Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - They're a Stanley Cup Contender now...

Episode Date: April 26, 2021

There's a whole lot to get to for this episode as the Pittsburgh Penguins have been on quite a roll these last ten games and it continued this weekend. The Penguins got both wins against the Devils and Bruins, and Hunter explains why the win on Sunday showed that the Penguins are a true Stanley Cup contender this year. He talks about the way they defended the front of the net, plus how they only allowed 2 high-danger chances for the entire game. After that, he gets into the power-play talk and if Malkin should be on his own unit when he comes back. Also, are the Bruins still the worst matchup for Pittsburgh? Is it smart for Mike Sullivan to put Crosby out against Bergeron? What's the latest on the NHL's new TV deal? All that, plus much more on this new episode of Locked On Penguins.Listen to The Ultimate Mock Draft 2021 presented by Audacy and the Locked On Podcast Network. April 19th-26th. Follow the feed today!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.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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, everyone. Welcome to this Monday afternoon edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

In order to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Today's episode is brought to you by Bilbar. You can go to billboard.com and use promo code of Locked 15 and you'll get 15% off your next order. So a lot to get to for today's episode. We have to recap both games for Pittsburgh.

I'm not going to spend too much time on the New Jersey one. I'm going to be spending most of the time on the Boston one, but two outstanding wins for the Penguins this weekend. I mean, yesterday I'm going to say this right now. They sent a message to the rest of the league. Everyone that listens to this podcast, you watch the games on a nightly basis like I do. This team is back.

They mean business. and they are a Stanley Cup contender. I was not sure if they were going to get to that big level this season just because there are a lot of question marks with this team coming into the year. But they are a bona fide Stanley Cup contender. As I see it right now with only seven games left or in first place. And I really think that they can give, you know, Tampa Bay, Vegas, Colorado, those other teams that are not in their division, excuse me,

one hell of a series. They are a huge threat, I think, to win the Stanley Cup. And oh, yeah, they're still without Evgeny Malkin right now. So a great time. to be a penguins fan, especially with how they're playing. I guess I'll start with the New Jersey game a little bit. Finishing six and one-in-one against the Devils this year, that's great. They're 11 and 2-1 overall against Buffalo and New Jersey.

Those were the games that a lot of people, including myself, were scared of just because the Penguins have played down to shitty competition in the past, but they only have two more combined games left against those two teams. They both will be against Buffalo. The final two games were the regular season. And actually just about 30 minutes ago, the NHL announced that the Penguins' last game of the regular season. I believe that's on, what, May 8th.

It is now a 3 p.m. star, not a 7 p.m. stars. So if any of you all that listen to this podcast are going to the game or we're thinking of going to the game that day, just note the schedule. Time change, 3 o'clock, not 7 o'clock. I believe that is now Fran Appreciation Day and not for an appreciation night. But overall with that performance against New Jersey, you know, great lockdown defense in the final nine minutes after the New Jersey cut it to 3 to.

I know Hughes scored their first one. I think Miles would cut it to 3-2, but they really didn't allow anything after that. I know in the final few seconds it got a little too close because Sid made a bad playing the neutral zone and the Devils had a couple really good high quality chances to tie it. After that though, you know, said ice the game with 0.1 seconds remaining in a 4-2 win. It's also nice to see Jeff Carver get another goal. That's, I think, his second goal now. And he continues to be such a great fit with Pittsburgh, you know, him and his line of Jason

Zulker and Jared McCann. I think that needs to be the Penguins' third line when Malkin and Tannov come back. You know, maybe they can put Tannov up with Malkin and Kappan in. Maybe they put Rodriguez up there with Gino and Cappaninan, but you have to leave the McCann-C-Zerlain intact, because I think that has a lot of real HBK vibes going right now, the way they are just controlling the shot attempt share virtually now every game, the scoring chances share.

