Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who is off to a great start at camp? Plus thoughts on Ron Hextall's presser

Episode Date: September 23, 2022

We're 2 days into training camp and it's been great to have hockey back. Hunter starts the show with some quick thoughts on who has gotten off to a good start at camp, especially in the scrimmages. He goes into Jason Zucker and how he looks rejuvenated out there, plus how Drake Caggiula is making the most when he's played with Evgeni Malkin & Bryan Rust. He also looks at how it's likely that Rust starts the year with Malkin and Rakell starts with Crosby. Would that be the right move? Hunter looks at the data supporting both to see, while also looking at other combinations that the Penguins have used so far. After that, he dives into Ron Hextall's comments and how the Penguins could still make a trade over the next few weeks. while also giving an interesting comment on POJ. Finally, Hunter ends the show with some thoughts on the two preseason games ahead and a few other players who have stood out thus far.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, Penguins fans. Happy September 23rd, the official first full day of fall. And yeah, it surely felt like it where I am today, 70 degrees, nice winds, clear sunny skies. That is the kind of fall weather that I like. That's for damn short. That is the perfect kind of weather day. And, you know, it just shows we're 20 days away now from the NHL season taking place. A lot to get to for today's episode. I apologize for the last episode not posting until today. I guess Megaphone was weird.

and it just did like not like I guess I thought I clicked post now, but I guess I still had it on the draft. That's never a mistake I've made. Well, not since I started the podcast, but that's apologies on that. For today, we're going to get to some of the players that spoke to the media, including Tristan Jari, with his injury, Brian Rust, of Genni Malkin, Mike Sullivan, Ron Hextall spoke to the media today. I'm going to get to what he said, and I'll give my thoughts on his first public comments

in, you know, a little while. I'm going to say at least. We're also getting into the skirmages and, you know, who looked good and all that chats. That's all coming up right after this drop. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the shows, Twitter. at L.O. Arnold score Penguins? And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. My wonderful dog over here is deciding to scratch his collar. So if there's a little background noise, that is that. So Penguin Training Camp officially underway. We've had some scrimmages. You know, we've had some goals from some,

you know, a lot of players. You know, Drake Cajula had a couple of goals in the first scrimmage. Josh Archibald also scored. I think of again, he Malkin, ripped a one-timer as well. You know, there's been, you know, it's been pretty fun. so far to follow it in all that jazz but you know we do got a start um yesterday um when tristan jari was speaking to the media for the first time since his injury and he said i don't ever want to um just so you all know i don't ever i don't ever want anyone to dump on him after what he just did he said his broken foot that he played on even if the penguins had won that game against the new York Rangers, he said he wouldn't have been able to play game one against Carolina.

That is how desperate the Penguins were in that game seven against the Rangers. They had no choice but to play a probably 40 to 50% Tristan Jari over Louis Doming, who was that freaking bad against the Rangers. Again, even if they had one, he said he wouldn't have been available until at least like the first to half of the second round of the playoffs. like that is just crazy to think about. He said the original plan, if the Penguins were going to advance, he said he was going to play a bit later on in the second round.

Jari played his tail off in that game. You know, he said it took him quite a while to get over the injury. He said it looked, it sounds like the injury wasn't fully, fully healed, he said, until like after the Stanley Cup final. So that's just crazy to think about like, you know, he said like you even admitted that it took a lot longer to heal than originally expected. The fact that he played on it when it was clearly broken just shows the guts and the character that he has, even though that, you know, I'm sure he was just badly in playing.

He said he couldn't even put a skate on after that for like the next few months. Like he said, it hurt that bad. So, you know, kudos to him. He said he's fully healthy now and he's hoping to prove a lot of people wrong again this year. Also sounds like, according to Rob Rossi, He says there have been informal conversations between the Penguins and Brian Dumlin, whose deal is up after the season, but no deal is imminent. For me, you know, you all have listened to this podcast that for a long time know how I stand on that for the new people. I think it is wise for the Penguins to let the season play out. And then, you know, we visit negotiations for Ryan Dumlin.

