Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What is Penguins president Kyle Dubas's biggest priority this month?

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

Happy June! We're getting closer to moves being made and that's where Hunter and Patrick start Monday's show. They discuss how the offseason can finally get underway for most teams and what Kyle Dubas's first order of business should be. Hunter dives into why it should be a move for a third line center since he sees that as their biggest need for next season. Pat goes in a little bit of a different direction as he thinks Dubas will trade a player off the current team for the first move in June. They then dive into how active of an offseason this will probably be around the league with the cap going up before moving on for more Brayden Yager content. They analyze how his season came to an end over the weekend and how he took a massive step in his development during the season. Finally, they preview the Stanley Cup Final and give their picks for the big series.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.PolicygeniusCheck life insurance off your to do list in no time with Policygenius. Head to policygenius.com/lockedonnhl to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's finally June, which means the NHL offseason can actually get underway. 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 one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host Patrick Camp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet, and you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Understore Penguins, 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. And finally, this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more right now. New customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 with any winning $5 bet. Visit fandul.com slash locked on to get started. So happy June to everyone out there.

The Stanley Cup final is set to get underway. this Saturday between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. Why it doesn't begin a bit sooner than that is beyond me, but that is peak NHL scheduling right there. But this month also means we can finally get the offseason underway. Though I should stress to everyone, the league does not like it when news gets out during the semi-cut final. They want the final to dominate every headline out there. And, you know, for good reason. I think that's something the league does get right.

So you may not see some stuff in the first half of this month, but in the second half of the second half of this month, you definitely will. There's going to be a lot of moves made towards the end of the final, and especially after the final, which is because we discussed last week, game seven is scheduled for June 24th. The draft is only a few days after that. Free agency is a week after that. So there's going to be quite a few moves made during that time. And I imagine some of them are going to be from Kyle Dubus in the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has a lot to do this offseason. And if you're asking me, I think the biggest thing he has to do this month is find himself a new third line center. I think that's the biggest thing that is still very much lacking on this team right now.

No disrespect to Lars Eller, who had a very sound year in the Penguins bottom six this past year. I don't know if he's going to repeat that at age 35. He also only has a year left on his contract. If you can slide him down and get a younger center to play on the third line, someone that can also give you more offense, I think that has the chance of taking this team to at least a little bit of a higher level next year, depending on some of the other moves that you make this off season. So right now, I think his first order of business this month is finding a new third line center.

I don't disagree with you. I do think that's high priority this summer. But I feel like that's going to be something that's going to be done probably after free agency. And once we start seeing more of an idea of. what teams have in regards to cap space, who they're willing to move, and things like that. And maybe this is just me saying I want him to get the easy assignment out of the way early. But I think his biggest move through the Stanley Cup final in the lead up to the draft is finding a Riley Smith trade. Because there should be a market for this guy.

I don't think it's going to be anything big. My main note on that is that prepare yourselves for a Riley Smith trade to be very underwhelming. Because I know that he had an underwhelming season. His value is probably not high. But a Riley Smith trade this summer is going to be a set up move to something else. Because he makes $5 million. That would take them to around $17 million. in cap space if they can get him off the books cleanly without bringing back any salary,

which you might have to. You may have to bring in somebody who's making two, three million dollars, but then use them in another deal. But I think at this point, Kyle Dubus's biggest move heading into free agency in the draft is to maximize the amount of cap space he has. And the most likely way he can do that is to move Riley Smith. I think it's an attractive deal to move. It's $5 million.

It's one year left, and that's just this season. And I think there's going to be suitors in the Western Conference for him. I don't know if it's a reunion with Vegas. They are way up against it. They have less than a million dollars in Cappspace, and they've got four big names that are hitting unrestricted free agency. That's Marches-a-Soe, Stevenson, Carrier, and Martinez. So they've got a lot of big decisions to make,

and they just don't have the cap space right now. But if you look at Los Angeles, they've got nearly $20 million in cap space, Dallas has $16 million in cap space. And those are two Western Conference teams that their UFAs into this off season aren't that consequential. It's not guys that you can't lose and have to resign.

