Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The most embarrassing loss of the season for the Penguins (so far)...

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered their worst loss of the season so far on Monday night to the Anaheim Ducks. And for today's episode, the Locked on Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to break all of it down, plus what really needs to change going forward. Your Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hold on and welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.

Starting point is 00:00:41 You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Joined, as always, by Monco's Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Centrum Fruwet. And you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. Ernstap Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this, your first list in slash watch of the day. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandle,

Starting point is 00:00:59 make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 money-line bet. That's $150 if your team wins. visit fando.com slash locked on to get started. I apologize. My voice sounds a little, I guess, raspy today. I'm battling a little bit of a cold that time of year.

Starting point is 00:01:18 Happy Halloween, everyone. Ducks four, Penguins 3. I was in the building for that. Disgraceful, embarrassing, pathetic, whatever word you want to use for that loss. And let's just get right to it with Tristan Jari. He stunk last night. And he has stunk almost all season outside of two good games. against the capitals and against the Colorado avalanche.

Starting point is 00:01:45 Last night, I don't know what was going on. It felt like every time the ducks came into the zone, he was going to give up a goal. That Vartrano goal is atrocious. You can't give up that angle there. I'm sorry, you can't. The third goal that tied the game after Redeems O'Hourna just gave you the lead in the third period,

Starting point is 00:02:04 your wickets are wide open there. What's going on? And then the game winner, it looked like he didn't even try to make a save, played way too passive in his net. He has been terrible this season. I think he is the main reason why the Penguins lost this game. We'll get to the 5-on-3 PowerPoint at the end of regulation a little bit later because I had some problems with it.

Starting point is 00:02:22 Pat, maybe disagrees with me a little bit on that, but I had some problems with it. But overall, Tristan Jari was bad again. Second straight, really awful game. And at some point, man, I'm going to need the $5 million goalie to actually step up and help this team win games on a consistent basis. It can't just be every other game or, you know, one game every two weeks. It has to be on a consistent basis and I'm tired of the inconsistencies. Listen, I need people to do me a favor here. I need people who have been screaming at me since last season that Mike Sullivan's time here is up. I want them to explain to me in detail how a team

Starting point is 00:03:04 that is getting 30 to 35 or more shots per night, but getting sub 900 goal tending will be fixed by a coaching change. Listen, I'm not saying Mike Sullivan's infallible. I'm not saying he's the best coach to ever coach in the history of the sport. I think he's a great coach. I think they've got one of the best ones in hockey right now. And listen, I also do still think that like some changes to the system do need to be made to better reflect the personnel on the roster.

Starting point is 00:03:32 But I don't care if you have Scotty Bowman in his prime. If you are getting 30 to 35 shots tonight, out chancing, out shooting, out possessing your opponent, your system is working. But if you're getting sub 900 goaltending in 2023, the problem is the goalie. We can talk about the power play. We can talk about the fourth line. We can talk about the third pairing. All we want. We can talk about it to a blue in the face.

Starting point is 00:04:03 We can talk about it all day long and how it's not acceptable. And it's all true. But at the end of the day, I hate that I have to keep stealing Joshio. He's line. Eventually, you are allowed to make a save. The short-handed goal last night. And again, we'll talk about the power play as a whole. Unacceptable goal against.

Starting point is 00:04:24 Deep in his net, didn't move. It wasn't like McTavish came down, put on the writs, made an incredible move. And I'd tip my hat and go, hey, man, that's a new. incredible breakaway goal. There's nothing the goal he can do on that. He stood there. He didn't make a save. He didn't throw himself at the puck. He didn't lift his goal. He didn't lift his glove up. He didn't go down. He didn't flash a pad. He stood there. Right. And listen, like you said, I need the $5 million goalie to show up eventually. And I, I defended the deal. It started the year. And because I thought one of his biggest problems was that he got in his

Starting point is 00:04:59 own head too much. And part of getting in his own head, was that he didn't have a contract in place for the future. And I thought it was a smart idea. Give him a deal. Make it longer than three years. Give him some consistency. Give him some peace of mind of where he's going to play. And he'll be able to focus solely on being a goaltender.

