Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby place on IR, can the Penguins stay in the playoff race?
Episode Date: February 25, 2026The Penguins announced that captain Sidney Crosby is on IR and will miss a minimum of four weeks, so can the Penguins survive this injury? Patrick and Hunter begin the show, breaking down the news tha...t Crosby's injury will keep him out of the Penguins' lineup for around a month, and looking at who has to step up, how they can stay in the playoff race, and what head coach Dan Muse will have to do to keep this team afloat. (0:00) Then, the Penguins swung a trade yesterday for defenseman Samuel Girard. Where does he fit into the lineup, and can he mesh with Kris Letang, who seemed to rediscover his game with Brett Kulak? They also check out the line combinations from practice, and a lot more! (13:53) Finally, Warrior Helmet Wednesday returns, and they hand out their MVP awards for the last week! (25:44) Everydayer ClubJoin the Everydayer Club for ad-free audio, access to our group chat on Discord, and more. Use code DEADLINE ahead of the trade deadline for one month free. Tap here to learn more: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub 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. 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 Use your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
It's the update that Penguins Nation did not want to get this morning.
Captain Sidney Crosby will be out for a minimum of four weeks.
So how does this affect the team as they continue their push to the playoffs?
We break that down and so much more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
Your Locked-on Penguins.
Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Welcome in to the Wednesday 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 my good friend and co-host the one and only Hunter Hodes.
You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.
You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L0 underscore Penguins.
You can find us on Instagram at Locked On Unleys.
underscore penguins, as well as TikTok at Locked-on Penguins.
Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine.
Don't forget, we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube.
Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, which you should be doing, because you may have noticed
we dropped an emergency episode on YouTube about the trade yesterday.
You'll be among the first to know when we drop our Monday through Friday,
episodes or our emergency bonus episodes.
But we got a lot more to talk about today on a full-sized episode of the
Locked-on Penguins podcast, starting with some bad news.
Captain Sidney Crosby is back from the Winter Olympics.
The Penguins will be back in action on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.
And the news was not great.
Sidney Crosby officially placed on IR, the team saying he will miss a minimum
of four weeks with that lower body injury. Hunter, my mind says this is going to be a really
difficult mountain for this team to climb because Sidney Crosby has been having another
remarkable season at his age. But then my heart says every obstacle that this penguin's team
has faced so far this year, they have been able to overcome. So with a.
brutal stretch coming up here to end the month of February and into the month of March.
How do you think the penguins can overcome this loss?
How can they overcome this loss and will they overcome this loss?
Right.
I think for me, we've seen Evgeny Malkin really step up his game when Cindy Crosby has been out before.
I think you're going to have to see that here again.
He's had three weeks off to really rest.
shoulder injury now whether he's 100% or not we don't know but that shoulder is at least a bit
healthier as we really start the stretch run here on Thursday against the devils and then the Rangers
this weekend and then the go with nights and then you have that very very crazy march schedule
I think we're going to need to see you know beast mode gino really get going here again
I think since coming back he has been very good even though he has not been at 100%
if you've seen the way that you know he wins is at times he's
playing on wing. He's not really taking many face-offs, but, you know, they're going to need
that version, if not an even better version of the beginning Malkin. And again, I know he's a bit older now,
but this is someone who has really stepped up to the plate when Crosby has gone down before.
I'm also looking to Ben Kendall. He's also had a few weeks off. And yeah, I know, like most of the
team has, but I think Kendall is going to come in here. We charged, fully ready to go.
And I think you might see a better version of Ben Kendall. He is going to play.
you know, even bigger minutes for this team.
But every single test that he has gotten, Pat, he has passed with flying colors.
And I think he's also going to need to really step up here down the stretch.
And I honestly do think he will.
He has played so well throughout the year.
You're going to see his line, get more minutes.
It also comes down to Ricard Raquel.
Again, at practice today, I was there.
We'll get into more of that in a little bit.
He was still centering at top line with Avery Hayes and Brian Rust.
they have to get Raquel going down the stretch.
I don't think he has been bad per se this season,
but he hasn't been nearly as good as he was last year.
And yeah, to a degree, you expected less production this year
just because of how great he was last year.
But I still think he has another level, if not two, to get to.
So I think he also has to play really well down the stretch here too.
So those are just three players I'm focusing on.
but, you know, if the fourth line continues to do their thing, again, touch on the Kindle line, touched on the second line.
You know, if lines two through four can really keep cooking and the top line can at least, you know, tread above water,
they'll have a shot to really, you know, still be in a playoff spot until Crosby is able to return.
