Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What happens when you combine two Pittsburgh Penguin podcasts?

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

Another day means another guest for the Locked On Penguins podcast. Or should we say guests? Hunter is joined by Nick Brlansky and Nick Horwat from the Tip Of The Ice-Burgh podcast to discuss all things Pittsburgh Penguins as the regular season starts in 2 DAYS. They first get into their observations from training camp and the preseason since both got to be up at Cranberry and had a couple of the preseason games. After that, they discuss the POJ-Ty Smith situation and how it's genuinely sink or swim time for POJ. What do they want more out of him this season? When could we see Ty Smith up with the big club? Brlansky also shouts out Sidney Crosby as he looks as crisp as ever heading into 18th NHL season and how he could be in for a monster season. Hunter also gets some bold predictions from them (there's one from Brlansky that may make you faint) before they predict what will happen league-wide this season. What are their Stanley Cup picks? How does Hunter's differ? Finally, to end the show, they discuss Kasperi Kapanen & how this is probably the biggest season of his career. All that, plus much more on this special episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNHL to learn more.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/NHLNETWORK 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.

Hello, everybody. Happy Tuesday, October 11. This is the first official night of the initial season. The Tampa Lightning will play the New York Rangers, 730, and then there will be a late game at 10.30. Both games will be on ESPN. I cannot wait for this. It's been a very long offseason. I'm so excited. It would be Vegas and Los Angeles for the 10 o'clock game. But for today's episode, I'm going to have the typical. of the iceberg guys on Nick Berlanski and Nick Quarral. We're going to talk everything Penguins from what they saw in preseason in the training camp to some season predictions for not just the Penguins, but around the league, some bold predictions, and so much more.

So stick around for that coming up for today's episode. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of, the locked on penguins podcast i'm your host hunter hodys remember to follow me on twitter at hunter hoddy's you can also follow the shows twitter at l nr score penguins and of course thank you all so much

for making this your first listen of the day joining me now are two people who have not been on the podcast in well i think over a year now for some ridiculous reason i'm going to get my name out of here because it's going to be all over horwatt's face on the youtube page but um the tip of the tip of iceberg guys the nick and nick show is i like to call it um another great penguins podcast that no i think these are the two best out here at least in my opinion but um both of you thank you all so much for coming back on i really do appreciate it so it's always july coming on no matter what yeah you know we've been talking about it for a little while and i'm very excited to be on it and very excited for the season to start yeah me too guys and you know nick i know i went on your first

episode of penguins lunch and i figured i had to return the favor by bringing both of you on to my show and then I'm sure we'll keep rotating at that point. Penguin season is two days away. I'm super stoked. The offseason has just been a very long grind of sometimes not as much content, but, you know, that's about to change in a big way. What were both of your, you know, big impressions at camp in the preseason? I know both of you guys were at camp, I believe, and then I think a couple of you guys,

I think actually both of you guys went. to at least one pre-season season game or two. You know, what really stood out to you guys when you were watching them live? I'll take it off right away. I mean, the biggest piece that I thought and my biggest takeaway from the camp was, ironically enough,

centered around players that currently aren't on the roster. Redeems the Hornet took a huge step forward, but we see what has happened with that. He was claimed off waivers by Calgary and then not brought back. As much of a step as he took forward, he wasn't going to play on this roster. anyway, he was going to become roster fodder eventually.

And honestly, a guy like Sam Poulin, who was another guy, sent to the minors, could have stepped over him pretty easily and made an NHL roster. And eventually soon enough this year, we'll make his NHL debut just because of how well he performed through camp and into his preseason contests. But I was most impressed with Ty Smith. And I mean, sure, he's down in the minors right now, but that is big old air quotes, I would say, around minor leagues because I don't expect them to stay down there long. Sure, P.O. Joseph is going to do just fine at the NHL level, but in the very near future,

I expect that to be Ty Smith's position. I said it very early on. Ty Smith just looks better. And in some cases, regardless of how good or bad the player is or what they're standing is in the organization, you just got to go with the better player. And I think that's a situation where Ty Smith beat him out in. And I have to agree with that. I mean, that is definitely something that both of us took notice of is not only these guys like Poulan, who was kept late at training camp, which was a really big, Ty Smith, who was the last cut for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But even these guys that weren't expected to make the roster, nobody was surprised when they got sent down. Somebody like a Valteri Pustinan, somebody like a Philip Hollander, those guys and who they were playing with as well. I mean, Pustin, and for a large majority of the early portions of camp, was playing a lot with Sidney Crosby and J. Gensel. And that says something that that sets a flag up the, you know, up the flagpole that, hey, they think a lot of this guy. So that was very interesting to me. But speaking of Crosby, that was something else that jumped out of the page. And I know both Rossi and Yoie Epp and putting out tweets the last couple of days, he is flying all over the ice. He's diving in drills. He is on the ice. He's going 100% for everything. We saw his father there when we were there, Troy Crosby.

