Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Where do the Penguins go from here?

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

What in the HECK was that? Hunter starts the show off by being completely stunned at what happened on Tuesday night and why everyone failed to show up, outside of 87 & 71. He goes into how the Penguins played their latest hits yet again in a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. He slams them for still not being able to finish any of their chances as this has been a theme all season while also discussing why Tristan Jarry can't be this team's starting goaltender for next season. He also looks at how there was no depth scoring yet again as that has plagued them ever since Ron Hextall took over as the general manager. He also sends a message to fans that think that this is "because they brought the band together" as those people can't see the forest for the trees. After that, Hunter analyzes why it's time to fire Hextall as soon as this miserable season comes to an end and how the next GM that comes in is going to have a tough time with the mess that he has left behind. He then brings up Mike Sullivan and questions whether he can survive this, even though he just signed an extension last year (and it hasn't even kicked in yet). Finally, he has the final game preview for the season as the Penguins will take on the Blue Jackets on Thursday night. Will it even matter? All that, plus much more is on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!HelloFreshSkip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, AND affordable – that’s why it’s America’s #1 meal kit! Go to HelloFresh.com/nhl60 and use code nhl60 for 60% off plus free shipping!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. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.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/NHLNETWORKFanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So is it finally time to start the eulogy for this hockey team, 81 out of 82 games in? Yeah, I think it might be. Coming up right after this drop, we're going to get into everything that happened from that game against Chicago. What should happen moving forward? All about this team and where it's going to be headed for a very earlier summer than I think a lot of us expected to happen coming into the season that's coming up right after this drop. 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. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter and Orsler Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this year first listen to the day. We are free and available on all platforms. on today's episode is brought to you by game time you can download the game time app

grade in account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase so Blackhawks 5 penguins 2 yeah that actually happened last night I've been trying all day to last night and all day just to figure out the words to express onto today's show it's definitely going to be probably one of the harder ones I've ever had to record for you all but I think I have a good idea of what I want to say and everything. First off, I understand that Ron Hextall has done a horrendous job this season, but I don't think last night was, you know, quote unquote, his fault.

I mean, it was kind of his fault because you saw a lot of the roster flaws on display. But I don't think he told almost every player on that team to have a bad game. I think outside of Sidney Crosby and of Gennie Malkin, I don't really think anyone else showed up last night. Chris Lattang, who's been really good since coming back from the injuries, and obviously his father passed away in the stroke. I don't think he had a good game last night. Probably one of his worst games of the season came at a very bad time.

But outside of 87 and 71, I don't think anyone else bothered to show up. And that's kind of concerning. That's very concerning to me. Gino gets the goal, Siniiqrazze, robbed about four to five, maybe six chances. And all the hits were on display again.

Despite the fact that no one really else showed up, the Penguins outplayed the Blackhawks. They were better in shot attempts, better in scoring chances, better and expected goals, better in high danger chances. But for the second straight year, we have seen this team be really bad at finishing.

their 29th or 30th in the age on finishing. That was very much on display last night. Peter Marizek was playing well, but the penguins were just not finishing their chances like they were a couple of years ago. It's been a reoccurring theme all year. That has been one of the biggest, that's one of the biggest hits they played this year.

Secondly, inconsistent goaltending. And I know that people will come here and they will say to me, well, Hunter, 50 plus minutes, Trish and Jari only allowed one. goal. Okay. And what was that goal that he allowed? Basically, like a half unscreened shot, not even that half unscreened, half screened shot from the point from Connor Murphy, who never scores, goes off the posting in it. I am sorry, you need a save in that situation,

especially when the Blackhawks had basically literally one shot in that period. And it was the only goal that was allowed. Have to make that save there. And then the third, Penguins, they tie it up after they were getting. plenty of power plays they finally get one in the building has life and you let a guy named buddy robinson who i don't even know who the hell that guy is i don't i'm pretty sure it was his first goal in nine or ten games with the blackhawks the penguins got marked onked last night like usually it's the penguins mark donking another team but they got a nice little you know payback with that because i have no idea who that is and he scores the go ahead goal to make it

two to one. I'm sorry, it'd be nice to make a save there. The 3-1 goal was even worse, because for some reason, Tristan is going out of his net, chasing Atheneas. I don't know what that was. He needs to stay in his net there. He doesn't, he wouldn't allow that goal. He banks up the puck off his pad or skating in. It's 3-1. Games over. Fire Hector's all chance come out. These goalies are not it. I said it on Twitter last night. I'll say it again now. They need to figure out a way to get two goaltenders on two brand new goaltenders on this team next season. you can't run this tandem back. I don't think you can run either of them back.

