Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Why all the hate for Evan Rodrigues? Plus some updates on Malkin AND Letang...

Episode Date: May 27, 2022

Happy Thursday! Hunter starts out the episode by touching on some of the latest news surrounding the team, which includes Juuso Riikola leaving to go overseas. Hunter gets into why it was probably the right move for him considering that he doesn't belong in the AHL with how talented he is. Hunter also brings up the point that it made no sense how the Penguins treated him when he got there, especially when Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz were getting ice time over him. Should he have been in the lineup a lot more? Why was he then pushed out forever? Could he have been in other lineups around the league? Hunter answers those questions before reviewing Sidney Crosby's season and why it was one of the best of his career. Is it fair to expect this level of production from him next year? How special was his short playoff run? What should we expect from his line next season? After that, Hunter gets into an answer from Josh Yohe's mailbag about Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and what that could mean moving forward. He dives a bit more into Malkin's stats from this past season to debunk some wild theories about him before ending the show with some defense of Evan Rodrigues after some people had some wild takes about him too.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 “LOCKED15,” 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!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK. 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 there, happy Thursday. I have not really taken off many days of this podcast this month on Wednesday. Decided to do that just to get everything together for this show. We're going to have another one on Friday. I can have all five episodes for you all next week. So that's the main reason why there is no episode on Wednesday. But for today's show, we're going to start some of the season reviews. Cindy Crosby will be first up after his tremendous season.

Some news around Yus Oreekla. He's not going to be with the organization. A couple big days in Penguin's history. these last couple of days. And also a note from Josh Joey's mailbag did have a small update on the Academy Mall and Chris Let's Hang contract talks. I'm going to get to that and a little bit more for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Your Locked on Penguins.

Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins. Penguins podcast. I am your host. Hon. Rohde is going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So a couple of big days, you know, these last couple days of Penguins history.

Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of the double overtime goal heard around the world. As Doc Emrick said, you know, Penguins win it and they go to the final. You know, that was, and that goal, it looked like it was probably potentially not going to be scored. Connor Sherry had that awful pass at the blue line. Go back and rewatch that goal. He's lucky that Stalberg did not intercept that because he was probably gone if that just hits his stick and then he started skating.

And who knows if Matt Murray does make that say, maybe he does because he was playing so well at the time. But I'm definitely a risky pass. Penguins got lucky. They were able to cycle it down low. And then Sidney Crosby makes that pass to Coonans and the Penguins go on to the final, which of course they end up winning over the National Predators.

today six years ago they take down the Tampa Lightning the Mark Donk Brian Rust game in full effect as Doc Emerit called two seconds and one the Penguins are going to the final call that will always be etched in my memory and the Penguins of course went on to win the Stanley Cup that year again was Brian Russ coming out party so two pretty big days in Penguins history

these last couple of days and you know also you know May 25th 1999 they took home the first Stanley Cup. You know, I'll always, you know, obviously watch that game a couple times, you know, seeing Mario lift the cup with all of his teammates around and never gets old. And, you know, when I watched that, when I watched that video, I think Jesse Marshall put on Twitter yesterday, I just, I do think a Badger Bob, rest in peace. I still wish he was with us today.

The Penguins probably win another Stanley Cup or two when he's the head coach. He, along with Mike Sullivan, the two big, greatest coaches in this fan. franchise history, there was just something about Badger Bob that, you know, everyone on the team, they loved him, they would follow him wherever. A brilliant coach and someone that left us far too soon. I wish you, again, I wish he was still with us today. So a lot of big moments in the franchise's history these last couple of days for sure. Other news and notes around the team.

So Yuso Likola, he is not going to be with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. next year. He has signed with a team in the Swedish hockey league. He played a full season down in Wilkesbury this past year. And that was always going to be expected because, you know, you look at the defensive depth chart, Ryan Dumont, Crystal Tang, Patterson-Marino, Matheson, Roodle, Mark Friedman is there. You know, it's, you know, at best, at best, he's the number eight. And, you know, he actually did look pretty good in the minutes that he was given throughout his four years in the tenure, you know, appeared in 80 games, three goals. 10 assists, 13 points.

