Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Rickard Rakell has another WORKMAN-like season for the Penguins!

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

It was another solid season for Penguins' forward Rickard Rakell, but as the Penguins continue to retool, will he remain a Penguin? Patrick and Hunter continue their season-in-review series, looking at the season that was for Rakell. While he once again put up solid numbers, the most impressive part of his season was the versatility, having to switch from center to wing on multiple occasions. However, as Kyle Dubas continues to look for big swings on the trade market and looks to inject the roster with some youth, could Rakell be on the trading block? (0:00) Wednesday was a rough night for the Penguins' farm teams as both the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Wheeling Nailers dropped their respective games. While the Baby Penguins have a lot of time left to make up for it, the Nailers are now facing a sweep, so how do both teams bounce back? (12:04) Finally, Team Canada and Sidney Crosby dispatched Team USA in the quarterfinals of the World Championships, and for Crosby, his goal-scoring drought finally came to an end as Canada looks to get back to the mountaintop. (23:52)  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. 5-Hour ENERGY Get candy-flavored chaos with Fruity Rainbow 5-hour ENERGY®️ Shots - available online at https://5hourENERGY.com or Amazon RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. 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.

Ricard Raquel continues to be a valuable top line winger for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but with two years left on a very affordable deal, will he continue to be a penguin for the remainder of it? We continue our season and review series on the Thursday 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 in one and all to the Thursday 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. The baby penguins, they drop game one of their Eastern Conference final series against the Toronto Marleys, despite playing some quote unquote fine hockey. The Wheeling Nailers are staring down the barrel of a sweep, and Sidney Crosby and Team Canada are off to the semifinals of the world championships.

But before we get into any of that, the season in review series continues today with Penguins winger Ricard Raquel. It was another solid season for Raquel despite dealing with some injuries, 24 goals, 24 assists for 48 points in 60 games. Another four points added in the postseason against the Flyers. And he continues to be a very reliable top six presence for the Penguins. This year, though, for me, Hunter, it was less about the numbers and more about his reliability and versatility. Sure, he only played about 60, or not about 60 games.

he did play 60 games. And yeah, he battled some injuries, but at times he was tasked with playing center. Then he would be put back to wing. Sometimes he was on the top line. Sometimes he was on the second line. And it was kind of an up and down year for him for that perspective. But while he continues to be reliable and solid for the penguins, which we will get into all of the numbers and everything that he did this year, I'm just going to ask this to start the show hunter.

Two years left on a $5 million deal. He's got an eight team no trade clause. But if the penguins want to get younger and take some big swings, I don't know if he finishes out this deal with the penguins because if they want to take that big swing, you got to figure Ricard Raquel would be part of one of those deals. Yeah, I think there's a chance. And he's someone that's been very productive over the last two years. I do think teams would come calling from.

And I still do think some teams are going to come calling for him. This summer, it's all going to come down to if Kyle Dubus wants to do it. And if he does, does he get an offer that he really likes? Because this season, Pat, you're right. Limited to 60 games. But even with that, he had 24 goals and 48 points. He's coming off a career year during the 24, 25 season when he had 35 goals and 70 points. And I will say this, if he was fully healthy this year and didn't miss all those games,

I think he would have been damn close to hitting 70 points in around 35 goals. He was that good for a good chunk of the season. Now, I will still say when it comes to Raquel, when you go back to October, three goals, eight points, totally fine. I felt when he came back in December, he wasn't playing as well. But in the second half of the season, I felt he really heated up. At six goals, 11 points in January was money in the month of March with 10 goals and 19 points. That, I think, was the best stretch of his season.

And then he was also fairly good in the month of April as well, Pat. So, again, overall, I'd give him an A for this season. Was he a bit slow coming off that long injury? Yeah, but remember back, he took a puck off his hand. It's going to take a little bit of time to get back to 100%. But once he was back to full health, he was one of their top players this season. And I think he deserves an A. And you talked about that versatility.

He played center for a good chunk of games this season. And there were games where it definitely looked like he was out of place, but he was continuing to work at it throughout the year, which I really appreciated. He was working on the face-offs, working on the different responsibilities of being a center. Eventually, they did reunite the Crosby, Raquel, Rusle. And I still do think I prefer Raquel as a winger on this team.

