Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pros and Cons to the Penguins signing Casey DeSmith...

Episode Date: July 6, 2022

There WAS a signing on Tuesday but not the one you all were waiting for. That's right, Casey DeSmith is back for the next two years to be Tristan Jarry's backup. Hunter goes into the deal and gives his thoughts on whether the Penguins made the right move or not. He points out DeSmith's deficiencies with staying healthy and not being consistent, while also looking at some of the other goalies available and comparing his numbers to them. He also looks at how the Penguins are taking another massive gamble again by running this tandem back for a third time, especially since there are questions about both goalies. After the DeSmith talk, he gets to the news that the Penguins and Letang are closing in on a deal. He looks at how both sides seem to be getting what they want (if it gets done) and how this was the only possible option for the team heading into the next three years. Finally, Hunter shouts out Dana Heinze for the incredible job he did with the Penguins throughout his tenure while going into a couple of fun stories surrounding him and the core players. All that, plus a little bit more draft talk, on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello there, happy Tuesday. Welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. A whole lot of stuff to get to today. Because of the Casey D. Smith contract extension, Dana Hinesy retiring is the Penguins have equipment manager. Penguins closing in on a new contract for Chris LaTang. It is an action-packed show today. And we also might get to some more draft stuff as well. So that's all coming up for today's episode.

and let's get right on into it. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode for the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the show's Twitter at LLO-O-School Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list. of the day. So let's start out today's podcast by touching on the Casey DeSmith, new two-year deal. So he's scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent next Wednesday when free agency opened. They were conflicting reports about what the Penguins were trying to do. Josh Joey of the Athletic was reporting a couple of times that he did not expect to Smith to be back.

David Pagnotta of the fourth period then said the penguins were working on a deal for to Smith. So it was like, okay, which side is going to be right here? Pagnotta was the one that ended up being. right it is a two-year deal 1.8 million per so the pitts or penguins goaltending next season with both to smith and jari locked up it will account for my math is correct 5.3 million of the salary cap which is totally fine my overall thoughts on the signing so um i got to say when i first saw the extension and i saw that he got basically a 600k raise i'm like wow i would love to get that much of a raise after stinking for a good chunk of the season.

And then obviously he did bounce back down the stretch. But, you know, it was a bit funny that he did end up getting a raise. Does he probably get that money on the open market? Yeah, it's free agency. You know, other teams probably would have drove up the price for him. He honestly could have gotten over $2 million. But at the end of the day, you know, the AV, it's below two, whatever. I can laugh all I want about him getting a raise,

considering his inconsistencies and his injuries. But that's also, again, that's what the free agent market is going to demand. But they got him below $2 million. He is a decent backup when healthy. And, you know, hopefully now this paves the way for the penguins having a bit more salary cap room to bring back both Latang and Malk and I'll get to Latang in my second segment.

Now, you know, I guess there's some of the positive. Well, I'll say one more negative here. You know, it's definitely a bit weird that they're going to go, this is going to be the third year in a row that they're going to run this tandem. I mean, you know, sure, Ron Hextall, he's not going to be creative. That's just that's not who he is when he's going out in the free agent market, you know, evaluating players. He's going to go with what he knows.

I wish I was kind of surprised by this deal. I'm not. But it's definitely a big risk again. And, you know, they're going to have to live with. I don't think that both goaltenders will be hurt if this team is in the playoff picture next year. I think they will be, but you can never make it fully full guarantees here. But, you know, DeSmith needs to prove to the organization that he can stay healthy when it matters most. Two years in a row, he has been banged up around playoff time and has not been available to play

when they needed him to play, especially this season against the Rangers. And you can make the argument last year against the Islanders when Jari. was really stinking it up. So at the end of the day, they made this bed. They are going to have to live with it. But if you do look at his stats, at least a little bit,

his safe percentage has actually been, league average, a little bit above league average. One of my followers today, I'm trying to go find the tweet here. you know, put his save percentage in there, at least in the last, you know, three to four to five years. And, you know, he's been mostly pretty decent, you know, going back, I believe this was the 2018, 19 season, yeah, 921, 916, 912, 914, this season, 915.

