Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins need to do better with that written statement from today...

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

Today's start to the episode is a bit different as Hunter goes into the allegations against the Pittsburgh Penguins organizations, namely Clark Donatelli, Billy Guerin, Mario, and Ron Burkle. He shares his thoughts on the statement the team made and why 1 big part of it should've been scrapped or changed since it came out wrong. He also goes into how serious these allegations are and how bad it can potentially be for the organization if a lot more comes to light than what's out there. Other topics discussed in this episode: A full preview against the Flyers on Thursday. What's making them go this year? Has Cam Atkinson made Hunter eat a bit of crow? A deep dive into Marcus Pettersson's season thus far. Just how good are his numbers? What's been the secret sauce for his best start to the season of his career? Find that out as well in a new episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.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.ShopifyGo to Shopify.com/lockedonnhl for a FREE fourteen-day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features. 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey, everyone, welcome to this Tuesday afternoon slash evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow this shows to our LO. Arnold School Penguins, and thank you all so much for making the Locked-on Penguins podcast, your first. listen of the day. Okay, couple of things. One of them, tomorrow night, Josh Yoey, will be on the Lock on Penguins podcast. To touch on, you know, how he sees the team moving forward, what his thoughts are so far, you know, COVID stop, injuries, all that good jazz. And, you know, it's a little state of the state of like the team through like almost 10 games into the season. So

he will be on the show tomorrow night. That'll be posted either that night or Thursday morning. morning. I have not decided yet. It'll be one of the two. Secondly, we're going to start off a show a little bit differently. Obviously, there have been some developments with this lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Penguins, namely Billy Garan. In a case anyone does not know, so Aaron Scaldi, so she is the wife of former Wilkesbury Scranton, Penguin's assistant coach, Jared Scalde. He was assistant under Clark Donatelli, who of course was fired or let go about, I want to say, year, year and a half ago. She's expected to file a civil lawsuit in Rhode Island detailing the alleged sexual assault by Clark Donatelli while he was there. And the defendants are

Billy Garin, Mario Lemieux, and Ron Berkel. So I've been formulating my thoughts on this all day. You all know me. I am very objective when it comes to this team. I will call them out when needed, and I'm going to do that here as well as offered up some other thoughts as well. It's not surprising that Mario and Ron are involved just because they are the owners of the team. I mean, I think if this was for any team and any major sport, the owners would be the defendants because, you know, they own the freaking team. But it's definitely not good for Billy Garant. You know, it's not good for anyone involved here. And, you know, this is not the first time that Mario Lemieux has been linked to a sexual assault cover-up.

I actually had not known about this until about, I think, a couple of weeks ago, Dan Quinn from 1992, this was a really bad situation where a 19-year-old woman's allegation said that she was raped by Minnesota North Starves player Dan Quinn and that Mario Lemieux was in the room at the time and did nothing to stop it. That is pretty bad. There's no way of sugar-coding it. that's unacceptable. And the fact that it was, it sounds like swept under the rug.

I'm not surprised by that just because hockey culture sucks. So that's really shitty for Mario there. And I wanted to bring light to that situation as I get into this one here. They were supposed to be a Zoom call today going over the allegations and everything. But that's postponed because a second woman has now come forward and said that Clark Donatelli sexually assaulted her as well. it is unknown if this person was with someone in the penguin's organization. It could be someone else. I have no idea. But the fact now that there's two, it makes it even worse now. You know,

how many are there, you know, is the question. And it sounds like, you know, after reading this lawsuit, you know, going over a few things, just gathering my thoughts, it sounds like that they're alleging that the penguins told Skaldade to keep quiet and they retaliated against him. I think which would definitely fall on Berkel and Mario, but at the same time, I'm not sure how much involvement they had in the situation, because I'm now wondering, did even get up to the ownership level, right? You know, was this just a Billy Garon thing? You know, did Jim Rutherford know about it? Did David Morehouse know about it? We have no idea just because no one has really, you know, we haven't had that Zoom call yet to fully go over the details. I mean, the penguins have been

staying firm to their side for the last few months. ever since, you know, this came out from Rick West. Had shout out to him who actually originally reported this story. He has been an outstanding reporter through both the Chicago Black Hawk situation and this one as well. So I wanted to shout him out on this podcast as he continues to do an outstanding job. Now, that's set. The Penguins did release a statement today. Most of it, it's just, you know, obviously it's all PR.