And I do want them to maybe go out there and potentially, get a new second line center this offseason. But if push comes to shove and may need another center of injuries arise, he is someone that can play it. He played more on the penalty kill this season. So they upped his responsibilities even more for this year. And I thought he passed those tests. So he gets an A in my book for this year.

I give him an A as well. And it's strictly for what you just referred to. And I talked about in the beginning is that versatility that he showed this season because he was tasked with doing just about everything. He played the wing. He played center. He was on the power play. He was on the penalty kill.

And you'll look at the numbers and see 24, 2448 this season. And for a guy who has put up 70 in 60 points in his time with the penguins, it's not all that impressive. But when you factor in that he took on a lot of responsibility this year, and still put up nearly 25 goals, also missed some time, that's about as good of a season as you can ask for from a guy like Ricard Raquel. And I think he probably left some goals and some points on the table during that stretch where he got tasked with playing center because he did have to adjust his game.

He had to play more of a 200-foot game. He had to be a little bit more defensively responsible. And that kind of took away from his ability to be a goal scoring winger, obviously, because he was playing center. But I do think that kind of hindered his ability to produce, not by a lot, because you went down, you ran down the numbers. He played pretty darn well for the majority of the time he was healthy. But I think if you have him playing in his natural position at wing in those 60 games, he probably adds on another five to 10 points. just in general because it's a more natural position for him. We even talked about it on the show during that stretch where,

especially when it first started, he wasn't out of place, but you can see that there was an adjustment period needed. He wasn't a liability. He wasn't bad, but you could kind of see he was playing a safer game, as opposed to the kind of game he usually plays. So overall, you do still have to give him an A.

And I do want to talk a little bit more before we end the segment of, I do think if Kyle Dubus does want to be aggressive, if he does want to be a little bit ruthless, this is probably the best chip he has available on the roster because I don't see them trading Brian Rust unless it's for a haul. And if you look at Ricard Raquel, he's got the versatility, he's got the numbers in his early 30s. That's a player that has quite a premium when it comes to the trade market.

Yeah, I still think contenders are going to look at him this off season, especially because Pat, the main reason, free agency just sucks. Like, it's going to be really bad once again. And I think that could make someone like Raquel more intriguing on the trade market. Now, there's going to be other good players that also become trade chips this all season. but it's funny we're kind of having the same conversation that we had last off season where oh are they going to trade one of rust rquel carlson even though the penguins made the playoffs is here it's just still funny that we're having that same conversation but it's kind of deserved i do

think with rust i don't see him getting dealt at all carlson last off season i thought he would be traded this one i'm less confident in that just based on the season that he had if you want to go by trade tiers. I guess I'd go Raquel first, Carlson, second, Russ third, but I still don't know if any of these guys are going to get traded. Maybe he keeps all three of them going into next season and they move out other players to try and get younger.

But in terms of, you know, a premium trade chip at forward, someone who has really produced these last couple of years, this is probably your best one on the roster. So it all comes down to what Kyle Dubas and the rest of the front office. have planned for him and the rest of this offseason in general. And, you know, I made that point about the penalty kill. It may only have been 35 minutes for him on the PK this season, Pat,

but that's the second most minutes he's played on the PK since 2019, 20, when he played 45 minutes with the duck. So it just, it was another added responsibility for him. And there was definitely a learning curve. You saw it on a good chunk of games where he was still kind of learning the position on the fly. but once he got used to it more, he was playing fairly well.

And yeah, I still think he's a better winger, but again, push comes to shove, they need another center. Fine with me if he has to do it for a few games next season if he is still on the team.

But really happy with the way he played this year, even after coming back from that tough injury at the start of the season, a little bit of a slow start after that, but he was one of their best players down the stretch.

I also thought he was one of their better players in the playoffs. He gets an A for me. these last two seasons, he's been phenomenal. So really happy with Ricard Raquel and everything that he has done. Tom will tell if he has a penguin come next season, though. Yeah, no complaints for me from Ricard Raquel's season. I thought again, solid and consistent.

I give him an A. It's the running theme of this season and review series. Just about everybody we go over is going to get a pretty high mark because, well, the team finished in second and made the playoffs. and not a one of us had that on our bingo cards. But that is going to do it for this opening segment. When we come back, a bit of a tough night down on the farm for the Pittsburgh Penguins Farm Clubs.