The only way I think you can even bring Tristanjari back is if you have a full-fledged starter in there that can start, you know, 50-plus games. Tristanjari is at best a one-be goaltender in this league. I don't care if he's playing hurt. You know, he was not good enough last night. That was another big moment where the Penguins

needed their number one goalie to try to play well. And, I mean, I shouldn't even say try to play one, because I know he's trying his best, where they need the penguins, they need the normal goaltender to play well, and he choked again. He gave away the Islander a series. I'm not going to pick on him too much in Game 7 against the Rangers because he's playing on a broken foot, and I actually thought he played well in that game. But countless times this season, when you meet him to make a save, he has not.

It mirrored its ugly head in this one, he was not good. He's nodded as the starter. They need a new starting goaltender next season. No questions asked if you're asking me. you know, losing to bad teams. That's been a reoccurring theme all season. I thought defensively, I'm on defensively. They were mostly okay, but they still have a problem on the blue line.

P.O. Joseph has really struggled down the stretch. Why is Dimitri Kubukov automatically getting inserted back into the lineup? Please, someone explain that to me, like I am five. Why is he like, why does he get minutes? Mark Friedman is a totally adequate defenseman. You don't need to play Kulikov for the sake of playing Kulokov. He wasn't good last night. He's only played a couple of games here.

I'm sorry, he's not good. There's no reason for it. Why are you making the chains for the sake of making a change? And you're pairing it with Yon Ruta? Hard pass. They were on the ice for two of the goals. I don't know what Mike Sullivan's doing there, man. It boggles my mind.

Like, Freeman was playing totally fine. You don't need to insert a defensive mind and defenseman for the sake of it for no reason because Freeman was playing totally okay. So that reared its ugly head again. There was no bottom six scoring. I mean, Dan, I ain't got a garbage time goal. They have no depth.

Their leading bottom six score or third liner in terms of scoring has 22 points this season. 22 points. That's a below replacement level bottom six. Again, that reared its ugly head. These have been issues all year long. It's a miracle, but they even got to this point with all those issues.

It just speaks to how bad the roster was managed this summer. It also speaks to how, you know, poor Mike Sullivan has done, poor of a job Mike Sullivan has done with his deployments, with his decisions to play, you know, someone over someone else. And this season has gone down the drain because of that all that. You don't fix the goaltending. You could have gotten a backup for Tristan last year. You didn't. You could have gotten another goal yet this year's deadline. You did not.

This is three straight seasons of this. And you're paying the price. You can't do that again in the offseason. you can't do that for us straight years. This was, I think, in terms of the aging curves right now, this was probably their best shot being a contender.

And it's all gone to waste because of malpractice from the front office, stubbornness from the head coach, and everything in between. And it's sad. I feel awful for the core. Evgeny Malcon and Chris Lattang did not sign up for this.

And I don't want to see. sit here and listen to people, just blame them for garbage. I'm sorry. If you are blaming Fivgeny Malkin and Crystal Tang for this season going down the drain, you can take your keys and go root for someone else. I have no problem saying that. I'm sorry. Those people are casual fans that only watch five or six games a season. I don't want to hear from the people that say, well, this is what you get for signing up for the retirement tour and all this stuff. Literally, get out. It gets me so angry because it's just just it's not accurate.

Imagine longing on, it's what social media said or posting on Reddit or, you know, listening to Sports Jock Radio or something and just saying that. Like, I can't with that. I those kind of takes. I think they're so stupid. But I just feel so bad for those core players.

