Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - This day in Penguins history, plus talking about that Cook-Staal-Kennedy line vs the HBK line

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

Today's a pretty big special day in Penguins history as they won Game 6 against the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 to send it to a Game 7 where we all know what happened next. Hunter also touches on his Cooke-Staal-Kennedy tweet from last night and how that line is potentially just as good as the HBK line. Hunter also touches on what the lines will look like for the play-in series for the Penguins and much more! 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, welcome to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes, follow me on Twitter. At Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L-O-U-Square Penguins. Another week, happy Tuesday to you all on June 9th, 6-9, a very, very nice day, the nicest day of year. And, okay, I'm just going to stop saying that before I just keep saying nice, because I could just say nice for 6-9 for the entire episode. But, you know, we're not going to do that. As always, this show is brought to you by Bill Farr. We have more about Bill Pard coming later on in the show.

But, you know, like I said, hope you all are staying safe. Hope you all are doing well on 6-9. Okay, you know what? I'm now officially done saying this. Had interesting day around the NHL today. The Masterton Trophy nominees were announced. So, of course, one player on every team is announced for the Penguins. It's of Gennie Malkin.

Is he going to be a finalist? No. the Masterton Trophy, I'll share my thoughts on that. You know, it's become a joke, honestly. It might sound harsh, but, you know, when a player such as Pascal DuPui doesn't win after coming back from blood clots, Matt Zuccarello didn't even win it,

especially when he was coming back from, you know, I think he couldn't even speak because of one of his injuries. I have to forget, excuse me, I forget which injury it was. but I do know, I think he was, like, in the hospital or something, he could not speak, and the fact that he was able to come back and kick some serious ass, and he didn't win it. That was ridiculous. You know, in the past, you know, Yarmier Yager won for just, you know, continuing to play hockey, I guess.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Yarmie Yager, but the fact that he won that was pretty pathetic. And then, of course, you know, that was the year, I think the year that DuPween didn't win it, I think was when Devin Dubnick did because, oh, he remembered how to play hockey again. He's not on the Oilers, everyone. It's just, it really just, it boggles my mind how a player like that can win the Masterton trophy, but someone such as like Pascal Dupuy or Matt Zugarello don't win. And, you know, there's, you know, Chris Latang didn't even win it. You know, he's come back from so many injuries.

You know, of course, he's come back from a stroke. You know, it's, the award is just a joke as of the way people vote. I think this year, if you want a couple obvious winners that you can make a case for either one, Bobby Ryan, you know, coming back from alcohol problems. that's just that's that's an easy one right there you know you could easily give that to him and then you know the flyers representative oscar wimblam i 100% think he's going to be a finalist you know what he's going through with cancer and all that and hopefully he's able to make a full recovery and he can be back on the ice soon and i think when he does make the full recovery

and he does come back onto the ice i think he's going to kick some serious ass so i mean like i said i think those are two finalists right there the third one maybe um stephen johns of the dallas stars i've been seeing you know he missed a lot of last year i think with conclusive hushens he's been able to come back and play pretty decently he could be the next finalist but i mean if two of the three finalists are not oscar lindbaum and bobby ryan just literally just cancel this award forever because that is that would be just absolutely ridiculous in my opinion if um neither one of those two made the finalists and and honestly if one of those two don't even win it like i said you just disband this award overall because it really is um pathetic so um now

we got that out of the way moving on so we did have phase two start this week so players can now skate in small groups. Evgeny Malkin, of course, had his picture on his flight, returning to Pittsburgh, so he's back in action. I'm sure a lot of the other players are coming back. You know, Jason Zucker, of course, was in Minnesota. Patrick Marlowe might be coming back from California. I think Marcus Pedersen went back to Sweden, so he's probably going to have to be coming back. We'll probably honestly have to do a 14-day quarantine, considering he's coming in from overseas.

