Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who do you want to play in the opening round?

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

Are you playoff ready? The Pittsburgh Penguins certainly are after they locked up their first division title in seven years. Hunter recaps that achievement and how the Penguins proved a lot of doubters wrong by winning this division after so many people picked them to miss the playoffs. He also makes his case for why Mike Sullivan should win the Jack Adams Trophy as this was his finest coaching job since 2016. He also recaps the Penguins last win against the Sabres and how that's the kind of defensive performance they'll need if they want to go deep in the playoffs. Also: What is the preferred matchup between Boston and New York? Does Sidney Crosby have an actual chance at the Hart? What did Hunter get right and wrong during the season?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.WealthfrontTo get your first $5,000 managed for FREE, for life, go to wealthfront.com/LockedOnNHL 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey everyone, welcome to this Monday afternoon episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow the show's Twitter at L-O- underscore Penguins. Today's episode is brought to you by BillParr. Go to Billbar.com and use promo code Locked 15 and you'll get 15% off your first order. So big Monday episode for you all here. Yes, your Pittsburgh Penguins have clinched the Mass Mutual East Division. They have gotten first place. That will mean Holmeiss for at least the first round.

And if they win that series, the second round as well. And potentially, if some upsets happen, they could have Holmice in the Stanley Cup semivinals or potentially even the Stanley Cup final, though. I'm not sure I would bet on that, considering Colorado and Vegas are both ahead of them in points right now. and Carolina also finished with more points in Pittsburgh coming out of the Central Division. But huge congratulations to the Penguins for getting first. I touched on this on the Friday episode.

This was a team that they got very lucky that they did not have a huge COVID outbreak. Buffalo obviously did in New Jersey. No one had it worse than Vancouver. Philadelphia, I think Calgary had some problems. Dallas, of course, had their huge outbreak right before the season started. I mean, you couple that with.

like their power issues with that huge ice storm that happened. It was just a really hard season for them. I couldn't believe they were in the playoff race until now, but huge props to all the players with the Penguins, the coaches, the training staff, the medical staff, everyone around the Pittsburgh Penguins organization for following

the COVID protocols and not allowing there to be a breakout as you saw with a lot of other teams. And I'm not going to say, you know, all these other teams just broke protocol or something like that. You know, the virus works and still a whole bunch of mysterious ways. But, you know, like I said, the Penguins should be considered very lucky that they did not have a big COVID breakout this year.

But as for this season, I absolutely loved that they even blew my expectations away. I said that they would get second coming into this season. It looked like it was going to be like that for a while. Even honestly, as soon as a couple weeks ago, I said they're still going to get second. Washington's going to win the division. I just didn't see this coming. I don't think anyone did. Maybe except Demetri Filipovich of ESPN, he picked the Penguins to get first.

I think I saw a couple athletic writers pick them to finish first as well. but, you know, if you look at, you know, preseason predictions from any hockey site you go to, any sports media site even, there were only a select few people that picked the Pittsburgh Penguins to get first in this division. It's the toughest division in hockey, and the way that they got first was just incredible. They beat basically all the good teams to do it. I know they also crushed Buffalo seven out of eight times to beat New Jersey, six out of eight times. But they won against the Islanders and the Capitol six out of eight times. I know they struggled against Boston.

They also beat the Rangers six out of eight times. They did this the hard way, and they absolutely earned this division title, especially with all the injuries they went through. And yes, Mike Sullivan, I think, had his best coaching job since 2016. And he would be my pick right now. If I had a vote for the Jack Adams, I understand a lot of people like Rod Rindamore. I get it. You know, he's done a really fantastic job with the Carolina Hurricanes. They may be in line to win the president's trophy this year after I think a lot of people picked them to finish behind Tampa Bay this season, or maybe even.

in Dallas, but they have exceeded all expectations this year as well. I understand the same with Joel Quenville. No one really thought the Panthers would be in contention for Holmice in the place, let alone a potential playoff team. A lot of people were really scared of picking the Panthers just because of what happened last year in the bubble when the Islanders crushed them. But what a job by Joel Quenville. And yes, what a job by the Minnesota Wilds coach.

I'm Dean Ivesen. What the job that he has done in Minnesota because that team is also contending for home ice right now after no one really expected them to have a great season. but those would be my four, I mean, definitely the top four on my ballot, but if I had to go rank them one through four, I have Sullivan, Rod Brindamore, Joel Quenville, and then Dana Vason of Minnesota. That's just my personal ballot.