I'm pretty sure his first goal came against the St. Louis Blues, if I recall, right? Always had a nice shot from the point. I always liked his puck moving ability. For whatever reason, Mike Sullivan decided to, you know, whenever he played in the lineup, Penguins would just, he would come right out after two, three games. It was something that I never really understood. You know, I don't know what he did to get into Sullivan's doghouse. I guess maybe everyone above him was, you know, better,

But this was also at the time where, you know, some of the Penguins' defensemen were not good. And, you know, Riegel was here during the years where Jack Johnson was horrible and Justin Schultz was bad. And Eric Rainson was here even. The fact that Rikola was really not getting any ice time over them was definitely a bit weird. But, you know, best of luck to him with his future endeavors for his career. I'm always a player that I think didn't get a fair shot, at least in my opinion. But, and, you know, just to go.

off that a little bit more. His number numbers were always pretty good, you know, above 50% in shot attempts per 60, above 50%, I believe in scoring chances, high danger, his defensive impacts were usually pretty solid. I remember when they signed him, I think one of my buddies thought he was going to be like an all-star or something. I'm like, all right, let's pump the brakes on that. I thought he was going to be at least a serviceable number five or number six. I just didn't foresee him, you know, being a healthy scratch for most of his tenure before, you know, he spent this entire season in Wilkesbury. But, you know, prompts to him for doing that. I mean, he probably should be on an NHL roster.

I mean, there are plenty of defensemen in this league who really do not belong in the NHL. And the fact that he wasn't able to be, you know, not even just on the Penguins, but on any other team, I think it's kind of, it's weird because I see the talent. I see how good he is with the puck on the stick. I like his defensive capability. It's just the same. It didn't work out here. But again, best of luck to him moving forward in the Swedish soccer league.

And again, I definitely think the Penguins. I wouldn't say they wasted him, but I think they kind of screwed his development up at least a little bit. I think otherwise, that's the main news from the week here. Let's get to Sidney Crosby's season review here. Played in a nice 69 games this season, almost 1,100 minutes of ice time, 54% of the shot attempts for the Penguins when he was on the ice. He had 61% of the actual goals, 55435 against, 55% of the expected goals at even strength. scoring chances for about 57%.

That's the highest he's been since 2018-19. High danger-wise, the penguin was at 55.5% of the high danger chances when he was on the ice. High-danger goals for 32 to 19. That equates to almost 63%. On-ice shooting percentage, 8.3%, which was a little bit down for where he was last year, which was at 9%. He was on another level. And then, of course, you go to the playoffs.

And I mean, this guy was just a one-man wrecking crew. Here, let's take a look at these beautiful numbers. 96 minutes of 550-5 ice time. 56% of the shot attempts for the penguins when he was on the ice. 58% of the actual goals for when he was on the ice, 75 of the expected goals, 68% of the scoring chances, 81% of the high danger chances. Sidney Crosby was on the ice for 45 high danger chances for

and 10 high danger chances against, and they couldn't win that goddamn series. That was probably some of the best hockey we have ever seen this guy play. And it's a shame that the goaltending stunk in Massachusetts. It is a shame that Louis didn't. Ming couldn't make some easy saves when he needed to. And I also will say it is a massive shame that Sid had to miss a game, you know, due to, you know, the precaution for being a concussion.

It was confirmed by a couple of people that was incussion, but it was that I think Sarajevo, he said that it was not a concussion. They were just, you know, being cautious with him to say the least. But, I mean, just a ridiculous year from Sid. And, you know, the fact that he's doing this at age 35 people, I mean, like, again, he's a top three player in this league. Cherish what you are getting from the captain right now. He is not going to play at this level forever. Yes, I understand it.

You know, he knows his body better than anyone. He has a very rigid offseason routine. And, you know, he's going to be able to do more training over this offseason because I don't think he's really nursing and injury. But, man, was he good in the playoffs? He was excellent during the regular season. I think he deserved more heart trophy love than he was getting. I think if he doesn't miss that first month of the season with that injury, then obviously he had about with COVID, he probably breaks 100 points again

or comes very close to it. So, you know, the fact that he was this good, you know, I have all the confidence in the world and Sid going into next year. You know, until he stops playing at this level, I'm just going to expect this from him moving forward. And again, you know, I obviously know he's not prime 25, 26-year-old Sidney Crosby. I'm not asking him to play like that.

