Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who steps up for the Penguins on the PK with Noel Acciari out, with Nick Brlansky!

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without a member of their bottom six for the next little bit and Nick Brlansky joins Hunter to break all of that down. Nick takes the place of Pat (just before today) since Pat is a bit under the weather and he helps Hunter analyze what Acciari's absence will mean for the team going forward. They discuss his impact on the PK and in the defensive zone and how that will be missed before looking at who the Penguins should call up from WBS. Should the team cave and call up Sam Poulin? Is it time for him to get his shot? They also give other options for who could get called up before diving into the trade deadline. What does Nick think the team should do right now? Has Hunter's opinion changed at all? Finally, they end the show with Billy Guerin being hired as Team USA's GM and how that could lead to Mike Sullivan being the head coach.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer. FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your best bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Noalachari is set to be out for at least the next couple of games for the Penguins, and I have a special guest to break all that down right after this. 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 the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.

You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. And normally, this is where I would say I'm joined by my host, Patrick Am, can follow his Twitter at Send him for wet. But Pat is not here for today's episode. He is pretty under the weather day. There's a whole bunch of stuff going around the area right now. And it's winter. That's what happens when there's just tons of viruses. But Pat is a little under the weather. And I have Nick Berlanski of tip of the iceberg joining me for today's episode. So Nick, really appreciate you being the substitute teacher for Pat today. Yeah, I was about to say you got the B team sub it in here. Pat, hopefully, you know, feels better a little bit later in the day or

maybe tomorrow, but I'm just excited to talk some hockey with you, Hunter. Yeah, same here, man. You know, you can follow Nick on Twitter at Nick Berlanski, and you can also follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. Ars for Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms.

And finally, today's episode is brought to you by GameTime, down the GameTime map, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. So starting off today's show with some notes from practice of Gennie Malkin, miss practice, but that's a maintenance day, probably just some bums and ruses. He'll be good to go for the weekend in Minnesota and in Winnipeg. But the big news out of practice today, Nick,

No, O'Hari has been diagnosed with a concussion. He will be out for the next two games and could be out a bit longer, depending on how his concussion goes. I'll say this. I know Achari hasn't brought a lot of offense to the table for the penguins this year, but this is going to be a bigger loss than I think some may make it out to be just because of his impact on the penalty kill and his defensive impacts. I do think he has been at least fine for the penguins this year.

I don't like the contract that he is on and the money that he makes. But I do think he serves a role for this team. And with him not being out there, it is going to hurt the PK especially. So I know you're higher on Achari than I am and I know a few other people. So what are your thoughts on this news from today? I mean, I can't disagree with the fact that he doesn't provide a lot of offense, but it is going to hurt the penguins a whole lot on the defensive side of the puck. and you mentioned it on the penalty kill.

I looked at the numbers yesterday after his injury happened on Tuesday. And with him in the lineup, the penguins have about an 83% success rate on the penalty kill, which would be good for around third in the National Hockey League. Without them, which is if you include Tuesday's game, nine games, they would be 28th in the National Hockey League with about a 74, 75% success rate. So that is a massive drop. And when you talk about, obviously, the Penguins haven't had a good power play all year long. It's been very volatile.

their goal scoring in general has been very volatile. The one thing they could depend on has been, other than Sidney Crosby, the penalty kill. A penalty kill and goaltenders, for the most part, have been the big things. And Nolachari is the leader of the forwards and the penalty kill. And you can make an argument he is one of the biggest penalty killers, one of the most important penalty killers on this team. So losing him, if it's for an extended period of time, could be detrimental to the penguins.

Again, it's not a death blow by any means. Obviously, that would come with somebody in the top six. but like you said, it's much more important than people would typically think of a fourth line center going out. Right. And that's coming from someone,

aka me, that again, is not even that high on his contract or especially his offensive capabilities. But overall, you take him out of the PK and Nyetto is one. I know Nyettos been out for a while.

That's two players that you brought in to play on the PK. And that's two key forwards that are not playing on that unit. So you're going to have to have other players step up on that unit, whether it's, Brian Ross, for example.