They are basically living in the offensive zone every single time they step foot on the ice. And it's just, it's awesome to see Carter really reinvent himself with the penguins. I'm going to get to his effort against Boston just a little bit here. with how he basically dangled two Bruins players slowly skating up the ice and then created a scoring chance. I think that was early on in the first period. But, no, just great game from him

and he continues to look awesome in a penguin's uniform. Brian Russ has another 20-goal season. I'll continue to say this. I have no idea how he is only signed for $3.5 million per right now. That is, I think, a top-five bargain deal around the NHL. If he were to hit the open market, he would easily probably fetch $5 to $6 million per year. He has been that good with Pittsburgh over these last few.

seasons and has continued to transform himself into a dynamite top six player. I remember, you know, when he first came in the league, you know, he kind of reminded me of like a little Bobby Farnham. Okay, he's fast, but he doesn't really have any hands, you know. Then the 2015-16 playoffs came around, was great at scoring there, 2016-17. You know, kind of regressed a little bit, but towards the end of the season, played well, obviously in the playoffs. He was great.

2017-18, really started to get better. And then 2018-19, and then last year, and then into this year, he has just become a different player. Basically, he's scoring goals virtually every game now for the Penguins. He was their leading score, of course, last season with 27 goals, has another 20 goal season this year. As I already said, in a full

season, I know it's only been, what, 49 games, he would be on pace for around 35 to 40 goals right now. So he continues to be awesome, and then the other goal score in that game who has had the best season of his career, I think to date is Jared McCann, gets his what, 13th goal on the season, another one on the power play. And yes,

everyone, I am starting to warm up to the idea of leaving Jared McCann on the top power play unit and maybe giving Evgeny Malkin his own power play unit. I have never been a fan of that just because I love what Sid and Gino can do together on the same power play unit. They're both outstanding playmakers and obviously can score from anywhere. But with what McCann is doing right now, I don't really think they'll lose a beat if Malkin has his own unit just because if you think about it, he can have potentially Jeff Carter on there, who is, you know, playing really good, Jason Zucker, John Marino, maybe Mike Matheson and Casperi Capnin, and I honestly think that's a really good second unit. And I did make a Twitter poll on the Lockdowne Penguin's

Twitter account just to see what everyone is thinking right now, just with, you know, you want to put Malkin reunite with the big guns, or do you want to have his own unit? So I think I've Capitality, about 15 votes so far. 57% of you want a separate unit for Gino, and then 43% want reunited with the big guns. Irish AJ actually had a really good comment. Sid McCann, Gino, Jake, and Latang, maybe McCann's shot is why he's over Rust. And then Russ, Carter, Captain Marino, Matheson, 2D only due to the fact that the second unit gets on ice with the powerplay usually expiring. Yeah, I mean, I think that's how you would do it if you want to keep Gino on the top unit.

And honestly, it's still my preference, but like I said, I'm warming up to. the idea of having Geno on his second unit because you still could go Sid, McCann, Jake Latang, and Brian Rust and then you could go Carter, Caputin, Marino, Matheson, and then put Malkin down there.

And I honestly think, even if you just split them power play minutes, say one minute for Sid's one and then one minute for Gino's one, that is still a threat to score for those entire two minutes because obviously the threat goes down once the top guns go off the ice That's how it always is when your power play is so sad.

I mean, Washington's is the same way. I'm not going to fear Washington's power play when, you know, Backstrom goes off the ice and Ovechkin and Oshie and John Carlson and et cetera, et cetera. So I really think the Penguins have a lot of options right now for when Gino comes back, because that comeback is coming. I mean, he's already back skating at practice. I don't think the Penguins practice today. They play tomorrow night against Boston again.

I don't think he'll play in that one, but they probably have a practice day on Wednesday. I think he'll be there for that in an actual contact jersey. And I think there's probably at least a 60% chance that he suits up for Thursday in Washington, and then Saturday especially too, because those two games will probably be for first place in the East Division as Pittsburgh has leapfrog the Capitals as of right now. But overall with the power play, like I said, my overall thoughts, I really don't think you can take Jared McCann off that unit right now.