So those are pretty steady numbers for a backup. You know, you can certainly make the argument that he is a average, two, above average backup. In my opinion, I think he's perfectly average. I don't know if he's an above average backup, but when healthy, when he's on his game, you know, he's definitely someone who, you know, he can make you some timely saves. He can seal a few games and all that stuff. What I want the Penguins to do next season, if they can, is to split up the workload a bit more. I'm of the opinion that Tristan Jari, he cannot start 55 to 60 games next season. He was playing way too much last season.

I think that potentially contributed to him being a bit banged up. Down the stretch and obviously when Anders Lee rolled into his, I mean, part of that's a freak accent, but he was also playing a lot of hockey. And, you know, I also think he was fatigued down the stretch. I think that's what led to his numbers not being as good. So if the Penguins can get the level that they saw from DeSmith in the second half of the regular season for the entirety of the 2022-23 season, season, this deal will work out just fine, in my opinion.

And, you know, I think I actually almost forgot just how good he was in those final 17 games here. You know, his first nine games of the season, 886% of 3.6 goals against average. Final 17 games, so he played in almost 30 this year. 927 percentage, 240 goals against average. Only Igor Shasturkin and Darcy Kemper had better numbers down the stretch. than to Smith. So, you know, we know what he has when he's healthy. We have seen the level that he can play at when he is 100%. It's all the matter of can he keep that level for an entire

season because say he doesn't and he turns back into the pumpkin that we saw in the first half of the regular season last year where he can't stop the beach ball, the penguins are in a little bit of the pickle game because remember when all of us were saying, well, they got to go get a backup at the trade deadline, you know, Jari can't keep starting every game. And then, you know, obviously, just Smith pulled a miracle out of his butt and started playing well. You know, would lightning be able to strike twice there? No, I'm not sure. But the biggest things for me, if this deal is going to work out, in my opinion, can he stay healthy? And, you know, can he be consistent when he is in the net and not go months at a time when he's playing like absolutely

crap to then at looking like honestly a top 10 to top 15 goaltender um in the league so i'm glad that the aav is low two years whatever you know it's it's definitely a little weird that it's going to be three to four seasons in a row of the same tandem i would have liked them to go out and get a one be option but then you know you're potentially looking at paying you know 1.2 to 1.3 million for someone like i don't know braydon holby who i talked about but i think he maybe could have come cheaper you know, Vili Huso, Yaroslav Halak, and a couple of these other options. So the Penguins, they go with who they know, they signed a Smith to a two-year contract with 1.8 million per.

Goaltending is only going to take up a little more than $5 million. That's another big part for this. If you're going to be a successful team in the Sauter-Kap era, you do not want a lot of money going to your goaltenders, even if you have an elite goaltender on your team. sure he can take up, you know, nine to ten million of your cap, maybe a little less. I think Shastirkin's about to get a whole lot of money

once he's LGBT-paid, you know, Vasilevsky, carry price. But if you have a backup who is making pennies on the dollar, you know, that's what's best there. And for the penguins here, they have two, when healthy, reliable goaltenders. It's all a matter of, you know, can they stay healthy, can they produce?

There's definitely a lot of question marks when it comes to them. But, you know, they're not paying them. a lot of money. Jarly's contract is up after next season. I would be very cautious about extending him. I have seen that a lot on different platforms during the offseason here. I would want to see how he plays and then think about an extension because I wouldn't want to just commit to him. And then, oh, wow, he absolutely stinks for a part of this season. But again, I'm glad that the goaltending is not taking up too much cat rim. I have my negative point. for this deal, but I also have some positive ones. At the end of the day, it's probably not going to be

that big of a deal for me, especially when we get to the Chris Littang stuff in the second segment, and it looks like that's coming to a head here really soon. So that wraps up this first segment with getting into the Casey DeSmith deal. Now, before we get to the Crystal Tang report from Dejong Kabatjavich, from the people who invented healthy and tasty comes the latest gift to your taste buds. You've probably tried the amazing coconut brownie chunk, Bill apart, but guess what? Your friends at Bilt Bar have given coconut brownie chunk the puffs treatment. That's right, coconut brownie chunk, bill bar flavor you love and a deliciously chewy marshmallow covered in 100% real chocolate.