He plays on the PK quite a bit, you know, whether that's someone like, you know, maybe you could throw Jans and Harkins in there. It's interesting. He's not getting that much penalty kill time, even though he plays on the fourth line exclusively. So I can maybe see him getting some PK time. Maybe Colin White,

because we assume that he's going to be in the lineup in favor of Noah Chari for as long as he out. Maybe he is taking his place on the PK. But as you said with those stats, that's a big deal because this penalty kill, it's hovered around 10th, 11th for most, of the season. There was a time where it was also top five in the league, but right now it's around 10th or 11th. I just hope that that doesn't falter for as long as Achari's out,

because you're right. The Penguins have been able to at least count on one of their special teams units to make a difference in games. And I really hope that doesn't change going forward. Yeah, they were around like you said, fourth, fifth, sixth place in the NHL and then Achari went out. And when Atari went out, Nietto went out at the same time. And then that seven, eight games where Archari was out, the Penguins penalty kill was horrendous. So it dropped, I mean, as horrendous as you can be to drop from fifth down to 11th, but that's where they have hovered, you know, ever since. But you look at, you know, even a guy like Drew O'Connor might have to step up on the penalty kill. And what does that take away? And what does that take away? I mean, the penguins have been relying on Drew O'Connor a lot this year to step up for them at five on five and on the offensive side of the puck. If he's forced to go and kill penalties, what does that take away? I mean, I talked about it last year with Brian Rust. I mean, he had a down season. still scored 20 goals, but a lot of that was because he played a lot more on the penalty kill. He was given more responsibility that was spreading him a little bit thinner, so he wasn't able to produce offensively as much as he'd hope. So you're hoping that that doesn't end up

being the case here. Obviously, concussions are notoriously hard to predict. So maybe Achari is fine by the middle of next week. Maybe he's not. I do know that like earlier this season, when a similar situation happened to John Ludwig, he was out a calendar month. That would be a tough blow for the penguins to lose him, to lose Achari for that long. as well if that ends up being the case. And again, as Pat and I talked about on our show on Wednesday, that was just a scary hit, man. You saw his face just smack right on the ice.

And you could tell right when he got up, he looked a bit dizzy right away. I'm like, okay, that was, it was really tough to watch. And Brendan Dillon gets a three-game suspension. I hate to say that I was right because I predicted one to three games on the show on Wednesday. Should have been a lot longer, in my opinion. But Dylan will not be playing for the Jets on Saturday against the Penguins.

Now, in terms of who replaces a game. Chari, Nick. If it were up to me, I would call up Sam Poulan from Wilkesbury because I think he has been one of their best players down there this season. Ever since coming back, he has 11 goals, 18 points in 26 games. He's top five in scoring among players down in Wilkesbury. Now, are they going to do that? We'll have to see.

But that would be my pick for who replaces a chari in the lineup. Now, they might just go the safe route, put Colin White in there who honestly, I mean, I'm not too excited about. him over. I mean, we saw him play on the second line and he really didn't bring that much overall. Even in a fourth line role, he's really not going to bring you that much. But I still would rather see them give Poulan more of an opportunity, especially because I think he's better offensively than White. And I think he can definitely just see what he can do at the NHL level, at least for the next few games, considering what he's been doing in Wilkesbury. Again, I don't

think he's a long-term answer or anything. Just like how I don't think Poo-Yarvi is a long-term answer on this team. You're seeing what he can do. I thought he had a pretty solid game against the Jets on Tuesday. But why not bring Sam Poulan up and see what he can do for a few games? He's your first round pick from 2019. You got to give him a shot eventually. And he's playing as well as he has ever played since becoming a member of the Penguins organization right now. Now, part of that might be, do you want to disrupt that?

Do you want to disrupt that development at the AHL level and try to push it at the NHL level now for an injury replacement situation? That's one question you could ask. But we talked about this on tip of the iceberg earlier today. I said, well, if you bring him up, I think most people would agree that you're setting him up for failure, putting him on that Achari spot on the fourth line. You would probably have to drop Lars Eller down to the fourth line, put Sam Poulan up on the third with Poole-Yarvey, who he played with multiple games down there at the HL level over the last month. And at that point, you're moving a lot of things around.

And at this point of the season, you want to get a little bit more consistency. That's one thing the Penguins have struggled with. But if you are able to do that, and it works, and Poulan is a third-line center capable type of guy. When Achari comes back, he can just go to the wing. I mean, that is a picture perfect situation and nothing ever works out that well. But I don't see a way in which you can pull Poulan up to be a fourth line center on this team. I think Chari should be on the wing no matter what, in my opinion, even when he's healthy.

