Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Malkin contract is AWESOME, plus which defenseman is getting moved?

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

What a last 24 hours for the Pittsburgh Penguins! Hunter starts the show with the obvious: The Evgeni Malkin contract! He goes into how good it is for the short-term and how the Penguins made the right choice in bringing him back, especially when you look at some of the other centers that signed for big money. He also looks at how you're going to see a motivated player who wants to prove a lot of people wrong, plus looks at the role Sidney Crosby played to get the two sides talking again. He also looks at how this move is what most of the fans wanted when all three came into the league: To go out together, even if they don't win another Stanley Cup. He also takes a shot at the people who will be miserable about this if they don't win before going into the Jan Rutta signing. Hunter looks at the data and analyzes his game to see what he's going to bring to the lineup next year. Which defenseman would he be best with? Which defenseman is going to be traded? Hunter looks at what the team must get in return for one of those players since the forward group isn't fully filled out yet. Finally, Hunter ends the show looking at the depth signings and wondering if Johan Larsson is going to be a Pittsburgh Penguin soon.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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, happy free agent frenzy day, not too busy of a day for the penguins. So they do make a few moves. I'll get to that a little later on in this episode. But to start out today, we're going to obviously touch on the beginning Malkin contract, what it means for the penguins moving forward, the fact that all three are going to retire as members of the penguins get into all that, seeing the milestones, potentially one more cup run, you know what it means for the short and long term. Then we'll get into the moves from today, especially with John Ruda.

from the Tampa Lightning, a three-year deal, meaning another defenseman is probably going to have to be going out the door. Also get to a couple of the depth pieces the Penguins added today. And also talk about a potential ad that could be coming, though it hasn't really been confirmed outside of one Elliott-Fremant tweet. I'm not really sure if it's happening at this point. So without further ado, let's get right on 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. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Arnold's Square Penguins.

And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day, check to Charitable. For the first time in a while, and the podcast right now, it's top 25 in the country. I think it's for the first time since the season ended, so I can't thank all of you new or, you know, everyday listeners for tuning in to me blabbering about this team.

We have a lot to get into for today's show. But let's start out. So last night, you know, 10, 3, 11 o'clock, I'm, you know, playing with a couple buddies on Xbox. Well, on my, I record on my PC and I play video games on my PC. And, you know, someone texts me like, Gino signed. I'm like, no, he didn't. He's going to go to Mark. And, you know, sure enough, I got the notification from a couple insiders.

And I was like, wow, that came out of nowhere. And of course, you know, it comes hours after I have the episode with Josh Yoey, where we're both like, yeah, we know, he's probably not going to resign. Well, you know, he made both of us look like fools on that one. But it's a done deal. Four years, $6.1 million per right. I had my reaction on my Twitter page about a two-minute, 20-second video. But for those that didn't see, I'll, you know, obviously give my thoughts here.

Very good deal, I think, for both the team and of Guinea-Malkin, you know, gets the pay cut. that he talked about that he didn't really care about money. He also gets the fourth year that he wanted. So both sides, I think, were able to meet in the middle after a very long but grueling negotiating process. The fact that, you know, Chris Latang and Afghani Malkin are locked up for only 12.4 million for the rest of their careers. That is a job well done.

Byron Hextall, you throw in. Sidney Crosby in there. Let's see, that's 8, 20.4. So that's about a little over 21 million of the salary cap towards your big three players for the rest of their careers. That's a big W. And you bring back Rickel and you also bring back Brian Russ. So those four signings, you know, that's about a combined 22 million of the cap.

You know, I'll also tip my cap to run Hextall on that. You know, I'm still not as big of a fan on the Raquel contract. I'm warming up to it a little bit now that Gino is back. But, you know, I think, you know, I'm going to walk back my take of, you know, he needs to go to the Gulaq. and stuff. I know I will not take any further questions at this time. But, you know, that's some good business by the GM. I will say I will give credit where it is due, even though, you know, he's made some questionable decisions at times for this team. But, you know, I can't be more thrilled. That Malkin is back. You know, he helps definitely in the short term. He was their best option at that

two Cs. Five. I will repeat that until, you know, the day I am on, the day I am six feet under. You know, he was easily their best option. Look at some of the contracts that you all saw today. Andrew Cop, five times 5.6, only 500K cheaper. Vince Trochec went for seven times 5.6. I think everyone would have been pissed if the Penguins would have given Trochec, that kind of contract. So, you know, at the end of the day,

those contracts were only 500K cheaper than the Malkin one. But Malkin is the better player. He's going to continue to be the better player in the short term. and I really think the Penguins did a nice job with this. And, you know, a lot of times, you know, sports fans, I don't think everyone gets what they want with their teams. But, you know, for the first time, I think most Penguins fans here are getting what they want.