So, of course, you know, that means they can only basically skate in, like, three to four players per session. I think is what it is. I have to double check on that, but you know, it's very small groups. You can't do too, too much. And then they're hoping for training camps to start in, I think, mid-July. They don't want it to start before July 10, so probably around like July 15th would be my guess is where they wanted to start. Other than that, let's see here. Of course, this day in Penguin's history, on June 9th, we had game 5 of the Penguin Sharks game just four years ago where the city was just on absolute fire. I tweeted a few pictures of that this morning. just the way all the fans congregated into the city you had the big screen outside of PPG Paints Arena

then that one filled up then they had to have another one at Market Square because there was just so many people there were such a high demand so they said you know what we're going to put another big screen in Market Square that filled up really really quick I was surprised they didn't have to do another one in this city I don't even know where else they would put one that's just a massive

excuse just a massive place for people to go I know the Penguins lost that game but man that game was just so much fun to watch the way the penguins were able to tie that game at two because from that moment on i was just like man i think they're going to do it they're finally going to win their first championship at home and that drought we don't have to see it then win another championship on the roads they can celebrate with the fans at home but you know of course it was not meant to be and then they went and end up doing it on june 12 which is uh yeah three days away to believe it or not but you know also this day 11 years ago now can you believe it's been

11 years since this game six of Penguins Red Wings. That was on NBCSN last night as they're doing Stanley Cup final week. You know, I was watching that game. You know, I had a bit, maybe a little bit of a controversial tweet saying that the Cookstall Kennedy line was just as good as the HBK line. I know some people really did not like that, but you know, I'll explain my reasoning. Of course, we don't know how great Phil Kessel was, but, and it's really hard to compare Phil Kessel and Jordan Stahl because they're such different players.

But I will say that Jordan Stahl was a monster. just the way he was able to play at both ends of the ice, his finishing ability, his playmaking, his play in the defensive zone. He was just such a great two-way center. What he did to Brian Rolfsky in game four with that goal, I mean, it's one of the top three biggest goals of that playoff run. You know, top three goal of that series, too,

if we're just going off that as well. But, you know, he was just such a menace, you know, he's one of the best players of the Crosby-Malking era. You know, it still sucks that he had to leave, but he was just so good in that series. And also I will say, you know, when Matt Cook wasn't being an idiot, and everyone knows my thoughts about Matt Cook, I think he was a really, really good player.

He would always score about 15 goals a season. Carl Haglund really didn't have any hands, but, you know, I think you can make the argument, I guess, for him. He's just faster. He's more tenacious to Pucks. And then, Tyler Kennedy, you know, I mean, I think he's underappreciated in his time in Pittsburgh. You remember he had a 20-goal season,

was mostly a 15-16 goal score during his years with the Penguins. I think it's closer than some people want to think. I know Nick Benino's awesome. Please don't get me wrong. And I know what he did in that run was just historic. You know, the game winning goal against Washington. Just so many other clutch moments for that line. But I will say that that line against the Red Wings,

the Cookstall Kennedy line was just disgusting. You know, I'm not going to say that it's better than the HPK line, but I don't, because I don't think it is, but I think it might be as good as it is my argument. But, you know, still, just watching that game back, that was honestly the first time I had watched that full game back and since I think I watched it live Man that the Penguins just so outplayed the Red Wings during that game

I know the Red Wings brought it to them in the third period a bit But man the Penguins it just it felt different when you were watching I mean I think the Red Wings that through the first couple of periods They were barely putting up 15 shots on net That was a Red Wings team that was averaging 37 shots per game During that playoff run I will never get over how good that Red Wings team was you know a prime henrik zeniroch a pride

pavo d'adsoot you know you have a 37 year old nick lydstrom who's almost 40 at that point actually um excuse me he was 39 at that point jeez um math is not my strong too yeah 39 year old defenseman almost 40 playing like he's 22 in that series tomas holmstrom who's a complete animal johan franzin valteri filpula brad steward brian ralphalski jonathan eriton when he was still actually decent i know chris osgit was kind of meh but you know marion hosa i mean the list goes on and on and on. Chris Draper, when he was still doing pretty good. It's just that team was

just so good in the way the Penguins were able to take it to them in that game six, forced the game seven, you know what you happen with Rob Skidari doing his thing, being the piece as they like to call them, call him, and then of course being really, really bad when he came back to Pittsburgh just a few years later, but still those couple saves, you know, that, I made Rob Skadari into a folk hero and, you know, people will never, ever forget that. So, yeah, just a lot of fun to watch that game. I wish I could have watched game seven, but, you know, I've watched it like a a month or two ago when they were doing the classic game sevens of the Stanley Cup final. So, you know, I really didn't think I needed to watch that again.