His skating has not been up to par last couple of years. You know, his decision making the defensive zone has also not been that good even offensively. it's gone even worse. And he's never really been that good of an offensive defenseman to begin with. But still, with where he's at age-wise, you know, that he can go at any second. And the injuries are really caught out to him. I want to see what he can do this year with Crystal Tang if he stays healthy before I go out and give him an extension. And I feel this came about Tristan Dry.

I know Ron Hextall spoke about that today. He said that he have had conversations, but nothing really major anything. I would see how he does this year as well. And then we visit an extension, excuse me, when the offseason starts next, you know, next June, July, something like that. So I'm fine with them, you know, having some small conversations, but in terms of deals for these actual players,

you know, not a big fan of that at all. And we also, we're starting to see some lines, which are pretty cool, you know, as Michelle Creckegolo, Pensinside, Scoop said, Mike Sullivan, Mike starting with tannums when it comes to constructing his forward lines. The main ones that the Penguins used, Crosby and Gensel, of course, Malkin and Rust, Carter, Capon, and McGinn and Brugger. So the one that's obviously going to raise some eyebrows is Malkin and Rust. That means, at least to me, that they are very much considering having Ricard Raquel on Crosby's right wing to start the year in having Rust on Malkin's right wing as well. And, you know, Rustin Malkin, they've had really good numbers together.

You know, this was first tweet out this morning by Jesse Marshall. I'm going to put it on here as well. Since 2019-20, they have spent 930 minutes together at 5E-5. That's Rustin Malkin. Here are the underlying numbers. When they are on the ice together, the penguins have 54% control of the shot attempts per 60, 57% control of the expected goals per game, 56% control of the Scrocent. scoring chances and 58% of the actual goals scored.

Those are very good numbers. And that goes to show that they are deadly together. So it's no wonder that Sullivan wants to try the mountain camp in the preseason to see if that can stick in the regular season. But we've also already, as I just showed you, it's proven to work during the regular season. And I think Sullivan really liked what he saw when Raquel was up with Crosby. You know, last year for some short sample sizes.

I think he wants to go back to that. So, you know, if you can have Gansel, Krasby, Raquel, Zucker, Malk, and Rust, if Zucker stays healthy, you know, that's a really damn good top six. Put Dayton Hinen on your third line. Obviously, you know, with Carter and Kaepin, and I think that's okay. And then with McGinn and Bluger, you know, when both were on their game last year, they were both pretty decent until, you know, obviously they had some cold streaks and injuries and all that.

You know, you can figure out who you want to play on, you know, that left wing or right wing, whenever, you know, whether that's Ryan Paling, whether that's Drew O'Connor, whether that's, you know, Josh Archibald, Drake Cajula, something like that. So, you know, it looks like those are the main tannums that Mike Sullivan wants to see for a lot of this camp. And I'm excited about, you know, we obviously know how good Gensel and Crosby are together. You know, Carter Cappan, you know, if Cappan bounces back, I think that could be a decent pairing on the third line. We already know how good Malkin Rust is. And if McGinn can rediscover his first half form last year,

I think he can put together a pretty solid, you know, fourth line with Bluger. You know, there were some fun, you know, tidbits from the scrimmages and all that. It sounds like, you know, that same pool in was really moving around pretty well of getting Malkin. It sounds like his legs are, you know, fully back. Josh Yoli was writing about Chris Lattang. skating like the wind, according to him in his article.

That is, you know, nothing out of the ordinary with how awesome he is. It's also great that Valchari Pustinen is also getting some top line minutes. I don't expect him to make the team out of camp. I don't really think any Penguins writer analyst, the podcaster like myself, anyone that covers the team is expecting him to make it out of camp. But, you know, crazier things have happened. But if he can show that, you know, he belongs in some preseason games, I definitely think he could be one of the top call-ups when the season starts when the Penguins,

and they inevitably have some injuries. It sounds like, you know, Poulan is playing center now. You know, the big battle for that left-handed D spot for the third-paring POJ, Ty Smith, you know, that's really getting going, which is fun. You know, it sounds like today, you know, Ron Hextall was speaking about him. And, you know, the thing that I noticed, you know, when he spoke about him right here, he said, you know, he spent enough time in the minors now where it's time to come up and show us what you can do at this level. And he's not wrong. He's really not wrong.