Most of it, I didn't have too much of a problem. with, but there is one really bad part in here that you got to take out or just should not have been said. So the statement was, we took this incident very seriously and acted immediately. The team investigated and addressed the alleged incident within hours of being notified in June of 2019, despite the fact that Mr. Scaldi delayed seven months before he reported the incident. Okay. You cannot say that. That is just so wrong on so many levels.

It's pretty sickening that the penguins had that. in their statement. Because think about it. I mean, this is a completely normal and understandable behavior for a sexual assault victim. You know, sometimes it takes a long time to report these kind of allegations.

I mean, you look what happened with Kyle Beach. It took him how long to finally report this on the Chicago Blackhawks. So I really don't get what the penguins were going for in that part of the statement. And all honesty, I find it pretty disgusting that they included that. That's just, that's not a good look for me.

me and it shouldn't be a good look for anyone honestly. You know, that supports this team, you know, roots for this team. That's just that's not okay to include. I really wanted to nail that point home as I talk about it on the podcast. It's just that's something that can't be said. It's gross. It's nasty. They should have rewarded that so much better in their statement.

And they said after that immediately upon receiving the report, a full investigation was conducted with 72 hours. And Clark Donateli resigned from the organization. following the report, Mr. Scaldi continued to coach in Wilkesbury's Grandf traditional year until we made significant staff reductions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the second part of this was Mr. Scaldi, was this due to the COVID-19 pandemic

or was just due to the fact that you were sleeping this under the rug? That's my main question about that. Because, you know, they've been having this stance for the last four months. Again, I know I just repeated myself, but this is what the Penguins have been saying ever since this came out from Weq. We did this due to COVID.

You know, we did a full investigation within 72 hours. Clark Donatelli resigned. But then another thing, you know, with Clark Donatelli, they said he resigned due to personal matters. You know, I thought he was just not healthy or something like that. You know, maybe something came up with, you know, his family or something. You know, obviously none of us had any idea that it was due to a sexual assault cover up and how dark the hit it had gotten.

But again, this is what the organization feels like, you know, where they're at. Now, are they right? Who knows? Are they wrong? Who knows? We will have to see where this discovery process goes. I'm really curious to see, you know, just what some of the findings are in this, you know, when I was talking just a couple of buddies, you know, I also agree.

I think, you know, definitely the penguins are guilty of letting this guy coach development camp, Clark-on-Hilly, that is, during the 72 hours. they investigated rather than just suspending and pending the investigation. That was wrong by the Penguins. I don't know why you let him coach development camp while this was going on, or excuse me, while the investigation was going on, just terminate him there.

You don't need him to just, you know, resign after for the sake of it. And then another thing here, I mean, were they just sweeping him out instead of supporting the victim to pursue criminal charges? That's another question I think that has to be answered.

Another thing, this is being dealt with in civil, court, it sounds like, not criminal court. So I think what they're looking for, you know, this is just me speaking, definitely guilt. I mean, 100%. You know, they're looking for justice and all that. You know, I'm sure a settlement will be involved once this eventually hits the fan. But I really think, you know, it's mainly, you know, they're looking for guilt. They're looking to obviously get all of these people out of hockey for good. And don't get me wrong. If this gets way, way worse for the organization than it is now, and believe me, you know, it obviously.

can get really worse. We all saw what just happened with the Chicago Blackhawks. There is no doubt that you will see changes within the Penguins organization, and rightfully so, you know, but at the end of the day, don't get me wrong. You know, I'm not a homer. I just wanted to deliver the facts thus far. And I also have an open mind to hear what comes out during this discovery process. You can keep it right here on Locked on Penguins, as I will give you all the latest updates when it comes to the situation. And of course, don't forget, follow Rick Westhead and Katie Strang. On Twitter, they've been doing an outstanding job reporting on both the Chicago Blackhawks and the situation with Pittsburgh payments. I really wanted to drive that home as I end this first segment of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Coming up later in the show, we will have a full Philadelphia of Flyers preview. Yes, I understand that the game is two days away still. There are really no practice updates today. I don't really think the team was on the ice. I'm sure they'll be on the ice tomorrow. But with Josh Yewai coming on to the podcast on Wednesday evening, Again, I'm still not sure what the schedule was going to be. I might post that episode Thursday.

