Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Was Marcus Pettersson one of the Penguins' 3 best defenseman this season?

Episode Date: June 18, 2022

Happy Friday! Hunter continues the season grades/reviews for this episode by touching on Marcus Pettersson's season. Was this one of his best seasons to date? How did his numbers stack up to some of the other defensemen? Hunter also looks at if his offense can break through next season, especially after seeing a tease of what he could do during the late stages of this past season. Finally, could he be used as trade bait? Is his contract a problem? Hunter dives into those questions before getting to Teena Murray being named the VP of Integrated Performance. What does this mean going forward? Could she help figure out why the Penguins are always one of the league's most injured teams? He also gets into a couple of other topics surrounding that hire, plus ends the show with John Tortorella going to Philly. He looks at how the Pens-Flyers rivalry can get back on track and why it's gone down a lot in recent years.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.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK. 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 there, happy Friday evening for once. I'm not in my home recording this. It's probably the first time I'm not recording a video episode within my normal spot down in Richmond. And probably two, three months now, I have a clear background for those that watch on YouTube with my childhood room back at my dad's house as we're getting ready to go on vacation tomorrow. That is a, yes, my room was painted black and gold for the Pittsburgh Steelers. No, you all cannot judge me for that. and that's for sure. But we're continuing the player of Grades Day with Marcus Pedersen,

what the team should do with him over the all season, how good was he this season, what should he work on, going into the next season if he is on the team. Also going to get into the Tina Murray announcement today, as she is now the senior vice president of intang great performance, what that means for the Penguins moving forward. And also, I thought, on the Penguins Flyers' rivalry, as John Torrella, officially took the Flyers job today.

and for the first time and potentially a long time, we could see the Flyers Penguins rivalry come back on this season. So those will be the three main topic points for today's episode, and that's all coming up right after this drop. You're 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'm, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows, Twitter at L-O-Ns for Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's keep chugging along here. You know, we're almost done almost through the full team now with the player season reviews. It's going to probably finish up right by the time for agency. It was probably a little bit before, but, you know, still a lot of draft stuff coming. You know, one of my good buddies, I got shouted on so many times on the show.

So J underscore A 155, Jason, he's going to be coordinating me with a draft plan. He's going to go over his big board with me. I'll compare mine to his after I look at some of the players that could be in play at 21. And that's probably going to be a full draft session. I don't think he's going to come on the show, but we're definitely going to compare and potentially had just a big board episode that maybe goes 40 to 50 minutes as like that big draft special right before that happened. So that's my main plan right now when it comes to the actual draft. I know I didn't really do a lot of draft content.

Last year, I apologize for that. Again, it's probably the one area where my expertise is not nearly as good as some other people who are very good at what they do with that. But I still want to do, you know, incorporate, just at least a little bit of draft stuff because the Penguins, they obviously have a first-round pick this year. So if we want to see who could be in play here, when that pick rolls around when the draft is in.

a few weeks. But let's jump right into it. So continuing with the defense right now, as we've done through basically all the boards, let's get to Marcus Peders. So we've already done Brian Newman with John John Marino. So now let's do his partner person. So 5E5 this year, played almost 1,100 minutes. Probably had his best season in terms of course these. So when he was on ice, Penguins had about 53.5%. The shot attempts per 60. That is a very, the number. That is a career high for Pedersen. He was 51.3, 51.8, 51.3, the last three years. I think a lot of that this year has to do with him mostly playing with Marino. It's massive for him that he gets to play with a partner that just really understands his game. I think goals for, goals against 52.5%

of those. That's a little bit down from where it was last year. He was on the ice for 58% of the actual goals 4 per 60. Expected goals percentage, 54.4%. That's the highest number for his career so far. His second best one was in 2018-19 when he came over from the Anaheim Ducks. When he was on ice, the Penguins at 52.5% of the scoring chances. He's been about 50% with that for four years in a row. High danger-wise, 194-148 against, 56.2.