I don't need to have another heartbreak like I did at that time watching it, and especially not during 2009 where my heart was just through my beating through my chest. So, yeah, you know, a lot of fun to watch that. But, you know, what's also a lot of fun is talking about bill bar. You know, they're protein bars that taste like a candy bar. You have 16 amazing flavors, eight chocolate nut flavors, eight chocolate nut free flavors. They're covering in 100% chocolate. They're soft and easy to chew.

favorite flavors is still the peanut butter brownie 20 grams of protein 170 calories three grams of sugar three grams of neck carbs we still have that offer you can go to bilbar dot com use promo code locked on you'll get 10 dollars off your first order use promo that's promo code locked on for 10 dollars off at bill bar dot com also guys you know how could we forget today you know this day on 1984 the penguins drafted mario lemieux in the first round of the nchel draft which is the only time in club history the penguins selected more than one player's the first round. They also drafted Roger Bellinger and Doug Bodger in the first round. It was also the only time the penguins had chosen first overall up until that point, of course. You know,

we don't know how many times the penguins have drafted first overall over the years, like Cindy Crosby and Mark Andre Fleury. I guess I had a cough there. Still, you know, where this franchise be without our Lord and Savior, Mary O'Meue, the greatest player in hockey history. I will die on that hill forever. I think he was more talented than Wayne Gretzky, and I think he would have shatter his records had Mario not been hurt all the time or have Hodgkin's lymphoma. Let's see. So we didn't do a show yesterday. We also had yesterday on June 8th. Three years ago that day, the Penguins came back for game five against the National Predators. Two-two series. They absolutely whooped the Predators 6-0 to take a three-two series lead.

We all know what happened on June 11th when we had the intent to blow call, which we'll be talking about this week as we get up to June 11th, which is on Thursday. Oh, wait, actually, I should say on Thursday, We're going to have a very special episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. This episode is actually going across the entire network. That's all I'm going to say. I think you guys will really, really appreciate it once you listen to it. That's all I'm going to say. Everyone who worked on it did a magnificent job.

So, yeah, that's all the tease that I'll give you guys. It's just, it's really, really good from what I've listened to and what I've seen. So we'll probably talk about the June 11th on Friday, which is June 12th, which will really talk about the 2009 cup and the 2016 cup. And if I'm not mistaken, I think that was the day I graduated high school four, four years ago. So, you know, always got to remember those big dates. All right. So I am just really, really thinking of other stuff to talk about because there are just not a lot going on right now in the hockey world.

I hope you guys did listen to the Jeopardy podcast for Locked on Ducks with me, Locked on Ducks host Jason and Sean Woodley, who is, yeah, like I said, technically my boss. and then the host of Locked-on Kings, Sarah, it's just, it was so much fun to do, even though I got my ass looked. But definitely check it out. And I know you'll probably come away laughing your ass off at how bad I did. But, you know, I'm going to come back and I'm going to kick ass with it at some point. Oh, I did want to touch on this that I saw yesterday. The black players in the NHL have actually formed a hockey diversity alliance led by Evander Kane, who's spoken out a lot about what's going on lately, and Akeem Aalue, of course,

who had the stories, he had these players' tribuner. article of how um it's basically you know he was made fun of for just being black and you know just a lot of players and coaches were just really really racist to him and all this so um they have the they have the executive ward that includes Trevor Daly mac dumbo wayne simmons chris stewart and joel ward apparently they're going to operate independently of the league to enact change this is all according to frank zarevili he also says that the membership is open to everyone who shares the same goals and although they're independent of the nchal their goal is to work productively with the league this is all according to Frank Cedar Bailey.