We'll get into both the Wheeling Nailers and the Wilkes-Barris-Granton penguins when we come back right after this. Hello, I'm JD Young of Locked-on Sharks. And as a father, I want to make sure that my kids will be protected in case the unimaginable happens. When my wife and I sat down and discussed life insurance, we found that ethos was our best option. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy, 100% online, get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and get same-day coverage. There's no medical exam.

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Welcome back to the Thursday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And before we continue, get your daily locked on penguins fix completely ad free. by joining the Everydayer Club today. Start your seven-day free trial right now and get closer to the team without all the interruptions. Click the link in our show notes or go to Locked-on Podcasts.com slash Everydayer Club

and find Locked-on Penguins to claim your free trial. As I said, not a good night on Wednesday night for the Penguins Farm System. The baby penguins drop game one. of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Toronto Marley's 4 to 2, and then the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL's Eastern Conference Finals, lose 5 to the Florida Everblades. Now they're staring down the barrel of a sweep. So let's start with the baby Penguins.

As I said earlier in the show, head coach Kirk McDonald after the game continued to call his team's performance fine. Now, to me, this means two things. First, the game they had wasn't to the level that they expect to hold themselves to. It doesn't mean it was a bad game. He didn't have to come out and eviscerate them. He didn't have to come out and challenge them. It just, it was an okay game in a series where you can't have an okay game.

You've got to bring your best. Which leads into my second point, they did a lot of what they're probably, going to need to do to beat the Toronto Marleys and to be successful. The challenge now is doing it for 64 minutes and putting the puck in the back of the net. And I'll add this one. There's nothing to be worried about. We're not hitting any flashing morning lights. We're not panicking.

But Sergei Murashov does need to be a little bit better than he was against the Marley's in game one. I'll push back ever so subtly on that. I felt the three goals that he gave up. I just don't think he had too much of a chance on them. Like one of them was just a pure snipe. Like, okay, good luck everybody else. And the other two, I just felt they were just really nice. So I'm not really going to harp on him too much,

especially considering coming into this game. He had a 1.7.4 GAA and a 943 save. He's been tremendous in these playoffs. I've had no issue with him at all. Now, if he does give up some howlers, I'll be the first to say it. I just disagree a little bit with my co-host on that. The one area that I think they need to be better in Pat is special teams.

They had numerous power play opportunities in that game one. They were not able to take advantage. And then their penalty kill gave up the goal that made it to one before Rucker McGor already tied it. But PK has got to be better. They allowed a goal 11 seconds into the power play. So both special teams units are going to have to improve if they want to win this series. Again, only one game, not overreacting here. Now it's a seven-game series.

You have more time to adjust. You can get back into it. It's not as quickly the series as a five-game series because now going forward, rest of the playoffs, this series and potentially the Calder Cup final, it's the best of seven, no more best of five. So I do think that is in Wilkesbury's favor as well. They basically doubled Toronto up on shots.

It was 36, 16. but they need more of the high danger variety. And I also think they need to do a better job of getting some traffic in front of the Marley's goaltender. They understood the assignment on the first goal. Alex Alexev shoots it from the point. They have a bunch of traffic in front of them. Doesn't see it. One nothing, Wilkesbury.

But I felt for the rest of the game, it was a bit too pedestrian in that area. So I want to see them get to the net a bit more, you know, maybe get some dirty goals, take away his eyes, get him moving a little bit. just don't think Wilkesbury did enough of that in this game. So just a few things to work on. Every time they have lost so far in the playoffs, they've been able to respond in the next game. And that's kind of what I'm counting on here for Wilkesbury. So we'll see.

Game two tomorrow night and Wilkesbury. Got to win that one because the next three after that will be in Toronto. That's the biggest thing is they really, again, I hinted at it with what McDonald said after the game about calling his team's performance fine. They're really, you know, I don't want to panic after one loss because there's no need to. Again, like you said, it's a seven game series now. The best of fives are in the past.

The next hopefully two series are best of sevens. So one loss does not end the series or put you on your back foot. It certainly doesn't help. But like you said, they basically double them up in shots. The problem was they don't convert on the power play. and they didn't look particularly good on the power play either. It wasn't a matter of, hey, they got goalied on the power play. They didn't get a lot of good looks.

