Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Was Wednesday night the end of the Penguins season?

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins recorded maybe their most embarrassing loss of the season against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night and on this edition of the Locked On Penguins Podcast, Patrick Damp and Hunter Hodies discuss who is at fault for the Penguins recent failings, if a rebuild or retooling is needed in the near future, and so much more. Oh yeah, the Penguins also have a game tonight. Patrick and Hunter preview tonight's matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks.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.Camino ConsultingAfter providing more than 20 years of service to small and midsize businesses, Camino is offering a digital seminar for families and couples. Go to www.caminoconsulting.ca and use discount code LOCKEDON for 25% off the rest of the month OR mention Locked On when reaching out for a business seminar and receive the first 5 profiles free.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.FanDuelGet buckets with your first bet on FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your bet wins! 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.

After their most embarrassing loss yet, nothing is off the table for Hunter and I on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. We're going to discuss it right after this. Your 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, Penguins fans, to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp.

joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4WET. You can follow Hunter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow the show's account at L.O. underscore Penguins. We are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. We thank you for making this your first listen slash watch of the day because we're your team every day. And today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase.

So there is absolutely no use in delaying the inevitable after a absolutely putrid loss on Wednesday night to the Florida Panthers 5 to 2 where the penguins looked absolutely lifeless. Hunter and I have been stewing in our misery for the last 12 or so hours, maybe a little more. But before we get into it, I do want to issue a preemptive apology to our guy, Sean, who oversees the locked on NHL network. We are going to probably go long today because it is absolutely required with where this franchise is right now. So let's get into it. That was arguably the most embarrassing loss of the season last night. The Penguins Power Play continues to be absolutely anemic. They showed absolutely no life after getting figuratively punched in the mouth by the Florida Panthers.

The offense once again could not score. the forecheck looked lifeless. They had absolutely no way to keep up with the Florida Panthers. And at this point, what do we think about this team, about this franchise, where it sits, what they have to do going forward? And the question that's on everyone's mind, because God knows my mentions, your mentions, all of Penguins Twitter has been a gigantic dumpster fire since that game. is this team cooked right now yes i mean sure there's a distinct possibility i don't even say it's

distinct there's a very small possibility that they win eight nine in a row is that going to happen absolutely not they've shown no indication that they can even win three or four in a row at times this season so yes i would say right now this team is cooked right what this team is, is a mediocre to okay team that is not good enough to make the playoffs in a really mid-eastern conference. You made all those moves over the off season to go all in once again, and this is what we're getting at game 50 of this season. It's not good enough. And dare I say, because I know a lot of people like to get on me a little bit at times because I say it so often on the show, it's unacceptable. 50 games in. That's the level. That's the level. That's

you're showing with your season on the brink of collapse, that's what you're doing on national television, Pat? That first period put me to sleep. Four shots for the Panthers, three for the Penguins. And then the second period comes around, oh, it looks like you take the lead. And maybe this is the start of a potential big stretch. Nope, that goal comes off the board and the penguins fall asleep.

And then they're down three nothing. And the game is basically over by that point. It was a pathetic showing all around by the Penguins on national television last night. There's no other way to say it. And you brought that up about the disallowed goal. That doesn't even get into the fact that in the first period, they had three power play opportunities. Three, to the Panthers Zero and came away with absolutely nothing. And it was more of the same once again.

So I want to start here. Now, at this point, I'm whatever on the Mike Sullivan talk. If you want to fire him, fire them. If you don't, don't, I don't care at this point. If they lose tonight to that Blackhawks team, I don't care that Connor Bedard is coming back as a surprise. It looked like he was going to be out for this game. He then skates with the team this morning, takes a little bit of contact.

