Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What does the Jason Spezza hire mean for the Penguins?

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Well, the Pittsburgh Penguins have FINALLY made another front-office hire! Hunter starts the show with breaking news as the Penguins have hired Jason Spezza to be an assistant general manager. He will report directly to Kyle Dubas and Hunter is ALL for it. He looks at what this means for the future of the FO and what type of FO Dubas is looking for before getting to whether Jason Spezza will be groomed for the GM role or not. He even discusses whether Dubas will even hire a GM or if he will go with a bunch of assistants to fill out his FO. Also yes, we need to see Spezza and Sidney Crosby have a chat about what happened in 2010. After that, Hunter looks into the buyout window starting soon and which Penguins will be candidates. Will Dubas buy out Granlund? Could they somehow find a trade partner before then? What about Jeff Carter and his contract? Hunter also throws in a couple of other players who could be candidates for a buyout before wrapping up by congratulating the Vegas Golden Knights on winning the Stanley Cup, especially Phil Kessel :).Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORKBirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedonnhl and when you enter promo code, LOCKEDONNHL, they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.ebay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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.

Well, the Pittsburgh Penguins dropped some breaking news on Wednesday morning with the hiring of Jason Specta. As Assistant General Manager, I'm going to get into what that means for the Pittsburgh Penguins going forward 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 to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows, Twitter at Elinels or 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. This episode is brought to you by Fandul Sportsbook. The official sportsbook of Lockdown. You can make every moment more.

Visit fendul.com slash locked on today to get started. So doing some show notes for the day. I thought I was going to be talking about some other things and the Penguins dropped a bomb around about 10 o'clock on Wednesday morning as Kyle Dubas has made his first front office hire as present hockey operations after dismissing a few of Ron Hextall's people about a little over a week ago. Jason Spetsa named assistant general manager.

He will report directly to Kyle Dubas himself. Dubas released a statement via the Penguins website, and it says, after decorated playing career, Jason Volley immersed himself on the management side of the game, learning all facets of hockey operations this past season, while with Toronto. He showed tremendous work ethic, curiosity, and ability to build relationships throughout all departments at the team facility. His move from the roster of the front office helped make the hockey ops coaching staff and playing roster a more cohesive and collaborative

unit. So I know also some people are saying it's a bit weird that you hire an assistant GM before GM. I know. It's a little weird, but hey, Kyle is basically the GM right now. He's the interim GM, quotation marks, but let's be real people. He's right. He's running. He's running. running the show. That's what's happening. And he can hire whoever the hell he wants. That's what he's doing. And this move had been coming ever since Kyle accepted the job as president of hockey ups. Remember, when Dubas was fired out of Toronto, Spetsa turned in his resignation within an hour. That was how long it took for him to leave because obviously he wasn't a fan of Dubus. getting fired, but he also was brought in by Dubus.

So it only makes sense for him to follow Kyle to whatever job he was going to take. So not surprised in the slightest that Spetsa took the job as a citizen general manager. And I'm really excited about this, especially because this front office, it's going to be very forward thinking and it's going to be very progressive. You're not going to see the same kind of front office that you saw under Ron Hextall where he basically just had Chris Pryor, I'll see Nick Pryor running the amateur scouting, and I don't think he's going to be here to pass the draft. You had Ron Hextall's son with the team, Carrie Huffman,

who goes back to his days, his plenty days in the 80s. You're not just going to see a lot of just family hires. They're going to see a front office that's, you know, well thought out, a front office that's more cohesive, that's more put together. a front office that actually discusses roster decisions with each other and it's not just Ron Hextall making the calls with Chris Pryor and a couple other people. That is what I am really excited about when it comes to this new front office with the Penguins. And I think the biggest takeaway from what I have from this first move is that

you're going to see a front office that actually comes together to make decisions and compared to last time where it's not going to be just two people talking about something. Because let's be real. Brian Burke did not do anything with hockey related decisions. He was there as a figurehead. He was there to talk to season ticket holders. Get free tickets to games. Get all the food you want.

