Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who is the 5th best Penguin player in franchise history?

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

In the 200th episode of this podcast (somehow), Hunter welcomes back Doug Glattke to talk a bunch about the team, including his thoughts on the realignment and how he thinks the Penguins would do in that new division. Where does he have them finishing? Should the NHL also just scrap the January 13th idea and do something Super Bowl weekend? It would give the league more time to figure some stuff out and not have to rush everything out. After that, the two touch on Brandon Tanev's season in review and they differ on him as a player a bit. What does Tanev still need to work on? How can he fully justify that contract? Finally, they debate who the 5th best player in Penguins history is.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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. 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, welcome to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow those shows, Twitter at L-O-N-Score Penguins. Happy Friday. Everyone, another weekend is here. We're getting closer now to the start of a new year, well, about time, because most of this year has just been pretty dog shit.

But we do have a guest on the podcast for today. We'll also have a guest next week as well. I'll tease that at the end of this episode. He's been on the podcast before. Well, the guest today, that is. Doug Glatkey, how are we doing, buddy? Good, man. How you doing? Thanks for having me on. Yeah, man. I'm not doing too, too bad myself.

You know, I'm just mostly with my girlfriend's dog since it's her birthday. So that'll be a fun night tonight when she comes home from work. It looks like we're getting closer to hockey. In this segment, guys, we'll talk about some of the start of season stuff that's been coming out the last couple days or, well, kind of the lack thereof just because there's really not been too much news. The Canadian teams may have to play in the U.S. just because of border restrictions.

There's still no NHLPA vote, which kind of stinks. But we'll touch on that. Well, right after I asked Doug this question. But Doug, buddy, how are you feeling about the realignment going into the season? I like it a lot. I think that that first realignment leak that came out probably about a month ago, like where it had the penguins away from like the flyers and stuff, wasn't going to be good.

but the way that they have it set up where they're going to be in a division with all the typical suspects and then Boston and Buffalo, I really like that the way the Eastern Division looks. And I think it's going to make things a little more competitive for the Penguins. But, you know, it's going to make everything exciting for this four to five month, like, stretch run that we're about to go on that starts next month. Yeah, exactly. Well, you know, the hope is that it starts next month. I mean, Pierre LeBrun said this morning, no vote expected on the PA executive board call today.

The transition rules would still need to be completed. Those rules are not done yet. And then there's the whole Canadian team situation where, you know, they may not be allowed to play in Canada because of the, I think, the province restrictions that everyone's been talking about. He also said the league does not have a board of governors call scheduled for today. So, I mean, originally, I think at the beginning of this week, you know, both sides were like, yeah, let's have something done by the end of the week. Let's have some calls done. We can finalize the season. You know, Doug, in typical NHL fashion, though, that's not the case.

They're just going to wait until the very last minute. It's like doing a homework assignment in homeroom in middle school and then turning it in next period, I think, basically. They just, they love to do this. And with a January 13th restart date, still what they want to do, I don't know how they're going to pull that off as it's, I think, less than four weeks now to the season. They may have to postpone it for like a couple more weeks or something. Yeah, it's very bleak right now. It reminds me a lot of when the rumors started coming out that they were going to go back into the bubble. We didn't know what was going to happen from a day-to-day basis.

And now we're at a point where it's almost Christmas, and that's probably going to take the league out of commission for two whole weeks with the Christmas and New Year holiday. and, you know, it leaves them such a little time to figure out a January 13th start date. I know that they were adamant on it in the beginning, but part of me thinks that we may not see it. I mean, yeah, I mean, I always, I talked about this a couple weeks ago. One of the biggest things that I think the better scenario for them just started like the weekend of the Super Bowl, but like obviously don't have games on Super Bowl Sunday. Play games on that Friday or Saturday.

Do a three-night opening game triple, header on NBC and then on Saturday is do a game at noon, do a game at 2.30, do a game at 5 o'clock, do a game at 7.30, do a game at 10 o'clock, air them across NBC and NBC Sports Network. And, you know, that's a hell of a return for the NHL. I mean, we know the NBA is coming back next week. I mean, they're obviously going to have a bunch of games on their networks, but I think that would be prudent for the NHL to do, especially because January 13th B-star, it doesn't seem likely at this point, just because of how late that they're doing these negotiations. and everything.

I mean, there's no economic problems. But, I mean, I think a Super Bowl weekend would be awesome for the league because everyone would be watching them that weekend.

