Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Remembering the legacy of former Penguins GM Ray Shero

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

The hockey world was rocked by the news of the sudden passing of former Penguins General Manager Ray Shero on Wednesday. Patrick and Hunter begin the show discussing the legacy of Ray Shero and how so much of what he did after being hired by the team in 2006 completely transformed the direction of the franchise. Then, the Penguins have recalled three forwards from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: Vasily Ponomarev, Emil Bemstrom, and Valterri Puustinen. They talk about the impact these three could have and how it's likely put-up or shut-up time for Puustinen. Finally, they close the show by having a little bit of fun. During Pat McAfee's Big Night AHT at PPG Paints Arena, Sidney Crosby may have thrown his hat in the ring to be the next Steelers quarterback! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! 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. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Locked-on Penguins, we remember a man who changed the organization for the better. The Penguins are going to get a lot of call-ups ahead of this weekend's games. And is Sidney Crosby the answer to the Steelers quarterback problems? Hunter and I are going to talk about all that on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet.

Joined as always by my co-host, the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our shows account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. plus the Roku channel. And if you follow us on YouTube, go ahead and hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes.

Hunter, the hockey world was shocked and saddened on Wednesday afternoon when the news came out that former Penguins general manager, Ray Shiro, had died at age 62. as the news continued to develop throughout the afternoon and the evening. Now wild general manager and former Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bill Garen revealed that Ray Shiro had been sick for a little while. He had not told a lot of people save for his family and a handful of close friends. He died at age 62 in Arizona. I'm believing with his family and some of his friends.

friends, this is just a massive, massive loss for not just the NHL, but the United States hockey community as a whole. Obviously the son of the legendary Fred Schiro, the man who won the Stanley Cup with our biggest rival, the Philadelphia Flyers, but brought the hockey world one of the greatest quotes to ever be spoken in hockey in win today. walked together forever.

This man's life was dedicated to the sport of hockey. And we can talk about everything he has done for the hockey community as a whole. Some of the memorial articles and memories of him have been shared all over the internet, all over athletic articles, all over wherever you go to get your hockey information. He was an absolute giant of the game. game, but for us on this show, we have to focus on the impact he had on the Pittsburgh Penguins. For anybody who may not be aware, who may not know the full story here, I will give it as quick of a recap as I can, and then Hunter, the floor is yours. Hired by the Penguins as general manager in

2006, after spending several years under David Poil with the Nashville Predators as an assistant general manager. He was, in my estimation, responsible for a complete reformation of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. I have said this multiple times. He was a huge believer in the penguins adopting the developmental model to where they use the Wheeling Nailers and the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins very actively to cultivate and develop talent because he understood that with the likes of Sidney Cros.

of Gennie Malkin, Chris LaTang, Jordan Stahl, Mark Andre Fleury, and a few others that the penguins were never going to have a lot of top 10, top five picks. So they used all of their developmental system to get talent ready for the NHL. And the biggest thing, and you can read this and hear about this everywhere, is he changed the culture of the penguins. It became a very familial atmosphere. He would make sure that when guys were signed or if they were traded to the penguins, that their families were given welcome baskets, information about the city. If they had children, they were given penguins apparel, including custom jerseys. He got to know every single person in the organization.

And of course, he is the man who won the first Stanley Cup in the Sydney Crosby era in 2000. putting that team together as well as making the absolutely bold decision less than a year removed from making it to the Stanley Cup final in 2008 to fire Michelle Tarian and hire Dan Bilesma as the team's head coach. So Hunter, your thoughts on Ray Shiro. First off, that was a beautiful tribute, Pat. I was shocked and also very saddened to hear the news that Ray Shiro had passed away. on Wednesday at the age of 62.

Ray Shira was the GM of my childhood. You said it, 2006 to 2014. So a lot of my elementary school years, all my middle school years, and a couple of my high school years as well. Always around the trade deadline, I would get so excited because you never knew what he was going to do.

