Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - TEN YEARS of Locked On, TEN YEARS of Penguins hockey!

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

The Locked On Podcast Network is officially 10 years old today, and we take a look back at the last 10 years of the Pittsburgh Penguins! Patrick and Hunter begin today's special episode by discussing the origins of Locked On Penguins, how it began, where it has gone, and how Patrick became one of the co-hosts. They also express their gratitude toward you, the faithful Locked On Penguins community! (0:00) Then, they look at five of the biggest moments in Penguins' history over the last decade, which include two championships, multiple milestones, and a legend returning home. (15:35) Finally, they take a look at the five of the best non-superstar players that have called Pittsburgh home over the past decade. (30:58)  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Decagon Ready to transform your customer support? Go to decagon.ai/LOCKEDONNHL to get a personalized demo and see what Decagon can do for your team.   RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhlRugiet. Performance medicine for men. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.  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. KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything. 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 Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now. 5-Hour ENERGY Get candy-flavored chaos with Fruity Rainbow 5-hour ENERGY®️ Shots - available online at https://5hourENERGY.com or Amazon 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.

Today on Locked-on Penguins, we're taking a break from season and reviews. We're taking a break from draft profiles and we're even taken a break from any kind of news because we have to celebrate. The Locked-on podcast network is officially 10 years old today. So that gives us a chance to reminisce about the last 10 years of the show and the last 10 years of Penguins hockey. So let's get into it. You're 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 Tuesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across most social media platforms at Synonym 4 Wet. Joined as always by the one and only the locked on penguins OG himself, Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Before we jump into any of it today, today's episode is brought to you by Odu. Great organizations win because operations matter.

And that is why you should get Odu. Try for free today at Odu.com slash locked on. That's ODO.com slash locked on. More on them later. we have got ourselves a birthday today Hunter the locked on podcast network is officially 10 years old and here is how today's show is going to go we're going to do a top 10 a couple of top 10 lists i should say but we're going to split them in half through two segments what we will do is a top five moments of the last 10 years in penguins hockey and then the top five players

from the last 10 years of penguins hockey. But before we do any of that, Hunter, we're going to open the show with you, the man who has been behind the microphone for locked on penguins since its inception. Hunter, I'm just going to kind of sit back, relax, and let you take us down memory lane here, because everybody, in the last few years, we have really grown our audience,

thanks in part to a lot of the big news, whether it was hiring Kyle Dubus, making it back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, the nostalgia tour, quote unquote, that it has been for the big three. But at the end of the day, as we have grown that audience, we have a lot, and I mean a lot of new listeners and subscribers across all of our channels. So they may not be familiar with the history of the show. So Hunter, I'm going to pass this off to you to let everybody know. know about when you became the host, how it happened, and what it has been like to see the growth of this show over the past few years. Yeah, it's been a while since I feel like I told this story

on the show. I remember I saw the posting. I was a senior in college, 2019. I was going to graduate later on that spring. Obviously, we had no idea, no idea, excuse me, that the pandemic was going to come. But I saw the posting. I said, you know what? Screw it. I've been doing some writing, had no experience podcasting, but I said, you know what? I'm going to throw my name in the ring. Let's see what happens here. I got a call from Sean Woodley a couple of days later saying, hey, you actually were one of the people that I wanted to apply. I'm like, wow, I'm a good writer, but I had no podcasting experience, but I sent him a couple of samples and he said, okay, I'm going to look at these and compare them to do a couple of other people that he was considering. Told me he was going to get back to me in the next week or so.

So I waited and he called back and said, yeah, I'd like for you to be the host. And I got started pretty quickly. I was recording episodes on my college MacBook using the Audacity app. Yes, that is literally how the show started because we weren't using YouTube, any of the beautiful technology that we have now. Like, for example, this mic that I have wasn't using that. I was using my wonderful mic on my college laptop. That's how I was doing the show.

