Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Two down, one to go for the Penguins, plus thoughts on Pickering!

Episode Date: July 8, 2022

It's a late-night edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast, but there was A LOT to get to for this one. Hunter starts the show by diving into the Kris Letang extension and how it looks like both sides got what they wanted. He looks at how the Penguins got some big-time cap savings with it, which SHOULD make it easier to sign Evgeni Malkin. He also looks at how term should be a non-issue here since the team won't be that good when the last couple of years of that contract are happening. After he discusses Letang, he touches on Owen Pickering and how the Penguins made a really good pick with this first-rounder. He goes into the scouting report that he and Jason had for him and looks at some NHL player comps for him and what you can expect if he gets to the NHL level. He also addresses the "top down" model and why fans shouldn't be assessing the pick just based on that. Finally, Hunter gives the latest on the Malkin contract talks and why there's no reason for this to not get done, plus what this could mean for Rickard Rakell's future.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 “LOCKED15,” 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!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.

Hello, happy Thursday evening, Penguins fans. Another very eventful day for this franchise. Chris Latang has finally been extended. Two down, one to go. Owen Pickering is officially a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins with the number 20 an overall pick. I will give my thoughts on that as well. Plus, the Latang extension.

And of course, there are some more updates on the Afghan Malkin front. So that's basically going to take up all of today's episode. So without further ado, let's jump right on into it. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

I am your host, a Hunter Hodes. You know, to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen for today. It looks like as I'm starting to record, Brian Lambert has been taken by the Winnipeg Jets. I'm going to send that to Jason here, who of course helped out with the, who of course helped out with my big board. I got that out of the way.

So let's get right on to us. So Chris LaTang, six-year contract, 6.1 million per my immediate thoughts. Just, just wonderful. You know, I never really, you know, imagined that it was going to be a six-year term. I thought it was always going to be four to five years. I know D.K. said he had heard it was going to be three years the other day. But La Teng, when he spoke to the media after the Penguins made the pick on Thursday night, he said that he was more than thrilled to accept the six-year term despite the AAV being down

because he said he thinks he can play until he's 41. And, hey, you know, I'm not going to say he can't play until he's 41. because he's probably one of the most well-conditioned players in the league. And I saw some people on social media, of course, and all these other spots say, well, you know, the term is not good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, the term really means nothing to me. What the Penguins are really doing in this deal, they're hoping to get three to four elite years out of Crystal Tang.

I shouldn't say, well, I think at least elite for the next couple of seasons, then some hopefully great to really good seasons. And then after that, you know, whatever happens happens. Say he can retire early. You know, the Penguins will not have a cap recapture penalty or anything like that. That rule was done away with, I believe in 2020 with the over 35 plus contract. So if he does have to go on LTIR early or just retires, the Penguins will not have a penalty to their salary gap. And, you know, the team is probably going to be bad by the time those final two years of his contract come around.

So in reality, who gives a damn? I really don't understand why people are making that big of a deal out of it. You know your window is for the next three to four years. You deal with the other years when the team is rebuilding. He's a penguin for life. That's what he wanted. He got his wish. And now the penguins can move on to have Guinea-Malkin.

I am more surprised by the AAV. When I saw it was announced this morning, okay, I was like six years, okay, this is going to be a big AAV, right? 6.1 million per. He took over a $1 million decrease in pay for longer term and so that the penguins can have extra salary cap space. Do you all know how much he would probably get on the free agent market? I mean, you all know what I was discussing on this podcast. If you have been listening throughout all losses,

and I've been saying to do four times eight, five times eight, three times eight point two to eight point five. I even said the other day, if it was going to be a three year term, it was going to be in the $8 million range. I'm glad I was wrong on both the term and the AAB. This was very shrewd business by Ron Hacksaw. I'll do some golf claps for him there.

But, you know, at the end of the day, they got the player that they wanted to keep. And voila, you know, this is a team that I still think can contend for a Stanley Cup, especially if they bring back of Guinea-Malkin and they make some other changes around the roster. so many of like and I've been saying this I feel like way too often on the show and on my Twitter account and all this stuff there's a really weird section of Penguins fans that just think that the team is going stale and they can't compete with three players who are 35 plus an

older and that you know the team is too old and all this stuff and you know they're blaming the core players for not winning in the playoffs the last four years and it's like you people sound so entitled and so spoiled. They've won three Stanley Cups in the salary cap era. They have been to four Stanley Cup finals. They have been to five Eastern Conference Finals. If they do not win another playoff series, let alone go back to another Eastern Conference Final or something like that,

this era will already have been a major success to everyone who has watched it. So I don't really understand why there are so many of these weird takes from people who just want the team to get worse before they really need to get worse. It just, it boggles my mind. And all these people, they just, they come into my mentions and other people's mentions that I see on social media. And I, I listen to Penguins sports talk during the day. And it's just, I feel like people have been brainwashed by certain members of the Pittsburgh media. I'm not going to name names on here.

