Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins have had a lot of Hall of Fame talent, so who's next?

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Club has seen its fair share of Hockey Hall of Fame talent over the years, which begs the question, outside of the stars...who's next? Patrick and Hunter discuss the embarrassment of riches we've seen for the last 40 years and who could be the next non-superstar to get the call to the hall from the Pittsburgh Penguins. After talking about the Penguins' offseason moves on Monday's show, they talk about who this Penguins team really is and if they are more like the team that caught fire down the stretch or are closer to the middle-of-the-road team they were throughout the majority of 2023-24? Finally, some quick news and notes from around the Metro - CBJ's new coach and if Carolina is poised to take a step back after losing so much talent. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed.Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, along with its fans, have been absolutely spoiled with plenty of talent over the years, including many who have made their way into the Hall of Fame and those who will make their way one day. Hunter and I are going to talk about that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your Locked-on Penguin, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes.

You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. And we thank you for making this your first listener watch of the day because we're your team every day. And don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. as well as YouTube. And today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms apply. So Hunter were fully in the dog days of summer. And it appears that just about everybody in the NHL, save for a few teams and managers, are on vacation. They're at the beach. They're up at the cottage. They're doing whatever they do in the off season as we get even closer to training camps in the preseason. So that means we get to have some fun discussions on this show. And today's first segment, I'm basing off of an article that the athletic dropped today,

which is basically what they're referring to as their Hall of Fame tiers. And it focuses solely on players who are still active in the National Hockey League players that they believe could one day make their way to the Hall of Fame. They had a couple different tiers. They basically had their top tier, which was locked in, which assumes, hey, if these guys decided today to say, you know what, I'm done, I'm retiring, they're in the Hall of Fame. Then there's fringe guys.

Then there's checkback in a few years, which are some of the younger players who are on a Hall of Fame trajectory or at least close. So rather than go over that entire article and discuss players in the NHL, I wanted to localize this more to the Pittsburgh Penguins, because when you look at their locked category of guys who are going to make the Hall of Fame, there's a lot of penguins there and a guy who was a penguin for a long time. Basically, they have Sidney Crosby, no crap. Of course, he's going to make it to the Hall of Fame. He's one of the top 10 players of all time. Evgeny Malkin, one of the best, if not the best Russian player to ever play between

him and Ovechkin and a few others. Definitely one of the best players out of Russia in the history of the game. Chris LaTang, who I'm skeptical on that one, but I do think he maybe isn't so much a fringe guy, so much as like he's going to get in, but it won't be his first, second or even third ballot. He feels like a guy who fourth, fifth year of eligibility, they're probably going to put him in. It won't be a first ballot, but he's still a lock to get in. I mean, look at the accomplishments he's had.

Look at the career he's had overall. best franchise defenseman in this franchise's history. He's a lock for me. Yeah, we'll keep the discussion going here in a minute. Let me finish off this list. Eric Carlson, two-time Norris winner, one of the best defensemen of the modern era. He's absolutely going to get in.

And then, of course, former Penguins goalie, Mark Andre Fleury. They also have in their lock category as well. And then you look at just the amount of talent that has come in and out of the penguin, since Mario Lemieux was drafted. And it's absurd that for 40 some years, this team has played host to Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer after Hall of Famer. And we are just so spoiled as a fan base

to have watched some incredibly elite talent play for this franchise. But the place I wanted you to start, because you were talking about this to me all morning and before we hit record, is Mark Andre Fleury. Now, I think he's a lock to get in. He's going to get the wins record. He's got multiple Stanley Cups. He's got a Vezna Trophy.

One of the best goalies of the modern era. But you brought up a really good point, and I want you to tell that to the listeners. I definitely think Mark Andre Fleury is going to make the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has a Stanley Cups. He has the wins. He has this 8%. She has the resume to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame. However, would he be a first ballot lock?

if Tom Barrasso wasn't in, that's where I'm questioning it a little bit, just because, you know, Barrasso recently got in, obviously a great goaltender, but if he wasn't in yet, how long would it take for Mark Andre Fleury to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame? That's where I kind of want to throw it back to you because I was thinking about that. And I have very high standards for the Hockey Hall of Fame. I'm like that with basically any Hall of Fame for Sportsive Hall. I think only the true best of the best should get in.