Everyone has seen this core bring them three Stanley Cups so far in this era. You've gone to four Stanley Cups, this Corps has. Been to five Eastern Conference Finals, 16 straight playoff. appearances they really don't have too much more to accomplish if they were to if they all if the three players were to retire right now it would have been such a you know they would have accomplished i think basically everything um that they've wanted to accomplish in the an shell or you know close to it i know if guinea malkin wants to be the only russian more player to win for stanley cup so i think he'd definitely be missing that i think sid also wants to you know just keep racking up stuff with

points and goals and, you know, I'm sure Gino wants to hit his 1,000th game. So there's at least some milestones that, you know, they would not have hit if they were retired today, but, you know, I still think they would be mostly satisfied, you know, with what they do. I mean, La Tang ranks number one or number two in the franchise history for basically every defensive stat. But, you know, the fact that all three of these players are going to play for the franchise for at least 19 years, probably 20 years. That just, that is amazing. And right as I am talking about that, my poor dog over here just started to snore like a freight train in Detroit. No clue what that is about Brani. Throni. All right. I think he finally stopped that. Again, I have no clue what that was.

It just came out of nowhere. Anyways, back to what I was saying. The fact that, you know, they're going to all be those three are going to be here for at least 19 years, if not two decades. You know, it's amazing. And we're all going to get to see the milestones. I mean, Gina's going to hit his 1,000th game next year. He's a little over 50 goals away from his 500th. In his career, he's going to hit 1,200 points. I would say probably next year as well, Cindy Crosby. He has the chance, I think, to hit for, you know, potentially 1,500 points in his career. He's going to continue to rise. You know, right now he's top 25 all time for the most points in initial history. Chris Leng, you know, he's going to continue to rise in the defensive rankings. You know, and

people you know i know to some people that's not good enough with you you got to win a championship every year you know you you got to keep winning or it's just a failure no it's really not i mean this has been arguably the best team of the salary cap era and i think when a lot of people say like oh my god you're you're bringing these these guys back it's just first run exit after first run exit it's just like the people these people can't see the forest from the trees these are the casuals that just want to make moves for the sake of making moves. And when you ask them for replacements, they can't give you any because they don't watch any other team than the Penguins.

And these people also probably tune into like 20 to 25 Penguins games a year. So, you know, I had to throw that out there. You know, this is great to see all the three brothers retire. And it's also great that they can still compete for a Stanley Cup, you know, at least these next two to three. years until Sid is ready to retire. You know, maybe he plays longer than that. Who knows? But, you know, I think bringing Latang and Malkin back, you know, it makes the fans happy,

makes the organization happy. But it makes the most sense because, you know, they want to continue competing for a cup. Again, people can say, you know, enjoy not winning a cup, enjoy having all these first and second round exits. Okay, you know, maybe part of me will because I get to watch three players that I grew up. excuse me, that I grew up watching and that have made so many people happy retire with the team, the only team that they've ever known. Because that is how it should be.

A player like Evgeny Malkin should not have to play his final years with another team. A player like Sidney Crosby should not have to play his final years another team. And I will say the same damn thing for Letein. Maybe it's a little weird for Flurry, but, you know, he didn't accomplish nearly as much as these other three players have. So, you know, it makes sense in that regard, and it makes a hell of a lot of sense when you look at the free agent market and you saw the other options that were out there. So I'm going to celebrate that all three are going to retire. They're going to make so many people, you know, happy with so many more memorable moments and they're going to continue to compete for the Stanley Cup.

So, you know, I'm glad Monk was able to get done. Cooler heads prevailed. I think that was so massive. McGinie Malkin, we all know he is very emotional on and off the ice. Whether it was Sid or someone else, I think it was Sid, according to Josh Yew, you know, called him, sat him down like, hey, man, just chill out, calm down. Maybe they'll reach back out. Sure enough, according to Pierrelle run, the talks heated up at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, they went until 10 o'clock until they negotiated the deal and, you know, they finished it up. So, cool, head to Super Real City, Crosby, had a all-time assist on that one.

