Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - That Jared McCann contract...what a bargain!

Episode Date: September 19, 2020

Jared McCann surprisingly agreed to a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday afternoon and Hunter is here to break it all down for you guys. He explains why that deal is a bargain with the numbers he's put up in a Penguin sweater and why he's poised to rebound after a horrid second half of last season. Plus, who should flank his left wing if they keep him at third line center? Hunter then goes into the Stanley Cup Final and previews the matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars. Who will prevail? Hunter makes his prediction and also talks about what the big x-factor line will be for the Lightning in the series. Finally, Hunter touches on the news about Alex Pietrangelo and why the Blues need to figure out a way to make this work. 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, everyone. Welcome to a Friday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L-O-1-Square Penguins. I'm sure you guys will be listening to this during the weekend, you know, whether it's Saturday during college football, and during NFL football or, you know, maybe even in the next week I was just pretty busy

day with a bunch of stuff. But some big Penguins news came out today, very unexpectedly. We're going to touch on that in this first segment. The Penguins have agreed to a two-year contract with Restricted Free Agent Jared McCann, who we've talked about plenty on this podcast over throughout the offseason. Average annual value is below $3 million, 2.94 per season for Jared McCann. We're just going to talk a lot about that, like I said, in the first segment. Second segment, we're going to preview the Stanley Cup final as Tampa Bay Lightning.

We're finally able to take out the New York Islanders in six games last night in overtime, so I have no idea how that series went six games. But the Lightning were finally able to get to their first Stanley Cup final since 2015 when we lost to Chicago Blackhawks in six games. We're going to preview that series against the Dallas Stars. It's going to be a really, really fun Stanley Cup final. Then the last segment, we'll just touch on some free agency stuff a little bit. It looks like the Blues may not be having Alex Petrangelo back.

That is getting pretty interesting there, especially with some reports coming out from Dren Dregor tonight. It's only, let's just say their contract that they're giving him or they're offering him right now is not up to par from what he should expect. So like I said, let's just get started with the Jared McCann News. So yeah, a two-year contract, 2.94 million per season. What a steal. We absolutely love this contract for the Penguins. That's just great, great value for how good he is defensively, and I think the offense that he puts up.

I know we all know his struggles after the new year. I talked about this consistently on the podcast for those that have not listened before. You know, he's shooting percentage winning in the tank, and he just did not look like the same player that we were accustomed to seeing in the first half of the season. And the season before that as well when he was originally traded from Florida to Pittsburgh, and then he just looked lights out then. It just was 100% a different player from January onward. and, of course, in the playoffs as well.

But, you know, I think the Penguins are banking on him, getting back to the level that he displayed when he first came here and from the first half of last season. I think he can get back to that level. They just got to play him with players, you know, that aren't like a 40-year-old Patrick Marlowe. I mean, Patrick Harkless, you maybe can make it work. I don't think he's that bad on the third line.

I really, really don't. But he needs to have a good left winger next time. Maybe that's Dominic Simone. I don't really know the Penguins are going to resign Dominic Simone. He's still overstated free agent. He's one of their two big ones that are left. Obviously, the biggest one is Tristan Jari. That contract is going to come later after they trade Matt Murray.

But, I mean, it is going to be a decision to see, you know, who do they plug into that third line left-wing spot for him? You know, like I said, it can't be a player like Patrick Marlow who looks old and slow. McCann just won't work. It did not work in the playoffs. That line just looked very, very, very clunky. It was out of sorts. I was high on that line going into the playoffs because I thought Marlowe was going

to make McCann a better player than we also. how slow Marlowe looked, you know, after five months off and it was just very, very bad. So, yeah, I mean, like in 66 games last season, everyone, 14 goals, 35 points, 66 games. I mean, that's not bad at all. I mean, in total last season, 19 goals, 35 points, and 78 games. He was on pace to shatter that record if it was an 82 game season. I think he could have gotten maybe 45 points. But that's also if he came out of his goal scoring fund because he just was not scoring at all during the second half of the season.

but, you know, just plug him in at third line center, everyone, and let them rock. I mean, that's really all you can do at this point. There was an article, of course, we talked about this week that Rob Rossi wrote, you know, like he used all the advanced stats and the underlying numbers to say, look how good Jared McCann is, comparing him to like Charlie Coil and Wayne Simmons, when Wayne Simmons was still good, and then made basically the claim as to why the penguins should trade him. Not even like a day or two after that article is posted. Jared McKinney gets resigned.