I don't need anyone, you know, being stupid. But I mean, golly, people just need to really take a step back, assess the situation. Know that this is a good move for both the short term and the long term for the Penguins franchise. And voila. I hope everyone was chronicling this extension. If you don't know what that means, I'm sure someone that does will explain it to you. If you text someone that also listens to this podcast, that is all I'm going to say on that. I'm not going to go in any further deeper.

But the Penguins, they knew they were not going to find another. replacement that can do what LaTang does on a nightly basis, whether it's putting up 70 plus points, his play in the defensive zone, play on the power play, play 5E5 wise, the minutes, whether it's 24 or 26 or sometimes up to, you know, more than half the game. He does it all for the Penguins. You are not going to get that from John Kleingberg. You're not going to get that from Nikita Zedurov and any one of these free agent defensemen or anyone via a trade.

it just it was not going to happen so i am thrilled about this deal um someone a buddy mine was texting me that um asking me why kept stall front loaded it he thought i think that the cap hit was going to be that for the first years and then it was going to go down but no that that is not how it works so what will show up on a cap friendly will be the aav which is his average annual value again that is about 6.1 million so that is what will be charged to the penguin's salary cap right now they have a little over 15 million believe it's 15.3 million total to bring back a few more players this definitely opens the door to give a little more money to have getting malcon if they want to god willing i hope they do rickel potentially though

i'm going to get to that i think a little bit later in this podcast because i think some people are a little too hung up on him i think for some reasons it might it might not be a popular take that i have but I'm going to get into it. But get back to what I was saying, overall, that is what is going to be you're seeing on cat friendly. This saves the penguins a lot of money. But what's hang, he'll get $8 million this season

and actual money. Next season he gets $8 million. Then I believe it goes down to $6 something for the next two seasons. And then I think it goes up as low as 4.5 to 4.8 Or something like that. Also has a full no move clause for the first 40 years. And then I think it has a modified no trade.

for the final two in case, obviously, for LTIR reasons. So overall, again,ians, great contract for the Penguins. This is a slam dunk. Kudos to Ron Hechtol for getting this done. I said before the all-season began, I did not think, I mean, I was, well, let me rephrase this. I said before the off-season, I was much more confident about it, Guinea-Malkin,

getting a deal done with him than it was about Chris Tang. I was my chances of him staying were below 50%. I am glad to eat crow on that. I'm so happy that he's going to be a member of this team for the rest of his career. That's two-thirds of the core locked up. And now we just have to get, I can malk in here locked up. And I'll have more updates on that later on in the show and to look to what the penguins can potentially do next week as well. But coming up in the next day, we're going to get into the Penguins' first-Trom pick

and my thoughts on the pick after unveiling my big board, that Jason and I, Penguin's Twitter worked on. But before I get to that, from the people who invented healthy and tasty comes the latest gift to your taste buds. You've probably tried the amazing coconut brownie chunk built bar, but guess what? Your friends at built have given coconut brownie chunk

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We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's get into it. So just about 30 to 45 minutes ago, the Penguins made their first round selection. And it is defenseman Owen Pickering. And this was a player that I touched on, you know, a few times the last couple of weeks when I was unveiling the big board with Jason and I. And this is a player who, you know, we had in the range for this. But we, you know, we were even DMing before I went live here.

And we are, you're not surprised in the slightest that this was the pick. And in my opinion, I think this is a. a very solid pick. You know, King Clark, I trust his opinion on prospects very much. Go follow him on Twitter if you are not already. I'm just going to get his at here for you all. Yeah, well, yeah, it is King Clark. I don't know why I just screwed that up there, but, you know, he thinks he's already the best prospect in the system. I'm kind of warming up to that a little bit, but what you're going to get in this player, his skating is absolutely ridiculous. For someone who is six-four, he moves like a lightning bolt.

He is very quick to go up the ice. Very good. I think a controlled zone entry and entries, excuse me, and controlled zone exits. I think the biggest thing with him is getting his offensive game going. Right now I kind of compare him to, I guess a version of like Keandre Miller, Travis Sandhine, a little bit of Brian Dumlin in there as well.