And, you know, I don't even want to go back and listen to. to those old episodes because they're just frankly embarrassing and I don't sound anything like I do now. Just no thanks. But, you know, we were getting about 50 to 100 audio downloads and compare that to now where we're in the thousands, Pat. We've grown so much on YouTube, other places as well. It's been so awesome seeing this grow into one of the Premier Penguins podcast, not just in the United States, but around the world considering we can see where everyone listens from. And we have listeners literally all over the world. And we are so thankful, so proud of that. I loved doing the show solo, but I was getting to the point, I don't know if I've

told this on the show. I was getting to the point where I was getting a little bit burnt out. I'm like, okay, I got to bring in some help here because I just doing it every day by yourself, just talking to yourself for 30 minutes every weekday. It was a bit much sometimes. And I'm like, you know what, what better person to call than Pat, I had known him for a while. I had done a couple of shows with him. And thankfully, Pat was able to come aboard. And it's been awesome ever since. So I really do appreciate you coming aboard a few years ago.

It's been fantastic ever since. And really just kind of, in a way, rekindled my love for doing the show. Don't get me wrong. This show is my baby. I love starting it. but getting before I brought Pat on, I was still like I was a bit burnt out. And when I brought Pat on,

it kind of just rekindled my love for the show even more. And again, I thank you for that, my friend, because you've been a rock star coming on here. But yeah, it's been crazy to just to see the growth of the show year after year, just overall. It's been so much fun. And I promise to, our listeners, we're only going to do this little butt kissing of ourselves for a few more minutes.

And then I promise we'll get into the meat of it about moments and players and going down memory lane of the last 10 years. But this is a story that I have only ever shared with a few people. And one of those people is not Hunter Hodes. So before I joined the show, there were, as our listeners know, a few episodes where Hunter had me on, to just talk about whatever was going on at the time. Those were in the Ron Hextal days, the tough, tough days of this era of Penguins hockey. And those of you who know me, know me from my days at Penn's blog,

my days at doing the Dying Alive podcast. I had a brief stint helping host a show that was a collaboration between Penn's blog and Pensburg. that was unfortunately short-lived. We just could never really get everybody onto the same page to really try to build it. But I had been kind of out of the podcast game since about 2021. And between my full-time job with KDK TV, starting a life with my girlfriend here in the city of Pittsburgh, I didn't really have the time to continue to do it.

And then after making a couple appearances with a good friend and calls, league of mine who used to be at 93-7 the fan. He would have me on to talk about the penguins every couple of weeks. And then Hunter would have me on every few weeks to talk here. I wanted to get back into it. And I don't really buy into the whole mentality of manifesting and positive thinking and all this stuff. But after doing a few episodes with Hunter, in my head, I was like, we have something

here, man. we got something. And I'm not going to ask him. I'm not going to push and say, hey, can I join the show as a co-host? I don't have balls that big. I can't do that. I don't possess that ability. But lo and behold, a few weeks later, I get a message from Hunter and he says,

hey, would you be interested in becoming a co-host of locked on penguins? And I could not have replied, yes, faster. Like, I think flames shot out of my thumbs. and burnt my phone. I was texting him back so fast. But the thing for me, other than the obvious of we get to do this every day for basically an entire year,

we get to talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins, our favorite team for 30 to 40 minutes a day, five days a week. The thing I have noticed since I came on is that Hunter, you and the Locked-on company itself have built an awesome community. with this show.

The interactions I have on social media in the comment section of our YouTube channel, it's what I want sports talk to always aspire to be. It's not people insulting each other, being rude and obnoxious. We're just having discussions about the sport. There's disagreements. There's even arguments, but they never weighed into the personal. They never weighed into insults. It is just us talking puck, and it is my favorite thing in the world because I'd be happy enough talking to the wall that is behind my camera about the penguins.

But I'm lucky enough that I get to do it on this show with you. So it has been a ton of fun building this show, being a part of it. I can only take a small sliver of credit because you have been grinding away at this since 2019. and I just got to hop on the moving train. And you've done a remarkable job, really. Like, it still is nuts to think about doing those shows in my college townhouse, my senior year of college, going back home during the pandemic, doing shows literally in my childhood room, literally.

And then setting up, had a place in Virginia, moving up here three years ago, best decision I've ever made, by the way. And I've loved the community that I built starting out, but then it has since obviously grown tenfold since you came on. I love the people that tune into our show, whether it's via audio or via video. I think we have one of the best communities out there, truly.

