Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins are going back to Hockeyville!

Starting point is 00:00:00 After looking at a couple of backup goaltender options last week, there's one more that we feel like Kyle Dubus could have his eyes set on. And we're going to discuss that right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick. trick, damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Syndrome for Wet, and you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first

Starting point is 00:00:44 listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Thandul. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get 200 bucks in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. visit phaindul.com slash locked on to get started. So at the end of last week, Pat and I discuss a couple of backup goaltender options that the penguins could look at if they decide to let Alex Dedelcovich walk to free agency. Those two, if you missed it, Kevin Lincoln of the National Predators and Lauren Berswa of the Winnipeg Jets.

Starting point is 00:01:19 And today we have a third option to throw in there in someone who, when you look at his stats this year, they're pretty comparable to Alex Deltkevich's last year. and that is goaltender Capo Cochin. And so he spent a good chunk of this season with the San Jose Sharks, but he also spent a little bit of time with the New Jersey Devils. His overall record, not good. Seven and 24 and three, that can happen, especially when you were on the worst team in hockey because he was for most of the year with the sharks.

Starting point is 00:01:47 3.6-4 goals against average, also not good. 8.98 percentage, also not good. But again, when you compare those numbers to where Nadelcovich was at the end of the 2022-2020 season, they're pretty similar to Delkevich at the end of that season, five and seven and two, 3.5 three goals against average, 895, say, percentage. And for this season,

Starting point is 00:02:09 Kapokinanin made almost $3 million for this year, 2.75, to be exact. The Penguins will not have to pay even close to that. I think you're going to be getting him for, if I had to guess, 1.5 million at most, you're probably looking at maybe a million, if that, on the salary cap.

Starting point is 00:02:26 So I can see Kyle Dubus thinking of, Kockinen as Alex Dedelcovich 2.0. He's also only 27 years old. He would be in a better situation here. That said, I'm a bit more spooked when I looked at Kocken just because his career has also been very up and down as a go tender. I would still prefer to go after someone like Lankin or Bershwa. But I can very much see Dubis looking at Kocken and being like, oh, yeah, this is going to be my Didelkevich 2.0. That right there is the biggest thing for me, is And we have been talking about this, not you and I, just penguins fans and analysts in general in the majority of the Crosby era. You don't want to fall in love with depth contributors, backup goalies, and things like that. Yes, we all very much love what Alex Nadelcovic did at the end of the year in that final month or so, where he stepped in and took over the starters net. But you don't want to. fall in love with that. You want to find the next one. You want to find the next guy who can fill that

Starting point is 00:03:35 role. And like you said, you look at Cochinen's stats, you look at his history. It's very similar to Alex Nadalcovic's career path in that he's been up and down. You look at the stops he's had in his career. Minnesota, who's always kind of been a perpetual mushy middle team. And in his time there, pretty solid numbers 913 902 910 solid 1B goal tender and then you have the the sharks this year who were just objectively terrible and we always say on the show take the stats from the players on those teams with a grain of salt because they're not in a good situation they're not on a good team in things in situations like that your numbers do get skewed and then you have the devils who we played six games for and did pretty well in six games all despite a one and four record he did

Starting point is 00:04:33 have a nine 23 save percentage and a shutout so the those aren't bad on a more talented team like new jersey but they also had their deficiencies this year so did the penguins might i add but when you're talking about a goaltender like like cockanin that's a guy who very much could step in and be that okay you get a one year deal here show us you're back on track and then maybe you get paid next year yeah i think it would carry the same amount of risk that nadelcovich carried when they signed him last off season you just have to hope that lightning can strike twice here right just because i was a bit nervous after they signed it just because looking at his career stats very up and down i would be the same here i would prefer them to go after someone like a lankan and like a brislaw

Starting point is 00:05:24 someone who's been a bit more consistent, but I would at least understand the thought process of going after someone like Conkin, and who is still a bit young, he's had decent seasons, but can you fully know that he's going to have at least an average season with the Penguins, and he's not going to be, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:41 an 890, 895 goaltender. That's where I think the risk comes into play a little bit there. He would definitely come cheap. It would be a one-year kind of prove-a-deal, same with Nadelcovich, but you already had lightning strike once, are you sure it's going to strike twice here? That's my thing. Yeah, that's the biggest question.

