Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Starting to come around just a tad on the trade...

Episode Date: September 29, 2020

The Patric Hornqvist deal is still the main storyline going around with the Penguins and Hunter is back to talk about it, and how he's feeling a bit better about the deal a few days later. How much of an upgrade could Matheson-Ruhwedel be despite not having Hornqvist? What are some other areas Matheson needs to work on for this game? Hunter answers both of those questions, plus talks about the Stanley Cup Final as the NHL season is just about to wrap up. To end the episode, Hunter touches on the Marc Staal trade and how there could be something similar with Jack Johnson as the Penguins would have to send a sweetener for a team to take him. Could they take a lesser return for Matt Murray if they attach Johnson to him? All that, plus more on this episode of Locked On Penguins. 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, welcome to this Monday episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show is Twitter at L.O.Nscore Penguins. Hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful weekend. I sure did. Virginia Tech got me away, and they just blew out NC State. That was absolutely awesome to watch, even though.

It was not the same. We're used to seeing 66,000 fans at Wayne Stadium jumping to enter Sandman. But even despite that, they were still able to blow out NC State by 21 points. And then, of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers got to 3-0 on the season. Guys go check out Blocked-on Steelers. They do a great job over there with Steelers content throughout the week. But, of course, this is a Pittsburgh Penguins podcast. And on today's episode, we're just going to talk a little bit more about the trade.

Yeah, I know that's still the big storyline around the Pittsburgh Penguins right now. A couple days later, you know, I've been able to digest the trade a bit more. I'm not as doom and gloom, I would say, over it. But we're going to touch on that in this segment. We're also going to talk about the Stanley Cup final. In the next two segments, it's actually about to come on right now as I'm recording this. it's 812 and the game is about to start. So we're going to talk about that.

And we'll also talk about an interesting trade that happened this past weekend with Mark Stahl and a second-up pick going to the Detroit Red Wings as the Rangers were able to dump his salary. And could this be a situation similar to what could happen with Jack Johnson? Potentially, we're going to touch on that in the third segment of this podcast. But first, we're just going to keep talking about the trade because, like I said, you know, it's the biggest storyline happening right now. Jesse Marshall wrote a great article about Mike Matheson on the athletic this morning. please go check it out

if you guys are subscribed and if you're not subscribed and what the hell are you guys doing with your life and you know it highlighted you know some of the issues plaguing Matheson's game you know sometimes he's prone to two minute turnovers in the defensive zone he sometimes makes

blind passes to the slot which basically turns into a break going the other way for the other team so you know I think if Reardon can clean those issues up for him you could see a much different Mike Matheson going into next season and you know I guess I'm more excited about the trade

Now, for one reason and one reason only, and that's because Josh Joey wrote an article over the weekend looking at the blue line and giving his thoughts on it and that there's, it looks like a pretty good chance that Jack Johnson is going to get traded. So, like I even said last week, if you guys didn't listen to it, this trade makes the most sense or it really only makes sense if you're sending Jack Johnson out. Because why would you play him on his offside? That would just be absolutely absurd. We have all seen how bad he is on his Wrangler side because he's a left-handed. player. Do you really want to see him on his offside, which is mainly used for a right-handed defenseman? We've seen that a little bit in his first year in the Pittsburgh Penguins uniform. It was pretty freaking bad. You're not going to try that a Mike Matheson, Jack Johnson,

third pairing. That's just not going to happen, especially with Matheson on his regular side, and then Jack Johnson is his life side. That would literally just be complete suicide. So that's just not an option. And then the other option Josh talked about, I mean, you're really going to put $3.25 million in the press box for 82 games a season. I mean, I wouldn't. I mean, Jim Rutherford even said that something is going to have to give there. And if Chad Ruehdle can't beat out Jack Johnson on his regular side, even though Jack Johnson's going to be playing on his offside, I mean, that's embarrassing.

That would be pretty embarrassing. And even in that article that Josh wrote, Jacques Marten said to him throughout the season, I think it was during February for the most part when the Penguins were on their California road trip where they just got obliterated by all those California teams that he thought Chad Ruehiel was their most steady defensemen throughout the whole season.