And it means a lot to me. You know, obviously, you get some funny comments at times. Trust me, people, there is no harsher critic of myself than me. And I know Pat can say the same thing about, himself as well. So you have that too, but I'm super excited for the future. Hopefully we're still doing this 10 years down the line when I'm almost 40 at that point. I'll be 30 in less than a year and a half. Time really does fly again. I started doing the show, Pat. I was 22 years old. I'm going to be 29 this year. It's crazy. It really is. Like time flies to be young. To be young,

It must really be nice, Hunter. But yeah, to your point, there are times I will listen back to our episodes in the car and I will be screaming at my own steering wheel because of how dumb I sound. But we will finish it here and say the most important thing is all of you who listen to this show, who interact with us on social media, who share the show on your social media platforms and help us grow it. We could not be more thankful for you taking this ride with us. that will do it for this segment of the podcast. When we come back, we get into what you really came for. The top five moments of the last 10 years in Penguins hockey. No, not the top five moments of

locked on penguins, the top five moments for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I'd wager a guess, plenty of you know what some of them will be. But make sure you stay tuned to see if you are right, because we will get into that when we come back right after this. Before we do that, though, we have a couple of sponsors that we need to get to beginning with five-hour energy. If you've got a sweet tooth like I do, you know how tough it is to find that perfect treat without all of the sugar. That is why fruity rainbow five-hour energy shots bring that nostalgic flavor back in a whole new way. Fruity Rainbow Fungar energy shots, treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. It's a quick, easy way to satisfy that sweet craving while keeping things simple and on the go.

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I am Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And before we keep it rolling, make sure to get your daily locked-on penguins fix completely ad-free by joining the everydayer club today. You can start your seven-day free trial right now and get closer to the action without all of the interruptions. Click the link in our show notes or head to Locked-on podcast. com slash everydayer club to find our show and claim your free trial. As we continue this 10-year anniversary episode here on the locked-on podcast network, Hunter and I are going to take a look back at the last 10 years of the Pittsburgh Penguins. As I said in the opener, it'll be broken up into two different chunks.

First, we start with our top five moments of the last 10 years. Hunter, I'm going to kick us off with a little bit of petty. and a little bit of uns seriousness because that's pretty much my brand at this point. That's what I do. I'm going to go with the firing of Ron Hextall and Brian Burke and the hiring of Kyle Dubus. I kid. I kid. Kyle Dubus has been on a great run and it's been so much fun for us right now. But I obviously kid. I'm going to start with the actual one of my favorites from the last 10 years. and it is when fences were mended, bridges were rebuilt, and the number 68 found its way to the place it belongs,

the Yarmir Yager celebrate 68 Jersey retirement. Yes, 100%. Like that has to be in there. And I understand the organization was definitely very hurt after what happened, Pat, in 2012. I know a lot of the fans were hurt as well. but as the saying goes, time heals all wounds. They were flirting with this for the last few years.

They were honoring him in different ways. The crowd was also giving him standing ovations towards the end of his NHL career. Obviously, he still plays, Pat, overseas. I know he's not technically retired yet, but when he was playing towards the end of his NHL tenure, he was getting a lot of ovations. The organization was doing a lot for,

So it only felt like it was a matter of time. It eventually comes. It's an unbelievable weekend. I was there for that game. I know the Penguins lost it. That ceremony was unlike anything you'd ever see. And the Penguins, they crush these type of things, whether it's a Jersey retirement, any type of ceremony, Pat.

They are so good at this stuff. And I saw people around me in tears considering what it meant to them. Yager himself was basically brought to tears during his speech, seeing Mario come back for it. A lot of the members from the 90s penguins come back for it was fantastic. And then just seeing it go up into the rafters, just an incredible moment. And it was something that they had been building towards for the last few years. And we finally were able to get it. And then Pat, he has an open invitation.

He can come back anytime. He's one of the best players in the franchise's history. He has been back since that. by the way. Hopefully he comes back for a game or two next season and in future seasons as well. But it was a moment that I think everyone had wanted to see. It was a matter of when it was going to happen once they mended those wounds. And thankfully, they were able to get it done. And it was truly a great moment.

I'm glad that you brought that one up first. It was, I don't really have much to add. It was such a perfect moment. They did it completely right with all the returns of so many of his teammates. His speech, they could have let him talk for four days. And I don't think anybody would have objected to it happening. And then just having him out and warmups with the team, a bunch of the guys are wearing mullet wigs.

