Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What can the Penguins learn from the NHL's conference finalists?

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

The Stanley Cup Conference Finals begin tonight, and for the Penguins, it can serve as a learning moment. Patrick and Hunter go through all four teams and discuss what Kyle Dubas and the Penguins can take away from each franchise and apply it to this retooling on the fly that they are going through. Then, the season in review series continues as they dive into the quick but effective few games that Villie Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty had for the Penguins. They also discuss what those two players need to do to become full-time NHL players next year and into the future. Finally, two Penguins prospects playing in Sweden brought home individual awards. Can they make the same impact in Pittsburgh? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The conference finals begin tonight, and surely everyone is asking the exact same question. How does this affect the Pittsburgh Penguins? Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome into the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Cinnitus.

an M4 Wet, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at L0 underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube and the Roku channel. Also, if you follow us on YouTube, go ahead and hit that notification button so you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes.

Today we are going to get into our season review series, which will continue with two young guys who provided a spark and some hope for the future, as well as some other prospects who have been honored overseas that could be part of a bright future for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But that is the future. Let's deal in the present. The conference finals kick off tonight with the Eastern Conference Finals starting. off at 8 o'clock p.m. that is the Florida Panthers and the Carolina hurricanes.

But for this show, Hunter, let's get into some things with each of the four finalists that Kyle Dubus and the Pittsburgh Penguins can learn from these franchises. Three of the four who have been, and really we can probably say four of the four, have been some of the most successful teams of the last five or so years. and we'll save the one that I think that the penguins can learn the most from for last, and I will put up a little spoiler for that. It's the Dallas Stars. But let's start with one that I don't think there's a ton that the penguins can take away from them,

and that is the Carolina Hurricanes. I think for them, I look at that as a team that they're doing a lot with not that much resource. I don't think that's a very rich ownership, but they are making the most of it. it and they've got one hell of a coach. That's the biggest thing they could actually learn from this, is that they are A, well coached, and B, all their players play a very specific style, and it works.

Yeah, Pat, we can sit here for probably 30 minutes to an hour, call it boring, say, yeah, I'd rather watch my water boil for pasta than watch a Carolina Hurricanes game and all that good stuff. But, hey, it works, and it's gotten them this far once again. Their problem is their quantity over quality. only goes so far, especially when you play against a team that has better big dogs. You've seen that on display when they get to the conference final pat. They've been swept, and they were swept two years ago by the same Florida Panthers team.

I don't think it's going to happen this year. I still will take the Panthers to win it. But the hurricanes, the biggest thing the Penguins can take away from is that they can hopefully bring in a coach that will have them play a select style and that the players can really live up to that billing and play that style effectively well. that's what the hurricanes do. They play exactly the way Rod Rindamor played as a player. He played every shift like it was game seven, the Stanley Cup final, and you see the way the hurricanes forecheck, you see the way they smothered the opposition, you see the way they

kind of wear down other teams as the series goes on, except for the times when they play a team that has better big guns than them. Those big guns just kind of take over the series there, and there's not much the hurricanes can do. But otherwise, they just play a style that really wears down the opposition. think that is something that the Penguins could definitely take away from the hurricanes. When it comes to the team like the Florida Panthers, elite front office, that's the biggest thing. And their player acquisition over the last several years has been dynamite, whether it's a signing, a trade, even some of their drafting.

Their front office is so good at a valuating talent. It's been rare, Pat, over these last few years, where they have truly missed an eval. Heck, even when they traded for Seth Jones around the trade deadline, I kind of tweeted. I was like, don't really know if I would do that. He's not that good anymore. He goes out there in Game 7 against Toronto. That's the best game I've seen him play since he was a member of the Blue Jackets.

That was how good he was in that game. And he more than lived up to his billing in that one. So they definitely do deserve the benefit of the doubt a lot of the times. Don't get me wrong. I think Chicago had a pretty good return there for Seth Jones. but Florida's player acquisition and the way those players have been able to fit into Paul Marisa's system has been something to behold over the last few years. So something that the penguins, especially their front office can take away, Pat,

it's having an elite front office that knows what the heck they're doing. And this is the other thing I will say about Florida. And it's something that I think the penguins have done really well over the last 15 to 20 years is that they have a culture set now. in that organization. Elliot Friedman told a story on 32 thoughts about when Nate Schmidt joined the team, and it was during a preseason game, he kind of, I don't want to say hot dog did or tried to get a little too fancy, but basically it wasn't Paul Maurice and the coaching staff

that told him he needs to knock that off. It was players on the bench that said, we do not do that here. That is not how we play here. And the message went out right then to a response. veteran like Nate Schmidt that this is how the Florida Panthers play. And the penguins have done that pretty well, especially when you have Sidney Crosby as your captain. There is an understanding that you will not play below your level. And if you do, you will be held accountable. I know that there's some times it didn't happen. But on the whole, that is something that the penguins did really well. Let's move over to the West and talk about the Oilers real quick.

