Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Should the Pittsburgh Penguins go after Max Domi in free agency?

Episode Date: June 24, 2022

Happy Thursday! We move closer to the start of July and that means free agency is upon us. Before Hunter gets into a potential free-agent target, he reviews Mike Matheson's season as he's now about done with all of the starters' season reviews. He goes into the numbers and how Matheson set career-highs in basically everyone, while also pointing out some career-highs with his counting stats too. Hunter then looks at how getting deployed right has played a big role in Matheson's turnaround for his career and how he also plays with the perfect partner in Chad Ruhwedel. What would the overall grade be? Can he get even better next season? After he answers those questions, he gets into a potential Penguins UFA target if Evan Rodrigues doesn't come back. He lists the pros and cons of getting Max Domi and what a new contract will look like before discussing the Stanley Cup FInal. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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.

Hello there. Happy Thursday, right on recording this right around dinner time on Thursday. For those that watch on YouTube, as you all can see, I am back in my own home down in Richmond, Virginia. I have just been gone for, I think six days at this point. I went up to Northern Virginia on Friday, flew out to Florida on Saturday, came back to Florida on Tuesday, stayed in Nova for two nights, and now I'm officially back in my house. I tried to get an episode up yesterday right before I went to the Motley Crew Def Leopard. poison concert, but I guess Megaphone was not agreeing with me for some reason. That's just ridiculous.

And again, I apologize for being a little more MIA than normal. I usually, I always have five episodes a week. The fact that this week's probably only going to have three, maybe I'll have a bonus on Saturday. Definitely displeases me. So I apologize for that. I've also just been going through some personal stuff the last few days. I don't like obviously I'm not going to talk about that on this podcast but that's also been you know affecting my mental health a little bit so um that's just that's that on that but you know

I have my job here is obviously to talk penguins hockey with you all and we are going to do that for today's show Mike Matheson season review a potential UFA target that a listener asked me about we're going to go into his numbers see if it would make sense for the penguins we're going to end the show with a discussion on the Stanley Cup final as we could only have one more game left in, excuse me, the regular, well, not the, for this season, excuse me. So that's all coming up right after this drop. 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 to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're not to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. you can also follow the show, Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. So let's just jump right into it. Again, we are almost fully through the season reviews now.

The last one for the defenseman is Chris is saying, even though I've talked about him so many times throughout the offseason and during the regular season. After that, I'll get to Mark Freeman and a couple of the other players, the other fours, excuse me, that you know that came up from Wilkesbury again to their numbers a bit. And then we'll be fully done with the season reviews. But, you know, Mike Maddison, this was, I think, his best season today,

not only as a Pittsburgh Penguin, but as an NHL defenseman played almost 1,300 minutes, 74 games, at even strength. When he was on the ice, the Penguins at 53.6% of the shot attempts. That's the best overall number for his career. He was at 53.9 in 2016, but he only played three games during that season. So I'm not really going to count that. Penguins had 55.6% of the actual goals for and even strength. That is also a career high for him, 54% of the expected goals, another career high,

55% of the scoring chances, another career high, 54% of the high danger chances. Again, another career high, 53.2% of the high danger goals for. That's the third best of his career. He also shot 8.7%. This year, Annie on an on-ice percentage of 921. So he was getting pretty good goaltending. when he was on the ice. And, you know, these numbers are really good. There's no other way around it. I mean, this was by far his best season as a Pittsburgh

Penguin. And, you know, there have been people in my mentions on Twitter and, you know, listening to 937 the fan, which, you know, I sometimes do when I get bored, even though I probably shouldn't because the hockey talk on there is pretty miserable, to say the least. I think most of the people on there really have no clue what they're talking about. that's just except Adam Crowley I will always love Crowley he is he's hilarious I'd say at least I would always I would go on his show anytime if he asked me but um get back to what I was saying you know I and a lot of a lot of Matheson success comes at the expense well not even the expense just comes because of his deployment Mike Sullivan found a pairing that worked for him

and he put him in the best position to succeed. When Matheson was putting up bad numbers in Florida, outside of his transition stats, it was because he was playing too high up in the lineup. Sure, part of it is coaching. I mean, Tar Reardon has always been known as a very good defensive assistant coach. But I definitely think a good chunk of it was playing, you know, too many top herring to top four minutes.