And so I can understand some arguments from people where maybe Florey shouldn't get in. But again, to me, people, he's a lock. He has a resume. The Hockey Hall of Fame voting committee, they will look at that. And just one time, they'll be like, okay, he's going in. There's not going to be any questions about it. But I'm going to throw that back to you, Pat. If Barrasso wasn't in, how long do you think it would take for Flore to get in?

I mean, here's the thing. I think this is a difficult discussion to be had because Barrasso is already in. We can't really do the counterfactual of, oh, well, what if a guy like Tom Barrasso doesn't get in? Well, he's in. So that's kind of moot. But then you also look at Barrasso's achievements and he very much deserves to be in. Wins the Stanley Cup twice. He won the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year in 1984.

And in that same year, he also wins the Vezna Trophy, which is an incredible achievement. And then you look at his statistics. And again, you put them in the context of where he played where goals were scored a lot more often than when Mark Andre, the bulk of Mark Andre Fleury's career has been played in 892 save percentage, which in that era, very solid save percentage, 369 wins. And he was one of the better goleys of that era. Then you compare it to Mark Andre Fleury, three times Stanley Cup winner, though I would say, and I don't want to take this away from them because I would say it's more two Stanley Cups than three

because 2016 was the Matt Murray show. 2017, though, they don't get past the Washington Capitals without Mark Andre Fleury. And then his career save percentage is a 9-12. He's got 561 wins. He's won a Vesna Trophy. He's going to get into the Hall of Fame. He is one of, if not the best, but one of the best goalies of this generation. So I look at Mark Andre Fleury as a no doubter to get into the Hall of Fame.

Maybe a couple years ago, I would have questioned that, which I think strengthens what you were saying about Barrasso. Now that Barrasso's in, there's no way Mark Andre Fleury doesn't get in. 100%. If you put Barrasso in, obviously he's already in, excuse me, and you look at his numbers. And I agree, when he got in last year, I even said on the show, even though it's an 892 say percentage, that's still really good for the error that he played

and just because scoring was up so high. I mean, today, I think it would have been a lot higher, obviously, with where scoring is now. So again, yeah, you put Barrasso in. You have to put Floreen with everything he has accomplished in this league. 100%. And that also transitions me to this other point of you look at the names that have gotten into the Hall of Fame that have made significant stops in Pittsburgh because if you look at a lot of Hall of Famers. They had a cup of coffee in Pittsburgh. You think of Jerome

Ginnla. You think of Mary and Hosa. And it's like, okay, they're Hall of Famers. They played for the Penguins, but not for long. But then you look at some other names who played big time roles in the Penguins organization, not counting Mario Lemieux, obviously. Yarmier Yager, he's going to be first ballot as soon as he eventually hangs them up, whenever that may be. Then you have Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Joey Mullen, Larry Murphy, Mark Recky, Brian Trottier. These are all guys who played significant roles in championships and spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh, which then I want to do this real quick before we finish up the segment.

Putting a few names out there from the Penguins, obviously putting aside guys like Sid, Gino, Latang, etc. Who probably should be in the first one. And I'm surprised he's not even in yet is Sergey Gonchar. It's an absolute crime to me that Sergey Gonchar is not. in the hockey Hall of Fame. One of the most underrated defensemen of this era. I mean, you look at his stats,

1,300 games, 220 goals, 811 points. Yes, I understand that he does not have Ignoris to his name, but he was still insanely consistent throughout his career. Numerous 50 to 60 point campaigns was great in his own zone. He should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, bar none. It's ridiculous that he's not in. And I'll also say this. I know this is not fully penguins related, Pat.

it is a joke, a joke that Alexander McGillney is still not in the hockey hall of fame. Absolutely pathetic. Oh, it's a crime. And then you look at it, at Gonchar. I mean, he had a run of nine straight seasons where he had 50 or more points as a defenseman. And a lot of that was pre-lockout before they changed the rules to upgrade offense. And the fact that he's doing that as a defenseman is absolutely incredible. and then you look at the Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup run,

they do not win that Stanley Cup without Sergey Gonchar. There's a reason he was the general on a power play that helped power them to their first Stanley Cup since 1992. And just the way he was able to consistently be one of the better defensemen in the National Hockey League really says to me, next year, if he's not on the list of, nominees to get in, I would be absolutely stunned. I agree. And I love that you brought up the power play, man.