And it's, you know, it's year 18, but it's still a huge. truthful exuberance for Sidney Crosby heading into his 18th season. So the captain is more prepared than it seems than ever to get ready and go try to chase that fourth Stanley Cup. And that's something Crosby said just recently. Someone had asked him how it felt having a full camp this year. And he mentioned it's not just this year he's got a full camp. The season before was shortened for COVID.

This is his first time since pretty much 2019 that he's had a full camp to really get ready for the season. and if anybody saw the last preseason game, it showed. He and Jake Gensel are probably ready to be a problem for this league. I was, I think when Gensel scored that goal that made a 2-1, I'm like, okay, I don't need to see any more of them. They can just go out like the stars in the NFL for the dress rehearsal. It's like, okay, you can just go to the bench now and the backups can come in.

I only kind of wish a little bit that that could happen. But I think you made a great point there. Horowitz, yeah, I mean, Sid last year had the wrist injury. wasn't even ready to go for the start of the season. Same with Malkin. And, you know, this year, you know, he does seem to be flying. And, you know, year 18 looks like year three for him, I think at this point. He's going into, what is it almost, the 16th, 17th year as the captain of the team.

He's only a few years away from tying Steve Eiserman for the most there. And, you know, also good with your point about Ty Smith. I do think he looks better. It stinks that their salary cap situation is what it is right now, because he should be on the opening night roster. Maybe they make a move today, Wednesday, to get out of that and put him back up just because the roster you set on Monday, you know, that's not the roster you may see on Thursday against the coyotes.

But, you know, as it stands right now, if they don't make a move, I think that's going to be POJ spot. And I was talking about this with Jesse Marshall last night. It's kind of sinker swim time for him. You need to show what you're made of. He had a little bit of NHL action a couple years ago. I think he played on the top pair with Chris Teng when the day. defenseman was really banged up. A couple other games who was playing on the second or third

pairing. But, you know, you're going to get third pairing minutes with Yan Ruta, someone who ate top pairing minutes alive with Victor Hedman. And he's one of the three best defensemen, I think, on the planet. So I really do think it's time for him to see what he can do. I think, you know, just because of their salary-skept situation, they really have no choice. I think in a perfect role, they would want Smith up there and having POJ maybe sitting on the bench a little bit. but it doesn't look like at least to start the season, that's going to be a reality. You know, what did you guys see from POJ during camp and preseason? Are you guys hopeful that he can really take this next step if he's given that opportunity

if Smith can't come up for the next week or two? Yeah, I'll lead off on this one. And when we were seeing P.O. Joseph, it goes back to what I said at the beginning there. It's young players getting to play with established stars. Joseph was playing a lot on a pairing with Chris LaTang in camp when it was split into three teams. and what we saw from him, at least what I saw from him, I don't want to speak for Horwatt, but what I saw from him was a steady presence, a guy that knows his role. He is a professional.

I talked to Nick Hart on Penguin's Lunch and he said, listen, P.OJ's been ready. It's been time to sharpen the edges and that's what he's done the past three years. I think when you look at the way that Joseph is entering the season, the first time he's ever made the team out of camp, it's going to be a great opportunity for him. But it is sink or swim because there is another guy in the lineup in Ty Smith that can take his spot as soon as something's figured out. So for Pio, Joseph, he is in a really good position, though, because you're going to have third pairing minutes, you're going to take on third pairing type matchups, and you're playing with a guy like Jan Ruta, who's an established veteran,

who's going to be that safety bumper and let Joseph play a little bit more of the offensive game that he sometimes likes to play. So he's set up for success, whether or not he takes advantage of that is the next question. I think if it's the best case scenario, You see Joseph take the bull by the horns, play really well, and then you can get rid of maybe a Brian Dumlin, maybe a Marcus Pedersen, if these guys can fill those roles and show and prove that they are able to fill those roles before another move gets made.

Yeah, and for P.O. Joseph, it is sinker swim time. I totally agree with that. I think, I forget who it was, who said it on the fan. At the beginning of the offseason, pretty much, that for not just the penguins and for this year or for this season, it's sink or swim time for his career. He can have a very short career in the NHL if things don't take off this year, if he doesn't get some consistent playing time and show what he can do

because, you know, we already know that the rumor is Rod Hextall shopped Joseph out to all 31 other teams. Let's say he comes in and is gangbusters these first few games, and the penguins still don't want him. Well, now he just rose. his trade stock pretty highly, and if someone wants to take them on, we can ship them out, bring in something. We can't bring in too much. But that's an easy piece to ship out for, you know, cap readability. Maybe you get a draft pick somewhere. I doubt we'd get a player

for him just because of our cap situation. So it's not throw that into existence. But, you know, if he comes in and has consistent play here, he can, in turn, make a good career for himself, whether be here staying here is a great player or somewhere else as another consistent player so it is a matter of him taking full advantage of this opportunity he's given not just for the penguins and for this year but for his long-term future in this league yeah i think you both hit the nail on the head with that and i think if they were to trade and they would probably just get a draft pick at like a fourth rounder um something like that they would really just be looking for the cap space and i think you know they could have put them on waivers but i'm pretty sure the redeems of hornet thing

spooked them a little bit. They were kind of like, okay, if he's getting claimed off waivers, is POJ going to get claimed? So I think Hex-Dor and Burke were kind of like, I don't know if we really want to take that chance. They took it with Friedman. I think someone easily could have claimed him. Good underlying metrics.