It's like, Jim Rutherford reads these articles, and it's just like, you know what? I'm going to do the exact opposite of what Mr. Rossi is writing in the athletic. It really is so funny. And for those that aren't aware of, you know, Rutherford and Rossi's history, I mean, I think Jim Rutherford, as soon as he took the job here, I think this was back in, like I said, 2014-15, I think he actually told Rob to go sell ice cream now in that very, very famous quote that got leaked out. I think Rob was writing for a different publication at the time, you know, that just sent

Twitter into a frenzy. So, yeah, I just, I think at this point, you know, he's basically, Jim is just basically doing the exact opposite of what Rossi writes. It really is something to behold. It's just, I just find it really, really funny. But again, guys, you know, I talked about yesterday. For those that didn't listen yesterday, I basically said, there weren't a lot of centers on the free agent market

that can do what Jared McCann does, especially for that contract that he just signed, not even $3 million per season. I honestly thought he was going to get $3.3.5 million easily with the penguins. I was very surprised when I saw that average, number per season to be 2.94. That's, that's a discount, guys. That is 100% a discount for Jared McCann's skill set.

Like I said, with how good defensively he is, he can contribute offensively. Hopefully he can get back to the level that he was when he got here and during the first half of last season. And, you know, he'll be ready to rock and roll. I know some people could say, well, you know, he could still be traded. That's a really attractive contract.

I really don't think Jim Rutherford is going to sign him now, talk him up, and then just trade him for whatever. I really don't see that happening. I'm Jared McCann had some good comments to the media tonight if I can find them on my Twitter. I think I retweeted one of them. Just trying to find it here. You had McCann on his new deal. It's very exciting.

I'm very thankful for the Penguins organization giving me this chance. There was another really, really funny quote that I think he said tonight. I think someone asked him, like, what were your thoughts about like the last, the end of the season or something? And McCann said this, I think this was a question from Taylor Hase. It's the rearview mirror now and we're just looking forward to the future. So yeah, I mean, honestly, that's the best answer McAnne can give there. No one wants to talk about that loss to Montreal.

I mean, we all know how embarrassing that was for the Penguins organization and everything. But, yeah, that was best possible answer there for McCann. And according to Elliot Friedman in year one, he's going to be making $2.5 million, and then in the second year, he will be making $3.38 million per. So it's backloaded,

so it's good that McKinna's going to be making a bit more money in his second year. Obviously, I think they're hoping that he regains his form and that he's worth that 3.3 million salary in that second year. But I'm just really, really glad this happened. I'm glad that it's only a two-year deal. Just see what he can do for you in the short team. You don't need to give him four years.

This is a good bridge deal. 2.94 million per season. Let's see what he can do. Put him at third line center, like I've said already, in the first six minutes into this podcast, and let's rock and roll. I mean, that's really all I can say about this contract at this point. There were really just not many options for the penguins.

I mean, you're really going to go out and give up assets for Philip to know, who may or may not be traded. I mean, we all know Eric Stahl got traded for peanuts. I mean, that obviously was this slam dunk that they could have went after. Maybe Jim Rutherford wasn't interested in doing that. But you know what? He got his guy in McCann for two years. And that's that.