I think if you were to put Evgeny Malkin back on that top unit, I think the player to come off of it would be Brian Russ. And I know that may seem a bit weird to some fans because Brian Russ has another 20-goal season. He's been great enough power play as well, but you know, you're putting a world-class player of a Gennie Malkin on that unit, and I think Russ would be totally fine on a second unit, though I also, like I said, I'm warming up to the idea of just leaving that top power play as is with how hot it is right now and how it's not into the top 10 in the league, and then just putting Evgeny Malkin on his own unit, put Jeff Carter on there, who's a really

good volume shooter and a good playmaker, Casperi Kappen, who's a great finisher, has been playing awesome this season with Pittsburgh, and then Mike. Matheson can walk the point or he can put him in Gino's old spot kind of and then John Marino can basically just a quarterback it a little bit as well. So the penguins have a lot of options and yeah it's a damn good problem to have. I'll say that. So I don't envy Mike Sullivan in that situation just because of how well the power play has been, how awesome McAnne has been this season especially on that unit. And overall, honestly, his 5E5 play has been just as good. And yes, I am always on the train for hashtag extend.

Jared McCann give him 3.5, 4 million per. He has deserved it and then some this season. And yes, another shout out to Cody Cici. He continues to absolutely kill it. I thought he had another goal on Saturday, but it was deflected, of course, Brian Russ, which got him his 20th goal of the season. But he continues to be awesome. Remember that sad I threw out there from Danny Shiree Irving on last week's podcast? He leads the league in points for defensemen at 5B5 since March 27th. hashtag CC for Norris is now what I'm going to be starting up. You know, just kidding, of course, but I think he deserves to be extended by Pittsburgh. And like I said, for those have not listened to this before, my contract for CC would be around two years, $2.5 million per I think that's perfectly reasonable. He has been great with Matheson on the third pairing this year.

Just a 1,000% upgrade over Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz, who were just absolutely garbage the last couple of years. And then before I go to the commercial break, shout out to Casey DeSmith. I thought he played a very good game on Saturday. The two goals that he gave up were not his fault. One of them was just a weird balance. The other one, just a hell of a shot.

And he continues to have a very strong season. As a backup, probably would not be the playoff starter. And for good reason, because Tristan Jari is playing damn good right now as well. But great job by DeSmith in that game. And I think he probably has a couple more starts here down the pipe before. He'll probably be on the bench for the playoffs. I think the next start he'll get is against Philadelphia next week. play a back-to-back in Philly.

I think it's next Monday and Tuesday. I have to double-check that, though, but I believe that's when the last back-to-back of this schedule is for the Penguins and DeSmith will definitely get one of those starts and rifles. And maybe if those last two games against Buffalo don't mean much to the Penguins, I could totally see DeSmith getting a start there as well for obvious reasons. But that'll wrap up this first segment of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to go all into that Bruins game

and why this team is a true Stanley Cup contender right now. I mean, they go dig a bit into the underlying numbers, looking out the Penguins played defensively. Talk about some Tristan Jari. Cindy Crosby versus Bergeron. I know that's been a hot topic on Twitter for the last 24 hours or so. I have my take on it, so you don't want to miss that. But before we do that, it's time to get to 10-10,

a capsule collection of diamond rings that are responsibly sourced, limited edition designs at fair price points. It's an exclusive collection of 10 creative styles of diamond rings designed by 10 of the most distinctive designers working today. Ring sure to bring joy into her life. Using only diamonds responsibly sourced from Botswana, 10 female design masters have each produced a uniquely beautiful ring, ideal for engagement, Mother's Day, or simply a beautiful conversation piece.

They're the perfect way to bring light into her life. They're available now through Mother's Day only at blue nile.com. Just search the words 10 by 10. It features high quality, fine jewelry that will surprise and delight in fairly priced so you can give her something special and truly meaningful. If you're on the hunt for the perfect unique racial treasure forever, you're definitely going to want to check this out. They won't be around for long,

so find them now by searching the words 10 by 10 only at blue nile.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of The Locked on 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. So let's talk about how much fun that game was yesterday because I think that was the first time since the return to play playoffs against Montreal last summer that I actually stood up for most of the game and watched it, had my hands on my head a little bit.

I've been just mostly watching the games sitting down this year just because, you know, it's the regular season. You know, you don't have to stand up and watch games until the playoffs usually. But yesterday, it just had that playoff feel. I would love if these two teams did meet in the playoffs. I know it's probably not the best matchup for Pittsburgh. And I'm going to get into that right now. I know the Penguins, of course, had that 1-0 win. There have been some people that say, you know, well, Pittsburgh should be rooting to play Boston.

