Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The three MAIN reasons for hope for next season!

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

I know, it's a day late but you guys are getting double trouble on this one. Hunter starts this episode by going into his first main reason for hope and optimism next season and of course, it surrounds the core. Can Sid and Geno play all 82 games next season? If they don't, will they still have strong production? Hunter also discusses why Kris Letang is set to be even better after he went through hell and back this season. He also looks at Rickard Rakell, why his production should stay the same for next season, and why Jake Guentzel will continue to be one of the top goal-scorers in the league. With these players, you always have a shot. In the second segment, he analyzes why a new management staff can't be worse than the last one. Right?! He again discusses who FSG could look at and why the new management staff should have an easier time making harder decisions since they won't have any loyalty to these players. They also can't be worse than Hextall and Co. Finally, Hunter goes into why Mike Sullivan may tinker with his system and why there's no chance the Penguins will blow upwards of 20 leads in the third period. All of that, plus an injury update on Jan Rutta, is on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORKFanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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) 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, everyone, happy Friday. Today's episode, this is going to be, you guys are going to get double trouble. Today, this first one will be technically the Thursday one where I get into the three reasons of hope. And then later on for later today, I'll have Jesse Marshall, The Athletic on Talk, GM search, and a whole bunch more penguins stuff. But right now, get ready for the three reasons of hope for next season. It's coming up right after this drop. You're locked on penguins. Your daily podcast on the podcast on the podcast.

Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at Eleanorst or Penguins. And of course, thank you so much for making this your first list of the day. We're free and available on all platforms, fresh off another night of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the New Jersey Devils looking like very fraud, very fraudulent, right? right now. That series is giving me some penguin senators vibes from 2007. I know a lot of you that

listen to the show, watch that series and how Sid Gino and Tanger, I absolutely ate alive by Jason by Jason Spudson, Daniel Alpherson, Danny Heatley, and all those guys. That's what's looking like right now. The Rangers are smothering them. Shastarkin's not giving them an inch. The devils do not look ready for this. You know, maybe it would have been different if the Penguins had played them. But, you know, that's the two, three matchup. But, you know, the Rangers are kicking. their butts and it looks like MSG and Newark. That's pretty embarrassing. Anyways, got off a little bit of a tangent there.

Three reasons for hope. My first reason for hope going into next season why I think this team could definitely be a playoff team next year is the core. You know, I understand that some people may push back a little bit and say, well, Hunter, you know, are you truly going to get 82 games from Sydney Crosby and McGee Malkin next year? And the answer is probably not. But even if they only miss a few games, you're still going to get. really good production out of them, I think.

You know, Cindy Frazier this year, four 82 games, 33 goals, 93 points. He was seven points away from a 100-point season. I'm getting him all can, 27 goals, 83 points, 82 games. He was at a point per game, even though he's 36. And a lot of people, you know, stress his injury concerns when he signed his contract. Those were nowhere to be found this year. If he can continue to stay healthy, that's going to be big. You know, you look at the other core players.

Chris Tang, he obviously missed 18 games a season, but still had 41 points in 64 games. Brian Rust had 20 goals. Jason Zucker, 27 goals. We're not really sure if he's coming back. Ricard Raquel had almost 30. Jake Gensel had 36. You know, it's those core players, I think, are the biggest reason for optimism going into next season. You know, whoever's going to be coming here and be the GM and the assistant GMs and all that stuff, you know, a lot of the hard work.

is done. Think about it. You have two superstar centers who are still very good. They're a little older, but they're very good. You have a 35 goal score who scored 40 multiple times

in his career. You have another guy on your right wing who almost had 30 this year. You have a franchise number one defenseman and you have Marcus Pedersen, I should say, who played like a number one this season.

And you have a guy in Brian Russell who you could look at trade, but he also just had 20 goals this past year. the only player you might have to replace is Jason Zucker. And I think you can do that pretty efficiently. I mean, I don't think he's impossible to play. Could he be difficult a little bit? Sure.