Starting point is 00:05:17 And that has not happened. He has been inconsistent all year long. And if this team wants to win a Stanley Cup, they can tinker on the margins all they want. But if they're going to get sub 900 goal tending for the rest of the season, they're not going to even make the damn playoffs again. they won't even come close to sniffing the playoff race if they continue to get sub-900 goal-tending.

Starting point is 00:05:36 And it's unfortunate that that Alex and Delcovic injury happened when it did because they're not going to be relying on Magnus Helberg to go win you a bunch of games. They have no choice but to keep riding him, which is the unfortunate part. And you're right. On that McTavish goal to win the game with less than 15 seconds, and it's crazy. The Penguins didn't even get a point at that game. They were gifting you at least a point with two minutes left, giving you a five-on-three with a delay of game after the ducks took the first penalty.

Starting point is 00:06:02 They were gifting you a point and you still couldn't get that. But he just stood there, didn't play aggressive, didn't even have his glove out, it felt like. And McTabbers are like, okay, you're not going to do that. I'm just going to fire the puck right over you. And he did just that and the ducks came away with the two points. The Penguins badly outplayed the ducks in this game at all situations. They had over six expected goals, over six. And listen.

Starting point is 00:06:26 They don't find a way to lose in regulation. You want to go dive into more of the. five on five numbers. At five on five last night, the Ducks had 1.66 expected goals for and they scored four goals. That's garbage goaltending. And listen, it goes back to what I said.

Starting point is 00:06:44 Make a save. You can, you can, and listen, we can all complain and get annoyed about, oh man, it seems like the penguins always get goalied. They're always getting goalied. Because the other team's goalie is making a save. He got out doled by dostall. Who is dostle?

Starting point is 00:07:02 Like, if it would have been John Gibson all game, I'd have been like, hey, man, that's John Gibson. Like, he may not be the John Gibson of five years ago, but even the grades in the downslope of their career will have games and moments where they show that they were once one of the grades. And John Gibson did that in the first period until he got hurt. So, like, it looked like that was going to be a Johnny Whitehall kind of night

Starting point is 00:07:23 where he just played his ass off, makes a bunch of unrealistic saves, and you just go, what can you do? do. But when you're getting out doled by a no-name backup goaltender and you're a $5 million starting goaltender on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, you're no longer a starting goalie. I'm sorry. You're right. I have no idea who Lucas Dostole is before this game. He made some really nice days, but I agree with you. If you're being outdued by him, there's a serious problem. And my take about Tristan Jari heading into the season, my bold prediction, that's aging like milk. I said he was going to be a 925, 930 goalie this year. Everyone can now clown on me for that. I get it.

Starting point is 00:08:00 waiting for the old takes exposed on that one. I don't know. Here's the problem, though. Go ahead. If he would not have been 925, whatever, like, great goalie, I didn't expect him to be this bad. If he would have been replacement level, I'd have been annoyed, but I'd have been like,

Starting point is 00:08:20 eh, it's kind of who Tristan Jari's been. I've never seen him this bad. Outside of what? the Islander series, but I don't think he's been Islanders level bad this season. It's maybe a bit close, but I don't think it's that bad. That was like legitimately below replacement level.

Starting point is 00:08:40 I don't think we're at that point just yet, but we're starting to get there. And heck, right now, you want to know what he ranks league-wide and goals saved above average this year? 60-1-1-6-1-2.6-4 goals-saved above average. He is below Cam Talbot, Freddie Anderson, VTec Fannichick, Anton Forsberg. He's barely above Philip. Gus says he's barely above Jack Campbell.

Starting point is 00:09:09 This is quickly approaching Jack Campbell territory people. And for people that follow the Oilers, maybe a bit closer than I do, he has been awful ever since he signed there. And it's getting to the point where we might, it's getting really close to Jack Campbell territory. I think that's what I'm trying to say overall. You said 61st, right? 601st?

