Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Some big-time updates on Kris Letang & Evgeni Malkin!

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

We finally have some traction on the Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin contracts! Hunter starts the show by getting into the update on Letang and why it's GREAT to see that the organization sees him as their top priority right now. He goes into why the very loud but vocal minority of fans who dislike him are wrong and vows for those people to reach out about an actual plan of action if Letang isn't brought back. Before getting to the latest on Evgeni Malkin, he dives into the numbers again and why there's basically nobody on the market that can do what he does. What is that one looking like? Is he the second-biggest priority for the team? Is it right of the team to see him as the 2nd priority behind Letang? He then gets into the rest of the updates in Rob Rossi's story, including one on a potential assistant general manager joining the front office. He looks at why the team needs to go outside the organization for this one to bring in some potential fresh ideas, especially as a new ownership group took over. Hunter also shares an update on Andy Saucier (a positive one) going into next season before ending the show previewing the Stanley Cup Final.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.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK. 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, ladies and gentlemen, listen to the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes, and we finally have at least a little bit of traction on the Chris LaTang and Afghan-Malkin contract stuff with a full month to go till free agency, 30 days officially until the UFA market opens. Rob Rossi and Joshua, you'll be athletic,

had a report today that was definitely encouraging, especially with the contract discussions with the number one defenseman Chris LaTay, also an update of Guinea Malkin, other stuff relating to the Penguins' off-season decisions. I'm going to get to all of that for today's episode of Locked up a Pagland's podcast, starting with the Chris Lattain discourse that took place on social media and just in the article itself. So we're going to jump into that and then turn their gears to a beginning Malkin and do the other stuff in Rob Rossi's story.

later on in the show right after this drop. Your 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 episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoadies.

You know to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Arnold's where Penguins. This episode is brought you by Bed Online. Ben Lyons have covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever four. that has been online where the game starts. A couple of big anniversaries in Penguins history that I would be remiss if I did not go over them.

June 11th, this past Saturday, the five-year anniversary of the Penguins hoisting that second, the back-to-back Stanley Cup in 2017 against the Predators, Patrick Hornquist being the hero. And then yesterday, the 2016 anniversary of the game in San Jose, where Crystal Tang was absolutely magnificent. And the 2009 series against Detroit Red Wings, Penguins loved their June 12th. And, you know, that Sunday is, you know, on a personal level, six days to the day where I, six years to the day where I graduated high school and then had to rush home to watch the third period of the Penguin Sharks. And I eventually did go back and watch the first and second period. So I think I had even live tweeted it when I was doing it. It was just flat out stunned how that game was not four to one or five to one heading into the third Martin Jones is incredible.

But, you know, had to touch on that before we really get into today's show. And speaking of Chris, that was the big update. and Rob Rossi's story. So it said, you know, talk, you know, what we're hearing with the Penguins off season. He started off. Sources told, tell the athletic that signing Chris a tang is the penguin's top priority. He says there's optimism among club management and his representation that a deal

can be reached to prevent him from becoming a UFA on July 13th. That is very encouraging any way you slice it. And for the longest time, you know, I've been saying on this show, other people have been saying on social media that might podcast about the team and all that. that's kind of a toss-it for me. 50-50, whether he comes back, I've always felt more comfortable that Gino is going to be the one to come back. And Latang may go out and cash out somewhere else.

But based on this update, it looks like Latang might be trumping Gino as the one that's more likely to come back at this point. Rob also says that they identified Latang as their top priority for retention after agreeing to the new contract for Brian Rust. they did say also, if I can go down here, Penguins are representatives for Latang and Malkin. The talks are ongoing. But the management, this is the big kicker. Ron Hextel and the Penguins management, they want to know how much Latang will cost with his AAB before turning their attention more seriously to Gino.

And my thoughts on that, I think that's the right move. I think the Latang number, because he's going to be getting a raise, and rightfully so because of how good he wants, was this season, you have to figure out what that contract is going to look like. How many years do you want to give him? Do you want to be a little bit bold and do five years? Maybe both sides can agree to that? But can Ron Hexton and Brian Burke agree on that number for him? You know, does it start with an eight?

I think that's probably the number one question for me. You know, can you get him below eight? It's going to be hard because he's definitely outplayed that 7.25. but how high are they willing to go to keep this player in Pittsburgh? I don't think Latang is going to ask for 8.5 to 9. I think that would be a bit ridiculous. But, you know, maybe 8.1, 8.2 at the most, most is what I maybe be willing to give him. You know, is kind of also, I wouldn't say shudging it, but it's definitely bold to do that for the penguins.