So, you know, my thoughts on that, you know, about absolutely freaking rules. I think they're going to do an outstanding job with it. We all know how much change needs to happen in this country regarding racial injustice and the fact that some of these NHL players decided to enact change with making a hockey diversity alliance. That's just, that's freaking awesome. You know, I supported 110%.

And I know that they're going to do a damn good job with it. Also want to say, happy birthday to Connor Shiri. I'm going to continue to call him Connor Sherry because, you know, the Penguins are going to need him to be back to that 2015-16-2016 mode for Connor Sherry when he was actually performing really, really good and not at the level that he did from 2017 onward where he just wasn't nearly as good as a player

when he was going under Connor Sherry, not Connor Sherry. So he's now 28. It's hard to believe that he's, well, time really has flown in. He was only, what, 24 around the time of the Penguins' First Cup? You know, that just four years just goes by in the blink and I, you know, I really, I just, I can't underestimate enough how fast these four years went by, you know, especially considering, you know, I mean, I myself, I was a senior in high school at that point, and now I've graduated college, and the four years, it just felt like it was yesterday.

It still does. It's just absolutely remarkable how fast time flies. Let's see, we also had yesterday on June 8th, 1988, Mario Lemieux won the Art Ross Trophy, and he had the Hart Memorial Trophy. He was the first penguin player to win either award. He also won many of those awards. So, yeah, that was the first of many for Mario in both categories. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe that was the first year the Penguins made the playoffs under Mario. Yeah, it was the 1988-1989 season. Okay, so I think I missed it by a season.

My bad. But still, you know, first of many for Mario. God, I just wish I was alive during that time where I could have seen Mario put up like 150, 160 points in a season. Just to see how bad the goalies were during the time because all these players are putting up these monster-like numbers scoring 60 goals you know a hundred assists you know you mean you never get that today because the goalies just have a lot more equipment on you know the league is just much different with scoring you know scoring's gone way down since i know scoring has kind of gone up the last couple of seasons overall for the league but you know it's not nearly at the point where it was

during the 80s where you know the goaltending was almost like it was optional basically so okay you know i've just been kind of ramming in on this point but for our next little segment I do have something else that we'll talk about. It'll be kind of almost like a playoff line preview for you guys and what I think the lines will look like. So stay tuned for that for these next couple of minutes. All right, so we're back here on Locked-on Penguins. I know the season's probably about, I'd say, close to about a month and a half

from being able to start. I think their target date is July 31st, along with the NBA, maybe early August. So, you know, maybe closer to two months, but, you know, it's never a bad time to potentially look at some playoff lines. So let's just get that. started. I've talked about this a little bit before. So on the first line, I really think they're going to go back to Jake Gensel with Crosby and Sherry. You can kind of move Sherry in and out of the

lineup, well, just down the lineup, I guess. But, you know, Jake Gensel, I think works best with Cindy Crosby. I know the underlying numbers with Gensel and Malkin were through the roof when they were together. But I just, I think Mike Sullivan just prefers Gensel and Crosby together. We all know how mint they are together, and I'm sure they're going to be perfectly fine. And Sherry knows how to play with both of them, so I really think he can put up some decent numbers when he's next to them. For the second line, I think they're going to go. Of course, you'll have Evgeny Malkin with Brian Russ.

You know, Brian Rust had his best season of his career next to him. He was going to be a 30-goal score, had the season not been paused. I think, and then on his left wing, they'll probably put Jason Zucker. You know, I've said it before. You can always flip-flop Zucker and Gensel. It really doesn't matter. Zucker, I thought, played really, really well with Crosby before the season hiatus. but I think he'll play still pretty good with Malkin as well as Zucker.

I think can adapt to how Malkin plays. The third line, especially with now with Bukstad and Simone, not being able to be available to the penguins. They're going to probably have Patrick Marlowe on the left wing, Jared McCann at the center, and Patrick Hornquist on the right wing. Jared McCann, he's just an interesting situation for him. You know, he had that really hot start scoring at Will. And then, you know, he had that streak of like one goal in his last 20, 25 games,

something like that. He was hitting all these posts. Just going really, really cold. And, you know, that contract negotiation for him is going to be really, really interesting, I think. I'm going to be curious to see what he asks for, considering just the cold, dry spell that he went on for a lot of this season after starting out really, really hot. We all know the Penguins got him to be their third line center, but, you know, he's going to have to really play like it if he wants to get a number for his cap it that he's hoping to get. So I think that line's going to be really interesting to watch.