Starting point is 00:09:27 Okay, so let's just, let's just assume there's, there's 32 teams in the National Hockey League, and all 32 teams do the same thing the Pittsburgh Penguins do and carry just two goalies on the roster. That's 64 goalies. Sixty-first. Yep. Your team is not getting good goaltending, my friends. It's been the Achilles heel all season so far. They will not get back into the race if they continue to get goaltending like this on a

Starting point is 00:09:57 consistent basis. I'll say it again. Eventually, your five-year, $5.375 million goalie needs to step up on a consistent basis. I understood why Kyle Dubus made the signing. Everyone else was coming off the board. You didn't want to trade pieces for another goalie like Connor Hellabuck before he signed his extension or something like that. But you know what? You signed in that deal, Kyle, and now you're seeing what I think a lot of fans have seen these past few years, just the inconsistencies. And honestly, if this continues, they're going to be stuck with this. I don't know how you get out of that deal if this continues. I'll end with this.

Starting point is 00:10:33 I said this to a group of my friends last night after the game. I hate blaming the goal because I think it's the height of laziness. Right. Because what's the objective of hockey to score more goals than your opponent? So when you lose a game, it's very easy to go, well, we gave up more goals than the other team. So it must have been the goalie's fault. and most of the time, that's not the case. Most of the time, a little more context is needed.

Starting point is 00:10:59 Most of the time, there's something else that led to your team giving up more goals. As of late, for the penguins, the problem has been their goalie. Right. I mean, it's been for most of this season so far, outside of a couple good shoutouts from Justin Jari. And he's going to need to get back to at least close to that level on a consistent basis if the penguins really want to start turning this thing around. But that'll do it for this first segment.

Starting point is 00:11:21 And coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss the power play why I did see some good things last night, but why it kind of just faltered in the end with that awful five on three to end regulation. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Fandall. Score early this NFL season with Fandle, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get $150 of bonus bets with any winning $5 money line bet. That's $150 if your team wins. If you've been thinking about joining Fandul, there's no better time to get in on the action than right now. The app is so easy to use, there is a wide range of betting options including spreads, player props, over hunters, and so much more.

Starting point is 00:12:02 So right now, visit fandul.com slash locked on. It kickoff the NFL season. That's Fandle, the official partner of the NFL and locked on. And we got to tell you all about better help. If you've been thinking about starting therapy, give better help a try. For me personally, I suffer from anxiety. I suffer from it every day. Better help has really helped me with therapy overall.

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Starting point is 00:12:57 Again, my voice has been a bit raspy. I apologize. I had started a cold on Monday, and, you know, the Penguins, I guess, had to make it a bit worse with that loss on Monday. Let's get into the power play. I saw some good things early on. Eric Carlson, a beautiful blast to get things going. He teed that sucker up like it was nothing. Evgeny Malkin, the Geno bombs, keep feeding both of those players for one-timers.

Starting point is 00:13:21 It's the easiest thing to do, I think, to get a struggling power play going, and please, for the love of God, get traffic in front of the net. Speaking of that, let's fast forward. Final couple minutes, you get a five-on-three for a buck-49. There's about, what, 208 left in regulation, you're like, okay, this should be a regulation win with how the penguins are going. But then you start seeing the five-on-three. And when I saw Carlson and Malkin pass the puck back to each other, I thought of Jim Husson when he would call Vancouver Canucks games.

Starting point is 00:13:53 Back to Henrik, then to Daniel, then to Hendrick that's for the speakers, right? Because that's what they would do at times on those five on threes. And I kept seeing that, I'm like, all right, eventually someone's got to shoot the puck. And when the Penguins did shoot on that five on three, where was the traffic? There was none in front of the net. Don't still, excuse me, was just like, oh, I'm just going to make this say. and boom, he did every single time. There was no net front presence there at all.

Starting point is 00:14:20 No one screening the goalie, and it led to the Penguins, it felt like they really weren't threatening at all on that five-on-three. That, of course, Carlson with a really bad pass late in the five-on-three. You can't make that pass. I'm sorry. I know he's going to be a future Hall of Famer. I know he's the best defenseman on this team. In that situation, you either need to keep the puck, look for a different play,

Starting point is 00:14:42 or fire it to the net. you can't go back to a beginning Malk in there when Adam Henrique is putting his stick in the passing lane. That's the wrong play. But I thought overall that five on three was just really lethargic, way too much passing. Really, they were just playing catch with the puck, trying to Harlem Globetrotter into the net. And that wasn't going to work. And then you saw Carlson with a bad turnover. I was so ready to praise the power play as a whole after that five on three.