I understand people, well, I really don't understand this take. Well, you know, the Penguins have Sidney Crosby, so, you know, they're just, they're always going to be good. It's like, okay, look what Mike Sullivan did this year with a swath of injuries. I was arguing with a couple friends the other day. Like, well, you know, like my team, like obviously the Washington Capos, since I have some cast fans around here, Well, they've had more injuries than the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I'm like, I'm sorry, that's just flat out. Not true. The Penguins had 248 man games lost this year, I believe, is the updated number. That's the fourth most mangames lost this year. They had, Evgeny Malking out 23 games. Kisbury was out for over a month. Teddy Blugher was out for a month. Brandon Tann of has been combined out for like over a month.

Frickin Mike Matheson's been out now for a couple weeks. John Marino missed a couple weeks. Chris LaTang missed a little bit of time. Brian Dumlin missed what? 12 to 15 games of the season. early on due to new injury and has looked awesome since coming back. They literally were playing in a lineup with one top line, and then the rest of their lineup was a bunch of AHL players.

So this notion that the Penguins were not as injured as some other teams this year is just full of shit. Like I said, they have the fourth most man in games lost. And the fact that they won the East Division, despite that just goes to show how special of a regular season it was for the Penguins. Especially, like I said, they played in the toughest division in hockey. These four teams that are going into the playoffs are four bona fide steel in the cup contenders. I understand the Central is also really good.

I mean, Tampa Bay is obviously a huge contender. Florida is great. Carolina is awesome. But after that, I mean, Nashville is really not that good. I think Carolina is probably going to give them the good business in the first. I honestly think Carolina is probably going to beat them in five games, to be honest with you all. I mean, the West, obviously, the three big teams there. You have Vegas, Colorado and Minnesota.

I mean, St. Louis, sure, they're good, but, I mean, how good really are they? And then in the north, it's Toronto, Edmonton, and then two other middling teams. but I honestly don't think that the teams from two to four are really that good, despite Connor McDavid having one of the best seasons that we've seen from a player in a very long time. I'm going to touch on some Hart Trophy discussion later on in this episode. But like I said, congratulations to the Penguins, what a division title it was,

and I can't wait to see what this team does if they can potentially go deep into the playoffs. As for the game itself on Saturday, bit of a snooze fest for the Penguins, I think, is the best way to describe it, though. Maxime, like I say, was outstanding for the Penguins. His first NHL shutout. You could just tell during that game that Penguins were trying to make it as easy as possible for him. Basically, just, you know, we're going to collapse the net and make sure that he has to make all the easy saves. I mean, I think that Penguins only allowed seven to eight high danger chances all game from the Sabres.

I know Buffalo played a really good first period, and Pittsburgh was probably lucky to not be down at the end of that one. And then Pittsburgh turned on their play, I thought, early in a second. Jeff Carter gets his ninth goal with the team since coming over. I mean, what a revelation he's been. I've honestly run out of good things to say about Jeff Carter. At this point, the duo of him and McCann is going to be a major problem for any team that they play in the playoffs. I mean, obviously right now it's going to be Boston or New York.

But yeah, both of those teams are going to have their hands full when deciding who they want to match up against the McCann-Carter duo. And if they want to put Evan Rodriguez or Freddie Goodro on there, I mean, it honestly does not really matter to me which player they put there. I understand the sentiment that you don't want to break up the pairing that you have right now because Freddie has been awesome. And I get that. But I also think that Rodriguez was playing his best hockey prior to being hurt. So it's honestly a tougher call than some people may realize. But you can't go wrong with either player. I think that's my biggest take with that. Whether you put Rodriguez or Gudro there, you're going to get the same value. Maybe

Godreau is a bit better defensively, but I think there are very similar players with their play style, and I'm really excited to see what Mike Sullivan decides, who is 12th forward will be in game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Overall, I thought it was mostly a sound of defensive performance on the Penguins. I really like the saves that Leggisay was making. He had a couple, I think, breakaway stops that he made throughout the game. One of them, I think, was on Tage Thompson. Then I think he saved a wrap-around on Tage Thompson, who he scored four goals and

eight games against the penguins this year, which is hard to believe, considering he hardly scores it all, to be honest with you all. But I think it was a very professional performance. For a while on the theater, it was like, wow, you know, do they realize that home ice