It's guys you might want to bring back a la Tanev with Dallas, But he's going to have a huge market. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a guy who goes a week past free agency just to see what is out there. But again, I think to wrap this my point up, Riley Smith is probably the biggest thing he's going to try to do in my estimation in the lead up to free agency in the draft. See, that felt very obvious for me to say, but I just wanted to go with something else that I just feel like is their biggest priority for this roster next year in terms of players, you know, not on the team right now that Dubus needs to go out there and get just because I see third line center as their biggest need. But for Riley Smith, I would agree the biggest thing that you would be getting for that deal is Capspace. I mean, again, you go to Cap Friendly.

If you're able to clear out that entire $5 million cap hit, they will have close to $18 million in Cap Space. It's a little over 17, but it's closer to 18 overall. And that gives you more money to play with in the trade market in free agency. If you can move someone else potentially out from this year's team to another team that opens up maybe close to $20 million like you had last year. But again, it all comes down to how do you spend that money? You can open up money all you want, get a mid-round draft pick. I don't even think they're going to get a third back for Smith.

To be honest, I think it's going to be a fourth at best, probably a fifth. But the biggest thing you get out of that is cap space. But as I was saying, you need to spend it wisely. And that's what I'm going to be watching for Dubus. But I think there will definitely be suitors for Smith, especially in the Western Conference. I mean, I've been saying the Kings for the last couple of months now, especially a team that they need to get more scoring, I think, in their lineup for next season. I think he would bring that.

And I honestly just think Smith suits the Western Conference a lot more. I just think he's built to play in that conference a little bit more than the Eastern Conference. So if there is a trade that gets made this month from a player on the Penguins to another team, I think it's Riley Smith. Yeah. And kind of building off of a point you made there a couple seconds ago, I like where this team is positioned going into this offseason than I did last off season. I think, you know, everybody is lamenting and rightfully so the way that Kyle Dubus spent the cap space.

he opened up after the Carlson deal. But at the same time, you had a lot more problems, I think, last year going into this past season, then you do this year going into next. I think now you've got the bones of a playoff team set. They are locked up. They are going to be on the team for the foreseeable future. Now you're going to have more cap space to play with. hopefully if you can swing, say, a Riley Smith trade,

and then you can use that cap space to bolster said lineup. And I think we're going to see a very active offseason from not just the penguins, from everybody, because the cap is finally going up. A lot of teams are finding themselves with a lot of money to play with. And that means a lot of these teams can reinvent themselves via trade. I don't think we're going to see as active of a July 1st as we might think. One, because it's a very underwhelming, unrestricted free agent class, with the exception of a handful of players.

But I also think a lot of these teams feel they can move on from certain players because they're going to have a lot of space to deal with. And you can go out and get bigger pieces because you have more room. And I think this summer is going to be more of a trading summer than it is a free agent signing summer. Yeah, I mean, I can see that just because with the cap going up, I think GMs are going to be less nervous about making trades and maybe taking on salary compared to what you saw last off season

and this past trade deadline where a lot of GMs, I still think, were a bit nervous to make deals. I felt like this trade deadline overall was kind of underwhelming for quite a few teams. And I think it was partly due to the salary cap situation. And again, it hasn't fully gone up yet, but this is the year where you're going to start to see a bump. And then it goes up even more next year and then the year after that, teams are going to be more inclined to take on more salary as it goes up. So I definitely think you can see that towards the end of this month. I will say to everyone out there, you could see a mover to this week before the final.

Again, remember, they don't like news on this time like the cup finals. So teams will have about five days to make moves. I'm not expecting too much just because early June, a lot of teams are still doing draft prep or, you know, maybe looking at top free agents and stuff like that. But there's still at least a small chance that you could see a move or two from a team this week. Yeah. And to kind of put a fine point on what I was saying, you go to cap friendly at this point and you look at it. There's two teams that don't have cap space this summer. And it's the Flyers and the Golden Knights.