I mean, there's no college football. I mean, everyone's gearing up for the Super Bowl on that Sunday. I mean, there's no baseball. People who still watch the NBA,

sure, but like, other than that, I mean, everyone will be glued to their TV, I think, watching hockey,

and you can just air the games in the afternoon throughout the day when everyone's not working. And I think that would be a great idea. What do you think? think? I think that would be perfect. Just run it like they do Hockey Day in America. Yeah. Where it's just all day, every day. And that would be the perfect gear up for the Super

Bowl, you know, if, uh, I know this isn't a Steelers podcast, but if the Steelers do what we all think that they're capable of doing, I'm going to need something to take my mind off of that for a day or two. So that would be perfect. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Hopefully the Steelers figure that out soon enough. You guys want to go check out more Steelers content. Go to Lock on Stewards. Chris Carter does a hell of a job over there because boy, those guys need something going into their game against the Bengals though. I mean, it's the Bengals. So I think they should take care of them pretty easily. But back to the hockey talk. I want to touch on what you said about the realignment thing. I honestly wouldn't have minded those first divisions that leaked out

just because they would have been new opponents for the Penguins. And honestly, that division's a lot better for them, just standings-wise and like teams-wise than this one is going to be if this one does indeed happen. I think the Penguins in that first one would probably finish only second to Tampa Bay. Maybe third to say if St. Louis wants to play pretty well. I know Columbus, I think, would be in there. They have a really good team too.

But I think that I would take the Penguins over both those teams. But, I mean, I think they would probably lose the division by 20 points to Tampa Bay. But this one, I mean, you thought Penguins fans were bad if they played the Flyers four times in a year. How about seven times? You know, same with the Capitals. I mean, that's just going to be World War III all over again.

I mean, playing Boston. seven times. I mean, I don't think the penguins have won up in Boston since NOM. It's been, honestly, I mean, I literally cannot even tell you when the last time they won up in Boston. That's how bad it's been. So, you know, you got to play the Rangers who are young and up and coming. The Islanders are no slouch either, especially with how Barry Trots coaches his team, say what you will about how boring it is. They still are a great team. And it's just, you know, it's going to be a bloodbath throughout that whole season for how many games it is. and then you have the playoff format,

and if they do a divisional format, which so, God, help me God, they don't, you're going to be playing those teams potentially seven more times. Yeah, that's a good point, you know. And they're in a division where there's really not a single team in there that is like a basement team. Yeah.

New Jersey is debatable, but I think that they're going to be able to be competitive and hold their heads above water for a little bit, you know. and it's just it's going to be interesting you know we're we've been blessed over these past however many years to consistently be a playoff lock but you know if they start out of the gate slow man like we're we're getting into shady territory where it might be close yeah no i agree with you on that you know i could also put mike sullivan's job in jeopardy which you know no one really would have thought of that just a couple years ago but with the last two flameouts in the

postseason and if they start pretty slow below 500 to the first 20, 25 games and only like a 55 game season, even during a COVID kind of year, I could totally see them letting him go, even though, you know, the franchise has a lot of money, but I think every franchise has as well. And then, I mean, you know, before we do get to the commercial break, I did want to ask you about this. I mean, Frank Serre really did say that I think they're designing a triple header for opening night, like we did talk about a few minutes ago.

They want to do a Bolt Spanner game. he says potentially versus Chicago I hard pass on that play them against an actual good team a big East Clash I mean I think for the East Clash Pittsburgh Washington would fit that bill I don't really think anyone wants to see Rangers

Bruins I think Rangers are going to be a good team but they're not there yet I think Boston honestly you can do Boston Tampa for their banner I think that would be great and then a big East Clash you can do Washington Pittsburgh and then the Markey West matchup I think that everyone would want to see Colorado Vegas Colorado Dallas. I mean, sure Colorado

St. Louis works, but with the blues not potentially being as good this year, I can see them maybe moving away from that and just like putting two of your best teams in the West up there. What are your thoughts on the triple header and what teams you would want to see on opening night? I like the

triple header idea. I think you run Boston, Tampa, Penn's Caps, and then probably obviously everybody wants to see Colorado Vegas, but with how the bubble ended with Dallas and Colorado, I would give that another go

because that was, that was a crazy, crazy ending to that series. And it sent Colorado out in a time where they probably shouldn't have went out. Yeah, that would be fine. I think a lot of people would tune in to watch Colorado Dallas.

I mean, a lot of people thought Colorado should have won that series. I understand that they had the superior talent, but you know, Anton Kudobin was just on something during those entire playoffs. He was incredible. and I think that was obviously the reason why they did bring him back. But before we do get to get to our next segment,

which we'll be touching on Brandon Tanniv's season review, it's time to talk about Biltko, whether it's a mental or physical wall, you can break through with Go every day. It's easy to take in 1.5 ounce packages. You put in your briefcase for the most focused presentation ever, putting your golf guide to power through the back nine, or you can put it in your pocket to get through the day. It's the best workout gel on the market.

