Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Ron Hextall is already tormenting the Flyers!

Episode Date: February 25, 2021

Just because it's not a game day doesn't mean there can't be a lot of Penguins news! Ron Hextall made his first move as Penguins GM today and it came courtesy of the Flyers! Hextall claimed defenseman Mark Friedman off waivers from them and Hunter goes into what that means moving forward with the Penguins defense. Is Juuso Riikola on his way out? Is it the right move to have PO Joseph not play for a bit? Hunter then has a mailbag segment for the first time in a couple of months and touches on a number of topics, including what Hextall's first trade should be and what pens skater would be the best goalie. Finally, in the last segment, Hunter makes his case for why the Penguins WILL still finish 2nd in the East division at the end of the season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey, guys. Welcome to this Wednesday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So even though the Penguins did not play today, it was still a very eventful day, especially on Penguins' Twitter. and just, you know, around the team, some stuff did happen. First, we'll just get those updates for this first segment. Then for the second segment, we're going to do a mailbag section. We got four to five questions that some listeners put in. And then for the third segment, I'm just going to go around the division and just look at how the penguins have stacked up against the teams this year.

And, you know, it's looking pretty good right now. But first off with some news today, the penguins did, in fact, practice. Jason Zucker, obviously not there. Mike Sullivan said after the practice that he was sent back to Pittsburgh for further evaluation. So that's not good. I mean, especially with three more games left on this road trip, he will definitely miss all three of these games. I was reading a couple tweets from last night,

and some people were saying it looked to potentially be an MCL injury. If that's the case, you know, maybe it's like a grade one sprain. I think it's like only a few weeks. Grade two is like four to six weeks, and then grade three would be a few months. So hopefully he's only out for about a month or a month and a half as opposed to like a fractured ankle because that's what I thought it was

on first glance, just with the way he went to the board's really awesome. awkwardly. But then I saw the replay. He was kind of clutching for his knee a bit. So we'll see, though, it's still up in the air right now, but definitely not good that he's going to be out for at least these next three games. I'm still expecting him to be out even longer than that. As for who's replacing him for right now, Zach Ashton-Rees was taking line rushes with Evgeny Malkin and Brian Rust. That's really nothing out of the ordinary. He's probably the right player to do that until Jared McCann comes back. McCann did practice with the team today in a non-contact capacity. Obviously, the next step with him is gaining him to be a full participant with contact of practice.

He's definitely not going to play tomorrow in Washington, but I could see him playing Saturday or Monday on Long Island against the Islanders, well, to see if he gets a contact practice or two in there. And then when McCann comes back, I think he takes that spot next to Malkin and Russ, and then move Ashton Reese back down to play with Teddy Blugman and Brandon Tann. That makes the most sense. I know the sample size with McCann at Wing this year has not been the greatest, his underlying numbers. He's expected goals for, actual goals for are not the prettiest. But I think if you put him next to Malkin and Rust,

Malkin especially, he's been playing well these last two or three games. Brian Russ is also on a heater. I think they can help McCann get going for the rest of this season. So that's how I think that's going to happen, especially when McCann comes back. But still, you know, bad news on Zucker. Hopefully he comes back sooner rather than later. There's also a waiver claim today. So the Penguins, Ron Hextoll makes his first move as general manager.

claims De Flyers defenseman Mark Friedman off of waivers. I had no idea who that was before I saw the name. I just had no idea the Flyers even drafted him. I'm going to go off a couple other opinions just for this because I don't have an opinion on him. I haven't watched him play on the Flyers at all. Charlie O. Conner, who covers the Flyers for the Athletic, please go follow him on Twitter at Charlie O underscore Khan. He does great work with them.

He says, I liked Friedman as a bottom of the half of the line. up defenseman. He's a right-handed blue liner with plus skating ability. They're not easy to find. Even if he does pan out, he's almost certainly not a game changer, but losing him on waivers for nothing is not a good look. So it's good that he's right-handed, good that you can slot him in on the bottom pairing. There was news today that Pierre Olivier Joseph is not listed on the Penguins roster right now. I am going to get to that in just a second with my thoughts on that. But thoughts on this, you know, obviously there is a Ron Hextall connection here. He drafted him in 2014, third round draft pick, if I'm not mistaken.