The top six in general. You know, as I saw this tweet last night from a Steelers or four. I mean, I think you all, I think most people that are on Penguin's Twitter here we know we know who this is a reporter and he basically said you know i'm sure the gym will get all the blame for this but it's just one more of the same from this group of players all season they haven't been good enough all year including the star's for stretches of time i don't know how anyone can sit there

and say that and getting him alkin has almost 90 points sydney crawsie has almost 100 points kursa tang has played mostly pretty good hockey since coming back from his latest injury slash stroke slash his father passing away last night was standing i will say that was a bad game Ricardo Raquel is almost 30 goals. Jason Zulker has almost 30 goals. Brian Rush, who has struggled this season, has over 20 goals. Marcus Pedersen's been their best defensive defenseman. I don't know how people can sit there and say that stuff.

Like, this is not on the star players. The star players have shown up all season. They showed up last night. No one else did. This is the worst regular season loss in franchise history. I can't think of any of the last. loss that's worse than this. Playoffs, that's a different story. But I think that's the worst regular season lost in franchise history. You know, you can go back and I think it was 89, 90,

you know, when the Penguins were really starting to get going. You know, Mario was there, Yager was there. And I think they lost. I believe that that loss was to the Sabres, where they needed to win to get in. Ross and overtime did not, or I think we didn't get a tie, something like that. And they didn't get in. That was pretty bad because you have the core there and they're in their prime. But this one, but this is probably one of your last best shots. This one stinks. And to lose like that to a team that got in to Pittsburgh International Airport at 3 a.m. after playing the night before, barely probably got any sleep. They probably didn't get to their hotel until 3.30 or 4 a.m. That's embarrassing. It's disgusting

to lose that game. That team is actively tanking. legitimately, actively tanking, and you're going to go out there and you're going to lose that game with everything on the line. It's the worst regular season loss in franchise yesterday. And it's unfortunate that we're at this point today. I didn't think I'd be probably signing up

for an early offseason at this point. But that wraps up this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're able to touch on where we go from here, Is there even a prayer if the penguins get in? If the Canadians can't even help them out? Do we even want the Canadians to help them out? I'm going to touch on that.

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And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. Where do we go from here, right? Well, you can go clean out the front office. I'm asked number one right there. If this goes the way I expected to go, and I expect the Islanders to get at least a point tonight against the Canadians, I don't think they're going to squander this again, especially being at home at UBS Arena.

I would clean out the front office as early as Friday. I don't care if they win or lose that game against the Blue Jackets. I would do it as soon as then. You know, NFL teams, they make decisions. the night of after their season ends, whether there's a coach game to be fired. They have Black Monday for a reason. They fire coaches the next day.

I would do the same thing here if I'm our Fenway Sports Group. They have to know what's going on. This is not good enough. This general manager has bungled almost every single part of this roster. And I'm going to feel a little bad for whoever else comes in

because there's a lot of more questions because this team, they have some caps, this summer, but man, they have a lot of bad contracts too. That Jeff Petrie deal is kind of looking bad. Don't get me started on my Kyle Granlin. Jeff Carter saw as one more year. It's a little bit bleak when it comes to those deals.

Now, what does this mean for Mike Sullivan? I said this last night on my Twitter that I don't know how he can survive this. And I say that as someone who was rooted for Mike Sullivan throughout his tenure here, who I think is the greatest head coach in franchise history. I will get pushback on that from people that support Badger Bob. Don't get me wrong. Badger Bob is right up there with Sally as one of the, as, you know, like a 1A, 1B is the best coach in franchise history. But, you know, Badger Bob, you know, may he rest in peace.