I'm just a little hesitant on having them as my preferred matchup, just because, 2013 PTSD from watching Tuka Rask go 980 and just the penguins losing their way against them. And, you know, obviously, Tuka Rask is not going to be 980 against them in this series. And I don't think the penguins are going to lose their way like they did those eight years ago. It's a completely different staff, different team and all that. But just something about the Bruins just kind of makes the penguins go a little bit crazy. It's not, like I said, it's not what it was in 2013. But still to this day, they drive the penguins a bit nuts.

I think is the word for it. And they always have struggled playing in Boston. Like I said, they only have one win in Boston in their last seven years. They actually broke that this year. But that being said, if you look at the Bruins lineup in their defense, you know, their four groups outside that top line, there is not a lot of depth there, which I'm also warming up to the fact that maybe it's not as bad as I make it out to be. But I'm also just really scared of that Marshawn-Burgeon-Postron-Postronk line.

And yes, I'm going to get into the Cindy Crosby talk here. right after this. But if you look at their depth after that, they have the Hall-Kray-Cheek-Smith line, which is good, but is it better than the Penguin's second line when healthy? No, it's not.

But then you look at the Bruins' bottom six, and the Bruins' bottom six was an absolute joke. Yesterday, I saw some stats from 404 Responska, who I've said on the podcast so many times. Please go follow him. He has a lot of great Penguins' tweets during the game. If you look at the Bruins' line stats, these come from Moneypuck.

Hall of Cray-Cheek-Smith, had 27% of the expected goals, 37% of the Corseys, so shot attempts. De Brusk, Lazare, and Coil, 35% of the Corsee, 17% of the expected goals, Richie Coralie Wagner, which is the Bruins' fourth line, 16.9% of the expected goals, 36.4% of the Corsee. That is absolute dog shit, and I had honestly no idea. Just because I don't follow the Bruins that much, that their bottom six consisted of Debrusk Lazar Coil and Richie Coralli Wagner,

and that it was that bad this year, because you look at a player like Charlie Coyle and it's like, wow, you know, pretty good player, right? I mean, good solid depth, third-line player can play center. Apparently, I didn't know they hasn't scored a goal in 27 games this year, and I think that contract is pretty bad as well. So, yeah, he's been a major disappointment in Boston this year. So the Penguins definitely have the depth advantage. If you look at Boston's defense, Charlie McVoy is having a Norris caliber season. He would be my Norris pick as of right now.

After that, they have Matt Grizzlic, who's all right. Mike Riley, he's fine, but after that, there's a lot. There's just not any good defenseman there. And that, obviously, Tuka Rask is great, but, you know, Swamen's been playing well. Vladar is also been playing well for Boston. Obviously, Tuka Rask is going to start in the playoffs if he's fully healthy. But I guess what I'm trying to say is it's not that nightmare matchup for Pittsburgh that it was in years past. My point is that I would rather play Washington and the Islanders over them because Pittsburgh's had better results this season against them.

And I think they match up better against them than they do against Fills. Austin and you know I guess I'll get to this Bergeron versus Crosby thing I'm of the opinion in case you all did not see this on my Twitter I'm of the opinion that matching Cindy Crosby against Patrice Berseran is a little bit ludicrous because I'd rather them just put Sid against any one of the other Bruins lines and then he can just go to work with his line and you know same with Hifgeny Malkin when he returns and now I understand what the nayshares will say in response and that's well you know what other line can shut down that perfection line, Sid's the only one that can do it.