Someone who can play at both ends of the rank was kind of surprised. I was a little surprised that he wasn't claimed considering some of the other players I've seen get claimed off waivers these past few days. But I think they were definitely thinking them themselves, okay, we don't want to lose him for nothing. Let's just keep in, see if we can maybe work the phones a little bit in, you know, knowing their luck because the penguins always have injuries, Ty Smith will probably be up there within like a week or something like that. But I'm pretty

excited for him. You know, he's very limited sample size. I want to see more offensive from him just because that really hasn't been part of his game so far, at least from what I've watched. You know, he's, you know, there's a good first pass, good defensively. But, you know, he was a lot of, I think, coming out is, you know, this offensive defenseman who can make a lot of flashy plays with the puck and so far haven't really seen too much of that. at least. But still have a lot more to get to for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. But before we get to that, if you haven't tried the Bill bar puffs yet, you are depriving yourself of one of life's greatest joys. And guess what? There's a new flavor. It's delicious, indulgent cookie dough. It's covered in chocolate. That's right. Bill has done it again.

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follow the shows Twitter at L-O-Rsore Penguins. I don't think there's any background noise, but my dog is mad that he is outside and he's not in right now, but it's a beautiful day outside. It's like 70 degrees here. So, you know, he can get mad all he wants. But I have Nick Horwawah, Nick Berlanski,

of the tip of the iceberg podcast here. So let's get into some other things regarding this team. You know, were you guys surprised by anything else about the 23-man roster, you know, for that 12th forward spot? You know, do you guys have a preference? as to who's playing or do you think either way this team's going to have to make a trade by the deadline just to get better?

It is really hard to say. I don't think I'm super surprised by any of the decision making or by who's on this lineup. I think people just have to buy into the guys that we have. Being a player short of the 23 also isn't the greatest, but who exactly would you want sitting out at this point anyway, aside from Chad Rue-Weedle or Josh Archibald or Ryan appaling whoever the forward ends up being it could be an interesting setup i am not surprised by any of it but i will bea ralanski have already decided we're going to talk about this on our next episode uh invest your stock and do josh archibald trust me um i'm not a stock guy but and i'm not talking for his

offensive ability but for the other things he will bring to this team that should help the lineup because they needed it a hell of a lot last year yeah it's funny because we talked about redeems O'Hourna a lot at camp. He was my camp MVP before he got claimed off waivers. And he's 6'7. And Josh Archibald is not 6'7, not even close to 6'4 7. I don't even know if he's 6 foot tall. But he plays a 150 times more physical than Redeems Zahorna did whenever he was in Pittsburgh. So I can see why Brian Burke and those guys liked him. I know that maybe not a lot of people wanted to see Josh Archibald make the team out of camp, which is why people were surprised what he was that guy that made the team out of camp,

and especially with Teddy Bluger, unsure of his status for Thursday night, he might be in that opening night roster. And that's a thing that, hey, he goes out there. I guess he plays the right way. He plays a Mike Sullivan style. He's quick, physical, and good on the forecheck. That's all you need to be a fourth liner for Mike Sullivan. So we'll see what ends up happening with Bluger and if Archibald's in there.

But I was a little bit surprised because either I wasn't thinking about Archibald or I was just listening to everybody talk about Sahorna, me included. Everybody talked about Drake Cajula for about seven or eight days, and it seemed like, wow, Drake Cajula is beloved by this team and the ownership and everybody and management. And then he gets sent down. So I think we really need to, as Horwatt said, and we'll talk about it. I guess we're talking about it later in the week, but I guess you need to buy stock in Josh Archibald, which I was not expecting to be able to say here three weeks ago. Hey, I don't think anyone was expecting to say that least,

a few weeks ago. You know, I was never really that big on the signing. I feel like I've said that every episode for like the past two months. I think they looked at his goal scoring totals for two seasons and they're like, oh, okay, maybe he can do that for a full season here. But, you know, I think I saw someone from Penguin's Twitter had a thread on him. And, you know, he kind of plays like a rat in a way and see someone who can skate in a straight line, four, check the heck out of you and just cause havoc.

And I think that's what I think really drew them to him. And so I'm really curious about that. just for the entire season. I've been saying I think it's going to be him in paling kind of rotate again if the team is healthy. I think they do want to see a lot of paling this year just because I don't think they thought of him as a throw-in to the Petrie Matheson trade. I think they really want to see if they can resurrect his career a little bit because

he was a first round take in Montreal, had a hat-trick in his first career in the NHL game. After that, didn't really do anything. So I think they kind of want to see what they have a little bit there. So we'll see. Maybe I'll buy a little more stock in Archibald. I would love to eat crow on that just as I did a couple years ago with Cody Cici. I think all of us ate crow on that.