And, you know, the funny thing about Jim Rutherford is this. You know, he can have these great contracts for Yuso Jukula. He can have a great contract for Jared McCant. But yet this guy can go out and sign Jack freaking Johnson to a five-year term for $3.25 million per season and then give Brandon Tana. I was wrong about going into the season a six-year term. It really just boggles my mind how he can go from one, like two awesome contracts that are like really low-key and just great value deals to all the way to the extreme and be like,

you know what, I'm going to give these two players the sun and the moon for basically free. It just, it honestly just boggues my mind how Jim Rutherford does that. I really don't get it. But if you look at Jay Fresh's model with Jared McCannamy and his expected goals against 78% from this season. Goals per 60, 62%. I mean, primary assist per 60, 52%. The power play and the PK

are a little bit weak, but still, even strike defense, you know, 82%, even strike offense, 73% is shooting 63% expected goals for. We all know that was the big one that did this last season. 28%. This is also from, you know, evolving hockey, but still J. Fresh has this

stuff and tweeted out as well. So I mean, like, you know, that's just the positives and negatives that McCann had this season. And yeah, going forward, I'm just really, really excited to see what he can do is the third line center. That's the best bet for him. You don't need to keep moving around in positions. Just give him two competent liners and let's rock. Man, that's the last time I'm going to say it for this podcast. But before we get to the Stanley Cup final, it's time to talk about Roman. Talking about erectile dysfunction isn't easy. Usually we just brush it off or blame ourselves saying things like I lost my mojo or we avoid it all together with excuses like

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in a bit. I mean, Tampa, I know it's five years, but you know, sometimes that feels like a lifetime for fan bases. But I mean, Dallas, I mean, it's been 20 years. So, I mean, Tampa, you got nothing on them. But still, two smaller market teams. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch. I will say this, though, first about the Stanley Cup final. Their schedule that they came out with, that's just total dog shit. I mean, I hate the fact that they're having a back-to-back in the Stanley Cup final. It's just like, it just takes out, like, the rest that the players need. You've got to have at least one day rest between all the games. I get it. You want to leave the bubble as soon as he can. You want the players to return safely to their families. I 100% get that. I know what they're

trying to do, but still, you got to space the game out every other day, I think. That's, I think, the best way to do it. If you've got to stretch it into October, you can, but it looks like the NHL wants to finish this September 3th, which I think would be almost a week and a half, a little less than a week and a half before the start of re-agency. I think the draft is October 6th and 7th. That's basically a full week before the draft in about, I guess, at a week and a half before free agency. So, I get what they're trying to do with that. Also, it's good that they avoided NFL Sunday.

You really, even though it's the Stanley Cup final and that's going to get really good ratings, you do not want to go up against the NFL on Sunday. That is a battle you are going to lose 100 out of 100 times. The NFL is king in this country. It will always be king until, honestly, the end of time. But, you know, they will be going up against Monday night football twice and most, one at the very least. That's not good either.

I mean, if Game 7 is against Monday night football, I think the NHL may lose that one too. A lot of people are going to watch Monday night football. It's a primetime thing, but, you know, game 7 in the Stanley Cup final, it doesn't get better than that. So I think the NHL can put up a fight there with ratings-wise and TV stuff, but I think, you know, like I said, going up against the NFL a couple times, even though it's on Monday night,

just not a good call, but still, they avoided the Sunday thing, which is very, very good. but, you know, let's get to the final itself. So Tampa Bay, it's not surprising that they're here, guys. I mean, they absolutely dumped on all three of the teams that they faced going into the Stanley Cup final. I think their overall record was 12 and 4, whooped the blue jackets in five games, whooped the Boston ruins his ass in five games, and then should have been the jackets, honestly, the jackets could lower, should have beaten the Islanders in five games.

The Islanders were just so badly outplayed those last two games. It was a miracle that it got to six games. I think last night, Dan Hopper had a tweet of Penguins Media. The Tampa Bay Lightning were out shooting the Islanders 24 to 6, like midway through the second period. And it's like, can the Islanders just roll over and die? And the game was one to one. It's like, send me on Barlamov. What kind of deal did you do with the devil?

It was just very, very weird. But, you know, just this final, I'm got to go with Tampa. I think Tampa in seven games is the way to go. You know, but Dallas is being two juggernauts already, why not make it a third time? Tempe's high-end talent, though, I think is just too much for me. I mean, and this is without Stephen Stambergo's guys. I don't even think Stephen Stamble is going to play in a Stanley Cup final. Julian Brisbane, the GM for the lightning said he's not going to be ready for the start of it.