It was just 10 out of 10, no notes, absolutely perfect. So let's keep it going here with some milestones for some other legends. Let's go with one of my favorites that happened this past season in December. When Sidney Crosby officially passes Mario Lemieux for the most points in Penguins history, that at the time also put him eighth in NHL history at the time. And because Sidney Crosby, while he personally may not do this, the universe makes it happen. He always has a flare for the dramatic. And of course, who else does he?

he do this against, then his boyhood team, the Montreal Canadiens. Two points. He becomes the franchise leader in points. And a lot like his counterpart, who he came into the league with, Alex Ovechkin, when Ovi passed Gretzky, what did we all say about the Gretzky record? No one's ever going to touch it. It's never going to get broken. We looked at Lemieux's franchise lead in points and thought, untouchable.

Yeah. We're going to happen. And then Crosby does it. Should we say the same thing here that no one is going to touch this record for Siddy Crosby, at least not for a long time. How about we'll say that? Not for a while is anyone going to touch this record, especially considering that Cid, he's going to keep playing, Pat,

at least for probably two more years, if not longer. He's going to put even more distance between himself and Marya Lemieux when he had the record for quite a while. But it was such a big milestone because it had been. building for the past few years, but you remember, Pat, you go back to those concussions. I mean, we had no idea if he was going to play a full season again. Like, that's just how serious it was. But he's able to come back fully healthy and he's able to keep taking runs at it every single season as he stays healthy.

And he was getting closer to it. These last couple of years were like, okay, it's going to happen here. And it's going to be a pretty big deal. And you saw how big of the deal it was, Pat. The arena went absolutely nuts. all of his teammates mobbed him. There was a celebration after the game in the locker room. Everyone was going nuts.

We have to include that for obvious reasons because, again, just considering how big that record is in franchise history, also considering how Mario Lemieux, at least to me, is the greatest hockey player of all time. People can argue with a wall about it. I don't really care. Considering all of that, it is a massive deal. And who else put Sid to break it?

considering he is one of the top five players of all time. For me, Pat, we'll keep it with this season before we get to a couple of other really big moments from the cup years. Evgeny Malkin, 1,400 points late in the season, also gets a hat trick in that game, help the penguins get even closer to returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Evgeny Malkin, man, I mean, just, again, what a player throughout his career. I've always said he's been one of the most underappreciated players in the NHL throughout his career.

He's never gotten the respect that he deserves. He is going to retire as one of the best 20-ish players of all time, argue with a wall about that. And I'm excited for at least one more year from him. We'll have to see if he decides he wants to come back from another year after this upcoming season. But I'm going into this year thinking this is probably going to be his last year, but has so many great moments throughout the year,

saves one of his best for last, in that game gets the penguins closer to returning to the playoffs he was a man on a mission in that game a complete bully you couldn't get the puck off of him you know it kind of just illustrated how great of a season he had this year for the penguins so that's a big milestone i felt like i had to include that for this one yeah that one goes in for sure and the thing that was other than the milestone that was really nice about it was it happened against the then defending champion Florida Panthers. And it was a nine to four ass whoopin of the Panthers.

And I understand by that point in the season, because this was April 4th, this was way closer to the postseason. Florida was essentially eliminated by that point. But we know how the Florida Panthers operate. That is not a team that lays down and dies. That is not a team that says, we're done. You know, we're going to just get through the rest of this year and hit the golf course and get back at it next year.

They played hard in both of those games because it was a back-to-back weekend in Pittsburgh against the Panthers twice. And the Panthers played them extremely hard in both of those games. So for the Penguins on the strength of Evgeny Malkin's 4.9 and Milestone Knight to get that big of a win, kind of encapsulated what Evgeny Malkin has meant to the franchise for all of these years. Now, it's been 10 years. So we have to talk about the Stanley Cups. Now, we're not just going to take the layup and say they won in 2016 and then they won again in 2017. We're going to go with some moments, starting with Chris LaTang in San Jose, game six, Stanley Cup final, gets the game winning goal.

