Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Tis' the goaltending talk season!

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

Another weekday means another episode and Hunter is back today to break down the Penguins new college free agent signing in Josh Maniscalo. Hunter touches on his scouting report and what he would bring to the team, plus tells the audience what he's heard from a couple of people regarding his game. Could he be on the team as fast as John Marino? Only time will tell there. Then, Hunter goes into Josh Yohe's article about the goaltending situation surrounding the Penguins. Josh spoke to GMJR for a story and he confirmed that there's already been a bunch of interest in both of the Penguin goaltenders. What package could the team get in return for Matt Murray? Hunter touches on that, plus much more, on this episode of Locked On Penguins. 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 this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow those shows Twitter at L-O-U-U-Nscore Penguins. Hope you all had a great, great, great weekend as we get closer now to September. 2020 is just flown by. The second round in the Stanley Cup playoffs are finally here. We have game one tonight of the Islanders Flyers series, which is probably going to be the most boring series imaginable.

We're going to talk a lot about the second round of the playoffs going on up in the third segment. To start off, though, we are going to talk. about the college free agent signing the Penguins had over the weekend. Then for the second segment, we'll transition to a big article that came out from Josh Joey today on the athletic that basically confirmed from Jim Rutherford that the Penguins have started trade talks with both of their goaltenders. I mean, they're going to test the market with both of them, but like I said, I'll get into that more in the second segment.

But over the weekend, the Penguins, they dipped their toes into the college free agent market and they signed defenseman Josh Mani Scalo to a three-year entry-level deal. I'm going to be honest, guys, you know, I don't know a lot about these college-free agents. I mean, I really didn't know anything about John Marino before he came over here, and then he just turns into a complete stud. But, you know, talk to a couple people, I mean, a couple of my friends that, you know, know, know a lot more about college-free agents than I do. I've talked to a couple of people that do some writing for some sites that know a lot more about

college-free agents that I do. One person that I talked to said about Montescalo. I'm a big fan of them and was hoping they would sign him next year. Really good puck mubber, good skater, right-handed defenseman. he can score goals. He was one of the best defensemen in the entire NCAA last year as a sophomore. He played his collegiate career at Arizona State. He might be going back to Arizona State for his junior season, or he could turn pro and go to Wilkesbury. But he's appeared in 71 college games for Arizona State. He's had 52 points, 15 goals, 37 assists. He's just been really, really good

for Arizona State. Just last year alone, tied for sixth in points among national defensemen overall with 32 points. 11 of those were goals. His 11 goals, his 11 goals, Those guys were actually second most among all NCAA blue liners. So, yeah, he brings a lot of offense. He can really move the puck. Good skater. Looks like he's good in his own zone. The Penguins prospect pool for defensemen is pretty bleak, I would say right now.

I mean, it's kind of bleak in general. I know they have Nathan Legerry and Sam Poulin and Philip Hollander and a couple other. But still getting this guy on board to a three-year entry-level deal. He's very, very big. I think they might be going after a couple other collegiate free agents. But still, this is a really, really good signing. One of the funniest parts, I think he was doing an. interview afterwards with some of the Penguins media.

And so he grew up on the eastern side of Pennsylvania, which is, of course, Fliers country. So that's always hilarious. He actually did say, I think he grew up a Penguins fan, even though a lot of his other family, of course, were Flyers fans. And so that's going to be pretty funny to see how the family transitions from rooting for the Flyers all the time to now rooting for their son, who's a member of the Pittsburgh penguin. It also was said that apparently Mario Lemieux was very instrumental in Memoscalo coming here.

He also talked to Mario's son, Austin, but still seeing Mario come out, give a big presentation as to why he should come to the organization. That's pretty big. And I know his son, Austin played at Arizona State, but still, you know, Mario doesn't do that. I don't think too often. We really don't see that made public. So for him to do that, that's just awesome. Let's see.

I'm trying to find other stuff that was said about him. His head coach, Greg Powers was also really, very outspoken about him. He's a stud. We knew what we were getting when we got him. He had a great freshman year and he has just continuing to evolve to the point where now I think he's one of the top defensemen in college hockey just as a sophomore. He said he's got everything you want. He's got poised. He can break it out better than anybody you will see.