Because he changed the way the Penguins operated as a franchise around the deadline. And heck, even during the offseason, Pat. to me, it all got started with that Marion Hosa trade going into the 2008 playoffs. I will still forever say that Marion Hosa and Jake Gensel are the two best winger Cindy Crosby will ever play with throughout his career. It is a 1A, 1B. But the biggest thing that Hosa trade did was usher in a new era and send a message saying

that, hey, the penguins would be all in for a very long time. Practically the rest of Cindy Crosby's tenure hasn't been all of it, especially these last couple of years, Pat. But for the most part, they would be all in every single year that Cindy Crosby of Ganyi Malkin and Chris Lattang were on this team. And it was a brilliant move. I was so excited. Hosa and Sid meshed beautifully together.

And I know he was only here for one year. The meme still goes crazy when you see him kind of crying on the Red Wings bench in game seven because he left a sign with the Red Wings. But hey, he won Stanley. up to the Blackhawks people. So it's totally good. But that trade will forever live in my memory as a way of ushering in a new era of Penguins hockey. It showed everyone that the Penguins are for real and that they will be going for it with this core group. The Jerome McGinnler trade. Remember, everyone went to bed, Pat. Oh, he's going to Boston. He's going to Boston. This is all done.

I wake up the next day. I almost screamed for five minutes because I was so excited that Jerome McGinla was coming to Pittsburgh. Like, he was so good with those types of moves. And you know what he also did outside of helping the Penguins win that 2009 Stanley Cup, obviously bringing over Pascal DuPui, Halgill, Chris Kunitz. He drafted players that were big pieces for the Penguins 2016 in 2017 Stanley Cups. Pat, Brian Rust, Jake Gensel, Olim, Olim, Mott. Matt Murray, I can keep going if you want me to.

He drafted those players and they were so crucial to the Penguins winning those Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. His impact on this franchise has been felt for almost 20 years at this rate. And I know not every move he made was good. You know, we still have the mean pad of the Douglas Murray trade, crank shaft if you call him. honestly, man, 14, 15-year-old Hunter loved Douglas Murray. Looking back at it now, a Sony who's 27.

Yeah, it was a bit of an overpayment. But as a kid, I absolutely loved watching him. And he scored that banger of a goal in game three of the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, if my memory serves me correct against New York Islanders, banger of a goal there, by the way, the Penguins were able to win that game in overtime, thanks to a Chris Cunitt's goal, five to four. But he was just a flat-out, awesome human being in the front office.

He changed the penguins for the better. And his impact, even in 2025, Pat, is still being felt to this day. So I say my heartfelt condolences to his family and his friends during this time. Absolutely. And I have to give a hat tip to our friend on this show, Josh Yohi, who wrote a really good piece yesterday in talking. to the coach of the 2009 Penguins Dan Bilesma about his relationship and his bond with Ray Shiro. And I feel like this quote in memory from Dan Bilesma really sums up who Ray Shiro was and how great it was to work with him and to be around him. I'm going to read this

verbatim from Josh's article that way. You can get the full extent of this quote. and he recalls this moment after they had won the Stanley Cup in Detroit in 2009. Bilesma says, quote, we had just won the cup in Detroit and we're standing there on the bench because we didn't really know what to do. We were thinking about all the changes we made, how incredible those few months were. It finally occurred to Ray that we had both been coaches involved with USA hockey

at some point in our lives. At the time, he owned a level five coaching card for USA hockey. I only had a level three coach card. So we're taking it all in. Ray then leans over to me and says, just remember, you only have a level three card. I'm still more qualified to coach this team than you are.

I love that. And also, I didn't want to correct myself. It's the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarter Finals. Of course, 2012 was the infamous Flory Meltdown, of course, my apologies on that.