And when he's playing those minutes, he gets gas and he, you know, and he makes mistakes. And when you saw him play with Chad Roodle throughout this season, those mistakes went down. And it was a perfect pairing for so many reasons. You know, A, you know, he can be the guy that drives offense on that line. I've had this saying on this podcast for a while now, you know, on my dream defensive pairings,

I want one guy that can drive the offense. And I want another guy that is still okay offensively, but is better defensively than the other person. player. That way, you know, that player can, you know, cover up for the, for the offensive defensive defense and that sometimes takes a chance in the offensive zone, comes back the other way to hurt them and, you know, he can make a good defensive play. You know, that's, that's my dream kind of set up for a defensive core. And, you know, at least on this pairing, it's a perfect third pairing. Matheson, he's great at carrying the puck out of his own zone. He's basically a one-man

zone entry machine at this point. Had a heck of a shot this year. I'm just making sure on the numbers. I mean, yeah, he had double-digit 11 goals at 5E-5. I mean, that is a career high for him. Before this, his career high was down in Florida, 2019, 20, when he had seven goals. You know, he's perfect for what he is. He's a serviceable potential top four to a third-parent defenseman. Does he make a lot of money?

Yeah. But at the end of the day, you know, he's. He puts up good counting stats and his underlines are really good. And going back to the pairing there, as I said, you know, with him driving the offense, you know, that also allows Chand Ruehdle to, you know, to not take as many chances in the offensive zone. I guess that's the B part of why it's such a good pairing. And he can also cover up for Matheson when he does inevitably have a screw up because, you know, He has those, you know, quite often, I should say.

I mean, he's, he's the total chaos player. And, you know, a lot of times it works out. A lot of other times it doesn't. You know, we got the bad version of him, I think, in the playoffs when it was probably three to four pucks went off his skate and into the net. And it was just like, man, like, what is going on here with him? But, you know, I couldn't be more thrilled with how he played. play this year. My biggest gripe with people when it comes to this player is overvaluing him.

So many people have just said, oh, yeah, he can take Crystal Tang's minutes really easily. They don't need to go out and get someone else to replace Christine. They have his replacement in-house. And it's like you watched Matheson for one year, have the best year of his career. And it's like you completely forget about how he played the first five seasons of his career in Florida. and then the last season in Pittsburgh where he was kind of just, okay, they really didn't get the return on the investment in the Petro Horkerstra, like they did this year.

I should say that. But, you know, he's never going to be Chris of Tang. And for those that think those are not actual takes out there. I mean, I've had people say that on my mentions. I've seen radio hosts in the city of Pittsburgh actively say that during the playoffs when they were playing the Rangers that, oh, yeah, Matheson's, you know, his breakout makes it easy to move on from Letang. And it's just like, no, it does not. He takes those minutes and the team suffers.

Saly's, you know, maybe the power play is still just as good because Matheson's always been a good power play quarterback. But five on five, you know, who's going to generate those primary assists? Even the secondary assist, is he going to generate all those? Is he going to generate all the goals that Chris Tang scores as well? I just don't see it. So if he plays on the third pairing again next year with Chabra-R-R-Weedle, I would be all for it. If you want to put him potentially on the second pairing,

bearing some other moves from the defensive corps, like a Brian Dumlin trade or something like that. I think the penguins can get away with that. But if that starts to go sideways and he looks to get a little gassed, you know, then I would potentially move him down. But, you know, kudos to him. He had a great year. He's their second best.

I would say right now he's probably their second best defenseman behind, let's hang, even though that gap is ginormous. And I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays next year. I don't think he's going to be moved. I think the chances of him getting traded under 10% during the all season, especially with how he played. But was very impressed by him. And I'm looking forward to seeing how Tar Weirden does with him next season as well.

So coming up in the next segment, we're going to get into that play. that potential free agent target that a listener DM'd me on the Locked on Hengland's Drew account. And just so you all know right now, if you have any questions about, you know, free agent targets, potential trades you want to run by me, sell ECs and stuff, just just let me know, you know, just shoot me a DM. I will gladly talk about this on the podcast. There are, I know, I have, I still have until July 13th, you know, to really talk about

all this stuff. And, you know, with not there not being a lot of news right now, even though I still generate topics to discuss. You know, that makes my life easier, too. So if you all have any potential trades or, you know, players, you want the team to go after, shoot me a DM, tell me what your reasoning. And, you know, I'll look into it and I'll put a segment out, or I'll spend a segment on a future episode talking about it.

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You want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter at L0, Arnold Score Penguins. So let's get to this potential target here. So Tyler Aaron, who listens to the show, shout out to you for asking this, by the way, Tyler. He goes, what are your thoughts on the Penguins bringing in Max Domi? I think that he would be a great replacement for Edm Rodriguez if we don't sign him.

And I know that the Penguins were trying to trade for him in the past. Aaron, oh, Tyler, excuse me, you are right that the penguins have shown interest in Max Domi in the past. I think it was under Jim Rutherford's regime. that he tried to bring him in once or twice. I don't know if Ron Hextall's regime has shown interest in him. I don't really think they, when he was a potential trade candidate at this year's trade deadline, I don't think Ron Hextall's management was interested in him.