No one else on waivers Clemton before Pittsburgh, so he's coming here. And you can never have too many defensemen. I think what this move also indicates is that they may be moving someone in the near future that's not a Pedersen or Matheson. I mean, definitely not Matheson right now, but definitely not Pedersen, I think, either.

I think they might be moving Yuso Ricola. I think he is back. He was a game-time decision for the last game, but he's been at practice now for about a week, full contact. He's back from his injury. I wouldn't be surprised if Hextall moves, excuse me, Rikala for like a mid-round pick or something, just to get that salary off the books. I think his contract is like 800, 900K. He does not make a lot of money for the Penguins.

And if you clear that and you put Zucker on LTIR, if I'm not mistaken, that's almost $7 million in salary that's cleared off to make another potential splash move. You know, for four, top six four to some other people I've been saying, and we are going to get to that in one of the mailbag questions. later on in this episode. You know, the Penguinsweb Cavspace, if they do move Zulker to LTIR, if he has to be out for a while, and if they move Rikola, which I think that might be coming in the near future.

He just has no place on this team. I don't really get why Rutherford signed him in the first place. You know, maybe it was for the coaches to just not play Jack Johnson if they weren't going to buy him out. Obviously, that did happen. But still, I don't know. I mean, like, even when everyone is healthy, Mike Sullivan never chooses to play Yuselah.

We really haven't gotten a good look at him. Hopefully, maybe a team like Ottawa or another base been-dwelling team like the Red Wings could get a look at him, and then if he plays well with them before the deadline, maybe they can just flip him for a pick or something like that. But I don't honestly see Yusel Requelah on this team for too much longer. And it also wouldn't surprise me if Friedman is in a lineup tomorrow. And Jesse Marshall also had some thoughts on Friedman after the Penguins claimed him. He said he's unassuming but good.

I personally think he's very fine defensively, if not it is the strongest in defending transition hockey. The Penguins have an obvious glut of this type of player, as we've already seen, depth is very important. So yeah, I mean, with the penguin's injury bug, it happens every season. I'm sure we're going to have more defensemen that get hurt throughout the rest of the year. He may very well find his way into the lineup for multiple games, not just tomorrow. So, you know, with that being said, let's get into the P.O. Joseph situation. I know some people have been saying he needs to play further down in the lineup.

I agree with that. He should not be playing top pairing minutes right now. But I'm of the opinion, and I think some others are starting to say this too. he should be benched for a little bit. I mean, you don't want to burn this asset or this young player, I guess, is the better way to say it, you know, too early. You know, he's playing 28 to 30 minutes in night with the best defensemen on the team.

I understand that maybe they want to get Marcus Pedersen back up to speed a little bit. He's playing third pairing men with Cody Cici doing a good job. But I think eventually you maybe want to see Pedersen up there until Doomlin comes back. And Dumlin is on his way back. I mean, he's been skating with the team, skating with a taxi squad.

he's probably going to be back in practice by this weekend and probably back in game action by next week. And so I really think P.O. Joseph was going to be coming out of the lineup no matter what. But, I mean, I think right now it's not a bad time to do it. If he's sending in the taxi squad, it saves a little bit of cap. And like I said, he needs a break. This is too much hockey for him too soon. You just don't want to rush him, just rush that development. I think he is a good player and he's going to be a really good player on this blue line for years to come.

I mean, he's probably going to be in that top four role with John Marino. But, you know, if you look at natural statrick, you know, over these last eight to ten games, you know, 404 response code, CK said it on Twitter too. I mean, Joseph has been under 40% for his expected goals score percentage that's worst among Penguins' defensemen. He was, I think, in the 50 to 55% range through his first three to four games. But, you know, as he started getting more minutes, he's been dragging Chris Lattang down. And like I said, you know, 40% expected goals for percentage is pathetic. It's unacceptable.

