck out there. Why are you even flipping the puck in the air? That was just a very boneheaded play. And I saw your tweet last night. think he probably needs to sit for a game or two will damn use do it i'm not sure but that's a point that should get him i think in the press box well that's definitely something we're gonna have to talk about as we continue this show as well as the officiating at p p p pg paints arena on thursday night we all know that's what you came here for so we will give you what you came here

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That's NBA Happy Hour, only on Fandul, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Back here on the Friday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodeys. And let's start with the Jack St. Ivany play, because that's where we left off. That penalty was rough, and you referenced what I posted on social media. Listen, you can hate the role all. you want. I do. Hunter does. Most hockey fans do. But it is the most, maybe the most black and white rule there is in the NHL. You flip the puck, clean over the glass in your defensive zone. It's two minutes for delay a game. The problem is there was no need for him to try to go glassing

out in that moment. He had room to skate out of the zone. Or if nothing else, bank it off the boards, take the icing call. You were doing all right in that moment. But then it killed all the momentum that you built from Blake Lazotte's go-ahead goal. They obviously tie it on the ensuing power play. And it's a tough break for Jack St. Ivany. But it wasn't just a bad luck play. It wasn't like he bumped it off his glove and it went over the glass. He shot it over the glass in a situation where he didn't need to.

It might be time for St. Ivany to head to the press box. Yeah, I think maybe for a game or two. and I'm not basing it just off that mistake. I think his play has been a bit inconsistent. You and I have wanted to see that bottom pair of Shane and Ivany go for a little bit. But just again, based on what I've watched, St. Ivaney has just been a bit inconsistent. You can't make that type of play in that situation,

especially after the fourth line, just delivered you the potential game-winning goal there. It was very much a puck-don't-lie moment, especially with what the Red Wings were getting away with some of their bounces and then the officiating, which we're getting into just a second, But you simply can't make that play there. And I guess you can throw Connor Clifton back in for a game or two. And I'm not the biggest fan of him either.

I think you're still rearranging deck chairs. But again, I think especially with his inconsistent play followed up with this boneheaded mistake, I think you can put him up in the press box for a game or two. Will Dan Mews do it? We'll have to see. But there's that. I also want to shout out Dan Mews and Madison Nickel for that off-sides challenge in the third period, Pat. took a lot of stones to do that

in that situation. It looked closer than it appeared because when you really zoom in the Rebings player was very much off-site. In real time, it's very close, but when you really zoom in and pause it, it was pretty clear cut that it was offside. So shout out

DMU's the challenge. Shout out Manus to Nickle Penguins video coach. He does an outstanding job in that role. He's been doing it for the last little while now. So really want to shout out them for that challenge. And all right. Let's get into it. We're about 18 minutes, give or take into this episode.

The officiating last night was an absolute gong show. I have finally looked up who this ref is. Cody Beach, you have made the list on my worst official rankings. You're right up there with Garrett Rankin now. Not a bad, not a good list to be on, my friend. I don't know what that officiating was last night. They were calling everything known to man in the first three. And a couple of these penalties were legit.

For example, the double minor, that's a legit call. the Crosby call. That one was legit. But Parker Watherspoon, you're calling that rough for a clean hit. I see that go on called 99 times a game. They pick and choose when they want to call it the other 1% of times. I don't understand it. Later on in the game, there was the play where Ben Kindle clearly is having his stick held. He looks back to the ref being like, hey, what's going on?

He doesn't call it until the crowd gets on him. And then he finally raises his arm. Just the biggest clowns in all the NHL, these types of officials that they're not going to call it unless they get bullied into it. And then also later on in the game, you know, the air horn, the let's go Penn's chant, it's ref, you suck. They must have done it like five or six times. Good on the crowd for that. But the officiating last night was an absolute joke in the highest order. And they still don't answer to media questions after games, at least with the NFL.

