Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What does Drew O'Connor's salary arbitration mean for the Penguins?

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

Happy Thursday again! This time, there's hardly any Erik Karlsson content for yinz as Hunter starts the show with some talk regarding Drew O'Connor. He dives into O'Connor filing for salary arbitration and what that means for him and the Penguins. He discusses how the two sides likely won't have to go to arbitration and that a deal should be easy to negotiate before looking at how this opens up a second buyout window for the team. He discusses when the second buyout window would open and if it's likely that the Penguins would use one considering that they did not during the regular window. He then moves on to his Metropolitan Division power rankings Post July 1 and where the Penguins stack up to the other teams in the division. Are they a playoff team? Are they outside the playoff picture right now? Finally, he ends the show by discussing Patric Hornqvist as he announced his retirement from the NHL on Wednesday.upport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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.

Penguins for Drew O'Connor filed for salary arbitration on Wednesday. I'm going to get into what that means for the penguins coming up right after this. 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 am your host, Hunter Hodes.

I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. follow the shows Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So on Wednesday, Drew Connor was one of 22 NHL players to file for salary arbitration. And if you don't know what that is, it's very, and I mean very easy to understand. Basically, if a case goes to arbitration, a third-party arbiter gets to decide what a player's salary is for this upcoming season. A arbiter gets to hear the case from both the player side, who is probably asking for a bit of a

higher salary, and from the team side, who is going to go for a little bit of a lower salary to, of course, save some money. And after the arbiter hears the case, the person deliberates for about two days, and then makes his or her decision. So that person gives the player whatever money that person feels is right. And that's a salary that the player will have. heading into the season. There is a small thing where the team can decline to pay the player that kind of money, but that is rarely ever seen. And honestly, my friends, it is rare when cases go to arbitration at this point. There was only one salary arbitration case in the NHL last season. Most of these players and teams don't like it to get to that point. So they settle

before the arbitration date. The arbitration dates this year are from July 20th until August August 4th. So two weeks from today is when it opens and then it will be done on August 4th. Penguins Ford Drew O'Connor, again, the only one to file for salary arbitration. And the Penguins, they will agree to a deal with O'Connor well before that case. 750K he made this past season. I think on a two-year deal, you're probably looking at something like 900K per season, upwards of a million, maybe 1.1 million per season, something like that. This should be a pretty easy contract for the penguins to sign. Another big thing that this does do for the penguins is that this will open up a second buyout window.

So Sage Drew O'Connor actually signs with the penguins on Thursday. So today, the second buyout window will open on Sunday. So three days after Drew O'Connor signs his contract with the penguins and that it will close 48 hours after that. So on Tuesday. So maybe if he signs Friday, it opens up on. Monday, closes on Wednesday. So the Penguins will have another opportunity to use a buyout if they want to on a player.

Maybe like a Macaule-Gramland, like the Jeff Petrie if he's still there, like a Jan Ruda, something like that. Even though it's unlikely at this time, the Penguins will use one considering that they did not use a buyout during the normal scheduled window from June 16th until June 30th. It's still an option from them, especially if they do go through with an Eric Carlson deal and the sharks agree to send him to the penguins. If they're not able to dump as much salary in that deal, they can maybe get some cap space by buying out someone like Granlin,

getting for an extra $4 million. You can be 10% over the cap during the off season. You just have to be cap compliant after training camp, and the preseason ends. So that could be an instance where the penguins get some salary cap space if they want to if Granlin is still on the team. But at this point, my friends, I think will be kind of unlikely.

if the penguins were to use a buyout during that second window. As for O'Connor, again, I expect this to be a relatively short-term deal and a cheap deal, 25 years old, coming off a five-goal 11-point season. It's time to find out what the penguins have in this player. When I have gone through some of my mock off-season lineups, he is in my full-time lineup, kind of battling for that final spot with Alex Neelander at this time. they got to see what they have in him.

I liked his play in Sparts this past season. I thought he played decently well down the stretch. Didn't have the production to show it, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. He was firing a lot of pucks at the net, but just wasn't getting rewarded. I think my favorite game of his this past season was the game down in Tampa Bay late in the season.

It was the one where Jason Zucker won in overtime. But before that, O'Connor goes backhand, forehand, glove side on Andre Vasselvesky, shades of Jordan Stahl on Brian Rofalski during the 2009 Semicut final between the Penguins and the Red Wings. Looks just like that. He has the skill to play in the bottom six on an NHL team. It's all about him being consistent enough on the Penguins for a full 82 game season. When he was on the ice this past season, the underwines were pretty solid.

