Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Was this the nail in the coffin for the Penguins after another embarrassing loss?

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins got royally embarrassed by the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night and Hunter and Pat bring their A-game for today's episode. They start the show by eviscerating the team and going in on them for this performance. They look at how the team showed no effort outside of 2-3 players and how this "response" showed a lot about who they are after they blew the game against the Golden Knights. They also look at what direction the team is headed in and whether Kyle Dubas has his answer right now. After that, they discuss the own goal and how they both laughed and cried about it (not really on the crying part). They crush Letang for his mistake by the net and also go a little bit at Geno for how he handled the puck. Finally, they discuss how some shakeup is needed and how this team can somehow bounce back for the final two games before the All-Star Break.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED when you place a FIVE DOLLAR BET. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) 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.

The Penguins suffered perhaps their most embarrassing loss yet this season, and Pat and I are going to discuss that, plus a lot more on today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. 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 one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my first.

host Patrick Dant. You can follow him on Twitter at Centrum for Wet, and you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. Ornus for Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is bought to you by Game Time, down the Game Time app, Crane account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. So if you are watching on YouTube, you can see that Pat, he has no jersey behind him for the first time all season. He is absolutely fed up. And I think everyone that is listening to slash watching this episode of the show, you probably feel the same way. You're fed up with this team right now. I think the entire

fan base is probably fed up as a whole. And it got started pretty early in this game against Arizona. They give up that goal a few minutes in the game. Of course, Jason Zucker scores against this former team. You have Marcus Pedersen out to lunch in front of his own net. Yet again, just a miserable road trip for one of the three best defensemen on this team. You have Jeff Carter just going for a skate there looking like my grandma on skates, to be honest. I don't really know what he was doing, just gliding back there, not really caring that Jason Zucker was about to score. And also, that was a really nice play by Logan Cooley.

And then the Penguins were able to tie it up a little later on. Great play by Lars Eller and P.O. Joseph, especially to get to the net. I thought it was actually Joseph's goal at first, but Eleanor was the one who scored, and that was one thing I was looking to see was more depth scoring. Then a few minutes after that, Penguins give up another goal because for some reason, they decided to send two players after Clayton Keller and leave Valamaki just wide open and the high slot, boom, shot goes into one. Sandy Crosby once again wills his team back to tie the game.

And then, in typical penguin's fashion again in this game, they give up a goal just two minutes later, three to and that was the game winning goal just because no one knew what they were doing in the defensive zone. And Tristan Dari was also flopping around in his net. I feel like for the second time this season, I feel like I'm saying this, it looked like the team quit in the third period. It looked like they quit on their head coach. It appeared that they did this against the lightning. Then they bounced back a little later on.

But this loss in general with the road trip and with where they are in the standings and in the season in general, it just looked like that they quit. And it looked like they had no answers for what was going on. This loss could have devastating effects for the rest of the season because Kyle Dubus may have now made up. his mind for what he wants to do at the trade deadline. This was a completely unacceptable performance and embarrassing performance. There's really no other way to put it, to be honest. So I'm going to hand this over to you. I know you're going to absolutely crush this team as I did and probably a lot worse, to be honest. I've been trying, because away from the Penguins game last night,

Last night was the first time in a year and a half. I've played an actual organized ice hockey game. So I was on cloud nine last night because I finally got to play hockey again and it was awesome. And since I got home from that game and watching the Penguins game last night up until this morning when we're recording on Tuesday morning, I have been trying to think of a way to describe this loss. And I figured it out just before we hit record. This is the most gutless loss I have ever seen in the Sydney Crosby Penguins era. It was absolutely embarrassing.

And it's not just because of the own goal. The own goal is whatever. We'll talk about that. We'll laugh about it. We'll make our memes. It was the fact that you go on a road trip and you play relatively well for two periods against an unmanned injured Vegas team. And then you give up in the third period and lose.

and get no points out of it after having a two nothing lead. And then you come out against the Arizona coyotes, who are a young, hungry team looking to make their mark in getting better. We talked about them yesterday. They are a solid young team that has a very bright future. And then you go out as a veteran team full of guys who have won Stanley Cups, guys who have been down the long road, guys who have made their mark and are making a way into the hockey Hall of Fame

once they hang up the skates. And you get out skated, you get out worked, you get out classed, you get out everything by the Arizona Coyotes. I don't disagree with you that Eller had an okay game and P.O. Joseph had an okay game. But anyone not named Sidney Crosby last night was damn near a no show. Everybody. Top to bottom. Everybody.