It was a treat watching him quarterback that unit from the top of the point. That unit ran through him every year that he was the quarterback. And it was a treat to watch. A couple other players that we think could be in consideration at some point as well. One of them, Pat, Phil Kessel, that's going to be close. I think he definitely has a case considering what he's done in the NHL, obviously has back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins overall, 413 goals, 992 points, 8 points away from 1,000. What do you think, Pat?

Does he get into the Hockey Hall of Fame? I think it's close. I think he should because he made himself one of the better American-born players in the history of the league. He was a gigantic contributor for two Stanley Cup championships, the first back-to-back championships in the salary cap era. And yeah, he won another one with Vegas, but he was in and out of the lineup, was not really that much of a contributor, especially in the postseason. But then the thing that worries me about him is that the old boys club does not like Phil Kessel. And we know how much influence the old boys club has over the hockey Hall of Fame.

And for some reason, whether it's because he's not, you know, this dedicated hockey. hockey 24-7 athlete. He's a little bit weird. He doesn't like to talk all that often. It turns that crowd off. And I think on the numbers alone, I mean, the fact that he's close to 1,000 points, he's won multiple championships.

He was one of the best goal scores in the modern era. He should be in, but I think it's going to be a really uphill battle for him. Yeah, he's one of the best American players of this generation, and I think in general as well. in my opinion. It's going to be close, I think, for him. But as for Patrick Hornquist,

that's someone else I wanted to bring up, obviously very instrumental in the Penguins back-to-back Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017. But you look at his overall numbers, Pat, 264 goals, 543 points. I think he's strictly in the hall of very good for me. I don't think he's going to get in overall. Yeah, I love Patrick Hornquist, always will.

But that, like, you nailed it. That's a hockey hall of very good guy, not a hockey Hall of Fame guy. Doesn't take away from any of his achievements. He honestly, more than anything, you can pin a lot of the Florida Panthers championship on him because that was the first real move that Bill Zito made as general manager and it completely flipped the culture in Florida

and helped lead them to a championship. Yeah, I agree with you. And I know that trade wasn't well liked by Penguins fans at the time. And I very much understand Horn Quistler's. loved here very much. But heck, getting Mike Matheson back actually turned out well for the Penguins before he got dealt to Montreal. And I just think overall it was time just because when you look at Hornquist contract at the

time, I just don't know if he was ever going to live up to that with the penguins. No, probably not. But we're running a little along here on this first segment. And I think that will do it for our little Hall of Fame discussion here. When we come back, it's time to move into the present and the past a little bit. We're going to talk about how these penguins ended this previous season and who the real Pittsburgh penguins are going into the 24-25 season. And we will do that right after this and we'll tell you about our first sponsor. And that is eBay Motors.

Passion Drive and Patience, the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more, whether you're into speed. power or style eBay Motors has you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with the eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back,

because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins. Keep your ride or die alive at eBaymotors.com, eligible items only, exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit available only to U.S. customers. All right, welcome back to the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp, joined as always by the illustrious Hunter Hodes.

And the phrase gets used a lot in pro sports of Jekyll and Hyde. Who is this team? What's their identity? Who are they really? and for the 23-24 penguins, that could not have been more accurate to describe them. Because I went back and looked at this this morning. The last 26 games of the penguin season,

and that's not an insignificant amount of time. That's about a quarter of the season. And in their final 13 games, the team made a serious push to the playoffs, ultimately fell short. They went 8, 2, and 3 in those games. And looked like a team that was poised to go on a run and make the Stanley Cup playoffs.

But in the 13 games before that, 3, 8, and 2, and they looked dead in the water. They did not look like a team that had any hope or chance of making the postseason. So the question to you, Hunter, is this. What team is this really? Are they the team we saw in the final 13 games? Or are they the team we saw in the 13 prior to that? And really, prior to that for the majority of the season where they just looked like an average to below average team. So who are these Pittsburgh Penguins?