And my response, personally, to that would be, I think the Blue Guraston-Rees-Tanav line can do it, and I think they can also attack a bit. They've been one of the best shot suppression lines in the league when they're fully healthy. They were outstanding last season, and I understand going up against Marshawn, Bergeron Posternak is a huge chore. But Sid did all right yesterday,

but I think he still conceded nine chances against only 5-4. I mean, he did hold his own. Believe me, he absolutely did. He's making a case to be a Selke finalists, potentially even win the Selke this year. But can Sid do that for a seven-game series against that line? That's just my number one question. And like I said, I understand the opposite end of it because you allow Sid and

Bergeron their lines to cancel each other out and then you trust your other lines to go win you the game. I 1,000% understand that. But I would rather have Sid create a mismatch with his line against one of the other three Bruins lines and the same with Gino's line so that they can win the game there and then have the Blugher line, which has been pretty good when healthy, and Blugher has really come into his own offensively this year, especially, and he's been great defensively as well, have them go out against the Marshawn, Bergeron, Posnerick line and see how

they do against it. But that's just my personal opinion. I know some other people are going to side with the other side of what I'm saying. I understand that. I'm willing to give it another chance on Tuesday to see how Sid does against Bergeron. I just think it's just a little ludicrous to have him go against him every single shit because of how. Bergeron plays defensively in his own zone. He's the best defensive center in the league. I mean, the Selke Trophy is basically the Berserun trophy at this point anyway. So we'll see.

If I eat crow, I eat crow on it. It won't be the first time I eat crow on something, and it won't be the last time I do it either. But going back to the game overall, just what a defensive clinic it was for Pittsburgh on Sunday. If you go to Natural Statrick, and you look at the underlying numbers overall, I tweeted this out yesterday if I can go find the tweet,

because basically the entire game was played at 5-5-5 until the very end where Gensel, there was a high-sticking penalty, took a basically a stick to the face, and I think Bergenon went to the box. I'm sure Bruins fans are going to be complaining about that until the end of time, because for some reason they decided to do it with Sidney Crosby. So overall for the performance, actually,

the Penguins had 53% of the shot attempts, 84% of the high danger chances, and 69% of the scoring chances for, nice number, of course. for the high danger at 5-5 in all situations, 11 to 2 in favor of the Penguins. 53% of the shot attempts. And this team played not even 24 hours prior to that. That is a masterclass performance from the Penguins.

If you look at the heat map and, you know, offensive zone unblocked shot attempts, heat map, the Penguins had a lot in front of the net for Boston, but for the Bruins in front of Pittsburgh's net, played a little bit from about, you know, 15 to 20 feet out. but basically nothing in front of the net. The penguins really just made them play, like I said, 15 to 20 feet out. They had a little bit to the right side of the net a little bit from the points. But Pittsburgh did an outstanding job defending against Boston.

Like I said, I think this is honestly the best defensive performance of the season. And Mike Sullivan has been playing, at least in my opinion, their best defensive hockey since 2015, 2016, when they steamrolled everyone from March on when they really started to get hot. I mean, this is just lockdown defense from Pittsburgh. and it's one thing to shut a team out and play well, but it's another thing to not only shut a team out, but shut a team completely down where they only have two high danger chances overall throughout the game.

This was, I think, again, I'll say it, the Penguins' finest performance of the season, and again, a message to the rest of the league that the Pittsburgh Penguins are back. They mean business. They're ready to contend for a fourth Stanley Cup of the Sidgino era and that they can beat any team in this division in a seven-game series. I will keep shouting that into the void for the end of time.

This team can 1,000% beat any of these three other teams in the division in a best of seven series. And I wouldn't put it past them to potentially beat Tampa Bay in a seven game series if they're fully healthy, Colorado or even Vegas or whoever comes out of the North Division. That game yesterday really was a statement win. And these are the kind of games at Pittsburgh. They're going to have to win in the playoffs. Those very low scoring games going to the third period, obviously this one's zero zero and then not even what five minutes in gensel makes them pay within the

slimest of margins i loved that pass from brian dumlin to get it to crosbie along the boards it's one of those underrated plays that i think goes unseen or unnoticed during some of the games the season for the penguins but he was engaged in a heated board battle got it to crosbie who got it to gensel and he makes no mistake with it and goes top cheese unswomen that's all it takes for jake gensel to strike like i said it's the slimmest of margins gets another goal on the season and I will also continue to shout this into the void. Gensel is a top five pure goal score in hockey. I understand he's not out there with Alex Ovechkin,

David Pauce Chinuck, and Austin Matthews. But after that, you know, Miko Ransanin, Gensel, Leon Drysadle. I think those three right now, you can put them anywhere from 4 through 6, and you wouldn't hear an argument for me. Personally, I would have Drysadle at 4, Gensel at 5, Rantan in at 6, but I also could see why people would argue to put Rantan at 5 and maybe Gensel at 6. Like I said, for me personally, Gensel is a top 5 pure goal.

