Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - This Todd Reirden extension makes A LOT of sense for the Penguins...

Episode Date: August 20, 2022

There was FINALLY some news regarding the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Hunter dives into the Todd Reirden extension and promotion and why it does make sense for the Penguins going forward. He looks at his track record with Kris Letang since he came back, plus what he did with Mike Matheson after Jim Rutherford acquired him just a couple of years ago. He looks at what he could do with Petry even though he's a bit older, plus how the entire organization respects him as he's continued to grow since he got fired from Washington. He finishes the segment up with the power play discussion and why there are numerous reasons that it'll get back to where it normally is next season. After that, Hunter analyzes the Sean Monahan salary dump trade and shows the fans how prices are sky-high to move out bad contracts. What does this mean for the Penguins? Could a depth D trade be their only way out of the logjam? Why are prices so high right now? Finally, he ends the show with some way-too-early trade candidates for next season when the team is likely looking for some forward help towards the deadline.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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, happy Friday, August 19th, officially marking the end of the third week here of the very dull month of August in the offseason, though there was a lot of action around the NHL yesterday, Nazim Kodry, officially becoming a member of the Calgary Flame, Sean Monaghan being moved to make money. That topic is going to be coming up on today's episode. That's going to be in the second segment where we look into just how high prices are, you know, just to move a player, you know, even if Monaghan's caliber and how that could be a factor here. with the Penguins with about a month ago until training camp. But starting out for today's episode, though,

Ta Ruden was promoted to associate coach and was given a two-year contract extension. So I'm going to get into that, give my thoughts and why, you know, I think this is a totally fine move from the Penguins. And then to end the show, we're going to get into some early trade candidates for next season as the Penguins will, I think, be looking for some kind of forward help by the trade deadline if they don't make any more moves during the all season here. So that's all coming up right after this drop. Your Locked-on Penguins.

Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins.

And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So it was pretty quiet, obviously, in Penguin Land. And then boom, the team announced. is Tar Reardon has been promoted and has been given a two-year contract extension. He is now the associate coach of the Penguins right under Mike Sullivan. And Ron Hextell said on the official website, you know, he plays an important role on our coaching staff. He has a proven impact on the defenseman and contributes to the coaching staff as a whole with his wealth of knowledge from over a decade as an initial coach. We are excited to extend his contract.

Mike Sullivan even said he challenges as coaches to be better every day and his relationships with the players are invaluable. He is deserving of this promotion. are excited for him. You know, my neutral reaction for this was, you know what? Sure. Why not? You know, I think he's done a really nice job with the defenseman on this team. I mean, Matheson last year had the best year of his career.

Matheson himself has even said before he got traded that Reardon is the best coach that he's ever had at the NHL level. That is how important he, you know, was when he was here for those last couple of seasons. He really, you know, turned his game around, cleaned up a lot of those defensive issues. that were plaguing when he was in Florida and then unlocked even more parts of his offensive game. And boom, you saw a defenseman that really flourished even though it was on the third pairing for a lot of last year. But, you know, he still put up the best numbers of his career. A lot of that was due to Reardon.

Chris Letang, he had one of, if not the best season of his career last year, said our new career high in points was great. And his in the defensive zone, his underlines were really good. Him and Todd have always had a very close relationship going way back to when Reardon. Rudin was on the staff when Dan Bilesma was here. So those two were very close. I thought Traber Lido last year made a lot of big time strides. Heck, remember, even when Cody C.C. came in.

You know, we were all like, well, you know, Cody, he's not been good anywhere, but, you know, they have Reardon here, and he's able to turn his game around. Cody goes out, signs a massive extension, a massive extension, a massive deal with the Edmonton Oilers where he's getting, what, over $3 million per year to play on the third pair. So, you know, he knows what he's doing. And you know, part of that you saw he got head coaching opportunities this year, the Chicago Blackhawks.