That comes out to 56.2%. That's the second best number of his career outside of the 2019 season. High danger goals for 25, high danger goals against 23. And again, that's now every season that he's playing in the NHL, his high danger actual goals 4 percentage is well over 50%. Now, we go to hockey viz stuff with Michael Blake McCurdy. Even strength offense, again, that's not really his bread and bother, minus 0.13, expected goals for per 60.

A lot of blue around the net front, you know, that's not good. That means he's generating less chance. is right there, you know, some red by, you know, the right far boards, the left far boards, but defensively, he's a rock, and that's mainly what he is known for. Point two, two, expected goals against per 60 minutes, a whole blob of blue in front of the net, that's exactly what you want. There's really only a little bit of red towards, like, the sides of the net, but it's, it's very small.

All the other red is, you know, right up by the point and stuff. And, you know, he's been great defensively ever since he came, you know, I know some people think he's soft or whatever in front of the net. But, you know, I've never really believed that opinion, at least from what I've watched him. I thought, you know, his net front coverage has been fine. Obviously, he should have been, they should have that penalty in game seven against the Rangers.

With LaFron, I will probably never let that go, because if the, if the graph actually calls that with six minutes left, I mean, the Penguins probably win that game. The Rangers would only have four minutes left, unless, of course, they score the hand of goal. But, you know, I do think Pedersen is a player that's picked on a little too much by the fan base. I mean, you know, sure he's not going to wow you with his offense. Though I will say, you know, down the stretch and into the playoffs, he was looking like a modern day Paul Coffey with how he was handling the puck. And I'm like, why haven't we gotten this for three to four straight years now? It is definitely a little weird that it all of a sudden

just came out of nowhere. You know, my only hope is that it continues going to be. into next season. I know some really don't like his contract, but, you know, he makes $4 million for playing strong defense offensively. Yeah, I could use a little bit more, but, you know, I'm still fine with paying him $4 million. But, you know, the problem runs with this. Four million for Pedersen, $4 million for Reno, $4 million for D-Mont. That's $16 million right there in three players who are not good at driving offense. Again, I said this earlier this week. My dream defensive, core. I want three players that can actually move the puck and generate offense. I want three players who, you know, maybe don't generate as much offense as the other three,

but they're better defensively and they can be the shots of pressures. Excuse me. And, you know, Penerson, he is that kind of player. You know, again, I would love for him to have that kind of offense that we saw the end of the regular season, or he was just using curl drags to beat defenders. Even in that series against the Rangers, he was ridiculously good. with moving the puck up the ice and into the attacking zone. I really can't think of anything negative that he was on the ice floor.

I thought he had a tremendous series. The numbers, I do think mainly back that up here. Yeah, I mean, 56% of the shot attempts for the penguins when he was on the ice, 56% of the actual goals, 60% of the expected goals, 54% of the scoring chances, 61% of the high danger chances only on the ice for two high danger goals against. He was a rock. I mean, honestly, that pairing with Marino was so good in the playoffs. And that's one of the main reasons why I'm hesitant to move on from both of them

and why I think I would rather see John Marino be the automat now. I mean, Pedersen and Marino, that's the pairing that the penguins can really throw out at anyone and Mike Sullivan can be like, okay, you go out there and be our shutdown pairing and make sure nothing happens in the defensive zone. And that's exactly what they were during the regular season and the playoffs. And I think Ron Hextall realizes that. I don't think he's going to move either one of these players. Would I be shocked if he did?

No, because I've been talking about that a lot too. But, you know, at the back of my mind, my prediction right now is that I don't think both will be moved. Now, if you can find a taker maybe for Pedersen and actually get something valuable in return, you know, I would certainly be open to, especially if it's, you know, a young forward. that's really ready to contribute in the NHL or a Florida that has already contributed on a team in the NHL. So the Bengals will definitely have their options. I do think one of those 3, 4 million guys is going to have to be off this team next year. I know, again, 16 million.