You're right. It was an embarrassing effort. And simply put, if I'm Kyle Dubus, I'm the, winner from last night's game. Not the coyotes, not the penguins. If I'm Kyle Dubus, I'm the winner. Because I go to manage or ownership today and go, did you see that? Okay, I tried your way. Now I'm going to try mine. And yes, this doesn't mean that all of a sudden this era of Penguins hockey is over. Undoubtedly, if you're listening to this, you probably saw what I tweeted last night. Kyle Dubus's decision is easy now. Sell. If your name is not,

not Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris LaTang, or Eric Carlson, you should be on the table this morning. Period. End of story. Because everybody around them does not have heart. They don't. All the love in the world to Jake Gensel and Brian Rust and everything they've done

and everything that has happened with them. But you know what? Why? They don't deserve them. They don't. This team is great. This organization is great. This specific.

team this year's team is not. Sidney Crosby deserved better. He deserves better for this year for what he's doing. But this team, this team does not deserve better. They don't deserve help. They don't deserve to go to the Stanley Cup playoffs. They deserve to miss again. And Kyle Dubus deserves the chance this summer with a lot more impactful money coming

off the books to remake this team. So if I'm him this morning, I have sent out an email to 31. NHL general managers and said anyone not named Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris LaTang, or Eric Carlson is up for sale. Name your price. Call me. Let's talk. Well, I don't know how I can follow up that right there, my friends, but I will say last night was probably the first time I really warmed up to the idea of trading Jake Gensel at the trade deadline. for those who have been listening to the show for especially the last week or two or even three weeks, I have been very much on the train of keeping Jake Gensel, especially if they're in the race,

because they've been playing mostly a lot better. Well, that was up until this road trip where they gave up in the third period against Vegas, and then they played like absolute crap against the Arizona Coyotes, even though they tied the game up twice in that game. It looked like it was going to be two-two heading into the intermission before the penguin was just vomiting all over themselves. But they showed you who they are on this roadship. you that they're a team that doesn't deserve to be buyers at the trade deadline, that doesn't

deserve to have a kick at the can for this season. They show that they're a team that deserves to do what Washington did last year and do a little retool, sell off at the deadline, and then come back a bit stronger for the next year. That's what they showed, especially last night, but overall for this road trip. And you know what's even more damning to me? Cindy Crosby is putting together an MVP caliber season at age 36. He has put the team on his back

and this is what they're doing to repay him. It's insulting. You saw his reaction after the own goal last night. It was like, you know, I'm not mad, but I'm disappointed.

I would love to know what he was just thinking in his head or what he was going to say to the media if he felt like he could have just cussed up a storm because you can see how disappointed he was when that happened. Just disappointed overall with the game because he has been so good for the penguins this year. And this is what the rest of the team is giving him. It's insulting. That's what it is. It tells me a lot about the role players on this team. And you know what?

Also, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off here. No, go ahead. This was the response game after blowing that lead to Vegas. That shows me who you are as well. That's ridiculous. Yeah. And to build, what I was about to say there. It tells me everything I need to know about the role players on this team. And I know a lot of people are going to get angry at me for not yelling about Malkin, Latang, Carlson, because they haven't been great this year. All things can say, Latang has, Carlson's been solid just away from the power play. Malkin's been hot and cold.

But at this point, anyone who's not part of the core, which at this point is Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Carlson, they told. told me everything they need to know. I needed to know about them last night. Because like you said, Sidney Crosby is having a marvelous season at age 36. He is one of the top five players in the National Hockey League this season. I will not be taking questions. Do not ask me of them about Sidney Crosby this year. He is firmly in that camp. He's doing all of this while still being the Sydney Crosby he's always been. He is the first guy in and the last guy out. He stays late for practice. He's in the gym.