Drink all the booze you want. That's what he did. He really did not do another thing. So I'm a big fan of this. It's been coming for a while. We also need to see Jason Spetsa and Sidney Crosby sit down for like, you know what, 10 to 12 minute video. discussing what happened in the 2010 series

between the Penguins and the Senators where Crosby absolutely dusted Svetsa behind the net. It needs to happen, people. I don't need a 40-minute documentary into Game 7 of the 2009 final like we saw with Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy, and Colby Armstrong the other day. And by the way, if you haven't watched that yet,

please do it. It is tremendous content from all three of them. It looked like they were flat out just as nervous watching it. 14 years later than they were actually playing in the game. It was tremendous content. Please go watch it if you haven't. But we need to see that at some point. Now, I don't think Dubis is going to be groomed for the GM role. Oh, no, Dubis, excuse me. I don't think Spetsa is going to be groomed for the GM role. I think he's just

going to be an assistant for however long he is in Pittsburgh. I think Dubis is going to hire another person to be the GM. And then obviously Spetsa will report to that person. and then all of his report to Kyle Dubus. And that's also a topic I've seen discussed a lot throughout Penguins, Twitter, you know, just forums, all that stuff, you know, is Will Dubus actually hire a GM? Because, you know, you could easily make the argument that he could hire a bunch of assistants, maybe make one of them an associate,

and just have the title as president of hockey ops, and then make himself Joe Manter. I wouldn't mind that. I think it would be a fine move. but I am still of the opinion that they should hire someone who is ready to take on the GM role and who can learn on the job

as a first time GM whether that's a Sam Ventura, whether that is a Cam Lawrence, whether that is especially a Brandon Pridham and I do think the penguins are going to be very interested in going after Pridham. He was Dubas's right-hand man in Toronto.

He's a Cap Wizard. But I do also think that Toronto is going to do everything they can to keep him under Brad Tree Living. So he can come over. You also have Wes Clark who could come over at the director of amateur scouting. Nick Pryor is going to have that role until, at least after the job, until I think Kyle will probably just, you know, cup a bit with him or Nick will just turn in his resignation just because his dad got fired and he's not here anymore.

But I am just a big fan of what this means for the future of the front office. And I think Kyle is going to do a great job building out this hockey operations department to be one of the best in the NHL and one that I think you will see other teams try to replicate in the future. So those are my main

overall thoughts on the Jason Spetsa hire can only mean good things for the organization he's going to have a say on everything, whether it's scouting, drafting, player development, trades, free agency,

roster decisions with the coach for game nights, I think he's going to be communicating with everyone in the organization, rightfully. So I think he has a very bright future in terms of being in hockey operations. And I'm really excited to see what he will do here. So slammed on Kyle in my book. It was obviously coming. And I do think this is just the first of several forward-thinking progressive hires that Kyle is going to make for this organization.

So congrats to Jason, really excited to have him here. and curious to see how much of a say he has when it comes to just making the moves and all that. Obviously, the final decision will come from Kyle, but I'm sure he'll obviously consult with Jason and everyone else that he brings aboard for the hockey operation sign. So that wraps up this first segment coming up in the second segment. The buyout window is expected to open late Thursday into Friday. What does that mean for the Pittsburgh Penguins? Who is potentially going to get bought out?

I'll have that coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to discuss the official sports betting sponsor of Lockdown, which is Fandul. Make your way to Fandul because right now, new customers get a no-swet first bet up to $2,500. They say $2,500 back in bonus bets if your first bet does not win. There's no better place to bet on all the playoff action than America's number one sportsbook or MLB action since the playoffs are over in the NBA, the NHH. you can visit fandul.com

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So with the season officially over, congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights, and I'll get them to back to end the show. This means the fun, silly part is coming with the off season. There's going to be a lot of moves from every team, and it's going to get very busy very soon. That's going to start late Thursday, end of Friday. If you look at Cat Friendly and all these other websites, the buyout window starts 48 hours at the Stanley Cup final ends.