So I'm really hoping Ruehiel does. take this next step, it would obviously be better if they can upgrade from him because I think Chad Rulito is a really good number seven defense him. But if he's your number six and he makes strides and he continues to move the puck well, be good in his defensive zone, I don't see any reason why he can't be that guy in the number six role on the bottom pairing next to Mike Matheson because then your third pairing looks a lot, lot better. Because if you look at money-wise, they're not going to be spending like $9 million against the cap for two really, really bad players on your third pairing, especially when they were on the ice for 80% of the even-strength goals in that Montreal

series. Actually, if I'm really thinking about, I think it was all situations, 80% of the goals. So, yeah, that's pretty embarrassing. I know Mike Matheson makes a little over $4 million per season, but Chad Ruedle, does he even make a million against a salary cap? So you're looking at tops $5 million for your third pairing, maybe a little bit below that in the $4 million range. That's pretty, pretty good.

I will take that any day of the week. It's $5 million, close to $5 million less than what they were paying. Jack Johnson, Justin Schultz combined. You take that any day at the weekend with Mike Matheson's puck handling ability. His transition numbers are outstanding. He can really carry the puck into the offensive zone, makes stuff happen with his long reach, has a really nice shot to the net. I think this could really, really be a big upgrade to the Penguins third pairing.

I've just been like a lot more higher on the deal than I was at the time. So, I mean, I got that going for me right now. But still, you know, it does sting that Patrick Hornquist is not going to be here anymore. I've said it on this podcast already. One of my favorite penguin players of all time did so much for this organization. That trade that happened in 2015 to get in here was really just the big change that this organization needed, especially because, you know, reading that James Neal was toxic at times, and he was also coming off some seasons where he was throwing some elbows around.

That 2012 series against Philadelphia was just disgusting for a minute. I'll never forget how much of an idiot he was just running around the ice like that. But yeah, that was like the big change of the penguins. needed and he just brought a swagger with him to the team and it carried over to those back-to-back cup seasons and all the way through the end of his tenure. So he was just an absolute pleasure to watch. But, you know, going back to the trade, I'm just, I'm excited, you know, but I'm not going to be excited. I won't be as excited if Jack Johnson is still on this team going into next season. It just cannot happen. But, you know, I've also forgot about Colton Severe. This is going to be a very

interesting addition to the Penguins Bottom Six. I mean, he's not getting top six time. You have Jake Gensel, Sidney Crosby, Caspary Cappan, because it looks like Cappaninin is going to play on the top line with Sid. That's going to be interesting to see how he fits in. And then, of course, the second line, Jason Zucker, Evgeny Malkin, Brian Russ. If Brian Russ doesn't get traded, I've said it on this podcast before.

If you guys have not heard my take about that Brian Russ trade rumors that Rob Rossi and Joshua reported if they trade Brian Russ, that would just be a very, very big mistake. He's coming off a very great season. I know it's not likely that he's going to repeat being close to a 30-goal score, but even if he does half of that and his shooting percentage only goes down by a little bit that's a goal of 20 goals score

I mean I'll take that any day of the week especially on the contract that he's on guys I mean that's a no-brainer yeah I'm only moving Brian Russ unless you're getting the world in return that's just not something I'd be interested in but and it was going back to the original point so your top two lines are set they're not putting Colton see if you're up there unless there's injuries

that happen so the big thing with that is you know he's probably going to start with Jared McCann because you're also probably not going to switch up Teddy Bluger Zach Astry's Brandon Tain If they were one of the best lines of the penguins throughout the season, they suppress shots at an elite level whenever an opposing line is on the ice. So you're not going to break up that. So my guess is he's probably going to play right wing on McCann's line.

So then your left wing, probably Dominic Simone. I think that's the one thing I think people have forgotten about this offseason is the return of Dominic Simone next season. I know he's a restricted free agent. Some people are saying, oh, yeah, maybe the Penguins won't qualify off for him. They won't bring him back on a two-year deal for maybe like a couple million. but I really do see the penguins bringing this guy back. I mean, I think honestly the penguins could have used him in the playoffs just because of how good his playmaking ability is.