And the Flyers doesn't really matter. They're still in the midst of a rebate. build, they're going to shed salary over the next couple of years as their young prospects come into the system and they're going to be primed and ready to go once again. Then you have Vegas who always figures it out. But then you have teams like Tampa with $5 million in open cap space. You have Edmonton who's pushing for a Stanley Cup. They're going to have close to 10 million.

And then the New York Rangers who are one of the better teams this postseason and all season, they have close to 12. So this is going to be a very interesting summer as teams suddenly have more money to play with. Yeah, I would agree. I think this is going to be one of the more active off seasons that we've seen in quite some time. And I'll also say this.

I think you're going to see a lot more moves made after July 1 compared to in recent years. I think July overall, too, is going to be quite busy in the NHL. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Braden Yeager's season came to an end, but he still played his tail off in the semi-final game from Musha against Saginaw, Pat and I are going to wrap up your season and discuss what's next for him in this segment. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience, the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive.

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I'm one of your host, Hunts or Hodes. Join on my coach, Patrick Dam. So Moose Jaw season came to an end on Friday night with a 7-to-1 loss to Saginaw, Saginaw, advanced to the Memorial Cup championship, and then went on to beat London in the final on Sunday. And what a game that was, by the way. Those two teams purely trading haymakers,

and it was Saginaw in the end that came out on top with a game-winning goal in the final minute of that game. It was a lot of fun to watch. I was watching that on my laptop while watching the Oilers advance to the Stanley Cup final over the Dallas Stars. Congratulations to Saganah. But in terms of Moushaw, they do not have a chance to win that game once they got underway. Saginaw, fully dominated them. And I felt awful for Yeager and coming just because of how great they were.

And for Yeager in particular, he was fantastic throughout the Memorial Cup. We've been covering him the last few weeks with his run. to the Memorial Cup, and he had six points in four games to end it, and he also took home a little bit of hardware this weekend, won the CHL Sportsman of the Year Award, and was also named to the Memorial Cup All-Star team alongside Denton Matichuk of his team. So congratulations to Yeager on getting both of those awards, and you look at his season overall, Pat. I mean, the regular season, 35 goals, 95 points in 57 games. games in the WHL playoffs when they went on to win the WHL championship.

He had 11 goals, 27 points in 20 games. And then he goes on to average well over a point per game in the Memorial Cup for Moose Shaw. This is someone who I think took a big step this year in terms of his development. And I still think right now he's not going to make the team out of training camp, but they're going to give him every possible chance to do it come September. but he showed everyone what they've been wanting to see from him ever since he was drafted, especially that he was a consensus top five, the top 10 pick before he was drafted. He then slid down a little bit just because of the year he had for his junior team.

But then he got back to basics this year, developed his playmaking game a little bit more, and worked on his two-way game a little bit more. You can see why he was one of the five, ten best prospects of that draft before he got drafted and before he went on to play a little bit that year, he was tremendous and I can't wait to see what else he does next year and moving forward. You already said it. This is exactly what you wanted to see from him a year after being drafted. You knew he was not going to make the roster out of camp last year.

It was a pipe dream at best that he was going to be a penguin this season. But once he got sent back, you, you, me, everybody said it that he needs to go back to the WHL with Moose John, he needs to be dominant. And was he dominant in a traditional sense? Not really. Like it wasn't, you know, can't miss blue chip prospect kind of guy. But he's damn close now. Like you said, 95 points in 57 games.

That's the second lowest amount of games he's played in his junior career. And ho hum, what do you know? He puts up nearly 100 points. And then he goes on to lead his team in the WHL playoffs to qualify for the Memorial Cup. with a paltry 27 points. And this is what you want to see from a guy. He grew, he produced, he showed, like you said, why going into last year's draft,

at least, you know, prior to the traditional draft season of the last few months of the, of the NHL calendar, he was a consensus top 10, but slid because teams got cold feet because he had a bit of a down year. And then he goes out this year, says, no, no, no, that was just a fluke. I'm still a great player.