So I think now is a fine time to rest him, especially as they've acquired defensemen off waivers in Mark Fabin. You want to see what you have in that player. I would expect him, honestly, to be in the lineup tomorrow or unless they could just go to Chabar-R-R-Edle. But still, you don't want to burn this player out too quick. He's going to be in your lineup long-term. They probably are going to make a trade at the left side of their defense, either this season or next season, whether it's Pedersen, they're not going to trade doing one, I don't think. I mean, I think Pedersen is more likely to go than Matheson.

and then you can just slide P.O. Joseph up there after Pedersen has gone for some likely forward help, you know, maybe Kyle Palmary or something like that. So those are my thoughts on the P.O. Joseph situation. I know not everyone is going to agree, but I really think rest on the bench right now is the best way forward for him. He's just, his play has really dropped off over these last, you know, six to eight to ten games. And before we do get to the commercial break, I do want to say, so for the other Penguins offenseman, Chabra Weel, he might get in the lineup tomorrow. He's obviously going to stay in the roster.

Yannick Weber, I'm not really sure what his place is on this team. Maybe he's going to go back to the taxi squad. I keep saying practice squad like it's football. It's the taxi squad, of course. Or, you know, the more likely scenario he's put on waivers. And then, of course, this morning when Elliot Freeman tweeted it out that Freeman was on waivers, you know, everyone. Congratulations, Elliot. Congratulations on joining the Penguins.

And then Brian Burke, of course, he's the president of hockey operations for the penguins had this awesome tweet. He always goes at Elliott, you know, because apparently there was like a story after each broadcast. he would thank everyone on SportsNet for doing what they do, except Elliot. It would be like a running joke all season. And Brian Burke went on Twitter this morning at SportsNet and said, we made sure Mark wasn't even remotely related to Elliot Freeman before submitting the claim. So everyone is just going at Elliot Freeman right now.

I'm sure he's going to touch on that in the 31 Thoughts podcast. And I think SportsNet even did like a Photoshop of Friedman in a Penguins jersey too. He just looks hilarious. And lastly, that is now the second Penguins, player that is Jewish on the team. So, you know, we love the fellow Jews out here. Of course, I am myself, I am Jewish. So we love to see the Jewish players on the Penguins. And Jason Zucker is the other Penguins player that is Jewish. I mean, Zucker is a full-on Jewish last name. It's the easiest way to tell if someone is Jewish with a last name like that. But okay, moving on from that,

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All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. All this show is Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's get to Sam Mailbag questions. There's only four to five, but, you know, it fits in a segment. And I haven't done one of these mailbag segments in probably two to three months now, so it's good to bring this back. The first question from King Clarkie, your Ronathan Hextall, Clark, buddy.

I mean, that is a perfect way to say his name, too. Just Ronathan Hexton. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say his name like that, but Clark, I love you, buddy. He asks, what is the first trade you make to bolster the Penguins roster if you are Ron Hextall? And that's a great question. You know, that kind of goes with Gilbert's question, with Zucker being out potentially long term, who should Hextall go after and who would we give up in that trade? So I'm just kind of combine these together.

And, you know, I think you go for a top six forward. I saw Danny from Pedsbog say Kyle Palmieri. I think he makes a lot of sense. In his article, he said Marcus Pederson, Colton, I would honestly have to review with that. You know, you're probably going to be sending out a defenseman in a winger trade. I mean, I also look at Ottawa. Me personally, my number one choice is of getting a Dadanoff.

He's had a really good season with Ottawa so far in 21 games. He has six goals, eight points. Last year he's coming off a 25 goal season with the Panthers, 47 points in a nice 69 games. Even his underlying is this year a good. 21 games played. His possessions at 53%. This is a good player. He's a good goal score.