When he was on ice, the Penguins controlled 52.3% of the shot attempts, 53.5% of the expected goal share, 50.7% of the scoring chances and 51% of the high danger chances. I can also add 57% of the high danger goals for. And he didn't really play with that much talent down in the bottom six. It'll be a bit better for him this year. He knew the bottom six is not that good. It's still better than last year's bottom six. He'll be playing with the likes of maybe No Achari.

I think that would be a really good fit for him. Honestly, with how good Achari is defensively. O'Connor can be like that offensive presence on that line. Maybe he plays with Nietto. Maybe he plays with McCaulellan in another line. If Granlin is on the team and he can just pass the puck to O'Connor, who can maybe finish in the back of the net numerous times, that would be interesting as well.

But, you know, he's at the point now where it's time for the penguins to see what they have in him. He's not in one of those quote-unquote peak years anymore. That's usually during your age 22 to 24 seasons. He's still kind of in the quote-unquote prime of his career, but it's not one of those peak, peak years that, you know, you usually see players break out. But I'm excited about him. I think he definitely has a spot on this team for this upcoming season. And I do expect the Penguins to settle this case well before the arbitration date,

whenever that is between July 20th and August 4th. If these two signs are going to arbitration over a contract that's going to be likely in the range of 900K to 1,0.1,1.2 million. On the high end, there are problems. That is ridiculous. Again, you don't really see cases go to arbitration that often now because it's just a big hassle. That's really the best explanation I can give to Yens. It's a huge hassle with the player and the team arguing their signs to a third-party arbiter, and then that person has to side with either the team or the player.

And sometimes if the arbiter signs with size, excuse me, with a player, the team gets really upset. It's a mess. And I don't expect Kyle Dubison coming to really go down that road with Drew O'Connor. So this means a lot of things in the short-term future for the penguins, especially with the buyouts. That means with the Eric Carlson trade, all that stuff. But also in terms of O'Connor's future with this team, I see him as a full-time forward next season. And I don't think there's any, what's the word I'm looking for here? There's no reason to think that he can't score double-digit goals for the penguins this.

upcoming season. So that's what that means for the Penguins. Let me know what you think O'Connor is going to get with his next contract. And let me know down in the comments. You can also send me a DM on social media and all that good stuff. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into how the Penguins stacked up to other teams in the Metropolitan Division, considering a lot of teams in Metro, have gotten better this off season, namely the Hurricanes and the Devils. But before we get into that, we do have to discuss Fand will take your first swing at betting MLB on FanDuel and get 10 times your first bet amount and bonus bets up to $200. That's right.

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That's fandul.com slash locked on to get started. started, Fandle, the official partner of Major League Baseball and Locked On. And I'm back here in this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow you on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. on Strait of Penguins. And 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.

So with that said, let's get into my Metropolitan Division rankings post July 1 and kicking things off. are the New Jersey Devils at the number one spot. This team is a Stanley Cup contender heading into the season. They just resigned Tim O'Meyer to an eight-year deal, $8.8 million per season. For someone who ranks in the 96th percentile for five-on-five, even-strength offense,

in the 78th percentile for five-on-five even-strike defense, that is a steal for them. He didn't put up the best numbers in the playoffs, but I do think that's going to change going into next season when the Devils make the playoffs. The fact that he's not making over $9 million per season is crazy. The only player that makes $9 million or more on the Devils right now is Dougie Hamilton. Tom Fitzgerald has done a tremendous job building this team to what it is now.

Heck, Jack Hughes, he only makes $8 million per season. And he just had 99 points in 78 games this year. They also have Nico Heeshire locked up at a very reasonable $7.25 million per season, right? He's one of the best two-way centers in the league. They just traded for Tyler Tofoli, who's coming off a 34-goal, 73-point campaign. This team is loaded. They saw Andre Palat, also out of Hamilton on defense. They have John Marino, Yona Seganthaler, Colin Miller.

In goal, they have Akira Schmidt, who is the goaltender of the present and a future. They're pairing him with VTec Fianchek. They can also decide to trade for Connor Hellebuck, if they choose to, who has one more year left on his contract, has $6 million per season. But this team is going to be a huge problem, not just in the Metropolitan Division this upcoming season, but around the league as a hold of penguins. Didn't even beat the devils this past season. I think it's going to be that much harder for them to beat the devils this upcoming season with how loaded they are, not just at forward, but on defense. And they have a stud in goal.