You know, they have to figure that out. I've said it on this show a lot over the offseason, you know, that Letang should be their top priority. I am glad that it sounds like according to Rossi that Latang is indeed their top priority and they're trying to get him done before really focusing on Gino. I'm sure Malkin probably doesn't care that much. I mean, I know he's been here for 16 years and, you know, maybe he'll feel like he should be the bigger priority. But, you know, him and Latang have men just as much to the organization as, you know, it's interchangeable, you know, both have done so much. So I'm not really a big fan.

I'm not really too worried about that aspect of it. And also I can see why they want to get Latang Gunn because, I mean, there's really no one else that can replace him that's on the UFA market and the trade market, which brings me to this nice social media discourse that, you know, I tweeted out that part of the story on my Twitter account today. I got a whole bunch of reactions. And as you all know, there is a very loud, but a very minority group. And again, it's a loud group that think Chris LaTang stinks.

He shouldn't be re-signed. He turns the puck over way too much. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They don't give you any statistics to back up their claims. Some guy tried to tweet me today of a clip of literally Latang and Dumwin going from defense to offense and saying Letang should not be behind the goal line. Again, a lot of these people really don't know what they're talking about. As Chad Nolan, Mad Chat 412 said to me on social media and when he's been on the podcast

before, I judge people with knowing stuff about the Penguins by how you feel about Chris Lettang. I'm sorry if this is going to tune a few people off. You know, most of the people I think that listen to the show know what Latang brings to the table. but I'm going to say this. If you are one of the people that think he should not be resigned or thinks that they're not worse without him and all this other stuff, you know, he turns the puck over way, way, way too much. Someone else might mention today saying that to me while citing a different thing,

which I'll get to in a second. You know, I'm probably not going to take your opinion seriously of the penguins. I'm not because, you know, you can throw so many data points at these people, give them actual statistics data that backs up what I have been watching and these people will not care. They will use strawman arguments to win debates. And at the end of the day, nothing good is going to come from that. You know, someone said to me today, they sent me this, this was hilarious. If I can find the tweet here. I can just, I can just, I can just Just describe it.

It was like the most turnover among any players in the league. Letang was like in the top 10 to 15. But if you look at the top 10 to 15, Leandro Eyesidal, Johnny Goodrow, Miro, Heiskin, and all these other great players, I'm like, wow, it's almost like, yes, great players are going to probably be in that category because they have the puck on their stick every single game. And sometimes, you know, most of the time, I should say, you have good decisions with those players.

some other times you have bad decisions, which I get it. Lattang has made plenty of bad mistakes in his career. I can easily say that as someone who can be objective about him and this stuff. The anti-Latain people want you to be objective when it comes to him. But, you know, I have no problem praising him. Well, also when he screws up, I can dump on him too. I mean, for those that, you know, listen to the show all season, I mean, whenever he had a bad game, I was always the first to say that he stunk.

and I expect you to do better the next time. And, you know, sure enough, that that's exactly what happened. But, you know, I'm not going to sit here, you know, and hear these weird statements from people about a defenseman in this franchise's history in terms of how great he is and still is, I should say. You can count the number of better defensemen that have played for this franchise as a whole on one hand. Heck, you probably don't even need to use more than two fingers before you get to him. I could only probably use one or two before I get to him.

It's Paul Coffey at number one. It's Chris Senga, too. People can argue old Samuelson and Sergey Gonshar and whoever else you want to put in there, Larry Murphy. But I'm taking one's hangover those three, except Paul, any day of the week. and if you do find yourself in a debate about Chris LaTang, and you're talking with someone who is part of the anti-Latang Colt, I want you all to say this to these people.

Ask them who you are going to replace him with. Who's going to take his minutes? Who's going to take that power play time? Who's going to do what he does at even strength, generating offense? Who is going to do what he does in the defensive zone, shutting down anyone that comes in with his 1V-1s, and whatever.

If they tell you John Klingberg, laugh with them. That's not going to happen. Letting. I mean, Klingberg turns the puck over way more often than Latang does for people that want to use that as a stat, which is basically just useless at this point when you have all the great players up there. And Klingberg didn't generate the offense that he did this year.

And defensively, he flat out stumped you. So don't give them that. Have them name actual top pairing defenders that are either available. or you can get for trade that actually fit the Penguins budget with their salary cap issues. That's what I would say for you all if you are ever caught in that kind of debate. I'm tired of these people not appreciating one of the best players to ever play for this franchise. It is very weird that there is a very loud, but a very minority group of the fan base that does not appreciate him.