this is just kind of a rerun in my opinion of what the penguins did in the mid-2010s. They've done a really good job supplementing their superstars in Connor and Leon with really good depth. The one difference I will say in this isn't an Euler specific problem. It's an NHL specific challenge. They haven't really found that goaltender yet. When the penguins were on their runs, they had Mark Andre Fleury and they had Matt Murray before he fell off of a cliff. So the Oilers have just done a very good job of making it so Connor and Leon can do their

thing. But if there's a night where they don't have it, there's at least a couple players who can step up and fill the void. I mean, they've had Corey Perry playing top line minutes throughout the playoffs here. Corey Perry is very old. He's still fairly effective as a player. Their depth is fine. But the difference this year compared to last year.

is that they're outscoring teams at five on five when Connor and Leon aren't on the ice. That has been a major problem for them throughout these last couple of years. This year, though, it's been a lot better without Connor and Leon on ice. Like, yeah, it's so cliche. You got to have the superstars. I'll keep saying until I'm, you know, blue in the face. It doesn't matter how you get the superstars. It just matters that you get them.

Like, that's the biggest thing for me when it comes to, getting high in talent. All that matter is that you get them by any means necessary people, but they have them. Their depth has really stepped up. Defensively, they're going to be getting at comeback, which is also huge. Those are like my biggest things for me when it comes to the Oilers. The stars, though, we can just get into them right now, Pat. They're drafting, especially over the last handful of years, has been very, and I mean very good. Again, like, I can just go into some of my notes for today's show. You know, Mero Heskin, was drafted third overall in 2017. Obviously, that was a slam dunk pick for them.

Everyone knew that at the time. But you look at some of the players they picked after that. You know, Thomas Harley, he was also a first round pick, 18th overall, 2019. Jake Ottinger was 26th overall in 2017. Rupert Hins was a second rounder in 2015. Wyatt Johnston was a first rounder in 2021. Hit after hit, after hit, after hit. They know what they're doing when it comes to drafting these really good players. And they put them in great positions to succeed. their development process with these players has also been second to none over the last several years. They were able to do all of this, Pat, even while Jamie Ben and Tyler Sagan were aging. They were able to restock their pipeline, get these players to the NHL as quickly as possible,

and kind of open up another window of contention, if I'm being completely honest. They have done a really good job in that department. I think their player acquisition has mostly been fairly good as well. You and I were joking about this before the show. Pat, we don't need to give all the credit to Cody CC here. They're winning in spite of him. I'll just say it. Hey, good for him.

He's in a conference final. He had a good year of the Penguins. He hasn't really been that good, though, for the stars. But McCall Grinland, he got another shot really good with the sharks. You mentioned it to me. He's also been really good for the stars. So we do have to congratulate him for that. I am happy that he is playing as well.

Didn't work out in Pittsburgh. Everyone knows that. But he's found his game since then, and I couldn't be more happy for him. I truly believe that. do you have anything what do you have to add for the stars well the biggest thing for me is you if you pull up their hockey reference page and go to the team history from the 04 lockout to now you don't see a lot of drop off there's a bit of there's a bit of a lull period between 2009 in 2013 where they're finishing between third and fifth in their division and it's you definitely see that's

where a lot of the seeds were planted but you go through the last 10 or so years, and they're right in the mix, whether it's losing in the second round, making it to the cup final, making it to the conference final. But the biggest thing that they do, you brought up the drafting, they hit on all their draft picks. And then the other thing with guys like Mikhail Granlin, and I'm not going to praise Cody Cici, but it's something that the stars have done really well over the past few years, is they find these second chance,

misfit toy players and put them in a position to succeed, rather than trying to make them play above their abilities. They put them in a position where they're going to be at least not a liability, but for most of them, they're going to be effective. And the other thing that I have really liked from them, and it applies to the penguins, is you brought up the drafting. this is what you can see Kyle Dubus is trying to start to build. He's not going to try to throw it all in the tank,

hope we get the first overall pick and build around some generational talent, which is perfectly fine. But as we have talked about on this show, it's a lot harder to do than it is, it's a lot harder to do than it is to talk about. It's easy to talk about. Yeah, I don't mean to interrupt you here. We keep getting sometimes these comments on our YouTube page.