It's being reported by Emily Kaplan. Now he's back in the lineup after it looked like he wasn't going to come back until next week. I don't care that Baddard is back. You lose to that Black Hawk's team with how bad they've been, this season. You can leave the coaching staff on the runway. You don't even let them get on the plane in my opinion. Yeah, and we'll get into the Blackhawks game a little bit at the end of the episode for tonight. But at this point, I have said it on the show. I've said it on social media. I can't really blame the coaching staff anymore for the power play. Yes, they wear it because

at the end of the day, they are responsible for it. But you watch that power play. And Jesse Marshall was on our show a couple of weeks ago and gave us a really good breakdown of what they could do systematically to make it better, to make it work. And that's all well and good. But they don't have, it's on the players. There is a complete lack of willingness to shoot. There's a complete lack of urgency. There's a complete lack of heart because the only person I've seen in the past couple of weeks, and again, it's going to make people laugh who has any willingness to go to the front of the net is Jeff Carter, who's almost 40 years old. So at this point, I can't put that on coaching because coaches can tell you everything

there is to tell you. They can come up with the best system that's ever been systemed and put it in place. But if the players don't execute it, that doesn't matter. And so far this season, whether it's for lack of will, lack of skill, or whatever, the players just refuse to play the system or do whatever they want because you watch what they do and it's passes around the perimeter, it's cross-ice passes. There was a point last night. I don't even think it was a power play where they had a three-on-two in front of the net,

not even a three-on-two break, a three-on-two in front of the net. All three players touched the puck and nobody shot. And Bobrovsky was out to lunch. He was on his stomach, out to lunch, completely wide open net, and nobody shot the puck. So at this point, I have to put that on the players. So that is a place where I would like to start this conversation about this team. And especially when it comes to the big guns. I said it last night.

It is time for Kyle Dubus to make a decision. And that decision should be that if your name is anything other than Sydney Crosby, Gennie Malkin, Chris LaTang, or Eric Carlson, you should be for sale. And here's the thing. I have his jersey up behind me. I'm sick and tired of hearing people tell me that Carlson has been a bust. He has been anything but.

He is producing at his career pace. People forget his 100 point season in San Jose was an extreme outlier. That was not the norm. He doesn't consistently put up 80, 90, 100 points. He puts up in the realm of 50, 60 to 70. right now at this moment, as we record this, after last night's game, Carlson is 10th in scoring amongst NHL defensemen. He is two points behind Adam Fox, arguably one of the best defensemen in the NHL. And he's tied for seventh in goals scored by defensemen in the National Hockey League.

He's doing his job. And for everybody that wants to tell me, well, that you didn't need that $10 million cap hit for a defenseman in his 30s, you could have used that money more wisely. And I understand Kyle Dubus is a different general manager, but I want to remind people of two names, Brock McGinn and Danton Heinen. How did they do replacing the production of Brandon Tanev and Jared McCann? Even if you want to blame that on a general manager, it is exceedingly rare to split cap space, to try to produce a reproduce production. It rarely ever works.

You get the guy who makes $10 million and puts up 70 points. You do that every time. I know that everybody's mad that he's older and this team is old, but he's not cooked. You also cleared out a lot of Hextall's mistakes in that trade. and you did it to get more offense for this team. I understand where they are in the standings right now, but I will defend that move forever

because it made sense and it will continue to make sense, I think. The problem outside of that move is the other moves that Kyle Dubus made with the cap space that he had on July 1st. I will keep beating that drum until I can't anymore. They had so much cap space on July 1st, and they gave it to players who really haven't done a damn thing this year outside of Lars Eller. Yeah, if someone wants to argue Nolachari on the penalty killer, his defensive impact, sure. I'll give that to you, but he hasn't done a damn thing offensively. Matt Nietto, same thing.

We talked about Ryan Graves all the time on this show. He's been a disaster. That's the one, I think that's the biggest contract I'd want off the penguins right now. funny enough. But that's the problem that I've had with just this past off season in general. And going back to about the power play, I 100% agree with what you're saying, but I also disagree a little bit at the same time because the fact that these coaches have not made a single systematic change to that unit is disgraceful to me.

You're telling me you can't switch up your tactics on the power play. the only thing they've really done is interchange players doing these two separate units. That's not good enough. You haven't gotten rid of the drop pass. You haven't done the shoot first mentality. You haven't stopped them from trying to pass the puck into the net, which it feels like they try to do every single time. You're not moving players around the ice trying to set up different looks for them.