So before I answer that, I do want to go into some data that I went into after, you know, we were discussing this as a segment. So in those last 13 games, the Penguins scored at least three goals in 12 of those final 13 games. They also scored at least four goals in 10 of those final 13 games. Before that, in that stretch before, were they only won three games? they scored three or more goals in five of 13 games, and they only scored four goals four times in those 13 games, four plus goals, I should say. So in other words, Pat,

they started finishing their chances to end the season because they were desperate and they knew that their season was basically on the brink at that point. Overall, though, I think it's kind of closer to the middle. I don't think the penguins are as good as they were to end this past, season, but they weren't nearly as bad as they were in the former 13 games. And I think for, you know, other bad stretches overall. I think this was just a very middling team overall.

Yes, the play down the stretch was great. They got great contributions from a lot of players in the lineup. Alex Nelkevich was making a lot of great saves. But the thing was, his saber sentence wasn't that great. He was the hot hand, but he was still giving up quite a few goals. But the thing was, he was giving them big saves and key moments. Tristan Jari wasn't doing that. He was giving up a lot of goals, but he wasn't making the key saves in big moments. Ndolkevich was at least doing that while giving up some goals like Jari was overall.

So to answer your question fully, I think it's kind of a mixed bag. I think this is still, or was at least last year, a very middling team that got hot down the stretch and rode a very insane shooting percentage for the rest of the season. Yeah, I think you're right. and you brought up a really good key point there, and that's the goal tending. I know we've dumped on it, and rightfully so, because Tristan Jari really fell apart there down the last couple months of the season. And what kind of gets lost is you brought it up with the goals scored.

They just finally started finishing chances because that has been the through line of the penguins for the last couple of years is that you look under the hood, you look at their underlying numbers, and they get chances. They drive offense. They do all the things right. The process is there for the Pittsburgh Penguins to be a good team. But for whatever reason, they just could not finish their chances. They did everything right for the most part to generate offense, to generate goals,

but the puck didn't go in. You couple that with Tristan Jari struggling, and it's just a toxic mix to where they're not scoring and they're not getting saves. Then you look at Alex Nadelcovich, who everybody loved, and I'm right there with you and everybody else, he had a great, great stretch down the end of the season, but you really go again and look under the hood, not a whole lot of daylight between him and Tristan Jari.

Big difference was they remembered how to score for the first time and a long time. So if this team going into next year can finish their chances, maybe not at the same rate, but close enough, you could see a world where this team improves and maybe snatches up one of those wild card spots because I still don't know if they're good enough to finish in the top three of the division. I'm very skeptical of that. But if they can at least get some goals, they can make a push to get a wild card spot. Those final 13 games are the best I've seen this team finish their chances in probably three years.

That's how long this has been, Pat. I felt like before that, those final 13 games, I had been waiting for this team to start finishing their chances for at least the last few years because you're right. They're great in terms of expected goals, high danger chances, scoring chances per 60 at 5 on 5, but the puck wasn't going in the back of the net until those final 13 games. That's why I'm still a little bit skeptical about that continuing into this next season because it was still a small sample. KMAC continue for a full 82 game season in 24, 25.

I mean, we'll see, again, I'm skeptical, but I just don't know. It's going to be fascinating to see if they can ride that momentum into the season. And keep going to the dirty areas, continue getting some maybe dirty looks on the power play, finishing your chances at five on five. If you're able to replicate that at least a little bit to start the season, then maybe the juices will start flowing again. And they'll be like, okay, maybe this wasn't a mirage. But still, right now, I'm a little bit skeptical considering

how most of last season went. I'll believe it when I see it when they go a full season, actually finishing a good chunk of their chances. Yeah, and I'm right there with you on that in the sense of, I will say this, though, that I don't know if they have the same type of elite finish that they've had in years prior, but I think you add in a full season of Michael Bunting, you add Blake Lazot, you add Kevin Hayes,

you add Anthony Bavillier. And to be clear, I'm not deeming these guys, I don't think they're going to help pick this team up and make the contenders again. But I think that you now have a group of guys who can score those type of goals who aren't looking for chances off the rush. They're not looking for the picture perfect highlight real goal. They're not afraid to go to the front of the net, get beat up, and score dirty goals that you have to earn.

