Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Some good Penguins news with a lot of bad Penguins news...

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

It's always a busy Monday for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunter recaps the news on the team as they have once again been hit by COVID. Who is now in the protocols? Which players will have to step up in their absence? Hunter also goes into if the protocols could be changing now that the CDC has changed some guidelines. Could asymptomatic players come back a bit sooner than symptomatic players? Will the NHL follow what the NBA is doing? Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are also nearing their returns, but who's will be first? Could we see Malkin on Sid's wing to start out a little bit? Which players from the first wave of callups will likely be in Friday's lineup? All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to this late Monday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoodies. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hoodies. You can also follow the shows Twitter at L-O underscore Penguins. Again, if you're watching on YouTube, this is so much better lighting, even late at night where I'm not looking like a comment. complete zombie like I have been in previous videos, been able to make a few adjustments, and I feel like this looks a hell of a lot better.

A lot to get into for today's episode, just with more postponements, penguins, getting some players back, but in typical penguins fashion, so I'm going to go to the COVID list. We're going to get all into the practice notes, what lines you might see for the next game coming up later on this week, how, you know, these COVID positives. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, considering the penguin schedule. you know, more on the CDC's announcement from earlier today. But let's get into it. So a lot to go over in case some of you have not been paying attention or all that.

Come here for the latest news. So Penguins will not be playing on Wednesday. That game against Toronto has been postponed. It will be made up from early February to the end of February. Somewhere during that three-week window, the Penguins will play the least in the final time. As of right now, the Penguins are still scheduled to play the Ottawa of senators on Friday. Who knows if that's going to be the case?

The senators have both goaltenders on the COVID list. So that means potential old friend Matt Murray may be the starting goaltender for the senators on Friday. For those who don't know, Murray has been on their HL team because he was put on waivers. No one would claim him. And then he was sent down. The senators just have not been happy with his play.

Since he signed there, they gave him that huge four to six year deal with six million per. Actually, I know my mistake, it was a six-year deal, six million per, a lot of money to give someone who was not playing at a $6 million level. I mean, let's just be real. So it looks like he might be starting for Ottawa on Friday, unless the game has postponed, which, you know, it probably will, I think, at this point. As for the Penguins, they will probably see a different gold tender on Friday. One of the players that is in COVID protocol gets to the full list in a second is Tristanjari. He has tested positive. Right now, the protocol states that you can't come back for 10 more days, but there was a big announcement today from the U.S. health officials that I'm curious to

see what the NHL thinks of this. So the Associated Press tweeted this out, the U.S. health officials, they're cutting isolation restrictions for those who test positive for COVID, and they're shortening the time that close contacts have to quarantine people with the virus. And this goes for asymptomatic players. And Mike Sullivan said today that a lot of the players are asymptomatic. People with that can leave isolation after five days down from 10. So really curious to see what the NHL does with that. I'm going to get to the NBA's announcement here in a second as well.

I don't want to go too far out here. I don't want to stick with one thing at a time. But if the NHL does adopt that policy, which, you know, I think they may. Jari may be able to come back, or if he is Athensman, all the other players that are as well, they may be able to come back a bit sooner than, you know, say next Wednesday or Thursday.

Other players on the list, Evan Rodriguez, I mean, that's just a huge loss. I mean, the guy was having a ridiculous season. The only thing that's been able to take him out at this point has been COVID-19. John Moreno, I feel bad for him as well. He was having a really good season, too. and really was not banged up at all either. You know, his first couple seasons, he was battling some injuries,

especially with that rookie season. In my opinion, I thought that he could have made a case, excuse me, to be a Calder Trophy finalist. But, you know, that injury to his, you know, his cheek slash Shaw area really derailed him. Last season was a bit banged up for a little bit as well. This season was relatively healthy. He was starting to play a lot better offensively.

Now he gets it with COVID. that absolutely stings. Teddy Bluger, too. He's been having a great year to see him get hit with the virus. I feel bad at this point. And then, of course, Mike Matheson, he is on the COVID list as well. If I am missing anyone, I don't think I am. If I'm just making sure I got this right. No, no, my bad. Dominic Simone. So he was also on the COVID list. He's been playing a little bit lately. but when the team is fully healthy, he's usually not in the lineup, but still, I wish all the players the best, hopefully they can get over this as quick as possible. Getting to what Mike Sullivan said, he did confirm that most of the players are doing well. A lot of them are asymptomatic to it.