Starting point is 00:05:59 You also look at he had a two-year $2.75 million contract. You look at the way he played last year, and it might come a little bit pricier than Alex Nadelcovic did. It might get closer to $2 million just because of his track record and that he was such a good loyal soldier on two teams that kind of fed him to the wolves. but he's not going to get this same deal. He's not going to get nearly $3 million. If he gets $2 million, I would be surprised.

Starting point is 00:06:31 I could see him taking a million dollar haircut here and going for something like 1.75. I don't think he's going to go so low to the point that it's just over a million, just because you look at his career stats, and they're not overwhelmingly great either. It's 49 wins, four shutouts, three, 3.3 GAA 899 save percentage. Those aren't jump off the page numbers, but when you put them in the context of here are the teams that he played for, there's, there is a there there. He's not a career backup. He's not a guy who's going to flame out, but he's also definitely not a starting goalie. If you can get him to be like we've been saying, Alex Nadelcovich 2.0, where he's a

Starting point is 00:07:22 very solid backup and can be a spot starter, whether there's injuries or struggles with your starter. That's not a bad guy to have in the system. Right. Someone who can also take over if needed if Jari struggles down the stretch next year, assuming that he is back. And again, we both think that he is going to be back. But again, I think to the biggest thing they need to look for, and this is where I'm spooked on Kackanin is they need a legitimate one B. They need a guy who is going to decrease Tristan Jari's workload. Yeah, right now I don't see him as a 1B per se. I think he can work up to it if he plays at the level that he's shown he can play at before.

Starting point is 00:08:02 But right now, I strictly see him as a backup that can play, you know, 25, 28 games during a season, maybe 30, 35, 25, 28 times, but I kind of see it in that 25, 28 range right now. But I mean, Adelkevich only signed for 1.5 million last off season with very similar numbers. I think that's going to be the type of deal that you see Cochin and sign in your. I don't think it's going to be over anything like 1.75 million or even 2 million. I think it's going to be 1.5 million max for me. For sure. And anything over that I think is a no thank you from Kyle Dubus and Penguins.

Starting point is 00:08:36 But again, they need to find that's almost 60, 40 split in net this year, if for nothing else, just to keep a workload off of Jari and to see if he can perform better with a lessened workload. Because I do think there is a little bit of a discussion to be had of maybe this guy just similar to, and I'm not comparing the two goalies, so everybody put your pitchforks and torches down. Sergei Brovowski. The biggest thing that the Florida Panthers figured out for him is that he has to have a

Starting point is 00:09:12 managed workload going into the postseason, and then he's a good goalie. but if you have him playing 70, 75% or more of the games, you get to the end of the year in the postseason and he completely burns out. I think there's some similarity there with Tristan Jari in that if you can get him that 60-40 split, we might have a true blue starter rather than a guy who you start getting worried come March that he can't handle the load. Right. And that's why I would rather them go after someone like a Lincoln or a Bresla, someone who can be that 1B goalie who can start, you know, over 30 games a season for the Penguins and give Jari a little bit more rest.

Starting point is 00:09:54 You know, Cochanan, I think he has the ability to maybe get there, but it's a bit riskier than the other two boat. But we wanted to still highlight Cochton just because we feel like Dubis could see him as Ned 2.0 and have some interest in him overall. But that will do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, the Penguins are going back to Hockeyville. They're going to play the Ottawa Senators in Canada in a preseason game. game once again this year. We're going to give you all the details on that coming up in just a few

Starting point is 00:10:20 minutes. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is PolicyGenius. A lot of life is unpredictable, but a good life insurance plan gives your family a financial safety net to protect against some of the unknowns. Policy Genius is the country's leading online insurance marketplace. It makes choosing the right policy for your family easy and quick. And with Policy Genius, you can find life insurance policies that start at just $292 per year. for one million of coverage. Some options are 100% online and let you avoid unnecessary medical exams.

Starting point is 00:10:53 PolicyGenius helps you easily compare your options from America's top insurers in just a few clicks, and the reward-winning agents can even walk you through the process step by step. PolicyGenius has no incentive to recommend one insurer over another so you can trust their guidance, and they have thousands of five-star reviews on Google and Trust Pilot from customers who found the best fit for their needs.