Technically, it should start late Thursday, but I'm sure they're just going to coin it as Friday. whatever. Kyle Dubus will have two weeks to make his decisions on what to do with the buyouts or the penguins. And they do have at least one big buyout candidate. And you all know who it is. That is Kyle Granlin. He gets $5 million for the next two seasons. A nice little parting gift from Ron Hextall. They would get $7 million in cap space over the next two seasons if he is bought out. Cap hit wise, if he does get bought out, it's $833K for this first season. And then for the next three, it is 1.83 million. I know people are not a fan of paying players to not be on the

team anymore, but in this case, I think it makes a lot of sense to buy out that contract if you can't trade him first. Obviously, that is the avenue that Kyle should explore first. A buyout should usually only be used as a last resort. That's what your mother had to do a couple years ago when he obviously tried to trade Jack Johnson, but no one was going to take him. So we had to buy him out. And the penguins were still feeling the effects of that buyout to this day. This one won't be as bad as a Johnson one as the contract. But it still should be used as a last resort. And if you're looking at trading him, I would only really entertain something like the 14th overall pick in Granlin for maybe the 19th pick or just moving down a little

bit further in the first round. I'm sorry. I am not a fan of Granland or I'm not really a fan of Kyle Dubus just attaching the pick and trading Greenland and not really getting anything in return or just getting a second or third round pick. I don't want to do that. The pick is way too valuable and just be attached as a sweetener to getting rid of Granland. Now, if you can only retain a little bit of salary in a deal while getting out of Granland, I think I would entertain that. But if you can't do that and you can't really include him in any trade, you have to buy him out. Four million in salary cap space this season that gets you up to 24 million. Next season, you get three million in cap space.

A couple seasons after that, you don't really get much. But it's worth it. He did absolutely nothing as a member of the Penguins in the 20-plus games that he was here. He had one garbage time goal. You take that away, he did absolutely nothing. So that contract, and just him in general, he has. has to be off this team going into next season, and a buyout does make sense. Again, I get it.

The $1.8 million for the next three seasons after this one is not fine. But if that's all it takes to get out of that contract, if you can't trade him, I'm sorry, I am doing it. That's where I stand on that. The cap space for these next two seasons alone is why I would do it. So we'd be really curious to see how long it takes to do this to potentially come this decision if he does it all but if i were him i'd be very much considering it if i can't trade him you know the dream is to get out of that contract in full and let someone else take on that five million right but that's probably not going to happen to people the best bet in their trade is you're

attaching the pick and maybe moving down only a few spots in the draft or you're getting some salary or attention on it maybe you're retaining two million for the next two seasons something like that. But if you can't do any of that, a buyout has to happen. Other candidates for buyouts, anyone that comments on the YouTube page or goes under Twitter that follows me, people, they are not going to buy out Jeff Carter. You technically can, but it doesn't do anything. You are going to have that cap hit no matter what because it's a 35 plus contract. I put these in my show notes for today. I got this direct. off cap friendly because it is a 35 plus contract the buyout has no effect on the player

and his cap hit so even if the penguins were to buy amounts right they would still have to pay him three point one two five million for this season in essence you would be paying him his full salary to go away i'm sorry even though kyle dubus is very progressive and very forward thinking and a really good general manager slash president of hockey ops he's not going to we'd be paying over $3 million for a player to go away. That's just, I don't think any GM would be doing that. So, in all likelihood, the penguins are stuck with Carter heading into the season. The only, and I mean the only way Carter is not on this team for this upcoming season

is if Kyle goes up to him and says, hey, Jeff, he's done a lot of great work here. and throughout your career, but I don't see a way that you can really be playing on this team on an every night basis. You can either sit up in the press box and enjoy a free check or you can waive your no move clause

and we can find you a new home. That is the only way that I see him not being on this team and playing every night this evening. And I think that's even a long shot. So everyone, be prepared for Jeff Carter to be on this team for at least one more season. Again, you can technically

buy them out, but they're not going to be doing that because you would have to pay him this whole salary. It's a 35 plus contract. It's not going to do anything. So I just wanted to clear that up. I've also seen people say that, oh, you could buy out Jeff Petrie. No, no, no, no, no, no. And why? Why do you not want to buy out Jeff Petrie? Well, I've got the notes here for you all. If the Penguins were to buy out Jeff Petrie, so he would have, he would have to pay him for four more years, just like McCall Grahamlin, but these cap hits are really bad. His dead cap hit for this season would be $3 million. This upcoming seat, for the next season, it will be $4.5 million.

And then the two seasons after that, $1.25 million. I am sorry, you are not paying $7.5 million in dead cap for the next two seasons for Jeff Petrie to not play here. That is absolutely ridiculous. And then if you add that up with the $1.25 million, that's, if my math is correct, that's what, almost $10 million. So, yeah, they are not going to be paying $10 million in money for the next four seasons for Jeff Petrie to not play here anymore.