They interviewed him for their job. I think the Boston Bruins was either him or Volucci that they interviewed. And I think honestly, now that he's an associate and teams are starting to see the success that he's had with the Penguins again, I think it's only a matter of time before he becomes an NHL head coach. again, maybe it's next year, maybe it's the year after that. If he's stolen the staff, I would like to think that he will be. But I think the penguins are grooming him, even though they like him,

but I think they're kind of grooming him to get another shot at being a head coach in the NHL. Now, a lot of people are probably going to say to me, well, Hunter, what about the power play last year? And yes, I understand. The power play was not as good as it was the year before, finished 19th in the NHL. but I do think it's not just, you know, what Reardon is drawing up. I think this scheme is mainly okay. I think part of it or a decent chunk of it is that it's the execution. You know, the Penguins, they pass up so many looks, you know, on the power play,

especially on a five on three. We saw that firsthand against New York Rangers, they had that member of that five on three for two minutes in game five. They had a chance to really put that game away right there, even though it was 2-0 late in the second period, they could have jumped on them even earlier. But no, they overpassed. They don't shoot the puck a lot more.

I don't think that's Reardon is doing. I think it's just the Penguins, you know, as the top players, they're just trying to look for that perfect play, even though they just have to take what's given to them. So, you know, I think less of just trying to be like the Harlem Globetrotters and more to just getting time of business should be beneficial to them. next year. But I also saw this great point here in the Friday insider of D.K. Pittsworth

Scott, Danny Shari, wrote a really good paragraph here about the power play last year. The Penguins, so they scored 7.3 goals per hour on the power play, but they generated 8.7 expected goals per hour. That's the highest of the Sydney Crosby of Guinea-Malkin era. So they were getting the chances. It's just, you know, what was the common denominator? They weren't putting the puck in the back of the net. And honestly, that was probably the common denominator for most of this team all season, whether it's 4B5, 585, 5E4, 5E3, whatever. The Penguins, most of their underwings were really good.

But one of the worst ones, their finishing ability. Bottom third, the entire year, I'm pretty sure for a good amount of time, they were 31 or 32. It went up, I only think, as high as like 27 or 28. And it's funny because the year before in 2020, 2021, the short season, they were the number one finishing team in hockey. You all can go look at the data. Look at the numbers. I specifically remember talking about that on the show.

They were the best finishing team in the league. And to go from that to another end of the extreme, it's just, it's typical. That's just like karma right there. So I think the penguins, you know, they weren't rewarded for some of their chances, even though, again, I think some of their problems were, you know, execution and just trying to be too cute. So I think, you know, you combine all three of those things with bad luck and not executing and maybe a little bit of the scheme. And that's what you get. You get, you have an average power play that just did not do well enough.

Because, you know, the year before, it was a top five unit. I'm about 95% sure that it was the number four unit in the league during the short season. So he has had power plays that have worked. It's just a matter of getting back to that, putting the puck in the back of the net more, and just not getting so unlucky. So I don't, I think you're probably going to see a little bit more of a regression to the mean for the power play next year. And also, I think this is a big deal too. I'm sure you all would agree.

Evgeny Malkin is hopefully, knock on wood here, he's going to be playing a full season, I get hurt a little bit, but, you know, he's not going to be out for the first 40, 41 games of next year. He's going to be fully healthy going into training camp, going into preseason, going into the regular season. That is going to play, I think, a big role into the power play, being better than it where it was last year when it finished 19th. You have him out there with said at all times.

You have Chris Tang at the point. You have Jake Densoe with his, you know, beautiful shot in playmaking ability. You have Brian Ross who can do his damage in front of the net. you know, I will gladly take my chances that this unit will get back to basics and will be a top five, top 10 unit in the league. I'm a fan of Reardon. I think he's done mostly a pretty good job with the Penguins. Again, his, you know, resume with defenseman speaks for itself. Want the power play to be better, but overall, I do think it will be.

And I'm also really excited to watch him coach up Jeff Petrie. You know, Petrie, you know, he's been a Norris candidate each of the last two seasons. well, at least last season early on, he was playing at a Norse caliber level. Even before that, I thought he was one of the best defensemen in the league. So even though he's a bit older, I think he can definitely do a lot of work with him. And especially someone like Ty Smith, you know, a young defenseman lost his way a little bit with Lindy Rough system in New Jersey last year. You know, can Todd work with him to get him back to the way he played during his rookie year

where he was just, you know, lighting things on fire. I know it's with the devils, so it's not a high bar, but, you know, he was still putting up pretty solid underlines. And, you know, you look at hockey prospecting and stuff. They are very high on him. That's for sure. So again, overall, Yen's happy. I'm fine with it.