But I don't think it's impossible as some people think it would be. You have the hard pieces in place in elite top six, two very good defensemen. All you have to do is see what you're doing in goal. And then it's just filling out the rest of that roster, your bottom six, your defense. Some guys are already signed for next year, but you can move on from some people. if you want and bring some of your own guys in. But for the most part, the hard pieces are already in place. And that's why I do think this job is going to be how it's going to have a lot of people interested, I should say. And I get it. We're a weekend. There's not really any rumors.

I personally think you're going to really start seeing these rumors ramp up once the first round is over. I think, you know, in the next few weeks to a month, you know, I think they'll hopefully be, you know, getting closer to, you know, being done with this search. But, you know, when you have two players who had 85 to 90 plus points this season, you had basically three other 30 goal scores, two of them, yeah, two of them, they didn't quite hit 30, but it's close enough that I'm going to say they kind of did. and when you have two top defensemen on your defensive pairings, you have some things going for you.

And I really do think the court is going to play very well again next season. Again, will they play all 82 games for Sin Gino? You know, probably not. But I still think, you know, knowing Sid, knowing Gino, they're going to give everything they have, and they're going to play well. They, you know, they haven't shown father time. They haven't shown that they are, you know, getting old and they're bad and all that.

You know, it would be a lot easier if they were. But despite being in their mid to late 30s, they are still playing elite level hockey. So many people's didn't want them all going to come back because of his injury history, because of his production, he comes back and has a great season. You know, 5E5, all situations, whatever you want to call it. Is it defensive work a little shabby sometimes? Yes, but it honestly ends. it's been like that his entire career he's not going to change like he's still going to have those

wtf moments where it's like what is going on through your head but he's still going to produce a point per game ricard rickal that contract's looking beautiful that's actually a thing that ron hexthol got right brian russ again that's a player you could look at tray but he also had 20 he had 20 goals this season you could you could upgrade over him and honestly i think it'd be pretty easy to but he still played pretty well down the stretch and i really really do think Chris Lange is going to have a much better season next year. And honestly, I think Lattang was mostly fine this year. I know some people think he wasn't good. Again, I don't really look at plus minus. I think that's a useless stat to look at in

2023. You know, some of his underlines were a bit down, I would say, but down the stretch, he played really good hockey. That Chicago game was a stinker, but I think most players stunk in that game. But he's going to have a full office. He's going to have a full off. He's to train, you know, to just get away from things. He's at a really hard year. The guy had a stroke. His dad died. He got injured right before his dad died. You know, he was going through it all year. I think a fresh, clean slate for him over the all season these next six months will really help him go going in the right direction. I think you can see a big year from him next season. So I, again, I really do think, I really do, that the number one biggest reason for optimism. among this team is the core players and why, you know, just because they played so well this

past season, they came within a point of dragging the rest of this sorry roster to the playoffs. I think if they're able to play at that level again, and I think that's very possible, plus you make some changes to the outer edges of the roster with a new competent management staff, this team should be more than ready to make the playoffs again next season. there is no reason they can't make the playoffs. I heck right now, you know, if they nail this higher and I start seeing some good moves made over the offseason, I will have them penciled in as a playoff team. You know, I'm looking at the playoff teams right now.

You know, most of them I think are going to be pretty good next season, but I don't think the Islanders are any good. I think that's an average team with Ilya Sorokin, who's a top three goalie in the league. The Panthers aren't bad. They're actually giving Boston a fight. We'll have to see how the rest of that series goes. But, you know, there's one team, at least one team, the islanders, so I think the Penguins could definitely finish ahead of them.

next season than they should have this season if they were able to hold some leads. We'll get into that a little bit later. But again, the core, my biggest reason for hope and optimism heading into next season. But that'll do it for this segment of the Locktime England's podcast. Coming over the next segment, we're going to get into my second reason for optimism. Before we get to that, though, we do have to discuss eBay Motors. For a championship team, it's all about making sure every player is a perfect fit. It's the same when it comes to your vehicle.