Anyway, I got that nice contract. Switching gears a little bit. I want to hit you guys, you know, give me some bold predictions for this season. I think Jake Gensel is hitting 50 this year. That's one of my big ones. I have a really outlandish one that I talked about with Jesse Marshall on the night before, which I'll probably get to a bit later. but hit me with a couple pretty bold ones for this year.

I don't know if this is the most bold prediction, but I have Tristan Jari finishing in the top three as a finalist in Vezna Trophy. Stop taking my thunder. Is that taking your thunder? That's what I have as well, yes. Okay, so we're in agreement here. I mean, you look at what he was able to do last season, and he didn't have a backup goaltender.

So he was put in awful positions. Now it is the same goaltender. It's Casey to Smith once again. But I think he's in a better position than, he was last year. And I think with Tristan Jari also, the defense in front of him is going to be better defensively. That's going to help him as well. And looking at where he finished last year, I mean, top 10 in all major categories for goaltenders, if he improves on those just a little bit, and the Pittsburgh Penguins can finish top two, maybe even a Metro Division title, which I don't

know if that's a little too far out of reach. But if the Penguins are able to finish in the top two and he's able to improve on his numbers even slightly, I see Tristan Jari being a top. three guy in Vesna voting. And I don't think we have Horwatt. I think Horwatt's mic is muted right now. But he's trying to, he's trying to figure it out. You got it? No, he doesn't.

Okay. Well, he's trying to figure that out. I have another one if you want it. Keep going. Yeah, keep going, Nick. Oh, okay, because the other one that I do have as far as, you know, a hot take, bold prediction, whatever you have it, what I think about bold predictions, I say, okay, take something based in reality and push that to the 15th degree.

And with that, I think, and you might have heard this if you listen to the Bold Predictions episode we did a couple weeks ago, but the Penguins are going to have two 100 points scores this year. There were a lot of 100 point scores last year across the NHL. The Penguins haven't had one in a couple seasons that's Sidney Crosby back, and I believe it was 2018, 19. He scored 100 on the dot. I think there are two 100 points scores this year. Sydney Crosby being one of them, Evgeny Malkin being the other. I have a really, really high hope that Evgeny Malkin will stay healthy this year. And I think you saw last season that when he's healthy, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with.

And there's so much disrespect that he has faced this offseason. I mean, first and foremost with the fact that the Penguins made him their third priority or whatever that was, signing him 24 hours before the opening of free agency. He wasn't named to the NHL network's top 50 list. Whatever, I don't think he cares about that. but there's a lot of disrespect going his way and he's healthy healthy coming into the season the spirits are high number one gino like he said on that quick social media page but i think that there's 200 points scores one being crosbie and one being of getting malcolm that's a good one i like that a lot

and i think a big reason that gino could hit 100 this year nick is he's actually going to have good line mates for one and i think a good defensive pairing out there for him as well you know you think about it. I was talking with Jesse about this on my Monday night episode. You know, who is, who is he had defensively giving him the puck the last few years? We can go back. John Marino, okay, fine player, not that good offensively.

Marcus Pedersen, good player, you know, but still not that good defensively. Years before that, Jack Johnson, or the corpse of Jack Johnson, I think we have Horwawat back here. We can probably test them out. Can you hear me now? Yeah, there it is. Fully was not letting me unmute. I had to leave and come back. No, no, no worries at all.

Back to what I'm about, well, I'll get to your bold predictions in just a second. And then you had Justin Schultz who is not the same player anymore. Fast forward to now and obviously Chris Lange and Brian Dumlin, Cindy Crosby has the priority with them just because he's Cindy Crosby. He's always going to have priority with Crystal Tang. Now he'll have Jeff Petrie, that Gino is, and then he'll have Marcus Pedersen. And Petrie, someone who's very offensively gifted, someone who can can get him the puck a lot quicker than some of these other players can.

And I think Malkin's going to be a one-man wrecking crew with his own entries this year a lot more than in years past. And I think that could be a big indicator for him being at least a point per game player, if not more, because you're right. There's a lot of disrespect about him from even the fan base this offseason. People are saying like, oh, well, you know, he's not worth being signed. You should go out and sign Vince Trocheck and stuff and Andrew Kopp. And I'm like, the guy just had 20 goals and 40 points and 40 games.