So I guess I said a few minutes ago, hoping that the league, you know, sees with the CDC and the U.S. health officials are saying, and maybe they cut down on the protocols to, you know, five to six days for asymptomatic players if they, you know, were able to get over it pretty quickly and then, you know, keep it to about 10 days if players are experiencing mild symptoms. It's just, and it's, now you look at the attendance at practice today, and there are going to be call-ups, which I'll get to as well. The Penguins only have five defensemen healthy right now, and Brian Dumlin, Crystal Tang, Chad Riedel, and Marcus Pedersen. For forwards, they have Crosby, Campan, Brian Russ, of Guinea-Malkin, though, you know, they're coming back from injury. Jeff Carter, Dayton Hine, and Ashton,

Aston, Rape, McGinn, Drew O'Connor, Sam, Lafferty, Brian Boyle, and then DeSmith, and they had an emergency goal today. They're going to have someone from Wilkesbury coming up later on to back up to Smith, which, again, he will probably get the start on Friday. So, you know, it's just, it's a never-ending saga with this team. And it's also, this is a team that was doing really well with COVID prior to the holiday break. They had no cases, even though a lot of other games were getting posted. postponed. But, you know, what's what can be true a few days ago is not, it cannot be true

sometimes a few days later. This is just the world that we live in now, you know, that COVID is going to be in everyone's lives for the foreseeable future, probably at least for the next year or two. I mean, we're going to have to learn to live with it. And this season was always going to be weird for numerous reasons, mostly due to COVID. So I'm curious to see. I'm curious to see if all teams are going to even play 82 games. I honestly don't even have the answer to that at this point. So, yeah, six players on the COVID list for the Penguins right now. The situation was pretty similar earlier with Washington as well.

They had five to six players of their own going the COVID list today, too. So it's not just affecting the Penguins here. I mean, it's been affecting a lot of teams prior to the Penguins getting another outbreak. Again, Washington today, Philadelphia just for Carter on the COVID list along with Ryan L. I'm pretty sure Kevin Hayes is on that list as well. There were more games that were postponed for Tuesday and Wednesday outside of the Penguins one. There was one with Blackhawks that got postponed. The Leafs don't even have Sheldon Keef available right now.

He is in COVID protocol and a whole lot of other players on that team are on COVID protocol as well. There was a stat going around there. It was about close to almost a quarter of the league that had COVID. That's just, you know, when you test all these players every day, day, these are the results that you're going to get. All these players are around each other. I'm not surprised in the slightest that a lot of these players testing positive, especially with this new variant that is out. You know, the penguins, the only thing they can continue to do is stay as safe as possible. And, you know, just, you know, hopefully this goes away sooner

rather than later for them. There was some good injury news I practice today. I'll tease this going into the next segment. Both Brian Rust and Afghani Malkin return to practice. in both or in full contact capacities. So that will lead into my second segment for the show. We'll be touching on when you can expect them back. You know, could Gino be back a little later than Brian Russ? Could you be back a little earlier? You know, what's going on there?

What's the latest with Jake Gensel? I'm going to get all into that coming up here in this second segment. But before we do that is the new year. So that means New Year's resolutions. If yours is about getting fit or eating healthy, make sure you include Bilt Bar in your plan. Bilt Bar is the protein bar that tastes like a candy bar, but even better than a candy bar as well.

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mid brownie salted caramel and many more in fact built is always coming out with new limited time flavor so check out built.com often to see what's new you can go to build.com use promo code locked 15 and get 15% off your order remember that's promo code locked 15 for 15% off at bill's dot com all right welcome back to this episode of the locked on penguins podcast i'm your host hon hurries He's going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow this show's Twitter, LRs, we'll pay. So, yeah, coming back from the first segment, Evgeny Malkin, this was his first full practice today,

took all the contact. Mike Sullivan did speak afterwards about Gino's status. He confirmed that it might be still a little bit longer for him because he thinks Rust will be back a bit before Gino. And what I mean by that is it sounds like Brian is going to be ready to go for a Friday's game against Ottawa, assuming that game is played. He spoke after practice today saying that he felt really good, you know, no setbacks with his injury.

And I think this injury kind of was that nagging one that he had the first time he came back, played all right, but still didn't look himself, right? I think hopefully this time was able to fully rehab it and now that this shouldn't be an issue for the rest of the season. So it looks like he's going to be coming back a bit earlier than Gino Sullivan said, again, it's like it's going to be a little bit longer for him. So what does that mean, at least for my eyes? He probably won't play in Ottawa.