But game three of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals was the Douglas Murray goal, that banger. that I mentioned a little bit earlier. So apologies on that people. And I also wanted to talk about real quickly something you said in your piece there in that's a general manager's work after they retire, move on, get fired, whatever lives on. It never is a complete 180. You will never have an opportunity where a new general manager comes in and everything changes. It's extremely rare. It's almost impossible. But you're right. A lot of

his impact is still being felt. And you look at a guy like Brian Rust. That is credit to Shiro. That's a guy they got under Shiro who they scouted, who they liked and who they developed. And that brings it full circle because he wasn't a highly touted draft pick. He wasn't somebody that you were circling on your depth chart in training camp and thinking, this guy's going to turn into a top six top line forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins. You looked at him as somebody that might come up and play a few games here and there and might make a difference, might not, might be involved in a trade that helps us get a better player at the deadline as we're chasing a Stanley Cup.

But that was the way that Ray Shiro built the organ, rebuilt the organization, excuse me, was he identified players like that and said, they'll spend a good couple years in Wokes Bear or even a year or two in Wheeling and then a year and two in Wokes Bear and by year four or five after they get out of college, after they leave juniors, they'll be a Pittsburgh penguin. It's going to take some time. But when you have these elite talents on your roster, you're never going to pick very high. so this is the way we have to operate.

And lastly, the one of the lasting memories I will have of Ray Shiro is this. Everyone gives me grief for it, but I absolutely loved how well done the Penguins 50th anniversary documentary was. And he was very candid when they talked to him about coming on as the general manager of the Penguins. Not only is he replacing a legend in Pittsburgh and in Hobart. and Craig Patrick. But this is a tumultuous time for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

They're dealing with the fallout from yet another bankruptcy. There's very serious discussions that they might get sold and might get moved out of Pittsburgh. And he brings that up right away and says, you're replacing Craig Patrick. And my family's excited that we're moving to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Nashville, and they're getting ready to decorate the house we get and all this stuff. and he said he told them, I don't know if I would do that. You might need to hold off because I don't know how long we'll be here.

And it wasn't him saying I'm going to get fired. It was him saying, I took this job, but this team might not be here for very long. 100%, man. And another thing that really stands out to me about his penguin's tenure was how loyal he was. Some people will even say that he was maybe too loyal, especially to someone like Dan Bilesma, who it was definitely time for him to go after that 2014 series against the Rangers where they're up three games to one, one game away from getting to the conference final. They blow it.

Heck, you could have made an argument that Balsma should have been fired in 2013 after that embarrassing sweep against the Boston Bruins when a lot of people were picking the Penguins to go to the final, but the Bruins just totally bullied them. And then Tuka Ras was also just gave them 980 goaltending in four games. He was absolutely ridiculous. But Shero was loyal to a fault. You mentioned that amazing piece by Josh Yewe that he wrote on Wednesday.

And he even said, like, you know, Penguins only only, ownership at the time wanted Shiro to fire Bilesma. He said no. And the ownership is like, well, okay, we're going to let go of both of you. Then they did. Jim Rutherberg comes in. Restless history. He helps them get the back to back cups, yada, yada, yada. We're not here to talk about Jim Rutherford. But it was still pretty awesome to see how loyal Shiro was throughout his penguin's tenure as a whole. It really did change the entire culture of the organization. and we are nothing but grateful for that as Penguins fans and Penguins analysts. So our most heartfelt condolences to the Shiro family in this time.

And thank you, Ray Shiro, for everything that you did for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as we Penguins fans frequently said during his tenure as the Penguins general manager. In Shiro, we trust. Hunter and I will be right back with the Thursday edition of Locked-on Penguins right after this message. Do you have trouble sleeping? If so, you're not alone. That used to be me, lacking rest, tossing and turning.