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow those shows Twitter at L.O. and so our third segment, there was this thing I saw last week, I think the NHL posted on all their social media platforms, who are the top five best penguins of all time. we'll touch on that dub we obviously probably have the same final four

I mean the top four but the fifth spot is open to debate I have mine but I'll be curious to see if you agree with mine but first up let's touch on Brandon Tannuf here I'm just been going through the lineup the last few weeks doing season reviews for the team um Brandon Tannap I think he made me eat some crow I mean obviously the contract is garbage I mean he still has five more years left 3.5 million per season you know it's the end of that contract is not going to be good he still, I mean, obviously he doesn't provide like a ton of offense.

He had six goals last season, 17 points. You know, he looked at his underlying numbers. His scoring chances for scoring chances against 279 to 265. His scoring chance of score percentage was 51%. He was good in the defensive zone. His high danger chances for 108 to 103. So he's actually like playing more on the offensive zone. So, I mean, we all know what his role on the team is.

He's elite at some. Shot suppressing is a good penalty killer, but if you want to rely on him on offense, it's probably not going to work. Definitely, I think, a bit overpaid, but I still think he made me eat some crow just because I noticed how fast he was. He drew a lot of penalties. When he would chip in, it would be, I think, during big moments. And, you know, I'm curious to see what he has in store for the Penguins this season. If he can get his offense to come out a little bit more, I think people would, you know, ease up on, you know, just trashing that contract. I mean, what are your thoughts on him?

Yeah, I'm in agreement with you where I think if he, if he just gets a little bit more of an uptick in production where he's like, goes from just being like a 25 to 30 point guy to being a 35 to 40 point guy, I think we're fine. Um, you know, he obviously, he's a very good defensive forward and, um, that's going to get him stapled into a bottom six role. I know that they were trying him with Malkin in the very beginning. But, um, he, um, he obviously, he's a very good defensive forward. And, um, um, that's going to get him stapled into a bottom six role. I know that they were trying him with Malkin in the very beginning. But, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, with the way everything's arranged now, there's no room for that to occur. And, you know, I think my biggest fear with Brandon Tannav is that they're going to try and put him on the third line with Jared McCann and Mark Jankowski. And I think if it came down to it, I would much rather than maybe just put Bluger up at the 3C

and let Janowski and Tannov play together on the fourth line with whoever that left-winger is, going to be when Ashton Reese is out. I know that the Penn's socials have been really pumping the tires on the fact that Tanev and Jankelsky are like best friends and they went to college together. So I'm expecting that Sully's going to give them a chance to play together. It's just a matter in what capacity and what role that is. Yeah, I have seen them pumping that up a lot.

I mean, if you look at Brandon Tannennes' Instagram, I mean, when he posts on his story and all that, it's almost like every time you see in post, he's just with Jane So it looks like there's been basically quarantining together through the entire off season. I think they're both back in Pittsburgh. I think most of the players are back in Pittsburgh right now. So they're just mostly skating with each other. I do agree with you. I don't really want Tanev on the third line.

I honestly rather have Evan Rodriguez on there. And I'm not even the biggest Evan Rodriguez fan in general, to be honest. Sure. We just need to see more of him, I think, for people to just, you know, get, I'm not trying to put it into words. I think he's one of the most intriguing players going into the season for the team. You just want to see a lot more of him. And I think that's what Mike Sullivan may do.

And like I said, I would much rather have TANF on the fourth line with Aston Reese and Blue Year. When Aston Ries obviously comes back, he's going to be out, I think, for the first month or two of the season with the injury that he suffered over the surgery that he had. But I just, I don't think TANF is the kind of player that McCann needs on the third line to succeed. Yeah, I agree. my my biggest fear with the whole McCann thing is like they're going to use him as a winger primarily and they're going to place him with just like people that aren't fits for like him to carry a line

and that's going to be what ends up killing him here and probably get him sent out of here which bothers me because like he's still really young and really good and he just needs the players around him to help him succeed. And I don't think that Brandon Tannav is that guy. I think Jan Kalkowski could be that guy.

