Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Should the Penguins keep Rakell and which Rangers draft pick is coming?

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Rickard Rakell has hit a career-high in goals, and now the question is, what should the Penguins do with him in the future? Before we dive into that, Patrick talks about the Penguins' comeback win over the New Jersey Devils and how they showed tremendous heart in a place and against a team that has historically given them fits. Then, we talk about how they followed that up with a no-show against the Boston Bruins. The main story out of that game is Rakell getting his career-high 35th goal. Should the Penguins look to trade him or should they keep him around for the time being? Finally, keeping an eye on the future, we discuss which pick from the Rangers will be more valuable - the 2025 pick or the 2026 pick? 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, it was a weekend of multitudes for the skating penguin logo as they had a hard-fought victory on Friday and then laid an absolute egg on Sunday. Along with the two games, we will also get into a burning question that leads us into this off-season, which is coming up a lot faster than you may think. All that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, and 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. You can follow our show's Twitter accounts at LO 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 podcasts as well as youtube and the roku channel plus 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 as you may have noticed i am flying solo today on this edition hunter unfortunately is dealing with a death in his family. He should be back tomorrow, but obviously this is a very fluid situation.

I'm sending my best to him. I'm sure all of you are as well. I want to make sure he gets as much time and space as he needs. But for now, let's talk about the week end that was for the Pittsburgh Penguins, starting with a really hard-fought, impressive victory on Friday night, four to two over the New Jersey Devils. And we, meaning we as Hunter and myself, have been talking about this for quite a while with this Penguins team, we know that now obviously they're not going to the Stanley Cup

playoffs. They were eliminated about a week and a half ago officially. We know that this is a team that is not very good. They are in a rebuild, call it whatever you would like to call it. You can call it a retool. You can call it a rebool. call it a rebuild, call it whatever you'd like, they are in the midst of a rebuild. But this is also a team that has a ton of heart.

It is a team that has a ton of fight in them. And this was the perfect encapsulation of that so far this season. They go into New Jersey, a place that has been a house of horrors for them for the last few years. The New Jersey Devils have had their number, especially at the Prudential Center in newer. and then not only do the penguins go down to nothing early, they give up a goal less than a minute in on the first shot of the game, on a breakaway from an ill-advised pinch. And this could have very easily spiraled out of control.

This could have very easily been a game where you have a team in the penguins who are not going to the Stanley Cup playoffs. They do not have a good track record of playing in Newark, but they completely flip that on it. its head. They are able to come back. They are able to do it with the strength of a couple of guys who we've always expected that from goal from Afghani Malkin, although it was pretty much an own goal by the New Jersey Devils, but great effort by Fagney Malkin just staying on the puck, staying in the fight in front of the net, and kind of forcing the defenseman to really only put it

in his own net, which was very funny, but you have to credit the effort by Malkin. And then Valtery Pustinen gets himself on the board. I'm still of the belief that he is a classic quad A guy, as I've said on the show. If you're new here or you haven't heard me use that term before, essentially, I think Pustinen, unfortunately, is the kind of player where he's probably too good to be in the HL full time, but he's not quite good enough to be a regular NHL player. We saw some flashes last season where it looked like he might be a fit. He might be able to stay with the team for quite a while and be a productive middle six forward,

but kind of teetered off by the end of the season. And this year he was okay with the baby penguins, wasn't anything to write home about, wasn't horrible, wasn't great, hasn't really been noticeable as a penguin in the few games he's played this year. but as the old adage goes, there is nothing wrong with going to the front of the net. He does that. He gets a goal very good for him. And before I move on with the rest of this game against the New Jersey Devils,

I do have to relay a message from my good friend and co-host Hunter Hodes. He's very worried about the New Jersey Devils. He thinks that the penguins ran their show on Friday night. And I agree to an extent. I think the penguins put up a great effort in the final two periods. They really took over the game, really battled hard, really did everything they could to come back in the game. But the part that I do kind of disagree with Hunter on is something that I've talked about with the Devils for the last few weeks. I want to see this team get to the Stanley Cup playoffs with at the very least, mostly.

full hell. They're obviously not there right now. They don't have Hughes. They don't have Dougie Hamilton to key contributors to that team. And you can just tell that they're a good team without those two, but they are not a great team. They have a good system. They play it almost to perfection. They do a really good job of beating you in the transition game, regardless of who they have in the lineup. They're very accountable. defensively, but they just don't have that game-breaking talent without them. So I think that there are flashing red warning signs, but they're very obvious flashing red warning signs.