and the division are on the line just because I really did not want to have to see the penguins lose that game and then potentially lose the division and home ice on top of it? Luckily for that, it would not have mattered because Boston also lost their game against the Rangers 5 to 4. The funny thing is, with that day, even though the Capitals won in overtime. Had the Bruins beaten the Rangers on that day, that would have locked in all the

playoff matchups because the Islanders only have one game left. That's tonight against the Boston Bruins. If Boston wins that, that locks in the playoff matchups tonight. But it's still funny that if Boston would have hold on to that game against the Rangers, it would have been lost in Washington right there. And then we would have seen Pittsburgh versus the Islanders be set in stone as well. But that still very well may happen tonight. Like I said, as the Bruins will play the Islanders in Boston tonight. Again, a Bruins win against the Islanders locks them in at the number three seed as they will travel to Washington and then the Penguins will get the Islanders. Though, if the Islanders beat the Bruins in regulation and then the Bruins lose to Washington

tomorrow night, Tuesday, in D.C. in regulation, it will be Penguins Bruins in the first round and then the Islanders will travel to Washington in the two to three matchup. So still a little bit to be decided. I'm still going to hope that the Bruins just take care of this tonight. Again, I really don't want to see the Penguins play the Bruins in the first time, but I'm going to go a little more in depth on that in this next segment as well as the Heart Trophy discussion because I haven't seen a lot of weird takes about the heart in the last couple of days. I don't want to just squash those here on this podcast and bring out my take that I've been having for basically the entire season. But before we do get to all of that, it's time to talk about one thing before we get to a little

bit of commercial break, and that is Wealthfront. Investing can be complicated, but whether you're a beginner or you've been investing for years, Wealthfront makes it easy. They have the right tools for every portfolio, no manual trades, no picking stocks, no watching the stock market every day. They automatically handle all the investing based on preferences you control. Wealthfront is trusted with over $20 billion of assets and you can get your first $5,000 managed for free by going to Wealthfront.com slash locked on NHL. All you need is $500 to get started. Grow your wealth the easy way

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I'm your host, Hunter Hoadies. I'm going to follow me on Twitter. at Hunter Hodes follow the show is Twitter at L-O underscore penguins. So I guess I'm going to start with the Hart Trophy debate. Rob Rossi posted this tweet. I think it was what, yesterday on Mother's Day, or

maybe it was the night before on Saturday, was one of the two, talking about the Hart Trophy and why Cindy Crosby should be the odds on favorite. And if you're against it, then there's like this anti-Pittsper Penguins biased. You know, all due respect to Rob, I love him, he's a great person, he's been on this podcast numerous times, with a lot

of great insight on the team. I have to 100% kindly disagree with him on that. There is no anti-Penguins bias for not voting for Sidney Crosby and voting for Connor McDavid. Connor McDavid has 100 points in 53 fucking games. In case anyone is not aware in an 82-game season, this is a 140 to 150-point pace, and this is the best point pace for an 82-game season since Mario Lemieux in 2000 and 2001. No, everyone, not even Sidney Crosby had back.

kind of point pace during his peak years when he was 24 to 25. Yes, I understand they were taken away due to some concussion stuff, but before he had that concussion, he was on pace for what, 120, 130 points during that season. He was not even on pace for what McDavid is on for this season. And oh yeah, everyone, I guarantee you if people were somehow not voting for Sidney Crosby at the same instance, if he had like 100 points in 53 games or even a bit more, I'm sure all the Penguins fans out there, including myself, you'd be like, yo, man, what the hell is wrong with you? You just sound like a freaking idiot. And I'm sorry, you know, the people that think that Connor McDavid does not deserve the heart this year and we're trying to rewrite the rules for the

heart and all this stuff, I'll just be as kind as I can be because I've been a little bit vulgar on the podcast the last week of Tom Wilson stuff. You are wrong and it's time for you to change your stance on it because it is the wrong stance. Connor McDavid 100% deserves every vote for the Hart Trophy and if people do not vote for him and I'm sure people out there are not going to vote for the Hart Trophy ever again. This is the biggest slam dunk in the history of slam dunks and you will not find a bigger Sydney Crosby fan than me. I think he should definitely be a finalist. I think you could put him at that number two or three spot for me. I think it's McDavid, Matthews, and then Crosby and then maybe Andrei Vasilevsky and Brad Marshall or some shit like

that. But to say that Sending Crosby should be the odds-on favorite to win the heart, or just saying that he should win the heart over someone who has 100 points in 53 games, that's just flat out silly, folks. I mean, I don't really know what other way to say it. You're wrong. You sound dumb, and you should stop sounding dumb, as this is a reward that has to be gotten right by all the people that vote on it. And I get, you know, I've also seen this take, well, you know, Connor McDavid's played in the really shitty North Division. I mean, you got to take that into account. I mean, people, every division has shitty garbage teams. You look at the East Division even.