We only know his struggles to score. They're well documented. I mean, guy hits the pose basically every time he shoots the puck on net or he just shoots why he's just his shooting percentage is always just so bad. But still, he has a very good playmaking ability, very quick skater, very good with the puck. I would like to potentially see a Simone McCann-Severe third line. That's if the penguins don't go out in a free agency. or make more trades for forwards that can put,

they can put on the third line because I really think a Simone McCann-Sevier third line would be pretty interesting for the penguins going into next season. I mean, it gives McCann two new linemates that he's really never played with that often. I mean, I know he's played with Simone at times, but still, if he can get that on a full-time basis, I really do think that third line can be pretty good just because, you know, he's not having Patrick Molo on that line, who was basically just a corpse in the playoffs, and he's also not having Patronquist on his line.

I just didn't really think McCann and Hornquist really meshed. I was high on that line going into the playoffs, but yeah, I ate a lot of crow on that because it just looked really, really bad, those three players next to each other. So yeah, Simone McCann, Severe, I would be very intrigued to see that third line and see what kind of matchups Mike Sullivan would have them against

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healthy. They're low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber. Favorite flavor is still peanut butter. There's 19 grams of protein in it, 180 calories, 5 grams of sugar, 5 grams of net carbs. You can get a free cooler with purchase while surprise last. You can go to billbar.com and use promo code locked on. You'll get $10 off your next order. That's promo code locked on for $10 off at bill bar.com. All right. Welcome back to this episode of the locked on penguins podcast. So let's talk about the Stanley Cup final. So it's actually happening right now. Looks like the puck drop has just gone down for game six of this series. I still cannot believe the stars won game five. They were outplayed pretty pretty badly, I would say, by the lightning. That game honestly just reminded

to me of penguin sharks from 2016 when Martin Jones just turned into God for 16 minutes. I mean, you all know the sharks had that really, really quick two-nothing start in that game. And then the Penguins, of course, roared back, you know, with a power play goal for Malcan make it 2-1. And then I think it was Hagelin that got the tip on Benino shot to make a 2-2, like not even 20 seconds later. And then the sharks come back to score right then. And then the Penguins just dominated them the rest of the game. And the big save that I remember from that was Martin Jones on Nick Benino.

I think Benino just didn't elevate it enough, but Martin Jones was able to get his pad across for an acrobatic hell of a save. But yeah, that was just how that game reminded me of that. And it was just like, how is Tampa not won this game yet? Even in the first overtime I was watching game five. I mean, Tampa was just getting chance after chance, after chance. It looked like Dallas was not even getting time in the offensive zone. They barely even had a shot, I think, in that overtime.

It was that bad. But then double overtime comes around. You know it's a weird year when I'm cheering my ass off when Corey Perry scores a goal. I don't think many people around hockey that really follow it. Like Corey Perry, he's always been a very, very, very, 30 player. He does a lot of greasy things on the ice that, you know, go unnoticed by some, but you know, to a lot of others, you know, some people do notice it. And he's just been that way for a long, long time. He's just always been a complete douchebag on the ice, but still, you know,

cheering for Cory Perry, not something I thought I would do at all. But, you know, 2020 will do that to us. And the stars be able to win that game and make it to tonight for game six of this series. I'm checking right now. I don't think there has been any score yet. No, there's still no score right now. But, you know, the bad thing for the Anshall tonight is they're going up against Monday Night Football. And for anyone that follows the NFL that listens to this podcast, that NFL game tonight is the Ravens and the Chiefs. For those that do not follow the NFL that listen to this podcast, the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs are probably the two best teams in football. They are just insanely good. Probably the two big Super Bowl favorites going into this season.

And the NFL rules all in this country ratings-wise. I mean, everyone watches the NFL, basically on Sundays, even on Monday football, and especially for this matchup, the NHL is going to get crushed waiting tries. I do not think a lot of people will be watching this game. I mean, unless you're just a big, diehard NHL fan. I think for the most part, if your team goes out, you kind of stop watching it.