I just don't think he's been that good of a center for the Penguins this year. But I hear you with what you're saying of moving L or down because if you do have Poulan on your fourth line, he's next to what? Jansen Harkins, who, I mean, he's been. fine, but he only also has four points in 32 games. And then Jeff Carter, who I will say, has been better than I thought he would this year. He's also getting time in the wing. They're managing his minutes a bit better.

It's definitely not the greatest situation, but you're still getting him NHL minutes. And I think that's still what he needs to see at this point. I'd rather see him get minutes there than continue to just light it up down in Wilkesville. I just want to see what he can do at this point. Another option that the Penguins do have to call up Jonathan Gruden, 10 goals, 15 points, and 36 games. We've seen him a little bit at the NHL level. He doesn't really excite me that much. Again, he's been fine at Wilkesbury, but that's another option.

And then you point out to me before we started recording, Nick, someone like Vinnie Hino-Histroza, maybe could make sense as well, maybe just as a 12th or 13th board, no matter who plays between him or Colin White. So I think those would be the other two options for who the penguins could call up, because I don't think they're going to go into this weekend with just 12 forwards, even with him getting malcolm coming back from a maintenance day. Especially going into a back-to-back against Western Conference teams that are notoriously big bodies are going to leave you a little bit bruised up whenever you come out of the game.

Obviously helps that Brendan Dillon's not in there. So everybody's head's probably going to be a little bit more safer. But at the same time, I would assume the most likely scenario, and I know it's boring, and I know it sucks. Colin White's probably going to be that guy. They're going to call up one of Zahorna or Hinoistroza to just ride the pine and be the bonus forward. And I get it. It's telegraphed.

It's boring. It's not somebody you want to see. Everybody wants to see Sam Poole and get that opportunity. but it's the most likely scenario. Now they could surprise us. Kyle Dupus has surprised us in the past, but I think that's obviously the scenario that is most likely, especially watching practice today or not watching practice,

but looking at the practice reports today and seeing, okay, they didn't call anybody up as of right now and Colin White automatically slotted into that fourth line center role. Right. White was centering the fourth line with Jeff Carter and Jans and Harkins and then just making me laugh at John Ludwig on the second. with Drew O'Connor and Riley Smith. I know it's a placeholder because of Gennie Malkin was out, but it was still funny seeing John Ludwig playing right wing.

But that also, I think, does show that P.O. Joseph is going to continue to play in Ludwig's spot. And that's something that Pat and I talked about quite a bit before they resume this week, because it looked like for a time Ludwig was going to be right back in the lineup. But then they changed tune right before that game against Winnipeg and Joseph got right back in. And I think overall, I don't mind either. one, this is going to have to come to a head, though, at some point. You're going to have to make a decision which way you want to go.

Do you want to have P.O. Joseph be that guy, your number six for the rest of the season, or is it going to have to be John Ludwig? Because, let's face it. I don't think we've seen enough of John Ludwig to really know what they have in it. But I also would kind of say the same about P.O. Joseph. I mean, he's been okay in the minutes, but he also has been healthy scratched a lot this season. Again, I don't fully know what the team has in him at this point. So again, they're going to have to make a decision on this sooner rather than later.

Yeah, you look at, and even Chad Roo-Weedle hasn't really run away with that number five spot on the right side. The only thing is he's a right-shot defense of which the penguins have six of in the organization entirely, like including Wilkes-Barre. So, yeah, he's a right-shot defenseman. He's a veteran that's not going to make the, oh, my God, I can't believe you cost us the game type of mistake. Is that what you want is your number five? If it is, sure, I don't think that's going to be good enough to get you very far. But I think this is a problem that Kyle Dubus is certainly looking at. We've heard reports obviously Elliot Freeman saying that Kyle Dubus a month and a half ago was looking at the defenseman market.

And Ilya Lubbushkin to this day is the only trade target that has been tied in any way, shape, or form to the Pittsburgh Penguins. So yeah, defense is certainly, especially lower bottom pairing defense is something that this team has not figured out because Kyle Dubus came into this season saying, we're going to give you opportunities and wait to see who takes that opportunity. The fact that we are now, what, 46, 47 games into the season, and you couldn't even really say for certain that there's one bottom pairing defenseman that has gone and taken that role. That's not a good sign for the penguins. And like you mentioned, I don't know what the nature of John Ludwig's injury was. He got injured when he fought Matt Martin back in December.