Oh, yeah, they still have $5.6 million in cap space to play with this off season. they may not be done in the slightest. Coming up at number two are the Carolina Hurricanes, the team that won the Metropolitan Division this past season. They were pretty busy on July 1. They signed Michael Bunting to a three-year deal. 4.5 million per season. I think he's good for at least 20 goals for them,

playing on the second line, maybe on the third line. They also signed Dimitri Orlov to play either on the first or the second-taring two-year deal. 7.75 million per season. They're getting Andre Setschenikov back. this season after he tore his ACL, that's going to be a huge return for the hurricanes. You can tell they were definitely missing him during the playoffs, even though they got all the way to the Eastern Conference final in gold.

They brought back Anderson and Ranta. If they are just average goalies, that should be good enough for the hurricanes. They brought back Captain Jordan Stahl on a full-year term, $2.9 million per season. That should be his final contract as an actual player. They also resigned Yesper Foss. They're still involved in Eric Carlson sweepstakes. and they're going to be getting Tony DiAngelo back from the flyers over the next couple of days. So this team, in it to win it as well, I think it's kind of like a 1A-1B with the Devils and the Hurricanes and the Metro.

You can make a case for either one, but right now I have the hurricanes just below the Devils in terms of Metropolitan Division hierarchy. Coming in at number three, though, is a team that I have a hard time evaluating, and that is the New York Rangers. There's no denying that they have a lot of talent at every position. Artemian Panarin is one of the best left-wingers in the sport. Mika Zabinjad, really good top six center. I don't think he's an elite number one center on a cup contending team, but he is still very good production-wise. They have Adam Fox, a absolute stud at defense,

a top three defenseman in the league. And, oh, yeah, they have one of the two best goaltenders in the league in Igor Shisterkin. But with the Rangers, it kind of just seems like they're falling back into old habits where they're just relying on their goalie to carry them to the promise hand. That's what they did during the Henrik-Lunquist era, and it's what they're doing now because when you go back and watch their playoff games from this past year, a lot of their top guys no-showed. Artimian-Penarren barely did anything.

Mika Zabenejan was in Nico Hedger's back pocket with the way he was shut down. Adam Fox was okay, but okay is not going to cut it. Vince Trocheck wasn't as good as people thought he was going to be either. Chris Kreider, he was actually one of their better players. But when it's just him and maybe Adam Fox and Igor Shusirkin doing the heavy lifting, that's not good enough, especially for a team that has Panera making over 11 million per season and Zabinajan making 8.5 million per season. That's not good enough.

During Free Agency, they went out and signed Blake Wheeler. 800K, okay, whatever. probably pop them 17 to 18 goals this upcoming season, but his legs are kind of gone. You know, they can probably put him on a third line role. Okay, Nick Benino, whatever, 35 years old, 800K contract that brought in Tyler Pittlick, Eric Gustafin, who can bring at least a little bit of offense to the table, 825K. But again, with the Rangers, it all relies on Chastarkin and especially their kids panning out. It's time for Alexei LaFranier to actually show people that he was working.

worthy of being the number one overall pick just a few seasons ago because so far he has not shown that. So far, he's basically just been a third liner in the NHL. That's not good enough. Capo-Cocco. It's time for him to show why he was also a top three pick in the draft a few seasons ago. Philip Heidel is probably the best of those guys. I'm curious to see how he does, but the Rangers, right now they don't screen to me cup contender. They just scream to me a playoff team. They could turn turn into a cup contender, maybe a couple of other moves are made. I think they're probably going to bridge Keonderry Miller, who I think is one of the more underrated defensemen in the league.

They'll probably bridge Lafranier as well. But right now, I just see them as a playoff team. I kind of see them closer to the Penguins right now, who are the number four team in the Metro, in my opinion. Great top six, obviously. Bottom six could still use another score, but it's better than last year's bottom six. Big questions in goal with Tristan Jari and Casey to Smith.