And that is something that the penguins have been lacking for quite some time. Now, I don't expect these guys to go on big time shooting vendors and score 20, 25 goals, but 10, 10 to 15, maybe someone gets close to 20. And you might have something there. But again, it's a huge, huge if, but at the very least, I like having those type of players in that position, especially for a team that is struggling to finish because we saw it, especially in a guy we talked about in the first segment in Patrick Hornquist. You remember the penguins prior to him getting here.

This team was allergic to the middle of the ice. And he was the antidote to that. He was in front of the net. Every time he was on the ice, he was not afraid to bully his way to the front of the net. And that completely changed the culture of the penguin's organization at the time. And it was exactly what they needed. I agree.

And I also felt like for parts of last season, I think some of the players, not all of them, But I think some of the players on this team kind of felt entitled for scoring goals. But it's like, no, you still have an inchal caliber goaltenders in net that will just swallow these up like it's nothing. And you're not getting to those high danger areas, you know, 5, 10, 15 feet out. They were firing way too many pucks from the perimeter trying to feel entitled. It's like, no, you have to have a strong work ethic in this league if you want to score goals.

And you finally saw that down the stretch. Now, continue it into this season. Yeah, exactly. I think that is going to be the penguin's biggest challenge going into this year. But that will do it for this second segment. When we come back, we're just going to take a quick cruise around the league with a couple quick news and notes that have come out over the past 24 hours. And Hunter and I will discuss all that right after this.

Before that, though, we will tell you about our next sponsor. And that is game time. It's summer. The Pittsburgh Pirates are dead in the, dead in the middle of a wild card race. And of course, you've got Paul Skeens, who doesn't want to make their way out to PNC Park to see the phenom throw in the triple digits. I know I'm looking forward to it this summer. And you can do that with game time because game time is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, which makes getting tickets faster and easier. And prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch.

With killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee, game time takes the guess work out of buy. MLB tickets. You can use some great features like customize your spot, which can help you find some great seats. You'll get last minute ticket deals, flash deals, and zone deals. It'll be very easy to find and buy MLB tickets for every kind of event at that arena or stadium. And you can get views from your seat in the venue. And of course, there is the game time lowest price guarantee. Last minute deals can save you up to 60% on buying last minute tickets for sports, concerts, comedy, and more. Zone deals will save you. even more when you choose a section and let game time choose the seats and all in pricing

will show you the total up front so you're not hit with any of those surprise fees at checkout. And of course, there's GameTime's lowest price guarantee. If you find cheaper tickets, GameTime will credit you up to 110% of the difference. So take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets with GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again, create an account and redeem code. code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-H-L for $20 off. Download game time today, last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed.

Welcome back to the final segment of the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And thanks, as always, for sticking with us here in the dog days of summer. We appreciate you making it part of your daily routine. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And before we get into the actual quick news and notes segment for around the league, Got to give a shout out to both Michael Bunting and Marcus Pedersen who both got married this summer. We love to see the boys taking big life steps away from hockey.

So a big congratulations to them and their families on their marriages. We love to see it. But first piece of news we want to get to here real quick is that the Columbus Blue Jackets finally have a head coach. They announced that they have hired Dean Eveson, formerly of the Minnesota Wild as their head coach. and Hunter, your thoughts on this hire. Real good hire, I think, for Columbus. He was a pretty solid coach for Minnesota, had back-to-back 100-point seasons in 21, 22, and then 22, 23.

He made the playoffs four times as the Minnesota Wild head coach. He was fired after 19 games this past season, five, 10, and 4 record. The Wild were just off to a truly horrendous start. And, you know, it got a little bit better down the stretch, but they still missed the playoffs. This team was not good during the regular season. But when before that, he was.

still a very good coach in this league. And I do think he's going to have at least some success in Columbus. I think he's probably learned some things during his time in Minnesota. And in terms of coaches available, I think he was the top one alongside Jay Woodcroft. I think this is a strong hire for Columbus. I know Columbus is not going to be that good this year, but I do think they got this move right. I'm right there with you. I think this is a home run of a hire for the Columbus Blue Jackets, just because you look at his ability

to take a team like the Minnesota Wild who didn't have a ton of talent, all things considered. They had a handful of players who were pretty good, but their salary cap was so messed up because of the Parisian-suter contracts and then the buyouts over them. And he had a 639 winning percentage or points percentage in the regular season with that roster made the playoffs all four years. He was their head coach.