And now he's starting to produce offensively. So yeah, really, really great traits to have. If I had to guess, guys, probably will start the season in Wilkesbury next season if he does turn pro. If not, of course, he's going to go back to Arizona State for his junior season. But, I mean, I don't think this is going to be another John Reno where he's instantly in the lineup. But still, you never know. John Marino had a hell of a camp. He was too good to go down in the minor leagues.

We could see the same situation happen here. A lighter chance, I would say, with Manascallo, if he just kills it in camp whenever that is, where it's October, November, who knows when the season is going to start. But still, you know, there's always a chance that this could be another little John Marino thing where he just kills it in camp and he's just too good to be sent down.

But if I had to guess, guys, I think he's going to be sent down to Wilkesbury if he does turn pro. And hopefully in the next couple years, you know, he'll be good enough to come up and help the team. And the best part, he'll be cheap. You know, you're not going to be paying Justin Shultz to be on the third pairing for 5.5 million per. Hope you not be playing Jack Johnson, 3.25 million per for the next three years on there. He'll be on an entry-level deal.

That's very big for a cap team like the Penguins, who always love to spend up to the salary cap every single year. Though this year, of course, it might be different because of COVID. But still, that's just really, really big for the Penguins. It's always nice when you can dip your toes into college-free agency. get a player that looks like is going to be really good and just, you know, income to do an entry level deal and see what he's made of. One last quote here to go before. I just offer a couple other thoughts about this.

From Jim Rutherford, Josh is a solid puck moving offensive defenseman. He jumps into the rush and plays a style that's complimentary to our group. We think highly of his character and are happy to add Josh to the organization. So that's all fine and dandy. But my question is, you know, you're going to continue to add these kind of players that, you know, he says are complimentary to the group. but you're going to keep Jack Johnson who doesn't do any of these things just because for what reasons? I know, guys, I'm sorry for always picking on Jack Johnson.

I try not to do it as often as some other people do. But, you know, when I see quotes like that, it really just puzzles me, I guess, because we all know the way the Penguins play, you know, the speed and skill system. You know, the defensemen love to jump up into the play. Jim Rutherford likes defensemen that can move the puck up the ice. They're good in the defensive zone that can pinch when necessary. that bring a lot of offense to the table. You know, they have that in Brian Dumlin and Chris Latang.

They have that in John Reno. They have that in Marcus Pedersen, though his offense is still coming about a little bit. We all know he's very good defensively. But, you know, it's just very, very weird. You know, Jack Johnson sticks out like a sword thumb. He doesn't do any of these things that Jim Rutherford just described in this player. So, I mean, I'm hoping that maybe Jim was just trying to save face with Josh, you know, to defend Jack Johnson because maybe there's going to be a trade out there, but still,

I definitely thought it was pretty, pretty weird overall, but still some great news to come for the Penguins with that college free agent signing of Josh Manascalo, who knows if he'll be up on the team going into next season if he has another Marino-like camp. But like I said, for the third or fourth time, chances are he will be in Wilkesbury to start the season if he does indeed turn pro and does not go back to Arizona State for his junior season. But before we get to the next seven where we can talk about Matt Murray and Tristan Jari, which is going to be the biggest topic of discussion this offseason, besides Jack Johnson,

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Jim, I had a couple quotes, and I'm not going to spoil the whole thing for you guys, but he says my thinking here hasn't changed. We know that there's a very, very good chance that we're going to have to move one of them. He says there's already interest and it looks like we are going to have to move one of them. And don't get it like twisted, guys. We all know it's going to be Matt Murray. They will not move Trish and Jari. I've been wrong on a lot of things as long as I've been doing this podcast and help going back

way longer than that throughout my whole life. I would be stunned if they moved Tristan Jari over Matt Murray. I would be absolutely stunned. It's going to be Matt Murray. You always go with the cheaper option in that, you know. A couple of people that I know very, very well, you know, Mad Chad 412 has come on this podcast before. You know, a couple of my other friends who I always love to talk hockey with.

You know, the goaltending is like the running back position of hockey. You don't want to pay running backs a lot of money because you can just replace them and get average running back production on the cheap. you can do the same thing with goaltending. You don't need to pay a premium to keep league average goaltending or a little bit above average goaltending because you can just get that for just a couple million bucks per year as long as you keep recycling them.