They all obviously have Alex Indelkevich. defensively, Crystal Tang is amazing. Marcus Pedersen's great. So have some other question marks down there. Is Jeff Petrie going to be on the team? Ryan Graves is there now. He'll bring you some offense, some decent defensive zone impacts,

really good in transition. But I have the Penguins right now as a wildcard team heading into this upcoming season. As my number five team, I have the New York Islanders. I'm honestly not that crazy about the Islanders heading into the season,

but I'm also never crazy about the Islanders. heading into any season. I thought they got extremely lucky to make the playoffs this past season. They only made the playoffs because the Penguins screwed up and couldn't even beat the freaking Chicago Blackhawks on the second to last game of the season. And when you look at their moves that they made,

they gave a lot of term to Pierre Engval. I mean, fine player. He can score you 17 goals, but seven years for him. Okay. Scott Mayfield gets a lot of term as well, someone who can play on the right side of your second peering. In my opinion, though, he's kind of just a third-parring defenseman.

That's a little too much, but also Lou Lamarillo is not going to be there. At that point, they have Matt Barzell, who was an amazing playmaker. Though Horvatt, also very good signed for a lot of years. He needs to play a bit better because down the stretch and in the playoffs, he was a ghost for the Islanders that he can turn back into the player that we saw from him. And the first half of the season, when he was with the Vancouver Canucks and putting up very good numbers and very good underlines, that's going to be a good contract for the Islanders.

Anders Lee, one of the best net front presences in the league, but I still think they need another score. Defensively, they're good with Pelican Poolock. But right now, I have them outside looking in when it comes to the top four in the Metro. And yes, I know Ilya Sorokin is one of the top five best goals, goleys, excuse me, in the league. I hate that he is going to be on the Islanders for the next eight plus years. It's going to be super annoying going up against him.

and Igor Shisterken for probably the next decade. That's what Penguins fans have to look forward to here. So I hope you all that are listening to slash watching this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast are really looking forward to that. My number 16 are the Washington Capitals. Alex Ovetkin is back in the full. Nicholas Baxteram is there too. T.J. Oshie, John Wilson,

Afghani Kuznetsov. If he's not traded, you brought him Max Patcheretti, which I think is a very high risk, high reward signing. Someone who, if he's not hurt, he can give them potentially 20 goals this upcoming season. Really curious to see how Rasmus Sandine does in a top four role. The Maple Leafs traded him to Washington at the trade deadline. I think you may see a big breakout from him.

The capitals, I think, are in the market for another player to play in their top six. Really curious to see what other moves they make. I don't think they're done in the slightest. I also got Joe Edmondson this offseason, but I think he's just kind of a defensive defenseman at this point. someone you can plug in on your third pair on the left side. Right now, I don't see the Capitals as a playoff team, but that can change if other moves are made.

Final two teams, the Blue Jackets and the Flyers, the Blue Jackets, they're funny because the way Yarmu kicked online in is making moves, you would think that they are trying to make the playoffs this upcoming season, not rebuilding. But the thing is, they should be still kind of trying to rebuild slash retool that I understand that may not be that big of an option because Johnny Gudrow just signed there last year, but they don't have the pieces to contend for a playoffs right now. You look at their forward group. Okay, Johnny Goodrow, he's awesome. Patrick

Lina, he'll score you goals. Outside of that, who was really a big difference maker there? Jack Roselich, Boone Jenner, Cole Sillinger, Kent Johnson, Liam Fowdy. I don't really see many other difference makers there. Defensively, they'll be getting back Zach Wrenski, which is huge. He's another very good defenseman in the NHL. They traded for the rights and then signed Damon Severson to an eight-year term for $6.25 million per season. That's a high ticket. You know, rebuilding teams usually don't make those kind of investments. They also traded for Ivan Proverbs. So they got him on the left side. Goaltending-wise, they had Elvis Merzleekins starting. And they also just hired Mike Babcock.

on a two-year term. So, again, I don't know what the Blue Jackets are doing. I think Yarmine will kick the line in is just making moves to try and save his job. They are not close to contending for a playoff spot right now. And that's why I have them as my number 17 in the Metro. And number eight, I have the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that is obviously committed to rebuilding. They shipped off Kevin Hayes via trade to the St. Louis Blues. There's rumors that they could be shipping off Travis Sandheim, another trade.

They could ship off Travis Connecting as well. maybe Carter Hart. I do not think GM, Danny Breyer, is done in the slightest. I don't think they're going to be a good team at all this upcoming season, though. They do have Ryan Palin there, so that those games against the Flyers should be fun from that aspect alone. But those are my Metropolitan Division Power Rankings post July 1. Let me know what you think about those down in the comments on YouTube, or you can send me a DM on social media if you're listening via Spotify, Apple, Sirius, XN, or Amazon Music. where do you see the Penguins at in the Metropolitan Division right now?