If it's starting tomorrow night, and that would be September 19th, and it goes through the 30th, really not sure if he's going to be ready in that two-week period. He's already ruled out for the Eastern Conference final. it sounds like he's been skating a bit but I mean he hasn't really come back to practice yet but even without Stancoast I think they'll still win the cop I mean Braden point is turning into a superstar

before our very eyes it's not going to be long until he's considered a top 10 player in this league he is absolutely electric to watch we all know how good Nikita Kutrov is we all know how good Andre Palat is that top line right now is just bowling teams I don't know if you guys read Dom's preview on the athletic from

this morning but it just really highlighted just how good that line has been. They're just outscoring teams at well. It's going to give Dallas a lot of problems. And then Tampa's third line, you know, Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman, and Yanni Gord

have just been a menace in both zones. That is the difference line, I think, for Tampa Bay. We all know Sorrelli is a mammoth defensively. Cologne and Johnson have kind of struggled. Patrick Maroon, this is his second consecutive Stanley Cup final. He's on track to win back-to-back cups. I needed to look at up who the last player was, one back-to-back Cups.

He was on two different teams for those two years. I got to look up to see who that last, the last player that did that was. I'm not really sure, honestly, what it was, but I know it's definitely happened. And then on defense for Tampa, I mean, Victor Hedman, what more can you say?

He has, like, what, nine goals, these playoffs? He's just been an absolute monster. I think right now he's the best defenseman in hockey. I really don't know who else you can argue that could be. I mean, Roman Yosey, you can put up there. Eric Carlson went healthy is absolutely awesome. But right now, you got to give it to Victor Hedman. and he is absolutely something else.

I love watching him watch. We all know how good Kevin Chatternkirk has been this season. He's rejuvenated himself. Mikhail Surgachev is a lot of fun to watch. Ryan McDonough. Hell, Victor Hedman guys, has made Zach Bogosian look good. And he's absolutely awful. He is just terrible in every single way.

And then we all know how good Andre Vastelowski is. But, you know, switching gears to Dallas. I mean, they got to really get Tyler Sagan going. He has just been very, very bad these whole playoffs, not really scoring, not really just putting up any kind of, good defensive numbers either. In 20 playoff games, he has just two goals and eight points. I mean, that's seventh on the team among forwards, according to Dom, from the athletic.

But, I mean, he also says they have a 43% expected goals rate with Sagan on the ice. I mean, that's just, that's not Tyler Sagan. That is not the Tyler Sagan that we know. I mean, he could be banged up potentially, but, I mean, that's just, that's not the Tyler Sagan, but we all love to know. He was so much better than when he was with Batson. He's been so much better, usually when he's been with Dallas. but it's just been a very bad playoff run for him.

But luckily, you know, Jamie Ben has been there to pick up the slack. He's really turned it on these playoffs and show that he can be the player that we saw from a few years ago when he won the Art Ross Trophy. He has 18 points in 21 games. Dennis Gouriana's been awesome. He has 17 points, nine goals. Joe Pavelski has really, really turned it on. I mean, he was really, really bad in the regular season,

but he's just been outstanding in the playoffs. And then we all know how good Miro Heis is, everyone. I mean, he's going to be a Norris winner. very, very soon. I think within the next few seasons, he's going to win the Norris. John Klingberg, awesome as well.

They can put two number one defensemen on two different pairings. They're just a very stingy team, but I know we worked against Vegas and Colorado. I mean, mostly Vegas, they outgunned Colorado. That was just really, really awesome to watch. But is that going to work against Tampa?

Don't really think so. I'm going to be rooting hard, though, for Anton Kudovin. He's just such a great guy to root for it. He's absolutely hilarious in the room. You know, his speeches, we're not going home. Everyone, that's just, that's incredible.