He's been down in Wilkesbury ever since the Penguins required him a few years ago. It's now or never. You're on a one-way deal. There's nine defensemen. Plenty of players, you know, would love to play over you, especially when you have that number five, number six job. No, he's going to have to go out there, earn it. And if he does, good for him. You know, he can maybe get a 15 to 20 game look at the NHL level.

And if he's not all that, he'll get scratched. But, you know, it really is now or never at this point for him. If he's not able to make the team out of camp in that, in that, you know, spot goes to Ty Smith. No, I really think, you know, time that, you know, it could be the end of POJ in Pittsburgh. That wraps up this first step, you know, went around the horn a little bit with who looked good in some of the scrimmages and, you know, some of the comments. that were made and all that jazz. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into some more of Ron Hexel's comments

outside of that POJ one and what I took away from them. But before I get to that, we have to get into Ben Online. It's your number one source for all football betting info. This season, you can find all the latest player developments, team matchups, news and podcasts, and in-depth articles analysis on every game you can find.

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I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins Podcast. I am your host, Honore Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes. You're also follow the shows Twitter at Elin. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's get into some more comments here from Ron Hextall.

He's asked about the blue line again on Friday because, of course, they have nine defensemen. He even said, yeah, we have 90. They can't all play. So we do have some tough decisions. He says they have some ideas, but they aren't sure how it will all play out. He also went on to say that a trade is still possible over the next few weeks. Again, he said that they have some ideas with how a trade could work and maybe sending a player down so they don't have to trade someone. but right now he did say that all options are on the table and they are open to making a trade.

Again, I feel like that's probably the most likely outcome. I think, you know, if a debt player has to go, a debt player has to go, whether that's, you know, Traver-Reedle, P-O-J for a fringe poor, you know, Mark Freeman, someone like that, you know, they're definitely not going to move Duman or Latang. They're not moving Pedersen or Petra. And I don't think they're moving Yanruta. So it's going to be any one of the others that I did mention. But, you know, obviously, again, there's something that's going to have to go there. You know, you can send Ty Smith down just because he is waiver eligible. Well, excuse me.

Yeah, yeah, he is waiver eligible. He doesn't, well, geez, I think I just screwed that up. He's waiver exempt. So he doesn't have to pass through waivers to be sent down to Wilkesbury. But on the other hand, someone like POJ, he would. Now, would someone claim him? I'm not sure, to be honest with you. You know, maybe, maybe not.

I would maybe lean towards no just because, you know, he's just kind of a fringe NHL defenseman at this point. I think a lot of teams have those kinds of types of players. So, you know, whatever. You know, I think that's going to come to ahead at some point. There's 20 days until the Penguins' Reginald Season starts. They still have time right now, to say the least. He was also asked about Ty Smith and Drew O'Connor and asked if they're at a disadvantage.

And he said, no, you know, we want to put the best team on the ice that we can on opening night. So if they are part of it and they have really good camps and preseason, we're going to try to find a way. So, you know, that's basically his way of saying if both Smith and O'Connor are really good to start the, you know, to start encamping in the preseason, you know, they will find a way to have both of them on the team, whether that's trading out a defenseman, whether that's burying someone like Josh Archball and the minors when he makes 900K, sending down Drake, Cajula, because he's on a two-way contract, et cetera, et cetera, you know, they will find a way. And again, I do think, you know, those two players are very much on the microscope right now anyway,

especially O'Connor had a really good start to the season last year. It looked like he definitely did belong in the NHL until I think that injury derailed him a little bit. So I am excited to see him at camp. It looks like so far he's at a decent start. It's only been two days, though, you can only do so much, I think, at this point. But, you know, we'll have to see how he is in game action and all that stuff. Hextall also spoke about it, Gany Malkin. And he said, you know, he just sounds like he's a hungry guy.