He's in the film room. He does everything that Sidney Crosby has always done. And he is Sidney Crosby at age 36, who has done everything there is to do in the National Hockey League. So what's your excuse, everybody else? What is your excuse? You get beat up by Vegas, who is missing everyone two nights prior. And then you go to this college arena, where Arizona is playing against a young team,

against a couple of guys who used to be on the penguins, and that's your response. It's gutless. I hate doing the talk radio hot takery of this, but like it's gutless. That's what it is. That is a gut check game, and they showed up with no guts.

And to go off of that a little bit, just before we had to break here, I hate also doing the sports talk radio things, but I'm going to do it just for this right now. Fire someone or trade someone at this point. You can't keep running the same thing back at this point and hoping that it works. It hasn't. Kyle Dubas can't keep sitting on his hands and just praying that this is going to turn itself around. No, make some sort of move.

Fire an assistant coach or maybe even fire Mike Sullivan, though. I don't think he's going to do that. But honestly, if he did, part of me wouldn't be surprised with the way they played on this road trip. But you can't keep sitting on your hands and thinking that this is all going to be, okay. You've got to do something considering the power that you have in this organization, the contract that you got over the summer, the money that you make, you got to do something to this team, whether it's some sort of firing or some sort of trade, just a shakeup because Jim Rutherford used to do that quite often when he was Penguin's general manager.

and sometimes it worked, sometimes it obviously didn't, but something's got to change, man, or something's just got to give, because this is not good enough right now. But that would do it for this first time. And coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss that hilarious own goal, what our reactions were to when we first saw it

and how the penguins can they even come back from this? Well, we're going to get into that as well. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about game time. It's the fastest and easy to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. And right now, all users get $100 off when they buy a big game ticket with code Vegas 100.

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In terms of supply, all you have to do, down the game time app and use code Vegas 100 for $100 off, a big time ticket. Or if you're not going to the game, use code locked on for $20 off for first purchase. Of course, the game is the Super Bowl in Las Vegas in just a few weeks. Download game time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes, join my my host, Patrick Dam. So Pat, we got to get into the own goal here because when I first saw when I was watching on TV, my jaw obviously dropped.

I had never seen that live, and I've been watching this sport for 20 years now. I laughed for a couple of minutes, realized that I had about 15 to 20 pages left of my book, for those wondering, I was finishing the Dorff Mall Shadow Hunter book because I am a massive Star Wars geek. And I went and finished my book because, you know what? I'm going to put myself in a good mood here. The book was really good. And the ending ended up being really good, at least a lot better than the ending of the game last night. But it was a comedy of errors which led to that goal.

Chris Lattang going back in his own zone, okay, thoughts whatever. But my man, why are you doing that stupid drop pass that? Pat and I have absolutely killed them for time after time on this show. It makes no sense, especially when you're right by your own goal, when there's no goalie in the net. What are you doing there? And then, Fgeny Monkin, my man, that puck is going wide of the net. Why are you even putting your stick on that puck? It was, as I said, a comedy of errors.

Everyone is laughing at them and for good reason. I laughed at them when I first saw it. I just, I can't believe that even happened, to be honest. And it just honestly summed up their season in one play there, I think. I'm going to give, well, to what you were saying, I was done with my beer league hockey game, sitting at the rink bar with the kid I played hockey with for nearly 20 years. And I literally just put my head in my hands and put it down and stared at my beer when it happened. Because it was unbelievable.

And as for the play itself, let's break this down. Brian Rust, 200 IQ play. Knows that there's a delay a game, takes the puck all the way back to their own zone, to kill clock to get more time at four on four and more time on the power play, or less time at four on four on four and more time on the power play. And the penguins start doing the right thing. They start lugging the puck, keeping it away from the coyotes because exactly what I said, less four on four time, more power play time for when they get possession.

99% of the blame to me lays with Chris Latang. I'll give 1% to have Guine Malkin for mishandling it and putting a stick out, but that's a snap reaction because you know he's not expecting to see the puck. He's not. He's really not. Chris Latang has to know you are in an area of the defensive zone with your goalie pole. Either give the coyotes the puck or just let it go. You don't need to drop it back. You don't.