That is not going to happen. I've seen the stuff about Jan Ruda. I think you can honestly trade him and get out of that contract. I don't think you're going to need to buy him out anyway. But in terms of buyouts or the penguins, the only one that really makes sense to me is Mikhail Granland. And I'd have to think that Dubus has already had discussions about that with some of the people on the coaching staff, other people in the front office,

all that good stuff. I'm sure he's going to discuss with Jason Spets as well. I just really don't see a way that he's on the team next season. I've also seen some people argue that, oh, well, he can maybe get back to the way he played a couple of seasons ago. No, he's not a 64-point player anymore. He's not even probably a 50-point player. He's not getting mince with Matt Dushane.

He's not getting mince with Ryan Johansson. He's not getting mince with Roman Yose. He's not getting mince with any of those guys. He'll be getting third line minutes here. And he would just be an overplay player who would not really be doing much of anything and who doesn't really fit Mike Sullivan's system. So that's really where I stand when it comes to the Bion.

So let me know what you think. Would you consider McCall Graham the Biot? Would you want to trade him first? Where do you stand on the Jeff Petrie situation? What about Yon Ruda? Let me know down in the comments. You can also send me a DM on social media and all that stuff. But it's about to get very, and I mean very busy coming up here when it comes to the offseason around the hockey role.

But that does it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're going to recap game five of the Stanley Cup final and congratulate the Las Vegas Golden Knights for a very much deserved championship that's coming up right after this. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the last month. on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at Eleanorstapangans. 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 first of all, congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights. They took down the Florida Pampers by a final score of 9 to 3. On Tuesday night, they win this series in five games. I feel bad for Florida just because they got outclassed in every way. in this series, especially game five. I saw 2016 penguins level stuff from the Knights in that game with the way they were

forechecking, hemming the Panthers in the defensive zone. It was textbook on how to close out a series. The Panthers just do no chance, especially without Matthew Kuchup. And I will say, I was a complete moron for saying on my Tuesday episode that I thought Kach was going to play no matter what. And then I read that he had a broken sternum. Yeah, nice job, you idiot, Hunter.

The fact that he even played in game four with a broken sternum is nothing short of a miracle. I don't even know how a player can play with that kind of injury. If I had a broken sternum, you would probably see me, you know, laying in my bed for like a year. That just goes to show how tough hockey players are in general. Just absolutely unbelievable when it comes to him playing with an injury. And yeah, I'm not surprised that he didn't play in game five because I'm sure. that injury was hurting really badly. You saw Aaron Eckblad.

He also was banged up, had a broken foot for two months. Those paink killers must have been coming in like it was nothing, had a shoulder injury, had a bleak injury. A lot of Panthers players were hurt, but that just goes to show how many players played through a lot of stuff in the playoffs. But the Golden Knights were by far and away the best team in the playoffs. They kicked everyone's butts to win this title. They crushed the Jets.

They crushed the Oilers when everyone picked the, Oilers, at least I was one to pick the knights. They crushed the stars and they crushed the Panthers. They didn't really honestly, and I feel weird saying this, they didn't really face outside of Lauren Busswaa getting hurt and a Bertrandal getting suspended.

They didn't really face too much adversity in these playoffs. And I know that sounds weird to say, but you know, none of them, these series went to seven games. They didn't really ever feel like they were in danger of losing these series. They were in control. of all of them. And it was a job well done by Bruce Cassidy, one of the best coaches in the league.

Jonathan Marcheseau, well-deserved, Con Smyth, Riley Smith was awesome. Jack Eichael getting a Stanley Cup before Connor McDavid. That's going to be a hilarious narrative that I'm sure the fine folks of the image media will run with. But everyone in that organization deserves it. They took advantage of all the idiots in the expansion draft. And after that, they were able to build a highly competitive team trading for Mark Stone, trading for Jack Deichael, signing Alex Petrangelo, getting Shade Theodore in the expansion draft, you know, trading for Aden Hill, who is going to make a lot of money when for agency opens. They did everything the right way.