They're a team that is not fully healthy going into the playoffs. They're going to have a really tough matchup in the first round with Carolina. So it's really difficult for me to say that I'm worried per se about the devils because the main worry is that they're not healthy, and there's really nothing you can do about not being healthy other than adapt your system a little bit. But at the end of the day, as we know, as we've seen with their looming first round opponent in Carolina, you can have a good system, but you got to have that game-breaking talent. And right now, I really don't think that they do. So I'm concerned, but only to the extent that they are not healthy.

But it was a great comeback win for the penguins erasing that 2-0 deficit. Another great game from the captain, Sidney Crosby. He scores on the power play from one knee, a vintage goal. And you know when the captain goes down to one knee on the side of the net, just start right in the obituary now because it's over. You're not stopping him from there. He's too good at it, even at his age. incredible goal by Sidney Crosby, incredible effort by the team.

And to finish up the segment, we've got to talk about the man who sets a new career high in goals with Brian Rust. Gets his 29th of the year, empty net goal, sure. But I have loved Brian Rust's game pretty much since he became a penguin. But the last two years, he has been a key contributor who almost fly. under the radar for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We all remember the Dom Lecision meme of who the F is Brian Rust from back in the Stanley Cup runs. Well, I think now we have a definitive answer. He is a top six winger in the National Hockey League, but he remains the ultimate Swiss Army knife.

He can play in your top six and be effective. He can play on your power play. And he can be effective. He can kill penalties and be effective. You can put them out. there when you need a goal to come back in a game. You can put them out there when you need to defend a lead, no matter what you can trust in Brian Rust. And I am on record as saying this multiple times, and I'm going to continue to say it. It might be a tad bit antithetical to what the penguins are trying to do right now in retooling on the fly, getting younger, getting new blood in there. But I still believe that until Brian Rust says he no longer wants to be a penguin, you keep him as a penguin until then. Sure, his no movement clause ends after this season,

and he will be able to be moved without needing to get permission from him and his agent to trade him or move him. But right now, I think I put him in a similar category and before the comments start yelling at me, I put him in the same category as a Kevin Hayes kind of guy. Granted, Kevin Hayes, bit of a journeyman, bit of a suitcase, been all around the league, obviously not a top six forward, but he's not one of the big names.

He's not a Sydney Crosby and of Gennie Malkin, Chris LaTang, Eric Carlson. He's a guy who has had to earn everything he has gotten in the national hockey league. He's had to work. He's had to develop. He's had to earn his spot as a top six player with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And a lot of the guys that they're going to rely on that are already in the system,

some of the players that they're going to draft over the next few years, some of the players that they're going to try to acquire, whether it's via trade or via offer sheet, those younger players, while they are professionals, they're not going to be superiors. It's not going to be the next Sidney Crosby. It's not going to be the next of Genie Malkin. These are guys who are going to have to earn it. They're going to have to develop.

They're going to have to learn what it means to be a full-time NHL player. And who better to learn from than a guy who exemplifies the gold standard for development with the Pittsburgh Penguins in Brian Rust. So along with him continuing to be productive because hits a career high in goals this year, really continues to take steps to being a top six forward, has done all of that. That value there will really help the development,

I think, of the younger guys. So a big congratulations to Brian Rust on hitting a new career high, well earned, well deserved, been a great soldier for the Pittsburgh Penguins for the past decade or so. You'll love to see a hardworking guy like that get rewarded. but that is going to do it for our opening segment. When we come back, if Friday was a heartfelt hardworking effort, Sunday, well, it was basically open skate against the Boston Bruins,

and it did not go the Penguins way. We will talk about that game and everything that happened in it when we come back right after this. But first, we've got to tell you about today's sponsor, and that is Upwork. Scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more experts ready to help take your business to the next level. Upwork gives your business's flexibility by connecting them with top freelance talents across multiple industries, including IT, AI, web development, and marketing.

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All right, welcome back. It's the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host Patrick Damp. I'm flying solo today, Hunter. As I said, our deepest condolences and thoughts to him, he's dealing with a death in the family. So we're trying to give him the space and time that he needs for that. We're hoping he can be back for Tuesday's episode.