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for what a giant of the game, Ray Shiro was. But we do have some news that we need to get to for today's episode, and that is it was announced on Thursday morning that the penguins have made three recalls from the Wokes Bear Scranton Penguins. They have recalled forwards Emil Bemströmström, Vasily Ponomerov, and Valtari Pustinen on an emergency basis. Obviously, this comes as we still wait for an update. on forward Rutger McGority, who was hurt over the week, or earlier this week in the Penguins win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

He blocked a shot, was seen after the game in a walking boot. We discussed that earlier in the week. And Hunter, I know you saw this news, so I'll let you take the ball and run with it. There are other injuries that we now are aware of with the Penguins. Yeah, so first off, Pat, I'll give you the practice lines for today. We have Ville Coivinen, Cindy Crosby, and Brian Russ on the top line. Very good that Billy Coyvin is on the top line, especially with Magrorty. We'll have to see the update.

I was listening to the GM show on Wednesday, the final one of the season with Penguins' GM and President of Hockey Operations, Caldubis. And he said actually at the time of the recording, McGority was going in to get a CT scan of his foot. So we'll have to see what the update is. Hopefully it's not too serious, Pat, because I want to see what he can do for Wilkesbury in the playoffs. And it would really stink if he's out for the playoffs because he's been fantastic for them for them for out the season, and he's also been great for the Penguins in his second recall

over these last few games. You have Dayton Hinden with Hagenin'Lankin and Ricardo Kelle on the second line, Connor Dewar with Valterrey Pustin and Kevin Hayes on the third line, and then Yonokopopin, Vasily Pan Amir and Amel Benstrom on the fourth line defensively. Pairings are kind of the same. Mac Grislich, Chris Litton, Connor Timmons, Eric Carlson, and then Ryan Graves and Ryan Shea. So who is out for today? Obviously, see Mark and McGority is not out there. Philip Thomasino, he is still doing with a concussion, but a couple of Penguins reporters did say,

but he skated before practice. So that is good news, Pat, but probably he's not going to play on Friday against the Devils. We'll have to see if he gets in either A, against the Bruins or B, next Thursday, against the Washington Capals. By the way, what a weird end of the season. Three games in nine days, just, I don't know,

kind of weird to me, I'm just saying. And then you also have Blake Lausant. He is still a bit banged up. And then Nolichari and Matt Nietto are also not out there for practice. Don't really know if this is injury related. You know, waivers related, we'll have to see. But they are not out there for practice today. Maybe they're just getting rest for the final three games.

I don't know. All I know is that is that they are not out there, but we'll get updates for Mike Sullivan fairly soon. Yeah, it's interesting to see. And this is, it's what we wanted to see with the team near the end of the season. we want to see guys like Ponomera get a chance. We wanted to see what Pustinen could do once again. He had an up and down year last year with the Penguins.

Looked like he might turn into something, might not, hasn't been all that great overall in the last year. But as for Ponomera, been a pretty solid year for him with the baby Penguins. 54 games, 15 goals, 25 assists for 40 points. he is one of those players that I don't want to give them the direct comparison, but it's in the same category for me as Ville Covenin. Very intriguing prospect, very intriguing player that we want to see what he can do, has a lot of promise.

And while he's probably not going to be a top six guy in his career, you do see the potential there. You look at the stats I just mentioned with the baby penguins. This is a player who could be pretty productive in your middle or bottom six. And if there's one thing we have known about this penguins team for the past few years, they are sorely in need of depth production. 100%. I think he still projects to be as a bottom six center in my opinion,

but there's really nothing wrong with that. Ville Covenant, he's the player to me that can play in the top six on a full-time basis going forward in next season. And if Ponomero does make the team, again, I see it more as the third or fourth line center. If I had to pick one of those two, probably the fourth point center to start. He already is good defensively. He can play him a penalty kill.

But if he can give them a little bit more offense, I think they would have the makings of a really solid fourth flying center for years to come. But hey, Pat, we have to see. The sample size is still very small for his NHL career. I did like him a little bit earlier this year when he was up for a bit. but it looks like as of right now he is going to play on Friday again to Devils, the final meeting against the Devils this season. And I'm excited.