and I don't want to focus as much on the goal as I want to focus on that cup run. Chris LaTang was at the absolute peak of his powers in that Stanley Cup run in 2016, and he was, in my opinion, without question, a top three defensemen in the National Hockey League at that time. Should have gotten way more love for the Norris that you. year and I will stand by that. I know he finished top five in voting that year in the Norris should have gotten more love than that. You can make an argument that year that he was the best defenseman on the planet, especially

in the playoffs. In the playoffs, he was the best defenseman on the planet. But during the regular season, you can make an argument that he was the best defenseman on the planet. That's just how good he was overall for the penguins. And just throughout the playoffs, he was in every big moment. he was defending leads late he was pushing the play every time he had the puck and then he saved the best for last goes all the way around the world says hey i'm going to be him as the kids like to

say i'm going to do this myself it was a one one game at the time he said you know what screw it i'm scoring here and you're not stopping me and cid's able to set him up a tan gets a nice goal pass martin jones a celebration was great but just the way that he went about scoring that goal the way that he went about just knifing through players along the blue line, going all the way around the world, you had no chance of taking the puck off of his stick. That moment will forever live in every penguin fan's heads. It was just amazing. I'll say it, Pat, I know Sid won the consmite that year.

Probably should have been Chris LaTang. I will stand by that. He was unbelievable throughout that run. He should have gotten more votes for the consmite. Again, that's my opinion. but that moment for me, one of the best. And then, of course, Pat, we can end the segment here. It's going a bit long, but we're having fun.

Chris Kunitz, game seven, double overtime winner over the Ottawa centers. You remember going back to Chris Kunitz that season, Pat, wasn't as good. Only nine goals and 29 points in 71 games was kind of falling out of favor a little bit, but he's still a longtime veteran on that team, still scored in a lot of big games for the Penguins, throughout his penguins career, and he gets such a big one there to beat the senators and send the penguins back to the Stanley Cup final after they won it in 2016.

It was the knuckle puck herd around the world, just the one that beat Craig Anderson, you know, fresh from the bench, it's Crosby, as the great Doc Emmerich said on NBC at that time. Still miss some calling games, but still one of his more iconic penguin calls for all the Crosby tenure. But we had to talk about that one man.

Still, an amazing moment from him. And it was just emblematic of that entire Stanley Cup run in 2017 because that team was both without Chris LaTang. He was out because he had to get neck surgery. He missed the entire Stanley Cup run that year. And that team was gassed. That team was running. on the fumes of its fumes and on the strength of a lot of guys stepping up when they needed to step up, including someone like Jake Gensel, Chris Kunitz, and of course, Matt Murray, so many of

those players willed them to a second straight Stanley Cup. And if it wasn't for Chris Kunitz, finding that seam against the senators might not be a back-to-back championship. But we will leave it there for this segment of the podcast. When we come back, let's move it to the individuals. We will talk about some of the top five players from the last 10 years in Penguin's history. So stick with us. We've got an interesting way that we're going to go about this when we come back right after this. We've got one more sponsor to get to, though, and that is Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work. together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of

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the Penguins return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Great organizations win, because operations matter and that is why you should get Odo. Try for free today at Odo.com slash locked on. That's O'D OO slash locked on. We're closing out our 10 year anniversary celebration on the Tuesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes and it's time for the main event, but it comes with a bit of a twist. We're going to do the top five players in the last 10 years, but it will not include Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris LaTang, and we will say it just because we have to. Mark Andre Fleury would be far too easy. We know that they are the legends. We know how important they are to this chapter of

Penguins hockey. So Hunter, in no particular order, obviously, why don't you kick us off for this top five? Yes, and I also will say honorable mention to Chris Koonitz. We just talked about him for one of the best moments of the last 10 years. We didn't include him here. We easily could have, but we felt he was better to include

for one of the best moments because he did give us one of the top moments of the last decade with that double overtime winner. Only played two seasons from this last decade. Fell off a little bit. He played a couple more seasons after that, but just wanted to explain our rationale for that, Pat, so people don't get mad at us in the comments when it comes to Chris Coonitz.

Yes, amazing longtime penguin. We have the utmost respect for him. But, all right, Pat, kicking things off. How about Brian Rust? Who the F is Brian Rust, as that tweet said from Dom, burst onto the scene, has some huge moments in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. Obviously, Pat, the two goals to send the Penguins to the Stanley Cup final against San Jose in 2016. but he was good before that game.

Also in that series against Tampa Bay was good against Washington. New York, I can keep going down the list if you want me to 2017. They don't call him big game, Brian, for no reason, Pat. Game 7 against Washington scores a huge goal to send the Penguins to the Eastern Conference final to play the Ottawa Senators. He's been a model of consistency for the last decade, has become one of the top leaders of. of this team over the last decade.