But again, I want to make sure he has time with his family. And we're sending him all of the best. Hunter, we're thinking about your buddy and take all the time you need. I can hold down the fort until. you're ready to return. But let's talk about the Sunday game against the Boston Bruins. It was not a pretty day at PPG Paints Arena. As I said to Hunter on Sunday during the game, it bordered on unwatchable. If the penguins put up a great heartfelt effort on Friday against the New Jersey Devils, they took the day off on Sunday. And really, there's only two players

in this game. And we will get to them near the New Jersey Devils. And we will get to them near the New Jersey Devils. end of the segment who were positives, but the rest of the game, it was really tough. And I got to start with something that I hate to keep harping on because he is one of my all-time favorite penguins, really one of my all-time favorite players. I got to give a hat tip to somebody who I've actually battled with quite a bit over the last year. And that is Adam Wilde of the Steve Dangle podcast network. I think he's a little too blinded by his dislike of Kyle Dubus to really see what's happening with the Penguins.

But on their show recently, he talked about how he believes Chris Latang is a Hall of Famer. And I'm not going to give his arguments for him. I think he nailed it. I think Chris Latang is going to be a Hall of Famer. I will spoil part of their argument. And that's that Shea Weber was a first ballot Hall of Famer. And I think by all accounts, we can say Chris Latang was at the very least, comparable to Shea Weber.

So if that's the bar, Chris LaTang, welcome to the Hall of Fame. But that said, the back half of this season, including Sunday, it has been a rough go for Chris LaTang. I think one of the biggest things he is struggling with as of late as his skating. And if you know Chris LaTang, the way most Penguins fans do, the crux of his game, the crux of his strengths are skating. He has always been one of the most fluid, quick skaters. He would make mistakes in his younger years, and he would make up with it by speed. He would be able to get himself back into the play. He would be able to get himself into position after wandering out of position because he was such a good skater. And his skating has just not been there, the back half of this

season. And it's tough to see. It's really difficult because he's going to be 38 next season. And And I don't doubt that the guy is still in top tier shape, his conditioning, his workouts, all of that throughout his career has been the stuff of legend. You talk to people who cover the team. You look at the videos from him in the off season. The guy is a maniac in the weight room and on the track and on the ice. His work ethic for training is second to none. But it's been a lot of hard miles for Chris Latang, whether it's injuries,

whether it's off ice things. We know he's had two strokes. He's, by all counts, somebody who probably should have hung the skates up a few years ago, but he continues to press on. And he's still been effective enough, but given the bar that he has set in his career, the last half of this season has been very difficult for him.

Now, I will upside this a little bit. You look at his contract. three years left, 6.1 million. And you're probably going to wince a little bit with how the way he has played down the stretch and think that's a lot of money to pay a 38 year old defenseman who is clearly declining. But a lot of people, I think, are looking at that through the lens of a flat salary cap that we've had over the past few years, which is understandable. We have been so used to, so conditioned to look at the salary cap as something that's not coming down. It's something that has remained flat or has increased by a million, a million and a half, maybe two million dollars. We're going to get some big jumps in the salary cap over the next few years.

So that means that $6.1 million for Chris Latang, while not good, especially if this decline continues, I would be remiss if I didn't say that this could just be a blip on the radar. He could be dealing with an injury. He could be just fatiguing from being used as much as he has because we know the Penguins' defense outside of him. Carlson on some nights, Grizzlic on a couple other nights. It's a pretty thin group, so he's being tasked with quite a lot. So that could also play a factor. But while the $6.1 million against the cap over the next.

few years is still going to be pretty rough. As the cap continues to rise, it's going to be less and less of a burden on the Penguins dealings because they don't have a ton of UFAs to deal with. They're not going to, at least in my estimation, trade for any huge salary cap burdens. Yeah, they're going to take on some bad contracts in order to get good affordable young players, but they're probably not going to be taking guys who have three, four, five plus years left on their deals. It'll be guys who have two, maybe three left on that deal. So you look at that 6.1 million A.AV and it's not going to be that big of a financial burden for the Pittsburgh Penguins going forward. And again, real, I don't think it's, I don't think we're going to see.

30 year old Chris LaTang. I don't think we were going to see 35 year old Chris LaTang over the next couple of seasons just because as we say all the time on this show, Father Time undefeated. And for Chris LaTang, it certainly looks like it's starting to catch up with him, but I do think his contract,

the term left, and the rising salary cap is going to keep it from being a real burden, but it has been a pretty rough second half for Chris LaTang. Speaking of another skater who had a okay day against the Bruins simply because it was another milestone game two in a row. Ricard Raquel career high in goals with 35. A brilliant season from Rickele, a brilliant bounce back for him this season, been really good. And I continue to think that I'm probably a little bit vindicated from my take from my.

last year where I said, I think it was just a snowball of issues for him last year and it was a blip on the radar because he gets hurt early in the season probably tries to come back a little bit too early. And you put all that together. He's struggling with the injury. He's struggling to produce. And those struggles just continue to compound on him leading to what likely was just a blip on the radar screen a frustrating year.