I know he's 31, but I mean, You could probably in that trade, maybe give up Pedersen in a forward, Pedersen and a draft pick. I think that's what it would take to get them out of Ottawa. Obviously, Ottawa is going to sell. They're terrible. Matt Murray is just getting lit up like a Christmas tree every single night. But, you know, I would love for them to go after Dad Nod.

I'm really high on him. Of course, I think he had the hat trick in the game against Toronto when Ottawa came back from five to one down. So he's my number one choice. Kyle Pomerie's up there. He's a rental. I think he makes $4.5 million for the rest of the season. they would be able to absorb it with the cap situation.

So, I mean, that's it answering Gilbert's question with what we would give up and who should hexagon go after with a Zucker one. And then for Clark, yeah, man, I mean, I'm basically, I want them to go after a winger. You know, I like that. I can answer two questions. Or as a saying goes, you know,

kill two birds with one stone here. But yeah, I really want them to get a top six winger because then after that, you can move Cappenden down to the third line with Jared McCann and maybe Evan Rodriguez. Because, I mean, of course, Evan Rodriguez has not come back yet. And I know some Penguins fans are going to be like, oh my God, like, he stunk at the beginning of the season.

Well, yeah, he was playing with Sidney Crosby. He's not cut out to play top-paring, top-line minutes with Sidney Crosby and Jake Gensel. That's just not the kind of player he is. But if you give him depth minutes and you put him on the third or fourth line, I think he can give this team some depth scoring that, you know, someone like Colton Severe can't do or Marchankowski can't do. But after this trade, though, Clark, you know, speaking of Marchankowski, I would dump him for a pick or dump him for a bag of peanuts or something like that. There's got to be a team that's close to the cap floor that would take him. Maybe Ottawa, maybe Detroit. I mean, Detroit is ready to sell right now.

I think they have Bobby Ryan on the market. Maybe you do what? Bobby Ryan for Mark Jankowski trade. The Penguins probably win that trade. And I don't even think Bobby Ryan's that good of a player. He also fits a bottom six role pretty nicely on this team. If you put him with Jared McCann or something like that with, you know, maybe Kaspari Kappan and you trade a debt forward away and then you still have money to go out and get a top six winger.

That would be awesome. this team would look a lot deeper, and then you can keep the Aston Rees-Bluger-Tanav-Line-Line-A-Tive line active, and, you know, your top six is loaded, you have a great fourth line, and then your third line can have maybe Caponin, McCann, and Bobby Wright, and then Evermarigas could be your 13th Ford.

I'm still not sold on San Lafferty, people. I just, I don't know. I don't care for Sam Lafferty. Friday time asks, which penguin skater would be the best goalie? That's actually a really good question. I've given that quite a bit of thought. The easy answer would just be to say Sidney Crosby, because his skate work is so beautiful and just the way he's, it's just, it's so crisp, I guess is the way to say it.

But honestly, I think the best player on this team, well, the player on this team that could be the best goalie. I might go Chris Letang on that because I think he's one of the fastest skaters on the team. He's still good defensively in his own zone. And I would just, I would pay to see him be a goalie. You know, he's a big body. He can move left to right, right to left, pretty good, I would think. I also think he's the kind of player that's cut out to be a goal. You know, Evgeny Malkin's too slow.

He's huge. Yes, but I just feel like he would be too slow to be a goalie. I wouldn't say Jake Gensel. I think he's too small to be one. Maybe Kisperi Kappen would be my backup just because he's so fast too. Right now, I think I would have to go Chris LaTang for that. That's a really good question. But I think of all the players on the team, he would be the best goalie.