It makes no sense. You can have a balanced discussion about this player. without turning it into, oh yeah, he stinks, he should not even be close to being re-signed. And you know, you'll also have these people say, well, you know, they lost in the first round, four years in a row, something has to change. But, you know, I hate that argument

because then you're just making changes for the sake of making changes. How about you show me a blueprint of what you would do that? I mean, if, if Gini Malkin and Chris is hanging or walking, who are you bringing in to replace them? What is your grand plan as armchair general manager, going on cat family and making,

and all these weird deals like you're also on NHL 22 or something like that. I mean, it's just, it's baffling to me. It's just people have all these like, you know, these weird statements about, oh, I want to do this with the team or, you know, you're not being objective and all that when in reality, it's those people that are not being objective because they're, they're blinded by, you know, pure hatred for a guy who really does not deserve any of that hate. And I get if people are skeptical about that potential. contract five times date or something like that i get it it's risky um the wheels can fall off at any

time but with how he has played well into his 30s it's a risk that you have to take you're not getting anyone to replace what he does in all your situations um you you need to have this guy retire as a member of the pittsburgh penguin so um i had to bring the heat a little bit for this first segment i'm sick and tired of people just you know, hating on the guy for no reason or thinking this team should rebuild and let these two guys walk, especially at Lutang. It's just, you know, it's nauseating at this point. Coming up in the second second, we're going to get to some of the other stuff in the article

from Rob Rossi. If I can get to the, there we go, I'm almost just, I think I clicked the wrong link for the ad that we were about to run here on the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Our next partner has a product I use literally every day. I started taking athletic greens because, you know, I didn't have time to sometimes work out in the morning. I wanted more energy because I sleep in a little too much, especially, you know, on weekends and stuff, if that does make sense. But even when I do sleep in, I'm still sometimes, I'm not, you know, as refreshed as I want to be, you know, I wanted a supplement also taste way. Wanted to see what the hype was about and all that stuff.

So what is this stuff? With one delicious scuba athletic greens, you're absorbing 75 high-quality vitamins. minerals, whole food, source superfoods, and probiotics to help you start your day of right. The special vitamin ingredients support your gut health, your nervous system, your immune system, your energy, recovery, focus, and your aging. It costs you less than $3 a day to do this. You're investing in your health, and it's cheaper than your cold group habit. You're investing in an all-in-one nutritional insurance. And that's over 7,000, five-star reviews recommended by professional athletes and stressed by leading health experts such as Tim Ferriss.

right now it's time to reclaim your health and armory immune system with a convenient daily nutrition. It's just one scoop and a cup of water every single day and that's it. There's no need for a million different pills and supplements to look out for your health. To make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a free one-year supply of immune-supporting vitamin D and five free child

packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is at Athleticreens.com.com slash Antial Network. Again, that is Athleticreens.com slashensual network to take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hode. He's not going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodey.

He saw all this shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So getting on to some other stuff from this article with Rob Rossi. He did also confirm a big one here that the Fenway Sports Group, which, you know, a very analytically inclined ownership group here. They love having people in charge. They will make decisions based off analytics. Rossi confirmed that, you know, people at the top of the organization now, they want both Latang and Malkin through in Pittsburgh through the remainder of their respective careers. And yes, as the, remember,

remember when that written plan thing was going around on social media? I think that was from Josh Yowie, who originally reported it. Well, so this was part of Hextall's written plan presented to the Fenway's group towards the end of the actual regular season. So he also does want Bacour to retire in Pittsburgh at the end of their careers. Rob also says Fenway's Svindwoods Group has identified retention of those two players as a way to guarantee that Sidney Crosby will play his entire career with the Penguins. Because, you know, think about it here. Only three years left.

I mean, it's already been nine of those 12 years since Sid signed that deal. And that was when the CPA was way different than one was now. I mean, there's like, like, Capri captures. But that thing, if he does retire early, I mean, it was a. of $8.7 million A.AV, probably one of the more underrated players, underrated AVs in the game. I mean, he should probably make an 11 to 12 million right now, but the Penguins got really lucky when they did pay him at that time.

But yeah, I mean, that's coming up pretty quick. You know, only three more years until state is a UFA. And Rob also says management is keeping him in the loop as much as he wants regarding ongoing talks with Letang and Malkin. That's good. But you always want to keep the face of the franchise, the second best player to ever play for this franchise, in the loop with two of his longest tender teammates. I mean, also two of his best friends. So perfectly fine with that. Going down a little bit more here. He says, despite one of the deepest initial free agent classes of the salary cap era, management has assessed the best use of resources that continue to building around a core of Crosby, Malk, and Mlite. So for those people out there that want the team to rebuild and all this other nonsense, you know, it's not going to happen. They want to continue to win with these three.