It's going to be a tall task, but, you know, they've proven everyone wrong for the first 56 games.
What's a few more weeks?
We'll see.
It's going to be really interesting.
It is going to be a really big challenge just because not only is Crosby having another great season,
he's just the emotional center of this Penguins team. He sets the standard.
He is the guy that everybody looks to in the big moments.
And yes, I know all of that is extremely cliched, but that is just the facts of the case.
I also think this is going to be a big moment for the aforementioned Ben Kindle and some of these other young players,
such as Avery Hayes, such as Justin Brzoe, and then a couple of the other players in the lineup,
such as someone like, say, Brian Rust or Anthony Mantha, because these guys have been having
really good seasons, these guys have been pleasant surprises, and now it's their turn to really
step up their game. And I also am going to look to head coach Dan Mews in this moment,
because this is in his early penguin's tenure,
his first real test of adversity.
Yeah, we had the losing streak back earlier in the season.
But even during that losing streak,
you and I said it wasn't like this team was underachieving.
It wasn't like this team was playing remarkably poorly.
It was just little mistakes here and there in those losses that came back to haunt them.
A fragile team was what that was.
And he was able to guide them through that.
So this is going to be another test for him.
He's going to be without his captain, one of the best players in the world for at least a month.
And it comes at the absolute worst possible time because this team is in the thick of a playoff race.
They are not going to have a lot of ground to lose.
They've given themselves a nice cushion going into this next stretch.
but it's not like they are, say, the Colorado Avalanche who have built such a lead that they can basically take the rest of the season off and be okay.
They are going to have to make some hay here.
And it's going to fall on Dan Muse to get this team to play a brand of hockey that might not be the most exciting,
but it's going to have to be a 60-minute commitment.
It's going to have to be everybody pulling in the same direction.
And there's going to be not a lot of margin for error.
Yeah, I'm with you. I want to see the depth scoring continue to shine through.
I want to see the defensive improvements that we saw before the Olympic break happened,
where you know, you look at some of their defensive metrics that are right around league average.
The goaltending is also going to have to hold.
And, you know, for most of the season, it has.
You know, I think Stuart Skinner, for the most person, is coming over from Edmonton,
outside of a couple starts, I think he's been really good.
Artis Sheelogs, I think he has also really bounced back after, you know, a couple of tough stretches.
So that's going to have to hold.
As I said, Ben Kindle, he's going to have to take on more minutes.
But to me, like now that he had three weeks off, got to go on a vacation,
he's looked really good in practice.
I think he's ready for this.
And again, if getting Malkin, you know, he really,
and I mean really wants to get back to the playoffs.
And say Pat, for example, he doesn't sign a contract extension this week sometime,
just throwing that out there.
that's another motivation factor for him.
He can try to lead this team to the playoffs for the next few weeks
and basically just say to Kyle Dubas,
hey, this is the cherry on top.
Give me that one-year extension.
That's also something we have to think about as well,
especially if he doesn't get that extension this week.
It's going to be tough just because, again,
when you look at the schedule these next few weeks,
it's going to be a challenge.
Even outside of the two Metro games coming up this week,
Those two teams are not very good.
The penguins should still win them.
But again, there's no gimmy wins in the NHL.
You always have to fight every night.
Outside of those two, you have Vegas, Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia,
which should be a winnable game.
But again, Boston again, Carolina, Vegas, Utah, Colorado, Carolina again,
Carolina one more time, Winnipeg who's not very good in Colorado.
Most of the games in there are against legit Stanley Cup jargonauts or playoff teams.
it's going to be a tough challenge
but if you can go
close to 500
if not 500 on the dot
I think that should be good enough
to the point where
you're still very much going to be in the race
if not in a playoff spot
by the time Sydney Crosby is ready to return
and you know we'll see
if it is the full four weeks remember
they announced when Crystal Tang was going to be out for a month
he was skating basically two weeks later
so you never truly know now
now you know it could be the full four four weeks
weeks. It could be longer. It could be shorter. But I'm just throwing that out there. Letang was on the
ice pretty quickly once the penguins were allowed to return to practice. And honestly, Pat, I could tell
right away he was going to be ready for this week. He was ahead of schedule. Maybe Crosby is ahead of
schedule at some point. We don't know. It's just that hopefully they'll get him back as soon as possible
because this really is the worst possible time for this to happen, considering the schedule, considering
where they are to end the season. That's a very fair point about Latang. We could see something similar
happen. We don't want to make that prediction or that proclamation because we really also don't know
what the injury is. We have an idea because of how he got hurt against Chequia in the Olympics,
but nobody has specified exactly what the injury is. So that puts an entire different X
factor into the equation for us to know. But one last thing before we talk about what happened
today at practice as well as where Sam Gerard could fit in in this lineup moving forward.