So I don't know if it's still something where they're like, I'm not entirely sure if we're ready to put you back in the lineup yet, or if they genuinely believe that P.O. Joseph has earned the opportunity to stay in the lineup. You're right. Nobody has really run away with it at all, even though I've been wanting that to happen all season at this point. But we're going to have to see if that happens at some point. And speaking of trades, that's what Nick and I are going to get into for the second segment. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Indeed. We're driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search match with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. Indeed, these are matching and hiring platform with over 350 million, global monthly visitors, according to Indy data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work, use Indy for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. And Indy doesn't just help you hire faster. 93% of employers agree Indy delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites,

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All right. We're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Honour Hodes, joined by special guest on the tip of the iceberg podcast, Nick Rolanski. So, Nick, this is the topic that I think, honestly, everyone in the Penguins fan baser and everyone that covers the team wants to discuss at this point, and that is the upcoming trade deadline. We're about four and a half, five weeks away at this point from the deadline.

Honestly, I shouldn't say we're about a full month away for the trade deadline. at this point. And we still don't fully know what direction the penguins are going to go in. Pat and I have had this discussion a lot on the show. We've said, oh, they're going to be buyers. And then we've leading toward maybe them selling. And then we've kind of gone to neutral. And right now, I think I'm of the opinion. And this is probably going to stay this way for quite a while, unless they just really crap the bed of these next few weeks. I think they should either, A, stand Pat at the deadline and be a bit neutral or B, buy a little bit, whether it's another depth forward. maybe that's another depth defenseman.

You have to ship out one of Ludwig or P.O. Joe's service and something like that to get in someone who's a bit more consistent to come in there and plug in for that bottom pairing spot. That's where I'm at right now. When it comes to Jake Gensel, obviously that's the biggest discussion, I think, regarding the scheme at the deadline. When I really sit down and think about it, the pros and cons, as of right now, I don't think they're going to move him just because they have made their bed at this point. They went all in. They have the games in hand. And especially if they win those games in hand and get further back into the race, I think they're going to keep him.

And yeah, I know people will say, well, you'd lose him for nothing if you don't sign him. Yeah, you kind of would. But you'd also get some cap space during the off season. And that's not nothing. So you would have money to at least try to replace him, even though that's going to be a bit hard. But when you look at this team right now and the trade deadline coming up, where do you stand in terms of them being a buyer or maybe them standing pat or maybe even selling off some assets.

I know it's not a perfect comparison, but I see them in a similar situation as far as whether or not they should buy or sell to where the Buffalo Sabres were last season. It's almost inverted though, because the Buffalo Sabres were a team that were on the rise last year. They were having a pretty good start to the season. A lot of young players, a lot of good prospects, but they were playing well. So what did Kevin Adams go out and do?

He didn't go out and buy a bunch because he knew that they weren't going to go and win a Stanley Cup. They weren't one piece away. So they weren't willing to at that point, kind of stop their progression of their rebuild to bring in somebody by trading a bunch of assets. So what did you go out and do? He brought in a Jordan Greenway, a small piece that shows his team, hey, I understand you guys have been performing well.

Here's a little bit of a prize. We're bringing in somebody to help you guys out in your push for a playoff spot. But we're not going to sell the farm. We're not going to sell first round picks. We're not going to sell massive prospects. I think that's where the penguins are at because, one, they don't have first round picks and prospects. right now to sell. But I do think that where they're at right now, they're not in a position

to actually sell off anybody. And Jake Gensel is obviously, like you mentioned, the biggest conversation. There's pros, there's cons. Every side of this potential dilemma has been spilled out online, on podcasts, on the broadcast, everywhere you can ask. Everybody knows every side of this. Everything is being parceled out. But when you look at Jake Gensel as a whole, he's a 40 goal score. If you have any shot, and I mean any shot, which right now they have a pretty good chance to make the playoffs like you mentioned the games in hand where they're sitting the way that they've been able to perform without a coherent power play they're in a pretty solid position is as good of a position as you can be when you're on the outside looking in not to mention you have

an all-world player playing at a heart trophy level in sidney crosby you have chris le tang basically a renaissance of him as a complete player and you have tristan jaree playing very very well and that's just to name a few things so i would think as of right now i see this team as a team that's Not going to sell at the deadline, but again, plenty of time. You mentioned it, a full calendar month. The next three games could change the entire outlook on what this season is. But as we stand here on February 8th, I see this team as a team that's not ready to sell, not really ready to buy in with everything.