I don't know what more you can want. And he just came off a playoff season the year before that. He played on a torn MCL and almost a torn ACL it felt like and had a point for game pace. So I really don't know what people are just so spoiled when it comes to this franchise. So I definitely might buy a little bit of stock into that. Horwant, you know, what are your bowl predictions for the team now that you're back with your mic, of course? Now that I'm back and allowed to talk under this platform,

I think the one bowl prediction that I'm going to suggest to everyone go listen to that episode if you can find it of our bull predictions. But the one that I'm going to carry into this one is Crystal Tang is going to have another career year and it's not just going to be offensively bonded. I think he may have a great year, but his offensive numbers don't reach what they did last year. But because he's a defenseman and by way of the position, you're not really supposed to score that much. I believe his scoring will still be at a very toward pace, but those defensive metrics should be able to help out in a new way this year. They should jump up a little bit more to really back up a new style of career year for a defenseman. Again, this is something that the brilliancy is just going to have to tell me if he did or not in terms of analytics,

because I just don't understand him that much. but if his defensive metrics jump up in the right way, absolutely it could be a different kind of career year for him in a way that helps us win games. And like Brilanski said, in Tristan Jari's battle for becoming a Vezna candidate, he's got to have better defense in front of him. And Crystal Tank stepping up his defensive game

can help out with that prediction as well. I would obviously love that. I mean, he had a career here last year, and honestly, he probably should have had more consideration for the Norris, but it's also hard when you have Kail Makar. Yeah. Victor Hedman, Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy and all these guys who are, you know, The ship where in the Norris has sailed and that's perfectly okay.

Yeah, I think, yeah, I think you're right. Ormond, I think it's, he's probably not going to get it at this point. If he does, it's kind of like a lifetime achievement award as some of the other goalies have with the Vesna. And, you know, he'll always be criminally underrated by a lot of people. And I think I'm basically fine with that at this point. I think my last one that I said I've probably put so many times on this on this podcast. Jason Zucker is going to score 2025 this year. If he's fully healthy, of course.

I know a lot of people are sour on him, but the dude played on a tour and growing in the playoffs from what I was told by someone and still kicked butt. And he was one of their best four checkers. He looked great in the preseason from what I saw. And if he's fully healthy all year, there's no way he's not hitting at least 20. And I think he could potentially get up to 30 for the first time

since he was in Minnesota. So really excited about him. That wraps up the second segment for the show coming up in the final segment. We're going to get to some league-wide predictions, a couple of other things related to the Penguins. So stick around for that coming up after this commercial break. All right. We're back here in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'm Hunter Hodes. I got the Nick and Nick show here from Tip of the Iceberg. Let's get it to some season predictions before we end the show with some penguins-specific things. Nick Berlanski, you know, people are going to think that you're a hypocrite, I think, a little bit, just because you, you, you know, You were telling me, and I did listen to the show to confirm it, yeah, the penguin's a little high up, and then I saw the graphic onto the iceberg where you had them a little lower. So what changed with that?

Have to call you out there a little bit. Yeah, I understand it. And I figured whenever I sent that message to you that it would be brought up. But to me, you're not a hypocrite. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. You know, it mostly, I think of two different things, because the power rankings that we released a couple of weeks ago on our episode and then today, on the graphic side of things.

I had the Penguins at number four behind the Washington capitals. People are not happy about that understandably. But that's my preseason power rankings. That's where I think things stand right now in the metropolitan division. And I have the Penguins at number four. But through getting better throughout the season, and I think the Penguins will, whether that be Poulin comes up, Pustinan comes up, they make another move,

they figure out what's going on on defense, get a little bit more cap flexibility. I think through that and through the fact that the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to get better. better as the season goes on. I think the Penguins finished division-wise, number two. That's my prediction. But right now I see them as the fourth best team in the Metro when it comes to my power

rankings. Okay. That's a good explanation for it. Or what? The difference between power rankings and actual rankings are quite fun. Yeah, I think, I also think they could be higher than what we had them on or what I had them on in my prediction as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see a second place finish. I think our rankings, I had them at third. So things could change throughout the season as well. It's just a matter

of getting on the ice and getting real gameplay in. And sometimes that's just a downfall of recording and coming up with answers before things change and before people see more of it. Yeah, I actually, I released my full standings predictions on my Twitter account this morning. and I had the Penguins at too. I think they're the second best team in the division behind Carolina. I think a lot of people are sleeping on the Penguins this year. Their defense is better. The forward depth, maybe not as good just because they lost Admiral Rodriguez

and replaced them with a couple players who weren't as good, but it's still good enough, especially the top six. And they got two goaltenders in there who have played really well in the preseason in camp. The Rangers, I think they're fine, but I don't want to see their underlying numbers actually be better. They don't need to rely on God for the second straight tenure here. here with Henry Lundquist for so many years.

And now they have basically God's son playing gold now, just because it's very much like a far to Rogers thing for those that play, for those that watch the NFL. And after that, I have Washington and then I have the four other teams down there. I think I've had New Jersey fifth. I saw some people have the devils making the playoffs this year. I think they're going to be better, but I don't trust their goaltending. And I don't think it'll leave any roughs in a good coach.

So I think until they make it. coaching change. I'm just not really sure. I see that. Do any other predictions league-wide, like playoff teams, Cup finishes with the season starting tonight and stuff? Man, I don't know if they're a playoff team per se,

but I think the Ottawa Senators might make a damn good push to be in the conversation because I like the moves they made. I like the improvements they made. and they are a young team that has quite the influx of veteran talent as well. I just like the way they've looked this offseason of what they can possibly do. I'm not saying a playoff team. I'm not saying a cup push, but being in the conversation is one of the better teams in the league this year, for sure. I like that.