No. The way they have been operating this postseason, I don't see that becoming a trend. They have been good on it all postseason. And the other thing is Toronto didn't get the winner until about a minute and a half left in the game. So they were right there for the majority of the game. Going into the next one, like you said, you got to. to get in front of Toronto's goalie. You're going to have to earn some dirty goals here.

And really, that's the biggest adjustment they can make. They just have to keep their foot on the gas and play the way they know how to play. Toronto stole game one, take game two back, and then you put yourself in a good position going into Toronto. Meanwhile, Huff won for the Wheeling Nailers, five to two in their first game back for the Eastern Conference final in Wheeling. And we brought this up prior to the series. This was going to be a challenge for the Nailers

because Florida is a genuinely really, really good team in the ECHL. This wasn't going to be an easy one. Now they're down 3-0. Taylor Gode, though, again, did his thing despite the final score, stops 28 of 33. The Nailers, the problem continues to be. they're just not finding a lot of offense in this series.

Last night it felt like every time Wheeling punched, Florida punched back even harder. It was just like, oh, you tied the game. Oh, and then Florida takes the lead. And that's kind of what the cycle was here in this game, where every time it looked like Wheeling was about to potentially take control of this game because they got a little bit more offense. Last night compared to the first two games,

at least, Florida did a great job. counterpunching and then they were able to win the game a bit later on in the third period. Taylor Gordier, he did what he could. He's still just not getting enough help. And now you're in an 03 hole where we all know how hard it is to come out of that. It is good that your next game is at home. You go one game at a time. You win that one.

Okay, you live to fight another day. You win that one. All of a sudden, three, two, going back to Florida. But let's just focus on trying to win one game first in the series to avoid getting sweat. and then you can think about game five. But I think just the story of last night, every time wheeling would get something going, Florida would just snatch the momentum instantly.

And to me, that was the reason why Florida was able to come out with a win here. Yeah, I don't want to prematurely bury the nailers because you got a win four to move on. That's just a fact. But that point that you made is kind of the biggest one. a loss like the first two losses you can look back on and go listen we had our opportunities just did not get the bounces just did not take advantage of what we were given so it wasn't

like they were coming back to wheeling down two oh and it being a definitive two oh they were right in it for the first two games they just didn't get the victories last night's game that is a demoralizing kind of loss because you continue to punch back you continue to take what they are giving you, but you still can't beat them. A loss like that, it's really hard to recover from. But on the other side of that, because it is the ECHL and they do the 232 format, the good news of it is if you can win the next one, you get another home game. And you get to stay inwheeling.

You're not traveling all the way to Astero. You're not hopping on the plane or the bus. you have a chance to kind of flip the series on its head. But like you said, it's got to be one at a time. They can't worry about winning two and wheeling, win the first one, then try to get the other one and see if you can flip the pressure to Florida going back for potentially game six and potentially game seven.

But again, the only pessimism that I have for it is that game three loss is just such a gut punch kind of loss. So we'll see what the nailers are made of going in two game four. If they can scratch and claw their way to a win, they get the one thing you can ask for in sports and in life, and that is a chance. Obviously, we are going to keep a close eye on both of these series as they progress. So make sure you're following us.

Make sure you're subscribed. That way, you're getting all your updates from the HL and the ECHL, because we're really enjoying this and we don't want it to end quite yet. So that'll do it for this middle segment. When we come back, Sydney Crosby and Team Canada, they are going to the semifinals of the world championships. We'll get into that when we come back right after this. But we've got one more sponsor to get two before we do that. And it is Ruggiat. The Stanley Cup playoffs are here where every shift matters, every moment is intense,

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Finishing up the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. and as expected, Team Canada Downs, Team USA in the quarterfinals of the world championships this morning, four to nothing with Sidney Crosby getting on the board late, scoring a beautiful goal to make it four to nothing. But Hunter, we both were watching this game this morning. It kind of went how we expected in a four nothing win for Canada. That makes it sound a lot closer than it was this game. was all Canada all the time from the opening puck drop to the final buzzer.