Starting point is 00:11:13 Get peace of mind by finding the right life insurance with PolicyGenius, head do PolicyGenius.com, or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. That's PolicyGenius.com. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodeys, joined by my host Patrick Dam. So the Penguins dropped a little bit of news on Sunday as they will be returning to Kraft Hockeyville, and they will take on the Ottawa Senators in Elliott Lake, Ontario on September 29th in a preseason game. I always love this type of preseason game.

Starting point is 00:11:48 It's very much a dress rehearsal. So you can see most of the full team playing. It's like an early look at what the regular scenes of the lineup will look like overall. And the Penguins, they are no stranger to playing the Senators in a big preseason game. They played them in the Nova Scotia showdown last year in Cindy Crosby's hometown. And in typical Penguins fashion, they got shut out in Crosby's hometown 3-0. You know, Scorposolo made 40 saves. The Penguins went over six on the powerplay.

Starting point is 00:12:16 And that was just a taste of what was yet to come for the Penguins power play during the 2023, 2024 season. This is also the third time that the Penguins will be playing in a Kraft Hockeyville game. And again, man, I'm just super stoked for this type of game. It's really cool. You get to see just a new town get its spotlight for a preseason hockey game. Oh, yeah. And everyone who knows me knows that I am not short to.

Starting point is 00:12:41 discuss what is wrong with the NHL and the things they don't get right. But this is something they get absolutely right every single time because also, if you know me, you know that I came up in the Pittsburgh youth hockey scene. My dad was a big time coach in both youth travel as well as high school. I played for the Allegheny Badgers for 12 years. So this is near and dear to my heart because, yeah, Pittsburgh's a little different. It's a NHL city. So you have a pretty solid youth hockey scene and you have some good new err rinks around the town.

Starting point is 00:13:20 But this stuff isn't just limited to NHL cities. There are a ton of small towns around the United States, around Canada, obviously, that are just hockey nuts. And they have played in 2015 Kraft Hockeyville in Johnstown. That's a big one right there. And bookmark that for a second, because I, I've got a fun little bit of a quiz for Hunter about that game. But you love to see this because there are these hockey crazed towns. And if you've played youth hockey, you know this.

Starting point is 00:13:53 In those towns and those regions, every year when your schedule comes out, you look at it and you see a couple of rinks and go, oh, God, we have to go there. And then you get there. The locker room's kind of gross. The ice conditions aren't great. The benches are weird. the standings are awkward.

Starting point is 00:14:12 But this Hockeyville gives those towns a chance to highlight, hey, we're a great hockey town too. We may not have an NHL team. We may be close to an NHL city, but this isn't an NHL city. And then they get to upgrade those rinks with money provided from Kraft Hockeyville. And it's just such a great community thing that I love to see.

Starting point is 00:14:33 And this also shows that even all these years later, with an unprecedented, if you ask me, level of talent, in the National Hockey League, that the Penguins and Sidney Crosby are still very much a draw for hockey fans. You're right. And speaking of those arena upgrades that you mentioned, Pat, they're going to be getting $250,000 for arena upgrades

Starting point is 00:14:54 and also $10,000 worth of youth hockey equipment from the NHLPA goals and Dreams Fund. So this is a big deal for this community. And you're going to see it at the game as well. This will be completely sold out. They're going to think these guys are the biggest people in the world because they're coming to their community. And it's going to be awesome to see just like it was in 2015 with Johnstown,

Starting point is 00:15:16 just like how it was in 2017 when the Kraft Hockeyville game had to be played at the Lemieux Sports Complex up in Cranberry. Just whenever you get these types of games, the people in the community think these hockey players are the biggest celebrities in the world. And just the lead up to those games, it's so much fun seeing on social media. Yeah. And the way that they put the players in the community, It's really cool.

Starting point is 00:15:41 They do a youth hockey type of clinic with a bunch of the players from both teams. So these younger players who don't get that kind of attention from, say, an NHL team, get that when these guys come to town. And that's always a lot of fun for them. It helps grow the sport. It shows that the NHL is still reaching out to those smaller towns. Now, Hunter, you brought up. the inaugural craft Hockeyville, USA, which was at the War Memorial, for those who do not know,

Starting point is 00:16:14 that's Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The iconic rink featured in the classic hockey movie Slapshot with Paul Newman and the Hanson brothers. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It's goofy, but it stands the test of time. So the Penguins played the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Johnstown, Cambria County War Memorial, excuse me, and one, four to two. Here's what I want to ask you. I'll give you one free space.