The Flyers stunk this year. The Devils stunk this year. The Sabres were a tire fire. I mean, the Rangers even for a bit were really bad this year. So I understand the North is not that good. And sure, you know, the teams from 2 to 4 outside of Toronto are probably not as good as the teams in the East Division or the West Division are probably even the Central. And yes, I do understand that Edmonton is number two in that division.

But, you know, even looking past that, I mean, Edmonton is still a decent team healthy, Montreal, if they could get good goaltending, they can maybe give Toronto a bit of a scare. And yes, I understand after that, the division is weak. But even if you take all of that into account, this is Connor McDavid's award and no one else's. And I really hope this is 100% unanimous. Again, it probably won't be. But I just wanted to throw my take out there and just tell people that think that Cindy Crosby has a chance at this award that you're just, you're flat out wrong and that it's not going

to happen. But that is my take on the Hart Trophy for this season. for the playoff matchups for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was the funny story. I was having a conversation with my girlfriend over the weekend. She watched the last game with me, and then so we were just talking. And she asked me, she goes, so who are they going to be playing? I'm like, well, it's up between Boston and the Islanders.

And I kind of shook my head when I said the Islanders. And she's like, wait, isn't that the team that you would want to be facing? I'm like, yeah, but I mean, you're basically running through the gauntlet with this division. And she's like, well, what about the Islanders? You say that they're the weakest team. Like, well, what's so bad about them? And I'm like, well, I mean, for starters, they're well coached. They're very disciplined.

They play a style that is very boring to watch that has given the Penguins problems over the years. And everyone on that team knows their role. And, you know, I still think it is the best matchup for the Penguins. I think Pittsburgh would definitely be the odds on favorite to win that series. It's definitely not 2019 anymore when you know the Penguins are icing Jack Johnson, 15 minutes a game with Justin Shultz and whatnot. Honestly, Jack Johnson, I think, was on the series. Jack Johnson, I think, was on the second pairing for that series.

And Eric Good Branson, of course, was on the defense that year. He wasn't any good. This team in 2021 is a lot deeper. But, you know, there's definitely still a little bit of pause there just because of what happened in 2019 and how Barry Trott's just took Mike Sullivan's lunch money and ran with it. But overall, like I have said, this is the best matchup for the Penguins.

They went six and two against them this season. Mike Sullivan has made the proper adjustments against Barry Trots' system. And you can really see the loss of Anders. really hindering the Islanders ever since the trade deadline in last month. I mean, the Islanders have only won, what, six games in their last 15? I know they only have one game left, and again, that's against the Boston Bruins for potential seating with where they're going to play. But this is not a team that is playing its best hockey right now.

Kyle Palmeri only has three to four points that's coming over from New Jersey. Travis Zajek has not been playing well since coming over and that trade as well. So they're definitely a bit weak up front ever since Anders Lee went out. He's one of the best net front presences in the league. And also the goaltending matchup does not really scare me that much. I mean, I think in gold, to be honest, Tristan Jari can outplay Semyon-Var-Lamov or if they start Ilyos Seroken, but I think it's going to be Varlamov for game one with everything that I have read.

And I get it. The Islanders are a very hard team to play against. They're structured. They're very well-disciplined. But, you know, top-to-bottom, if you look at the forward lines, I would definitely take Pittsburgh's over the Islanders and defensively. And that's actually pretty close. I know the Pelik-Polik pair is one of the five best top pairings in the league,

but I'd also put Chris Lattang Brian Dumlin as one of the top five top pairings in the league. And then after that, I know Walsstrom is really good. I'm pretty sure they're still icing Nick Letty in meaningful minutes, but, you know, Pedersen, Reno, I think, is better than one of their pairs, and that I would also take Mathis and Cici as the better third pairing than what they have going on right now as well. Then, you know, you look at Boston, Tuka Rask, they have the edge in goal. You know, the top line against Pittsburgh's top line, they have the edge there.