You're just icing the same slop out there. You could have easily made the move two to three months ago to at least fire Tar Reardon and bringing a new power play coach that has fresh and new. innovative ideas, but you're not even willing to do the bare minimum there. What are we doing? It's just that the passiveness is beyond comprehension at this point. And this unit continues to get worse game after game after game and nothing changes. It's so frustrating. And that was kind of what I was building toward when I was talking about the coaching staff. Now, this is this is on everyone. I didn't mean to cut you off there. But this power play, it's on the players. I agree with

you on that, but the coach has got to eat that too. It's on Mike Sullivan and it's on Todd Reardon, and just as much as it's on the players, in my opinion, at least. Right. And kind of what I was getting towards on the power play and the coaching staff and Mike Sullivan and the Todd Reardon of it all is that I know I say on this show a lot that you don't need a hard-ass coach that's going to crack the whip 24-7, just because that doesn't work anymore.

or that that is so in the past. But it is an indictment of the coaching staff if you cannot corral these players to play the correct way on the power play. That is the one rub that I will put on the coaching staff is that they have been unable to make these players play an effective system. Now, does that mean a new coach could come in, wave a magic wand, and all of a sudden these guys decide to start playing correct? on the power play, who knows.

But if there is a critique that I will give them, it's that. They were unable to get it into their heads at some point that they have to make a change on the power play. And whether they have tried it or not, we will never know. But if they have, and these guys have not adapted, that falls on the coaching staff, not the players. But at the same time, as I said during the game, at what point, if nothing, else, and this is why I put it mostly on the players, at what point does pride kick in?

You're getting booed on your home ice seemingly every night. You're getting asked questions about it after games, after practices, at media scrums. In every single, there was an entire intermission segment on TNT last night dedicated to how historically bad this power play is. It was, what point does Pride kick in and you say, screw this, I'm tired of hearing this and fix it? I don't know. I wish I had an answer for you, Pat. I don't know. And the fact that they haven't even bothered to fix it and they continue to run this same garbage out there is an indictment on this management group, it's coaching staff, obviously throw the players in there. It's insulting to everyone who watches the game on their televisions every single night, the fans that

pay to go to these games every single week when they're home, it's ridiculous, to be honest. They can say the players, that is, they can say all they want during media scrums, after games and all that, but, oh yeah, you know, we're doing the work to fix this thing. But are you? Because I'm not seeing the results of that work that you're quote unquote saying that you're doing in practice during games. I don't see it at all. Yeah.

And there is a lot more for us to discuss about this roster, this coaching staff, this management group, and we are going to do so right after this break because we have to tell you about our sponsor. And our sponsor today is Camino Consulting. How would you like to get to know somebody better in an hour than you would in a year? Understanding one another better prevents small misunderstandings from becoming big ongoing fights. After providing more than 20 years of service to small and mid-sized businesses,

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All right, we're back here on the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And we're just going to keep it going on the discussion of this team, this franchise, these players, this management group, this coaching staff that we started in the first segment because there is still a lot of meat left on this bone. And at this point, one of the main topics I want to get into here is Kyle Dubus. Now, got to give a shout out to our guy, Josh Yohei at the athletic. He didn't even write a recap this morning after the game. He essentially just wrote a column about Kyle Dubus in the direction of this team.

And I agree in principle with what he's saying in that it is, time for Kyle Dubus to pick a direction. I wrote something extremely similar on KDKA.com today, my column Penguins perspectives. Essentially, we get it, right? This offseason, the plan was to get back to the playoffs and to remain all in chasing a Stanley Cup in the latter years of Sidney Crosby, of Gennie Malkin and Chris LaTang. It's understandable. It made sense. all three of them are still extremely productive and for the most part on very affordable contracts so you can still go all in. However, at this point, 50 games into the season, they still remain multiple points out of a playoff spot. I know you and I have jostled back and forth on this, but at this point, I don't see how you can justify going to,

to get help at this deadline. If for no other reason, this team is not a Stanley Cup contender. And yes, a middle 15-ish pick in the NHL draft, no, it's not going to help this team's issues right away, but it's not even about the draft pick. It's about at this point, if you ask me, it is time for Kyle Dubus to say, you know what? it's a seller's market at this deadline. I'm going to stockpile assets left and right. And then this summer, I am going to reshape this team.