Starting point is 00:15:09 But the same issues popped up with it. And I'm like, what is going? going on here. See, I will agree with the sentiment that they got to get traffic on that last five on three. Everything. If he sees it, he's going to stop it. I say it all the time on a broken record on that, I know. But I like the way they worked the puck on the five on three because here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:15:33 Five on four, all the passing, all the stuff they try to do, it doesn't do anything because you can just the penalty kill. can just stay in their box or their diamond, which for the uninitiated, those are two ways you can kill a penalty. Diamond is one guy up top, two in the middle, one down low. Box is literally just that two up top, two down low. So when you have that, you can clog the middle, you can just let them pass around the perimeter and not get any threatening looks. But when you have a five on three,

Starting point is 00:16:04 the point of all that puck movement is to eventually pull one or two of the three so far to one side that you almost completely open up another side of the ice. And that's what they did. That's what they were doing on the five on three. But the problem was when they would get those looks, the goalie could just, dostel could just slide right over and make the save without any traffic in front of them. They weren't taking away his eyes. Phil Bork said it on the radio. And I love this. He quoted an old Chris Coonet saying where he said, if you're on the power play and you're the net front guy, you just have to be a bad goalie. You just have to mimic a bad goalie and just

Starting point is 00:16:43 follow the puck, but not make any plays on it. And I will, listen, the, the turnover by Carlson was bad. I agree. But the other thing about that is nine times out of ten, he makes that pass. Like, he does. He gets that pass through. And that was the one of ten where it hits Henrique's stick, and they have the turnover. And then it gets to what we just ranted about in the first segment. You need that save. You have to have that save to get it to overtime. So on the whole, I liked the power play last night. They did a lot of the things that we've been asking them to do. They played with a purpose.

Starting point is 00:17:20 They moved their feet. They shot the puck. Yes. They had 17 shots on the power play. And they scored two goals. Like, is it great? No, because when you go two for seven, that's not the best. But at the same time, they did just about everything we've been asking them to do to improve.

Starting point is 00:17:38 And that shoot the puck and play with the purpose. I do agree with you on that. But as you remember, we had a conversation on Monday, right? Eventually, we want the power play to go out there and win the game. There was a perfect opportunity. Two minutes left. The team has been reeling lately. You need points any way you can get them.

Starting point is 00:17:58 And that's the play that we get from the power play on a five on three. It's not good enough. And speaking of that, they were putting Ricard Raquel out there quite a bit on the power play throughout the night. He's a ghost right now. I don't even think you can put him on powerplay one right now. He needs to be on power play two. He needs to be playing just even strength minutes.

Starting point is 00:18:18 He can't do a thing right now. I understand why people want him out there because he has a really good one-timer from the left half wall. But he's been a ghost to start the year until he actually wakes up. You can't have him out there in that situation. But when the Penguins needed the power play to win them the game, especially on a night where Trishanjari was playing like crap, it didn't come through.

Starting point is 00:18:42 And that's the thing that really stings. And I do think it's a thing that could also get Tar Reardon fired at some point. Because let's face it, ever since he's got here, the powerplay has been a very much mixed bag. And you saw that last night. There were some good parts. You're right. They shot the puck. The movement for the most part was really good.

Starting point is 00:19:00 They were getting some quality scoring chances up until the end when the inconsistencies came back. I don't want to see that on a power play with so many future Hall of Famers. on your top power play right now, the Penguins have what, 45 to 50 million of players making that kind of money? I can't see that kind of consistency on a buck 49, 5 on 3.