I really like the senators. I think they're going to be a fun team to watch. It's definitely an ESPN plus special where you're going to log on and watch the senators play hockey. They're loaded offensive. especially. I can't wait to watch that. And that in Cam Talba, too, is just a level of, you know, competency that they haven't had in the goaltending position since early Craig Anderson, or should I say mid-early because Craig Anderson has 25,000 phases of his career. But I'm going to take it out to the West Coast a little

bit. And Horwatt disrespected this team on our latest episode. And I really think that there's some other people out there disrespecting them as well because they missed the playoffs for the first time last season in their entire franchise's history. And that's the Vegas Golden Knights. A lot of people are saying, hey, Robin Leonard's out. That's it. They didn't make the playoffs last year. They don't have their starting goaltender. You can basically bury them six feet under.

No, you can't. They're always a good team. It's the Vegas freaking Golden Knights. And I think there's been a lot of people that are really disrespecting Logan Thompson and even Laurent Brousa. He's not at that level, but he's much better than people are giving them credit for. And when you're playing behind a team that is as stacked and stocked as the Vegas Golden Knights are, health has always been an issue.

They can stay healthy. They're one of the best teams in the Western Conference, bar none. So I think there's a lot of disrespect on Logan Thompson. He's going to prove some people wrong this year. And I really like the Vegas Golden Knights in the West. I don't know if I'd say they'd come out of the West, but I do think that their stock right now is very low. So I think you should buy low.

I think it's time for Vegas to actually, you know, invest in what they have. They make a lot of changes for the sake of it. And I understand some franchise, some players that only come around once, you got to get in on that. Atrangelo, you got Shea Theodore for nothing. Mark Stone, who's awesome. But, you know, they just traded Max Petruetti and basically a salary dump. They didn't even get anything back for him.

Bruce Cassidy is a great coach. Don't know why Boston let him go. I think that was a very bad decision by them. I think Boston's can be fine, but Cassidy is very good at what he does. I have them in the hunt. But, you know, my surprise playoff team, I think from the West, I actually don't have anything changed from the East because those eight teams, think are by far in a way the best.

I have Vancouver getting in. I like what Bruce Boudreau is doing out there. J.T. Miller just signed there. I know he's not going to be a Pitts for Pits for Pitsch, ever, which stinks. But he had a great year. Elias Pedersen, Queen Hughes, Brock Besser, Beau Horvatt.

Factor Demko might be a dark horse for the Vesna. And, you know, again, don't underestimate the Boudreau effect. They played at, I believe it was like a 650 winning percentage last year after he took over. He knows what he's. doing and I think they're going to make the playoffs this year. I don't really have my full cup pick yet. If I had to guess right now, I have Colorado going back for sure. I mean, I think they're by far in a way the best team in the league. A lot of people are thinking, Carolina, I kind of want to see it first just because, you know, I think they have some high-end talent, but I don't think

they have that true franchise player. I'll say this. That's my be bold. I have Florida going there. I think I'm going to take the Panthers with Kachuk. I know they lost Huberto and Uyghur. I know Paul Maurice is, you know, his record speaks for itself, not the greatest, but they're loaded offensively. Defensively, I think they can hold their own. And I think Spencer might by the end of the year is going to be a stud. Yeah. Yeah, the East is going to be interesting because like you said, there's those eight teams. And last year it seemed like those eight teams were the playoff teams and were set to be the playoff teams from January on. At that point, It was all seating.

So can this gap be closed a little bit by teams like Ottawa, by teams, you know, like the New Jersey Devils, who everybody's high on this year. The Islanders finished the year really hot last year, but weren't able to even close the gap very much. But the East is going to be interesting. A lot of people like the Toronto Maple Leafs, but their goaltending scares the crap out of me.

So I don't know who I'm going to take in the East. I mean, you look around, maybe it's the New York Rangers. I know that you said you have the issues with the way that they play at five on five. I agree with you, but what we saw from that kid line last year and the fact that those guys are only going to get better, and I know Schisturkin was ungodly that last year. They don't need that in the regular season to make the playoffs anymore. They're good enough to make the playoffs without the godlike Igor Schisturkin. But when they get there, can he turn it on? Yeah, we've seen Vasilisky do it year after year.

And Schisturkin is getting quickly to that level. So I like the Rangers in the east and in the west. Wow, it is tough. You know, I like Vegas, but I'm not ready to crown them West champs. Maybe Minnesota, though. Like, I really like what Minnesota's done. I think Marco Rossi is going to be big this year. He made the team out of camp.

Kaelin Addison, for those of you that remember that name, he made the team out of camp switch to number two. That's a pro number for a pro player. He's going to be really good. And then, you know, what's Mark Andre Fleury going to do there? Is he going to be able to be the Vesno level guy that he was in Vegas? I don't know. But I really like their chances because I really like the way that they play the game.

and I think that they were close last year, and they're going to be even closer this year. I always hang my hat out in the West on a team like Calgary, and I think I might have to again. I know they have some flaws, some issues, and I know they just had a huge change. And I don't like the changes they made, but there might be something sneaky about out there.