We all know the rejuvenation. Patrick Hornquist had. He was just absolutely sensational this season. You know, that's what he can do when he's healthy. I've said it before on this podcast. I'll keep saying it. You know, when he's healthy, he's really, really good. And, you know, we all know Patrick Marlow, I thought was playing well before the season paused as well. And then, you know, their third line, Part B, I guess. You know, Ashton Rees with Blugher and Tanev, you know, that's their shutdown checking line. They can use that in the defensive zone when they need to win a draw. We all know how good defensively, Aston Reese was this season. Teddy Blueger really, really

came into his own. I was talking with Cam, of course, last week on an episode. I'm sure you guys listened to that where, yeah, I mean, Teddy Bluger was honestly one of my most improved players. Like I said, you know, he was finally getting that goal scoring touch. And, you know, you could just tell he was ready last year when he was playing in place of Matt Cullen. At times, Matt Cullen had just lost every step in his body. He just wasn't the same anymore. But still, it was really liking the way Bluger was playing. And then, you know, Brandon Tanna, what a signing he's been. I know I criticized it at the time. I know a lot of other people did. I'll eat all the crow on that one. and always, I'll always have the old takes exposed on that one, as one of my buddies, Jeff likes to say to me,

as he's been begging me to get on left for dead as I finished recording this podcast. So apologies to Jeff. If you listen to this, I'm just about done, and I will be on left for dead very, very shortly. Defensively, we all know Dumlin Letang, that's the shutdown pairing. That's one of the best pairings in the league.

No question there. Second pairing, Patterson and Marino. You know what you're going to get from John Marino with how good he was during his rookie season. We're hoping that Marcus Pedersen can get back to his rookie season for him. He'd kind of taken a step back a little bit during times this season, but, I mean, it wasn't like too big of a step back, I should say. But I think hopefully he should be able to be good to go with the rest that he had.

And then we all know what they're going to do on the third pairing with Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz. You know, third pairing, if you want to play Jack Johnson, that's easily the best place for him to be. He had a little bit of success there early on in the season where his underlying numbers weren't too, too bad. He wasn't getting thrown out there against, you know, first and second line players. years. But, you know, the big question, of course, you know, how is Justin Schultz going to be? You know, he was an absolute mess for a lot of this year. He was a mess for a lot of last year. He just hasn't been the same since that ankle injury. So, you know, the Penguins are really going to

need to see if he can be the Justin Schultz. They remember him to be in the 2015-16 playoffs in the 2016-17 season. And then for goaltending, you know, your guess is as good as mine. I think they're probably going to start Murray game one. But on a much, much shorter leashed, as Josh Ewe, he said on an episode, just about a week and a half. go. This will not be a very long lease situation for Matt Murray. I know Matt Murray is Mike Sullivan's guy, but if Matt Murray struggles like he did a bit this season, he will be pulled for Tristan Jari, who was good for a bunch of this season, but his numbers were going down a bit as we got towards the late stages of the season before it was paused. So that's why I think the lineup will look like.

You know, let me know what your lineup would look like. Just, you know, tweet me, DM me, you know, and I'll put it on the show. This is a fan week. So, yeah, just if you guys want any questions answer on the show. Just let me know. Like I said, send me a tweet, send me a DM and I'll answer anything you guys want. And I may have some fans on the show this week. I still have to be, still

to be determined, excuse me. So, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Locked on Penguins. I know I rambled on a lot about a bunch of different stuff, but you know there's just not a lot going on with the sport right now. I mean, I know there's, we're in phase two, but still, you know, when we get more news with stuff, you know, you guys will be the first to hear it on Locked on Penguins. So thank you guys

so much for listening. We'll have another episode coming tomorrow, and I will talk to you all then.