I wouldn't is that an even strength that says I'll probably say that's on the power play actually no I would say they were kind of killing a penalty there because it looked like Malkin was about to leave and he was able to you know score a short-handed goal to get everyone all back you know to normal and you know they kill they're able to kill the penalty and you know it's back to five on five if that if that reference makes sense if that doesn't make sense um just feel free to tell me but um I thought it did while I was talking about it but you know the legend of say continues to grow. Malking was able to calm down. You know, Hextall and J.P. Berry were able to negotiate this. And, you know, I think it's a good deal for both sides. I do not care what this deal looks like

four years from now. You know, I don't. I'm just happy that three of the top six player, at least three of the top ten best players in the franchise this year are all going to go out together. And they're going to retire with at least three Stanley Cups. So just hope everyone, you know, knows how spoiled you are if you root. for this team. All right. So coming up at the next segment, we're going to get into the John Ruta signing.

Get my thoughts on that. Look at some of the underlying numbers for him. Also touch on which defensemen could be out the door because right now there are nine defensemen on one-way deals. But before I get to that, bet on line. Betonline is your number one source for all of your betting needs and sports info. You can find all the latest sports developments, league reviews and news, including dishes, NHLLet playoffs, and Major League Baseball.

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All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Honor Hodeys, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore penguins. Someone was sending me a tweet, and I thought it was the Johann Larson thing, but it was just a Cindy Crosby meme about the Afghani Malkin stuff.

I am like scared to death that they are going to just announce that signing, what is it, 10.30 at night right now, while I'm recording the show like they had that news dump of Afghani Malkin on Tuesday night, but I don't know if that's going to happen. Who knows?

But today, so a deal out of left field, John Ruda, signs a three-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2.75 million per. He is a right shot D. Defensive defenseman. Doesn't bring a lot of offense.

That's going to be for Mike Matheson and Crystal Tang and maybe John Marino if he's still here on the team next year. But he's really good on the PK. And he's a good stay-at-home defense. He played a lot of minutes last year with Victor Hedman. I think he was his most common partner last year. And he put up good numbers. You know, on Natural Stoutrach right now, played 76 games for the lightning. When he was on the ice, they had 52% shot attempts, 60% of the actual goals,

54% of the scoring chances, 53% of the high danger chances, 54% of the high danger goals for. Yes, I understand he's playing with arguably the best defenseman on the planet, I get. But, you know, those are still pretty decent numbers. You know, you look at Andy and Rono stuff here, and I can't recommend them enough. You know, they get percentiles from natural satric, cordy, snagher stuff. You know, offensively, he ranks in the 60th percentile, shot contribution, 74th, scoring, 62nd percentile, shooting 61st percentile defensively, though.

You know, play driving, 65th percentile penalty kill above 60 percent. That's very good. Transition-wise, not the best, you know, that's 36. Overall, had 18 points last year in 76 games. But, you know, I think this is still a very servile player. You look at, you know, in Michael Blake McCurdy stuff, even strength offense, you know, a lot of blue in the offensive zone, you know, minus 5% when you look at, you know, relative to league average. But defensively, you know, it's minus point one, one expected goals against per 60. A lot of blue there, which is what you want to see, especially in the front of the net.

He's really good at getting, you know, scores out of that area. And, you know, I also think he can bring a little bit of a physical element, you know, to the game. I mean, I was talking, you know, with Jason of Penguin's Twitter in my DMs today. And, you know, he said something that I think I've been thinking for a while. And, you know, some people may not like this take, but, you know, the Penguins, they need more size on their back end. I know some people don't want to hear that, but they do. And John Ruda will bring that. It's a big body.

He can skate well, good at bringing the pucks out of the defensive zone, bring it, bringing the pucks into the offensive zone. Really good penalty killer, which is what's. they need. And he's someone who you can rely on, you know, I would say 16 to 20 minutes a night. You know, he played with Victor Hedman last year. He handled those minutes well. I think if you were to put him on a second pairing was maybe Mike Matheson. I think that's a pairing that could work. Mike, you know, Matheson, he is obviously the total chaos player. He will do all the offensive work. Ruta, you know, he can sit back, you know, cover for him defensively and some other stuff. And, you know, I think he will be a really good fit for Mike

Sullivan system. Obviously, I think I'll upgrade over Ruehdle on the third pairing. I don't think Chad is going to be the one that's traded. I think he's going to stay in the lineup. You know, I think at this point, it's going to be probably Warner Pedersen or Marino that is moved. But Ruto, you know, again, I do think he can play on the second pairing as well. Now, you know, is it a downgrade, I would say if it is Latang, Rudo, then Ruehiel on the right side over Latang, Marino Ruehiel there? Yeah, I would say that, especially if you do move Marino. But, you know, maybe Ruta can play on the left side a little bit if you do move out Pedersen. But, you know, this is going to be, I think it's going to be even harder now for someone also like POJ to make the team because, you know, there's 9D right now.