There is no world where that's the right play. Zero. So 99% of the blame to me lays with Chris Latang for making an absolutely boneheaded play. And yeah, we can get on Evgeny Malkin because I know this town loves dumping on them in every given moment because we still haven't given up on the whole Russian stereotype thing. But all he did was react to something he wasn't expecting. So you can get on him for it, fine, I guess. But that's all Chris Latang to me. And the funny thing is, when he was skating to the right side of the defensive zone, all you had to do was just keep going a little bit.

So what if the defender touches the puck? You're going to get a power play. Even if you go to the boards and just pin it along there, you can just let the guy touch it. And okay, you're going on to the power play. As you said, great play by Brian Russ. But why are you passing the puck back when you know you're so close to the net? It just makes no sense.

Obviously, maybe it's a little different if your goalies in the net there because he's not going to let an own goal in like that. But, well, yeah, if Jari's still there, that's a fine play. If Jari's still there, that's a fine play because you're keeping possession, you're burning clock. Right. But he's not there. You have to be aware that your net is empty.

And if the puck goes in, it counts. Yep. And again, that just summed up this season in general, to be honest. And going off that, how do the penguins come back from this game and this road trip in general? I know they got two games up before the, All-Star break, we'll do a small preview for that to end the show with Florida and Montraud, before we really dive into those two teams later on this week. But with the lead that you blew in Vegas and then the game that you played in Arizona

where you kind of look disinterested for basically that entire game, you got outskated, you got outworked, you called it gutless, it looked like they had no energy, no spirit, no loyalty it felt like in that game. How does this team come back from that with a few days? days off now between games because this team doesn't play again until Friday when the Florida Panthers coming down who are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. How do you think this team comes back from that? Because honestly, if you're asking me, I'm not sure how they do.

Like, how are you going to put together a 60-minute effort against that Panthers team after what you just did on that road trip? And you also detailed this on our Monday episode. The Penguins were very nice in letting the team go out to Vegas. early to have some fun and then they show up like that in the third period and then you put that type of effort out there against Arizona, Pat, that's insulting to members of the organization who let them go out there that early at least to, you know, have some fun, get away from Pittsburgh and you come back with no points and that type of effort.

That's just ridiculous too. Well, the way you come back from this now is guess what, boys, the playoffs have started. It may be January 23rd, but the playoffs have started. You're not on the playoffs. Patrick Wall just said to the Islanders, and he just got hired by them a couple days ago. He said we're playing playoff hockey the rest of the way, and they're not even in a spot right now.

You don't worry about what happens next week, what happens the next day. It is literally a hardcore focus on every single game one at a time because anything else is a distraction at this point. Because now you're still, I didn't, I've been so fuming about this game. I'll be honest with our listeners. I haven't done much reading this morning,

so I didn't look at the standings. I'm assuming there's still five out, maybe more at this point. But at this point, you're in the playoffs. You have to play one game at a time. You have to hyper focus on one game and just win the game in front of you.

Other than that, I mean, I'm not going to sit here and explicitly call for Mike Sullivan to be fired. because I still think he's a great coach. But I think the seat's hot now. I don't think they will fire him this week. No.

I agree with what you're saying. That seat is getting. And here's why. And here's why. It's not because of the loss. You lose games in an 82 game season. You do. You just do.

And there are nights in an 82 game season where you are lifeless. You do. You are. It happens. It's part of the sport. It always will be. It always has been. What bothered me last night,

and this morning. The one thing I did read was all the postgame stuff and all the recaps. And I appreciate a coach that believes in his players. I appreciate a coach that stands with his players. I really do. I constantly say over and over that professional sports is a career now. These guys aren't leaving the game and going to work their shift at the mill afterwards. To get to the professional leagues, you are the 1% of the 1% and you are great at what you do. you don't need a guy to come in and kick your ass 24-7. But eventually you need a humbling. And eventually you need to be put on notice.

And eventually you need a coach to threaten you and rattle your cage a little bit. Mike Sullivan has yet to do that this year. I appreciate him standing with these guys. I know they won Stanley Cups together. I know they've done a lot of winning together other than just Stanley Cups. But after last night, that's when you come out and say nobody's safe. Nobody did well tonight. Tonight was unacceptable.