Starting point is 00:16:46 The penguin scored four goals that night. If Ganyi Malkin was one of them, can you name the other three players who scored for the penguins? Off the top of my head right now, no, I really can. That's just how long it's been. I guess I'm just getting a bit old, but I mean, I could maybe throw out some guesses. I mean, I'll guess some guesses. Let's see if you get them. I'll guess Sid as one of them, but I don't know if he did score.

Starting point is 00:17:09 That is incorrect. Crosby is not one of them. That's one of your three guesses. I'll give you this hint. It's not superstars. So it's not the top guys. It's not Latang. Obviously not Sid.

Starting point is 00:17:23 Jake wasn't here yet. No. And this is 2015. So those rosters like the debt players, I ought to be considering here. I'm going to guess one of them was Pascal DuPui. Also incorrect, you get one more guess. But that's a good one because he was in that game.

Starting point is 00:17:44 And as we know with DuPui, anytime there's a special event, that man went all in, whether it was wearing a Pirates batting helmet when the Pirates were back in the playoffs or a Steelers helmet at Heinz Field for the Winter Classic. That dude was all in. So you got one more guess. Man, 2015. I'm really trying to think here as to who scored. I'm honestly blanking, man. I really am.

Starting point is 00:18:12 So the other three goals, former depth defenseman, Adam Klen Denning, former stalwart on the blue line, Ian Cole. Yeah. Had one of the other three goals. And the first goal of the game went to somebody who we thought in 2015-16 was going to be the Russian savior for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sergey Plotnikov was the first goal of the game. game. So that was a really fun one. The 2017 one, that was supposed to be in Belvernan.

Starting point is 00:18:46 Unfortunately, they could not get the ice ready in time. I will say as someone who played a lot of games at that rink growing up, not a surprise. It was ultimately hosted at the UPMC Lemieux complex. Penguins lost 4-1 to the Blues. Gensel had the only goal. But I figured that would be fun just to look back to do the old meme of dudes could just sit around and name obscure former players and have the time of their life. I can't lie, man. I completely forgot that Adam Clemdenning was a penguin. I really did. I know now that you mention it, I know he was there at least for a little bit, but I completely forgot that he was on that 2015 team. I thought for a second, you were actually going to say so on my Christian Earhoff because he was a penguin for at least a little bit as

Starting point is 00:19:29 well. And I was really excited about that move. So was I too. But I, yeah, I completely forgot that Adam Glenn Denning was a penguin for at least a little bit of time. I can't lie. But is there anything else you want to add about this craft hockey bill game? No, this is just really exciting. It's cool to see the penguins, even all these years later, still a draw to these hockey communities.

Starting point is 00:19:50 And I hope the NHL keeps this up in perpetuity because it's only a net positive for the sport at the level where they really need it to be popular, and that's the grassroots level. Yeah, I agree with you. And if anyone is looking at a potential road trip, well, go ahead and circle Elliott Lake, Ontario for the final weekend of September and go ahead and make that happen. But that'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to recap how Edmonton stayed alive in the Stanley Cup final with a massive 8-to-1 victory over the Panthers and look at how they

Starting point is 00:20:22 could potentially send this back to Edmonton for a game six later on this week. but before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our next sponsor, and that is Fandall. Summertime means baseball, the NBA Finals, and more, and you can bet it all on Fandle. Right now, new customers get $200 and bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200, and you can bet on everything from the NBA Finals MVP to who's going to hit one out of the park. Visit fandle.com slash locked on and add a big win to your summer bucket list. That's Fandle, America's number one sports book. All right, we're back here on this episode.

Starting point is 00:20:57 of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Dam. So all I have to say is this. Whoever picked Matthias Janmark and Adam Henrique to score in the same game, please step forward. I'm serious.

Starting point is 00:21:12 Step forward. You probably want a lot of money by picking both of those players to score goals. It's Edmonton's depth that really shined to start this one, and then you had the big gun show up. Connor McDavid has his moment.