I want to see what he can do, even though it's a meaningless game for the Penguins, still not for someone like him who is trying to carve out a role on this team on a full-time basis for next season. But again, best case for me, bottom six center who can give you a little bit more offense, but is already good defensively.

Absolutely. Same thing goes for Valteri Pustin and brought him up a little bit a couple of minutes ago. Over release, man. He has a wicked release and I want to see him use it if he's back in the lineup on Friday. As do I. And he has been a little bit of a confusing. I don't even know if you can really call him prospect anymore because he did spend a good bit of time with the big club last season. And again, like you said, great release when he has the opportunity, has a nice little scoring touch every now and then could be a good middle six option if he continues to develop. but hasn't exactly been the most productive season for him with the baby penguins, 47 games, 16 goals, 19 assists, 35 points. And that does give me a little bit of a pause simply because we saw that for the most part,

he can hang in the NHL. Sometimes he's productive. Other times he does fall a little bit into the cardio merchant category where He goes longer stretches without producing, doesn't add a ton. But given the fact that he showed he could hang at the NHL level, at least in that regard, you would have wanted to see better production from him at the AHL level. And only having 16 goals in 35 points is a little disappointing because you would hope that going down to the

HL would kind of be a, I'm too good for the HL, but maybe not quite ready for full-time action in the NHL. So very curious to see what he does, should he get into the lineup and get some playing time over these last three games. Yeah, I agree with you. I think at this point, Pat,

he's kind of just a tweener right now as, you know, good as an 11th, 12, maybe 13th forward. But I think the days of penciling him in as a, potential top six, top nine guy as of right now are gone. That can change, of course. But I think right now he's kind of just a tweener, but I still want to see his wicked release on display. If he gets in the lineup on Friday and then potentially Sunday against Boston

and the next week against Washington as well. And then I also want to see him have a good playoff run for Wilkesbury. You're right. Those numbers, I want to see them be a little bit better because he did get a decent sample size with the penguins last year. But it seems like to me he's hit a little bit of a wall. Like, you know, players like, you know, Coiffin and Magrorty, they passed him by a little bit, you know, even Saul, like Vasily Ponomerov, I think he's passed by it a little bit.

So I want Houston to try and go out there and be like, hey, don't forget about me as well, at least these final three games if he plays all three. Right. You put that a very good way is you kind of want to see him reemerge and tell everybody, hey, don't forget about me, I'm still here. Right now, and obviously this can change. It won't change with the last three games of the season, but it could change with a good playoff run,

a good training camp, and maybe a good start if he's with the big club next year. But right now, as we record this on April 10th, right now I look at him as a classic quad A guy. He's probably too good to be in the HL full time, but also probably not good enough to be full-time NHLer. So we will see what happens with him. Again, the talent is there. The hockey sense is there. Now it's incumbent on him to put it all together as one complete package consistently. So we will obviously keep an eye on this with any waiver movement, with any other updates there

might be. And obviously on our Friday episode, we're going to get you prepared for both of the games this weekend against the New Jersey Devils and the Boston Bruins. I say, weekend Friday night, but we all call that weekend, right? I digress. But that is going to do it for our middle segment here on Locked on Penguins. When we come back, sorry, Chris Carter. We may have to talk Steelers for just a little bit to close out this episode of Locked on Penguins.

And Hunter and I will do that when we come back right after this. But first, we got to tell you about today's last sponsor. And that is wonderful pistachios. If you're looking for a snack that is both delicious and nutritious, You can crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one ounce serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value.