I hate they're officiating. They at least take questions from media reporters after games. The NHL, they don't do it with their refs and they really should because these guys have such high egos and they just come across as such clowns in these games sometimes. I loved what Brian Rusted said some words that were not allowed to repeat on our PG-13 show, but he gave it to the ref. Very soft on that ref for calling him for unsports from my conduct. Again, Pat, another joke of a call. but I don't blame Brian Rust one bit. Nor do I.

And I try very rarely to push this button when it comes to an analyzing hockey. Because listen, if I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Officials across all pro sports, for the most part, with the exception of some standout cases, they aren't fixing games. They aren't biased. They're just bad. or not even bad it's human error you're you are going to have human error everywhere you go in pro sports there's going to be unintentional biases there's going to be mistakes there's going

to be errors there's going to be missed calls that is human nature the problem i had with last night is twofold one in the first period they were calling everything and you know what i don't care if you call everything. I really don't. In fact, I would rather you call everything because we saw it after the 0-4 lockout. They overhauled the rules. They called everything for the first month or so. And the players adapted. They adapted to the way the game was called. So when you get the whole bad faith, oh, what? You want them to call every single little thing? Yeah, they're pro athletes. They will adapt. They will figure it out. It happens. But the problem was, once the second period began, Detroit was doing things that were getting called in the first and they were getting uncalled.

Now, I will see. There are a couple of blatant trips, especially to start that second period that were not called. And I'm like, where is the standard? Where is the consistency? I've had this problem with NHL officiating for several years and it continues to get worse. And most of those calls that you're on non calls that you're referring to they didn't happen behind the play they didn't happen in big scrum they happened right in front of an official and they went on call that's what makes it annoying now here's the part i will say that i didn't like about rust is listen i'm not implying that they're getting to this point so everybody relax it was a little reminiscent of late stage dan bilesma penguins where the second they didn't get a call go their way the second

things started to go south they all started barking they all started yelling they all started yapping and the team had no discipline last night i understand it they were getting hosed left and right but even even though you are in that emotional that emotional state you're in that tough of a game you were still in a very tight game you can't do that you can't come out in literally the name of the call abusive and official you can't abuse of and official you can't abuse an official in that game because you're going to give a very good Red Wings team a chance to get back in it. So we have beaten this horse as much as it needs to be beaten. It was bad. But we real quickly got to talk about this upcoming weekend because much like

the officiating. I know Hunter also really wants to talk about Team USA. The roster was named today. So we're going to save that for our final segment. Two games coming up this weekend. Saturday at noon in Detroit against the Red Wings and then Sunday at 3 o'clock in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. We've already kind of gone over Detroit. We did that on our preview episode yesterday. For the Penguins, I'll just keep this brief. You got to do a lot of the same things you did on Thursday night. Don't parade to the penalty box. Continue to play a solid five-on-five game and capitalize on your opportunities. They do that. I like their chances against this team against Columbus, razor thin margins against this team so far in two matchups.

You had the 5-4 shootout loss back in October, and then you had Chris LaTang, funny enough, win the game in overtime in Columbus 4 to 3 over Thanksgiving weekend. Columbus, they're on their way up. They're not there yet. They're struggling, but there is a good team being built there, and the penguins can't take them lightly. Yeah, I think that Columbus team so far this season, it's better than it's getting credit for.

And I know it's weird to say that for a team that's eighth in the Metro at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. But there is legit talent here. I mean, Zach Werensky's having another outstanding season with 14 goals and 40 points in 35 games. Yeah, I know he's been banged up a bit lately, but he has still been fantastic. Coriel Marchenko has been awesome with 14 goals and 31 points.

Varan Kov has 13 goals. We all know how great Adam Van Tilly already is, 12 goals and 25 points in 39 games. Sean Monaghan hasn't had the season that I thought he was going to have, but he can still strike at any time, same with Cole Schillinger. So again, there's a lot of really good, young, talented players here that can make you pay, you know, on a moment's notice. So definitely don't want to take this team very lately.