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items only exclusions of lock i'm back in this episode of the locked on penguins podcast i am your host hunter hodys remember to follow me on twitter hunter hoddy's follow the show's twitter at am iso penguins and of course thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day so my second reason for optimism heading into next season is honestly the new management staff no i don't have any inside information when it comes at it the penguins are being very quiet um you can read that from multiple, you know, avenues. I haven't heard a thing. I'm probably not going to hear a thing. Because, again, I don't claim to be an insider. If I hear something, you know, it's probably, I guess, one of the rare times that I do, but I haven't really heard much. But I do think Fenway is going to get

this right with how forward thinking they are and how, you know, with their history of hiring good management staffs for their organizations. I think they're going to get this right. And honestly, you know, they somehow don't. I find it a hard. to believe that whoever is going to come in here is going to do a worse job than Ron Hextall. And I'm being completely dead serious with that. Because 90% of his moves were absolute crap. We even saw that watching the playoffs on Thursday night. Brandon Tann F scores. I don't think it's, you know, I don't want to say this. I don't think it's bad to say that, you know, there's definitely at least multiple parts missing on this Penguins team that, you know, they haven't replaced

because of him, if that makes sense. You know, he brought multiple things that the Penguins have still yet to replace, you know, depth scoring, that energy for sure, you know, just being an entertaining player also. You saw all that on display for Seattle. You know, Zach Austin rescore last night, Sharon McCanns had a good playoff so far. A lot of former Penguins, Justin Shultz, had a good Renaissance season. And a lot of these moves at Hextall, well, I won't even really blame Justin Schultz on it because I think, you know, he was, he wasn't the GM when Schultz was here. So that's a bad one.

But, you know, a lot of these moves that Hexel made for letting players go and bringing in his own guys have just not worked out. And, you know, obviously that was illustrated by the McHile-Granlon deal. I actually read from D.K.'s Friday Insider this morning that apparently the only people that knew about that trade were Brian Burke, Chris Pryor, and Ron Hextall. It sounds like he didn't even tell Mike Sullivan that he was doing it, which is just crazy to me. I don't know how you don't tell your coaching staff that you're about to make a deal like that. That's just another thing that adds to my theory about how Mike Sullivan and Ron Hextel never on the same page.

But again, I just find it hard to believe that this management group is going to be worse in the past one where this past one just couldn't evaluate talent in the year 2022 or 2023 to save their lives. They look like they were evaluating players back from how good they were in 2017 and 2018. They never used analytics. They were just throwing crap at the wall and hoping that it sticks, signing players to your bottom six that can't score, you know, with how forward-thinking Fenway Sports Group is and how much they lean into analytics. Again, I really cannot see them hiring someone who would do a worse job than Hexol. And the core deserves good management for the way they want to finish their careers.

You know, they deserve to get into the playoffs and try to have at least their best shot at another Stanley Cup run because they should have had a good chance this year. They definitely should have. The core, everyone was coming back. You had a great top six, great two defensemen. You know, I thought the Petrie move was going to be a bit better than it turned out. I will take the L on that. It didn't.

but I said going into season, the bottom six in the goaltending were the two biggest weaknesses of this team. And sure enough, that came true because no one can score in the bottom six and the goalies couldn't make a save and one of them couldn't even say healthy. So, you know, they also bungled that. I think the new manager group, because they'll have no loyalty to dismiss or Jari. I think they'll come in here and really want to decide, okay, we'll look at the numbers, look at how they played. You know, we use our eye test. you know, how do we want to, you know, go after the gold hitting position? And, you know, again, I really find it hard to believe, you know, that you could do a

worst daughter on Hexon unless they're hiring Chuck Fletcher or God forbid Stan Roman, but I don't, you know, I don't think they're even going to touch that, you know, with how, again, with how forward-thinking Fenway is and how, you know, they're all new to this. I just can't think they're going to touch him. That would make no sense. Obviously, I think people are talking about him. I think I saw yesterday tweet, I think it was from Jason from Penguins, who wrote at Phil Bork and Mark Madden were saying he'd be a good fit.