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and that is always a favorite. So get snacking and get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. All right, welcome back. It's the Thursday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp alongside Hunter Hodes as always. And again, my apologies to our friend Chris Carter over on Locked-on Steelers. We all know as Steelers fans, if you are a Steelers fan,

I don't want to assume every Locked-on Penguins listener is a Steelers fan. But if you're in Pittsburgh, you undoubtedly know that the biggest narrative of this off-season is the search for the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Right now it's Mason Rudolph and some other guy you've probably never heard of, but there just might be an option waiting in the wings for the Pittsburgh Steelers to be the man under center. So if you're watching us here on video, on YouTube or the Roku channel, let's show you who that option just might be. If you are listening to us on,

on audio, you probably don't know what you just heard, but if you were, you saw it. So for those listening on audio, that was from the Penguin's Instagram account, from Pat McAfee's live show last night at PPG Paints Arena. Sidney Crosby winning what turned out to be a man in a Philadelphia Eagles jersey for some reason, $2 million because Sidney Crosby picks up a football and throws it through a target. and hilariously enough, there were multiple throws made. Paul Skeens, Pirates pitcher, missed two throws. Sidney Crosby goes up, his first attempt, nails it.

So he steps aside. And if you didn't watch it, I watched this part last night. After Crosby makes the throw, McAfee goes over to Chris LaTang to ask him, did you think Crosby was going to be able to do it? And Latang goes, of course I did. He's the perfect human. He's good at everything. It's so annoying.

So that was really cool to watch, Hunter. I would have laughed even harder if the person who went after Sid had also missed his throw. And that was former Steelers quarterback Ben Rothesberger. That would have been so funny if Sid was the only one to hit his throw. And this is also funny, Pat. World glass hockey player, top five of all time. That's number one. Number two, he hits a home run inside PNC Park.

Number three, first time with that throw at Big Night Out for Pat McAfee. What's the fourth one? The dunk contest of the NBA All-Star game? I think we just need him to do that now. I know he's only five, nine, but you know what, Pat? Screw it. Let's have him dunk a basketball. I'll try on the first try to see what he can do.

Come on. Like, that's just the last thing we need at this point. What can't Cindy Crosby do? And also, by the way, what a yin-splosion last night at that. Cindy Crosby comes out with Evgeny Malkin and Chris LaTang You have Paul Skeens out there And you have Ben Rothesberger

What a Yinsplosion Yeah I mean I know that he's a polarizing guy I know people have their thoughts on him We're not going to dive into any of that But I will say this much As a Pittsburgh native Who is of a similar age

To Pat McAfee He's living The Jinser Sports Kids dream he sells out PPG paints arena, well, close to sell out, gets a pretty massive crowd at PPG Paints arena to more than 10,000 people. I don't think we could get more than 200 people at PPG Paints Arena if we tried. But at the end of the day, this was a really cool tribute at the end of his show to the city of Pittsburgh, the sports in the city, and everything else. So that was really cool. And you're right. At this point, NBA, give sit a call. Let him try to dunk. Or at the very

at the three point contest because he'd probably go 10 for 10 or something. And we'd all be feeling like Chris La Tang and saying, all right, man, we get it. You're the perfect human. There's nothing you can't do. Stop rubbing it in our face. It was so cool to see that. And again, just an absolute yin explosion. I didn't watch most of it last night just because I was doing a couple other things.

I was watching some of the games on TNT. But I did tune in white as all the big guns came out, you know, Big Ben, Paul Schienes. and then of course the big three. And as soon as Sid got the ball, I'm like, oh, he's hitting this. Like there's no way he's going to miss. Sure enough, he does. Paul Skeens shakes his hand. He's having a blast.

And then he gives Crystal Tang in of getting Malkin big hugs. And you're the MVP chance around PBG paints arena. That was so awesome, man. Just again, what can't Cindy Crosby do at this point? One of these days, we will figure it out. We'll find out like he struggles to keep his shoes. tied or something. I don't know.

There's going to be some little thing we find out that Sidney Crosby can't do. And also, can we get a yeat? That's right. Main event, Jay Uso in my city, Yeet. That is going to do it for the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguins. Hunter and I will be back to end the week with an episode on Friday to get you set

for this weekend's games against the New Jersey Devils. And then the Boston Bruins as well as make sure you're updated on any other news. out of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Dam. Thank you, as always for tuning in. We will be back on Friday.