It's honestly weird in a way, Pat, kind of feels like it's almost a schedule loss just with the way the schedule has been this week. You get Detroit on Thursday. Saturday, you go to Detroit for the second half of a home and home. A lot of these home and homes, I feel like, end up in splits, but the pain was off an opportunity to sleep it. And then you have the second half of back-to-back with travel, basically less than 24 hours later.

So that Sunday game, it's going to be really tough for multiple reasons, but especially just because of, you know, the travel and the schedule, especially, um, this week. So I still think a weekend split is definitely in the cards this weekend. I think that would be considered a success. Obviously, you want to. sweep both games and get more points and get on a five game winning streak here. But I think if you can split these two games, that would be pretty big for a penguin's team

that's still trying to get back into a playoff spot in the top eight in the Eastern Conference. You said at about Detroit, if you keep doing the same things, I think you'll have an opportunity to really win this one, especially though, please stay out of the penalty pox and do not give this Red Wings potent power play a lot of opportunities. I liked the P.K. last night, especially with with Lezant, but I also especially like the way Archer Shilov's really, really performed on the PK. He made some really big saves for the Penguins on the PK. So if you can really avoid sending out the fourth-ranked Red Wings Power Play,

that would be really good, keep this to five-on-five. And then for Columbus, slowing down their young guns, if you can get to, you know, some of their goaltending as well. Their goal-tending this year, 897 overall, Merzleekins has actually been worse than Jeff Greaves. Greaves is at 909, which is pretty respectable. Merzleikins, four goals against average, 8,77s, time will tell on which goalie

penguins will see. But, yeah, those are just some of my keys to victory for this weekend. Again, I think a split, very much doable. You know, the dream is going back to back and winning both. But it's going to be tough, especially with the way the schedule is set up here. 100%. I'll just say this real quick,

and then we'll head to a break and talk some team USA. But you just got to play simple on Sunday. You've got to play a classic road game. Nothing fancy, smart hockey, puck, you know, all the cliches. Pucks in deep, pucks to the net, play well defensively. And you take your chances on the second half of a back-to-back, especially if you can get a win in Detroit on Saturday. But that's going to do it for this middle segment.

When we come back, Team USA has released their roster. Oh, boy, we got some thoughts. So stick with us. We're going to talk about that. when we get back right after this back. Back here to close out the Friday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. The NHL is going back to the Olympics,

and that means we're getting best on best for the first time in quite a few years. Team USA looks like they are going to overthink it. Once again, the roster is out, and there are some noticeable snubs on this roster. Chief among them, Dallas Stars Forward, Jason Robertson. Also, not on is Adam Fox. We kind of expected that one. They're unfortunately putting him in the doghouse for that. But along with them, you don't have Cole Caulfield, Alex Debrinkat, Alex Tuck,

Cutter Godier, Matthew Nyes, Lane Hudson, and Patrick Cain. Some of those, we kind of expected that they weren't going to be there. But the big surprise is that they are not only taking Rangers captain J.T. Miller. They're also taking Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck. Listen, the Pittsburgh are in me. I'm happy some Pittsburgh natives are getting the call for Team USA. That's huge for the growth of Pittsburgh hockey. it shows how far it's come but why both why both i don't get it but this is something that team

USA has been doing since almost the dawn of time now especially since 1980 and some people aren't going to be prepared for this event pat but i think miracle has really rotted the brains a lot of the USA hockey decision makers and don't get me wrong people miracle it is amazing It's probably the biggest sports upset in the history of sports. It's right up there. But USA hockey has been rotted by, oh, I want the right players, not the best players. This is Team USA's best chance at finally defeating Canada in a best on best competition in a gold medal game in quite some time. yet we're still repeating the mistakes that past USA teams and management staffs and coaching staffs have made.