But I do see them, like you said, adding, in my opinion, it would have to be a defenseman. I think they have a couple levers to pull. I mentioned it last week. Pull Yardy was one of them. We're seeing early on the returns of that. But we talked about pool in earlier. I think they can pull that lever later in the season. They can bring Pustin him back up and see what he looks like in a second stint.

So I think they have options on the forward side. If they're going to add, I think it's going to be a defense. And I think that's what they're looking at right now is a depth defenseman to just try to make things as stable as possible on that blue line. See, I wouldn't be surprised if they do go out and add a veteran defenseman. But I'm still of the opinion where I disagree a little bit. I kind of, if they wanted to buy, I would rather them go and get a depth forward that can score a little bit more. I've said his name on the show a couple of times before. Someone like Anthony Duclair of the San Josefrey sharks.

You know the sharks are going to sell at the dead blind. They are terrible, to say the least. Nine goals, 17 points overall this season. He's been someone that I've wanted the Penguins to get for quite some time. And when you look at what he's done on a pretty bad San Jose team this year, he's been able to produce, again, on a team that's legitimately tanking. So if you add him to the third line or something like that, or even down towards the fourth line or whatever,

that makes your team better, in my opinion. Just a player like that, where if the team starts showing some more consistency over these next two weeks, and Kyle Dubas says, okay, I've seen the consistency that you've shown me, I'm going to reward you with another player that can give us some scoring umphs,

and I'm not going to give up much to do it. Okay, I'm going to go do that for you guys and give us that help for the push to the playoffs. That's just my opinion. I would rather see them go out and get a debt forward because, again, I hear you with Poo-Yarvy, with Poulan, you can call it Houston as well. I'm just not sure if they were all going to be consistent enough on a weekly basis to provide that depth scoring when the top players just are kind of off for some nights. Because Cindy Crosby's not going to play with this every night.

Jack Gensel is not going to score every night either. And we've seen Evgeny Malk and kind of have a mini roller coaster. But I still think there are another forward away in their bottom six from having at least a better bottom six than what they had coming into the season. Yeah, the bottom six is an interesting, interesting, I don't know, case study, I guess. Because when we think about this year versus last year, I maintain that this year's is better. Now again, last year, maybe through 47 games, it would have been better because you can make the argument that this year's one is better.

And it's funny that we can say that because last year's bottom six was just an absolute disaster. It was. And here's the thing, too, is we can say that now because it's only been 47 games. through 47 games last year, the bottom six wasn't as bad as we remember it because they really, really, really hit the floor in the last half of the season. They were very bad. So there's still time for this bottom six to get back on par with last years, which we hope it doesn't happen. But for a long time this year, I was on the, you know, they need one more true score in the bottom six.

But when I look at the way that this team has been built and has been constructed by Kyle Dubas, I just don't know if they're going to go out and get a guy that's just a pure. score. They're not going to need another defense first bottom six guy. They're not. They have all of the defense first bottom six guys in the league, it feels like. But if you bring in a guy like that, how does it change the dynamic of what you tried to build in the first place of, hey, the top six is going to score, the bottom six is going to prevent goals.

Because right now, the bottom six has held their end of the bargain there. And they've not been as bad, you know, scoring as a lot of people like to think. Because when you look at what they're on pace to do for their bottom six goals, it's on par with last years, but they've provided much better defense. So it's, like I said, it's a very interesting case study because clearly, clearly it's not one of the best in the league. But I also don't know who they would be able to go in and bring in that would fit the mold that they've already built or if they're going to completely try to change things around

with 20 games left in the season and bring somebody that changes the entire dichotomy and that he had not dichotomy is not the right word, the entire feel of that bottom six. Like I think, Duclair would because he is 100% all gas, some brinked. I wouldn't say no breaks. There's a couple no breaks players in the league. He, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't put him on that level,

but he's mostly gas. Right. And see, that's why I wouldn't mind if you added him, because you can add a different element to the bottom six while still making sure that unit defends first, but then you can also add the scoring punch because Duclear will add that scoring punch while also,

