Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who is the favorite for that 12th forward spot?

Episode Date: August 26, 2022

Happy Thursday! Hunter starts the episode with another RoboPenguin update as Icetetics is reporting that the jersey is going to have a gold gradient. Is that what the Penguins should be doing? Hunter dives into that report and voices some displeasure over it since it would kinda ruin the logo in a way. He looks at how there have been too many plain gold jerseys as of late for the Penguins and how they need to change it up a little bit (just don't go for a blue jersey). After that update, he looks at the race for the 12th forward spot and who has the inside edge heading into training camp and the preseason. Is it Drew O'Connor? Is it Ryan Poehling? What about Drake Caggiula or Josh Archibald? He looks at who the best option is for the team in that spot and how the player can potentially contribute in more than one way. Also: Is it a given that DOC makes the team? Hunter goes into that as well before ending the show with some Jeff Carter talk. He dives into what Carter needs to do next season in order to be more consistent, plus looks at if 3C is still the best position for him at this stage in his career.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, everyone. Happy Thursday, August 25th. I have the house to myself tonight with these two wonderful dogs who are asleep right now, as long as Thron does not do anything stupid, but he has just been gassed ever since he came back from daycare just a couple days ago. I guess that's what happens when you're a seven-month-old puppy. But another action pack show today. I have another update on the Robo Penguin situation, because Icyics, who have really good. about jerseys. Obviously, they're one of the best websites out there for jerseys. They had an interesting scoop about the Robo Penguin jersey today, which I'll get to starting off for the show. Second segment, we're going to get into Ryan Paling, and if he's going to be the one that wins that final, you know, forward roster spot, assuming the Penguins don't make any other moves for training camp. And then finally, we're going to get into Jeff Carter and what the big key for him

should be to have a bounce back season last year. It feels weird to say that because he did score 18 goals, but that second half of the year, definitely not that good. So the big key for him, you know, can he be more consistent, I guess? We'll get into that coming up for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of, excuse me, the Locked on Penguin's podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at L. owners for Payingland. So let's get, you know, right into some more Robo Penguin stuff because obviously this is one of the biggest topics on Penguins Twitter right now. So Ice Edix, again, they have excellent sources when it comes to jerseys. In my opinion, they are the best out there. You know, they have scoops all over the league. You know, if they're reporting it, you know, usually, um,

It does come to fruition. And they reversed some update. They will be reversed. They revealed some updates on some of those leaked colors and logo details for the reverse retro 2.0 jerseys. And in the video, the person that was running it said he has heard that the penguins are going to be doing the robo penguin this year. So I will check that off as a one-for-one scoop. Hopefully it is officially announced at some point either before training camp, during training camp, preseason, during the regular season, whatever. but he did say it sounds like it's going to have a gold gradients or the jersey is going to be gold.

If that is true, and I checked in with someone close to the team today, and he's heard it's going to be black, so I'm not really too sure yet. But if it is gold and the person I'm talking to is a bit wrong on that, I'm going to be a little disappointed. I don't think the Robo Penguin design looks good on a gold jersey. and I'm also just kind of tired of the all-out gold jerseys that this team has had over the years. Most of them have, you know, they've not been that good. You know, the home jersey right now, obviously that's awesome.

There's a little bit of gold in it, but, you know, there's still, you know, plenty of black in it as well. The away jersey is just terrific, the white and the gold and the black. It's just, I don't think there's a better one in the league. But remember those third jerseys that the Penguins worn the playoffs just a couple of years ago and stick. the Islanders, those all yellow paint jerseys, basically. And yeah, I know a lot of people made a big deal out of it. And the playoffs, no, it had nothing to do with them losing. But it was still a jersey that, you know, in my head, I was just kind of like,

eh, okay, you know, not good, not terrible, but also just, I mean, I guess. And that's kind of how I would feel if the Robo Penguin logo is on, you know, this one. And I'll potentially put the tweet in the comments. I wish I could figure out a way where I go up. I actually do think I can share my screen here. So let me see if I can actually do that. Well, let's see here. Well, I guess maybe.