But, you know, he fits the kind of player that Hextall and Burke would want. He brings the truculence, his physical, you know, drives to the net. You know, decent goal score, good, decent playmaker. you know, it's, it's tough because, you know, I like him, but, you know, what is he realistically going to get, you know, on the open market? I'm just going to see here what his contract was. Excuse me here. Yeah, so he made $5.3 million this season. If I can look up his counting, if I can just make sure I got his counting stats right in front of me here.

11 goals, 39 points in 72 games. He is not going to make 5.5.5 million on his next contract. That's just absolutely ridiculous to even suggest that or to think about it. That number is probably going to come down. If I had to guess, maybe he'll ask for Florida 4.5. I think the penguins could do it. You know, it would make sense. You know, he, you know, but he is a left wing.

You know, that's the big thing. That's his main position. Could he play center? you know, maybe, but, you know, if we're thinking of an Evan Rodriguez replacement, I'd almost rather just, you know, go out into the, under the free agent market and bring another center in that produces close to what, you know, he did this year because Rodriguez actually outperformed Maxomi this year. You know, Rodriguez 19 goals, 43 points in 82 games.

he is going to be due of pay raise, and again, I would prefer the penguins keep him over Domi. Now, regular season-wise, after the hurricanes got Domi, he started actually putting up decent numbers, scored two goals in the 19 games. When he was on ice, the Carolina had 61% of the Sean attempts. They had 75% of the actual goals, 56.4% expected goals rate, 53% scoring chances. rate, 53% high danger rate. He was on the ice for 100 danger goals against. He shot 9% overall.

So of his 11 goals, nine of them came at 5B5 this year. But before he came over from Carolina, he was struggling down in Montreal. 46% shot at temp rate, 50% actual goals for us. So that's not super terrible. But 45% expected goals rate, 43% scoring chances, right? 43% high danger chances. is right. I think part of that does have to do with him playing on a really crappy team. But, you know, is he as good as the version of him that we saw in Carolina?

I probably don't think so. I think the answer, you know, when you look at, you know, his, course, C percentage and his actual goals percentage and his expected goals percentage, you know, in his scoring percentage percentage, I think the answer for both of those, I think it's somewhere in the middle. So say, for example, shot attempts rate. I think it's probably for a full season, around maybe 52, 53 percent. Expected goals from 45 to 56,

I think that's probably somewhere from, you know, 50 to 52 percent, you know, scoring chance to score rate, you know, maybe around 50 percent as well, there. You know, I do think he brings, you know, positive, you know, things to this team. Again, you know, he's physical.

He brings that truculins that birth wants. He can score the greasy goals. in front of the net, decent playmaker, fine defensively. But, you know, can you do better than him on the open market? I think so. And I think the penguins are going to potentially want to go out and make more of a splash if they have the cap to do it. Now, if they don't have the cap to do it,

and they may not just because of how cap strap they already are, you know, I could see them potentially signing, domy. But, you know, that's all if, you know, Hextall actually shows an interest in him. Remember, you know, there's going to be a lot of teams going after this player. You know, free agency, there's no, what's the word I'm looking for? You know, there's no sure things in free agency. You know, a player like that is going to have, my guess, up to eight to ten suitors.

You know, right, for you're saying, you know, son of Ty Domi, you know, he's had a lot of expectations when he came into the league. He's been a good player for, I think, most of his years that he's been in the league. you know, his best year, I think, came in 2018, 19. Excuse me, when he was with Montreal, had 22 goals, 31 total assist. But, you know, again, right now, he's not worth a $5.3 million. If you can get him for maybe $4 million, I would consider it. But he is a player that I would not want to overpay for, that's for sure. That's the biggest thing because, you know, also if you agency, you know,

agents love to drive the prices up. That's, you know, even last year, you know, did Ron Hextall probably want to pay Brock Begand $2.75 million for four years? No. Did Jen Rutherford probably want to pay $3.5 million per year for six years for Brandon Tanev? No. But that's the business of doing things in free agency. Most of the time, the team is not going to get the friendly deal. it's the player that's going to get, you know, what he wants because, you know, he wants to get, you know, what he thinks he's worth.

And, you know, that's the whole purpose of testing free agency you want to see, you know, what teams interested in you and, you know, what teams think of you, especially from an Aav standpoint. And, of course, a term standpoint. So, you know, I'm a little mixed on it. If the Penguins were to sign him, again, I would hope that the contract is not for, you know, four to five years, something like that. if you can get him for maybe two to three, you know, four million per, I'd potentially think about doing that, but I'm not interested in paying him to say the least.

I would rather have Rodriguez back as the center, or, you know, just on the team in general over someone like Domi. So those are my thoughts on that. Tyler, thank you so much for asking that question. And again, y'all, if you ever have a player that you think the penguin should go after, send me a DM.