So thank you for asking that. Alan T. Yoder asks, other than a Stanley Cup presentation or band raising, what ceremony would you love to see in person the most? like 1,000 games, goal assist, point milestones, Jersey retirement, et cetera. That's a great question, too. Thank you for asking that, Alan. Honestly, man, I want to see,

I want to be at the Yarmir Yager, Jersey retirement. The place will be electric. The roof is going to be blown off. I know, I think he talked to Phil Bork and Rob Ross, he wrote a story about it, about, you know, how some Penguins fans are still mad at him, and he thinks he's not going to get a hell of an ovation. He doesn't know what he's in for,

because they will give him an ovation of a lifetime, He did so much for this franchise. I want to be here for that because I honestly think that it would bring him to tears. And I just want to see one of the five best players to ever play for this franchise on or didn't have his jersey retire because it's going to be coming in a few years

whenever he stops playing. I think it's going to be while Cindy Crosby and Hivgeny Malkin are still here. And it's going to be a sold-out PBJ Paine's Arena. And I just want to see Mario down there with him shaking his hand and just presenting him with whatever he has from him and just seeing that

as you go up into the rafters. I would absolutely love to see that. And obviously, you know, number two on that list, I would love to go to Evgeny Malkins' 1000th game. I think that's coming up next season. It's on pace if he doesn't get hurt or anything like that. That's going to have a raucous ovation for him. And rightfully so.

Again, he's one of the top five best players to ever play for this franchise and always will be. And, you know, I also would want to be there for something with Crystal Teng, too. A lot of people in this fan base underappreciate him. I've always long said that he's the best franchise defenseman in this franchise's history, and I'd love to be there for him for whatever milestone that he gets to for his queer weather, it's a Jersey retirement, point milestone, gold milestone, whatever it is.

But I think those would be the three main ones that I would love to be at for something besides a same like a presentation or banner raising. So thank you so much for asking that, Alan. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to go around the East Division a little bit, talk about how much these wins have meant to the Penguins so far, and then we'll call to show. But before we do that, it is time to talk about bed online. It's the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but the NBA, college basketball, and NHL, or full swing.

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All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, all the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins. I'm only going to really talk for about another three to four minutes here. But, I mean, just the way that this season is trending for the Penguins, I've gotten much more optimistic over the last week that they can get second place. And I said at the beginning of the season, I saw them getting second place,

and I'm going to stand by that. I mean, you look at what they've been doing against teams like the Capitals and the Islanders. They already combined seven and two against them. I know they've won a lot of those games in. overtime, but they're still getting two points. And in the last three out of these last five games that they've won, three of them have been in regulation. And that's just so huge towards the end of the season.

I said on my episode last week, or on Monday or something like that, that those four points that they just got against the Islanders, that could be the difference between the Penguins getting in the playoffs at the end of the season versus them missing. And also, the Penguins are starting to separate themselves from some of those lower, I guess the bottom feeder teams in the division, if you want to call them that. Like, say you look at the sabers and the devils.

They're both not good teams. They're going to be sellers. We both don't expect them to make the playoffs. You also look at a team like the New York Rangers. I know the Penguins, I think, are six points clear of them right now. But still, you know, all it takes is a little mini winning streak from the Rangers and a little losing streak from the Penguins. And then the teams are tied or the Rangers are two points out. But right now, it's looking like it's a five-team race for four spots in this division.

I'm not really sold on Washington. You know, I've watched them five times now against the Penguins. You know, obviously, I look. I love Alex Ovechkin, he's a great player. Nicholas Bachsham is still good. Afghani, who's net-sand might be slowing down a little. T.J. Oshy, good player, you know, you guys know my thoughts on him. John Carlson, excellent defenseman, though, in his own zone.

He's not that good. But outside of their core players and their top six, there's not a lot there. And they just look slow every time Pittsburgh plays them. It just almost looks like Pittsburgh is skating them off the ice every period. I know in the fourth game in Pittsburgh, the Penguins probably had the worst game in the season. But other than that, in the 15 periods, well, Over 15 periods that I've watched, the Penguins play Washington this year. Pittsburgh has been the better team, and it's really not been close.

Washington's defense outside of John Carlson stinks. Their third and fourth lines, I don't really think have many good players outside of Lars Eller. Does Carl Haglin nicked out and Garnett Hathaway scare you? No. Does Richard Ponick scare you? No. And then even their defense, I mean, you have Justin Shulton's and Dano Chara eating up top four minutes, and so is Brendan Dillon at times.