I think not taking away the overall goal of that unit that they had earlier in the season or heading into the season, I should say, which was, okay, you're going to defend the way to make sure that the, puck doesn't go into our net while the top six goes out there and cook even if you add another score that doesn't mean that they're just pivoting away i think from that goal at least that's how i see

it in my opinion that's why i didn't need to go out there and get some type of a new score i'm not talking about the biggest rental at the deadline here people but someone that has had a history of scoring you know 12 to 15 goals on the bottom six on that's available on a team that's obviously not going to make the playoffs at some point this year but that would do it for this second segment coming up to end the show team USA hired bill Billy Garrant to be the general manager of the Four Nations faceoff and the 2026 Olympic team. And Nick and I are going to discuss what that could mean from Mike Sullivan because obviously

Billy has the connections to the penguins. And of course, he's the Minnesota Wild general manager. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about game time. You shouldn't have to worry when you're buying tickets to your next big event. Game time is the fastest and easiest way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you with killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from receipt and their best price guarantee. game time takes the guesswork out of buying tickets.

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Turns apply. Again, crane account and Medine code locked on for $20 on. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Walkton Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by special guest, Nick Berlanski. So Nick, big news regarding USA hockey on Thursday. Billy Garron, Minnesota Wild GM has been named the GM of the Four Nations face-off team for next February, which is going to be a lot of fun, I think.

And then for the U.S. Olympic team in 2026, as the U.S. is set to be back in the Olympics for the first time. And well, at that point, it'll be 12 years, which is crazy. I can't believe it'll be 12 years since the last time Team USA played an Olympic hockey game. But here we are. And I got to say, I was a little surprised by this because I thought there were a couple better options over Billy G. And I haven't really been that big of a fan of Billy G's work in Minnesota. I mean, when he first got there, I think he was fine.

But these last couple of years, I don't really think he's done that good of a job as a wild general manager. I would have personally gone for Tom Fitzgerald, who's done a really nice job in New Jersey, or Bill Zito, of course, he's from Pittsburgh. but he's also done a great job as the GM of the Four Panthers. That's who I would have went with, but they're going with Billy Garrett. My biggest worry is that he's just going to try and take a bunch of grinders for Team USA when, please, for love of God, just take the most skilled players available.

This is the best pool of talent that the U.S. will have in our lifetimes, and he needs to take advantage of that big time. And also, I think this could mean Mike Sullivan is going to be the head coach for both next year and in 2026, the Penguins connection is very obvious because he was a assistant GM to Jim Rutherford when he was a GM in Pittsburgh when Mike Sullivan was the head coach. Honestly, I would kind of be surprised if Sullivan was not the head coach in 2006. Yeah, I would assume that's the way they go. And it's, I mean, part of it is because in 2022 when the NHL was supposed to go to the Olympics, it was Billy G as general manager. It was Mike Sullivan who was supposed to be the head coach.

So I wouldn't be surprised if they run that back again for, the Four Nations Cup next year and for the Olympics in 2026. So, you know, Billy G was an interesting decision. I agree with you. I think Bill Zito would 100% have been the guy to go to there. But also, how hard is it really going to be to build this team? Because you look at all the great, especially American players right now, 10% of your roster is going to be named Hughes, which is just, you know, just bring Jack and Quinn. That's very easy. You have great goaltenders in Connor Hellebuck. I think that's Austin Matthews is up there. It's just the team is pretty much built. And if you mess that team up, then you're never going to get another chance again.

You might get fired by the Minnesota Wild for messing up team USA because of how thick and how deep the hockey roots are up there. So, you know, again, I would have probably went with a guy like Bill Zito. I think he's probably deserved it a little bit more for what he's done, turning around the Florida Panthers down there and really getting them to a level that they are at right now where they're one of the best rosters from top to bottom in general in the national hockey league. I don't dislike what Garen has done with the Minnesota Wild. I think they were in a pool of mediocrity before he got there. I think they're more exciting, but still a mediocre team now that he's there.

They're obviously having a down season, which you can't hold one season against a general manager when certain players aren't performing. But they have a lot of really good young, talented players that Billy G has brought in. I mean, you look at Marco Rashi, what he's been able to do. You look at Brock Faber, who should be in the Calder Trophy conversation this year. there's also the off-ice stuff with Bill Garon that makes you look at it and say, well, I mean, there's other general managers that are on par with him

when it comes to the hockey side of things. And the off-ice, you know, investigatory side of things are less of a question mark where Billy G. does obviously, like a month ago, had an investigation out for him in Minnesota. So again, I don't want to say anything or besmirch Billy Garen because from all intents of purposes, there have been really good stories about his.

character, what he was like as a teammate, what he's been like as a general manager. But there are question marks there. There are investigations and there are instances where you look at it and say, maybe that's not the best thing to stamp as the lead of the United States program heading into the first NHL players playing an international competition in a very, very long time at a high level. Right. Yeah.