And it finally looks like, for the first time in a long time, the penguins have a legitimate actual prospect to be excited about. And it feels great to say that, doesn't it? I mean, the penguins really haven't had someone like this in quite a while in their system. And it's going to be great when he finally comes up and shows what he can do at the NHL level. he's someone that is going to make this team at least a little bit watchable once Crosby goes, once Crosby goes, once Lattang goes, and then you have the next wave of penguins to come. But he is in that next wave.

And while I don't think he's going to be the best player on any of those teams, I think he's still going to be good enough where you can rely on him to score, you know, 20, 25 goals, someone who can put up, I think, 50 to 60 points a season, somewhere in that ballpark, someone who I think can play him at top six, I think wing is best for him at this point compared to center. But that's still really good for someone who was a first round pick outside of the top 10. You know, normally in the NHL draft, you know, those top five picks, those are the ones that usually go on to be superstars.

You know, Yeager, there's a slim chance he's going on to be a true superstar in the NHL, but it's slim just because you look at the track record for picks for where the Penguins picked, him, it gets slimmer the more you go down in the NHL draft. But that said, I will still gladly take 20, 25, maybe even 30 goals, 50 to 60, 60, 65, points from someone who was picked in that range compared to some of the other players that you see get picked there who don't go on to have that good of NHL careers. For sure. And I think the biggest thing for me looking at Yeager is that he has 95 points.

He has 27 points in the WHL playoff and then six points in four games in the Memorial Cup. These weren't empty calories. He wasn't a guy who went out and feasted on inferior competition, though he did, because that's what the best players do. They rack up points anyway. They can get them. But he never shied away from the moment. He never shied away from big games.

When his team needed him, he was at his best. Now, the loss to Saginaw does sting. He did not get any points. But again, Saginaw was dominant. That was more about Saginaw winning than it was Moose Jaw losing. They were just a team possessed. And shout out to them. They become the first American-based OHL team to win the Memorial Cup,

which is a gigantic achievement. But overall, really excited to see what he does going into camp. I think he's going to make it all the way to the last day. think there's even an outside shot. They let him hang around for a little bit into the preseason and into the first few games of the season just to see what he really can do. But overall, he is on a great, great track. Yeah.

And if you watch that game against Saginaw this past weekend, Yeager still played, I thought, fairly well. Yes, I know Mooshaw got blown out. But when Yeager was on the ice, he was still generating offense. Saginaw, they were just playing, you know, at least stingy defense. defensively and their goalie was also playing lights out. But Yeager was still able to generate offense despite the game ending in a blowout. By far, one of the three best players throughout the Memorial Cup, you could argue that he

was number one, in my opinion, and very much deserving of being named to the All-Star team for that tournament. But I think that would do it for this second segment. Again, congratulations to Yeager on everything he accomplished this season, and I can't wait to see what he can do this upcoming season. I will say it does suck that he won't be eligible to start in the HL this year just because of his age. I think if he were eligible,

that would I think be the next test for him. Pat, if he were able to start this year in the HL, how would he adjust to playing against other top pros in the HAL? How would his production be against teams in the HL? That's, I think, the next step for him in his development, but it stinks that it may have to come next season, not this upcoming one overall,

just because for him, it's either back to his junior team or he's going to stay with the penguin just because of the cutoff with his age. But again, thou do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, the Stimler Cup final is officially set between the Oilers and the Pamperors,

and Pat and I are going to preview that matchup and determine who will win that final. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our next sponsor, and that is Fandall. It's winner-take-all-time in the NBA and NHL, and Fandall is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

That's $150 to bet on spreads, money lines, player props, and so much more. Visit fandle.com slash locked-on and make every play-out shot count. That's Fandle, America's number one sports book. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Payton. England's podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Dam. So the Stanley Cup final, as I've said, 5,000 times on this show already, is set between the Oilers and the Panthers. The Oilers are in the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 2006, after beating the Dallas Stars on Sunday night. And you know what? I'll say it. I'll say it right now. La Bamba rocks,

man. It is an awesome song, and I loved hearing it at the end of the Euler win on Sunday. And I'll also eat crow on the Oilers. I didn't think they stood a chance to beat the Stars in this series. I thought they were going to give them at least a fight. I didn't think they would dominate the Stars the way they did to end this series. I felt like the Stars kind of ran out of gas a little bit after beating two Juggernauts in the first two rounds. But you have to give full props to the Oilers. They beat the Stars at 5 on 5.