Doesn't deal with that this year. Hits a career high. Looks like he is the player the Penguins have expected to have for these past couple of seasons. Now, the big question is, what do you do with him going into this offseason? I do think that there is a world where they can get a pretty big haul for him. I do think there's a world where with a not so enticing UFA class this summer on July one. There's going to be inflated contracts because of the rising salary cap.

He could be a very enticing option for other teams. 35 goals score. He's consistently hung around 25, 30 goals for the majority of his career. Played really well this year, did not show any signs of slowing down. So there are probably some teams out there that would pay a pretty penny for him. But I do look at this as a way where I don't think. there is a wrong answer to this question for Kyle Dubus. I think at the end of the day, you can trade him for a haul, and that's good. You can maybe get some young talent, some more picks that you can use to flip for other young talent, or you can hold on to him, because I've hinted at it on the show. I've hinted at it in other places. I do think the emergence

of Rutger Magrory and Velae Coivinen, assuming McGrory isn't hurt too badly, It can get something of some time with the AHL club in the Calder Cup playoffs, or at the very least a full off season to recover and train and continue to develop, as well as a couple other players that they have in the pipeline, you could have a better competitive team next year. Does it mean they're going to be the Capitals? No, they're not going to win the Eastern Conference and look like one of the best teams in the league.

But with a weaker Eastern Conference near the bottom, I think you can hold on to him. You can hopefully see that some of these younger players develop and you have a team that can make a run at getting back to the playoffs next year. It doesn't mean that they'll be a contender. It doesn't mean that they're suddenly going to be right back in the mix of the best teams. But given how many draft picks they've compiled over the last year and how many young players they've been able to go get,

how some of their draft picks and acquired prospects have seemed to take in a little bit bigger of a step than expected. I think you hold on to him. You have a solid top six. You can start to build out a bottom six with some of these younger guys. They're going to be hungry. They're going to play really well. Hopefully, obviously, I'm putting a lot of stock into magic beans,

but this is kind of what you do in a rebuild. So I do think it's an interesting question for Kyle Dubus and the penguins going into this offseason of what to do with him. I think at this point, they have done a good. enough job with this rebuild on the fly that both answers are perfectly acceptable. I think holding on to him is just perfectly fine, especially because while he may not hit the career high again next year, if you get 25 to 30 goals out of him, as well as Vela Kovinen taking a next step, Rucker McGrady taking a next step, maybe Tristan Brose is ready, and you have a

couple other young guys waiting in the wings, this could be a competitive team once again. So it'll be interesting to see what they do with him. I think he's going to, I think Dubus is going to get a lot of calls about him. I think if you get a very good offer, you don't hesitate, but if you don't get exactly what you want, you still have a guy who can provide you 25 to 30 goals.

And if next season, again, if you hold on to him, kind of goes the same way where it doesn't look like the post seasons in the cards, you've got a great asset at the trade deadline because at least as of right now, as I record this after the Bruin,

game. Not a lot of teams in the NHL are tanking. So there's going to be a lot of teams looking to buy. So regardless, I think that they're in a solid position for that. One last thing, before we head to break, I have to give another hat tip to Tristan Jari. I know I can hear the booze. I can see you picking up your tomatoes and getting ready to throw them at me, but hear me out. I don't think he's all the way back. I don't think he is going to be the penguin's solution long term. obviously when you have Sergei Murrishab, Yoel Blumquist, in the rest of the goaltending prospects, the future is a lot brighter with them than it is with Tristan Jari,

but I again have to give him a tip of the cap for how hard he's battled, how resilient he has been, because it would have been very easy for him to completely throw it in the tank, given everything that's happened between his poor play, to demotions to the HL, but I think over the weekend, both on Friday and on Saturday, he played very well, bounced back extremely well after giving up too early, both of which I really can't put on him. And then same thing on Sunday, did not get any help whatsoever against the Bruins,

but still was able to make several big saves to keep the penguins in it through the third period. But overall, I don't think he's going to be a long-term solution for the penguins. I don't think he's going to be with the organization for very much longer. But at the very least, I have to give him credit for continuing to battle, continuing to fight. And it would have been very easy for him to just say, I'm done with this team. I'm done with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I'm going to collect my paycheck and wait until they either move me out, cut me, buy me out, whatever they do. And he has done the exact opposite. So hat tip to him. but that is going to do it for our middle segment. When we come back, it's a very simple week ahead, but I have one question about this off season I want to dive into that I will talk about when we come back right after this.