Crosby did give them a vote of confidence after practice.
He did speak with reporters following practice in the announcement that he would be placed on
IR saying, quote, I'm confident.
I think we've shown all year that we have injuries and guys have stepped up to get us to
where we are at this point.
I think because of our team play, I don't think it has been any one person.
I think because as a group, we've found different ways to win and different guys have
stepped up. That is Sidney Crosby giving his team a mission statement. That is Sidney Crosby saying,
you needn't worry about me. You have to worry about the mission. You have to worry about the objective
of getting to the playoffs. And with or without me, you guys are going to have to pick up the slack.
And if Sidney Crosby says that, and I'm on this team, I know that for the next few weeks,
I'm locking in because I don't want to let that guy down.
But that is going to do it for our opening segment.
When we come back, Penguins were back at practice today,
and their newest edition was part of practice.
We're going to talk about that right after this.
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Back here on the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Namp right alongside Hunter Hodes.
And we talked about it briefly yesterday.
We mainly just discussed the trade itself and everything the trade means in regards to where the penguins are right now.
Samuel Girard is, but now it's time to dive a little bit deeper into where Samuel
Gerard fits into the lineup. If you did not see our emergency episode or you have not heard the
news, the trade yesterday was defenseman Brett Kulak goes to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for
defenseman Samuel Gerard in a 28 second round pick. Hunter, you were at practice today.
what did you see?
So we might get the full peak chaos pairing right away.
That's the words that I kind of used in my article last night for the hockey news
when discussing where I could see Gerard playing in the lineup.
I mentioned that you could easily have one pure offensive first defenseman on each pair,
you know, with Carlson Watherspoon, Lettang, and Ryan Shea,
and then maybe someone like Gerard and Clifton on the third pair.
but it seems like DMUs is like, hey,
I want to at least experiment with Gerard and Latang on the second pair.
And in a very low-key way,
it kind of reminds me of when Matheson played with Latang a little bit
when Mike Matheson was here,
where that's the type of pair, pat, where it's all gas, no breaks.
Gerard, we know.
His defensive game, it's not his biggest strong suit.
He's not that good in front of the net.
You have Chris Lettang, who is definitely not as good defensively as it used to be.
In front of the net,
struggles there a bit too. So when you're combining those two players on one pair where they're both
offensive first defensemen, they have a good pass, they can still both skate, they're good in
transition, you know, it makes for fun offense. I just get a little spooked about what it could mean
defensively in their own end. But hey, Dam Euse has worked a lot of magic on this team this year.
What's one more situation? But that was the one big thing I saw today was that Gerard was on a
pair with Crystal Tang. And, you know, based on that, I do think you're going to see.
that pair play a bunch of minutes during Thursday's game against the Devils.
And hey, if it doesn't work, I'm sure Dan Mues will change it around,
probably bump Ryan Shea back up to playing with Chris and saying.
They have a history together this year.
And then I would think he would move Gerard back down to Connor Clifton because it looks
like Clifton is going to be in the lineup, at least for tomorrow's game,
I'll be Albaugh and Ryan Graves were skating on that fourth pair.
So that was really the one big thing I noticed when it comes to Sam Girard.
And again, I'm excited about this trade.
I think he brings an element that the penguins were still lacking a little bit on the blue line.
You know, I don't think Kulak was bad or anything like that.
I thought he was doing a nice job, stabilizing Lettang a little bit.
I thought he was totally fine in his own zone.
But when I look at this defensive core as a whole, outside of Carlson and Lettang,
there's not a lot of pure puck movers on the back end.
I think Sam Girard is really going to help in that department.
Also, their transition play, going from defense to offense, exiting the zone, all that good stuff.
I think he's an upgrade over Kulak in all those categories.
So again, really like this trade.
And by the way, I know there have been some bugs with Apple and Spotify across our network.
I believe they're fixed now, especially for Apple and Spotify.
Let us know because it's been very buggy the last 24 hours, Pat.
I just want to throw that out there for everyone.
Yeah, we should have mentioned that off the top.
We have been experiencing some technical difficulties with getting our show on Apple and Spotify.
We didn't forget about you guys.
we aren't suddenly disappearing.
We are still doing the show.
It's just technology being a pain in the ass.