He wasn't, you know, he wasn't there for as long as Mike has been. And, you know, maybe he would have been if, you know, he didn't come down with what he had and passed away. But in terms of what Mike Sullivan has accomplished, I think he's the greatest coach. as franchise has ever had. But, you know, there comes a point where someone has reached an expiration date, and I feel like he may have here because he's been stubborn. I don't know if his things have gone stale, but he's definitely been really stubborn with his roster decisions this season. I don't think he's done a good job. And again, I say that as someone who is very much supporting like someone. But after doing a little more thinking on it, I'm curious to see if they hire a new general manager

that comes in, keeps Sullivan, gives him a little bit of a clean slate. Because remember, that extension that they gave in last summer has not kicked in yet this is the final this is the final year of the original extension that Jim Rutherberg gave the extension kicks in I believe next year so I think what they might do the ownership group hire a new GM let him make the say on the coaching staff if they want to keep Sullivan which I think they probably would they'll do that and if things continue to go south next year I think a firing could happen. But right now, I don't think it's going to happen. What I mind it? No. If you're going to clean out Mike Sullivan, you can send his assistance with him and you can send out the whole front

office. I don't mind if you want to start fresh with both of those. But you obviously do have to fire the general general manager. Brian Burke, I don't even really know what he does. You have to fire the whole front office. Mike Sullivan, though, will be more of an interesting case. because I do think he is a good coach. He absolutely is. And I do think this season has gone wrong more due to Ron Hextall's failures, but Mike Sullivan is obviously not, you know, without criticisms. And I think I've laid them out here pretty good for you all.

But I can see them being, hey, you know, your GM kind of screwed you. We're going to give you a clean slate here, maybe get you some players that fit your system a bit better. And we'll see how you do. And if it goes bad, you know, we'll go our separate ways. And there's also the thing to discuss, who are you going to hire to replace it? If the last year's coaching candidates were in this year's pool, like a Bruce Cassidy, like a Jim Montgomery. I would be fine moving on, I think. I would be more fine moving on from himself.

Right now, who's out there? Alain Vigno, Bruce Boudreau, you can maybe hire Andrew Brunette from the Jevils, but I think he's going to get some interviews. There's not many better coaches out there than Selby. So that's what gets me thinking on that. If they don't make a head coaching change, then I do think they should make changes to the assistants.

Mike Volucci, I don't really know what he does, to be honest. His penalty kills been terrible this season. Tar Reardon, I'm, you know, I was supporting him, coming back because I thought he would make changes to the powerplay. You can send him out too. I don't really think he's done a good of a job of that. Or, you know, if you want to keep him, just take the power play for the rigooges away from him and hire a powerplay coach to come in here and fix that unit because going one for five against the Blackhawks and just being very inconsistent all season. That's not good enough. I'm sorry. It is, it is not. So that's really where I stand

on the coaching staff in the front office. If I if when they do make changes and I do expect them to, I think they're going to come sooner rather than later. I don't think they're going to want to wait around. We're at mid-April now. The draft is in a couple months, June. A lot of reason about a month, I think they would want someone in within about a few weeks to a month. I don't think they would wait around. So that's where I stand on the next step there.

In terms of bombing ice, I mean, you're going to see a lot of changes too. I think you're going to see a lot of players moving on. Brian Newman, for one. Jason Zulker might be gone. Josh Al-Chibald, you know, if you can somehow get out of Jeff Carter's contract, you can force him to retire. That would be big. If you can somehow get out of McIall-Granlon's contract,

as he was terrible again last night. One goal in 20 games now. I think they can do, hopefully do that. Got to get another, got to get a new starting goaltender this season. If I'm the new GM, the first call I'm making is to Nashville about UC Soros. Screw it. Why not? Why the hell not? And when they hopefully do make the GM firing, I will have a list of top candidates for an episode.

I can tell you my first top choices is Eric Tolski from Carolina. I would want him here. He is Don Waddell's right-hand man in Carolina. He is awesome. I would go all out to try to get him out of Carolina. That's a little tease, though, if they make that mix. But yeah, that's all I got for this second segment. Coming up to end the show,

we are going to do a little bit of a preview against the game against the Blue Jackets. I know, but it's the final one of the season. You all may not want to hear it, but this is probably the final game preview of the season. We're going to touch on that coming up right after this commercial break. All right, we're back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

You know, follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter. I learn on Sir Penguins. and, of course, thank you all so much for making this. Your first list of the day, we are free and available on all platforms. So the Penguins Blue Jackets, Thursday night, 7 o'clock start in Columbus. Game is probably going to be meaningless unless the Montreal Canadiens

tonight to make that a meaningful game for the Penguins. I'm recording this a little just before puck drop. I'll be stunned if the Canadians win that game. All the Islanders need is a point. They can lose an overtime or issue out and a clinch. So I would be very stunned if the Canadians come close to winning that game. I don't think Ilya Sorokin's going to have two crappy games in row.