Congrats to George McPhee and Kelly McCrimman. They've been both very strong executives throughout their careers. And, you know, I'm happy for McPhee. You know, it sucks that he didn't get the cup in 2018. We went up against his former team. And I know the Forest World ERAT trade is going to be mean for an eternity. but since then I think he's done a really good job as an executive especially a great job really building that team up before handing the keys

to Haley McCremant. But that team, they're four lines deep, they're great defensively, they got more than enough goaltending, especially from Aden Hill. I mean, this just goes to show, man, if you can get at least average to a little bit above average goaltending in the playoffs, you can go a long way,

Aiden Frickin Hill, man, who hasn't played. more than 30 games in an NHL season. Aiden Frickin Hill. And he's probably going to go out and get a contract that's like four times four or something from a team that's desperate for certain goaltitting.

No, Kyle Dubas, I would not go out and sign into that contract because he will probably turn back into a pumpkin. But they built their team the right way. They were a lot of fun to watch in these playoffs. Just speed and skill. They forechecked hard. They played great defensively.

They were in control of almost every play. off game they played and a well-deserved winner for the nights. I loved seeing Phil Kessel, three-time Stanley Cup champion, Phil Kessel, that is, to everyone. And I saw some people saying on Twitter, well, he didn't really play that much in the playoffs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And these people, of course, are Penguins fans. And what I would say to you people is this.

I hope you all had the same energy when Mark Andre Fleury didn't play in the 2016 playoffs. play a lot of games in the regular season, as Phil Kessel did. He played all 82 games for the Knights, didn't play as much in the playoffs. But I still hope you all had the same energy when Mark Andre Fleury didn't do a damn thing in the 2016 playoffs. That was all Matt Murray. So just wanted to put that out there for everyone that's going at Phil Kessel for saying like, oh, he didn't really do much in the playoffs. Yeah, well, Mark Andre Fleur did didn't do much in 2016.

But congratulations to him. I love seeing what he said about the Toronto media, say, like, yeah, it's all started in Toronto. You know, I'm a three-time cup champion. What are you going to say to that? And it's like, that is absolutely perfect. Thank you, Phil, for that legendary quote. I'm sure the Vegas trip right now is going crazy. But congratulations to the Knights.

A well-deserved winner. They kicked everyone's butts in the playoffs. And for the Panthers, I'm being really interested to see how they do next season. This was a very weird team during the regular season that got very hot in the playoffs. I've seen some people say they've compared them to Montreal. I don't really see that too too much. I think this team is a lot better than that Montreal team that went on that Cinderella one just a couple of years ago.

But I am curious to see what Bill Zito does. I think defensively, the Panthers need to be a lot better. You know, Brandon Montor, who's good offensively, gives a little bit back in the defensive zone. Aaron Echbaud, who's good, but is a bit older. Outside of that, there's not really anyone that's that good on the defensive back end. I mean, RICO good is fine. But, you know, you still got.

to chuck for your forwards. You still got Verhege. You still got Barkov. Lundell, plenty of others. They're good there. In goal, you got to make a decision. Is Sergei if Rovsey going to be your starter? What's going to happen with Alex Lyon?

Is Spencer not going to come back from what he's dealing with? I'm really curious to see what the pamphers do this on season and if, you know, they will be a contender next season. Because this is a weird team in the regular season. It took down until the final day for them to make the playoffs. You know, curious to see if they take a step back next season or if they really make a lot of shrew moves this all season. But the season over, the all season is underway for every team,

and it's about to get a whole lot of fun. But again, thank you all so much for listening to us watching this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Keep it right here on Locked on Penguins for the latest news and analysis relating to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I'm going to have a couple guests on to end the week for the show. Friday, the Nick and Nick Horwerewatt, both Nick Berlanski and Nick Horwatt

are going to be coming on from the tip of the other. Pittsburgh podcast. And on Thursday for you all, I'm going to have Rob Rossi from the Athletic on to discuss Jason Spetson move and everything else relating to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And then I'll also have Chris Mack on from 9-837 the fan next week. So a lot more guests coming on the show as we continue to get closer to free agency and the draft. This is one of the best times of the year, at least for me, even though the Penguins are not playing, I absolutely love doing all this content. But thank you all so much for tuning in. I very much appreciate it. I'll be back for another episode for you all on Thursday.