But if he can be, you know, more of an offensive player, you know, that's better than Doomlin in that regard. I think this pick is going to be even better than some may think. And, you know, I saw this being thrown around a lot from some people on social media. And this was the top-down models projection of pickering. And it shows him being chances of a star, 2%, chances of becoming an enchiller, 18%. I think this was, you know, I think this comes courtesy from Jayfresh. She had him at 54, draft rank.

well, draft frame for becoming an NHL or 41, draft break of becoming a star 54. I will say this. The top-down model has not been good for the entire draft. So please take that with a grain of salt. And this is someone who loves analytics. I use underlying numbers almost on a daily basis on the show. So it's got to be bad if I'm telling you to really not put,

too much stock into it. And I understand, you know, probably 98 to 99% of the fans, you know, they don't look at the prospects, they don't watch the tape, you know, they don't go on elite prospects and all that stuff. But I am here to tell you that Pickering is legit. He's a good player. And I think he can be ready in the next few years. I don't think he's not an intro ready this year.

I don't think he's in a nutshell ready next year. But by the time, you're maybe about halfway through that Crystal Tane contract, maybe, maybe I should say, year or four, year five even perhaps you know he could be um up in a top four role for things i was discussing this on the lockdown image on national show before i went live here um to record the show um then you know brandon uh brandon pillar of locked on senators and he was discussing how it'll be kind of cool to see him on the tang potentially play together when the tang is almost at the end of his career and that was something that i didn't really think of um when the pick was made but you know now that he brings it up you know, it kind of reminds me of how Sergei Gonschar,

an older version of Gondchar, was playing with a very young version of Lettang. And obviously, I'm not saying that. Oh, and Pickering is going to be Chris Latang here. But, you know, the similarities with, you know, the old legendary vet playing with a potential up-and-comer who could be a really good player, you know, it's definitely something that could come full circle here.

Again, the comps that Jason and I have, Travis Sandheim, Kjadre Miller. Jesse, though, had more of a Brian Dumont comp for him. And he really liked the pick. I'll go to his tweet here to tell you all what he thinks. Again, he thinks he can skate beautifully. He says he extremely confident moving the puck in transition,

used his size and reached to patrol the blue line, keep a great gap, started sneaking into the offensive zone for shooting opportunities a lot more. So that last point, I'm going to be watching a lot more. As he progresses through junior, I want to see how he does in training camp and all that stuff, especially for also development camp, which will be coming up in the next month or so.

But right now, I'm happy with the pick. I don't think it's a safe pick or anything like that. One more thing before we switch gears to get to our final segment for today's episode. There has been this take out there that, well, the Penguins shouldn't have taken that player, you know, they should just dump the pick and yada, yada, yada. And, you know, I understand where people are coming from where they want to trade the first round. I do. You know, the team's in win now mode.

You know, this player is not going to be ready for the next few years. I totally get that. But what I will see to you all right now, with the Penguins financial situation, they still have to get a beginning Malkin sign. They probably still want to make some other changes. Who were you trading that first round pick for to get in return? I mean, yes, he, pull Yardy, I mean, sure, sure that makes sense,

but you could also, with how the Edmont team has been talking about him, It sounds like you're going to get him for, well, less than a second rounder. You know, he wasn't even untraded tonight unless I missed something from Elliot Friedman. He just had a notification. No, yeah. So, yeah, he's not being traded tonight. So it looks like he's going to go for something less than a first rounder. People will throw out JT. Miller, but the penguins don't have the assets to go out there and get him.

And he's also signed for one more year, and you're probably not going to extend him next all season. And again, you know, with their penguins current cap constraints, even with, like, Tang, having a steal here, I don't think the penguins, they will be able to get that done. So that is what I would ask the people who want to trade the first founder for a player, who would you want to trade that pit for? And if you have a good answer, by all means, let me know in a comment. You can DM me on social media, all that stuff. I'll maybe bring it up for a future episode.

Again, I get the reasoning why people do, because the team is in one now mode. But, you know, to just throw out that just, just to basically, like, just to basically, like say, well, this player stinks and blah, blah, blah, they should have just traded the first on pick. It just, it sounds like you're so short-sighted in that, you know, just do a little bit of research on the player before just saying they should have traded the pick and all that. That's the last little thing I wanted to say for the second segment. Again, overall, I like the pick.

He was in the category for in the range from Jason and I's board. And, you know, we definitely think he can be a top four defenseman in the actual level. We'll see if he gets there, but that's, I think, his ceiling, at least in my opinion. So that wraps up the second segment of this episode coming up in the final segment. We're going to get into some, again, Malkin updates. And I'm going to have maybe a little bit of a hot take about Ricardo, Raquel. But before I get to that, you can save time and money when using Rock Auto. Why should you choose to spend 30%, 50%, or even 100% more for the same parts from a chain store or car dealership?

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That is rock auto.com. back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodeys. Again, follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins. So Mike Sullivan spoke to the media tonight for the first time since the season ended, and he sounded optimistic that a deal will get done with Havgini Malkin. Chris Teng, when he was speaking to the media tonight after the Penguins made their draft pick. And shout out to him for announcing the pick in Montreal. That's a very nice job. from Ron Hexel to do that.