You know, why not at this point? As long as they don't fire Mike Sullivan at some point and then replace him with Reardon, I think, you know, this is fine. I just would not want Reardon being the head coach of this team. But, again, I think I summarized everything I wanted to say. for this segment. Coming up in the second, we're going to get into the Sean Monaghan move yesterday

and why it's looking, I think, increasingly unlikely that the penguins might move a big salary defenseman out before training camp starts. Before we get to that, though, bet online.net is the fastest, easiest way to check out on all of your better needs. You can find all of your favorite sports and events at the number one online source for odds, lines, and games. You can find reviews and news of every league, including MLB,

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We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow this show's Twitter at L.O. Orange, underscore Penguins. So when the Flames, they had, when they were signing Cadre on Thursday, and, you know, I think that's a fine move for them. I will say this. It is hard. It's easy for a GM to, you know, lose Chuck and Nundra. And be like, hey, I'm going to blow this up.

We stink. But you know what? Bradford Living was like, hold that thought. I'm going to go out and actually make my team better or try to make my team better. And he got Jonathan Hebrough out of it, McKenzie Weeger, and he got Nazim Kai Breen. You can do a lot worse than that. That you are still, I think, I mean, they are still a playoff team in my eyes. The Pacific Division is very weak going into next year.

year. You have no idea who the favorite is at this point. Edmonton, McDavid Drysoddle, okay, but I mean, goaltending, Jack Campbell, you know, at Los Angeles, they're on the up and coming. Could they win it? Vegas. They don't have a goalie. Vancouver. I don't really know what their plan is. It's a very wide open division. So theoretically, honestly, Calgary could win that division next year,

even though they just lost two 100-point players. But to sign Caduce, had a day to make salary cash space, and they had to trade Sean Monaghan. who just a few years ago, I considered to be, I might be a little too high, I might have considered him to be one of the top 30 best players in the league. And you look at Jay Fresh's player model. This was back from 2019. He went in the 86th percentile for Winsborough replacement,

94th percentile for human strength offense, 93 percentile for power play, 83 percentile for finishing, primary assist per 60, 90 percent, goals four per 60, 90 percent. You look at now where he is, 22 percent, wins of rep replacement, 24% even strength offense, 27th percentile for finishing. So 73% of his peers are better than him with that. 76% of his peers are better with offense. Goals for 60th 13th percentile defense below 50%.

He is just a completely different player. And he's been banged up a lot ever since then. But still, you know, he was making what, over, yeah, 6.4 million for this evening. season. The flames had to give Montreal a first round pick just to take on that contract. And yeah, you know, it's three years down the line. So the flames are probably like, who cares. But still, that's a, that's a little bit of a hefty price to pay. You know, and especially, and I bring this up because the penguins, I don't think Ron Hextall would be prepared to give up a first round pick to get rid of a Jason's, a Ryan Dumlin, a Marcus Peders. He wants to keep those picks so he can keep

trying to, you know, stockpile their farm system, which has just been, you know, ravaged by all these trades. And, I mean, that's what happens when you're in win now mode. I mean, every team is just going to, you know, if you're in it to win it, you don't really care what your farm system looks like. Banners hang forever in the penguins, you know, they've won three in a row here. So I'll open up my Coke here. If I can do it, perfect. Again, they've won three in a row, so I don't really think they care, to be honest with you. So, but still, you know, I don't think Hextall is prepared to do that.

And especially, you know, those big players that can help them win right now, you're just, you're going to pay a first to get rid of that player. And especially someone like doing one, you know, you know, you don't have like a replacement for him, even though there's probably a couple people that could do it, but you're taking a massive risk. And are you willing to attach a first-on pick to get rid of a player that Latang likes playing with and then try to figure out who could replace them in-house when that may not work, that's risky.

Same with Pedersen. Who's going to go up and play with Jeff Petrie in the second period? Do you feel like you have someone that can do it? There's risk there. And this is why I think it's, at this point, it's more likely to me that you're going to see a depth defenseman get moved before the season so that they can get to the salary care. You know, someone like, again, like a POJ for a young forward, like it's on an ELC. Maybe it's someone like Mark Friedman for like a draft pick or something like that.

Maybe it's Chad Ruehdle, even though he had a good year last year, I think he would qualify there because right now, if you're my starting six. I've said this on the podcast quite a few times for those that may be listening for the first time. Dumlin-Latang, Pedersen Petrie, Ty Smith-Yanruta. I think those are my six right there. Maybe you can make arguments for other players coming in. Maybe not. But you leave a lot of good players out, like POJ, Mark Freeman, Chad Ruehle, who played almost a game last year.