And like those players are just not top four pairing players. And just you look at the penguins. And on paper, I like the penguins better than them. And they've shown that over the capitals, they are the better team. And even the islanders, and the penguins have struggled against the islanders for the last couple of seasons for as long as Barry Trotses of Moon there. But this season, the penguins three and one against them, they're starting to understand how to play them better. I think in 2019, I've been thinking about this for a while, I haven't really said this on the podcast. I think the penguins were too cocky going into that series, thinking they could just,

do what they normally do, skate past them, think, oh my God, you know, they have Matt Barzel, Andersly, and Jordan Everly, and a bunch of scrubs. But, you know, with Barry Trots at the helm, and they have three good, steady pairings and good goaltending, you know, you can't do that. It's a different kind of team. They're much more like an Ottawa team. They're more patient. They trap the game down a bit. But the Penguins have been much better adept at handling it this year. And you've seen the results. They're not getting burned like they were in 2019 with all the odd man rushes and everything like that. And I think the penguins stack up against them really well.

And then, you know, as for Philadelphia, I think the Flyers are a good team. But, you know, just how good is Carter Hard is their big question. I have been wrong on Hart so far. But he's also putting up a not so stellar season. But I think, you know, the Flyers are also doing with a lot of COVID issues right now. I think they're beating the Rangers two to one last time I checked. But, you know, I think the Penguins can overtake the Flyers in this division. I also think they can overtake the Capitals.

The one team that I just don't trust this team to beat is Boston. and that's the team that's had their number, the team that can just get under their skin, like no other. It's been happening for basically eight years now. But other than that in this division, everyone, I think the Penguins are the second best team in the division. You look at their roster when healthy,

if the goaltending in Tristanjari is going to continue to play like a 920, 930 level goalie, and they continue to get average special teams and Malkin continues, you know, these last two, three games of playing good. There's no reason why they will not get second place. It's a five-team race for four spots. I think the penguins will get in, and one of Washington or New York will miss.

But also, the best part about their schedule right now, they're getting a lot of these games against these better teams out of the way. They still have 16 combined games left against the Devils and the Sabres, and the Penguins have, what, 39 games left? Almost half of their games are against the two bottom feeders in the division. Yes, I understand any given night the Penguins have played down to shitty competition in the past, but out of 32 points against those two teams, you know, good elementary math there by me, they should be able to get what, 25, 26 of those 32 points?

I mean, I think anything less than that is honestly unacceptable. Those two teams are not good. They're going to be selling. They still have four more games left against the Rangers. They're three and one against those guys, too. And if you really look at the teams that they've played so far, the Penguins have struggled against two teams. They probably should have had a better fortune against the Flyers,

who they lost both times, and I thought they outplayed them. Carter Hart was really good. They struggle against Boston and Boston. That's not unexpected. So they haven't won against those teams, but against the Islanders, the 3-1, Capitals are 4-1, and the Rangers, they're 3-1. So they're playing the teams that everyone thought they were going to be in playoff contention pretty well so far this year.

And they have two more against the Islanders coming up, one more against the Capitals, before they don't play those teams until later in this season. And then they have three against the Flyers next week before the fun starts with playing some of the bottom feeders. If you win most of those games, especially in regulation, the Penguins can start to put some distance between themselves and some of these teams in this division. Just every point matters. You know, at this point, in a regular 82 game season, you're more than, what, 33, almost

35, 40% of the way through the season. So, you know, there's just no time to waste. So I thought I would spend a segment about that just talking about the standings and where I see the Penguins stocking up. But that'll do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate you all listening to it. We'll be back tomorrow with a game recap episode of the Penguins game against Caprals. We'll see if the Penguins can win their fifth out of six times against the capitals this year. And then Friday, we will have a special guest on the podcast. He's appeared one or two times Jeff from Penn's blog.

So that'll do it for this episode. Have a wonderful rest of your evening, and I will talk to you all that.