And I think it's time for him to go that direction. Because at this point, what is the even point of going to the Stanley Cup playoffs? The showings they have had the last couple of weeks, are they going to win around? I highly doubt it. no i mean are they even going to make the playoffs at this point pat probably not with how the season is going and with how oh yeah the games in hand that they had oh they're dwindling now and they're they've almost caught up excuse me to all the teams that have played more games than them they're just about there so this season is basically cooked at this point so i think i've arrived at a similar

point with you where you can sell off some assets if you want at the deadline, get some picks that honestly are probably not going to help for quite a few years. And then this offseason, I still think they are going to do more of a retool than a rebuild. I've seen a lot of takes out there on social media saying, oh, now the penguins are about to go into a massive rebuild and all that. No, they're not. I don't think they're going to be rebuilding this summer. I don't think the big rebuild is coming for two to three more years until Sid is ready to call it quits. So I don't know where that talk is coming from. And no, let me.

Let me. The rebuild two years ago. I don't know where those takes are coming from. I had two idiots in my mentions last night trying to like go at me because I defended the penguins bringing back Chris Leng and Evgeny Malkin. Those two moves made sense at the time. And they still have made sense two years later with how Chris Lattang is playing the season and with how Afghani Malkin has the third most goals on this team.

He has 41 points in 50 games. Now, have I been a bit harsh? on Malkin this year at times? Yeah, because he's been inconsistent and he's getting a bit older. But he also has had absolutely crap line mates where Cardaichella has done nothing. Riley Smith has done nothing. You've put Colin White with him at times. Drew O'Connor has been a staple on his wet line at times.

And while I like Drew O'Connor, he's on a top six winger. So the people that were coming at me for those decisions that were made by the previous regime, you were wrong then and you're still wrong now. They made sense at the time because this team was continuing to go for it. and why would you not when you still have a core in place that is playing at a high level? The moves that they made after that, trading some of the defensemen, bringing in some debt forwards that don't bring enough offense, that is where the penguins have gone wrong these last two years, signing players to longer deals that don't deserve those deals,

bringing in players who can't produce enough offense to help the core when they're not going to score every night. Those are the type of moves that they screwed up on, not bringing back Latang, who has been fantastic this season, and especially not bringing back of getting me freaking Malkin, who I still think is at least a decent 2C at the NH level. Is he what it used to be? No, of course not. He was a bona fide 1C when he was in the prime of his career.

He's obviously taken a bit of a step back. He's not going to age the same as Cindy Crosby. I mean, not really any player is going to age, I think, the same as Cindy Crosby. But again, I just had to say that because I'm tired of these people just trying to do revisionist history with those two signings. because it doesn't make any sense to do that. And the point of that rant was to say this offseason, you can still build around the core,

do a big retool, I think, and you're able to move some assets out, you'll have some cap space, bringing in some players who you think can help you win for next season, and then you go back at it trying to make the playoffs, try to get at least one last deep run out of Cindy Fonsman company, especially with Sid going into the final year of his contract. So that's where I'm at with this team right now.

I know I had a long window right there. I apologize, everyone. But I still think this team is going to try and contend for next season, or at least try and make the playoffs. I should say that should be the goal for next season while changing out some of the pieces around the core to try and get more help for them. Well, and don't apologize.

This episode is therapy for you and I and our audience after what has been a frustrating season. But no pun intended, let me build off what you were saying. Because I've had the same people in my Twitter mentions and just seen them the takes flying about this. They're not going to start the rebuild this off season. I would be genuinely shocked if they started the rebuild this off season. But here's the thing I want, here's a couple things I want to say. And I know what I'm about to say may come off as insulting and condescending, but it needs said. Here's the thing.

There is, one, there's no prospect in the penguin system right now that fixes this rebuild. It will not accelerate it. Braden Yeager looks nice. He looks promising like he's going to be a very solid middle six forward in the national hockey league. But that is his absolute ceiling. he's probably not going to be a first line player he's probably going to be a second and third line player so you add that with this team does not have a ton of draft capital at all so the rebuild's going to go long no matter what you do it is going to be brutal and they're going

to be bad like comically bad so unless something extraordinary happens where maybe lightning strikes a third time and you get a franchise player in some random lottery draft, they're going to be bad for a long time. And I want people to understand this. This rebuild will be long. It will be brutal. They will be so bad that a season like this one

will look like the golden era. And that's not even mentioning the last 15, 16 years when they were legitimate contenders. Finally, a lot of people need to understand. understand this. There is absolutely zero guarantee a rebuild works. Go look at Buffalo, go look at Ottawa, go look at Columbus, go look at Arizona. It is much more likely that when you decide to rebuild, you end up like them to where you have to keep hitting the reset button

because it is incredibly hard to rebuild a team without a true blue franchise player. And they don't come around often. They really don't. People forget that. There are a lot of drafts that come and go where you forget who the first overall pick was. Hell, there's drafts where you forget who the top five picks were.