Sure, you know, if you have a franchise goalie like Henrik Lungquist, you know you have Kerry Price, paying them make sense because they're the best at what they do. They've been the best at what they've done for a long time. I know Henrik Lunkwis has not been the best in the world for the last few seasons, but still when he was on his game, he was the best goaltender in the world and the best goaltender of this generation. I will always die on that hill.

So, you know, there can be instances where you do pay a premium for a goaltending, such as those two players. But for the most part, guys, you just, you don't pay them a lot of money. Matt Murray, the penguins, they cannot afford to pay him $5 million per season, $5.5 million per season, $6 million per or even higher than that if he would, if he somehow asked for that, but that would be absolutely ridiculous if he did. But it also says in the article that Rutherford is not certain how significant return he could get for Murray or Jari.

And that's to be expected, guys. The goaltending market is always just very very. very, very, very odd. You have teams that will pay a premium to get one, that will give up a lot, maybe like a first-round pick, a player and a prospect. I've seen that before. Or, you guys, you'll have a team just give up two pieces, and maybe sometimes that's like a third-round pick,

second-round pick, and just a bottom-six player. I think you're probably leaning towards the latter package for what the penguins will get in return from Matt Murray. I really don't think they're going to get a premium back for him. Yes, I know he's won two Stanley Cups, and that's a pretty big pedigree, and I know GMs look at that and love that, but I just don't see a GM paying a premium to get Matt Murray.

I don't think they're going to get back what they think they're going to get back for him, even though he has won two stand the cups and has been really, really good in the playoffs before the Penguins. He's just, he's always been so banged up. He's just had his inconsistent play. And I am a big fan of Matt Murray. It's going to suck not to see him in a penguin uniform next season, assuming he does get traded, which is, I think, 99% chance that he will be. But, I mean, I'm definitely going to listen more than I think some other people.

Penguins fans will. I mean, of course, the big reason is that he took Mark Andre Florey's job and that people just can't seem to get over that for whatever reason. And we'll get to Mark Andre Fleury later in this podcast because, you know, I don't know what the hell Alan Walsh was doing on there, but that was just, wow, that was ridiculous. But still, you know, I definitely will miss Matt Murray on the team next season. But, you know, some teams that I think can make a go at Matt Murray, if he is the one that gets traded, definitely the Minnesota Wild Guys. There's the penguin connection there with Billy Garrett. He definitely did not seem too happy with Devin Dubnick and

Alex Daylock after the qualifying round he kind of threw them under the bus a little bit. God, I think he's looking to upgrade that position. It would make a lot of sense for him to go back to Jim Rutherford and say, hey, you know, I could definitely use Matt Murray if you're looking to deal him, which, of course, he is.

And I think you'll probably get an even trade there. Billy Gairns is not going to try to rip off Jim Rutherford, and Jim's not going to try to rip off Billy, considering they worked together for so many years. Another team guys in the Calgary Flames. Cans Halbert was meh this season. You know, David Riddick was kind of

And, you know, the Flames are also looking to blow it up. They had that loss of the Dallas Stars in the first round where they lost in six games. The Flames core is just, I just don't know what they're going to do there. Brad Trilliving may make some big changes. But, I mean, I wouldn't expect him to pay a premium to give up Matt Murray. I mean, good Lord, if they got a really good player from the Flames back in return, like a Sean Monaghan or something like that or a Kachuk. I know, I'm just dreaming, guys.

That's just a pipe dream. I would probably shit my pants. But that's just not going to happen. But still, I could definitely see a team like the Calgary Flames going after Matt Murray. They could really use an upgrade in net up there. Also, guys, the New Jersey Devils. Mackenzie Blackwood, I don't know if he's the answer there. Tom Fitzgerald, another Penguin connection, he's the GM there now.

Could definitely see the Devils going after Matt Murray if it came down to it. Edmonton, I'm not really sure what they're going to do there. Mike Smith is just terrible. Who's their other goaltender that they have? I can't really pronounce his name. Koskenen, I think that's his name. He's kind of okay, but still. I gotta think they might be trying to upgrade the net there.

Another team that could be a dark horse is the Los Angeles Kings. I know they have Jonathan Quick there. He's still signed for a lot of years, but I think I could see the Kings moving on for him. He's just been very below average these last few seasons, and he's just not where he used to be. So I could definitely see a team like the Los Angeles Kings going out there and potentially trying to get Matt Murray from the Penguins Orchroo Shinjari.