I don't know what it is, something in the water that's definitely not in Edmonton yet. I just, I can't give Edmonton their flowers quite yet. and it's hard to repeat, so I don't want to necessarily hand it to Colorado either. So it's taking a flag into Calgary right now, and then maybe I'll change that because, again, in the east also, it's just hard to pick one. It really is truly difficult to just put your flag into someone because you don't want to go with a team like Toronto. You don't want to go to a team like Florida because neither of them have proved it yet.

You don't want to say the Rangers just because we're penguin fans, and you don't want to say the Penguins because you don't want to come off as homers. so it becomes difficult in the East for sure. And I've named four teams are definitely going to be in the playoffs that might not make it out of the first round for how everything goes. You never know. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be stacked in that conference again. Yeah, it's probably a bit of a hot take that I took Florida

just because I know they got steamrolled by the lightning last year and they did not look ready to play the Big Brother in the state of Florida. I mean, everyone was looking forward to that series, round two, more like round zero basically just because they got absolutely dismantled and they got shown what playoff hockey is really all about. Let's end the show with a couple, you know, Penguin Center topics, since we know we just run around the league a little bit. Just how big of a year is it for selling like Kisbury Kavana.

You know, third of my minutes here, going to play with Danton Hinen and Jeff Carter. He's playing on the PK more, something he did really well in Toronto. How big is it that he is even just competent for this team this year? for the sake of fans liking him and not wanting to burn his house to the ground, he needs to play pretty damn well. And because he's making the money that the organization put some faith into him. When you make that kind of contract, and they say that we expect you to be better,

you could have paid him at his worth, which would have been much lower than that, but they decided to say, we expect him to be better, so now he has to live up to it. It's probably the most important year of his career, bar not. And for those of you that would like to choose arson as a means of getting back at a player that hasn't met your expectations, let me remind you that he has a very cute stray cat that is now hanging out at his house. So do not do it just to protect the cats. But no, I agree that that Casperi captain is going to have a better season. You can't get much worse than what he showed last year. I think when you see a guy like Mike Sullivan, who we all agree is one of the best coaches in hockey, say, I did not do a good enough job. Like I did a disservice to Casperi in the way that I. coached him last year. That's a lot. That means a lot coming from a guy like that. It might have been lip service. You know, you know what coaches do. But hearing him say that, feel the need to say that, that makes me think that he's going to be deployed and implemented in a much better role for himself. And like you said, he's going to play the PK. I think he's going to get a couple of shorthanded goals.

He's going to lead the Penguins. I think he might lead the league in shorthanded goals. And you know, you want a bold prediction. I think he scores 25 goals this year. I do. I think Kisperi captain and blows up even on a third third pair their third line i'm not in my chair i think horwatt and i just fell out of our chairs we're all falling out of our chairs here right if i didn't have a little armrests i can't speak uh yeah i'd be on the floor that's a wild one 25 is a bold number if i might be i might dress up as the joker i think i actually might be the joker for halloween if i see that next halloween i should say nothing next year's 25 before halloween even better every night, every game on the Western Canada trip that's coming up in a couple weeks.

Oh, yeah. He can do that as. I would love to see that, you know, just because he had a good year a few years ago. Last year wasn't good. This one, you know, I'm hoping so. Last thing, oh, one more thing before I get to my final question. The goaltending. I think, you know, at the end of the day, for this team to go far comes down to two things.

Health, you know, they made some changes with, I think, the medical team. I think they hired someone from Cleveland. what the NBA to really oversee like just what the heck is going on with all these injuries right now knock on wood as I just did today blue was the only injury sure that's going to change in a week even though I just knocked on wood and who knows if he's going to play on Thursday I'd like to see him in there but nothing's really been confirmed yet um and the goal tenting no it's sunk in the last few seasons COVID bubble that I mean that's just that's also you're playing with no fans but the goal that Murray wasn't good that year year after that we all know

know what happened. Tris Jory melted down, and then Louis Demang melted down there of three games to one against the Rangers. You know, how high are you on both goals? I know, Berlainzky, I know we're both high on Jari this season, but I think Casey DeSmith has the chance to have a really good year. He looked great in the preseason from the games that I watched. His movement looked a lot better. He was playing more aggressive in the net. And, you know, if they can get that level from him for an entire season, like he played in the second half of last year, that can really help give Jari some rest, has maybe 50, 52 starts, maybe a little lower than that. And then he's refreshed for the playoffs.