But, you know, 35-year-old who's putting well over a point per game and just, you know, is now tied for fifth all-time and play-out points among any NHL players just goes to show how awesome of his season he had. So next year, if he's fully healthy, I'm honestly expecting 90 to 95 points, potentially breaking 100 if the scoring goes up, I'm sure he's going to be playing with Jake Gensel and Brian Russ now, now that Rusty is re-signed. And that line's going to be a handful.

I mean, what they did to the Rangers was not fair. They deserved a better fate in that series, especially those two players, especially Jake Gensel. Next is it. I mean, he had eight goals in seven games. I mean, this was 2017-level stuff from Jake. No one could stop him. And even Brian Rusty had a few goals in that series. He wasn't playing at the level we saw during the regular season,

but, you know, was still playing well enough where he was torching the Rangers whoever was out there against them. So I expect him in that line to be awesome next year. Again, honestly, expecting 30 goals, maybe 55, 60 assists next year for him. At this point, that's the level of production. And, you know, I'm also expecting the underlying numbers, 55% of the shot attempts, scoring chances, high danger, you know, right around there, I would say. So another tremendous season from Sid, and I'm looking forward to watching him continue,

at least for the next three years while he is under contract. Still a little more to get to for this episode of Lock on Penguins, Pottias, including that, an interesting quote from Josh Yewee in his mailbag. But before we get to that, we've been asking and built delivered. Built granola bars are finally here. Built canola bars come in three unbelievable flavors,

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You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. As I am recording this, I'm pretty sure Rob Tag, who covers the Islanders, I just saw the biggest dive I have ever seen from Jacob Truba. The dude can dish it out with some of these questionable hits and yet Ian Cole delivers the soft little cross check. guy goes down like he was headshot sniped in fortnight or call a duty war zone like give me a break i can't you know again i i try to obviously be objective as i can on the show i cannot stand that guy

he's just he's just such a coward um anyways getting back um to what i was saying um just actually looking at the game right here looks like there's some offside stuff here so that's just obviously the fans in new york are going to um have some fun with this. But there was interesting quote from Josh Yoey's mailbag that he had. And the quote was, you know, we know Russ remains, I would be surprised if both

Latang and Malkin return to the Penguins. Though I'm not ruling out that possibility, I think clearly Malkin is starting to show signs of age. And because of this, you know, he may not be basically like, you know, worth the value that he was used to it. You know, and that's what I've been talking about on the show for the last couple weeks now. Obviously, you

are, you know, he's going to be 36. He is 36, basically. you're not going to get 2009 to 2012 a level of any market, which is, I've been saying, people need to lower their expectations with him. That said, you know, if only one or the other comes back, you know, it's going to, it's going to have a ripple effect, obviously. You know, if, again, if I had to pick one, I'm picking Chris Latang. You can, it's easy, again, it's easier to play a 2C than a franchise center.

but I also, again, will say, I think the penguins have no choice but to bring back both of these players. You know, it's one of my favorite resources. I mean, I absolutely loved going on there and looking at all the free agents. I know everyone likes to basically make their own lineups and stuff. I know Claude Jureux is out there. I don't think he would ever come to the Penguins. that would be a Mark Andre Fleury to a Washington kind of thing. Patrice Bergeron, I mean, that's a pipe dream.

He's only going to be playing at Boston. Max Domi, I mean, he only had 39 points in 72 games this year. He is not replacing the level that of Guinea Malkin had. Pure Luke Dubois is an RFA. I don't think the Penguins would try to offer sheet him. I've already touched on Vitsyn Trocheck. Nazim Kodry would be a lot of fun. I will say that.

He also had 87 points in 71 games this year. So the Penguins would have to pay him a lot more money than they would be paying of Yenie Malkin. if they want to get him back. And, you know, I also think the avalanche are really going to try to go after Cadre to get him to resign. I think the abs will have the cap to do it. But, Codry, you know, he would make a lot of sense.