He's going to be making a lot of money. Really, really excited to watch this final. But I'm going to go, like I said, Tampa Bay in seven games. I think Dallas is going to give them a hell of a fight. This is going to be Tampa's toughest test yet. But the Cup, I think, is going to come back to Tampa Bay for the first time since 2004. They're giving me a lot of Washington Capitals vibes right now. A lot of Cap's vibes.

And I really, really do think they are going to get it done and bring the Cup back to Tampa. But we'll see. You know, I pick Dallas. to lose the last two. Ful me once, foamy twice, fill me three times. We'll see what happens on that. But before we get to our next segment, it is time to talk about Bill Barr. 18 amazing flavors, six new flavors. A couple of them are the caramel brownie, cookies and cream and carrot cake. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They're soft and easy to chew. The bars are low calorie, low sugar, high protein and high fiber. One of my favorite flavors is the cookies

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But a big, big story came out tonight about Alex for Transelot. Jared Dregor basically broke the news on Twitter. Let me get to the tweet right now as I'm just, you know, I'm never prepared on this podcast because, you know, why not? So, Darren Dregor said sources say contract talks between the St. Louis Blues and Blues Captain Alex Petrangelo have broken off. Deem has advised Petrangelo to pursue unrestricted free agency. He also said he spoke with the Patrangelo who says contract talks haven't gone the way

both sides. We're hoping. Unless something changes, it's in the best interest for both to see what the market looks like on October 9th. And before I get to my thoughts on that, we'll go to Jeremy Rutherford, who also had a tweet. Apparently, the Blues have been offering him, I think it's like 7.7.7. million per season, but they don't want to discuss, like, the length of the deal or something like that.

Here's the full tweet. He's been asked to accept the average without knowing the structure of the deal. We all know that's COVID related. I mean, there's no other explanation for that. But, I mean, $7.7 million per year for your franchise defenseman. I think that's a little embarrassing. That's low-balling him a little bit. And I get it.

Money is tight. You're not going to see a lot of teams, like, throw all this money at free agents. I think some players are going to have to. except some lower average annual money per season. But, I mean, you got to go over aid for him. And I know the Blues don't have a lot of caps raised right now. I think it's around like $4 to $5 million. But, you know, that's where you get creative.

He's your franchise defenseman, for God's sake. Just get him back in the lineup. I mean, the Blues are not going to be as good of a team if they lose him. And, you know, one team, it's been said on Twitter already that could really see going after Petrangelo, Vegas. You could 100% see it. They had the cap space to do it. I mean, if you have a defense with Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, and Alex Bertangelo,

that just makes your lineup a whole lot better. And then you have three number one defensemen. You can honestly put them on three different pairings, for God's sake. That would just be not fair. Couple that with Mark Stone, Max Petcheretti, Paul Stasting, Jonathan Marxoso, Riley Smith, William Carlson, so much more. That's going to be a big cup contender next season. I mean, Vegas is already set for a long time with how good they're going to be because of their contract situation,

the cap space and how they have a lot of their top players locked up. I mean, they still got to discuss what's going to happen with Robin Lennar. But, I mean, I could definitely see a team like Vegas going after Petrangelo. Could also see Toronto doing it. You know, gives them another great defenseman with Morgan Riley. But, you know, Toronto is also Hamstrung, I think, with the cap. So that's going to be interesting to see what happens there. But, yeah, if I'm the blues, you got to pay them.

It's going to be interesting to see, though, what teams talk to Petrangelo. I think, you know, it could be like a John Taviris kind of thing where Petrangelo picks what teams. he wants to hear like a pitch from because I think Tavares picked like I think it was five or something like that so I could definitely see Patrangelo doing something like that while also keeping the blues in the mix for him but that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. Really hope you guys like listening to this one. We'll be back next week with five brand new episodes for y'all talking all things, Penguins and the Stanley Cup Final and so much more that goes on around the sport of hockey.

So hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. Watch a lot of college football. watch a lot of NFL football, watch the Stanley Cup final, and I will be back talking more hockey with you guys on Monday. Take care, everyone.