I see this on social media too. They are not intentionally tanking this upcoming season. I think they have made that perfectly clear during every media availability that they are not going to intentionally tank next season. Will they be bad? Probably, but it's not going to be for a lack of effort or anything like that. We think they're going to be bad just because you look at the team right now, they're not nearly as good as all these other teams in front of them. But to say that they're going to intentionally tank, that's missing the first.

forest for the trees. That's not going to happen next year. And he has literally said that during press conferences. 100%. And to just put a bow on the Dallas Stars conversation, they have done what I think the penguins are trying to do. You brought up Ben and Sagan. They're starting to age out. They're getting a little bit older. But they have built up a foundation for the next group to come in and take over.

And the last part of it, a lot of people were probably pointing and yelling at their screens right now about Miko Rang. They didn't pull the trigger on that until they felt it was time. They didn't go out and get them two or three years ago. They got them this year when they looked at their roster. They looked at the Western Conference and said, this is a year that we can do it. Let's get that final piece and let's try to take a run.

And Pat, they drafted Stan Coven and put him in that trade. Another great draft pick. That is the reason why they were able to get Ransom because they had a player like that. to go and get a top 15 player in the league. I'm sure they wanted no part of trading St. Coven. He is very young. He's been great for Carolina. He was great for Dallas before he got dealt.

But when you have an opportunity to go get a top 15 player and then sign him to a long-term extension, you do it. And that's exactly what they did. Yeah, it's probably, probably for them, it stank to trade St.Cobin, but a little bit of a pun there, I know. But you have Miko Ranson in, man. And if you win a cup, nobody's going to give a crap. So they got the better player at the end of the day.

100%. But that is going to do it for our opening segment. When we come back, we're to continue our season in review series with two of the bigger prospect names for the Pittsburgh Penguins and how they did in their limited time in the NHL. Stick with us. We're going to do that when we come back right after this. But first, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor.

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Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. All right, welcome back to the Tuesday edition of Lock. on penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And let's keep this thing rolling. We know that the penguins are currently in their transition phase into the next era of hockey. Don't call this rebuild a rebuild because it's definitely not a rebuild, but we're going to keep saying the word despite that. Let's talk about two players who we can probably call it a cup of coffee because for both of them, it's under 10 games played this season, and that is Rutger McGroherty and Vela Koivenin. Unfortunately, for Rutger McGority gets hurt at the end of the season,

misses the Calder Cup playoff, brief appearance by the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins. But I will say, eight games for both, and in that sample size for both of them, the future looks pretty bright. Well, Pat, it did not take long to figure out that these two players are in its already, especially the only equivalent. This was his first call-up, and you could see the skill right away. It's still TBD on if he's going to be a long-term option in the top six.

But he played very well with Afghani Malkin once he came up. You look at the sample size. Only six games, 36 minutes, at five-on-five, very small. But when they were on the ice together, they had roughly 55% of the shot attempts, 52% of the expected goals, 55% of the scoring chances, and 60% of the high-te.

your chances. He was very silky with a puck on his stick, really good on the top power play as well. I want him to continue getting those opportunities heading into next season. I think his skating is also really good. And he's just an intelligent player. Like that's also another thing that really stands out to me was that you can see him really outthinking you on the ice, even though he was a rookie to end the season. And I felt like he was ready. And I expect him on this team to start the 25, 26 season. As for Rucker McGority, you could tell when he started his season with the Penguins that he needed a lot more seasoning. Skating wasn't there, wasn't making the right plays with the puck on his stick, wasn't there defensively either. They sent him down to Wilkesbury, which was so good for his development because he really cleaned up a lot of those things.

He comes back up later. His skating is so much better. Could use a little bit more work on that first burst. But as a whole, the skating is so much better. his play with a puck on his stick is so much better. He goes to the net, get some of those greasy goals. He's really good along the boards.

He also has good vision. I don't think it's as good as Covenants, but they're also two completely different players. McGority, he's a player again. He's a bit more greasy. He goes to the net, big body, also good along the boards, winning those puck battles.