But again, I will stress this. I don't think the penguins be able to land him because salary cap exists. And I think he's going to want a lot more money than if any more can. And rightfully, so, me, he did have a better season than him. You know, about outside of that, you know, you go down the list, Victor Rask, Andrew Cop, Chris Tierney. I mean, not, the list, the list falls off pretty quick. You know, Dylan Schrome, J. P. Eagle, Cody Ekin, I mean, Vladislav and Amensdekov.

I mean, again, this all goes from my point. The Penguins have no choice with these situations. You know, Malkin was a point per game player again this year. And I'll even say this, you know, compared to Vincent Trochecks. So 42 points in 41 games. for a beginning of Malkan. If I can find Trochec here, he only had 51 points in 81 games. Even though Trochak would be a great player, and yes, I understand, the hometown storyline grew up rooting for the Penguins. Family, I'm sure, are all Penguins fans, even though they probably root for Carolina now, of course, and then four beforehand.

You know, he's not going to be a point per game player with the Penguins. You're going to get good production out of him. Again, probably 20 goals, 30 assists, but can can you live with that as your second line center? And are you confident that that can replace Malkin's production when he was on pace for 84 points last year, 44 of those would have been goals? I'm not saying he would have gotten to 44 goals he probably would not have. But the fact that he was on that pace, you know, goes to show how special of a season he was having it.

And I'll go a step further here if I can find. Jeff's account here. Jeff with a know who does stuff for the Penns blog, or he used to do stuff for the Penns blog. Looking at his isolated impact this year, even trade offense, he was plus 0.15 better than league average in that. So plus 6% overall. This is from Micah, Blake McCurdy's hockey viz,

stuff on the power play plus 0.55 above average with all the offensive blobs right in the front of the net. Defensively, he was still fine. You know, he's not going to kill you. Now, if you go to the 5-5 offense chart, 556 minutes at 5-5-ice time this year for Gino, expected goals for per 60, right around 3. That's plus 15% above league average with the more red

that's in front of the net and in the offensive zone, the better, obviously, the more chances and shots that you're getting. and Malkin has a huge blob right in the high danger area. And defensively, expected goals against 2.43, that's good. I mean, there's a nice blue blob, which means you're not bleeding as many chances in those areas in front of the net. The red is, you know, beyond the dots near the blue line. So, you know, the people that are saying to me that Malkin is not good at 5E5 anymore, I'm really not understanding where that narrative has come from.

I mean, I have the data right in front of me that shows that he can, still be good at 5V5. Is he the player that he used to be? No, he is not. And people are going to have to start accepting that, but he can still play well at 5V5, and he's a very net positive on the power play. He's not this power play specialist that people think he is.

I mean, it's just that's that's not the case. So, you know, give him, you know, his number average. Honestly, three times 7.1, he might accept that in all seriousness. I mean, I don't think he's going to get, you know, Nick Baxter money when he got nine. point two on his contract or ovechkin money who i think got the same thing but you know he's even said he's open to taking a discount so if you can get him for seven to seven point five million um you know to me that's a win or you know if you could actually go lower than that maybe get him for six point five but

maybe that's a little too of a low ball but you know i still think he is going to be back and again it is interesting that josh is reporting it this way because you know obviously not to take anything away from josh he does great work and he's come on the show numbers times it is a bit you know conflicting because some of the national people have said that it's kind of the opposite that the Penguins are closer and talks with Chris Latang, Elliot Friedman, said that earlier this week. So, you know, definitely a bit curious with that to say the least. And again, you know, Latang, again, I've been saying it's 50-50. He needs to be their number one priority to say the least. Still have a little more to get to for this episode of the Locked on Penguins

podcast. But before we get to that, our partners at Bedouin's, continue to be the number one source for all of your betting needs and sports info. You can find all the latest odds news and sports developments, including this year's basketball playoffs, majorly baseball, scores, fights, and even next season's NFL futures. Benin is your continued source for all of your sports wage and information from live from live betting to playoffs, e-sports, and more. You can head to the website today or to use your phone to learn more about the trends in action that has been online where the game starts.