And then you give to Smith make 30 starts, something like that. I think that could, you know, be very beneficial to the team. You know, what are you guys thoughts on the goaltending as a whole, even outside of Jari? I mean, if Casey to Smith would have played in that playoff series, the Penguins would have won that playoff series. There's not a doubt in my mind. But if ifs were fifths, we'd all be really drunk. And he was not healthy for that. So guess what? The penguins ended up blowing a three to one series lead in another first round exit. But I think what you see is Casey to Smith went through a little bit of an identity crisis beginning of last season. He's come into this year knowing exactly who he is,

knowing exactly what he can do. And that has be a very good backup goaltender in the national hockey league. And we saw it a couple times, both days that I was at camp this year. the biggest save of the day was made by who Casey DeSmith and where was it made high danger opportunities right in front of the net where he stuck his leg out on one and made an absolutely phenomenal glove save on another. Now I'm not saying that's going to translate to a 930 save percentage probably not but will he be a 910 912 type of guy? I think there's an opportunity for him to do that if he's deployed the correct way which also like you mentioned earlier is going to help out Tristan Jari in the long run. Yeah I think I think DeSmith will

have a very good season. I know you two are high on him in terms. And wait to Smith, I meant to say Jari. Jari's, you guys aren't thinking of Fesnik candidacy. While I don't see that, I do foresee a very impressive season from him in the contract year that he needs to perform well if he plans on making a ton of money or if he plans on staying in the league for a long time. But to Smith, I'm just expecting a bunch of the same, I think, a bunch of steady. A bunch of enough play to get a can't full of wins here and there, but is prone to disappoint you. So I'm expecting a lot of the Sanford to Smith. A lot of the wins I do think will come from Jari as just the way it should be.

But I'm expecting more things from Jari than I am to Smith this year, and that's just the way I look at the goal tending this year. Yeah. And again, you know, it leads to be at least average for the team to win on most nights, even in the playoffs. but, you know, I feel like I've been saying that for like two or three years now, and they just have not gotten it. It's funny. They've gotten, like, worse goaltending in the Crosby-Malkin playoff years, and they've actually gotten good goaltending.

It's almost like a miracle, but they've won three Stanley Cubs, you know, with it. But the final thing I got for you guys, I asked you, Jesse, this last night. I'm going to ask you guys this now. Who scores the first goal of the season on Thursday? It's a great question because that's what we've been discussing over at Fendation for a little bit now. Who did I pick? I don't remember now.

Oh, Jake Gensel, his first of 50 happens as the first goal of the season. I got a little too in the weeds on my prediction. I do have Ricard Raquel scoring the first goal. And I think I said it was two minutes and 53 seconds into the first period of the game. Crosby and Gensel on the assist. But I have Raquel being the first guy to score. Damn, man. I think Berlanski and I just share the same freaking brain.

Because I also said Ricard Raquel last night on my episode. I think it's going to come kind of like the Kuhnitz range, 10-15 out, same spot on the other side of the ice. and he's just going to rip it. Blocker's side, I think, is what he's going to do. And I think Crosby is going to get the main assist on that. Had a great underlying numbers with Gipch, Sid, and Jake last year. And I'm really excited to see how he does in a full season. Wasn't as high on my contract, but, you know, I'll gladly eat crow on it.

I mean, a term little much, A.A.V. Maybe a little much, but, you know, he has a chance to really, I think, be a great player for them this year. But I really appreciate both of you coming on the show. again, it's been way too long since you guys came on. So I really do appreciate it. In case anyone out there does not follow you guys, just not follow the show, give you guys the chance to plug everything right here.

All right. Well, you can follow me at Nick. underscore Berlanski. You could follow Horwatt at Nick Horwatt 41. We have new episodes coming out every Monday and Thursday. That doesn't matter what week it is. It doesn't matter what holiday it is. We're always going to have an episode on those two days

at the tip of the iceberg anywhere you find your podcast from. If you like our opinions for some reason, want more than what we give you on Mondays and Thursdays, you can check out inside the penguins.com, which is where all of our writing is housed. World. Of course, we'll be getting a lot more inside information with the credentials being pushed through. And then also, every other Wednesday, Penguin's Lunch, Hunter was the inaugural guest for Penguins lunch. Every other Wednesday, I bring on a different guest from around the Penguins universe. And we just talk for about 25 to 30 minutes about the Pittsburgh Penguins and a little bit about lunch in the city of. at Pittsburgh. So that is every other Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I think I don't think

I missed anything, Horwatt, did I? No, you covered the bases pretty well. I appreciate that you do the outros with all of our information that you need. Pretty simple stuff. Follow our Twitters, listen to our podcast and read our stuff. That's all you need to know. Yes, they do tremendous work, both written and in podcast form. And if you're not following them, I think you're doing a disservice to yourself. That would do it, though, for this episode. Horwant, I'm hoping to join you in the press box at some point later this year, and then with my credentials, and then I can, you know what, I'm going to say myself or I'm going to say something stupid.

I think people probably know what I'm talking about with that. Anyways, that will do it for this episode. Really appreciate everyone listening. I'll be back with an episode on Wednesday. It'll be a full preview of that game against Arizona. They're going to go into the lines that they have, numbers from last year, just go into everything about the coyotes and how, this is basically a tankier for them

and how they probably may end up with Connor Bedard at the end of this year just because that's what they're doing and there's obviously no Phil Kessel there but should be a fun episode and Thursday will be a recap and then Friday will be a preview for the Tampa Bay game that I of course will be in attendance for.

So that'll do it. Thank you all so much for listening. I will talk with you all on Wednesday.