Starting point is 00:19:20 That should be a given every single time in that situation, especially against a Ducks team that they've been on the East Coast for a while and they weren't playing well. That should have been an easy slam goal in my opinion. And that's, and to the Todd Reardon point,

Starting point is 00:19:38 two things on that. One, sometimes when it comes to having a job in a sport, it's just a tough shi-talkie mushrooms about it because it's not producing, and maybe that's a personnel issue because they're not getting it done, but they're not producing. There's the door. Secondly, again, about coaching. That five-on-three late, that's the moment where you change your top unit. And you either get Matt Nietto, Nolachari, even Jeff Carter, and you just say, go stand in front of the net and don't move. You're not going to touch the puck. You're not going to be there as an outlet. Just stand in front of the net and do not move. Wherever the goal he goes, you go. Don't move. Your movement is wherever that goalie goes and you

Starting point is 00:20:26 don't let him see a damn thing. Because like I said, they did everything. They did everything. else right on that 5 on 3 but that and obviously score, but they moved the puck well. They pulled the penalty kill out of position to get looks at the net, but they didn't have anybody taking away the goalie's eyes. So whether it's Achari, Nyetto, Carter, Raquel, whoever, you plant their ass in front of the net and you just say don't move unless the goalie moves. Yeah, and just going off of that, it felt like every time a puck was going to the net, one of the Penguins players who was supposed to be at the net front was moving fully out of the way.

Starting point is 00:21:05 It didn't matter which Ducks goalie was in the net. It felt like the Penguins were just afraid of contact there. And it's like you can't be fully afraid when you're trying to screen the goalie. Try to get a deflection in that situation. And they're just not doing that right now for some reason. Listen, I'm going to say what me and all of my teammates at IUP hockey used to say about stuff like that when it came to sacrificing and taking a hit or getting a hit or getting. hit with a shot or screening the goalie. If you're scared, go to church.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Well, that settles it, I think. It's hockey, guys. Listen, as much as I am a forward-thinking person, as much as I want this game to get better and be more about speed, skill, and all of that, it is still hockey. Right. If you are afraid to get hit by a puck, go play something else.

Starting point is 00:21:56 Because to score goals, you are going to have to sacrifice. you're going to have to take a little bit of pain. You might get hit with a shot. Like, again, Phil Bork said on the radio last night. Yeah, you might lose a few teeth. But if your team wins, Penguins got an arena dentist. They'll go fix that.

Starting point is 00:22:14 I agree. And I think we have both discussed the power play for far too long on this episode. I think that will do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat are going to get into some potential changes heading into Saturdays game against the San Jose Sharks. And I'm actually afraid for that game, considering how bad the Sharks.

Starting point is 00:22:30 have been this year. They have not won a game. And let's think that there is at least a pretty disdained possibility that they could get their first winning the seasoning on Saturday against the Penguins. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Sleeper, which is the official daily fantasy app of the locked on NHN Network. Sleeper is our number one choice for daily fantasy sports and especially daily fantasy hockey because of Sleeper, you can win 100 times your cash in daily fantasy hockey contest. All you have to do is pick studs like Connor David, Cindy Crosby, Nathan McKinn, Eric Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, Igor Shasturkin, Ilya, And you just got to pick stats like goals, assists, saves, or heck, even plus minus.

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Starting point is 00:23:50 All right, or back in on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, I'm Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-o's Patrick Dam. So in theory, and I think in practice, you should not expect this. the same lineup heading into Saturdays game. It's beyond time to change up the fourth line, in my opinion. The underlying numbers were awful, again, against the Ducks. Every time that a charing-ne-dough Carter Lane came out there, it sucked the life out of the Penguins.

Starting point is 00:24:17 They rarely gained the offensive zone. Carter would just do little flips of the puck in the offensive zone, and then when he would go down there to try to forecheck and start the cycle, he would lose it in a nola seconds, and the Ducks would be breaking the puck out into a neutral zone, and then they would be dumping it into the penguin zone. Matt Mietto at least had one chance last night. I already had a couple of hits. But otherwise, that fourth line is not working right now.

Starting point is 00:24:38 You called up Vinnie Hino Shosa for a reason. Pat, I think it's time for him to come in the lineup for someone, whether it's any of those three players. If you're asking me, should be Jeff Carter, because it's been obvious through the first stretch of this season that he doesn't have it anymore. He can't play a full A2 game season. You at least have to give it a try and see if that can give you a spark.