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Welcome back to the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp flying solo today. Hopefully we can get Hunter back tomorrow, but obviously we will see what happens. but let's get right back into it. Very simple week coming up for the Pittsburgh Penguins, their final game, 82 of 82, and it is their final home game of the season when they have the Washington Capitals in town for game 82 on Thursday,

and really might be the most meaningless game we have seen in quite some time here in Pittsburgh, especially when the Washington Capitals are involved. I would love to see the capitals dress Ovi so we can get another Crosby versus Ovechkin game because we know the clock is ticking on both of their careers, and we're not going to get very many more of them as these two illustrious careers start coming towards the end. Ovechkin obviously has broken Wayne Gretzky's goal record, so the Capitals don't have a ton to play for as they are already in the playoffs themselves. The Penguins have also been eliminated.

So this game has absolutely no bearing on anything except for maybe the Penguins draft position going into this off season. So actually would be who the Penguins to not win to increase their draft odds going into this summer. But that is what I want to discuss really quickly before we close out the show. obviously, I don't want to discuss this more with Hunter because I think this is going to be one of the biggest pressing questions of this off season for the penguins as we head towards the NHL draft. And that is what do the Rangers do with the pick that they owe the Penguins? This year's pick, it is top 13 protected, meaning if the Rangers get a top 13 pick, they can opt to keep it. they're not forced to. This isn't an automatic protection. It's not like if the Rangers get the 12th overall pick, the Penguins automatically get the 2026 unprotected pick, which if it is 2026, it's

completely unprotected. If the Rangers were to somehow get the first overall pick in 2026, the Rangers would still have to force fork that pick over to the Penguins if they choose to keep this year's pick. But a bit of a history made. this past weekend. And it's something that it's a little bit of a silly stat, but it is the first time in NHL history that none of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers or the Boston Bruins have qualified for the postseason since all three teams have been in the NHL.

So that is a bit of a shocker. But let's talk about the pick. Now, if I'm running the Rangers, which I am not, obviously, if I were the Rangers looking at the way this season is gone, looking at their salary cap, looking at their roster, if I'm them, I'm giving the Penguins this year's pick. I am saying you get the 2025 pick.

We are holding on to our 2026 first round pick because I don't see a world where the Rangers are going to be much better next year. They've got some very expensive contracts. They've got some players who are aging out. and they're going to be difficult to move. There isn't a ton in the system for them. They can come up and provide relief going into next season and give them a spark. I think that they're going to make a ton of panic moves,

whether Chris Drury and Peter Lavellette retain their jobs or not. I do think that Dolan as the owner wants this team to go on another run, but I don't think they are equipped to do it. So I would, if I were, we're running the Rangers, I would have that hard conversation and just fork over this year's pick and say, listen, next year is not going to be much better. We're going to have a much better pick next year because if you look at Tankathon, their best odds right now are to pick 10th overall and they've only got about a 3.5% chance to pick first overall. If that's the case,

I would give the penguins that pick. And I would say, let them take that. If we're bad next year, we'll get a high pick. And then we can really start to talk about rebuilding again. But if I'm Kyle Dubus, I'm kind of holding out hope that the Rangers decide, no, we're going to be better next year. We're going to make a run next year. So you guys can take our 2026 first round pick. That's going to be in the bottom 16 because we're going to make the playoffs. We're going to go on a run when in reality, I don't think that's the case. And then if you're the penguins, that also opens the door to something I talked about a little bit in the previous segment about Ricard Raquel and what to do with him in the next

season. If you decide to keep Ricard Raquel and the Rangers tell you, we're giving you our 2026 first round pick, it's all systems go. You don't have to, and that doesn't mean that you're all in again, you're spending to the cap, you're making crazy decisions and signings to try to win the cup. But you look at it as we've got a pick in the first round that could very easily be in the top 10 that we have no control over. So let's try to push ourselves back into the conversation.

If we make the playoffs, that's great. And if we do, it's not like it's going to hurt our draft prospects because we'll have two picks. And one of them could be very good because the Rangers aren't very good. So if I'm dubous, I'm actually kind of hoping that the Rangers decide to punt this to next year and give the Penguins the 2026 pick and they'll get a good pick. They'll be able to take hopefully some smaller steps in this rebuild retool on the fly. So we will see what happens. Obviously, we don't know yet.

The season will come to a close on Thursday against the rain, or the capitals, excuse me, talking about the Rangers and Capitals, talk about two rivals, tend to get them mixed up sometimes. But again, final game of the season, Thursday at PPG Paints Arena against the Washington Capitals. But that is going to do it for the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. For Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. We will be back with a brand new episode for you on Tuesday.