Yes. Okay, we can do that here real quick. Okay. So you all see, you all see. If those are on the YouTube channel, you all see this, right? You come here. Let me make sure that it's on the thing. So yes.

look at this right here this is no all this gold right here you you put that robo penguin logo on the middle of that it is going to look so bad it's just it's not going to look well um at all i'll shop staring sharing my screen here so you all want to see what i have open um and all that and there's nothing bad of course don't right um but it's just i i don't like it i think if they were to again, go to the all black, which I am going to pull out, pull up right here. My Twitter page, I'll share my screen again for you all here. I'll bet those launch on YouTube if I can just do this. Okay.

So right here, right? This is the jersey that you want. All black, the robo penguin looks perfect, right in the middle of it. I know this is a design from Bardown, but whatever. Black gloves, you know, a nice little stripe, you know, right by the elbows. You have a nice C at the top. that is the kind of jersey that I want coming back. Having it be a gold version, it's just going to look like piss.

That's my opinion. I think, you know, if you want to bring this legendary logo back and it is really good, you got to do it right. And I think, you know, with how people reacted to the first reverse retro jersey when they brought back the diagonal Pittsburgh, which was an all-white version, I thought that was okay. But a lot of people didn't like it. I don't think those same people will like this one.

That's for sure. And also, I should say this. If it is gold and ice edicts gets this right. And, you know, chances are, you know, they probably will just because of how good their sources are. Again, you know, I don't ever claim to be an inside man. You know, when I hear stuff, though, I do try to put it out there, you know, just, you know, I've gotten some scoops right. No, hopefully I don't get this one wrong. Hopefully it is all black.

But I just wanted to say that as well. But again, you know, when they had that white one, you know, they came back to the extra year like, okay, we're going to bring back the OG version, right? So I'm really wondering if this one isn't all gold version, do they say, okay, we're going to do this for a year, excuse me, wear the jersey for five and ten games? Because remember, they have to wear their home and away jersey, select number of games, and they have to wear the, you know, the Pittsburgh dialect. diagonal one, five to ten games or something like that, you know, could they scrap this one

after this year and then say, okay, we're going to bring back the OG OG Robo-Kangling jersey, or one of them, and just say, okay, here you all go. We didn't do it this past year because it was a reverse retro. Now we're going to give you the original one. And they could potentially wear, no, four jerseys again next season like they are going to this year. I know last season they wore Holman away and then the Pittsburgh diagonal jerseys. But, you know, we'll have to see. But I definitely could see the team and the ownership group saying, yep, we're just going to do that just because, you know, people are still going to buy it.

But I think, you know, they're going to get a lot more support if they bring back an OG version after the verse retro. But again, hopefully it is not a gold one. I'm actually rooting for Icythetics. To be wrong, based on what they're here. and hopefully that it is a black one. I'm sure, again, plenty of people are going to buy it. But, you know, what will have to see just, you know, what happens when it's announced is the big thing. You know, is it going to be camp preseason during the regular season.

If it is during the regular season, it's probably going to be sometime early in the season. I should say that. So that wraps up this first segment of today's episode. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into, you know, who has the inside track to win. in that final roster spot for the Penguins as it stands right now. I basically teased it in the opening segment. But I'm going to get into that and also look at some of the other options that the Penguins have available right now.

But before I get to that, Benline is the fastest and easiest way to check out on all of your betting means. You can find all of your favorite sports and events at the number one online source for Ons, Lines, and Games. You can find reviews and news of every league, including MLB, NFL, NBA, NBA, NHL, combat sports, e-sports, and even golf. Banline continues to be the top online resource for all of your sports radio information from live

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underscore Penguins. So let's get into it here. So as the debt chart stands right now, this is my personal top nine, well, top 11. Jake Gensel at the top left wing, Sydney Crosby at center, Brian Russ at your right wing. They could always flip-flop Raquel and Russ. I'm sure they probably will during the season. You know, Raquel obviously had a great stint with Crosby after he was required after the trade deadline last year. I definitely, they will revisit that at some point next season.