You know, I'll talk. about on the show and I'll plan out a segment for it. So this was fun to talk about, you know, Domi. I have plenty more free agency stuff coming for future episodes on this podcast. So I stick around for that. And of course, I do have more draft. I do have some draft things coming in the very near future. Coming up in the final segment, I'm going to get into the Stanley Cup final and just some thoughts from Game 4 overall and why John Cooper really needs to stop whining. to say the least. But that's all coming up right after this commercial break.

All right. I'm back in this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. I'm trying to make sure here that I did not see another silly season thing. Not right now, but I think I might have to scroll.

all the way back in my DMs. I think I had something that came up about a week or two ago, but I'll get to that for probably Friday's episode. Anyway, so Colorado up three games to one right now on Tampa Bay. The Lightning are on life support. And, you know, the word right now in Tampa Bay, they're still pretty mad about what happened in game four with the Nazim Kadra overtime goal.

I have no idea why they're so mad about it. I mean, the player is basically at the bench. That's not, they will never call that too many men call. Sorry. I mean, I can probably count the list of times. I've seen that called on one hand. And I've been watching the NHL for 20 years of my life. That just, you know, it's such a, you know, I get what John Cooper is trying to do.

He wants to work the officials. You know, he, remember he did that after the game when the Penguins beat their butts down in Tampa Bay. He said, you know, it's funny how the Penguins really never get called for anything. Of course, that's going to stir up the conspiracy people and all this stuff. And, you know, I think the memes started going around with Cooper and all that and, you know, whatever. But he gets no sympathy from me. The amount of break that the lightning have gotten over the last couple of years to even go back to back is nothing short of a miracle. I mean, for God's sake, you know, I make it heat for saying this.

But, you know, they played the Montreal Canadians in the Stanley Cup final last year. Like, I don't need to have you sit here and tell me that, well, you know, my team didn't. get a break with this. I mean, you know, sorry, maybe you should have won the game in regulation or in overtime, or he shouldn't have gotten boat raced by the avalanche in overtime. But, you know, right now I'm seeing a very tired, fatigued Tampa team. I think it's going to be very hard for them to win three in a row against this juggernaut avalanche team. They are 15 and three in the Stanley Cup playoffs right now. I mean, this is probably one of the best runs I've ever seen to a potential Stanley Cup in my lifetime. If they finish this off, I think it'll go up there with

the O-8 Red Wings, the 2012 LA Kings, and the 2016 Penguins as, you know, probably one of the four best teams to ever win during the salary cap era. I mean, they have, they just, they forechecked the lightning, you know, into utter H.E. double hockey sticks. You know, Andre Vasilevsky did all he could last night. I mean, he was putting on one heck of a show, but, you know, you got to beat him that fourth time. You know, that's, that's been a thing that no one's been able to do since the Blue Jackets did it. 2019, you know, can Colorado finish them off here? The ball ball arena in Denver is going to be

rocking. Abelwich haven't won a cup in over 20 years. I can't wait to see that scene in Denver, you know, and I hope they play all the small things and all that. You know, it's just, it gives me goosebumps, honestly, every time I hear it. And, you know, obviously, if the Abilins do win the cup, I'll dedicate a segment to what the penguins can learn from that going into next season. If they can take anything away. Her won't be avalanche, you know, can the penguins, can they build, you know, the roster, you know, I guess in a mini similar way, obviously you're not going to have the next Camel car coming through your pipeline or, you know, probably have a Valerie Natchewski just,

you know, going to break out for his best season of his career. But, you know, I still think that it will be things to take away if the avalanche do finish this off on Friday night. But, you know, there's such a treat to watch, you know, cadre coming back and being the hero, you know, for as much of a stain as he is. He's definitely grown on me during these playoffs, and that was one heck of a goal to get the game winner there for Colorado. But, you know, the series is not over yet.

No one I don't think can ever really count out Tampa Bay. So, you know, they're going to put together. I think their best performance yet on Friday. And, you know, we'll see if the avalanche will be able to match that, to say the least. You know, I think that will do it, though, for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I appreciate all of you for listening to this one. I, again, apologize for being kind of MIA over the last, you know, five to six days with, with, you know, vacation, a couple of, you know, personal things going on with my life and the concert. It's just been, you know, bad stuff galore.

But I promise you all, you know, the vacations behind me, you know, the concerts behind me. I'm doing with the personal things as I can, and I will continue to try to deliver some of the best Penguins content out there for you all on an everyday basis until the podcast goes to three days a week. So again, thank you all so much for listening to this one. Let me know what you all think about Mike Mathis in season. No, my grade is probably an A for him. Let me know what you all think about Max Domey,

potentially joining the Penguins in free agency. And let me know, do you think Colorado ends this in five on Friday? or do you think Tampa Bay will have one more last stand to try to defend their championship? But again, thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode for you all on either Friday morning or Friday afternoon.