You remember, Patty came into the league. A lot of people saw him as, okay, maybe a bottom six-six guy. He's been a top line player for the last several years, and he has been someone who younger players have been able to go to for ICE, just going to for leadership stuff, all that stuff. He is an amazing person both on and off the ice. It was a slam dunk to include him here in the top five players the last 10 years without the obvious ones, the big guns.

Ryan Russ, man. Easy way to kick things off. One of my all-time favorite penguins, without a doubt, just a totally honest player, a hard-working player. And I would say sometimes while he lives in the shadow of the big three, he is just as much a part of this franchise's success in the last 10 years as those guys. One of my favorites of all time. Moving on to another favorite of all time for me. he didn't last all that long, but man, did he burn bright? Phil the thrill, Kessel, the hot dog man himself.

He was, you said this about Latang in the last segment. Yeah, LaTang had a case to win the Kahn Smyth, but you know who had the best case to win the Kahn Smyth in 2016, Phil Kessel. He was sublime in that Stanley Cup run. he does not fit the traditional mold of a hockey player or even a pro athlete, but man, he had wheels and he had one of the most violent snapshots I have ever seen. And man, was it fun to get Phil Kessel to Stanley Cups as a Pittsburgh penguin.

Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup champion forever. Just I went crazy when that trade happened. I can't lie. I was sitting at my house, just waiting for things to get going on free agency day. And you knew the Penguins were in the market for another top player. They've been hinting at it. You remember, do you remember the rumor Pat? It was at the draft actually that year.

And they were having like that huge discussion at the table. There was like a big disagreement. I think it was Rutherford, Garon, Tom Fitzgerald. And they were all like really disagreeing with one another. They were in on T.J. O'Shee. There was the whole Brandon Sond thing. Penguins got the best player. out of those three and Phil Kessel.

And his play on the HPK line was everything you could ask for and more. If I had a vote for the Kahn Smythe, I would have went Latang, Kessel, Sid. That might be a hot take to some. That's just how I saw it personally. Kessel scored also, of course, so many big goals throughout the 2016 and 2017 playoffs. The game winner against Ottawa, Pat, you remember when he was just going back to the bench, getting pissed at himself. He's arguing with Gino. Rick Tocke's trying to calm him down. And then he gets the last laugh, gets the game winner, and then he gets mobbed by his teammates. Penguins win that game. I tie up this series. You know, I could talk about Phil Kessel for hours. Just what a hilarious person. Like in that room, everyone would just mess with him all the time. The way that he and Gino would always just crack jokes at one another was great. But, Very easy one for me with Phil Kessel.

And how about let's keep the party going? Jake Gensel. I know he got traded to Carolina. I know he then went to Tampa Bay. But Pat, one of the best players of the Crosby, Malcolm, Lettang era, the best winger. I think Sid has ever had throughout his career. Yeah, we can say Marian Hosa. But that was also Pat for only a short period of time.

Jake was for several seasons. And Jake just fits so well with Sid. He obviously scored so many. many huge goals as well. He bursts on in the scene past the initial debut, scores two goals against the Rangers. You knew right then, okay, there's going to be something special with this player.

And sure enough, he has a great playoffs. I mean, you could not stop him in the 2017 playoffs. That is how good he was. And he was always such a big game player for the Penguins. He's carried that over into other teams as well since being traded by the Penguins. but always during his penguin's tenure, whenever there was a big moment,

kind of similar to Ryan Russ back, Jake Gensel, he was there for it. And I still remember, I know the Penguins lost that series to the Rangers in 2022, Jake was just cooking them almost by himself. Him and Sid, when they were on the ice together,

they were just destroying the Rangers by themselves. Like the Rangers could not stop Gensel. It stinks, obviously the Penguins lost that series. But I always go back to that, like, oh, you want to see, how good he is in the playoffs outside of 2017. Turned on that 2022 series. He was just cooking the Rangers every ship.

So again, I have all the respect for him. We have to include him here. Saw him as a future Penguins captain had his tenure not ended here, but I understand why it had to. I understand why the trade happened. It hurt at the time. But I will say it is sweet vindication to see him continue to do this both in Carolina and now in Tampa Bay because it really knocks down the whole he's just a product of Sid.