I think there's a decent chance, though, he'll play on Sunday against the Sharks. If not then, then definitely next week. Because here's the thing here, peeps. Penguins play Friday in Ottawa. Then they play San Jose on Sunday. Then they don't play until Wednesday of next week. And if I recall correctly, that game is against the Philadelphia. No, no.

The Philadelphia Flyers is the Thursday game of January 6th. They played next Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues. Before they go on that huge road trip to Southern California and Dallas and Philadelphia, that it is a six-game road trip, which is almost unheard of the penguins. They don't usually go on that long road trips. But if Gino doesn't go on Sunday, I would bet the house that he goes next Wednesday or Thursday at home at P.BG-Bain's arena against either Philadelphia. or St. Louis.

So I think at this point, his return is a little less than a week, but how should I say this? I think it's about six to ten days away, this is what I would go for right now. The funny thing is he was at practice today and skated on Cindy Crosby's wing. Like Sullivan said after practice, you're probably not going to see a whole lot of that in game action unless they're looking for a spark. I remember the good old days when Dan Balsma would always put Gino with Sid when the team needed that spark. It was one of the few things that I, what I liked about Disco Dan was because he always knew what to do in those situations. Sullivan has hardly ever done it.

If my memory serves me right, I believe they played less than 100 minutes together at 5E5 for as long as some Mike Sullivan has been the coach. He hardly did it last year. He did a little bit the year before that. but they don't see the ice a lot of high and for good reason. I mean, they both can anchor their own lines. It's the same thing in Edmonton, right? You don't want Leon Drysadle on Connor McDavid on the ice every single moment together. I mean, I should say, you know, you want them split up to be able to anchor their own line

and give you a more schooling depth. That's why the penguins have done this for the last 15 to 16 years. It's no surprise that it's going to be the same whenever he comes back. But still, this is really encouraging progress on Gino. this is the closest that he's been to playing so far. They're just, they're babying him a little bit, and rightfully so. He's coming off major, major knee surgery. He literally tore his MCL, and I believe tore his PCL partially,

and played on one knee in the playoffs, was over a point per game, still badly needed reconstructive surgery. They're going to give him all the time that he means in order for him to get back healthy. So again, I would say six to ten days at this point, until Gino comes back, but still to see him taking full contact and practice, that's a huge sign. I'm sure he's going to continue to take full contact throughout the week. So he's getting closer.

As for Jake Gensel, the update on him. He is now sick. I think he's almost recovered from the injury. It sounds like if Gensel was not sick, it's not COVID, by the way. He would have been at practice today, but Sullivan has said that he hopes to get Jake back really soon. So not sure the illness is, maybe it's the flu or a cold or something like that. But as soon as he gets back from that illness,

I would assume he would be back in the lineup and skating on Zindy Crosby's wing. As for the lines that we saw today, again, Malkin was with Crosby and Russ. You're not going to see that top line in a game anytime soon. Zach Ashton was with Drew O'Connor and Brock McGinn. So that's an interesting second line. Dayton and Hine with Jeff Carter and Casperry Capitan. And then Brian Boyle and Sam Lafferty were skating together. They only had 10 healthy forwards.

They haven't made the recalls yet from Wilkesbury. actually as I'm scrolling Twitter. As I'm recording this, they just officially announced who was going to be coming up to the Penguins later this week for the taxi squad because the NHL is bringing those back. And rightfully so. I don't know why they made away with those before the regular season started. It made no sense to me.

They should have done it then. I'm glad they're finally doing it now, but it's still, it's weird that they just decided to do away with it and think everything was going to be okay this season when, you know, the COVID-19 pandemic. is still very much here. So those are my thoughts on that. Defensively, you saw Todd Reardon

skating on the third pairing with Mark Friedman. I would love to see that in the game. I would love to see what wheels we would have defending some of these NHL players. I'm sure it would go pretty poorly, but it's still something that, you know, my set goes chaos mode, excuse me, would love to see, I think, at some point.