There's, of course, a whole bunch of teams I did not say, you know, the Buffalo Savers could use some goaltending. What's going to happen with the New York? New York Rangers, though that's kind of a pipe dream because the Rangers have Georgiev Lundquist and Chesterkin there, so that's probably not going to happen. But still, a lot of teams out there that will be needing a new goaltender this off season, it's going to be a very fascinating market to watch as we get closer to the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Also in the article before we wrap up this segment as I get to it, Jim basically said,

I haven't gone to the point yet where I'm having serious talks or seeing how much exactly I can get, but I will say I'm getting close to that point to understanding just what people are willing to give up. So we'll see. I don't know exactly how it's going to go, but I can already see that there is going to be a lot of interest in both our goaltenders. If you want to read the whole story, just go to the athletic. Go to the Pittsburgh Penguins page. Definitely recommend, of course, signing up to the Athletic. They do outstanding work there, not just for the penguins, but for sports as a whole. And also, guys, let me know your thoughts on which goal you guys think will be traded this offseason. Will it be Tristan Jari, who is the cheaper option to sign, or will

be Matt Murray, who is probably the obvious one? But let me know your thoughts. Just Tell me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, tell the show's Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-U-Square. But before we get to our last segment, where we're going to talk about the Stanley Cup playoffs, let's talk about the new and improved built bar. 18 amazing flavors, six new flavors of caramel, brownie, cookies and cream, cherry barque, apple, almond crisp, carrot cake, and lemon almond cheesecake. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They're soft and easy to chew.

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All right, welcome back for this last little segment here. Let's just talk about the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But first, well, we'll get into it just a second. So the Capitals fired Todd Reardon. Again, guys, that's not really surprising. Two first round exits in a row. I know Josh alluded to it on the Thursday episode, and I do agree with him. I would not be surprised everyone if the Penguins went out and tried to contact Ty Reardon about coming back to be an assistant coach under Mike Sullivan.

He knows how to run the power play. He also knows how to work with the defenseman. It would make a lot of sense. I just would not be surprised at all if they did that. For the Capitals for hiring a new coach, I'm hoping they go out and hire someone who's just, of course, not that good. But I think it's going to be one of Peter Lobby letter, Gerard Galant. Really hope they don't get Gerard Galant. I think Golan is the best coach available.

It would be funny for the chaos if they got Bruce Boudreau for the second go-round, but I don't really think that's going to happen. I also really don't think Peter Lavell left that good of a coach. His team's underlying numbers whenever he's the coach are just not very good. And he just didn't do a lot with Nashville after they went to the Stanley Cup final in 2017 against the Penguins. They just kind of regressed year after year, and it really wasn't surprising that he got fired. But anyways, let's just get to the second round now of the Stanley Cup playoffs. that Vegas Vancouver game won last night

Vancouver had to wave the white flag pretty early Vegas is just a juggernaut. I've said it so many times. I would be stunned if they didn't win the West. I know Dallas played a really, really good game one against Colorado, and they're going to be a force to reckon with if they beat Colorado in this round and get to the Western Conference final. But Vancouver is just no match for Vegas.

Vegas had a shift last night. I think it was during the second period where it was basically a power play, but yet it was five on five. It was almost two full minutes of them. cycling the puck up high, cycling the puck down low, getting scoring chances on net. I don't know how Vancouver didn't allow a goal there, but, you know, they survived that. But, you know, they didn't survive the game as they lost 5-0-0. Jacob Markstrom had to be pulled, which was the right call.

They should have pulled him during the start of the third period when I think it was, what, 4-0-0 anyway. But when you have a team like Vegas that can roll two number one lines out there, especially with, you know, Paul Stasney, Riley Smith, Jonathan Marcosso, and then William Carlson, Mark Stone, and Max Patcheretti, you're not going to lose many games. and it doesn't even matter for Robin Lennar. He just literally needs to be average, and Vegas will win most of their games. And, you know, speaking of the Robin Lennar starting,

Alan Walsh had that tweet about Mark Andre Fleury, and, you know, it just inject that stuff into my veins. It's always funny kind of to see the Mark Andre Fleury superfan, just very mad about it because he's not starting. Well, you know what? Tough shit. He didn't play better than Lennar this season. Lennar's the better option.