Yeah, don't let, you know, the box score stats like shots on goal deceive you. Canada felt like at the puck all game. The U.S. tried to push when they could, but let's be real, her, Pat. That roster was not going to be Canada's very veteran roster that they brought over for the world championships. This was the expected results. I would have been flat out stunned if the U.S. somehow pulled this off, but they didn't even score. Canada moves on to the semifinals, and I do think they are going to take home the gold medal. And there are some other good teams left, of course, Finland. I mean, Sasha Barkov is playing unbelievable for Finland.

He misses the entire regular season. That comes over to the world championships, has to remind everyone, oh, yeah, I'm still one of the best players in the league. He has been awesome at the world championships. That's going to be fun to see if potentially Finland can win the gold. but this game was all Canada. Nice to see Sid finally get a goal at this tournament after so many assists to start. But I thought he played really well.

Again, Parker Watherspoon, he continues to be all over the ice as well in all three zones. Honestly, I think he's been really good defensively. He's been good in transition. And he's had some really, you know, A plus offensive shifts as well. Again, I talked about it on Wednesday that assist on the John Tavara school in that game. That was a thing of beauty. And that's just one of many plays that he has made throughout this tournament. So obviously, Sid is going to get the headlines from our listener base here just because it's Sid.

But don't sleep on Parker Watherspoon. Alpha of a great regular season. He's also been continuing that momentum here into the World Championships. Macklin Celebrini, he continues to do his thing. Ho-hum there. So nothing about this, though, was surprising. The one thing that I will say gave me a little bit of a glimmer of, hope for Team USA and it came after a bad moment was in the first period.

Ryan Lindgren gets ejected and gets a five minute major for head contact on Evan Bouchard. And it was a deserved five in a game. He absolutely crushed Bouchard in the head. Bouchard had the stiff arms when he tried to get up. It was an ugly scene. And as we know, the double IHF does not mess around. when it comes to head contact. But Team USA was able to kill off the five minute major and keep the game even. And I kind of looked at that moment at first and went, this might have Canada kind of questioning what they got to do to beat the Americans because you brought it up.

I've brought it up. You compare these two rosters and it was not particularly close. but the fact that USA was able to get that massive penalty kill, given the last year or so for Team Canada, there could have been some doubt creeping into their heads that, man, nothing we do is beating the Americans, and we couldn't even capitalize on a five. But ultimately, Canada continues to push. They get the win as expected.

And I know we've brought this up on the show multiple times in the last week, but I wanted to build on it here because, again, don't sleep on Watherspoon. He has been really good in this tournament. He was really good for the penguins this year. And there's been some chatter that the penguins might be interested this upcoming off season and maybe even into the season itself at extending him. And if I'm Kyle Dubis, I'm seriously considering that just because you can get them at a reduced rate in the season as opposed to hopefully having him have another good year

and then him hitting the open market and commanding a lot more money. And then it's going to be a little bit more challenging to find the next Parker Watherspoon than just holding on to this guy. I don't think they need to go crazy. You don't need to pay him a bunch of money and give him a bunch of term. But if you can get them for two to three years at a little bit of a raise, I would take that risk. Yeah, I think right now it's still wait and see.

We got to see all the moves they make this off season. We got to see how they come out next season. Do they take a step back? Are they the same? I mean, if they do take a step back and maybe they're not in a playoff spot by the deadline, it's a pending free agent. Teams will come calling considering the sample size that he has had so far with the penguins. I think you would get at least something back for him.

I think you could probably get a decent return back for him. But right now, for me, bit wait and see. However, if you're in a playoff spot, things are looking up, I'd be fine with a short-term extension with a little bit of a raise. But as of right now, see what happens. The summer going into next season, all that stuff. And with Team Canada moving on to the semifinals, that will be this weekend.

That will be on Saturday, according to the ECHF's website. We still don't know what time or which time. lot. Canada will be in and who they will be playing. But once that becomes clear, obviously, we are going to follow that because like, like Hunter said, Crosby gets those headlines and people want to know what Crosby's doing. So we are going to continue to follow that. We're going to continue to follow the baby penguins and the Wheeling Nailers as their Eastern Conference final series progress. But that is going to do it for the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguins. Hunter and I We'll be back with a brand new episode for you to close out the week on Friday.

We'll continue our season and review series. We'll keep an eye on the HL and the ECHL. And it'll once again be a fan take Friday. So keep an eye out on our socials for that. You can drop your questions and your hot takes and we will read and react to them on the Friday show. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. and we will be back on Friday.