This was an awful effort. This was putrid. This is bad. You can't come out and say, I think we have a great team in there, and I believe in these guys. They know you believe in them. It's been long enough.

They know you like them. They know it. But eventually you got to rattle a cage and say, well, you know, maybe this isn't a playoff team. Maybe we aren't good enough anymore. Maybe we've lost a step. Challenge them a little bit. And if he doesn't want to do that,

maybe it's time for him to go. And the funny thing is, I honestly want him to kind of pull like a John Totorella just because he coached under him for quite a while. And I kind of want him to just go at the media. I'm not obviously bury the media, but when he talks to the media, just kind of bury the team a little bit. And I know that's unorthodox for him because he's usually really, he's kind of safe when he talks about the team, I feel like. But that's not the time to be right now. You can't be safe when you're talking about this team with what they just showed you on this road trip. And honestly, what they've showed you overall this season.

They've been inconsistent for a lot of this season. It's okay to kind of maybe bury them at times like your mentor, John Torrella, has done with his teams throughout his coaching career in the NHL. Again, I don't want him to always behave like Torts. Torts is one of the kind. I know he's obviously ever going to create you with the Flyers, but just kind of go out them a little bit when they're playing like this. That's all, I think. But that will do it. But go ahead.

Yeah. I'm just real quick. He doesn't need to bury them. He doesn't need to come out and scream and yell and throw a bench on the ice and break sticks and make a big scene. We kind of funny. After a game like last night, you just come out and say, I don't know if this team's, you challenge them. I don't know if this team's got it anymore. That's fair.

Maybe we're not as good as we think. Maybe we need to be a little more honest with our game. Call them out. That's it. You don't need to be a dictator. No. I totally hear you on. that. I mean, I would be fine with that too. It would just be, I guess, kind of, I know it would be

unorthodox. It would also be kind of funny if he did just really bury them when he's talking to reporters, but he's just honestly never been that type of coach. But he needs to, I guess, be more than safe with how he talks about this team right now is what I'm definitely trying to say. But I think that will do it for this second segment of today's show. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I got to look at what's next for this team is they have two more games before or the All-Star break. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Sleeper,

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Terms and conditions apply. That's code locked on NHL, C-Sleepers, terms of use for details, and locational availability. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Dam.

So, as I've said, probably 10,000 times on this episode already. Two more games for the All-Star break. We're going to preview them in detail a little later on this week, probably for the Friday episode of the show. But you got the floor panthers coming to town, and then they have the Montreal Canadians coming to town,

back-to-back this upcoming weekend before the break, and that's going to be over a week long to really recharge themselves for a lot of February, and then obviously March, which is the gauntlet, and then April as well. Before Panthers, they're one of the best teams in the league this year, 28 and 14 and 4 right now. They have 60 points, good for second place in the Atlantic.

They've won six of their last 10 games. This is very much one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. You go to Montreal, they're 19 and 27. They've lost six of the last 10 games, including two in a row, you would figure that will be a win for the penguins, but honestly with how they're playing right now, you don't know who is going to be a win for this team. But if they want to somehow show Dubus that they are worthy of being a team

that could be, I guess, added to at the trade deadline, even though they definitely don't deserve it right now, they're going to have to go out there and play 120 minutes of the best hockey that they have played yet this season. And that means playing outstanding against the Panthers, who they've already lost to and against Canadian saying that they have struggled against a little bit these last couple years, especially last year where they didn't even beat the Canadians. I know they beat them earlier this year, but that was still a struggle,

considering they were down by multiple goals a couple times and that game. But they need their two best performances yet if they have any shot of showing dubus that they deserve help, I guess. For sure. And if everyone, if I can expand my everyone, everyone, not named Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Carlson should be on the table for Dubus. Everything should be on the table for Mike Sullivan this week. And that means your top six, your bottom six, your defensive pairings, your

goal tending rotation. Because at this point, after this trip, and I know it's only two games, I know in the grand scheme, they've been pretty okay, but the magnitude of these two losses are, cannot be understated. because in a vacuum, yes, like they're bad, their losses, big picture, no, it's not that big a deal. But you're now five points out to a playoff spot with the All Star break creeping up here.