score in this league. You're always going to have the naysayers out there saying, well, you know, he plays with Cindy Crosby, he plays with Cindy Crosby. Enough of that garbage. He's a great playmaker, even away from Ced. You should just see what he did last season when Crosby was out for over a month with his hernia. He still was producing at an insane clip with Evgeny Malk. I think he had 43 points in 39 games before he got hurt. And here's a cool stat for you. Out of Gensel's last 170 points, 81 of those points have been goals. I think over the last couple of seasons. So he has been a rock for Pittsburgh,

and I'm so excited that he's here, not just for the short-term future, but for, I think, a long-term future as well. I think that's my main takeaways from this game. I thought Jeff Carter had another solid game with Pittsburgh. That play in the first period that really struck out to me, I talked about it earlier on in the podcast, but it's basically slowly skated the puck up the ice

with two Bruins nearly converging on him, and then boom, dangles both of them, creates a scoring chance and a high-danger opportunity. I know it doesn't go in, but those are the kind of little plays that I hope Jeff Carter continues to make down the stretch and end of the playoffs here. And he's been such a force since coming over from Los Angeles. Like I said, the lines before I get to the next seven, what I would do right now when I'm leaning towards Gensel Crosby Rust. And with Hal McCann, Zucker, and Carter have played, I would keep that line together. Maybe go Tanev Malkin-Captan and then Ashton-Rie's Blugher, or if you want to reunite Tanev down with Ashton-Rueh,

maybe you can put Evan Rodriguez up there. I'd probably prefer the Tann of one, though, just because we saw what Evan Rodriguez did in a top six role in the earlier parts of the season, and I don't really think that would be too good of an idea. I think if you leave him in a bottom six roll, he would be totally fine as he's been the last three to four weeks. But these two teams will play again on Tuesday, last meeting of the season until the playoffs, and we'll see if the Penguins can continue to remain in first place.

After that, they will go to Washington to play the Capitals for the final two times of the regular season. But all right, that's it for this segment. Coming up in the next time, we have some NHL TV news, as it was announced that NBC is no longer going to be broadcasting games next season. They will not have the second package along with ESPN. That'll be Turner Sports.

And we'll also get to a couple other listener takeaways. Before we do that, it's time to talk about bed online. The fastest, easiest way to bed on all your sports section. Football might be over with the NBA and the NHL are in full swing. It covers awards. TV shows in reality TV and get real-time updated odds and props to almost anything you can imagine. It has your cover for all the news, scores, and odds.

It's the best way to place your bets, and it's free to sign up for. You can head to the website or use your mobile device sent up today and receive a 50% off. Welcome bonus on your first deposit. That's been online. Your online sports experts with a promo code locked on. And finally, we cannot forget about Billap Bar, 18 amazing flavors, six new ones. Cookies and Cream, caramel, brownie care cake are the big ones, 12 originals, coconut almond, raspberry, German chocolate peanut butter.

The bars are covered 100% chocolate. They are soft and easy to chew. My favorite flavors, again, is still the cookies and cream, 17 grams of protein, 130 calories, 4 grams of trigger 4 grams of net cards You can go to Beulba.com and use promo code Locked 15 and you'll get 15% off your next order. That's promo code locked 15 for 15% off at Billbar.com.

All right, so we're back here on this episode of the Lockedon Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. You know how to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes saw the show is Twitter at LORSwear Penguins. So the big news of the day-to-day around the league. So NBC is done with the NHL. So TNT will have the second TV rights deal. I think it'll be a seven-year contract. Andrew Marchand, I'm reading the article from him,

but Sports Business Journal had it first, and then Bob McKenzie reported that it would be Turner Sports that will be getting the second TV rights package deal. And in case anyone does not know what Turner Sports is, that will be TNT. I'm not sure if TBS will be involved, but I know TNT will. TNT has done the final four. They have done the NBA with The Inside the NBA show with Shaq and Charles Barkley and a whole bunch of NBA games on their. And I think they picked up something else this year as well. So it's been a good year with them. Also, I think there's potentially going to be HBO and Max might be involved in this as well.