All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I don't know, follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins. So, you know, I got some interesting comments on the YouTube page after the episode with Danny posted. And I find it a little, I shouldn't say disturbing, just weird. How many fans in the Penguins fan base do not want Evan Rodriguez back? I don't get it.

sure, I understand that he didn't play at the level that he did during the first half of the regular season. I get it. But he still came alive towards the end part of the regular season. And in the playoffs, I saw some wild takes out there that he was a 13th forward. I mean, how many 13 forwards, excuse me, I'm just going to load this up here real quick. How many 13 forwards are going to have 19 goals? 43 points in 82 games. That's a half a point per game pace.

And people are telling me that they don't want this guy back as a good depth option. I don't get that. He played really nice next to Sidney Crosby during the regular season. And yeah, he lit it the heck up in the first half. And yeah, I know it was not as good down the stretch. But he was still getting good chances. The difference was the puck was not going in the back of the net. then that started to happen a bit more in the playoffs

when he got a couple of massive goals for the penguins. And yes, as you're listening, you're probably waiting for me to say this. I understand the bad penalty that he took in game six when the penguins are up to nothing. I totally get that. It was a stupid play. Should have been called on Lingren first,

was not. Talatory penalty they're always going to call it. But I'll counter this to you all. He redeemed himself in game seven with that beautiful goal, short-handed, I may add, They actually put them on the PK, which is something that they should have done more of this year. And then the Penguins, they gave it away because Marino made that bad pass in the defense zone,

as well as Pedersen losing his helmet with 545 left. And they took that, Rock McGee and took that stupid penalty. So, you know, for as much as people want to blame him for losing that series or blame him for that game six loss, you know, he redeemed himself in game seven. I honestly, I'm tired of that narrative that I keep reading. At least that's how I see it. This is a player that should be brought back. You know, I know you can sign debt players for bargains.

And Hinen, obviously almost had 20 goals this year. But, you know, replacing 43 points from a bottom six player, that's a bit harder than you think. I will say that. You know, Hinen for as good as he was, he wasn't as good of a playmaker as Rodriguez was. And he was someone that really came into his own the season. And yeah, okay, sure.

He's 28 years old. Will he have a season like this again? Maybe not. But, you know, his previous career high was in Buffalo when he had 29 points and 74 games. He has, you know, found a home here in Pittsburgh. This is a good fit for him. And, you know, he finally put it all together. And I'll say this.

I have faith that he can, you know, play at least close to that level next year. Again, I want to see it more for a full 82 game season. But I'm tired of the people saying, like, Will, you know, he should easily walk. You know, they can use that much. elsewhere. It's like, no, I mean, like, you need to fill out the bottom of your lineup once you have the core locked up in a perfect world with players that can score the timely goals when you need them. And in the playoffs, Rodriguez did that. Again, game seven, they were less than six minutes away from advancing here, people. It was not his fault that they lost that series. I know he made a stupid penalty. I got mad at him for it. It was done. The game changed after that. two to one goal, you know, but I also will blame a little bit on Louis Deming for allowing that

really garbage goal for Mika's advantage out from the top point to tie it two to two. I mean, you know, if that one doesn't go in, who knows what happens the rest of that game. And, you know, also they had, the Penguins had chances in the third period of that game. Brian Russ literally missed a wide open net with less than 10 minutes left in the third period. Mike Matheson thread that pass right to him. That's probably a goal that Russ Barry's nine out of ten times, and he just did not. So, you know, again, now, you can, you can, what's, how do I want to say this? You know, it's, it's, you got to be able to fill out the bottom of your lineup with good

depth players that can contribute, you know, good luck finding a debt player, an actual debt player in free agency that's going to put up close to 50 points for you. I mean, that, that is how I see it. At least if you disagree with me, you know, I get it, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not here to please everyone and this is just this is how I see it but you know I truly think that people need to cut him some more slack and realize how good he was this year because the numbers do not lie this is not a 13 forward or anything like that this is someone that can play on your third line that can slide up to the top six when needed he was a really good player for the

penguins this year and I would love nothing more for them to bring him back so that'll do it for this episode of the Lockham Penguins podcast thank you all so much for listening to this episode. I'll be back on Friday with another episode where we'll be continuing our season reviews and some other cool topics that I've been, you know, brainstorming for a while here that I think you all will enjoy. So again, thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode tomorrow.