Jason Zucker, Evgeny Malkin, Ricard Raquel, on your second. line. Dayton Hine and Jeff Carter, Kasbury, Capinen right now. As your third line, I guess, you know, eh, He can chip in goals for and wise. If Caputin and bounces back, that's massive, though I'm not fully counting on that. And then if Carter can produce again

and then be more consistent, which I'll get into a little later on. I think that has the makings of, I guess, a passable third line until they could potentially upgrade their forward group by the trade deadline. And then the fourth line, you have Teddy Wuger and Brock McGinn.

And then a whole lot of options. You know, Ryan Paling, Josh Archball, redeems the horn of Drew O'Connor, Nathan Legerri, Drake Cajula. You know, I think those are the main players that are going to be in the mix for that final spot. But right now, I do think Ryan Paling has the inside track for that job. I don't think the Penguins would have acquired him from the Canadians if they didn't think that he had what it takes to make this team. I read from Danny Shari just a couple of weeks ago that he thinks that, you know,

Palin could potentially get second power play minutes on the Penguins just because of how good he is in front of that. He had some nice video in that piece. That's definitely something I'm not fully supporting at this point in time. I think I kind of want to see how he does in bottom six minutes. But, oh, this is still a player, again, you know, former first-round pick. just played 57 games for the Canadians this past season. Not the best underlying numbers, you know, 45% of the shot attempts per 60 minutes,

34% of the actual goals, 45% of the expected goals, 45% of the swine chances, 47% of the high danger chances when he was on the ice for Montreal. I definitely think part of that has to do with playing on a really crappy team. But, you know, it definitely looked like a bit of a reach of a pick at the time when he was drafted. and, you know, it's, it's shown that so far for his NHL career. Remember, it's funny. He actually had a hat trick in his NHL debut in the 2018-19 season, played one game, three goals, and didn't play another game the rest of that season.

2019-20, I played 27 games. I had one goal at 585 this past year. Six goals, eight total assists at 55 and 57 games. I think the best case scenario for him is at this point, and I'm kind of tempering my expectations a little bit. I think the best case scenario for him is maybe like a Brock McGinn type where he's scoring 10 to 12 goals a season for Pittsburgh. If you can get that up to 15, I think that will be solid.

I don't know if he'll ever touch what Carter did this past season with 18 goals. But I think anywhere, you know, 10 to 12, maybe up to 15, I think that's the most you're going to get out of him. I've seen some people say that he should be in the top six. I definitely disagree with that. The penguins have plenty of other options at this point in the top six who are a lot better than paling. I'm just, you know, I'm not as high on him as others are. You know, I will gladly openly admit that.

I think that at the time he was kind of just a throw-in to the petri trade, even though the penguins, they definitely do like him. They like the size that he brings, you know, the shot that he has. as, you know, he can play center. He can play a wing. If the penguins do have a center injury, say Teddy Bluger, you know, Jeff Carter, God forbid, Afghani or Sidney Crosby, get hurt during the year,

they can probably just switch paling to center, and he can anchor the third or fourth lines or something like that. So that's the versatility in him, I think, definitely intrigued the front office in that deal. And again, I think that they're hoping to, you know, turn his development around just because, you know, he is still, you know, quite a young player, you know, still in his, making sure I get this right here, you know, you know, he's still only 23 years old. Those are usually considered the peak years of your career.

So he has time, you know, turning around here. It's all a matter of, you know, can the penguins get more value out of him than the Canadians did? And, you know, as for someone that could potentially, you know, take his spot if Paling does not win it in camp. in my opinion, I think Drew O'Connor is going to make this team, whether it's in a paling spot, whether it's as a 13th forward. I do think when that final roster is finalized after training camp after the preseason, when it's probably going to be 13th forwards, 8D, and two goalies, I think O'Connor is going to be on that team.