Oh, I almost 16 million. Geez, 12 million, excuse me. Just forget what I said with the 16 million. I just, I don't know. this is why I was not a math major. She, that is just basic third grade level math, and I just totally screw that up. Again, anyways, $12 million, God, I correct myself there.

It's the same concept, though. It's too much, especially, you know, with a team that is cap-strapped every year, a team that always bends up, you know, to the ceiling in the family sports group is going to continue that for as long as Sidney Crosby's here and hopefully, again you all increase at saying. So I was very happy.

with how Pedersen played this year. I thought he was a rock, to be honest. And again, you know, I'll say it for the fifth time in the last three minutes. If that offensive game can come back out like we saw at the end of the other biggerow season in the playoffs, you know, I think the Penguins could really be cooking with something there. But, you know, he's a fine second pairing, shot down defenseman, nothing more probably. And I thought he was one of their best defensemen this year. I think outside of Chris LaTang and Mike Matheson, he was their third best defenseman out of everyone that played. It was. It was. least in my opinion. So that wraps up this first segment of the podcast coming up in the

second that we're going to get into that new Penguins announcement today and what that means going forward. But but before we get to that, Benline.comnet is your number one source for all of your betting needs and sports info. You can find all the latest sports developments, league reviews and news, including this year's NHL playoffs and Major League Baseball. Benline is your continued scores for all your sports weight of information, including live betting, e-sports, and scores. And Benline remains the best spot for all of their sports scores, podcasts, and news this season. It's the fastest and easiest way to check on all of their favorite sports, events, including MMA, boxing, and golf.

You had to the website today or use your mobile device, learning more of the trends in action that has been online where the game starts. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins Podcast. I am your host, Hon. He's going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's get into this big announcement. today from the Penguin. So Tina Murray was hired by the team to be their senior vice president

of integrated performance. And the press release, which I have right here, it says she will oversee the hockey operations, strength and conditioning staff, rehab, sports science, and medical staff. She will also report directly to Ron Hexton. She spent the last four seasons with the Sacramento Kings, where she was the team's vice president of health and performance. She also led a high performance team, including straight and conditioning, with analytics, performance medicine, mental health, performance psychology, and performance nutrition. She has over 25 years of experience working with professional athletes. You know, this is a good move.

And the big reason I say that is, you know, the penguin's injury curse has been very bad. It's a problem. The penguins did not play a game this season where they were fully healthy. They have probably not played a game when they were fully healthy in two to three years at this point. And, you know, I hope that, you know, Tina's able to come in here and be like, what the heck is going on? And, you know, I think a big thing that, you know, hopefully she'll put an end to is the players getting hurt during games.

And this has been happening going back for a decade, I think, at this point. You know, they get hurt during games. They come out and then they come back into the game. And then Mike Sullivan's like, oh, yeah, their day-to-day, they miss. three weeks. Or he's like, oh, yeah, he's week to week. He misses five to six weeks. Remember, Tristan D'Roy, when he broke his foot, when Anders Lee came crashing into him, you know, he finished the game, looked totally fine. No one really noticed anything. Next day, you know, it says, oh, he's missing from practice. And it's like, oh, great, maybe it's nothing.

Mike someone's like, yeah, he's weak to week with a lower body injury and that comes after. I think it was either a pony or Colin Dunlap of 97. The fan, they were like, yeah, we've been here he broke his foot. So it's just like, why is a player allowed to stay in that kind of game with that kind of injury, especially in a meaningless regular season game? You know, that just makes no sense to me. That's very, very dumb. And it's just, it's been happening far too often, I think, with this franchise.

So I'm hoping Murray is able to come in here and, again, put an end to that. And also just figure out why the penguins of all teams continue to have these really just weird injuries, you know, year after year after year. You know, I, you know, I envy some of these other teams that don't go through nearly as many injuries as the penguins do, you know, and as soon as I, you know, Tweeted about, you know, Murray coming in here and putting an end of the penguin's injury curse. And a bunch of people replying say, you know, God's feet or good luck.