I don't disagree with you. And also I'm not too surprised just because of the people running USA hockey. But hey, they made their choice. And we can only hope that he does pick the best roster. You're right, Nick. This should be a very easy job with the talent that USA hockey has at its disposal. And, you know, I've seen mock lineups that have not had Jake Gensel for some reason at times with Billy Garen as the general manager of that team. I would be absolutely stunned if Jake Gensel was not on that team, both for next year and for the Olympic team in 2026.

Yeah, there's a bunch of people that still, you know, subscribe to the Gensel is only good because of the Crosby thing. And to that, I just say, watch the games. Like watch the games. Don't just look at the numbers. Don't just look at the line rushes when it comes out on the graphic that the penguins put out. Watch the games. Jake Gensel deserves and has earned a spot on the United States hockey team, whether that be, I mean, in both instances.

And he's not going to fall off at all. He's having a career season or close to a career season this year and a contract here. We're talking about should they trade him or should they keep him or can they even afford to keep him? Or should they pay him this much money for eight years? Because he's going to be worth that much money for four. he's going to be worth that much money for maybe, maybe not four, maybe two or three, but, you know, eight years is a question mark, but he's still worth eight to nine to ten million dollars. That's a guy you're going to put on team USA.

Now, he's not, I'm not saying put him on the first line, but he's 100% on the roster. 100%. I mean, he should be, in my opinion, on the second or third line, whether, you know, he's with, you know, the Jack Eichel or Jack Hughes. I mean, that would be a ton of fun seeing him play with either of those two centers. But either way, it's going to be a lot of fun seeing Team USA play in 2025 and 2020. especially with a roster that in my opinion, I think they can give Canada a fight, especially with the goalie situation that

the U.S. has with Hellebuck versus Canada has, and that's what, Tony Bennington. Tristan Jari. Yeah, I was going to put Tristan Jari there. Don't worry. I mean, there's a real world where Tristan Jari does start for Team Canada. And while I do think Canadian fans will be a bit scared from that

considering what he did against the Islanders a few years ago, Jari, I think, has learned from that, and he has been, at least this season, really, really good. He would just have to not craft the on the international level scale. And then if he did have, I guess, one bad game, maybe in a group stage, you can go back to Stuart Skinner,

who has been playing pretty well in Edmonton or even Jordan Bennington. But honestly, I think Tristan's better than Jordan Bennington. I don't think Bennington is that good of a goalie at this point. But I think the U.S. has a big advantage at that position over Canada. And I think this could be one of the U.S.'s best chances of beating Canada in this competition. But I think that's going to do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Nick, what do you have cooking up for the tip of the iceberg podcast and inside penguins, I said say. Yeah, I mean, we obviously had the bye week last week as everybody else did. And we really hit the ground run with a lot of interviews with our off time last week. So obviously have an interview out with Jesse Marshall that we put out earlier this week, have an interview with Jaden Becker, talked to Jordan DeFigio of Fly Penguins FI last week. And most recently today's episode on Thursday, we had a nice conversation with Brian Metzer where we talked a lot about Evgeny Malkin's struggles this season,

his turbulent play, his linemates, who's the best linemate for him. We also got into a couple stories about Yarmir Yager, because it is celebrate 68 month, and I'm very excited for that coming up in about a week and a half. But, you know, great talking with Metzor because he's honestly one of the best guys in this entire city at talking hockey. And, you know, always great having him on and being able to shoot the crap with him about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah, Metz is awesome, man.

We're definitely going to try to get him on at some point, you know, later on this season. And just want everyone to know, Nick and Nick, as I call it, the Nick and Nick show. They took two of the guests that we had first. I'm just messed around. No, go listen to those episodes, guys. They did a tremendous job with them, and they do a tremendous job with their show as well. And I'm glad that I was able to bring one half of that show for today's episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in.

We really appreciate it. Pat will be back for Friday's episode where we preview the game against the Minnesota Wild and preview the game against the Winnipeg Jets. So until then, we'll talk with you all. on Friday.