I mean, for me, though, and I'm sure for others that listen to this podcast, you know, you have just a regular general interest in the NHL. I'm watching any kind of hockey is just beneficial. You know, I just, I would watch any kind of hockey, even if it's like, well, you know, if it was the 1990, 99 devils, I probably wouldn't. But still, you know, I really feel like the only people that are going to watch this game tonight, of course, the Lightning and the Stars game are Lightning fans,

Stars fans and just die-hard NHL fans. But, you know, there's not many of those big, big, die-hard just in general, NHL fans out there, especially when, you know, their team gets eliminated. You know, everyone is just going to be watching the Chiefs Ravens game. So, yeah, poor decision by the NHL there. I wish they would have done it to Tuesday, but the presidential debate is on tomorrow night. So, I mean, I guess the NHL really didn't like that option either, but still, I would have rather gone up against the presidential debate

than fucking Monday night football when the two best teams in football are going to be playing each other on ESPN. I know you can see a championship being won on one station, but everyone's going to watch the NFL. That's just, that's always how it's been in this country. It's always going to stay like that. Football will always reign supreme in this country, no matter the time of year. And I'm actually just checking for updates right now as I'm recording.

Andrew Cogliana goes off for tripping and Lightning are going to be getting their first powerplay of the game. So that's been well documented in this series. The Stars have just done a really bad job of staying out of the box and the Lightning have been making them pay virtually every game. I think in the first five games, I think they have a powerplay goal in every single game in the series. I'm going to have to double check that,

but that's what it feels like when the Stars just keep taking penalties. The Lightning are just kicking their ass on the power play. And, you know, when you have that much talent on your top power play with Kuturov, point, headman, Pallot, you put Kulor and Tyler Johnson out there. it doesn't really matter. So, I mean, it's just, it's such a great unit. And Tampa's just, you know, they're great players and they're going to score on that man advantage. So Dallas needs to stop doing that.

I'm hoping Dallas wins tonight. So we get a game seven. I pick Tampa and seven. So I really want to see it go to seven so I can get the prediction right. But I'm just not sure it's going to happen, especially if Tampa plays the way they did last game. Because I don't think Dallas can repeat a performance like that. And Tomu Dobin was really, really good. I know he's been not.

as good as he's been in this series, but still, he can go on a heater at any point, but still, I really don't see a way the stars win tonight unless they really play much, much better than they did last game, because they got really, really lucky to win that last game. And, you know, it also sucks for the lightning just with the injury to Stevenstam because he's going to be out for the rest of this series. But, you know, that's still like a God performance that he did. Basically, he plays two minutes of a game, has plays, what, two, three shifts on one of those shifts, scores a goal, and then basically just leaves the game and is out and out for the

rest of the series with that core muscle or hernia injury. So, you know, that's just legend shit right there. If Tampa Bay wins tonight or wins game seven, you're going to be hearing about that for a long, long time. Oh yeah, our franchise player was really, really hurt. So he comes in for a game, scores a goal that helps to the win, and then just leaves the game and is out for the rest of the series. So that's just, that's just awesome right there. That's just how legends are born. But also it looks like so the stars are able to kill off that power play. That's a pretty big surprise. So that's really big news for the stars right there. But I'm just hoping for a game seven. But, you know, Part of me kind of just wants the cup to be raised tonight so we can get to all of the big madness that's about to happen in the AntioLock season.

We've already saw a trade over this last weekend. We're going to touch on that in the next seven with Mark Stahl and how could that potentially pertain to the Penguins with a certain player. They want to trade. But, you know, there's just, there's going to be a lot. And, you know, we saw some Jack Eichael rumors today. Quickly put to bed if you actually read the thread by Bob McKenzie. But still, you know, this is going to be a wild ride. So, like I said, part of me wants the game seven.