Starting point is 00:24:59 Because at least with the third line, we've seen Redeems the Horn again. give that a spark and he was excellent yet again on Monday night. Lars Ellar, I also thought, had his best game by far as a member of the Penguins. He was great. Drew Conroy, I thought, also had a couple really good chances, but you want to get this fourth line going. You got to make a change. The top nine's been perfectly fine the last week and a half, two weeks. Like, there's no, there's no, I would like to see the third line chip in more offensively. The third line is making me eat at least a little bit of crow right now because the horn has been

Starting point is 00:25:28 great. Elr had a really good game on Monday night. He drew that for that, that penitimate with two minutes left in the third period. And O'Connor is starting to find his game a little bit more, too. He just got to start finishing his chances. Yeah, I would love to see them chip in more offensively, like I said. But they've been effective. They've been good on the forecheck. They've been responsible defensively.

Starting point is 00:25:46 They've been drawing penalties. They're doing what you want your third line to do outside of maybe putting up a couple more goals. The biggest problem is the fourth lie. And I love them. I've loved them his whole career, even though I had to secretly. suppress it when he was a flyer, but it's time, man. Jeff Carter, it's over. Like, I'm sorry.

Starting point is 00:26:08 And here's the other thing I got to say in regards to that. Kyle Dubus has no loyalty to him. He didn't sign him to that deal. He didn't put him on that deal. Ron Hextall did. I understand with Hextall, like, even from Sullivan's perspective, I understand with Hextall. It's like, man, my guy stuck his neck out for this contract.

Starting point is 00:26:29 I should probably play him. Now it's like, Sullivan and Dubus can sit down. and go, dude, we didn't sign this guy. Like, sit him down. He doesn't need to play. And who cares about the sunk cost fallacy? The guy's just not good. Like, if he's not producing, just sit him down.

Starting point is 00:26:43 He doesn't need to play. He may have a no move clause, but he doesn't have a no scratch clause. Right. And I do think it's time for Cala Dubus to use the power that he has and really sit down with the coaching staff and just have some hard conversations. And I'm not talking about, you know, firing, you know, Mike Sullivan right now or anything like that. but having hard conversations in the sense that, okay, it's time to make some changes to this lineup.

Starting point is 00:27:07 Like, you know, scratching Jeff Carter, the bottom pairing, for example, I thought Chad Rueel was really bad. Last night he got burnt really badly on that Ducks first goal after Eric Carlson made it 1-0. Just was burnt really bad, in my opinion. It doesn't help that Trish O'Jarney was diving out of his crease for really no reason. But Ruehdle just made a bad play on the puck, wasn't even in position to help break up the play. I think maybe you'll have to sit him down. I think it's time for P.O. Joseph to get back in the line-up, in my opinion, you can't keep running back the same roster.

Starting point is 00:27:39 The roster is what the roster is. I'm talking about the lineup, my fault. You can't keep running back the same lineup and expecting things to change. Eventually, you're going to have to bring in someone else. I know you have only one-for-vinnie-Henna shows that you've got to scratch someone there. You have P.O. Joseph, he's been ready to come back in the lineup. You've got to do something there. you're maybe not going to do something in network with Tristanjari because you're stuck with him,

Starting point is 00:28:02 but you do have at least a couple of options to make some lineup decisions. You can do that. And also, of course, if you want to something with Volkswagen to try to get a spark, you can do that. Eventually, though, if this keeps getting worse, Kyle Dubas, they have no choice but to go out and make a trade at this point. Right. And even that's going to be hard.