Like, you know, he talked about the contract and stuff. He says he looks like a beast. You know, they're all hungry to, you know, to win and all that. And, you know, that is something that's been a pretty prevailing comment from the core. you know, these last 24 to 48 hours, you know, they've said that of these last couple of years, they've left a really sour taste in their mouths, you know, it's no secret to me that the penguins do feel that they should have won at least one of these last two opening round series. They probably should have won both, to be honest with you, especially the Rangers one.

And I think, you know, again, part of the reason why the manager was so comfortable bringing back a lot of the same team was because they feel like they've gotten unlucky. And I feel that way, too. I think, you know, if it weren't for, you know, some really awful goaltending by Jari last year. And then this past year with Louis Deming in the playoffs, the Penguins probably go at least to round two, potentially to round three, the Eastern Conference final. And then, you know, at that point, who knows, we're down to four teams. Overall, I mean, you have at least a 25% chance of bringing home Lord Stanley's Cup.

So, you know, it's definitely been a pretty big comment from the court. They've said, you know, they still are hungry to win. You know, we want to get over the hump and stop losing in the first round. yada yada yada you know usually players don't talk about last year at camp they're kind of like hey you know let's not talk about that but no the penguins they definitely have you know that that series against the rangers really pissed them off off the sour taste in the mouth because they know they outplayed them um and they're ready to go out there and prove people wrong this year especially the core you know sid you know it definitely seems like he's hungrier than ever um right now and you know him and let's hang and malk in their

entering their 17th season together. They know they don't have a lot of time left. So, you know, they want to go out there and, you know, give it their all. I think at this point. And the Hextal also say, you know, this is a typical GM speak. He says, I'm really excited about where we are right now, you know, that feeling around the room. He says there's going to be some good fights for jobs. Like I really like rat. And, of course, those fights are the jobs. The number six defensive fought 12 forward, you know, all that stuff. He didn't really talk about much else today. you know, again, there wasn't really, you know, too much else that Hextall was discussing a bit.

But that wraps up the second segment. Coming up in the final segment, we're going to go into some miscellaneous thoughts from training camp. You know, again, who's looked good? Who hasn't just yet? And remember the Penguins, they play some preseason games this weekend. I'll tell you all about that as well coming up right after this commercial break. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honore Hodes.

You know, follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L-RongSore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So remember, the Penguins preseason schedule, you know, they remember they have a, basically, I think, like a cross, like a back-to-back on the same day. Half the team, I think, is going to play on the 1 o'clock game. on Sunday and the other half is going to play at the 7 o'clock game. So the first game, this will be at PPG Paints Arena.

On Sunday afternoon, 1 o'clock, no, the Pittsburgh Steelers do not play. Obviously, they just lost. For more on that, go check out Chris Carter locked on Steelers. He does an incredible job. I hope to have that sub count on YouTube and the listeners overall on all platforms one day that he has. He is an outstanding human and he does a great job. And I'll say the same about Ethan with the Pirates,

even though the Pirates are really bad. this year. But again, Sunday, September 25th, 1 p.m. start time. That is the first Penguins preseason game. They have not given the lineup just yet. If I had to guess, it's probably going to come out, excuse me, sometime on Saturday. If I had to guess, maybe like during a skimmer or something like that.

And then they will play again against the Blue Jackets on Sunday night at 7 o'clock Eastern time. I'm not sure if those games will be broadcasted by AT&T Sports Network. The Penguins will probably just do a live show. stream, I would guess, on their official website. I think those are usually called by Josh Gets off and Phil Bork. I'm not mistaken. And then the one after that, they will play just a couple of days later.

On September 27, they will host the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena about this at 7 o'clock start time. I'm sure you can find the ticket info on the website and all that. But some other miscellaneous thoughts. Sounds like Jeff Petrie was looking really comfortable. At least this was according to Josh Yoey. He said his skating was at a high level. You know, it sounds like, you know, his first pass was really good.