Obviously, I think Jankowski has more offensive upside than Bluger. But we have to just wait and see what happens with the Jan Kalkowski-Bluber bottom six center debate and where they end up. Yeah, and that's what I've been saying, too, you know, you need the right kind of players around McCann. The players with more offensive upside. because, I mean, we do know that McCain is good defensively, but I think he's more of an offensive player than he is a defensive player. We've seen in flashes with him. I mean, he had that really big hot streak to start this past season before he just went ice cold like it was known tomorrow. I think I've said it on this podcast before, Doug, one goal in his last 25 games to end the season.

I mean, almost like five points in his last 25 games. He was just ineffective. And then, you know, you couple that with putting the corpse of Patrick Marlow on his line. It's just not a good time. And, you know, he needs young offensive players on his line. I was advocating for them to sign Craig Smith this office. And that didn't happen. I was advocating for them to sign Esper Foss.

He was good offensively, but it was also good defensively. That didn't happen. And now you're just sticking a couple players on his line that, you know, he's never really, like, played with before. So it's going to be an interesting transition for him. And, yeah, I don't know, man. That third line is the biggest question mark I think I have about this team. You know what your other three lines are going to be. You know what your defensive pairings are going to be.

I mean, save if Chabrohedo beats out Cody C.C., then it's Matheson-Roo-Eadle. But, you know, what are you going to get from that third line? Every time the Penguins have won the Stanley Cup in the Sid Gino era, you've had a great third line. The HBK line, you have a Cookstall-K-Lennedy line. You know, can this be one of those great third lines? I have a lot of doubts about it, though. I mean, if it would, though, I would eat a lot of crow. That's for sure.

Yeah. I don't think the problem is Jan Kowski. I think Jan Kowski is perfectly fine, especially if he can come in bringing some of the offense that he did in his first few years in Calgary. McCann needs a defensively responsible guy so he can just go and be the offensive output guy on that line.

It's just a matter of finding who's going to be that right winger for them. And obviously we said Evan Rodriguez, as Sam Lafferty, he's a potential guy. Colton Severe, maybe. I totally forgot that he's the own team. I just remember that they got him in the trade with Matheson. That's just, that just goes to show where my mind isn't in this offseason, man. It's one of those things, like where I have no idea what Colton Severe is going to do.

I just know that he exists. So I just kind of like, you know, maybe he could be a third liner. You know, we're getting so worried about. third line guys whenever a big part of us winning in 17 we had carter rowney playing third line minutes and just being really good in the offensive zone in terms of possession at times and setting up big plays but um you know the big thing that i'm banking on hunter and i don't know if it's going to happen, and it's going to make me sad if it doesn't happen, is I'm, like, banking on San Paul and making the roster.

Yeah, man, I just, I don't know if that's going to happen. He didn't make Team Canada's roster. I did, I see a tweet from Danny Shire Irving, you know, I think, you know, it was probably a shot at some of us. I think I'm probably in there, too, you know, just, I think people have a little bit of unrealistic expectations that he may make the team. I mean, I am on the thought that he will make the team, but will I be surprised if he gets sent down and doesn't make it?

Absolutely not. to be like, it's honestly probably the more likely outcome. Though I do, I think he will still make the team. Though it does suck, man, that he didn't make Team Canada's World Junior roster. I thought he was definitely a lot, honestly, to get on it. But that just goes to show how stacked Canada is. But I'm just, I'm excited to see him. You know, we talked about Colin Seabier, you know,

saw him be gone. Maybe he's a 10 to 15 goal scorer for the Penguins season. Maybe he's the offensive output on the third line next to McCann. And then you can put Mark Jankeowski on there, who's more defensively responsible. He did have a 12-goal season, I think, just about a season and a half ago. So you have that to look forward to as well.

Is there any other big question you have about this team going into this year? You know, third pairing, goal-tending, anything like that? I just, you know, I think the third pairing is going to be interesting because I said this to somebody today where I hope that the penguins aren't so enamored with Pedersen and Marino together that they won't split them up. because I think that Mike Matheson would be perfect for Marino because of how much of a stay-at-home presence John Marino is. It would allow Matheson to play his game,

you know, take the puck up in the offensive zone and take chances a little bit. So I'm not sure what you think about that, but that's what I'm thinking. Yeah, I think I'm agreeing with you on that. You know, I'm just, I'm hoping Matheson just pans out in general. You know, maybe Todd Ravirving can work some devil magic with him, but we'll have to see on that.

But coming up in the next segment, Doug, we'll touch on who we think the five best players are in Penguins history. Well, who that number five spot goes to basically because everyone knows who the top four is. So stay tuned for that for the last few minutes of the show. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodey. So, Doug, I mean, it's obviously Lemieux, Sid, Yager, Gino. That's the top four. I mean, unless you have any other player that you want to put in your top four,

Do you have any hot takes for that, or are we good for that? No, that's the solid four. Yeah. The five one's going to be the big question mark, though. Who's your number five? Because I got mine ready. Well, it's, obviously, it's going to be between Latang and Paul Coffey, right? You know, two great defensemen from two different errors.