Starting point is 00:28:20 Yes, they have no cap space. But they have no cap space. And it's Halloween, so I can say this. Ron Hextal handed out no movement clauses like candy. He just, there's a bunch of players on this team who have no move clauses or modified no move clauses. And I don't, that's a whole other discussion that it's more just a national hockey league discussion. I don't get why general managers keep handing these out because one, there's maybe what, 15, 20 players that you're so enamored with and that are so good that you put a no movement clause. in their deal. The fact that depth guys, people like Jeff Carter are getting no movement clauses,

Starting point is 00:29:05 dude, I don't care how like that's, that's a business moment where you look at a guy like Jeff Carter and go, dude, you're in your late 30s. You're not, you want to know movement clause. That's great. I want a Ferrari. I'm not getting one. There's the door. Go away. Like I get there's people who want to be nice guys and loyal and have the whole like, oh, this is good business. No, good business is winning. Good business is roster flexibility. Good business is cap space. And so really realistically, all you can do at this point is you can tinker with the fourth line, you can tinker with the third pairing, and maybe at some point you have to part with the likes of a P.O. Joseph or a Ricard Raquel or a Ty Smith and a draft pick or two. Because

Starting point is 00:29:53 right now, there's not a lot on this roster. They can move or could move, Because right now there's a handful of guys. If you're an opposing team, why would you want them? Well, in honor of Halloween, Ron Hextall still has this whole fan base spooked. And it was nice by the Penguins to spook their entire fan base on Monday night. But, I mean, again, Ron Hextall is one of the main reasons why the Penguins are in this mess today. I mean, we praised Kyle Dubus, rightfully so, for reversing a lot of the bad moves Ron Hextall made. But the moment the Penguins are in right now really shows you how quickly,

Starting point is 00:30:28 deeply Ron Hextall broke this franchise. I agree with you. And, you know, I don't, I'm not going to give Dubis and A for what he did over the off season. I think he could have done more. But it's at least better than what Hextall did, to say the least. I will say one more thing if you want to make a change, another change to the defense.

Starting point is 00:30:49 Get Ryan Gaze off the top pairing. I, I'm of the belief right now that he's playing above his weight. I think he should be moved down to the second pairing. I like Graves. I think he's been fine to start the year, but has he really been six years, almost $5 million per year fine? No, I don't think he has. I'm not seeing the defenseman who was really shot happy during his days in New Jersey, in Colorado.

Starting point is 00:31:15 I'm not seeing the defenseman who was better in his own zone compared to where he was then. They assigned him to be the Brian Dumlin replacement. And right now, Pat, I'm just not seeing it, I test wise. I will say this. That is a, the salary cap is going up kind of contract. Because right now it's, you're looking at it and going, oh, man, I don't know about that. But in three years you're going to go, yeah, it's about market rate. I think at that point, yeah, I'm just, I need to see, I think a bit more from that.

Starting point is 00:31:44 I will say, though, I don't disagree with you. Like, yeah, I think it's what you, I can't remember if we said it on the show or if we said it when you're texting. But he's literally just been a guy. Like he's a jag. He's a jag. He's a guy. Yeah. Has he been good?

Starting point is 00:31:58 No. Has he been bad? Also no. He's just kind of been there. I'll never pass up an opportunity to quote the legendary Steve Smith when he was talking about Jerry Judy a couple weeks ago on Amazon Prime video. Just a guy. Just a jag.

Starting point is 00:32:12 I always will never pass up the opportunity of saying that on this show now. But I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockton Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one. I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween. And for the next few days, the Penguins are all. off, which I think will please a lot of people in this fan base. They're going to try to get things right. Before they go on the California road trip, starting on Saturday against San Jose

Starting point is 00:32:35 Sharks, I love the California road trip. I'm going to put it out there right now. I love staying up late to watch hockey. This is my Christmas at this point, or my Hanuk because I'm Jewish. But this is what I live for each season of the California road trip. I love it. You may not pack because I know you have to wake up pretty early most days. But for me, especially on a weekend, for a game against,

Starting point is 00:32:56 San Josea that starts at 10 or 1030. I love that. I loved it pre-COVID because there was a period of time where pre-COVID my workday started at midnight. So I would wake up and they'd be in the second period. Hey, at least that's good.

Starting point is 00:33:17 I just, I'll never, what's the where I'm looking for? I'll never pass up the opportunity to watch hockey at 11, 11.30. midnight, 12.30, heck even one a. yeah, but again, I think that will do it for this episode. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:33:36 We'll probably get some guests to ground out of this week before previewing the game for the Friday episode of the show. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll talk with you all again on Wednesday.

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