That's the big question I have for you all. To end the show, we're going to get into Patrick Hornquist's retirement and just honoring him because what a career he had. That's coming up right after this. And I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host Hunter Hodes. And I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O.

Lawrence or Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list and slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So this was hinted at last week, but Patrick Hornquist made it official on Wednesday announcing his retirement from the NHL after 15 amazing seasons with the Predators, Penguins, and most recently, the Florida Panthers finished his career with 264 goals and 543 points in 901 career games. Obviously, won the Stanley Cup twice with the Penguins scored the Stanley Cup clinching goal against his old team and the National Predators

during the 2017 Cup run and the best part about that goal it came from his office right at the front of net and that's what I'm going to remember most about Patrick Cornquist when he was in his prime there was not a better

net front presence in the NHL than him five on five and on the power play. One of the reasons why the penguin's power play was so good during that time was because Hornquist would park his butt right in front of the net and get so many garbage tying goals and no one could stop him. Even though he was cross-checked so many times, tricked so many times,

slash so many times, he would still get up, think it was nothing, score, and then laugh in your face about it. And the way he would also piss off so much, many fans of other metropolitan division teams like the flyers, like the capitals, like the islanders, like the Rangers, man, what a time to be alive when Patrick Hornquist was doing his thing with the penguins. I know he scored so many amazing goals for the penguins during his tenure.

Outside of the cup clincher in Nashville and the empty netter in San Jose, the goal that I will remember Hornquist the most for was in game four against the Capitals, 2016 second round, Penguins were up in the series, two games to one. They're playing this game without Chris LaTang. And when the Penguins needed him most, Patril Hornquist came through to deliver the Penguins a three to one series lead and a lead that they would not relinquish.

They would win that series in six games. but that goal really made me realize that this team was for real and that this could be a special run in the city of Pittsburgh. Everyone, I think, expected them to beat the Rangers because that Rangers team was really bad. But with the Capitals, it was kind of like a 50-50 coin flip. You know, the Capitals were a really good team during that regular season, but the Penguins were flying high after the second half they had. And when Hornquist scored that goal, thanks to Mike Weber, of course, who dished

the puck to him on a silver platter, five home, bright and holpey, I was like, oh yeah, this team is for real. And sure enough, they went on to win the cup that year. He was also someone, I think, who really changed the culture of the payments. Obviously, the leadership group of 87, 71, and 58 is one of the best out there. But at the time when he was acquired, there were really no other big leaders in that locker room. You didn't say Chris Kunitz was. That's fair. Pascal Dupuy at the time.

But outside of that, there was really no one else that was going to step up and say something when something needed to be said. And Hornquist became that guy. It was one of the many reasons why he was such a huge fan favorite during his time in Pittsburgh. He will be Penguin Royalty forever. Remember, he was the first. official trade that Jim Rutherford made when he took over the Penguins. Traded James Neal for Patrick Hornquist.

That was after the Penguins lost that three games to one series lead against the Rangers in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. And he kicked off, honestly, a new era of Penguins Hockey. And I remember exactly where I was when that trade was going down. I was getting Habachi with my mom stepped out in my sister. and my mom is someone who she doesn't like when we're on our phones during dinner at least at the time

and she saw me on it and she was giving me like this cold death stare and I thought I'm like no the Penguins might be making a trade here it looks like David Boyle and her brotherford are having like a big conversation on the draft floor and she looked to me and she was like okay you can be on your phone and

that was the thing I remember most about that night outside of going home quickly writing an article for e-draft.com that's who I wrote for at the time. And when I pulled up his film, I fell in love with this player. And sure enough, he played the exact same way with the Penguins and also with the Panthers after he was traded to Florida for Mike Matheson. So Patrick, congratulations on one hell of a career. You will always, and I mean this, 110%. You will always be Penguins royalty. But that will do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this episode of the podcast. I'll be back with another episode for you all on Friday. I will be away starting later today for the next eight or nine days. So the next five or six episodes, I will be in a different location on my laptop. I will not be on my PC, but I will still turn out content. If you all will see if the Penguins make any more moves over the next week and change. Maybe Eric Carlson comes to Pittsburgh. Maybe something else happens.

we'll just have to see. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in. Really, really appreciate it. I'll be out with another episode for you all on Friday.