And you've got a really, really good team coming to town and then a really, really bad team. And at this point, what you have seen over and over is that this team can't find consistency. And you haven't done a whole lot to change. the lineups to change the special teams. You can probably keep the PK together. They've been solid.

You don't have to tweak the goalie rotation too, too much. But defensive pairings can change. The lines should change. The power play obviously should change. But at this point, if you're going to, what's next is you need to find a spark of some sort to give this team a kick in the ass and get this team back on track. And to go off that, what is that spark? I mean, are you going to call up Sam Poulan from Wilkesbury?

Are you going to give Yassi Pollyarvia a shot in the NHL and give him a contract? That's all fine and dandy. But are those truly big sparks for this team? I mean, I would maybe argue no, just because, I mean, they're down in Wilkeshire right now. And, you know, Poulan, I know he's playing really well for Wilkeshire right now, but I just don't think that's going to be the big spark that this team needs for the rest of the season. I think same with full Yard. I know he's had a couple decent games lately,

but I don't think that's going to be this major spark that a lot of people, you know, both of us included, are looking for. I mean, one easy move potentially is moving Ryan Graves back down. He was terrible last night. And it's funny, Pat. We praised him a little bit for the last couple weeks, and he was playing a bit better.

And then he goes over and bars all, barfs all over himself, excuse me, and that game against Arizona and was out to lunch on a couple of their goals. Not good enough overall from him. I would probably move him down, a little bit again, but then you also have P.O. Joseph that would move back with Eric Carlson. We've seen how that has been this season, though. I will say P.O. Joseph had a pretty decent game

against Arizona, one of the three players that actually did. And to expand on your list where you would only have Crosby, Malk, and Latang Carlson as the untouchables, I would still argue that Marcus Pedersen could be in there. And yes, you could definitely, I think, get a decent haul for him. And while I understand that he did have a couple of brutal games, probably two of his worst games as a member of the Penguins since he joined the team, I think I would still consider him a core player, and I would be keeping him for quite a while because they don't have another player like him on their back end. There's just no one close that can put out the defensive impacts that he can on an every night basis. So I would kind of include him in there, in my opinion.

But there are definitely no easy answers to this right now, to say the least. No, there aren't. And you look at guys like Pedersen, like Jake, even Russ to an extent. And that might be the difficult decision to get this team back on track. Russ does have a no move clause. So he would have to approve it. But also at the same time, does he want to stick around on this team for the next several years of the way this is going? I mean, I don't know.

I'm obviously not inside his head. But I will say he has the final say for where he wants to go. And again, I've said this to multiple people over the last. last few hours. Yeah, he's got a no move clause. Those never get moved, right? Never. They know, guys have no move clauses never get traded. It never happens. So like, I understand it's a hurdle, but it's not an impossible one. And it, I don't know, like, I think honestly, what's next overall is they're going to play hockey the rest of the way out. But at this point, if you're Kyle Dubus, you call Fenway Sports Group and say, this season's cooked. We're, we're

done. I am going to move some assets and we're going to do what Washington did last year. We are going to sell off some names you might not like us selling off as a fan base. But when this team's back in the competition for the Metropolitan Division next year, you'll have fond memories of them. You'll hang the jersey in the closet and go get the new guys jersey. And it is kind of working a bit this year for Washington. They're more in the race right now, I would say, than the Penguins are, to be honest. But I think that I'll do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

unless you have anything else to say about this ridiculous, embarrassing loss against the Arizona Coyotes. No, I'm good. I think I got it all out. I think so, too. I think we've ranted long enough about this team in the 32, 33 minutes that we have done for today's episode. But the good news is we'll be back on Wednesday to do Warrior Helmet Wednesday. But we'll see if anyone actually deserves the Warrior Helmet after what happened over the last week. We'll figure that out and we'll figure out other things to talk about as well.

Then we'll have episodes for you all. for Thursday and Friday of this week. But again, thank you all so much for listening to watching this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. We'll be back for you all on Wednesday.