Because while they may have productive NHL careers and be solid contributors, it is rare that they become a true blue superstar. That is exceedingly rare. You got to get lucky. That's the biggest thing, man. You got to get lucky like how the Oilers did when they got the won the lottery with Connor McDavid,

like how the Maple Leafs did a little bit. Heck, even the Rangers, I would say, got insanely lucky with their draft lottery. But, you know, Capo Canco and Alexei Lafranier, they're not superstars in the Ansel. I mean, Lafranier, fine player, but he's not a superstar. Same with Capo caco. The reason why their, I guess, mini-rebuild or big retool worked was because, A, Adam Fox forced his way to the Rangers, and so did Artemian in free agency.

They wanted to go there. Some of that is luck at the end of the day. Yeah. And then on the other side of it, I see a lot of people, because we were talking about retooling, which I really think is the best. move forward for this franchise is to just cut their losses this season and start retooling with the 24-25 season in mind. I see a lot of people say things like, well, you can move a guy like Evgeny Malkin and try

to recoup some talent and some assets for him. Here's the thing. Any young player that is productive in the National Hockey League right now is on a very good team or a good contending team. They're not going to get moved for Evgeny Malkin. There is a reason the players you will get back for pennies on the dollar for Evgeny Malkin will not match his production. They won't be your second line center.

They won't be a top six winger. It is going to be a depth option. I understand he's 37 years old. He's not what he was 10 years ago, 15 years ago. He played a hard. he played a hard game for the majority of his career. He has had multiple knee surgeries. And it is very hard for him to remain as productive as he was in his even early 30s.

But the problem is you cannot find somebody for a price to reproduce his production. It just doesn't work that way. Now, you and I have sparred over this. And I think I more now agree with you than I did with my original point. maybe he's not a second line center anymore. Maybe he's a top six winger. But at the same time, we don't know that because he has had awful wingers all season long. And when he has to be the one and only guy on a line at this point in his career, it doesn't work.

So at this point, if you think this team needs to go into a rebuild, I'm just going to be dead, flat, honest with you here. if that's what you're rooting for, if that's what you want, I expect you to be at PPG Paints Arena, even when this team is 32nd in the National Hockey League and being as loud as you can possibly be, because this is what you're heading toward when you rebuild. Because the cupboard is bare, there are no draft picks really of any sort of consequence right now.

So you have to ride this team and this core until the absolute wheels fall off. This fan base is not ready to see a team be as bad as the sharks have been this season. That losing streak they had to open the season. I don't even know what this fan base would do if the penguins had that type of losing street to open the season and just looking at how the sharks have played the season as a whole. I saw people saying last night, oh, this is Rock Bottom. Is it though?

Is it? I don't think you've seen Rock Bottom in quite a long time. This fan base, you and I included, obviously, we have been so spoiled ever since we were little kids. My childhood was fantastic for this team. I knew it was going to get ugly as I get closer to 30. And probably by the time I am 30 in about three years, they may have already blown this team up or they could be in the process of doing that.

But you know what? I'm still going to cherish everything that this team has done for me, you, and this entire fan base. And in terms of this off season as well, if they do decide to sell off some assets at the trade deadline, maybe that's Jake Gensel included as well. Say they do do that, right? You get some picks back, maybe you get a couple of roster players, some prospects. You can dangle some of that during the off season, especially picks-wise if you were able to recoup a good amount. You can dangle those to go get some players to help you try and get back into the playoffs next year to try and give Cindy Crosbyn Company more.

one last big shot at making the playoffs and potentially going on a deep run. That's at least a plan that I know I probably didn't see coming heading into this season, but at least I'll maybe understand it a little bit more now that we've seen this team play for 50 games this season so far. So with all that in mind, they will play their 51st game tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. I think you and I have very much exhausted this point as far as it needs to go. And there still is hockey to be played. And there will be a game tonight.