So again, I think there's room there for the Penguins to move one if they wish. And an acquiring team would not be taking on such a massive contract in a Rueel. He makes almost like league minimum. You know, P.O.J, I think, makes under a million. I'm pretty sure Mark Freeman, he doesn't make much more than a million. either. So, you know, they have the room or they have, you know, what it takes to deal one of those players. It's just all a matter of, you know, does an acquiring team take an interest in one, excuse me, in one of those three players. That's, I think, the big thing for me.

And sure, you know, again, maybe you get back a bottom six forward, who's, you know, decent killing penalties, maybe you can provide some offense. Who knows, again, Neil's Hugglender. That's the guy I would have looked at Target from Vancouver. I know the Kinex needs some defenseman help. Jim Rutherford always always knows the penguin system very well since he was a general manager here in Patrick Galvin.

He does all the work there too. But I do think, you know, if there is a move that's going to be made, probably going to be a depth player that, you know, you can just replace pretty easily. And at that point, you know, you have your salary cap space.

you can move some forwards down to Wilkesbury and all that. And you might even have a little bit more cushion of space, you know, during this season to potentially add a player. And, you know, you're going to, they're probably going to have to be dollar in, dollar out moves during the year. Because, I mean, if I had the guess, they probably won't have more than a million or two in space if they do end up making a depth move here.

So, you know, I do think, you know, they would want to have as much cash space as they could. And I'm sure if they could have made a move by now, they would have. But again, like the prices are just sky high. And Monaghan, again, that's a fourth liner at this point. Sean Monaghan, no, he would have went for a hell of a lot more just a few years ago. I'm going to pull up his numbers going up to hockey reference here from this past season. So from 2018, 19, he was a 34 goal player, 2019, 20, 22 goal player.

The last two years, 18 total goals just has not been the same player. And they still, the flames, they still had to move a first rounder to move a player who is just not what he used to be. Teams, they're asking hefty prices. And this is the flat cap world that we are living in. This is why so many teams have not made a lot of moves. look at the New York Islanders. I mean, maybe that's partly due to Lou Amarillo not playing 40 chess like some people are saying he was.

But, you know, this is the world we are living in at this point. So I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss that move and, you know, why I think it's going to be more difficult for the penguins who trade one of those, you know, higher paid defensemen than it would be a deputy. I do, I still do think they make a move. But if you had to ask me, I'm kind of leading towards maybe a POJ, Friedman, Chavezman, Chad Rweedle, you know, one of those three guys. I don't know. I think in a perfect world or in a good world, at least,

excuse me, Ty Smith is playing next year. I don't see a way he starts out the season. I think it's malpractice that he does, to be honest. I think a player like that needs to play. He's played most of the last couple of seasons in New Jersey. Gary Sealy does a camp, but I think when you require someone like that for John Marino, who was a very steady topboard defenseman for this team, but for the most part, that player needs to be.

play, at least for asking me. But that would do it for this second segment of the Locked on Penguins podcast for today. Coming up in the final segment, we're going to get into some way too early trade candidates for next season and who I think could be

moved for a rental war, you know, maybe someone with a little bit more terms. So stick around for that coming up in this final segment. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host Honorable. He's not to follow me on Twitter at 100 hoodies. You can also follow the show's Twitter at Ellenlerc Penguins. Let me take a nice

sip of this Coke here. I swear that always hits. I've been learning why I've been recording. You cannot, cannot go almost like 30 minutes without, I'm not drinking something. You know, I'm not going to have alcohol tonight. But anyways, let's get into some way too early trade candidates for next season. who I was just saw last season Dominic Simone he was moved out in the Ricardo-Rkel trade. Zach Ashton-Rees, he was moved out. I don't think he's really signed yet.