And it's like, yeah, I mean, she has her work cut out with her with that because the penguins, they defy just all the laws of physics with it, to be honest with you. So, you know, I'm sure she's going to, you know, do a great job. And, you know, I'm curious to see, you know, will the number of injuries go down next season, you know, now that, you know, she's running, you know, this staff with integrity performances, as she's a senior vice president and all that stuff. She's also worked as a strength and conditioning coach for various teams and organizations. She's worked with the Anaheim Ducks, Harford Woolpack, Yukon, Cornell, Florida Panthers.

You know, she's, she's been around quite a bit to say, anyway. So she has a ton of experience. Congratulations to her for accepting this position. And, yeah, I mean, I'm excited. You know, I just, I've grown tired of seeing, you know, Mike Madison, you know, miss a ton of games or, you know, just whoever player it is. You know, Jason Zulker, for instance, this season, basically missed. at the time, it felt like it was three quarters of the season, even though he played in his half the games.

I would love for him to stay healthy if he's on the team next year. And we'll see. I think this could only be seen as positive news, in my opinion. So that wraps up this second segment of the show. Coming up in the third segment we're going to get into a little bit of Flyers news today. I know some people may be scared to hear that, but I promise it does relate to the Penguins. So stick around for that coming up right after these messages. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast.

I am your host, Honorable Hoddies. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hoddies. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So, you know, the big news today on the other side of the state, John Tortorella, officially hired as Philadelphia Flyers head coach. And, you know, it is going to be peak comedy, seeing him and my. Sullivan go at it four to five times a year for the next however many years. Sullivan, as you all probably recall, you know, he is basically, you know, Torrella's disciple.

You know, he or, you know, in Star Wars terms, he was kind of like his apprentice or Patelon a little bit. You know, he learned a lot of what he, you know, knows now from Torrella because, you know, he was Torrella's right-hand man for many years in New York, and years before that, too. So, you know, they do have a very special friendship. but you know this could be the move that really gets the battle of Pennsylvania back to being what it once was and you know it's it's sad to see what the Flyers penguins rivalry has become you know maybe it's because it's been pretty one-sided um after the Flyers won the series in 2012

well I shouldn't say that the Flyers actually played the Penguins pretty tough in 2013 2014 I think it got really, it started to get really out of hand during the 2015-16 season. I think the Penguins have had the better of the play against the Flyers for the last six years. Obviously, you know, they've had a lot more success on the Flyers had during that time. I think I don't even, the last time the Flyers won't playoff series, got to say, I think it was 2011, 2012, to be honest with you. I do not, I cannot even recall the last time. before that run when they beat the penguins and then they

lost to the devils in the second round, I don't remember them winning a series since then. And, you know, I think part of that, you know, that just, and plus the penguins have gone on such, you know, big heights and the fires have just stayed mediocre, gone down a little bit. I think that's really killed the rivalry over the years. I mean, you know, I've, you know, I've talked to a lot of Penguins fans, you know, either, you know, off, you know,

that are my friends, you know, people that listen to this podcast. And, you know, a lot of them have said, you know, they don't really hate the Flyers as much anymore because the rivalry is just not the same. I mean, it's not nasty. And I'm glad that, you know, we're not seeing a repeat of 2012 every night where awful goaltending, Aaron Asham's laying people out. James Neal's head hunting like a freaking clown. You know, it doesn't have to be like that. But, you know, I still once in a while, I still want to see, you know, an actual rivalry here because, you know, this used to be, I think, one of the fiercest rivalries. and hockey, and now it's anything but that.

Again, I know a lot of Penguin's fans who hate the Washington capitals a lot more than the fires. I know some people who hate the Rangers and the Islanders more than the Flyers. And that sounds weird to say just because of how storied the Battle of Pennsylvania is with so many legendary moments between the two teams, you know, the 08 and 09 series, you know, the Primo go in 2000, which I hate to bring up on this show, but it's a very legendary moment in the rivalry with the 2012. series, the other series in 2018 with the Penguins got the revenge on the flyer. So many great regular season meetings between these two teams.