Well, most of me, I guess, wants a game seven, but part of me just wants Tampa to win tonight. Get the season done with. Get those coaches out of the bubble. I loved Rick Bonas and John Cooper's message to the media today when I guess they asked about life in the bubble. John Cooper, John Cooper, they both said, yeah, you know, we're going to remember just when we check out because we just want to get the hell out of here. So that was just an incredible way. And so, I mean, obviously I paraphrased it, but, you know, they're basically just done. They want to get the hell out and go home.

And, you know, I can't really blame them. they really can't do anything in the bubble, besides just really sit in their rooms all day. So I definitely understand where they're coming from with that. But coming up after this little short break, we're going to touch on the Marksdall trade that happened over this last weekend. And you know what? Could this potentially happen with a trade with Jack Johnson coming up for this offseason for the Penguins?

All right, so we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. So yes, Mark Stahl was dumped by the New York Rangers. He had been with the Rangers for however many years. I think it was well over a decade. and he was dumped to the Red Wings. I think they're picking up all of his $5.7 million cap hit. He just has one more season on it. And the Rangers obviously did that because they needed salary cap for him.

I think they didn't want to sign Tony DiAngelo. They have a couple other free agents or restricted free agents that they have to sign as well. And they also can still get more money if they buy out Henrik Lundquist or if they trade him to a team. Or honestly, if he just retires, I think they can just move that money anyway. But who knows what's going to happen on that front with Lundquist. But back to the task of him. they also sent a second round pick to ensure that they take Marksdahl and that traded. You know, that's the kind of situation that I could really see happening with the Picks for Penguins.

There's really honestly just two scenarios that I see here. You know, they dump Jack Johnson to a team like Ottawa who needs to hit the salary cap floor because they barely had any players signed for next season. I think they have like three forwards signed overall, a few defensemen. They don't even have any goalies. So, yeah, that's going to be interesting to see what the hell happens up there. And, you know, maybe you entice them with a pick. like next year's draft or the year after that, like 2022 or something like that,

to ensure that they trade for Jack Johnson. But, you know, the trick with that is Jack Johnson so has three years left on his contract at $3.25 million per season. Marksaw only had one year at $5.7. So I think it might be a bit easier to ask a team to take one year of salary as opposed to three years of a contract for Jack Johnson. But still, you know, I've always said, guys, all it takes is one freaking team. to do it. A lot of GMs are pretty stupid. I would be calling Ottawa about it. Pierre Dorian is not the

smartest GM. You know, maybe Vancouver would do it, you know, and put them with Quinn Hughes. Okay, nah, I kid a little bit, but you know, maybe Jim Menning would do it up in Vancouver. There's some other teams maybe could be interested in doing it, but, you know, the other scenario is this. Could you maybe package him in the Matt Murray trade, but take less of a return to rid yourself of that contract. And my answer to that, absolutely. I would 100% do that. If you only get like a prospect in return,

maybe a third round pick for Matt Murray and they take Jack Johnson's contract, I take that any day of the week. You don't really need a second round pick and a prospect if you're trading Matt Murray and the corpse that is Jack Johnson to a team. I'm just fine with the salary cap space, to be honest with you.

Honestly, I would almost take no return, but still, you want to get at least a little something in return. like I said, third round pick, maybe closer to go fourth round pick or, like I said, maybe just a B-level prospect or something like that. I think that would be totally fine if the Penguins can just rid themselves of that contract in any way possible. You know, this off-season will just look a lot better going into next season. But I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm going to do one quick update here on the game. I do not even, I do not think there was a goal.

I'm just checking right now to see. well, Tampa Bay is going to go back on the power play. So the Dallas stars just continue to take bad penalties. Apparently, John Klingberg sent to the box by Kelly Sutherland for tripping. So we'll see if Dallas can kill off yet another Tampa Bay Power Play because they just cannot seem to stay out of the box. But like I said, that'll do for this episode. We'll be back tomorrow with some more Penguins-related content for you guys.

Hope you all have a great night. Watch some Monday night football, maybe flip back and board to the Stanley Cup final, and we will talk to you all tomorrow. Thank you.