As a foretacker, Coivinan, he's just a lot more silky. Like, they're just two different players, but they call. compliment each other really well in the NHL, and they made their lines better once Mike Sullivan was giving them top six minutes. You saw McGorady and Crosby together for eight games, about 61 minutes of five-on-five ice time. When they were on the ice together, they had roughly 60% of the shot attempts, 60% of the actual goals, 61% of the expected goals, 57% of the swan

chances, 66% of the high danger chances. I know, very small sample. Give me more of those two together once next season starts. So if you want to do something with Magrorty, Crosby and Raquel, say if Raquel stays on the team, for example, I'd be down for that. If Raquel is traded, if you want to put Rust up there with Magrorty and Crosby, very much down for that as well.

But he very much needed that time in the HL to work on his overall game. I also felt he was much better defensively coming up from Wilkesbury. Every part of his game improved when he came up at the end of this season. And again, I know they went on a little bit of that. hot streak, they finished with the 11th overall pick. But to me, seeing those two prove that they belong is a big win in my book. Absolutely. And I'm going to bring something up here.

And this is putting the cart so extremely far ahead of the horse. But hear me out. You read the way people talk about Rutger Magrorty. and obviously this is all contingent upon him developing correctly and taking those next steps. Is he going to be a generational superstar? No, he's not going to be one of those guys. But when we move into this next era of Penguins hockey and he's in his third, fourth, fifth season as a pro, would not shock me to see a letter on his shoulder.

because the way people talk about him, the moment's not too big for him. He's not afraid to speak up. He's not afraid to be a leader. He was obviously a captain for Team USA when he played internationally, captain when he played in college. The guy has all of those attributes away from the game that make him a leader. And to connect that to his actual play, you look at how he developed this year.

It would have been very easy for him with all the hype surrounding him, how we on this show were really excited when the penguins acquired him. Would have been really easy for him to pout and make a scene when he gets sent to Wilkes Bear. But instead, he puts his head down, becomes an integral part of the baby penguins, and really, really improved throughout the year. Because you said it. When he started the season in Pittsburgh, it was a little rough. It wasn't bad.

It wasn't a disaster. but you looked at it and went, hmm, his kid's not close yet. Comes up at the end of the year, gets put on a line with Crosby, and does not at all look out of place. Little rough around the edges,

still got to work on the skating, still got to work on his overall game, but did not look like he didn't belong, and that's huge for him. As for Coyvenin, you beat me to the punch, man. Just an incredibly intelligent player. Great with the puck on his stick.

really good vision, plays all of eight games and puts up seven assists. That's not nothing. Damn near a point per game in the NHL so far. And that's really impressive. So I liked both of their games. And obviously we are nowhere near

this retooling on the fly being complete. But if these are two of your starting building blocks, they're off to a good start. 100%. They just still need some more high impact guys to really get this into high gear a bit more. Don't get me wrong, people. I like majority. I like coiffin. I hope that they can be fixtures in the top six for many years to come. They still need some more high impact guys. And I think you might see them maybe acquire one of those guys over this off season and then maybe sign that player for a long-term contract. It's maybe not for an offer sheet. I don't think they're going to be in that market, Pat. but maybe kind of a sign and trade type of thing or trade, I guess the opposite.

Trade for and then sign. So I still think they need some more high impact guys to really, let's put this thing into high gear. Again, love McGority, love covenin. I think they're going to be good players for years to come in the NHL, not going to be superstars, but that's still like the last big thing that's missing for the next wave of contention. Again, people, you just got to get it by any means possible. this is going to be a process. We keep saying that we keep stressing it.

It's not going to get fixed overnight. But for a place to start with these two, very happy with that work. And the last thing I want to add, you kind of said it. I'm going to put my marker in the ground as well. I do think both of these players, barring injury or anything else or a sudden regression,

they are going to be full-time NHLers next year. They have done what they need to do in the American Hockey League. and now it's time for them to take the next step in their development. But with that said, like I've said about the whole process, a little bit of patience with both of them. They're probably going to go through those early career slumps where five, six, seven games, they maybe don't put up any points.

They don't stand out. They're young players, and they're going to have to find that consistency in that ability to play at the NHL level. But early returns show us that they are going, to be able to work through that. And the future looks pretty good for both of them. Speaking of the future,

we've got a couple prospects in the penguin system who plan overseas, but they're making their mark and they could be the next ones to make a big difference for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunter and I will talk about them when we come back right after this. Welcome back into the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside. Hunter Hodes and two Penguins prospects playing overseas this past year made a pretty big impact playing over in Sweden. We'll start with the first one, and that is who they acquired in the

Marcus Pedersen and Drew O'Connor trade, and that is Melvin Femstrom. He was named the SHL rookie of the year over the weekend, played 48 games this season, eight goals, 17 points, And this kind of feels like, how can I put this? It's a guy that they wanted to draft, but we're unable to because Vancouver obviously snatches him up. Then they were able to get him via trade. Dubas has said he was very intrigued by this guy. He's 18 years old, wins the rookie of the year award in the SHL. And this is a kid with a lot of raw talent.

and if he can have another solid season over in Sweden, maybe in two years, he comes over here, spend some time in Wokes Bear. Next thing you know, could be one of those younger players to fill a role on this team when they start taking some steps forward. Well, that is best case scenario.