So scrolling on up here, a little bit sorry about that trying to figure out all the other injuries that I have not covered okay Jason Zucker I mean

he was having a lot of maintenance days before the little pre-holiday pause he is now week to week with a lower body injury he'd been trying to play for the injury it looks like it wasn't working

it's fine let him get some rest. Hopefully he's able to come back and be a better player. I know some people are going to make jokes about, you know, Zucker and all that. But you know what? The guy always plays his tail off. He was a good playmaker I thought this season. And, you know, he just, he has to get back to scoring goals. And then I really think he will be fine, at least in my opinion. Now, for this NBA announcement, before we get to the recalls coming up in my last segment of the show, so the NBA is changing their protocols. So according to Woj of ESPN, Adrian Wojiannarski,

vaccinated NBA players and coaches can now clear quarantine after six days of COVID testing data shows they are no longer at risk to be infectious. And that's according to a memo that was distributed to teams Monday and obtained by ESPN. The NBA and the Player Association Agreement comes at a time where players are testing positive and heading to quarantine at an unprecedented rate. He also said the reduction in quarantine time is expected to immediately impact the of numerous players who are already in the league's health and safety protocols. I tweeted this on my normal account. I really do think you're going to see the NHL implement this here at some point,

especially with the new CDC guidelines. It's going to be now if you're asymptomatic and you test positive and you are fine after five to six days and you test negative, you are going to be allowed to come out of the protocol. Obviously, it's going to be a little bit different if you have mild symptoms and especially if you're unvaccinated. But, you know, that's just a lot of. just a different situation. If you're asymptomatic and you feel fine after five to six days and you're

testing negative then, there shouldn't be a reason, at least in my opinion, that you shouldn't be able to come out of the COVID protocols, especially if you're not at risk to infect someone else. So I really think the NHL is going to have a talk, you know, just with doctors and all that and the Players Association. I think they're going to come to a deal, similar to what the NBA did today with their players association as well. So that wraps up the second segment. Coming up in the last segment, we're going to spend a few minutes on the recalls today from Wilkesbury

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easiest way to bet on all of your favorite sports. So don't wait to take advantage of all the new amazing offers available. That has been online where the game starts. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hoadies. You're going to follow me on Twitter

at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at L-O-N-R-Penwind. So we officially have the four-part players that are going to be coming up to the payments of Wilkeshire. I know I said earlier that it sounds like it's going to be the taxi squad. I should say I'm not so sure at this point. They could just be on the active roster. But again, Sullivan was talking a lot today about using the taxi squad.

He was touching on it with Ron Hextall. It's up in the air at this point. But the four players at this point, Casper Burequist, P.O. Joseph, Yuselichla, and Louis Domeg. If I mispronounce his last name again, I'm just who are we going? to off myself or something like that. That is just cringed if I keep mispronouncing his last name. But I believe I got it right just there. So those are the four players at this point that will be coming up for the penguins.

It's mainly so that the penguins will at least have seven to eight healthy defensemen in order for a couple more to come back after they're done in COVID protocol. POJ, I'm not surprised. Weakala, I'm not surprised either because they're the two best options for Wilkesbury. Your quiz is interesting. I'm curious to see if he gets some time for that game in Ottawa. I do want to see more of him for the team. He was a draft pick from what seven years.

Not seven years ago, five years ago at this point. And we really haven't seen him play at the NHL level too much. So I just want to see what's there with him and just see how his development is going. So I wouldn't be surprised if he is in lineup, especially considering at practice today, the Penguins only had 10 to 11 freaking forwards. So I'm pretty positive that he will be in the lineup come Friday, though. I haven't confirmed that just yet. Rikula, I mean, I could see him being in the lineup,

but I'm wondering if they're going to opt for going for Mark Friedman just because, you know, he's a Peter Wrighty. He's going to play on his normal side. Just that kind of jazz. And then obviously, you know, for Domain. He will be the backup. Casey to Smith for that game in Ottawa, as Jari is not going to be eligible to come out of COVID protocol. But that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. Those are all your

updates with regards to the Pittsburgh Penguins. This team is never boring. I've said that a lot of times on the show. I'll keep saying it until the end of time. There's always news when it comes to this team. And sooner rather than later, this team will be back in action and they'll be trying to win their eighth game in a row. As of right now, it's scheduled to be in Ottawa on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern. So make your New Year's Eve plans accordingly. You're not going to have to set aside some hours at the night and order food and start drinking a little bit and watching the Penguins at that point. Nope. You can just watch it at 1 o'clock on Friday afternoon. The game will be over by a little bit before 4 o'clock. So you can just do whatever you want in the evening to bring in

2022, which hopefully will, again, you know, be better than 2021. Let's be sure on that. But Again, now do it for this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening, and I will talk to you all on Tuesday.