I think I'll give the edge to Latang just, you know, kind of like aging myself, I guess. you know, he was, he's just such a big part of this core and he's not appreciated nearly as much as he should be. You know, and obviously Ron Francis gets some consideration. But I think I stick with Lutang. That might be kind of a hot take, but I'm just going to ride with it and see what happens. Yeah, I mean, I definitely see the argument for Chris Lentang.

I mean, he's the second, well, in terms of like playing with only one team, best defenseman in franchise history. Paul Coffey obviously went around the league. But I'm going to go Paul Coffey, man. I mean, what he did with the Penguins, I mean, guy put up two 100-point seasons with them. I mean, obviously won the Stanley Cup.

I mean, in their first Stanley Cup run, 93.76 games. I mean, he is, I think, the best defenseman in franchise history for all the defensemen that have come through here. Also, my mom's favorite player, fun fact for everyone out there. But, I mean, It's just, Ron Francis, a big, big one too. You can also argue Kevin Stevens, he's great. But it's just like what Paul Coffey was able to do, you know,

1,500 points overall for his career, multiple 100-point season with the Penguins, almost another 100-point season, won the Stanley Cup with them. Just like how he saw the ice, you know, just going back and watching all the highlights of him and just how he moved the puck up the ice so smoothly. It just, it can't be topped. And, you know, I know some people will put.

put the argument, oh, well, he only played with the penguins for three to four years. Yeah, I know. Everyone knows their penguin's history. But, you know, what he did in those three to four years, though, it puts them over the top. But, you know, I understand why people would say Chris Leng, though. But after that, if you want to go six, seven, I think I'd probably put Francis at six and then Stevens at seven. I know some people would probably put Mark Andre Flurry around that area. I would laugh at you because I honestly think Mark Andre Floree is one of the most overrated players in the history of the league. But in terms of franchise history, though, I mean, I'd probably put him towards the end of the top

10, but, like, there's still a bunch of players that I would put before him. But I think at 6-7, Francis and then Stevens. Yeah, I agree with that. And I think, you know, Flurie's probably in the 9-10 range. I think it would be kind of ignorant for us to, like, put him outside of the top 10. But I do agree. He was super overrated. And, you know, he tanked a couple of Crosby and Melkine's primers.

And I don't think I'll ever get over that. Yeah, the series against the Flyers, the series against the Bruins. Hell, they almost lost stories against the Islanders because he had a meltdown in game four, basically. Of course, Tomasville couldn't have to come in. So, yeah, I would agree with you there. I mean, we're just, we've just been so spoiled over the years of so many franchise grades. Also, Doug, before we go, if you had to pick where the Penguins finish and this real-line division, with all their gauntlet rivals,

where do you think they will finish? Because I have them at third right now. I have them at third, but I can also see them falling into a wild card. Yeah, I think so too. I mean, they're also, they may not do wild cards here. They may just do top four per division,

which would make sense because it's a different format. Okay. So then just please do not have an all-a-division playoff format. I've been long advocating for the league to just see them one through 16, see them one-through-eight, or just have the top teams pick their opponents.

I don't really care if a Canadian team plays a U.S. team from the West or something like that. It would just be so much fun if they were to try off something new. Doug, thank you so much for coming on, man. I really appreciate it, you know, especially because it was kind of last minute. But, you know, this was fun. Next week we'll be having Alan Saunders on. He covers the Steelers and does some stuff for the Pirates. And, of course, he's done stuff for the Penguins as well.

A great figure in the Penguins and the Pittsburgh. community. So look for that. I think it will be around on Wednesday of next week. But Doug, really, man, thank you so much for coming on. Yeah, man. I had fun. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, and where can everyone follow you on Twitter? Follow me on Twitter at Doug underscore Glacky. Tweeting about the penguins all the time. I just have random thoughts and I put them out there. But yeah, I'm a fun follow. I know my stuff and

you know, I won't be super annoying. So yeah. Yeah, he's not super annoying unlike yours truly, who just tweets a bunch of nonsense. But again, guys, thank you so much for listening. Hopefully the Steelers can pull it off. I forgot that matchup is on Monday, so that's fine. At least there's no Virginia Tech football to watch this weekend, so I can't get embarrassed by watching them. So thank you so much for listening, and I will talk to you all next week.