No, he might not be, you know, again, I said earlier this week, even if you take away the Kyle Beach situation, he didn't really contribute anything to those Blackhawks Cubs teams. He inherited everyone. You know, they, he wrote the coattails of those good players. Everyone that, the GMs before him, like Dale Talon and all those guys, they did the work to draft and trade for those players. So, you know, unless it's like someone like that or Chuck Fletcher, I find it hard to believe

that, or Peter Shirelli, God forbid, I don't think he's going to be in consideration, though. I find it hard to believe that you could do worse. I really think you're going to see a good management staff coming here that, you know, is ready to win, is ready to make the necessary changes, the hard changes that could be made as well. And they're going to put a competent team on the ice that can surround the court and give them their best chance at a cup. And that's another reason why I think this team can definitely make the playoffs next season.

you know if they're able to get out of that grandlin contract maybe if you can somehow move on from pet because his cap hit is a lot if you can you know add to the bottom six if you can add a decent goaltender know i think the penguins will be cooking with gas of all that can happen and i do think a good chunk of that can't happen but you just have to bring in the right management staff that you know can make these hard and difficult decisions i i really firmly believe that honestly um so that does it this second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're getting into my third and final reason for hope

and optimism for next season. I mean, something that surprises you all, but I do think this has a decent chance of happening over the all season. So stay tuned for that coming up after this commercial break. All right, I'm back here in this episode of the Walkdown Penguins podcast.

I am your host, Honor Hodes. I want to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter, Eleanor for Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So my third and final reason,

honestly, it's kind of twofold. I firmly think, and maybe it's just me drinking the Kool-Aid, I think Mike Sullivan is going to make some adjustments to his system, and in turn, you're going to see this team not below as many leads in the third period. I really firmly believe that, you know, I want the Penguins to be that speed skill team,

but, you know, that also requires them to get younger. That relies on the new management to come in and make them a little bit younger, which I'm hoping that they do. but I think you're going to see Sullivan adjust to where the modern game is going, and he's going to see that, you know, you can't be overly aggressive when you're playing some of these high, fast teams. You know, the Penguins got burned numerous times when they would play a team like the Devils

or a team like the Hurricanes, you know, or a team like Dallas, for example, you know, or even some of the teams below them in the same place, like Montreal and Ottawa teams that were still fast in them, and the Penguins are just overly aggressive. and a lot of their mistakes were put in the back of their net because they just, they don't know how to back off. And I think you're going to see Sullivan maybe go down a little bit in terms of his pinching that he asks from his defensemen. And, you know, I don't mind pinching at the right times.

But again, it's time and place, right? You can't be just doing this 110% of the time like you have seen throughout the Sullivan era. It has to go down, especially with how the league has gotten even faster since the Penguins won in 2016 and 27. team, a lot of these teams are a lot younger than the penguins. They just can't play that full game anymore. And I think you're going to see him really adjust to that next season.

Maybe it's also, I think, on the management to add more speedy skill players. But I think you're also going to see them add a little bit of a mix of some veteran, more physical players, you know, physical in the term that, you know, they can still score. You know, maybe like a Toronto Maple Leafs or maybe like the Dallas Stars where the stars, you know, they're fast, they're skilled. but they also have guys that can, you know, how physical you, but can still score, but are a little slower. I think that's this kind of team that you may see this new management build. And in turn, again, Mike Sullivan's going to have to adjust it out. And in turn, this would hopefully lead to not as many blown third period leads. The Penguins had 20 total third period blown leads, not just going into the third period, but in the third period in general,

they had 20 third period blown liens this season. That's not, that's unacceptable. they would be in the playoffs right now if they if you had literally just cut that down to like 15 I'm serious they would they would be in the playoffs if you cut that in half they probably would be in that two three match up right now playing right on one of the rangers or the devils those are the fine lines people they just couldn't defend to save their lives in the third period I think they would get too aggressive also at times they would get too content with where the game is that I almost feel like they would stop playing.