But my overall thoughts on this, this is great news for the NHL. And I wasn't expecting much going into this new TV rights deal package just because they did so bad in the past by somehow signing with NBC for 15 years and only having them as the primary rights holder. I don't really know why they didn't choose any other network. But, you know, this is the fresh start that the league needs, especially with new play-by-play people and new analysts in the game of hockey. In my personal opinion, I think NBC has been way too stale for too long. I mean, we don't need to hear what Pierre McGuire is going to say during games and where this player is from and where he played his little pee-wee in Bantam hockey.

We don't need to hear Mike Milbury say something stupid about grit and toughness. We don't need to hear Eddie Olchek commentate on games. I never really thought he was that good. The only people I'd honestly bring over from NBC to one of those two networks is Brian Boucher, who does a great job, John Foresland and Kenny Albert. I think the rest probably don't need to come over. Maybe Patrick Sharp. I think Liam McHugh and Catherine Tappen will do their own thing with football in the Olympics,

and I don't think anyone's going to hire Pierre McGuire. But I think this has been a long time coming. I mean, you know, gone now are the days where NBC is putting on horse racing during a hockey game or starting games when it's supposed to be at 3 o'clock. we're starting games at 325 or 330. I mean, that is just freaking stupid. When you say you're going to start a game at 3 o'clock, you know, 308 or whatever, make it at that time.

Don't make it 325 or 330. If you're going to start the game at 325 or 330, just say you're going to start the game at 325 or 330. And, you know, literally yesterday it was around 3 o'clock. I put the game on, they were doing all these features and they finally dropped the puck at 325. I literally went to the storm back in 25 minutes with my girlfriend because I'm like, well, you know, NBC's added again with their shenanigans.

and, you know, like I said, that's something I'm definitely not going to miss. And I really don't think they promoted the sport as much as they should have during games. You know, the big example I'll use, they're throwing all these Chicago Blackhawks games out there during these last few years when the team is in the basement of the standing. Same with Detroit. Like, no one wants to watch a Chicago Detroit game on your Wednesday Night Hockey Edition when there's plenty of other great games between high prolific teams that are playing on the same night. Like, no one wants to watch two basement-dwelling teams go out.

I mean, you look at ESPN with Monday night football. Usually they have really good matchups every week. The Sunday night football game with NBC with how they do that. Usually, again, game of the week, MLB, Sunday night baseball on ESPN, another really good game that they usually have. So NHL badly needed to get away from NBC. I'm really excited to see what play-by-play commentators and analysts they bring in here, especially with Turner Sports.

I think they've done a great job with the NBA. They've added a lot of personality to the shows there and to the broadcast. I think that's something, again, that the NHL really needs. Just because none of these shows or none of these broadcasts have any personality. It's just the same thing with all serious stuff and all that. And you watch the NBA on TNT and Inside the NBA show. And you see Shaq and Charles Barkley just shitting on each other, trolling each other. It's like, wow, I would love if the NHL broadcast has something like that.

So bring on two people that are like that because I really feel like that would drive up a lot of ratings and just bring some good data analysis to the table. None of this grit and toughness stuff are putting out hits as a good statistic to measure. who's winning the game and some other stuff. So it's badly needed, and I'm really happy for the NHL today as they secured two pretty prominent networks within the sports. We're obviously ESPN is the worldwide leader in sports, but Turner Sports has done a great job with not just the NBA in recent years,

but with March Madness as well. So like I said, great news for the league. Before I do end this episode today, let's get to a few listener takeaways here. Penn 67 says, your spot on another great defensive game, nothing flashy, but it's very sound, thought Zucker was quite noticeable in his line also. Yeah, I do agree. Zucker, the goals are going to start coming for him. He is just so snake-bitten right now on Penn 67.

It is just not even funny. I mean, I think he's just overthinking it a lot right now when it comes to his chances. He just needs to fire every puck that he has on net. Stop trying to make that extra pass or extra player or whatever. And his fire it on net more times than not he will score. He's too good of a player to be this snake-bitten. Only negative he says would be maybe Captain's Cup. Turnovers, mind knew he was making things happen.