And Hunter and I are going to preview that right after this. But we have to tell you about our next sponsor. And that is game time. I have done this ad multiple times. I love telling the story about the time back at the old Mellon Arena when I bought tickets off of a scalper. They worked. They scanned and everything as I walked up the section in Old Lady Mellon. it was for a row that did not exist.

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Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Locked On for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, again, create account and account and redeem code L-O-C-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download game time today, last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Okay, we are back here on the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, and after airing all of our grievances, Hunter and I, there is still hockey to be played. So after that, embarrassing loss last night to the Florida Panthers, the penguins do have the opportunity to bounce back tonight in Chicago, where they will take on the Blackhawks at 8.30 p.m. at the United Center.

And, well, the Blackhawks get themselves an enormous shot of hope going into this one as rookie sensation. Connor Bedard will return to the lineup tonight that has been fully and completely confirmed. rumors were swirling this Thursday morning that he may be ready to return. It has been all but confirmed now that he will be in the lineup tonight against the penguins. So outside of that, there isn't a whole lot to speak of for this Chicago Blackhawks team. They are still very much in rebuild mode, but that's never stopped the penguins from dropping a game like this. So Hunter, what do the penguins have to do to get back in the wind column tonight?

Respond. I mean, that's the biggest thing I can say. But it's funny, they go up against one of the worst teams in the league, a team that has won three out of their last four against the penguins. Can you believe that, by the way? Over the last couple of seasons, the Blackhawks have won three of the last four meetings against this team. That's ridiculous, to say the least. And this is a Blackhawks team that has lost seven in a row. When Connor Bedard was out, they've scored 20 goals in their last 14 games.

Is that bad, Pat? Is that bad? It seems pretty bad. but I mean, who are we to throw stones from our glass house when our team hasn't been able to score at all for the last two weeks? Hey, that's fair. The Penguins still haven't scored more than three goals in the game in over a month at this point. But I just had to share that stat for you because the Blackhawks that also cannot score to save their lives. You look at their lineup right now with Bard coming back.

And earlier this week, the Blackhawks met with the media. They said he was not going to be ready to play until next week. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to say that on the show that he's going to miss this game. But then, of course, Elliot Freeman puts the rumor out there that he might be blind tonight, and then Blackhawks confirmed it later on that afternoon. So, you know, I'll get old takes exposed for that. I apologize to the listeners out there. But you look at this lineup with Bajard in there.

Tyler Johnson is on his wing. Philip Kourashev, Nick Folino, Jason Dickinson, Joey Anderson for their second line. Taylor Radish is on their third line. Ryan Donato is Zach Sanford and Colin Blackwell. This is one of the worst forward groups in the league. But as you just said, that is not South the Penguins from losing to this. team quite a few times over the last couple of seasons, especially last year when their loss of Blackhawks effectively ended their season in the ten years of Ron Hextall and Brianberg.

Defensively, there's not much there as well. Seth Jones, he used to be a pretty good defenseman. I think he's kind of been overrated throughout his career, and he's also kind of wasting away on Chicago. Alex Placic got Jacob Megna there, Isaac Phillips. A lot of these players, I got to admit, I don't know too much about them just because this team is still clearly rebuilding. but it all starts and ends with slowing down Connor Bada.

I know this is his first game back, but you've got to be aware every time he's out there on the ice. Alex Delfievich also needs to have a pretty sound game for the Penguins. But I just want to see the effort, the compete level from this team after getting crushed on national television on Wednesday night. Go out there and kick this team right in the butt, show why they're one of the worst teams in the league. even though they've had Bedard missed quite a few games in the season.

But even when he's been in the lineup, this Blackhawks team has still not been good people. Again, they've lost seven in a row and eight of their last 10 games. So that's really what I want to see tonight overall. Give me a response. Otherwise, Pat, as I said earlier on in the show, leave the coaching staff on the runway in Chicago when you fly back to Pittsburgh for Yager night this weekend.