At times it was honestly one or the other. You have to walk that fine line between not being super, super aggressive, but also not turtling. You know, you can't be giving any of the opposition, you know, any room to come back in this game or in any game. And again, I really can't see this team blowing 20 third period blown lead, 20 leads in third period next season. Heck, even going into the third period, I think when they had a lead from the second going into the third, I think they had double digits in terms of blowing leads there.

It wasn't up close to 20, but it was still pretty close. Again, not good enough in the slightest. And I think that's going to change next season. You know, it doesn't have to be 2016 or 2017 level where you're undefeated going into third period. Well, obviously, that would be great. But, you know, this still needs to be better. You know, you got to know how to defend these leads. You have to get the saves from your goaltenders. You can't be pinching in obvious not-pinching situations when you're up by multiple goals.

It almost felt like every time the Penguins carried any kind of league going into the third period of the season, they were going to blow it. That can't be the case next season because it cost them so many points in the standings. I'd like to think this was just a one-off, and I think it probably is. But, you know, I'm also just trying to give you all reasons for hope and all this. So we'll have to see, you know, maybe, hopefully they're better coached, you know, by Mike Sullivan going to third period. You know, I don't think he did his job as the head coach, you know, getting his team ready for a third period. You know, if they had just played, remember that game towards the end of the season against the Redlings, right?

they're up by what three goals going into the third they just shut them down played a boring style of hockey why couldn't you do that in every other game i understand you're playing the red wings and then you're not playing the islanders and you're not playing the islanders and you're like that bit but even when you were playing a team like the canadians or a team like the senators or any of these other bad teams you know or yeah why couldn't you play that way in the third period i just i don't get that You know, that kind of style should be the blueprint. Boring hockey, you're shutting them down. You're also getting some chances.

The Penguins finished, I believe, one of their chances in the third period, but you're not allowing anyone to get near the net front. You're not allowing anyone near the high danger areas, even the medium danger areas. You're allowing everything to be from the perimeter, and you're allowing whoever is in net should just basically stand there and take a nap. That kind of game against the Red Wings. That has to be the blueprint for,

this team heading in the next season when it comes to defending leads in third periods. And maybe you will see Mike Sullen make some changes to that. But overall, I do think he's going to change some stuff with his system. I don't think you're going to see them be as aggressive with leads. I think you may not even see them be as aggressive as a whole. And I think he's going to learn from this as I think a good coach does. And I think he's going to have this team ready to play next season, assuming he is the head coach, but I do think he will be.

So those are my three main reasons for optimism slash hope heading in next season. season why I think this team will be a playoff team next year. Again, also assuming the right news are made during the all season for the new management group. But that would do it for this episode, Lockdown Parenthood's podcast. I will say now towards the end, Jan Ruda, out eight to ten weeks with core muscle surgery. That was the reason why it looks like he was out of the finale. He looks like he came back a little early, so he must have been doing with that for a while,

potentially. Because he was banged up for a while. And the fact that he, it looks like he played with that is, you know, that takes some guts. Your core muscle surgery is nothing to joke about. And, you know, he'll be out for the next several months. So he'll be good. See here. By end of June, early July.

So around the end of June, 4th of July, looks like he'll be back to, you know, full-off season activities. And then he'll be training and getting ready for camp in September. So small injury update from Thursday for you all. But again, that will do it for this episode, Walkton, Penguins, podcast. Really appreciate all of you listening slash watching. I'll be back later on today for again, we're going to double it up with Jesse Marshall of the athletics. So stay tuned for that. We're going to get into everything regarding this team and the GM search, all that good stuff.

So again, thank you all so much for checking this out. I'll talk with you all a little later on.