I still think Pittsburgh's forward depth is a bit better than Boston's, and I think Pittsburgh's defense is a bit better. But for whatever reason, the Bruins just give Pittsburgh fits. And now they actually have a good second scoring line that can go up against the Zulker, Malkin, Kappanin line. And with how they're playing right now overall, that is just a team that I would not want to see in the first round, especially if the Penguins want to make a deep run. And that's exactly why I want to see Washington play them in the first round. So both of those teams can beat the hell out of each other.

so if Pittsburgh potentially beats the Islanders, they can get the winner of that series, who I think is probably going to be severely tired after that one. But overall, I think people, whoever comes out of the East Division, which, again, is basically a gauntlet, is going to be very gassed before they play, whether it's Carolina,

Tampa Bay, or Vegas, Colorado, or Toronto, and the next round, who I think are going to be not as tired as whichever team is going to be coming out of the East Division. But that is just my thoughts on potential playoff matchups for the Penguins. Again, getting home ice for this series is just absolutely huge. The Penguins went 22 and 4 and 2 or 22 and 6 at home this season.

That is the best home record and the history of the franchise. So congratulations to the Penguins on that. They just play so different at home compared to on the road. And I think that's going to make a big difference here in the playoffs, especially if there are more fans allowed in the stands for playoff time. I'm not sure what Tom Wolfe has up his sleeve in Pennsylvania. Maybe he'll expand it to 45 to 50 percent. for game one this weekend, but we'll have to see what he does for that. But coming up in the next

segment, I'm going to talk about what I got right for the Penguins this season, but also what I got wrong. And there is a whole lot more of what I got wrong than I think what I got right for the penguins this season. Before we do that, it's time to talk about that online. The fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball season is in full swing and you can track all the action at Bet Online. Get all the latest nudes, odds and info for all your sporting needs, including MLB, NBA, NHL, and all your UFC action. Before the next pitch, head over to Better Online on your laptop or phone and check out all the great sporting news sign-up bonuses and contest information.

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show, Twitter at L.O. and score Penguins. A lot of exciting stuff to come this week. I'm going to have Nick Zeraris on the podcast Wednesday. We're going to do a full playoff preview. Hopefully all the matchups are set in stone by then. I think they will be Thursday.

or Friday, I'm going to have Jesse Marshall on from the Athletic to preview the Penguin series against whether it's Boston. The Islanders, a full in-depth preview. That's probably going to be a long one as will be the one against Nick Serraris. And I'm also planning on doing a crossover with Ian of Locked on Bruins or Gil of Locked on Islanders to preview this series against their respective teams and get their takes on it as well as mine. So a lot of preview-based stuff coming this week to the podcast and a lot of great hockey talk about this team coming this week and I hope you all are as excited as I am to talk to these guests about everything regarding the Stanley Cup playoffs. But with that said, it's time to talk about what I got right

with this Penguins team and what I got wrong. So what's what I got right? I did kind of get it right that they would, well, I'm going to chalk this one up as a mini W. I said that they would get second. They did get first. But I'm going to chalk this up as a W because I expected them to be a lot better than some other people did. So I'm going to chalk that up as a win in my book. I got it wrong in the sense that they didn't get second. They got first, but still, I expected them to be a lot closer to first than fifth place, which I think is where a lot of other people had it coming into this season. I was right about Sending Crosby being a heart trophy contender for this season.

He's obviously not going to win it, but I think going into this season, I did say that he was going to be a finalist. Maybe I think I also did say that he was going to hit 90 to 100 points. He's obviously not going to do that this season, but I got it right in a way that he is going to be a heart trophy finalist. as soon as the finalists are announced for that award. I also got it right that the goaltending was going to be good this year. I know a lot of people were a bit down on Tristan Jari and Casey Dismith coming into the season.

And I understood that they didn't have a lot of NHL experience coming into this, but both performed admirably well, especially after the first month and month and a half of the season. I thought both of them had their best seasons of their career to date, and I'm really excited to see what Tristan Jari can do in the playoffs. All right, now here's to what I got wrong. Let's start with the obvious Cody Cici made me look like a complete and utter dumb fuck exceeding all expectations being a awesome shutdown

third-paring defenseman. You give him third and fourth-line competition and you feed him to the wolves. He ate all of that up and then some, and I still would sign him to a two-year contract extension worth around two to two-half million per after the season. He has been that good. And, you know, kudos, I will do this. Yeah.

Let's do a little clap. kudos to Jim Rutherford for that signing. He knew what he was doing with that one. I will give all their credit in the world to him. And they have deployed him as such after you saw him being deployed in the wrong way while he was in Toronto and Ottawa. I also say I was a bit wrong about Mike Matheson.