Their power play was great. And you know what? Shout out to Stuart Skinner. He was fantastic in this series. for the Oilers. I know I've dogged on him quite a bit in net just because he's been inconsistent in the playoffs for the Oilers, but he was fantastic when it really mattered in this series. And congratulations to McDavid dry us out on all the Oilers. They will now have their shot at winning Lord Stanley's Cup. And they better take advantage of it because with how good the West

is going to be next season and in years to come, I don't know when their next opportunity is going to come. So if there's a year to do it, it's got to be this one. It really is. And let's start right where you ended off with Stuart Skinner. To me, this is the biggest X factor of the Stanley Cup final. I got to give a little bit of a hat tip to Elliot Friedman when I was listening to 32 thoughts this morning. He brought up something that validated a thought I had about this Stanley Cup final. And that's that Stuart Skinner cannot have an oopsie game in this series.

He's had one every series so far where you look at it and go, I don't know, is he finally going to regress? But then he bounces back against a team like Florida with Bobrovsky facing down the other side. That can't happen because if that happens, the wheels are going to come off for the Oilers. But that said, I like the Oilers to get Canada's first Stanley Cup since 1990 because they own special teams. right now the Edmonton Oilers have the top power play at 37.3% and the top penalty kill at 93.9%. So this team not only can beat you at 5 on 5, but they will beat you on special teams. Yeah, the Oilers are not power play merchants. Let's put that out there.

Yes, their power play is the best power play in the league, but this is still a great team at 5 on 5. and their metric show it. I mean, they were great shot attempts, scoring chances, high danger, expected goals, top 10 in the league throughout the season. They are very, very good at five on five. But I also say this, the Panthers have had good special teams, these playoffs too, Pat. They dominated the Rangers power play in the Eastern Conference final,

killing 13 of 14 Rangers power plays. The Rangers power play went very cold and a big reason for that. Sasha Barkov on the penalty kill. I am really intrigued to see that match up, the Pampers Penalty Kill versus the Oilers Power Play, and also Sasha Barkov in general versus Leon Drysidal and Connor McDavid. Barkov has done an amazing job in the first three rounds of shutting down the opposing team's best players.

He did it in round one against Kutrov and Stamcoast. He did it in round two against Marchan and Paul Sernak. He then just did it in round three against Panarin, Zabinajad, Kreider, et cetera. Now, I think he might face his biggest test yet in McGavin and Drysiddle. How does he do there? That's going to be a big kicker for me as well.

And also, isn't it fitting that for the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, they have to go through Matthew Kachuk. You knew that that's just a perfect storyline. And Kachuk's going to be one heck of the villain. Going back to the Battle of Alberta days with Calgary, I know he's not there anymore, but oiler fans and the Oilers in general, they're going to give it to him on the ice. And that's a really fun storyline heading into this one as well.

But you also mentioned Bobrovsky. He's been great in the playoffs these last two years. I mean, if he can finish this off here, I think he's a first ballot Hall of Famer, no doubt. I'd agree. He has shown that when his workload is managed correctly, he's still one of the best goalies in the world. He's not anymore a goalie that you put the saddle on and ride him all season long. You manage his workload.

You keep him rested and he is great. And they're going to get a weak rest going into this Stanley Cup final after wrapping up the Rangers series on Saturday. So I'm really curious to see how he does against this Edmonton team. And one final thing I want to say about this Stanley Cup final. You know my pick. I'm taking the Oilers. I think they're going to win it.