Anyway, Aston-Reece, that is. But, you know, for this year, you know, if they do, again, I said this in my second segment, if they do want to go out and get another impact board, if they don't make, if they don't get one before the season starts, you know, it's going to have to be a move that's dollar in and dollar out like you saw last year

because that, you know, that's just the reality that we live in here. the penguins, they don't have a lot of cap space available where they can just be like, oh, yeah, like, you know, we'll ship out a bunch of picks and prospects where we know, they have to ship out players and picks and maybe a prospect to go out and get a pretty big fish. And, you know, a couple of players that come to mind to me, you know, one that stands out, and this may sound weird to you all because he's their fourth line center, but Teddy Blugher, because I'm just not sure, you know, if he's in their long-term plans, you know,

It's just something seems off about it. Again, I scooped this a few weeks about last month, actually, when they made the Jeff Petrie trade that, you know, I heard that he was in the original offer for Petrie, along with Marcus Pedersen. So the fact that they were willing to give him up in the first trade, you know, before they had to say, yeah, Matheson's getting moved. You know, that I think that tells me that I think they're not super confident in his abilities

just overall after the season. because remember, his contract is up after this year. You know, he's, you know, decent of what he is on the fourth line, decent penalty killer. But, you know, the playoffs last couple of years, you know, hasn't really done much for them. And, you know, you need your fourth line center, especially if you want to make a cup run to at least be decently serviceable for you.

And I don't think Teddy has done that. I definitely could see him being moved in the deal if it's right. Another player, I think that could be moved, potentially Brock McGinn. I don't know. a lot of people have been saying that during the offseason here. And, you know, I think it would have made sense to move him, but I don't think, you know, Ron Hextall's right to give up on him just yet. I thought he had a really solid first half of last season.

Second half, though, not the same. Was hurt for a little bit. Came back, obviously was not the same player. I had a goal for them, I think, in the playoffs. And then obviously took that pathetic penalty in game seven overtime where he's just like holding the stick. I mean, you just cannot do that, especially when it. look like the penguins were in the offensive zone there.

You know, it would be nice to get that $2.75 million off their cap book. Well, off their cap, excuse me, for being technical. But I just don't see that happening right now. But again, I could see it next year. Because again, you know, the Penguins, they did trade two fourth liners at the deadline last year. You know, could we see history repeat itself here? Those are the two main fours that I think I'm kind of looking at. defenseman wise, you know, maybe Pedersen,

but I think they would also just like to ride him out with him. Don't think they would touch Doomlin during the season. I mean, I think that would just, if you're going to keep Dumlin going into the season, you have to keep him through you. I think that would just be ridiculously dumb. I don't think anyone from the top six would get out. I'm not even Jason Zucker.

I think if you're not willing to buy him out this year, which I support, I don't think buying it out would have been any sense. If you're not willing to move him in a second, counter camp dump to free up 5.5 million and attach a high draft pick. Why are you looking to move him and a deal? I mean, maybe it could happen, but I do see that as a little bit unlikely for me. Maybe Kespera Kappen, I think he could potentially be trade-bated. If he's not having a good season, I could definitely see Ron Haxall being like, okay,

you know, we can attach him here as kind of like a dump to make the money work. maybe we can have another big asset here to get another forward back. And maybe a team goes for it. Maybe it doesn't. But I could definitely see him being trade bait either next year or the year after. But I think especially this year, I don't think Jeff Carter is going to be dealt. He's going into the last couple of years of his contract, it's extension. Outside of that, though, I don't really think there's too many other trade candidates for during the season.

if none of these depth defensemen are moved and they just send someone down to make it a defenseman I'll include the three that I have for the final for the last segment which I think could be the move before the season and you know I think they can move one of those depty and a trade four for like you know POJ if he's not getting a lot of playing time mark free of him and chrower wheedle you know those kind of guys

even though I do think the penguins like being pretty deep on defense so I think those are the main players that I'm looking at for, you know, early season trade candidates. Brock Began, Teddy Gluger, you know, P.O.J, Mark Freeman, Chad, Rueedal, Kisperi Kappan, maybe outside chance Jason Zucker, you know, prospects-wise, I mean, I don't know, Sam Poulan. I mean, it's just, I mean, I don't think they would trade Belterio Pustin in. I don't think they would trade any of their draft picks from this year's class. I'm not really too focused on that just because the Penguins

they always like to include a high pick and at least one prospect in there anyway. But I think that will do it for this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one. Next week is the final, final week, well, full week of this month. We are almost to September. If you all can believe it, after that, September starts on that Thursday. So half of the week after is August,

but after that, September is finally here, and then we'll get training camp in just a few short weeks. So almost out of the dog days, really excited that you all keep listening to the show. I'm just really getting happy that we get closer and closer to hockey season coming back. So, yeah, thank you all so much for listening. I really appreciate it. And I'll talk to you all on Monday.

Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Ghost Yours.