But to your point, back to talking about the pairings,
I do think this is a little damned if you do,
damned if you don't moment in a couple of ways.
One, you're bang on.
When you look at the penguin's defensive core with Kulak,
without Kulak, regardless before you bring in Samuel Girard,
there were not a lot of good puck movers on.
this blue line. There was Parker Watherspoon, who has been a revelation. We did not expect that.
Obviously, Eric Carlson is who he is. LaTang may not be the player he once was, but he still does
have a solid first pass, even with all his other struggles. But then away from that,
it was a real struggle for guys who could get the pucks to the forwards, feed the transition
game and the breakout. Now you add in Samuel Gerard, he's very good at that. That is basically his
bread and butter. So that is really going to help. What I'm worried about is the other side of that
is that Kulak really did stabilize Latang. We talked about it endlessly before Kulak was
acquired. Latang was really, really struggling. His play dipped hard to start this year.
And Kulak really seemed to bring out the best in Chris Latang. Now, we're going to find out
was that Kulak's doing or did Latang work himself out of a funk?
Because that is a great comparison of this is going to be pretty similar to the Latang Matheson pairing back in the day.
Because there were moments where that pairing was on the ice and it was electric.
You knew that they were feeding the offense.
They were full go all the time.
and then there were moments where they got hemmed in and you went,
this could be an abject disaster.
So we're going to find out about that.
But I do think on the whole,
for the game that the penguins are trying to play,
especially under Dan Mews,
Samuel Gerard fits it really well.
He is really going to aid with puck support.
He's really going to aid on the breakout.
It's really going to help their overall game.
we're just going to have to wait and see if him and Latang work as a pairing.
Here's the hoping that they do.
Other than that, it wasn't a ton to really go over from practice.
The lines were in a blender because Yeager Chinikov, sorry, I fell back into his old pronunciation.
Igor Chinikov was absent from practice because congratulations to him and his wife welcoming their first child.
so he was given an excused absence from practice.
So congratulations to them.
One thing I'm really curious,
and we kind of touched on this in the first segment
and on yesterday's show as well,
Ricard Raquel at Center.
I'm very curious to see how this works
because we've seen in fits and spurts.
He can work at center.
He shouldn't be a long-term option in the middle,
but for the next few weeks,
I do think it's the best option that they have.
Yeah, I mean,
If they really wanted to, I'm sure they can move Gino back to center on his line and you can still have some fine center depth even without Crosby for the next three weeks to about a month.
But I just think the penguins really like how that line is going with Malkin on the wing.
And I still think he may not, again, he's probably not 100% yet to the point where maybe he can take faceoffs full time.
So I think they're just like, hey, we love the way that line is going.
We love the way Novak is centering it.
We're going to keep Malkin on the wing just because he's been such a good fit there.
But if they really wanted to, I'm sure they could probably convince him to the point where
he could be a center.
And that still might happen at some point.
But for now, you can keep rolling with what you got right.
But for now, with Raquel, yeah, it hasn't been super often,
but they were experimenting with this during training camp and the preseason in case injury
like this arose.
Now he's going to get the opportunity.
again, I brought up the game from last season where the Penguins were without Crosby and Malkin,
Raquel was centering that top line.
Penguins went to MSG and one, that was honestly probably one of their best games of that
very law season where they did not play well in most of their games.
I really liked that game.
So again, if you can bring that level we saw in that game to a bunch of other games over
the next few weeks, you know, I think that top line can, again, at least treadwater, potentially.
But I will get him going.
That's the thing.
He hasn't played, you know, close to the level.
we saw at last season. I expect more out of him this year. And hey, maybe we get it. I'm also excited
for Avery Hayes. He's going to be in the lineup pretty much going forward. I will also add
this about Raquel. No one is ever going to mistake him for a Selke candidate, but he is a solid
defensive forward. He's not a two-way forward. He's not, again, as I said, he's not going to
garner any Selke trophy votes. But he is good enough defensively.
that you can live with him at center for a little bit.
People want to do this.
He's probably,
of the players on the Raquel,
Crosby,
Russ line,
when that line is going,
my opinion,
I think Raquel is the best defensive player on that line.
Just my opinion.
Yeah,
and that's,
that's kind of my point is that,
again,
you're never going to mistake him for Angeh Kopitar.
That's never going to be somebody you compare Ricard Raquel to.
But in a pinch and just consistently,
he's good defensively,
good enough that he's not going to make any wild mistakes.
He's not going to get caught very often.