He obviously has a booming shot. You know, he's going to fit in just fine here. I have no, you know, I have no worries about Petrie. You know, I'm really, I'm just excited for him to play. It also sounds like, you know, Jason Zucker was playing with Radim Zahorna in today's scrimish. You know, both of them found the net to put, you know, team wide up for a two, at the time to nothing.

It is nice to see Zucker playing well in the scrimmages. You know, he had a scary, close to a scary injury incident. I think he kind of went down in a weird way, but it was able to get back up and was just kind of smiling afterwards. But he said he's all good. No problem there. And, you know, when he was speaking to the media, he said, I think he basically said that, you know,

he was kind of like just losing the love last year for the game just because of how, you know, banged up he was. But, you know, he said he was able to have a good summer. He's fully healthy now. and, you know, he's been able to rediscover that love for the game again. And, you know, that's all you can ask for, I think, at this point. You know, he plays his tail off every shift. You know, he's off to a good start at camp.

And, you know, for those that did not listen to my bold predictions yet, I have him scoring 20 to 25 this year. I think he's going to be a really good player for the Penguins. I think he's going to surprise a lot of the fan base. You know, I'm really excited for him. That's for sure. You know, I think when he's fully healthy, he brings an element to this team that, you know, few players can, I think.

You know, I'm just trying to make sure I got everything here from the scrimmage today and all that stuff. You know, Drake Cajula was playing with Evgeny Malkin. You know, Kajula, he actually scored today. This is his second goal in two days. Fgeny Malkin also got a goal. You know, it is nice seeing him make the most out of his time with both Brian Rost, of getting Malkin, probably will not get those kind of minutes during the regular season if he makes the team. But, you know, nice seeing him score and playing well during camp.

You know, he was playing a good last year in Buffalo. He's played well in Edmonton at times as well. So it's good to see him making the most happy. You know, Mike Sullivan even said it himself. He said, I think he's been really good so far. We thought we would try a speedy guy on that line who can bring some energy and tenacity on the puck and see that what that might look like. And, you know, so far we've really enjoyed it.

to say the least. You know, Casey DeSmith, he also looked to the media. He said, you know, he just feels terrible about the injury and all that. He said when he was making the save, he just felt his going go. And he said, yeah, he just basically said, you know, I knew I couldn't play after that. But, you know, he says he's ready to come back better than ever. And, you know, again, the penguins are going to need that this year. You know, they need DeSmith to spell Jari at times.

You know, they cannot have a repeat of what happened last year where Jari is making basically every start in the first half of the regular season, and then he's burnt out by like mid-March, early April, something like that, which obviously, you know, I think the Anders-Lee situation was just an accident mostly, but, you know, he was probably a bit burnt out at that point anyway, too. So hopefully that he is able to play well with that. I think that wraps up today's episode about, you know, the 22, 23-minute mark.

So far, you know, like what I've seen from the highlights that I've watch in camp you know cap and spoke to the media a couple of times as well you know i haven't really you know heard much about him i can't yet but you know it's only really been um two days i think you know he i think it's important for him that to have like a good camp especially after you know the regular season that he just had but you know not too many you know big declarations just yet it's only really been two practices there's been two scrimmages tomorrow same thing it'll start at nine o'clock um if anyone is going to the practices and everything just let me know you know, shoot me a DM, comment on the YouTube page,

let me know what you saw, who stood out, who didn't stand out to you, all that good stuff. I'll talk about that on the podcast, and obviously I'll take all your word for it. I wish I could get to training camp right now, but, you know, got some stuff I got to take care of. That's for sure.

That's the perks of not living in Pittsburgh, at least not yet. I'm still hoping to finalize a few things, for hoping maybe for a move in the next couple of months. So we'll have to see what happens with that. again that will wrap up today's episode of Locked on Penguins podcast i really appreciate all of you listening to this one we'll be back with another episode on monday i'll go over to preseason games who stood out to me because i am going to try to watch um those two both of them

it's it's a tour to watch preseason hockey i know that but you know duty calls there you know i want to see who stands out talk about the games um and you know see who see who plays well on the scrimmage on and all that stuff but again thank you all so much for listening to this one you all have a wonderful first full week in a fall and i'll talk with you all on monday