You know, could they trade to defensemen. I think that is also on the table. Maybe Marino in a separate deal for Chitty Miller or something like that or Connor Garland and then Pedersen for draftics. I could see that. and then you could roll a defense out of, you know, Duman Lattang, Matheson, Ruta, and then maybe P.O.J. and Chavarito. No, I don't think that, you know, that defensive core is bad.

You know, is it maybe as good as it was last year? It's debatable. I think you can argue in either direction. I'd probably say maybe a little worse, but I think there's upside to it. But, you know, I definitely could see the Penguins doing that. I will say this, though. I did not foresee them signing a defenseman today.

I thought because POJ was signed on Tuesday for that two-year deal, one-way contract, I thought out, like I ate, you know, he's graduated the initial full-time. They're just going to move someone. But, you know, now, you know, again, I could really see them moving to defensemen, you know, when this is all said and done. So, you know, and who could that be? You know, the only way I'm comfortable moving on from Reno is if you're getting an impact forward back.

You know, if you're, excuse me. if you're going to just dump him for futures that, you know, that people couldn't care less about, you know, I'm not going to subscribe to that. You know, you better be bringing back a nice top line forward because I don't really know if this Johann Larson contract is happening at this point. I mean, Elliot Friedman, he tweeted that it was happening late in the day, right when Ron Hickstall was talking, then I think it was Danny Shirey that asked him about him, and he just basically like scoffed out it.

It was either it was like, know where that come from or it was like, well, you know, that that leaked out a lot earlier than I thought it was going to. So I have no idea if that's happening at this point. But I still think they need another forward. Right now when you look at their roster, they have 11 capable of NHL forwards, getting an NHL forward back in the move for a defenseman has to be the play. I think, though, I'm going to lean that's going to be Pedersen.

I think it should be doing one, but I think they're going to keep him. I think it is going to be Pedersen, just because, you know, I think teams, you know, even though he has term left on his contract, you know, you all saw the deals that, you know, were handed out, say, Eric Good Branson, four times four for Columbus, which is just ridiculous. Ben Sharrock gets four times four point five, and those two are definitely not good. You know, you look at those deals and you look at what John Ruda signed for makes that deal look that much better, at least for me.

So, you know, there will definitely be a taker out there for one of these defense. if not too for the penguins but you know overall my thoughts on the john rudisiding you know again brings some size brings the physical element good in his own zone can penalty kill well um and someone who you know i think definitely makes a team better the term is fine the a v totally fine no i think that's a really strong move by ron hextong you know we'll have to see who's moved out again i would love to get an impact forward back for one of those defensemen not just some stupid futures that you know I don't think anyone would care about at that point.

Now, for our final segment, I will touch on the other moves that the Penguins made today. Give my thoughts on those. Most of them are just depth signings as a whole. But before I get to that, you can save time and money when using Rock Auto. Why is she to choose to spend 30%,

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But you can go explore their easy-to-use website today to find that solution to your auto part needs. You go to rockado.com right now and see all the parts available for your car truck. And you can write locked on in their how-d you hear-by-us box. So they know we sent you amazing selection, right below prices, all the parts your carver ever mean. That is rockado.com. All right. Welcome back for the final segment of today's episode. I'm, of course, Hunter Hodes.

So Penguins, they did make a couple other moves today. So Jake Cajula won, I shouldn't say one way, one year, two-way contract. He is just basic depth in Wilkesbury. Probably would be one of the first call-ups, I think. If, well, not if, when there will be penguin injuries because that is just a yearly thing. They're always one of the most injured teams in the league. So I think he's just basically an emergency call-up. I'm not really going to read too much into that one.

Dustin Tukarski, third goaltender, that's an upgrade over Louis Doming. And speaking of Louis Doming, signs of the New York Rangers puts a funny tweet about spicy pork. So I always love when things come full circle like that. You know, that's just their number three goaltender. The Rangers have Halak backing up. Just working next year. But as for Tukarski, you know, put up solid numbers at times in Buffalo last year. I'm going to actually pull up.

I'm going to pull up just the official numbers right now. Yes, for some reason. and I did not have those, but, you know, 29 games last year, you know, 10, 12, and 5, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, his save percentage was around 900, but he's playing on a bad Buffalo team. But, you know, with a year before that, played 13 games for the Sabres, 9-04, say, percentage.