The last four to six weeks before he got hurt, he was playing his best hockey. I did see this tweet this morning from Jesse Marshall, if I can find this, basically talking about how he was eating crow on Matheson as well. And if you look at the hockey stats, you know, his chart here, 74th percentile for offense, 83rd percentile for scoring, shot contribution, 70th percentile shooting, 91st percentile, 76 percentile in zone entry denials, which is awesome, considering he was never that good

at the defensive aspect of his game this season. High danger assists, 67th percentile, carries 84th percentile, possession exits, a nice 69 percentile chances, 95th percentile. So he has been really good for the last month, month and a half and really made that Hornquist trade look a lot better after he was struggling out of the gate for the first month. So I was definitely wrong about Mike Matheson. Who would have thought that I would be saying

after how that first month went that, that the Penguins badly need him back for the playoffs? I don't think me or anyone else thought that. That's for sure. I also think I was wrong about Kaspari Captain. I did not expect him to have, what, 30, 30, 31 points in 40 games after coming over from Toronto where the Penguins gave up a top 15 pick

and then some to get him. I thought he was just going to be a typical top-nine forward. I didn't think he was going to be a bona fide top line forward while playing with Evgeny Malkin as he has just been everything the inning the Penguins needed and then some for this season. I was also a little well. I wouldn't say I was wrong about Zach Gash and Reese.

I knew he was going to be great defensively, but I didn't see his offensive game really taking a huge leap this season. I will always be on brand and say that he, he is the most underappreciated player on this team, but I didn't think he would have, you know, nine to ten goals this season and really break out offensively. So I was definitely a bit wrong about that. I will say this. I was right about John Marino.

I know it was a little bit of a struggle at first, but then once Marcus Pedersen got back onto his pairing, he was the same John Marino that we saw in his rookie season with suppressing shots and limiting chances against whether it's high danger, medium danger, or low danger. I know his offense didn't come out as much as I thought it would, so maybe I'm a little bit wrong on that, but I was right that he would still have a very good second season, and I'm proud to say that I got most of that one right. And I also was right about Jerry McCann. I didn't think that he was going to be this good this season, but I did say that he was going to bounce

back and be much better than what we saw down the stretch of last season when he had one goal in 20 to 25 games. But this version of McCann was something else. He has definitely solidified his spot as to be 100% protected in the expansion draft. And if someone does not have Jared McCann being protected in their expansion draft list. Whether this is a fan or a media member, you probably should honestly just stop talking about the sport because he deserves it and then some, especially when it comes to a contract extension. I think besides that, that's everything that I talked about before this season, what I got right and what I got wrong when it comes to this team.

Oh, I will say Teddy Bluger. I was right about him taking the next step with his development. I said that he was going to be really good offensively and take that next step. He did that and then some. He also 100% deserves to be protected in the expansion draft. If I missed anything, even if it came to Jason Zulker or something, I don't really remember what I said about Zulker going into the season. I think maybe my take was that he was going to continue off last season's success.

Obviously it didn't happen. So maybe when it came to that, I was definitely wrong. I'll eat crow on that. But if there's anything else I missed, please let me know whether it's in my DMs or just add me on the Locktime Penguins, at L.O. Huntersworth Penguins or my personal Twitter at Hunter Hoodies. I think

there was a lot more that I was wrong about than I was right about. That's me being human. I cover the team. I'm not going to get everything right. I'm probably going to get old takes exposed. More often than not, especially when it comes to this team. Honestly, a lot of things in life. But one more thing before

I do sign off here, the Penguins got their second shot on Saturday evening after the game against the Buffalo Sabres. So now I believe most of the team is fully vaccinated and that will allow them to partake in the changes to the COVID protocol. I believe the players and coaches can now go eat outside, have a drink outside, and they can also not wear masks,

I think, during the team meetings in the playoffs, and I think a whole bunch of other things that Chris Johnson lined out in his reporting over the weekend. So good that the Penguins got their second vaccine, and I encourage everyone, whether you're in the United States or around the world, to go get your COVID vaccine so we can get back to normal as soon as possible. I actually have my second shot coming up, not this Wednesday, but the following Wednesday.

But that'll do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. We'll see what happens tonight. Again, if the Bruins win tonight against the Islanders, it is Penguins Islanders and Bruins'ons capitals. But if the Islanders win, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what the playoff matchups will be in East Division. But that will do it for this one. Hope you all enjoy listening to it. And I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. And I'll talk to you all that.