I think the outner is going to come out with a purpose in that game. But on the off chance, you know, that it is meaningful. The Penguins will have to go through a Blue Jackets team that has been ravaged by injuries. Like over 500 man games lost when it comes to that. I just saw today. No Boone Jenner for the last couple of games. he is done. Elvis Merleckons.

He is done. Patrick Lone is out. Zach Brunsky, Eric Goodranson, Matthew Olivier, Justin Danforth, Jake being Nick Blankenberg. Their lineup right now is Johnny Goodrow and a bunch of nothing.

Jack Rossoff is still there, but Johnny Gondro, Sean Correlli, Carrillo, Marchenko, Ken Johnson, Jack Rossovich, Trey, Fixerolanski. They literally had like

five emergency callups on Tuesday. That is how Bankup this team is right now. Carson Meyer, Hunter McCown, Liam Bansstrom, and Josh Dunn, Andrew Peake, Gavin Bayruther, Tim Bernie, Adam Boquist, Jay Christensen, David, your cheek. This is literally Johnny Goodrow and an HL team. It's basically the same thing as we saw in Chicago.

Jonathan Taves, a washed-up Tyler Johnson, Seth Jones, and a bunch of AHL players. This is basically the same thing. The jackets are down to their third stringle-go-tender, Michael Hutchinson and John Gelley's third and four-sringlealtenders. no, even if the game means nothing, there's still no excuse for the penguins to lose that game. The jackets are terrible. The penguins have had a long winning streak against them spanning across a couple of years, across a few years now. You know, they're 18 and 3 in the last 22 games against the jacket standing back to February 3rd of 2017. They've won eight straight against the blue jacket stating back to December 12th of 2019.

They've only dropped the season series once to Columbus. And again, they've won eight straight against them. Cindy Crosby, watch out for him, of course, 51 points in 37 career games. They've scored three or more goals in 16 of their last 19 games against the jackets, and I assume Tristan Jari will get the start, six and one career against them with a 2.13 goals against average and a 928 percentage. Jake Gensel is always a bluejacket, Schiller, he almost averages a goal per game against them. You know, for this one, you know, they're probably going to get the chances.

Finish, finish, finish for once. this team just be above average in terms of finishing. Love to see that. Tristan Jari, make a big save when you need him to make a save. That would also be massive. You know, if anyone else besides sitting across at the beginning mall can want to show up, that would be big. But the blue jackets are playing for nothing tomorrow, like the Chicago Blackhawks aren't you. You should win that game.

seven days a week. But we also just said that about the Blackhawks. And we all saw where that way. So, you know, shut down Johnny Goodrow. That's the big one. If you can limit him, I think the Penguins will be just fine. They don't really have many other good scores on this team. Jack Rosovich, it's not bad. Other than that, there's just not a lot there. This is just a very banged up hockey team. They're ready for the season. And I think they're going to make some moves this year to try to compete next year. But this is a game that Penguin should win. Tristan Darry needs to show up. Power play needs to be better. I want to see everyone else outside of two players step up,

need some depth scoring. If they can do all that, they should be fine in this one. But that's just me. I appreciate all of you listening slash watching to this episode. I understand it's definitely a rough one. But we're going to have another one of these for you all tomorrow. The final game recap of the regular season, probably the final game recap of the season as a whole.

and before we get into offseason content, I think starting on Friday, assuming the Islanders take care of their business on Wednesday night. But from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for listening slash watching throughout what has been a very chaotic and exhausting 2020, 2022, 23 season. I appreciate it so much. You all mean the world to me. And we'll do another one of these on Thursday, even though the vibes are still going to be a bit rough. So again, thank you so much for listening, watching.

I'll talk with you. you all on Thursday.