You know, typical third-string goaltender numbers. You know, I saw a tweet today from a couple people saying, you know, I don't even have to look up if he's better than Louis Deming. And, you know, sure enough, I don't really need to either. I know that he would be a better option for a playoff series of, for instead of Louis Doming. And I'll go ahead and say this. If he's starting for the Penguins against the Rangers,

I think they win that series. That's just how bad Louis Doming is. But, you know, he'll get the start probably down to Wilkesbury. I mean, I know it's a one-way deal, but he can be sent down to Wilkesbury. And again, that's probably where he's going to be. They're not going to keep three-a-inchill goaltenders. I think the pairing, the tandem down there is going to be him and Philip

Lindberg, when healthy. I know Alex DeOreo. Oh, well, no, I know he's a UFA. So excuse me, excuse me on that. But I believe it's going to be Philip Lindberg and Dustin Tocarski down in Wilkesbury. So, you know, that's fine. The Josh Archibald won. I got to say I don't really understand that.

One year, one-way deal for 900K, played eight games last year. He's just not a good player. You know, when you look at evolving wilds stuff here, if I can scroll down, I find on my Twitter page. Yeah, you know, overall ranks in the 12th percentile for them, 23rd percentile in offense, 25th percentile for defense. Just a really, you know, he's 29 at this point. I mean, sure is he probably, you know,

maybe someone that can go down in Wilkesbury and play down there. Yeah, is he going to be maybe a 14th forward, 13th forward? Yeah, I don't think he's going to be playing on an every night basis for this team. Actually, I think, you know, he's maybe like someone like a Brian Boyle who can play a few games for you. but he's just not a good player. And off the ice, for those that don't know how do I want to say this right? Let's just say for a while last year, you know, he was against during when the pandemic was, you know, at the height, you know, when it was really, really bad, he was against the you know what. I'm not going to go on in this podcast and tell everyone what they need to do.

but, you know, he was against, you know, I think everyone will know what I'm talking about. So just a, you know, just a weird signing all around. I don't know, you know, especially on like day one or free agency. Like, you know, do you really need to go out and sign that player? You can probably get that guy on the PTO. Eric Stahl is going to on a PTO down to Florida, but this guy is getting a one year 900K contract. Explain it to me like I am five, please. Like, I just, I don't get it.

At the end of the day, whatever. He's probably not going to play more than 20 games next year. If that, again, in a perfect world, he's down in Wilkesbury or he's just in the press box every night collecting that game check. And then, you know, Xavier Olet, that's a one-year two-way deal, probably some, that's probably the Euseau Ricola replacement down there. So definitely some weird depth moves, but, you know, a couple ones that I do get, you know, with Dustin McCarthy being the third goaltender. again, the Archibald won, whatever. Again, I don't think the Penguins are done this off season. Hinen and Rodriguez is still out there as free agents.

I could see maybe the Penguins circling back to Hinen. Again, they are one forward short right now. They have 11 forward signed. Josh Harsball better not be in their plans for next year. And, you know, Kaspari Kappen, you know, Ron Hextall spoke today. It sounds like they are potentially going to work out a contract for him, which is, you know, I'll say this. I disagree with bringing him back.

I don't think he's any good. Maybe he'll surprise me next year. I know he was better away from the puck, but no, I think they should try to find a fresh start for him. I just, I don't see it. But I guess for some reason,

the front office and the coaching staff has a, have a better satisfaction for him than I do. And I think a lot of the fan base does. And, you know, maybe they'll make me eat crow on that, to say the least. But, again, I don't think this team has done.

I think they have at least another move or two. them coming over the next month, I would say a trade is probably likely to happen. Looking at the date here, probably before the end of the month, if I had to guess. So that wraps up today's episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one of another episode for you all on Thursday, then Friday, then again next week will be the final week of five episodes a week before we go into full off-season mode with only three episodes a week for you all on various topics regarding. this team.

So the roster is almost set for next year, you know, bearing a very likely trade of a defenseman for a forward or something like that. So, you know, let me know your thoughts. You know, what do you think about the roster going to next year? Who do you want the penguins? Which defenseman do you want the penguins trade? You know, leave me on a comment on the YouTube page. You can DME on social media, all that stuff.

You know, we'll talk about it. And, you know, I think it's still an exciting time to be a Penguins fan. And, you know, again, I'll say for the fifth time, probably the last two minutes. I do not think Ron Hextall is done. So again, thank you all so much for listening. Hope you all have a great rest of your day, and I'll talk with you all on Thursday.