Now, can you get a bit younger outside of them? Absolutely. You know, that's going to be the job of the manager this summer, making decisions, moving some money out, bringing some money in with players that are a lot younger that can add some energy, some youth to this line of, some speed to this lineup, and most importantly, obviously generating offense to this lineup as well. So if you all want to say that team meets, Navy Navy needs a little reed tool also saying they can bring back Latang and Malkin.

I am all for that. I think that's a totally fair thing to say. And I do think that's probably going to be one of their big plans this summer. A couple other things here from Rossi. In case anyone thought that Mike Selma was going to be fired, he said that's not going to be the case. He's going to be the head coach next season. In addition to having full support of the management, Sullivan is also impressed the new ownership group, which views him as an integral building block for the penguins moving forward.

Best possible news right there. The penguins don't need to be the freaking Boston Bruins over here. And fire Bruce Cassidy for reasons. I mean, that was a hilarious move. I don't know why the Bruins decided to do it. He had the Bruins, I think, in four or five of the six years he was there, the number one team in all the NHL and expected goals each season. Every underlying metric was top 10 when he was there.

And they decide to get rid of them for reasons that, you know, are unknown to me. That's for sure. Another one, a big one here. Assistant coaches Tar Reardon and Mike Belucci have been granted permission to interview for any current or future head coaching for things this offseason. No advantage. They don't want to lose either assistant. You know, it sounds like Chicago with Reardon, they may have another interview. And it sounds like, according to Rob, Elliot Freeman has not reported this, the Red Wings and Steve Eiserman.

might be interested in having Volucci in for an interview. I did listen to Friedman on 32 thoughts on Monday morning, confirmed that it looks like Volucci is not going to get the job in Philly. Said that he impressed them a lot, but I think they're moving forward with one of Peter DeBore, Barry Trots, or John Torrella. I know which one I want them to hire, but I also want.

And I think I know which one you all want the Philadelphia Flyers to hire as well. They're very chaotic option. to say the least. He did say also management plans to add an assistant general manager from Hextall staff and an internal candidate is a leading contender for that.

The leading contender, Chris Pryor, currently the Penguins director of player personnel. This is my reaction to that. Yes, in case, for those that did not watch the YouTube version, that was me doing a face palm all over my face. I just, please, Ron Hextall,

bring in someone from outside the organization that has fresh ideas. You don't need to have three to four people on your hockey ops, and that's it. It's perfectly fine to hire people from other teams that, winning teams, preferably, that know what they're doing,

know what they're doing, share your ideology, or also, again, can bring in new ideas for this front office. I don't know why you have to have a internal candidate potentially be another assistant general manager. There's probably plenty of hockey executives out there that would love to be an assistant general manager under you, especially, you know, for the Pittsburgh freaking penguins here. So I just, I beg for him to please go outside the organization here.

I don't need to, you know, I understand the Steelers do one thing and they promote with it from within. I don't need to see the Penguins do it too, especially when, you know, the Steelers from office is a lot bigger than the penguins. I really do not get that at all. So hopefully he is able to do that. And there's a couple other notes that I'm going to save for the final segment of this episode. One of them does involve Andy Sosier. And it's good news on him now that the penguins are not going to lose in here. That's for sure.

So that's coming up in the next segment plus a potential small preview. of the Stanley Cup final. But before we get to that, I'm having trouble breathing here almost, it looks like. Betonline.net is your number one source for all of your betting stats and sports info. You can find all the latest developments, news and odds, including the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup final, major league baseball, and of course all the latest fighting news from MMA and UFC to boxing.

Betonline is your continued source for all of your sports, wagered information, including live betting, e-sports, and more. You can head to the website, today or use your mobile device than the more of the trend of action. That has been online where the game starts. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your

host, Hon. Rode. He's going to follow me on Twitter. Hey, Hon. Rode. He's follow the show's Twitter at L-unnerSquare Penguins. So big news when it comes to Andy Sosier. He is expected to receive a promotion and a new title, but he's still not going to have his

in-game responsibilities change. He says this move will be preemptive. So, as not lose Saucet, who is viewed around the Anchel as possessing elite recognition when it comes to which plays can be reversed. I mean, you know, when you have a video coach that is 100% with offside reviews, I actually did a little bit of digging to get that said. He has never lost an offside review for as long as he has been doing this, going back to the 2015-16, Jonathan Drew Ann one. Since then, never lost. People will point to the goaltender reference ones. that's not Andy Sossier's job.