But it pains me to say this. But the last decade or so has been a gigantic win for Gary Bettman. Because you look at some of the teams that have won the Stanley Cup, that have been to the Stanley Cup final, that have gone on deep runs, Tampa, Vegas, Florida, Nashville, San Jose. Then you've got your expansion markets in Utah, in Seattle, putting hockey in non-traditional American hockey markets has been a boon the last decade. And a lot of these teams that I named, they're not going anywhere.

Yeah, San Jose's already bottomed out and rebuilding, but they're going to get their guys. They've got a lot of good prospects. Nashville is still very good. Dallas is still very good. Vegas is Vegas. Tampa is Tampa. Florida is going to stick around Utah. When they get started, they've got a great owner.

And despite all the crap that happens. happened in Arizona, that hockey management group, very smart, very savvy. Now they've got money behind them. Carolina is always going to continue to be one of the better teams, regardless of who they pick to run their front office. Seattle's got a very smart front office. So we're going to see this league start in, and this is always a question because there's no league better at getting in its own way than the national hockey league. But we really could see some big growth for hockey over the next 10 years because the NHL is committing to going to markets that you wouldn't expect it to work and finding a way to make it work.

So this is a good time for hockey, a very good time for hockey. I agree with you. And to just build off that point a little bit more, look at the last five Eastern Conference champions, three in a row from the Tampa Bay Lightning, last two from the Florida Panthers. You think hockey's doing pretty good down in Florida? I know people have liked to dog on it at times over the last several years. Can't dogg on it anymore down there, that's for sure.

But for my pick for the Stanley Cup final, give me the cats in seven. I'm going to take the Panthers in seven to win this. I know a lot of people are going cats in five or something like that. I think that's just too harsh to the Oilers with how the Oilers just dispatch the stars in six games. They can very much win this Stanley Cup final. They have been very impressive throughout this playoffs. and I would not be surprised in the slightest if the Oilers won this series. But I think in the end, Florida's depth is going to outshine Edmonton's.

I think Brobrovsky is going to outplay Skinner by a little bit. And I think Barkov is going to limit McDavid and Drysadle just enough. I think McAddle and Drysaddle are both going to put on absolute shows in the Samickup final. But I think Barkov is going to still limit them just enough for Florida's high-end guys to squeak out a win in game seven down in Florida. to win them the Stanley Cup. So give me the Panthers in seven for this one. I think the last thing I'll say about why I'm taking the Oilers, and this will be a great way to bring the Stanley Cup final into a relation to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The way McDavid is playing right now reminds me of Crosby in 2016 and 2017. The points are better. He's scoring a lot better because, sorry, Penguins fans, Connor McDavid is the best player in the world, and it's not even particularly close. But he is playing like a guy who knows this is my moment. This is my team's moment. I'm winning the Stanley Cup and there's nothing you can do about it.

So I like the Oilers. It's going to be six or seven just because these are unquestionably the two best teams left. It's not one team got hot and surprised a bunch of people. These are the two best teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs and they've been proving it for a month and a half now, but give me the Oilers. Canada, your long national nightmare is about to come to an end. We'll see if you get old takes exposed for that. But also, I'm glad you said that about McDavid. But one more thing, we got to stop the weird hate from Penguins fans about Connor McDavid. I don't understand why people in this fan base don't like him. I mean, he's basically a Sid clone,

except he's just faster. And I think he might be a little bit stronger than Sid and I don't really think that's a hot take, but he plays just like how Sid did when he was younger. So I don't really know why there are so many weird takes about McDavid overall. Is it jealousy, something like that? I mean, Crosby has three stand the cup, so you really can't be jealous when it comes to that. But McDavid has been the best player in the world for the last few years now. And as you said, it hasn't been close.

So I just don't know where this weird hatred for McDavid is coming from. And also, he plays in the Western Conference, people. Who cares? you see him twice a year. He's a joy to watch, and I'm going to have an absolute blast watching him here in the Stanley Cup final. But I think that I'll do it for this episode

of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back for another show for you all on Tuesday to give you all the latest on the Pittsburgh Penguins. But for Patrick Dam, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for listening slash watching. We'll be back on Tuesday.