You can see the raw talent offensively. When he's in the offensive zone, his shot is really good. I still think he needs to work on his skating quite a bit. People were saying that Ruck and Regulner, Gordy skating was not very good. And trust me, people, and needed a lot of work earlier this season. And I still think even his first first could use a little bit more work.

Furnestrum skating needs a lot of work. If he wants to make it over here and be a full-time NHLer, I really think he needs to work on that in Sweden heading into next season. Again, still very young. The offensive skill set is there. But I saw that he could be a much better skater, in my opinion. The Penguins, they took a flyer on him. in that trade. And why wouldn't you? You've liked him for a while. Ask for him back,

see what he can develop into. But we'll just have to see if he can better that production heading into next season and if his skating can also improve as well. I'm guessing the other player you want to talk about is Philip Hollander. Oh, Hunter, it's like you know me. And it's like we've been doing this show together for a while. Philip Hollander named the SHL forward of the year with a huge season. We talked about him a few weeks ago after he signed a deal with the Penguins to return. This was a big year in the SHL. Because the thing that I've said plenty of times on this show, but just as a reminder, when you talk about whether it's the KHL or the pro leagues in Europe, it's a little bit of a different game. So when you hear these numbers compared to the NHL,

they're not going to jump off the page at you, but when you apply them in a way that would be kind of consummate to the NHL, he had a really big year. He plays 51 games, 26 goals, 53 points, second in the league in scoring. And for a guy who on April 29th reupped with the Penguins and is slated to return, to kind of connect the whole episode here, this is kind of what we were talking about with Dallas. This is a player who is he going to be a superstar? Probably not. But if he can develop the way he's been developing the last couple years, he can be a productive middle six forward for the penguins. And you look at the four conference final teams.

One of the things they have in common is, yeah, they've got their big guns getting it done, but you go down the lineup, those depth guys, they're chipping in when they need to be. I'd say bottom six to start, but potentially middle six, if he can keep developing this way.

I mean, yeah, he was sensational this season. Look like a completely different player when you put on the tape. 26 goals, 53 points, and 51 games. And don't get me wrong, he was totally fine for Wilkesbury when he was in the system, you know, 21, 22, had 14 goals that season, 22, 23, had 11 goals, 33 points that season before goes over to Sweden. And he really fine-tunes his game a bit more. I think he's better defensively now. I think he is a bit more silky with a puck on his stick.

And I think he's also worked on his release. I think he's better in all three zones heading back over to North America for this upcoming season. and he will have a shot to make this Penguins roster out of training camp. Curious to see if he does it, but he is definitely one of the more intriguing young forwards that will have a legit shot to make this team. His improvement has been very noticeable over the last couple of years, and it's exciting.

I hope that he can make the team and potentially be a good option, at least in the bottom six to start. This is part of the development process, and I think this was what was best for Hollander. It wasn't really working out in North America, and sometimes that doesn't mean, mean that it's the end of it. It doesn't mean that, oh, his NHL dreams and his NHL aspirations are gone forever. Sometimes you've just got to go back to another league, whether it's overseas,

the minors, you name it, and just fine-tune some things. And find, the biggest thing, find some confidence, be able to get that. Because sometimes when you make that jump to North American pro hockey, you learn it's a different game, you lose some confidence. If you go back and play in these leagues, play as well as Hollander did, it kind of reminds you, this is the stuff I was good at. This is the stuff that got me to the point where I got a shot in North America. And now that I've fine-tuned it, I'm going to go take a shot again. So right there with you, I think this is an intriguing young forward who,

when we get to training camp in a couple months, going to be somebody to keep an eye on because if he makes some noise, could be one of those young players that steps in and gets a shot next year. But that is going to do it for our Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. As always, we appreciate you spending some time with us to talk some puck. Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Wednesday. We'll obviously continue our season in review series and cover any other news that might come up between now and then. But for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp.

Thanks again for tuning in. And we will talk to you again on Wednesday.