The spectrum with the Penguins finally breaking their massive losing streak, you know, decades ago with Mary Lou Amieu there. It's a shame to see how far it's truly fallen. But I do think Torrella is potentially going to get that rivalry, you know, going again. I think of all the coaches in the NHL, he probably hates the penguins more than anyone. I mean, remember, you know, he called Sidney Krause and Afghani.

Winer's, I'm pretty sure that he started with New York. Definitely said it in Columbus. You know, I'm not his biggest fan. I definitely called him a clown in some other words that I will not repeat on the show. We keep a PG here on Longton Penguins. But, you know, this is, that this could really get the rivalry going.

And, you know, I always love seeing how rowdy the crowd gets in Philadelphia, especially when they're booing Cindy Crosby and doing the Crosby sucks, Shannon. You know, even though the rivalry's not what it used to be right now, I mean, I still get to hear that every time he walks in there, but it's still not nearly as bad. As you see, I mean, you got you back in the day, they used to bring pacifiers to Wells Fargo. They had signs that had Sid Photoshop with the pacifier on his mouth.

They were ruthless towards the penguins and their fans at the Wells Horgo Center, which formerly was the Wachovia Center. That was just some of those games were flat out legendary. You know, the Kunitz hit on Kimo team in from 2009 is still probably one of the biggest hits I think I've ever seen while watching the sport. And, you know, it's probably going to be a bit tough at first, what came the rivalry back just because the Flyers are not that good right now. And I think it's going to take a lot of moves to get them back to being relevant again.

But I still think today is the first step to getting this rivalry back on track. Because even when the games were nationally televised last year, who was going out of their way to really watch it? Outside of Penguins and Flyers fans. I mean, the arenas in Philadelphia was always dead. I mean, the team stunk. even in Pittsburgh, you know, outside of Cindy Crossby's 500th goal, you know, the Penguins fans get Rowley just because they're still in one now mode, but, you know, it's just, it doesn't have the same feel to it as it did,

even just a few years ago. And again, I would love to see that come back. You know, again, I don't need to see a bunch of dirty hits or them go back to being the Broad Street boys like they were when Lindross was there and Bobby Clark and, you know, Chris Pronger back in the day, Mike Richards, obviously big Jeff Carter, Ville, Lano, Sam, Sam, not Sam Gagne, Simone Gagne, you know, et cetera, et cetera, you know.

No, we'll see. You know, this is, it's definitely going to be peak comedy when these two teams play, and I just, I can't wait to see what Totalis has about the Penguins. If they have either a questionable hit or they, you know, beat them. I just, I want to see what he says to the media after him, because he is always known for being very brash. with them. But again, let's see. Let me know what you all think in the comments and you know,

you can DM me this as well. Do you all think this will get the Flyers, Penguins' rivalry back on track? Do you wish, do you miss the rivalry between these two teams on how it used to be? Or are you comfortable with the status quo right now? Let me know in the comments. You can also message me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, or the show's Twitter at LernerSquare Penguin. So that will do it for this episode of the podcast. I will still have episodes Monday and Tuesday of next week. I will be on vacation, but again, the grind does not stop to say the least. On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I should be back in my normal spot back home in Richmond. So again, Vowder for this one. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode. I really appreciate this. We're getting through the month of June

here before you all know it. It's going to be July. And free agency and the draft are going to come. and then the show's going to be down to three days a week. But again, thank you all so much for listening. I hope you'll have a wonderful, wonderful Father's Day weekend. Get your father's a Penguins mug, Penguins wineglass, something. Something Penguins related for Father's Day for all you, Penguins fans that listen to this show. So again, thank you so much for listening. I'll be back on Monday.