I might post it Wednesday evening and then, you know, just have my normal game recap on Thursday. I figured I would do a full flyers preview for this episode before figuring out, well, figuring out, excuse me, what I'm going to do for Wednesday and Thursday and then the Friday episodes as well. I know I said I had a plan on Monday's episode, but, you know, I was able to reach out to Josh and finally nail this thing down. So again, he will be on Wednesday, even. episode to touch on basically the state of the team and a whole lot more. So look for that then. Though, before we do get to the next segment where we touch on the Flyers preview, does it

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Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this shows Twitter at L.O. Arnold Sport Penguins. So we will get our first matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. The latest news with them, as of this afternoon, Ryan Ellis had not been ruled out for the game against Arizona. I'm not sure if he is going to be playing tonight. He's been banged up for, I think, the last few days to a week.

We'll see if he is able to play against the Penguins on Thursday. I think he's been skating, he's been practicing, but I guess he's just not ready just yet. The lines, though. Claude Drew is Sean Guterre and Travis Kineckney. It is weird when you look at this Flyers team. You know, there's just no Jacob Vorchuk just because he's been there for the last decade.

You know, modern-day caveman, of course, was shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Cam Atkinson. And what a year, Atkinson is having. He has seven points in the team's first seven games. Six of them are assists, but, you know, you can really see his playmaking ability has taken off since coming to Philly. I was really not high on that trade for both teams.

I honestly thought that it was just both teams making a trade for the sake of making a trade. But it looks like Atkinson has been really rejuvenated since coming to Philly, you know, just his game in both zones. You know, from what I've watched a little, I remember I think they were on national TV about, I want to say last week or something. I mean, he looks like a bit of a different player than what you saw in Columbus last year. Obviously, he's always been one of the more underrated goal scores. In hockey, I mean, I think he was, what, 30, 35 goal score with Blue Jackets, at least a few times. Almost cracked 40, I think, one season. So, you know, you know what he can bring on a nightly basis for the Flyers.

He's at a really good start. Atkinson, he is on the second line with Joel Farabey. Derek Brousard is the second line center. I never thought I would type that. I'm actually going to look up to see how he's doing this year because I honestly totally forgot that he's signed with the Flyers offseason. So far, yeah, six points in his first seven. games. I really don't understand how Derek Prasard can just go back to playing like his usual self after what happened with the Penguins because he was absolutely brutal during that 2017-18

year when he came over. I mean, eight points in those 14 games, but after that, 15 points in 40 games during 2018-19, just basically fell off a cliff and then, you know, goes to Colorado, plays okay there, goes to the Islanders, puts up 32 points in 66 games. Last year, Arizona, 20 points of 53 games, and then already this year is about at a point per game pace. So, you know, I'll never understand just what the hell happened with Bressard in Pittsburgh. But, you know, it's interesting to see how he's playing well with Philly. Joel Farabee, I think you're going to see him get consideration for Team USA.

He is that good, though, in my opinion, I think there are probably 12 to 13 to 14 forwards who are better than him. I understand why he's going to get a look, though, just because of how underrated he's Vint through his first three seasons of his NFL career, you know, 2019-20, first came in, 21 points, 52 games. Last year, that was his big breakout, 20 goals, 38 points in 55 games,

and then this year already, three goals in the first seven games and six points total. So he is definitely going to get a long look for Team USA. So I'll be curious to see what happens there. Obviously, Oscar Lindblom is in the lineup. That's just awesome to see him back healthy. He brings a really big element to the Flyers,

He's great defensively, is a good playmaker, and can also score. James Van Reeves' like overpaid paid a lot, I would say, but, you know, still an effective goal score. Their fourth line is really nothing to drive home. Nate Thompson is somehow getting every night minutes. Obby Kubell is still on there. Defensively, though, without Ryan Ellis, which I'm sure will probably be in a lineup. Justin Ron still, you know, chugging away a little bit. Ivan Prove-Rov.