Mark Andre Fleury will most likely have the net next season unless they sign Robin Lennar to an extension, which I don't think is likely at this. I think of the runner may actually go back to Chicago when Corey Crawford walks. But still, you know, tough shit, Flory Stans. He wasn't very good this season. He got benched for a better goaltender, just like he did in 2016. And then 2017, when he faltered, Matt Murray came in and just took it the rest of the way.

So moving on from that series, the Colorado-Dallas series has been pretty fun so far. You know, I do really feel bad for Colorado with all these injuries. Philip Grubauer looks like he's going to be out for the next game. I think he might be out for the whole series. injury just looked really, really bad. He was basically writhing in pain on the ice. Eric Johnson is also out. I think Matt Calvert is out. So, yeah,

it's going to be tough for Colorado, I think, to win this series without Philip Grubauer. I know Nathan McKinnon is just a house on fire right now. Miko Ranson and it's just gone off. Gabriel Landis, Kock is awesome. I love watching Kail McCar play. He's going to be one of the best defensemen in the league for so many

years to come. But I just think people were really underrated Dallas going into this series. I know I picked Colorado to win this series, but I expected Dallas to give them a fight, and that's exactly what they're doing right now. With this Grubaugh-Rour injury, with this Eric Johnson injury, I would not be surprised if Dallas makes it to the Western Conference final. But, you know, I also won't be surprised if Colorado comes out and just wins this series in

six to seven games just because of how lethal they are offensively. But, you know, who knew how lethal the stars were offensively, guys, because they've just come out in these playoffs and started scoring at will, you know, looking like the running gun stars of just a few years ago when they were just. awesome offensively, but that's usually not their game now with how defensive-minded that they are. But, you know, it's still a lot of fun to watch. We also get the Islanders Flyers series tonight. I pick the Islanders and Seven in that series.

I'm not confident in it. I think it's going to be a very, very close series, the closest of the four series. Philadelphia's top players need to show up. You know, Voracek has been pretty good, but, you know, Drew has not really scored. Couturee is not really showing up. Van Reeves-Dike, Connecting needs to show up. Pro Brom's been pretty good, but, you know, Carter Harwich has been pretty good, but, you know, Carter Hart's been good.

So a lot of their top high-end players that are being paid like it are just not producing like normal. And if they don't show up in this series, I know they got by Montreal, even though Montreal gave them them a fight. But if they don't show up in this series, I think they're going to be up a creek against the Islanders. Because the Islanders are basically like the Canadian's big brother, I would say, in it with Barry Trots' system. He just, he knows how to smother you defensively. And I think that system is going to cause the Flyers fits. I guess I'm going to pick the Islanders to go the Eastern Conference Final. I'm not confident in it.

I think it's going to be the closest series of the four. But also, guys, it is going to be a very boring series. Get ready for a bunch of two-one games every single night. So, yeah, it's just not going to be really fun to watch. And then the last series, Boston, Tampa. I picked Tampa Bay in seven, though Boston looked really, really good last night, jumping out to that 3-0 lead. I know Tampa Bay made it interesting at the end, though they did drop game one.

That series I do think is going to go seven games as well. Yarsal Block. is totally capable of stealing this series for the Bruins and playing very, very good. We've seen him do it many times in the playoffs, especially with 2010. He can definitely get back up close to that level. I don't think he's going to go back up to that level, but I think he can get up close to it. We've seen it many, many times. But, you know, if you're Tampa and you lose this series, I mean, what do you do?

Do you fire John Cooper? I think that's, like, one of the big questions that Tampa Bay will have to face this off season. I don't think they will, but, you know, another year of underachieving this time in a second round exit. I know you're losing to Boston. I know it's just a totally different year with COVID-19 and no fans just in the arena. But still, do you fire John Cooper? That's going to be interesting to see. I will be very curious to see what Tampa does if they do drop this series. But for those that do not follow my Twitter, my picks were as such. I picked Tampa Bay and Seven, the Islanders in seven.

I picked Vegas in six, though I think that might be over before that. And I picked Colorado in seven to beat the stars. So I think that will do it for. this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. We'll be back tomorrow with some more Penguins-related content. I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and I will talk to you all tomorrow.