It's like a fluffy cloud of coconut brownie goodness. But stop Julian, listen, they are good for you. They're low calorie, low sugar, high protein, and all of them are delicious. They're only here for a limited amount of time. You can go to the Bilt.com right now to make sure you don't miss out. They're going fast because they taste amazing. You can go to Bilt.com. You can go to Bilt.com.

me's promo code lock 15 you get 15% off your order. That's run code lock 15 for 15% off at built.com. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the locked on penguins podcast. I am your host, Hon. Hon.er Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes and also follow all the shows Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So this came out at about 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon.

Dejohn tweeted a source tells you that the Penguins and Lattang are close on a contract extension. I've got no detail beyond that, but source sure made it sound like it'll get done. And I've also heard that it's going to be for three years. That's all I've got at this time. So far, none of the national guys have said anything regarding that. Hopefully it gets done maybe tomorrow, Thursday before the first round of NHL draft. But this is great news. And the fact that it might be only a three-year term is even better. You know, if the penguins can potentially, you know, get the term they want, but then have to bend a little bit. to give Latang more money, that's not a big deal to me.

I think in that case, both sides, remember, you know, Friedman has been saying for a while, you know, the penguins, they're going to have to really bend a little bit to get this done. And I think part of that is, you know, the AAV. I don't think they're probably too crazy about giving him over $8 million, though I think that's probably what's going to happen here. If it is a three-year term, I would have to guess it's going to be 8.2 to 8.8. 0.5 million per.

And also some people are going to be like, well, that's too much for someone who's 35 years old, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, he's going to make less than Sidney Crosby. You know, he'll, we would think he'll make less than Sidney Crosby. Sure, he'll make more than Faginiann if he comes back. But he'll also go out with Cid at the same time. They will have, you know, they will have their individual decisions to do what they want once both of their contracts are up after the 20.

25 season. So, you know, both sides would get what they want. The Penguins. Obviously, they're not crazy about giving out four to five years of term to Latang if the three years is reported as accurate. So they want, let's hang. He gets the raise that he wanted. Wala, shake hands. He plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins, hopefully for the next three years. Again, there's been no official announcement from the team or from any of the national guys yet tonight. If there is something while this recording happens, I will sure to let you all know. Or if something happens on Wednesday, you all be the first to know as well. So this is going to be once this is done, and it looks like it's very much heading that way,

this is going to be a very well-deserved extension for Lettang. And I will give kudos to Ron Hexol once that official announcement is made. He had no choice but to bring back Chris Lattang. You know, people can chronicle this deal in quotation marks. Those that are on Penguins Twitter will know what I mean by that. But, you know, people can also whine and complain that it's too much money, this and that. They've had four first-run exits in a row. Those people, they can't see the forest from the trees.

Just tell them that. Chris Tang is not the reason this team has won, has lost fours, uh, fours, uh, series in a row. He has helped them win three Stanley Cups. People will also say that, you know, he wasn't in the playoffs or in the 2017 run. Yeah, but I will also argue that they won that series off the coattails of Matt Murray and Mark Andre Fleury, giving them elite level goaltending, and Jake Gensel, Cindy Fraudson, of Guinea-Malkin, having some of the best finishing I've ever seen in a penguin playoff in a penguin playoff run. They were outskated, outchanced, basically every game in that series, but it was.

they're star players that won the day and their goal-tending. It did not matter because those five players showed up for the Penguins. Don't even get me started on how bad the defense was during that run. Ron Hainesie was playing top-line minutes. No one should be winning a Stanley Cup with Ron Hainsey having top-paring minutes with Brian Dumlin. There are so many weirdos about this player. And, you know, I'm really excited that he is hopefully going to be signing this extension.

His underlying numbers were elite last year. His counting stats, elite last year. Top 10 in North voting is finished top 10 in three or four of the last six seasons. He is one of the best defensemen in the league. There was no one on the free agent market that was going to put up the production that he had. Excuse me. There is no one on the free agent market that will put up the product. that he put up this past year.