I've always been a lot higher on him than some others. You know, he usually drives offense, excuse me, to a pretty high degree defensively. He doesn't give much back the other way. He's definitely, I think, going to be on Team Russia for the Olympics in February. I've just always had a soft spot for this player. I think he's going to blossom into a almost an elite defenseman in this lady. Travis Anheim is still there. Don't really know why Erasmus Mr. Wina was required by Chuck Fletcher.

I feel like that was just a peak Jim Rutherford move where he's just throwing crap against the wall and hoping it sticks. Keith Yandel is there. I almost forgot that he is signed with the team. And then there's this guy named Seeler also on the bottom pair. I think he's a rookie for Philadelphia. Obviously, Carter Hart. Martin Jones was somehow signed.

I have no idea how considering his numbers of last few years. I think he was almost dead last and goal saved above expected last season. And the same percentage was well below 900. Carter Hart. It's had an up and down start to the regular season. If I go down here to goal saved above expected, leaders. Let me see where he is at. So, you know, 2.4.

He's actually right below Tristanjari. So not a bad start. Sabre Sandjanon unblocked shots, 9.53. Expecting Sabre Sanchez on Unblock shots, 945. So he's outperforming that a bit. He's going to need to be really good for Philadelphia if they want to make a playoff push. He basically sank their playoff hopes last season. I think this was in February and March and a little bit of April where he and Brian

Elliot, it was mainly Hart actually, they combined to, I think, allow 12 or 13 goals above expected. It might have been a bit more, but it was around that number which ultimately sank the Flyers playoff types. And Hart was the culprit of that. I think he was

around 8 or 9 to even 10 goals allowed above expected while Elliott was around, I think, 4 to 5. So, just a god awful year from Hart last season. And again, he needs to be the guy for Philadelphia because if he turns into a bust.

I don't know what the hell the Flyers are going to do in that, but they are off to a decent start this season, four and two and one. They just wrapped up their Western Canada road trip where I believe they won most of their games. I believe they lost to the Flames. Yeah, they beat the Oilers 5'3, beat the Canucks 2 and won, and then got shut out by the flames and Jacob Marksham. So, yes, Flyers fans, you had to suffer, just like Penguin's fans had to suffer when

Jacob Markham played like God. I'm glad he did the same against Philadelphia. Makes me feel a little bit better. But, you know, rivalry games are always fine. This one's going to be a dandy. I know the Penguins had a little bit of struggles against Philadelphia last year. I believe the Flyers won five of the eight regular season meetings, which is unheard of for as long as Mike Sullivan has been the coach.

Usually the Penguins have won the season series most years is that he's been the coach. So to see that was definitely a bit odd. But, you know, we'll see if the Penguins can reverse that this season and win the season series. this time. Cindy Crosby obviously will be playing. But curious to see if Chris LaTang is back, I would assume he will be practicing on Wednesday, and I would expect P.O. Joseph to also make his 2021-2020 debut as well. Starting a goal, I would have to think it will be Tristan Jari, considering the year that he has had, he's had two, uh, saved, excuse me, 2.5 goals saved above expected.

And also what's going to happen with Kispera Kaptain is he going to be on the fourth line? It looks like it based on practice lines for Monday, but we'll know for a certain tomorrow. when, well, you know, we'll have more updates. Maybe Brian Russ will return to practice. Evgeny Malkin, probably not. He's continuing to skate. It sounds like he has certain on days for the ice and then certain off days where, you know, he's working out in the training room and all that, you know, doing off ice workouts.

So we're not expect if Gany Malkin to start skating with the team probably until, you know, a couple weeks from now as a start, maybe three weeks, and then maybe early December to mid-December is when he will come back into the lineup. But we'll just have to see. But I'm always excited for Penguins Flyers. I know it's not the rivalry that we're used to seeing just because there's not a lot of bad blood anymore. But it is still the Penguins' biggest rival, or I should say arguably the Penguins biggest rival. You know, people can also argue for the Washington Capitals, you know, above the Philadelphia Flyers.