It's making a break of time for him, played well in a short stand with the Penguins last year. It's really now or never for him at this stage in his development. He needs to show the team that he can put the part. puck in the back of the net, he can continue to skate, play well defensively. He'll be getting third, more likely, four flying minutes because, you know, they're all battling for that final spot. But, and I do think that O'Connor, you know, he really needs to show what he's made of.

Because, again, I'll say this for the 500 time of the offseason and during the season last year, he showed a lot of flashes when he was on the team. Last year was unfortunately that, you know, his season was derailed by an injury. But it's a fresh slate now. if he's fully healthy going into camp, I think he has something to prove. But right now, I think Paling has the inside track to get that final roster spot,

assuming the Pinguins do not make a trade. And I think right behind him on his tail, is O'Connor following that. I would say, you know, a group of Archibald, Zahorna, Drake Cajula. He's had decent underlines. Thet of Screw, even though he only played in 18 games for the Oilers.

Last year, Nathan Legerie, I think he could potentially make a play for that. Philip Hollander. Alex Nealander, Sam Poulan. That's like, I guess, that that third or that second or third or fourth group, you know, after, you know, the main ones of Paling and O'Connor in some of those guys. Again, I mainly think Paling is just going to get a lot of 55 minutes next season. You know, I said it a few minutes ago.

I don't think it's too wise to put them on that power of the power. I think they have plenty of other players they can put on the second power pool unit. Like, for example, you know, obviously you have Gensel, Rosby, Malk and Rust, and let's hang on your top powerplay. But you can put, you know, Ricard, Raquel, Jason Zucker, Jeff Petriek, is very cap and probably what, you know, Jeff Carter on that second unit. You know, I would probably trust Carter overpayling at the moment on the second power of like, you know, that's me though.

You know, that's just my opinion. But, you know, I think the Penguins have, you know, enough capable guys to fill that second unit where they don't have to reach down and, you know, put, you know, pailing, I think, on that unit and Teddy Bluegren, Brockman again. And those guys. So that wraps up the second segment of today's episode. Coming up in the final episode, final second, we're going to get into Jeff Carter, where I see him playing next season.

Should he be at center? Could he potentially move to wing? And, you know, what needs to happen so that he can just be more consistent overall next season? That's all coming up right after this commercial break. All right, now back here in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. He's going to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O.Ns for Penguins.

And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So, you know, as of right now, he's probably the team's third line center, Jeff Carter. That is, I mean, I don't think Teddy Bluger has done anything to, you know, move up the depth chart, at least, you know, in the playoffs last year. And during the regular season, I know this is a big year for Teddy, just because it's a contract year. I think the team is a bit more down on him that they would admit.

At least that's, you know, whispers from what I've heard and stuff. But, you know, I think Carter needs to have a pretty big year this year too. This is the first year of his two-year extension that Hexthaw signed him to during the middle of last season, a deal that, you know, looked fine at the time because Carter was actually producing and playing well, but the second half of the season happened

and he played like total dog water as the kids like to say. I think a big thing for Carter next season is making sure he doesn't, you know, he's not, you know, in an elevated role, I should say, you know, just for a lot of that season. Because, you know, last season, Crosby and Malkin are out to start the year. I mean, Sid, I know comes back after the first couple weeks, but, you know, Carter was this team's first signed center for the first handful of games. That is going to, you know, take a toll on you as a season goes on. And even when Sid came back, you know, Carter was still the team's second line center. That's even going to take a toll on someone who's getting close to 40 years old at this point in his career. But, you know, if he's playing on the third line center like he did when he came over from the Kings in 2020, 2020, 2021, you saw what happened.