So this guy knows how to get the most out of a roster that has its flaws. and for a rebuilding team like Columbus, they're going to go through those growing pains. They're going to have young guys. They're going to have some depth players who realistically probably wouldn't be on a contender. So he's going to be able to, at the very least in the next couple of years,

get a very young kind of middle of the pack team in Columbus to play meaningful hockey, which is only going to help in the development of those young stars. So very excited to see what he does. does with Columbus because we know the Metropolitan Division and the Penguins in Blue Jackets rivalry is only better when that team is good. He's also a fun animated coach on the bench. He's done some good things with younger players in Minnesota, but just going back to being fun and animated, he can get loud on the bench. Do you remember the video with him and Rick Bonas,

you know, bonus was just going at him from the other side. And Dean Evan was just like, come over here then. He was just like, come over here and say it's my face. Like he, He's just a fun guy on the bench. I really feel like he's going to give off at least good vibes for the blue jackets. I think Columbus will be at least a little bit better this year compared to last year. You can't really go that far down, can you? But it's still going to be at least a little bit of time before this team is back to being a playoff team. But you look at the front office, you look at the new coach.

I think things are definitely trending up for the blue jackets right now overall right now compared to last year. Yeah. And if there's one thing that Columbus Blue Jacket is, have needed for a long time is stability and everything they've done, front office higher, now coaching higher, screams stability, and that's something that they have lacked for quite some time. Finally, we talked about the Metropolitan Division and the Penguins' chances to get into the playoffs yesterday.

And there's one team that is really, really confusing to me this summer, and that's the Carolina Hurricanes. They still very much need to figure out what they're going to do with Martin Aches. They still have to sign Jarvis. this is a team that I look at what they've lost and what they've brought in. And that's a candidate for me in this division to take a step back. What do you think? Yeah, they've definitely lost a lot of talent this on season.

Gensel leaves. Tara Binen's gone. Brady Shea is gone. Brett Pesci is gone. They did gain Sean Walker, which I felt like was a good move. Gassus Bear, pretty sound move from Carolina.

But I look at their depth overall. It's taking a big hit, especially at Forward. And Eric Tolstki's talked about, bringing Natchez back if they can get him to agree to a contract. But, I mean, Natchez, it felt like he and his agent were making it clear that he kind of didn't want to go back to Carolina. So I think that's still a situation worth monitoring down in Raleigh.

But I do think they will take a step back this year. However, Pat, this is a top three team in the Metro until proven otherwise. This is at least a very good regular season team. Playoff-wise, I still don't think they have the horses to compete with some of the other contenders just because game planning for them in the playoffs is easier than other teams just because, yeah, they fire a lot of pucks at the net, they're the Carolina courses, but they are very much quantity over quality. And you saw that on display again in the second round against the Rangers who just took them to school. Yeah, they're not the hardest team to game plan against

at this point. If you watch the way they play, like you said, it's quantity over quality. And there has to be perfect for it to work. And it requires a lot of work. And you see them get gassed every time the playoffs come around just because they're going zero to 100 every time during the regular season. Yeah. And if you can keep them to the outside the way the Rangers did, then it really negates anything that they have advantage wise. And I'm right there with you. I'm not saying that they're going to backslide, not be a playoff team.

But I think the road to get there for them has got a lot harder. and you mix that with, like you said, the way they play, this could be a bit of a step back for the Carolina Hurricanes going into the 24, 25 season. But we know how they are. They always find a way. They always end up surprising us and being one of the better regular season teams. So we'll see what happens with them. But a lot of work for Eric Tolski in his first season as the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes.

But that will do it for us on the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Again, we appreciate you hanging with us here in these dog days of summer. Let us know what you think about the Hall of Fame stuff, about the Metropolitan Division, or even what you just think about the Pittsburgh Penguins, because we know, just like us, you've got opinions. But for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp, we will be back with a new episode for you on Wednesday. Thanks for tuning in, and we will talk to you again on Wednesday.