Yeah, I thought he was playing well. But, yeah, he did have a couple turnovers in the game. I think one of them led to a two-on-one. They're lucky that Craig Smith flubbed it. I think that came in the second period when there was no score. Frytime says, great game. Good to see Jari finally get a shutout. Yes, Jari has been great these last couple games.

And right after Mike Sullivan showed faith in him, you know, he has not disappointed. He has only allowed one goal in the last 120 minutes of action. So he is your playoff starter, barring an injury, barring, just a collapse down the stretch here in these last seven games. But, yes, nice to see them respond to better competition. Nick Berlanski of the tip of the iceberg podcast. Please go listen to that podcast, another outstanding Penguins podcast with a lot of great content. Nick says Penguins protecting their own net from extremely well and makes this team changes so they can keep it up. Great win. Yeah,

I mean, that was, like I said, the best I've seen them protect the front of the net all season and their best defensive performance overall all season. If they continue to have performances like that down the stretch and end of the playoffs, I do not think there will be a team that can beat them in a best of seven series. Iris, AJ says great team wins, some great suffocating. in defense today. Jari erased the meltdown last week with his last two games. Jeff Carter is so smooth. He will be fantastic in the postseason. He won't fall in the playoffs like other midseason acquisitions in the past year. Yeah, that latter point, I 1,000 percent agree. This is not another Patrick Marlow situation where he kind of forgot how to skate in his hands aren't there. He 1,000

percent still has his hands. I mean, he's still shooting a lot of pucks on net with Pittsburgh, and his skating is still very much there. I mean, he looks like he's one of the fastest players on the ice, night in and night out. And I'm so excited to see what he can do on that third line with McCann and Zooker in the playoffs. That's going to be a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams in this division and even outside the division if the Penguins get to the final four. But yeah, suffocating defense and Jari again was awesome. Alan T. Yoder, this skip until Gensel's score was basically, he said it was almost like a snooze fest.

Honestly, Alan, I disagree with that a bit. I think for a nothing, nothing game, there was plenty of chances at both ends of the ice, more so for the Penguins. They were not playing a boring game here. It was mainly just both teams were forechecking. well and the penguins 1-2 neutral zone trap was really stifling boston as the bruns were trying to come into the penguin zone um it was some good hockey despite being a very low-scoring game and i you do say plenty of chances mccan just needed to have sticks that didn't break some bad passes

cleaned up and it's probably not a one-nothing lame hopefully the pens and islanders can win tuesday and extend this division lead so yes if the islanders do win on tuesday the penguins will be uh one point up still but if the penguins beat boston in regulation they will not only be nine points up on the ruins, but three points up on the Washington capitals before traveling to Washington to play them on Thursday and on Saturday. But yes, as Gilward also says, this was playoff hockey, the Crosby line. I wouldn't say it's the best line in hockey, but it's definitely up there. Yep, Carter's been great. And yes, I'm sure Bruins fans were definitely going to complain about Gensel there at the end because, you know, they did the same thing with Sidney Crosby in the

previous meeting with these two teams. So that will do it for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. A bit longer one today, but I had a lot. a lot to get to. I really appreciate everyone listening to this one. I'll be back tomorrow night to recap the Penguins game against Boston before another episode on Wednesday to preview the Thursday night matchup against the Capitals, and then I'll have an episode on Thursday to recap that game. And also, I'll be doing my locker room that day as well. So a lot of Penguins content coming to you all this week. Like I said, the next episode will be tomorrow evening after the Penguins game against the ruins. And then Wednesday, I'll be previewing the series against Washington,

mainly the Thursday game. So hope you all enjoyed this one. It's a great time to be a Penguins fan. I'll say that. This team is playing lights out right now, and Mike Sullivan is perhaps having his best coaching job of his Penguins tenure this season. I know it's hard to top that 2016 season just because of how they steamrolled everyone. But the performance thus far this season is it's getting really close to that point. And it's actually a crime that he is not getting a lot of consideration for the Jack Adams trophy. But that's my take on that.

Again, I hope you all have a great rest of your Monday. Thank you so much for listening. And I'll talk to you all Tuesday night.