That would be ridiculous if you lost to this Black Hawk's team. And I know I honestly shouldn't be, Bowley saying that because any team can be anyone on any given night. But at the end of the day, you have to win this game after getting absolutely embarrassed by the Panthers on your home rank on Wednesday on national TV. Well, yeah, and not to send it back to the first two segments here, that was something I kind of forgot to mention about you saying leave the coaching staff on the tarmac if they lose tonight. I know everybody wanted changes after last night's loss, but it was just not

realistic because it's the first of a back-to-back. You weren't going to be able to get whatever coaches are in Wokes Bear up to Chicago in time. You weren't going to be able to get them involved in everything. It's 2024, but unfortunately teleportation does not exist yet. But then back to tonight's game, if there has been one bright spot for this Chicago Blackhawks team, it's been Peter Morazek. And while his numbers don't jump off the page at you, they are pretty bad.

he is getting no help at all. Their defense is terrible. Their forward group is not great. He also plays his tail off against the penguins. So just put that in there, by the way. I was going to say that too, is that he always plays well against penguins. But the reason they re-signed Peter Morazic to the deal they did

is that despite awful circumstances on that roster, he has actually been fairly consistent. He just has no help in front of them. So you look at that as we start to transition back into being a competitive team, possibly a playoff team. This will be a good guy to keep around because he has been a loyal soldier. He has played well for us despite the results. So that's something else the penguins have to be aware of is that you're going to maybe get

a lot of chances against an undermanned Chicago team. You can't get frustrated if you don't score four, five, six, whatever. if you only get one or two, keep pushing because this is not a very good team. And to what you were saying about the roster, I mean, Conor Bedard comes off IR, but then you look at the rest of IR. Anybody who's anybody on this roster is hurt. Taylor Hall, Nikita Sitesov, Anthony Bavillier, Jared Tenorty, Athanasia, Connor Murphy, all those guys are out.

So this is a team that is still very much in the midst. of its rebuild despite getting Connor Bedard back. So again, if you can neutralize Connor Bedard and put consistent pressure on Peter Morazick and net, this is a game that you absolutely should win. I agree with you overall. I think with Marizak, you know, you kind of took the words right out of my mouth pat. I mean, the fact that this guy has a 909 say percentage this season on a Blackhawks team that has a 1436 and three record, 31 points by far.

one of the worst teams in the league. The San Jose Sharks have two more points than the Blackhawks do this year. And I'm not joking. And that's kind of funny considering how bad the sharks were to start this season. They still have more points in the Blackhawks. The fact that Peter Morazek has a 9090 percentage above league average goes to show that he is doing his job in net, but he just has no one around him to help him out. And this Blackhawks team overall, they're still at least two, three years away, I think,

from contending for a playoffs. They still need to really gut this roster, I think. Bardard is there. That's great. Taylor Hall being out really stinks. I really like that move they made over the offseason. But you look up and down this roster right now in terms of their leading players. I mean, Philip Kourashev, outside of Connor Bedard, he's their leading point producer with

28 and 46 games. After that, Jason Dickinson, who I think has been fine, 16 goals this season. Nick Bolino has 11 goals. But after that, you know, Tyler Johnson has 10 goals in 38 games. Ryan Donato has been okay. They're just not getting enough scoring at all this season. They still need to gut this thing, I think, more than once before they fully get back to being a playhouse team. It's great that they have their next superstar, but they still need to build quite a bit more around him before they want to start thinking about maybe

making the playoffs at some point. But the penguins, really, man, as I said to open this segment, I just want to see a big time response from this team and not get humbled by one of the worst teams in hockey. Yeah, and you figure for the Blackhawks at the deadline, teams are going to come calling for Tyler Johnson. They're going to come calling for Nick Tolino. They might come calling for Dickinson.

They're probably not going to come calling for Kirschev. That seems like a guy they're going to want to keep around. But this team is going to get gutted a second time. come the trade deadline. So like I said, 8.30 p.m. 2 night on SportsNet, Pittsburgh at the United Center in Chicago, Penguins in the Blackhawks, a chance to respond after an absolutely embarrassing loss to the Florida Panthers.

But that is going to do it for this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank all of you. Thanks to all of you for hanging in there with us on this one. We know we went a little long, but it was definitely required after this team's performance on Wednesday night. For Hunter, I am Patrick Dam. Thank you always for listening. And we will be back tomorrow to recap the game and get you ready for Yager night on Sunday.