And obviously his son, Alexander, was up there. And it's crazy how big he's gone. I remember when he was just like a fucking baby. But, you know, I think during his press conference, he said three times, basically, that, you know, he's also optimistic that a deal will get done with Malkin. You know, there's been a lot of reports today about how the Penguins in Malkin, they're far apart on term and all this stuff.

And, you know, the biggest thing I'll say is this, you know, Terms should not be an issue. If he wants four years and you got to give him like $7 million, you do it. I mean, I don't care about that fourth year. If you're giving Chris Letang six years, you can give Evgeny Monk in four years. Maybe it's because Hextall doesn't want him as much as Latane, but Hextel also spoke to Emily Cavill on ESPN tonight. And, you know, he sounded very much like someone who wants to bring back, you know,

and knows how much he's meant toward the to the organization over the year. Um, you know, you have that. I know I saw earlier today with insider trading with Duren Dregor and pure LeBrun said that the two sides are not really close. The penguins are, you know, hesitant, I think, to go to three to four years on term. And, you know, I think a lot of this is being leaked for a reason. And I think it's being leaked from the Gino side. I think they're trying to put pressure on the penguins to get this done because obviously Gino will have no problem going to market. He will have a ton of suitors. Um, if he does go to market, I mean, Carolina. Washington, the Rangers, the avalanche, potentially the Panthers of Clodgeroo walks.

There's five teams right there. The Red Wings, I think, could potentially make a splash with him. There's six. I mean, I could probably list half the league who would be interested in Evgeny Malkin. But, you know, I'm not going to freak out about it until next Tuesday, Wednesday comes around, and there's no deal. If that's the case, then I'll be really nervous that something potentially will not happen. Right now, you know, I think there might be a motive to some of the next to some of the these leagues. I don't think it's coming from the penguin side. We'll see if the deal can get done

over the next few days. It should not be hard to come to an agreement with this player. You have extra cap space. Now they have an extra $2 million than I thought they would have. There is no excuse to not bring him back. If Hextall does not bring him back, he is going to be booed for an eternity. He will be known as the GM who let one of the five greatest players in Penguin's franchise history get away. So I just want everyone to know that. No, again, I've been saying three times seven, three times seven point one for a while now. If you have to go four years to do that, that makes sense. And, you know, if Rob Rossi's reporting is true, if he will accept four times six,

and maybe with a little new move clause for the first couple of years, you do that. And I don't think you think twice about it. Those are my thoughts on the Epitney Malkin stuff. Now to wrap up with Rickel. And I was getting that a lot in my Twitter mentions today. Well, 100, like, what is this meaning for Raquel and all that stuff? Honestly, I like Raquel. I think he's a solid player.

Performed a lot better than I thought he would with the Penguins. That said, I think he's probably going to be commending too much on that contract. And I just don't know if the Penguins can, you know, afford to pay him that. You know, do I think he's worth $4.5 to $5 million per? No. In my humble opinion, I think they should let him walk. I know that's not going to be a popular take among some people that listen to this podcast. but I just don't know if he's going to put up the kind of production that a 4.5 to 5 million

player should be putting up throughout the duration of a 4 to 5 year term. If anything, I would work to bring Evan Rodriguez back over Raquel. And I think you can potentially make a splash in your top six by still letting Raquel go. Say you do bring Malkin back and say you do pay him $7 million. So you'll still have about $8 million. in cap space to fill the remaining spots. Maybe Dayton Hiding comes back on a cheap deal. If that's only for, you know, to 2.5 million, that comes down to about 5.5 to 6 million in

cap. Capitan walks, maybe open up some more space with a Brock McGin trade. A defenseman gets moved out with POJ. Maybe that's, if a defenseman does get moved out, that's potentially up to 12 million in cap right there, factoring in the Malkin extension. That's around, you know, 7 to 8 million. You know, the penguins will have room to make a sense. splash in their top six.

And I think they can do better than someone like Raquel. So I wanted to throw that take out there and just give my side of it. Because again, I thought he played well with the Penguins, whether it was on the Kenney Malkin or Siney Crosby line. And I wouldn't mind if they were to resign him. But I would be cautious about giving out a lot of turn and a lot of top dollar to him. I think that's the main thing I wanted to get across there. but that'll do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

Thank you all so much for listening to this episode. It's been very busy as of late. I'll have another episode tomorrow getting into some draft talk. If Penguins make another move, if Longman is re-signed, you all be the first to know about it. Very busy time in Penguin Land right now. Keep it right here on Locked on Penguins. I'll have everything for you all for each episode. So I'll talk with you all on Friday.