But, you know, the games are never boring between these two teams. There's never any love loss. And yes, I know players like Voracek are not there, Wayne Simmons. But, you know, there's still Claude Jurew. Travis Kinectney is always someone who Penguins fans have gone after and countless others. So this should be a fun matchup in PVG Paints Arena. Now, before we do get to our next segment, Bet Online is back and better than ever.

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Don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for the 2021 season. Bet Online is the fastest and easiest way to build all your favorite sports that has been online where the game starts. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O.

underscore Penguins. For this last segment, I'm going to go into just how good Marcus Pedersen has been this season. I saw Danny's tweet, you know, where Pedersen, I believe, is second among defensemen and goals above replacement. If I can find this tweet here real quick. So, yeah, this is just goals above replacements, leaders. I believe actually this is for all positions, excuse me. So it's Valerie Natchushkin at top, then it's Marcus Pedersen, then it's Roman Yossi, Thomas Chavada's right below him, Rasmus Anderson, Aaron Eckblad, Elias Linholm, Dylan Larkin, Connor McDavid, Tom Wilson, Barkov, Johnny Goodrow, the list goes on and on. But the fact that he's above so many great players goes to show that, I know, how good of a season that he's had.

You know, you don't even have to look at the numbers to see how great he has been in all three. re-zones this season. You know, he's always, you know, cleaning up mess. He's in the defensive zone, strong in front of his net, you know, contributing offensively. Hell, I wouldn't even mind if he was running the second power play at this point with how responsible that he has been for this team. He's on the ice, the penguins at 56% of the shot attempts. He also has 64.7% of the actual goals when he's on the ice for the penguins.

expected goals when he's on the ice for the penguin, 62.7%. So it's just, this is night and day, man. You know, scoring chances 4 percentage, 60.3% high danger chances 4 percentage, 70.5%. And he also has 75% of the high danger goals score while he's on the ice for the penguins. He is just carrying play and then some for this team. You know, probably part of it does have to do with playing with a reliable partner

with John Marino, but, you know, it's not just, you know, John. You know, it's Marcus being a really good player this season. And, you know, I will continue to die on the hill of defending Marcus Pedersen until he starts to put up, you know, not so good numbers. You know, because if you go back to last season, you know, he only finished with 51.3% of the shot attempts, you know, when he was on the ice for Pittsburgh season before that, it was around 52%.

I know it's only been eight games, but this is a career high so far for his career with all of his annoying numbers. You know, 64% goals, 4 percentage. He's never been that high. Expected goals percentage, 62. He's never been that high throughout his career. Scoring chances percentage. It's never been 60%.

He's never had 70% of the high danger chances for a percentage. And yes, I understand that's probably going to regress a little bit. But, you know, this is still 130 minutes of time on ice. I mean, last season, he only had, you know, what, 713. It was at 51.3%. You know, we're already, you know, you know, I'm not the best math person here, but we're what? You know, about 587, you know, less minutes.

You know, let's see where he is at that 700 minute mark this season. You know, I would probably, if I were a betting man, excuse me, it would probably be a lot better than his 51.3% coursey percentage of shot attempts that he finished with last season. So I just wanted to pinpoint how great of a start it's been for Marcus, and it really sucks that he is in COVID protocol. and experiencing symptoms because he was just a rock for this defensive force. And you could honestly make the argument that he was the team's best defenseman

to start the season. So I wish him a fast and speedy recovery. Who knows when he's back? You know, all that matters at this point is his health and well-being as he looks to get over or, you know, get back as soon as he can, excuse me, from COVID-19. So I wanted to spend, you know, the last four to five minutes of this episode, touching on some of the numbers with Pedersen and going over what I've been seeing on the ice as well.

But that'll do it for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. As always, I appreciate every one of you listening tomorrow's episode. Again, it's undecided if I'm going to record one before Josh Joey comes on. But if I don't, tomorrow's episode will feature Josh Yoey from the Athletic. And then Thursday, it'll be the game recap. And then Friday we'll be previewing the game on Saturday. You know, again, it's still up in the air. Maybe I'll have another episode tomorrow.

And then Thursday's episode could be the Josh Yoey one. And then Friday could be the game recap. I have not decided yet, but wanted to let you all know that I will have a very special guest on the podcast very soon. Yeah. Thank you all so much for listening to this one, and I will be back with another episode tomorrow.