He was ridiculously good. He wrote a very high shooting percentage. His underlying numbers were fantastic. And he was able to stay consistent and make quite the impact with the Penguins. And in the first half last year, he was mostly. more fresh. He was scoring, producing offense outside of that, playing well in his own zone. But after that, when, you know, the mileage really started, you know, to just rack up throughout

the season, the results they waved. And he looked washed. He looked gassed every night. For some reason, Mike Sullivan decided to put him on the ice in a pivotal moment in game five against the Rangers when Crosby went out to that Jacob Truba hit. I believe that it was the maybe it was the. maybe it was the three two goal from i believe it was actually true by that scored back goal and solvin quickly adjusted that payments go down and tie the game just a couple of seconds

later with with malkin and gents on the same line but you know again i touched on that at the time which is really stupid blunder um from sely i think i think he was just trusting Carter too much at that point and you know he just didn't deserve um those kind of minutes But, you know, if you can limit his ice time to, you know, 12, 13 minutes a game, you know, maybe, maybe even anything I think lower than 15, I think you're doing fine. But, you know, when he's playing 16, 17, you know, upwards of 20 minutes a night, you know, that's just, you know, that's not going to fly here. I will say that. It's just, it's not good enough. And as you saw you throughout the season, the numbers, they regressed.

When he was on the ice that season, the Penguins had only 47% of the shot attempts per 60, 43% of the actual goals for, 48% of the scoring chances, 48% of the high danger chances, and 43% of the high danger goals for his underlines tanked last season, as it all went on. Not good enough. It's unacceptable, especially for someone that just got an extension. And maybe you can chalk that up to line mates, but I think most of it is due to him, just playing at the level that he played with when he was.

was with the Kings during 2020, 2020, 2021 when he played 40 games for them that year. And when he was on the ice, the Kings had 49% of the shot attempts. They had split 50, 50, 50 in actual goals for. They had 46% of the scoring chances and 48% of the high danger chances. Very similar to what you saw last season with the Penguins. He just went on a nice heater when he got traded over to the Penguins, carried over to the first half of last year, and then it reverted back to what he was doing in the first half of last year. And again, if you can cut down on ice time, give him reliable players that can help

him produce like a Dayton Hine and who scored 18 last year. Maybe if Kappaninin bounces back, that could be a big help. I think he can be a better player for them next season. Maybe you can take him off the penalty kill. It's tough because I do like him as a penalty killer, but I'm not sure he, you know, is deserving of, you know, the big minutes on that unit, at least for me. I think, if you look at the depth chart right now, you know, let's hang, he's really good at killing penalties. I think, you know, Bluger, when he's in his element, he's great at killing penalties.

Brock, usually, he's one of their best penalty killers. I would put his very confident on that top penalty kill unit. That might be a bit of a hot take, but he was really good at it when he was in Toronto. I know he played on the second unit, but his numbers were pretty legit. I would try him out there and see how he does. But that's just me, though,

but you can also rotate your defenseman. You can maybe put Petrie on there. as well. I know Trevor Redals killed penalties. Brian Dumont, obviously, is one of their best penalty-killing defensemen. You know, you have plenty of options there that don't involve car. I think if you mainly just stick to him playing at 5E-5, playing on the second power pool unit, and giving him 12, 15 minutes a night, I think you're going to see better results or the Penguins hope that they should see better results,

and you're not going to see him just being a drag, whether it's in the offensive or the defensive zone. I would keep him at third line center for now, but if those numbers start to dwindle even more, I would really much consider moving him to wing or honestly moving down to the fourth line center and then elevating Tiffany Bluger if he does play well. So those are my thoughts on the entire Jeff Carter situation

and what the penguin should do with him and how he can potentially bounce back next season after disaster or second half of the year. But that will do it for this episode. of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one. I'll be back with another episode tomorrow, which is Friday. And then, no, next week we'll have three more.

And we will welcome in September, which means it is training camp month. And I am so stoked to be, though, just get closer to talking about, you know, real Penguins updates and just practices and then eventually games, which is scheduled to happen in about a month and a half at this point. So keep it right here on Locked on Penguins for everything. everything pits for pain is related hope you all the wonderful rest of your thursday i'll talk to you all on friday