Full stop. That's it. John Klingberg ain't going to walk through that door and do that. Nikita Zadorov. He's not going to do that. All these other defensemen who are out there who, it's, you know, some of them are decent players, but it's a big drop off once you go from Lattang to Klingberg and then to Zadorov and then to everything in between.

So, you know, great news for the Penguins. Like it's going to be the first domino to fall. We'll see when it is reported. But, you know, man, I am just absolutely fired up right now. Once that's announced, you know, one down, one to go. And that'll be, of course, Evgeny Malkin, who was working out in a penguin hat with his son, Nikita down in Florida. Shout out to whoever made those hats, by the way.

Those are some sexy freaking hats. But, you know, just. Great news. I'm just, I'm really getting amped about Latang being back here for the next three years. And, you know, for those that have never listened to this podcast before, you know, I've been on record saying, you know, when the offseason started, I thought Malkin was going to be the one that easily gets done. I thought Latang was going to be a lot harder. I think it was going to be 50, 50. 50 could go either way. No, my, my tune has changed now. Latang is obviously, it looks like it's going to get done. And Malkin, you know, I think it's right now, it's potentially a belief. low 50% chance that he is brought back. I will say to you all, though, I was exchanging DMs

with Rossi, Rob Rossi of the Athletic. He was wondering where I got that screenshot from, obviously it was Pierre LeBron who wrote the story on Monday. He said he's going to be having an update on the Malkin contract talks on Wednesday morning on the Athletic, so you all can go check it out there. I'm sure there'll be something when it comes to Chris, let's hang there too. So it's great that it looks like this extension is going to get done. And no, that's hopefully two-thirds of the core, at least, coming back for the Penguins next season. Now, coming up in the next thing, we're going to get into the news from Dana Hinesie, stepping down as the Penguins head equipment manager. But before I get to that, this episode

is brought to you by Rock Auto. Why should you choose to spend 30%, 50%, or even 100% more for the same parts from a chain store or car dealership. Rock Auto is a family business or Indute Yourselfers for over 20 years. The prices are reliable for every customer. They have everything you can need from bright parts, tail limbs, motor oil, and even new carpet. You can go explore their easy to his website today to find a solution to your auto part needs. You can go to rock auto.com right now and see all the parts available for a car truck. And you can write locked on in their how'd you hear about us box. So they know we sent you.

Amazing selection. Right below prices. All the parts your car will ever need. is rock auto.com. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

So definitely something that I do not think I would be talking about today on the podcast, but Dana Hinesie has stepped down after 33 years as an equipment manager. Michelle Crickiolo had a great story. on the team's official side today. And a couple quotes for Heinzzi here. He said he started in 1988, it's 2022. Apparently, he's going to be honored by the Penguins at a game during this upcoming season. He says, I'm leaving on my own terms.

It's been a magical long trip. And it goes into just, you know, the story with him and how he was able to get to get to the Penguins and all that stuff. But, you know, he's been here forever. you know he has been doing this um at an elite level for so long and the penguins are going to miss him you know there's so many funny Dana heinsey stories especially when you know you watch the old in the room videos the one i remember the most was i believe this was the 2014 Olympics and um Dana's having this hilarious discussion with again Malkin um because said has his Canadian logo on his bag. They're about to go to the Olympics. And, uh,

Gino's like, well, Dana, where's my logo? Data just keeps like joking with him. Like, well, why didn't Russia send that for you? You know, oh my God, what the heck. He's just, just toying with him, basically. And, you know, just all the players on the team, no matter who came in, who came out, always had, you know, the utmost respect, um, for him, you know, he's, you know, Sid, you know, another funny story about Sid, as I blurted that out loud and I don't know why. You know, Sid was on, I believe this was a few years back. I believe I think it was the Spit and Chicklets podcast or something with, you know, Whitney and them. And, you know, I'm not a fan of that podcast.