Starting point is 00:21:24 Leon Drysidal has his moment. The Oilers. answered the call in a big way in game four. They weren't going out with at least a little bit of a fight. We're going to have game five back in Sunrays on Tuesday. But what a response from the Oilers just because I thought when the Panthers made it two to one, they were going to storm back and win that game

Starting point is 00:21:44 just with how they were getting chance after chance after that. But then the Oilers just took it to him. The moment Stuart Skinner made that save on Carter Verhegey, the Oilers just kicked it into another dimension and they opened up a can of whop ass on the Panthers. That was a big time bounce back from the Oilers, and we'll see if they can continue in game five. What I'm going to say, I don't mean in a negative way,

Starting point is 00:22:09 but to anybody who still doesn't think that momentum is a real thing in sports, go watch that game. Because the Florida Panthers, they had all of it. And I don't think it carries game to game in the playoffs. It really doesn't. But that was a game where momentum was probably the biggest factor because once the oilers got rolling, the atmosphere in that building never stopped. There was a belief.

Starting point is 00:22:38 There was a lot of pushing the pace by the oilers with that crowd behind them. And it really played a factor. However, the biggest thing for me, and again, it's one game. We can't really take a whole view of the series after one game because, while Edmonton's pretty good, they're not 8-1 over Florida good. Florida had a bad game. They're not losing 8-1 consistently bad. But the Oilers finally, unlike three other teams, made Bobrovsky look human.

Starting point is 00:23:11 Because do I blame any of those goals on him? Not particularly. I don't think he was bad, but they finally were able to get to him. They took advantage of every chance they got in the first period, chased him, And that is something no team in these playoffs has been able to do yet. And while I still think this is Florida's series to win, there's got to be a little bit of a seed of doubt because not only did the big guns finally show up, it wasn't a 4, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1 win on the backs of the big guns. This was an 8-1 win where everybody got in on the action. It sounds so cliche to say, but they finally got a lot of high danger looks on Brobrovsky.

Starting point is 00:23:58 And really, when you look at the Stanley Cup playoffs to date with who the Panthers have played, no other team has really done that in a single game the way the Oilers just did in game four. A good chunk of that is the way the Panthers play defensively in their own zone. But another chunk of it is how Brabrovsky is just so calm and poised in net. He was anything but that in this game against the oil. They made his life a living hell with the traffic they had in front of him, the looks they were generating, they had him flustered. And if they had any hope of somehow coming back in this series, they're going to need to continue that into game five in sunrise. They're going to need also a complete full game effort from everyone as well.

Starting point is 00:24:41 It can't just be some of these depth guys starting out the scoring. It's going to have to be the big guns, I think, right away for the Oilers responding once again if they want to say, this series back to Edmonton for a game sex. I will say, speaking of big guns for the Florida Panthers, man, Matthew Kuchuk, where have you been? Time for him to answer the call. It really is. He's been himself.

Starting point is 00:25:06 His overall game has been perfectly fine. I don't think he's playing poorly. He's playing like Matthew Kachuk. He's in on everything. He's throwing hits. He's a factor in the offensive zone. but one goal in his last 15, one assist in his past six, and they need him to show up if they want to finish this.

Starting point is 00:25:27 Now, they've proven they probably have the better depth than Edmonton does so they can survive without Kachuk taking over, but eventually to quote, now Euler's assistant coach Paul Coffey, to win your star's got to be your stars. Yep, and he's very much got to show up in game five if the Panthers want to finish this off and win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. You know what you're getting from Barkov,

Starting point is 00:25:56 you know what you're getting from Verhege. He's always clutch. Eklods has been great. Montor has been great. Sam Bennett, I think, has been pretty solid throughout the playoffs. Sam Reinhart has been great. But it's time for Kachuk to very much answer the call here. But game five scheduled for Tuesday evening in San Diego.

Starting point is 00:26:16 rise as the Panthers once again will have a shot at lifting the Stanley Cup. But that would do it for the Monday edition of the Locktown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Tuesday to give you all the latest on the Pittsburgh Penguins. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll talk with you all on Tuesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins are going back to Hockeyville!

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.