You go back to the World Cup of hockey where they brought all these grinders and they left out players like Phil Kessel at home for reasons. Even the 2014 Olympic team wasn't very good. I remember watching that semi-final game against Canada. It was only a one-goal game, but I remember saying to myself, you can play this game for five more hours and the U.S. was not scoring on Canada. Yeah, Kerry Price was being Carrie Price, but the U.S. didn't, they simply didn't have enough goal scores. And now that we finally do have enough goal scores, you're still not taking them over lesser players

because you want them to fit a role. I'm sorry, man, J.T. Miller is not good anymore. Vince Trocheck, cool, he wins some face-offs. He's having a bad season. You're telling me you're not going to put Jason freaking Robertson on. your team when the U.S. has come up a goal short in a lot of these competitions for nations, the World Cup of hockey, the 2014 Olympics, we're just, we're not learning from previous mistakes. I don't get it. Adam Fox is also a massive snub to me. I think Adam Fox is a top

five defensemen in the NHL. If you want to say he's not, put him in the six to ten range, I won't argue against that. There are not a defenseman that this country has to offer that are better than Adam Fox. I'm sorry. Noah Hannafin, he's tall. So what? Seth Jones. I like Seth Jones. I think he's having a good year. He was great for the Panthers at the end of last season to go on for their back-to-back Stanley Cup runs. But Adam Fox is still a better player than Seth Jones. He's better than Brock Faber as well. I just, I don't get it. Like, you can fill four skill lines here. There's no, salary cap. So why do we need to keep repeating the same mistakes? Again, I'm sorry. I can probably

keep going on for 10 more minutes. I'm going to give this over to you now, Pat. But I just simply don't understand it. You don't need to keep doing the same thing for no reason. I'm going to do the classic spoonful of sugar, spoonful of salt. Let's start with a spoonful of sugar. USA hockey welcome to the elite tier because here's the thing you look at this roster it's still really really good 100% look at the look at the top four centers jack ikel austin matthews jack hughes dylan larkin i will take that center depth all day long yeah look at the depth on the left wing brady kachuk jake gensel kyle conner and yes j t miller and that will weave into my spoon full of salt here in a sec.

Then you look at the defense. Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy, Jacob Slavin, Brock Faber, Zach Worensky, Seth Jones. That's a pretty good top six. In that, it's elite. Connor Hellebuck, Jake Ottinger, Jeremy Swayman, three incredible goalies. Here's where I'm going to give you the spoonful of salt.

J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck. I do believe that there is room to have players like this on the team USA roster. Because I said this on a previous show, it is not even 2003 anymore. Players are built to be complete now. Yes, your Jack Eichols, Austin Matthews, Sidney Crosby's, Connor McDavid's, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, they're all elite offensive players, but they're not slouches defensively. They are good 200-foot players. So I understand the need to maybe bring a guy who isn't the best offensively but plays a solid two-way game. And this is going to be

a very Penguins homer thing to say. If you need that kind of player, there's an American-born player here in Pittsburgh who does all that stuff quite well. His name's Brian Rust. And he is out scoring both J.T. Miller and Vincent Trochec. So if you want to take J.T. Miller or Vincent Trochec and then Brian Rust and drop one of Miller or Trocheck, you filled the same role with a guy who has produced more points and more goals than both. It doesn't mean I think Brian Rust is some incredible player who is worlds above Miller or Trocheck, but he does. He does. essentially the same functions has shown he can play with elite talent and has produced more this year and probably has produced more in the last calendar year than both. So I understand the thought

process, but what they're doing and who they're bringing does not compute. I'd rather have Brian Russ than J.T. Miller 100%. However, none of those guys should be there over players like Cole Caulfield or Jason Robertson or even Alex de Brinkett, you know, for example, especially Robertson. That's the biggest snub of them all. And I got this one other player, American Born, that I wouldn't mind bringing there for a multitude of reasons, because he could maybe counter in a way, a Brad Marshawn or a Tom Wilson.