No, he is genuinely one of the best wingers in the National Hockey League. And the kid is not a kid anymore. He's very much an adult. And he is just a genuinely great player in his time in Pittsburgh was absolutely legendary. Let's talk about another one, Young Gunn, who had a legendary run in Pittsburgh that was not long, but damn was it good. And that is Matt Murray. I know he fell off hard and he's had a lot of personal struggles and injury struggles,

both with the death of his father and all of the injury woes he's had since leaving the penguins. But I'll say this much, they do not win the 2017 Stanley Cup without Matt Murray. He absolutely shut the door, especially in the Eastern Conference final and the Stanley Cup final. That team was very much out of gas. And without Matt Murray being damn near unbeatable for the final two series of that run, he didn't single-handedly win them in the cup, but he was probably the biggest reason they were back-to-back champions. Yeah, he's up there.

One of the biggest reasons by far. I mean, you remember Pat in 2016, Jeff Sackoff starts those first two games. Murray is ready to go after that. His first playoff start in Matt. in Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, and he takes it all in and just crushes the Rangers. And that game, he crushes them for the rest of that series. And then he's able to start for the rest of those playoffs for the most part. Yeah, Mike Sullivan did Galaxy to bring it a little bit. He did go to Flurry for one game in the Tampa series. You remember that one, Pat? And

it didn't go very well. The Penguins lost that game. And Sullivan said, hey, I'm going to go back to my guy. I may ruffle some feathers here. I may make a lot of the fans. Mad, but I'm going to go back to Matt Murray because he is my guy. And sure enough, Murray was great in game six, and he was especially damn good in game seven. He then obviously played very well in the final as well. You go to 2017, Florey started it. I'll always say it. He started it. Murray finished it because you saw when Florey, it felt like he was running on themes a little bit in that Ottawa series. He was running out of gas a little bit. Yeah, he was amazing against

Columbus. He was amazing against Washington. But he struggled to bit in that Ottawa series. And I think Sullivan said, hey, I know this is also going to be an unpopular because you have gotten us this far. And it's going to annoy a lot of the fans. But I'm going to make the change here. And let's see what happens. Murray comes in.

They're down two games to one, Pat. He is flawless, basically, for the rest of that series. And then obviously gets the back-to-back shutouts over the Predators in games five and game six. Yeah. I know his tenure ended poorly, but he was a revelation in 16 and 17. They do not win those Stanley Cups without him, so we have to include him here. And then the final one, Pat, I was wrestling with this one.

I could have easily gone Chris Cunis, as I said. I could have gone Brian Dumlin as well because he does not get enough love from some fans. He was amazing throughout his penguin's tenure. Might be a hot take. I'm going to go Eric Carlson. And it may sound weird because this has been, you know, maybe recently bias for some people, just had an unbelievable season with the Penguins. he's been one of the best defensemen in the NHL for the last several years.

He's going to go down as one of the best defensemen of this past generation in terms of the NHL. I felt like I had to include him, man, just considering how elite he was this year. I mean, I was listening to Dan Mus on a podcast last week. And he even said during this past season, he felt Eric Carlson was the best player on the planet during times when Crosby was hurt and Malkin was suspended. He was doing everything for them. Even his first two years, were they as good as these?

No, we wanted to see more. But I don't think he was as big of a problem as some people made him out to be. So that's, you know, considering how great he was this year, considering how great he has been throughout his career, I felt like I have to include him here as a top five player with everything he has in his skill set. May sound weird to some that I didn't put Dumlin or Kunitz, but I'm putting Eric Carlson on here.

I put him there as well. and I know I said no particular order, but I would put them fifth. And I think for me, more than anything, it's just to brag. It's just to be like, look at the absolute embarrassment of riches we have had in the last 50, 40-ish years in Penguin's history between Lemieux, Yager, go up and down the list. And then you just add, oh, ho-hum, maybe one of the best defensemen of the last 20 years to the, the penguins roster just for funzies. Just why not? Because, you know, why wouldn't we want another big star on the Pittsburgh penguins?

And yeah, he had an incredible season this past year. So there's definitely some recency bias. But at the end of the day, it's another living legend on the Pittsburgh penguins because we are spoiled. But let us know what you think about these moments, these players, the last 10 years of Penguins history. And of course, we went real long today. So thank you for hanging out for this whole episode. Can't believe it's been 10 years for the Lockdown Network. Here is to 10 more and many more after that. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back to regular programming on Wednesday. We will continue

our draft profiles, some season and reviews, and any other news that might happen between now and then. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp, thank you as always for tuning in, and we will talk to you again on Wednesday.