That's actually the goaltending coach buzzing down for that one. So when they challenged the one game one against the Rangers, that was Andy Kyoto challenging that. So Sosier, he is definitely elite at knowing when plays are offside and when they're not. Anytime the Penguins are challenging for offside, I know they're going to win it. And the replay will always show.

It's like, well, no, I hope honestly opposing teams when there's offside reviews. and the Penguins challenge it, they're probably even like, well, this one's coming back because this guy actually knows what he's doing. So once that promotion is announced, I'll definitely be the first congratulate him. He definitely deserves it. He has done a lot for this coaching staff. Just a great video coach. And maybe one day the Pittsburgh Steelers were hired someone like that.

So Mike Tomlin wants to win some more challenges because he has been dreadful in that regard. And I'm sure Chris Carter have locked on his dealers would gladly share that sentiment. And here's an interesting one that I've really not heard a lot about this all season. The Penguins would not stand in the way of assistant video coach, Madison Nickel, if a head video coach job becomes available, Vancouver, where Jim Rutherford is there, has sought permission to interview Nichol for its top video coach position. I'm sure Madison will do a great job.

And that we're also learning under Saucer. I mean, you know, Andy could probably teach any person to do what he does in, even just in, you know, basics 101. And I'm sure whoever is under him, you know, could go to an NHL team and do a good job. So I'll be curious to see if that comes to fruition a bit of the Aussies, but those are the big updates. And it's basically taken us a full 25 minutes to discuss those in the show today. I have been waiting for these kind of updates. It makes me so happy to get them, especially because, you know, we're almost getting closer through the season reviews now.

We really only have the defensemen and some of the HL call-ups to go over for the rest of those. But, you know, also have a ton of free agency stuff to do going forward, the draft. I'm going to try to have a couple people on that know a lot more than me about that. That's for sure. But, you know, I appreciate Rob's reporting on this. I'm definitely getting excited about Latang, potentially coming back and Malcon, potentially coming back. And, you know, again, I think the penguins, they're doing it right here with prioritizing Latang, just because there's not a lot of great options if he does not come back this year.

Real quickly here, Stanleyka, final Tampa Bay, Colorado, our long national nightmare is over with the Rangers being eliminated. Golf claps, golf, collapse, golf, collapse, golf, golf, class. They still no chance in game sex. But when Rotrano tied it, I was like, it feels like only a matter of time before Tampa Bay. Is it a good thing, sure enough, 20 seconds later. Stephen Stamcoast gives them the lead. And this is probably going to be the best team that got final in almost a decade. I said at least 2009 for the Red Wings Penguins when you have the Red Wings,

that veteran team that won it the year before, one of the best teams of the Cap era going up against a Penguins team that is ready to break through. And that's what you have here. You have the veteran championship lightning who are going for more history, going up against an avalanche team that is ready to break through. They've won 12 or 14 playoff games. they have game breakers at every position just like the lightning a damn good goal tender when he's healthy um this screen this series screams seven games and you know i got my last two predictions

right especially the bolds and six ones so i bounce back a little bit i'm gonna go i'm gonna go abs in seven here i think they do enough to dethrone the champs i think it's going to be very close very highly contested but i think Colorado it's their time and i think they're gonna they're I think we're going to see a performance for the ages from Nathan McKinnon. I think Camel McCarr is going to be awesome. And seeing him go up against Victor Headman is going to be incredible. Two very well-coached teams. This is, I mean, again, you know, this compares to Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, 2013.

Boston, Vancouver, 2011 was incredible. I did have some people say San Luis Boston. That was also really good Stanley Cup final. But, you know, this is two heavyweights going at it. It's almost like, you know, Drago versus Rocky and Rocky 40, you know, when one guy is, one team, I should say, not as big of the villain as Drago is, but they're definitely the villain. But going up against a team that, you know, I think a lot of people want to see when they would, this would be their first Stanley Cup in 20 years, basically.

So I'm going Absin 7. That's my official prediction. We'll see if that comes past. Final starts on Wednesday of this week. And with that, that's going to end today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one. I know I had to bring the heat a little bit in the first segment

because I had just a whole bunch of weirdos in my mentions on social media and stuff telling me why it's not important for the Penguins to bring back the Teng. And, you know, I just kind of laugh and scoff at it at this point. So again, that'll do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode on Tuesday. for this team and I will talk to you. I hope you all. I hope you all the great rest of your Monday.