Ray Whitney, Ryan Whitney is just absolutely obnoxious. But he was talking about Dana and how Sid he's used the same. I think he said it was the same cup or jockstrap for the last 14, 15 years when he was on that podcast. And poor Dana had to basically wash it every single week or after every single game, basically. And it's like that poor guy has had to wash that when Sid has just not wanted to change. I mean, that thing has just been through so much hell. So there's just so many freaking stories. when it comes to him.

And, you know, Dana also says in the story, all the players have been associated with, regardless of whether there was the East Coast League or the National Hawk League, I've been so blessed to be around such great people and being part of the very classic organizations. He also said the Penguins are going to be in great hands with these guys. They have John Tagliani, Paul DeFazio, and Danny Kroll.

He says they're going to continue on doing great stuff. I'm honored to say that I was a Pittsburgh Penguin for 16 years. Now I think it's time take on the next journey, which I think is going to be great. So it sounds like he's going to be moving back. to Johnstown where he was originally from. Again, congratulations to Dana on a wonderful career as the Penguins head equipment manager. He's a true legend for everything he did for this team.

So want to shout him out a lot for this third segment on today's episode. and so let's get to a little more draft stuff here. A couple of players that are in Jason and I's. You know, we have them in the in range at 21. Isaac Howard. He's a left winger, left-hand shot, a couple NHL comps that we have for him. Matt Zuccarello, Braden Point,

probably not going to ride until 2025. We think he's probably one of the most dynamic players in the draft. His hands are absolutely ridiculous. the plays that he's made with the puck in the junior leagues, nothing short of sensational, really nice skater. Though I think we kind of need to see a little bit of a burst of it. You know, he can take one-on-one defenders with ease. He can make them miss pretty nicely.

You know, he has a beautiful shot, pure goal score. He's obviously not that big, you know, 510, 182. You know, he definitely put some pounds on him. But I definitely think he is going to be at that pick. if the penguins want to take him. Owen Pickering, he, I think he's been getting a lot of love for some scouts lately. Sixthore defenseman, 178 pounds, shoots left. A couple of comps from him that we have, Kiannoyler, Travis Sandheim.

We think he's going to be arriving in the next couple of years. Nice size, lead athleticism, really nice skater. You know, when I watched someone like Keandre Miller in the playoffs with how big he is, you know, the first thing that jumped out to me was his skating and honestly his fuck-moving ability. and, you know, I think with Pickering, those same traits, you know, jumped out at me immediately when I put the tape on, when I went on YouTube and stuff, and, you know, Jason said the same thing. You know, I think he has above average in offense, good with controlled zone exits and zone entries. You know, he's obviously a bit raw right now, but, you know, I definitely think that he has the potential to be a top four defenseman

on the Pittsburgh Penguins or any team, to be honest with you. and then let's see i'll give you all one more before i get to some more on wednesday um leon leom ogrin left winger six one two hundred pounds couple coms for him timo mire brock best so he could be ready to go as early as not this coming season but the next season um pure goal score um he can really get to the high danger areas of the net but he can honestly score from anywhere um on the ice defensively that definitely i think needs work he's not usually good away from the puck i think i've noticed you know listen there's some puck watching with him um and all that jazz but you know this is still a player that can put the puck in the back of the net a good playmaker as well with

the puck on his stick skating could use um a little bit of work but you know he's played most of his career you know overseas i would be curious to see how his game transforms once he comes over to Northern America because, you know, that that makes a world of difference for these kind of players. So there's another small tease into some players on our draft board for players that, you know, are definitely probably going to be available to the Penguins at that range. I'll have more draft stuff on Wednesday for you all Thursday. I'm either going to do an episode before the first round of the draft or the plan might be

to go live on the YouTube channel. and basically do an episode there right out for the Penguins make their first grown pick. Give my thoughts on that. Potentially bring on, I guess. Like, I brought Jesse Marshall on for the trade deadline and all that stuff. So that'll do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one. I will be back with another episode on Wednesday.

We'll see if we get more clarity on the 10 contracts, see if more numbers get out. And potentially, if there's any trades run in the NHL and all that, jazz. very busy time period drafts in a couple days for agencies next week keep it right here on locked on payments i'll have everything for you all um as it breaks