So in a moment like this where Sidney Crosby is going to be out for the foreseeable future,
you've got your lines and a little bit of a blender as a result,
you can live with him at center.
So not the worst thing to do.
But unless you have got any other observations to add from practice Hunter,
it went away for a week.
And we felt that was just too darn long to not do.
Warrior Helmet Wednesday. It is back. We hand out our MVP of the week in the Pittsburgh Penguins
land. So stay tuned for that. We will get into that when we come back right after this.
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Need to hire. That is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Closing out the Wednesday edition of
Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside my friend Hunter Hodes. And there are a lot of new people here,
after the Olympic break.
We got plenty of new members here listening to Locked-on Penguins.
So for you newbies, every Wednesday, Hunter and I do a little thing called Warrior Helmet Wednesday.
It's our weekly MVP for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It pays homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins where throughout the season and through their Stanley Cup victory after wins,
they would hand out a warrior helmet in the locker room amongst themselves to crown the player of the game.
We do that here for the most recent week.
We pick our MVP's.
And for the first time, in quite a while, Hunter and I have different picks this week.
Hunter, I'm going to let you kick us off.
Who are you choosing for your MVP of the most recent week?
So I kind of changed it up a little bit because there's really no rules for this, as Pat likes to say all the time.
And I'm going to- We made it up. We can do whatever we want. Exactly. I, my qualifier,
excuse me, was penguin players at the Olympics overall. And I am choosing Sidney Crosby for the Olympics that he had for the last couple weeks. And yes, I know he got hurt. It stinks. He's out for the next few weeks to up to a month. But in four games, he had two
goals and six points during that time when he was on the ice.
He was fabulous, as always, for Team Canada.
I thought he was a great fit with Mitch Marner and Mark Stone,
thought that line was really humming, especially going into that quarterfinal game
against Chekia.
And anytime he puts on that Team Canada sweater, he plays like an absolute dog.
He was once again, fantastic.
So that is my pick for the last week.
And honestly, the last couple of weeks, just because, again, I'm kind of looking at Penguin
players at the Olympics. I'm going Cindy Crosby. I know who you're going with. And I think it's a
fantastic pick by the way. So tell everyone who you're going with. That is a very good pick, Hunter.
And I'll be honest, I can't totally disagree with that pick just because he was before the injury,
he was really, really good. And honestly, I probably should have gone with the Olympic idea.
taking Sid or maybe Carlson for playing pretty well with Sweden.
But if you're watching us on YouTube, you're going to see the spoiler of who I picked.
And I picked for the second week in a row for Warrior Helmet Wednesday, Avery Hayes,
because when he returned to Wilkes-Barre Scranton, six goals and an assist, two hat-tricks
in five games.
Since his NHL debut, I should say, he has been.
absolutely marvelous.
And he just, he's an absolute dog.
Like this guy, like we talked about it on the show briefly when the penguins were still
playing before the Olympic break.
Actually, probably was after the Olympic break now that I think about it.
The penguins put out the video of him miced up during that game and before that game.
And he's on Mike telling Rucker McGority, if I get a chance, I'm scoring.
And he goes out and does it twice.
has a really good NHL debut, obviously, goes back to the AHL, proceeds to tear it up,
scores two hatch tricks, and gets in a fight, just an absolute animal.
So for me, I got to go with Avery Hayes, huge week,
and he is going to be a key piece for this team as they navigate the waters
without their captain, Sidney Crosby.
So with that, as we do on this show this season,
we are keeping track of all of our Warrior Helmet Wednesday awards.
So if you're watching us on YouTube, you will see the tracker up on your screen.
Leading the pack now with Hunter's award this week is Captain Sidney Crosby.
He's got five Warrior Helmets on the season.
Evgeny Malkin right behind him with four.
Justin Brzoe has three and then plenty of guys with two.
Kyle Dubis, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindle, Eric Carlson,
Anthony Mantha, Dan Mews, and Sergey Murrishov, and then with one,
Connor Dewar, the power play and penalty kill, Archer Shilovs, and Stuart Skinner.
Keeping track of that this year because at the end of the season,
whether it's after game 82, after some playoff games, or pie in the sky,
after a Stanley Cup victory, we'll hand out some end of the year awards,
including some warrior helmets, so we're keeping track of that this year.
Hunter, unless you got anything else, that is going to do it for the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Thursday, getting you set for the long-awaited return of Penguins hockey when the Penguins will welcome the New Jersey Devils to PPG Paints Arena.
We'll get you set for that game and anything else that might happen between now and then.
So for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp.
you as always for tuning in and we will talk to you on thursday