And he's on our biggest rival, Trevor Zegris. Trevor Zegris is a rat. He's having a good year. I still wouldn't bring him over. some of these other guys. Matthew Nyes as well is also a very big snub. But again, I saw this on the athletic today and I wanted to bring it up here. And part of the article goes, the reason for Robertson Snub will cause many to debate. It sounds like nobody on the management or the coaching staff was beating the drum for him feeling he's two one dimensional and there are other players

better suited to check. Please, enough of this stupid boomer mentality. Oh, he's one dimensional. You know what he does, Pat? He scores goals better than a lot of U.S. born players over the last calendar year. You're telling me you don't want that in the lineup. Also, he's competent defensively. Cole Confuel, people would be like, well, he's small, he's small. He would adjust to a fourth line role on Team USA. You think J.T. Miller and Vince Trocheck and some of these other role players

are going to slow down the top two players on the planet and Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon? Hell no, they're not going to do that. So Team USA, they have finally gotten to the point where They can almost go blow for blow with Canada, elite versus elite. It's time to start acting like you are an actual hockey powerhouse and not this stupid underdog that you were back in 1980. Because it's not like that anymore.

Yeah, it's great. We just won the world championships this past summer. But we now have a talent pool that can finally get really close to stacking up to Canada. That could potentially beat Canada when it matters most. and I'm just tired of just like this old way of thinking where you're just going to bring these role players and there's players that are better suited to check. Nah, man, go elite versus elite.

That's what I would do, man. Again, I'm not a general manager of this team, but I'm bringing Jason Robertson. I'm bringing Cole Caulfield, maybe even someone like Alex de Brinkett, Matthew Nyes, if you want to argue them. I'm 100% bringing Adam Fox. In my opinion, Adam Fox is the second best

American-born defenseman behind Quinn Hughes. People can argue McAvoy, and I think that's totally fine. I think McAvoy has a great case. Adam Fox is the second-best American-born defenseman. And I know some people will say, well, look at his four nations, look at his four nations. He wasn't as bad as some people made him out to be. Jack Hughes was worse, and he's right back here. And deservedly so. Jack Hughes deserves to be here. But so does Adam Fox. So, again, I just don't like a lot of the mentality about this. And, you know, I hope they go out there and prove me wrong. I'm still going to cheer on Team USA at the Olympics, obviously.

And this team is still, you said it, it's very deep. It's still a great team. But you had a really big opportunity to bring more potent goal scores over quote-unquote role players who are not having good years and you decided not to do it. Vince Trojeck had a pretty good tryout at the Four Nations. He didn't do anything. He was horrendous and Sullivan hardly played him. He gets another crack at it and someone like,

Jason Robertson doesn't I don't know man not with that line of thinking and I'll end it with this because this has been a marathon of an episode because we got a lot to talk about but two things I'll end it with one and it's going to be another like I said spoonful of sugar spoonful of salt spoonful of sugar still a great roster and these are elite level players and we know how tight and how razor thin the game of hockey can be maybe Sullivan and company pull it out. Maybe this roster surprises us and they make a deep run and they come home with gold from Italy. It's entirely possible with how much talent there is on this roster. However, this is the problem in my estimation that Team USA and USA hockey is running into. They are doing

an incredible job everywhere else internationally. Yes. The U.S. development program, the world juniors, the world championships. I know it's not the same, but the women's development program is elite. But then once we get to the top level, whether it's the World Cup, whether it's the Four Nation Face Off, or whether it's the Olympics,

the people who make the decisions all the way at the top take all the great work that the program has done over the last 20 years and just crumples it up. and throws it away, and it's a problem. Now, again, they could surprise us. They can win, they could do it, but I'm skeptical with this roster. So that is going to do it for our Friday edition of Locked-on Penguins real quick before we head out just a programming note for all of our listeners.

Fan Take Friday is going to be on a little bit of a hiatus because of all the weekend back-to-backs. we're going to have to do a lot of recaps and a lot of previews. It doesn't mean we're scrapping the segment. It's just not going to be fitting into the schedule with how jam-packed. It's going to be before the Olympics. So don't worry. We will put the call out when we have a Friday, when we can do fan take Friday.

So don't worry. It's not going to do it for this Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you for hanging with us on what was definitely a long episode. Hunter and I will be back on Monday to recap the weekend back to back, break down any other news and get you set for the week ahead. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you once again for tuning in and we will be back on Monday.