Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Will Evgeni Malkin retire next year? Answering your Pittsburgh Penguins questions!

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

It's a mailbag edition of Locked On Penguins where Hunter and Patrick take all of your questions! However, before that, they begin the show recapping Team USA's 6-1 win over Finland and how the U.S. is showing how talented this crop of talent is. They discuss how the Tkachuk brothers took over in the third period before they preview Saturday's showdown against Canada. After that, they answer your questions, including when they got into hockey, if next year is Geno's last when they could make the playoffs next, and so much more. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. FactorEat smart with Factor. Get started at factormeals.com/lockedonnhl50off and use code LOCKEDONNHL50OFF to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Team USA crushed Team Finland in the Four Nations faceoff on Thursday, setting up a huge game on Saturday against Team Canada. Pat and I are going to recap that game, plus answer your questions 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 and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes.

you can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes joined by my co-st, Patrick Damping and follow him on all social media platforms at Sendin River Wet and you can follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Ernest or Penguins. Also, 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 one more thing, happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there.

But getting into the meat of today's episode, Pat, Team USA absolutely rolled Team Finland on Thursday, 6 to 1. And it got a bit ugly to start Connor Hellebuck gave up a pretty weak goal to start Team Finland, USA goes down 1-0. And at my point, I got to admit, I was getting nervous because I've seen Connor Helibuck in big game situations. The numbers have not been pretty. I'm like, okay, Connor, we got to beat the big game allegations at some point, right? But after he gave up that goal, which was a bit weak, he locked in, played really well the rest of the way. And the U.S. was able to tie it a bit later.

And Matt Boldie makes it two to one. What a deflection there, by the way. way. And I said it in the preview for this game. I love how ratty that that Miller line is, by the way, Pat. It is so fun to watch. But then Mike Sullivan, he made some adjustments going into the third period. He took one of the Kachuk brothers off that Miller line, combined that Kachuk brother with his other brother, and they just rolled on that top line with Jack Dykle.

And that line was insane in the third period. Matthew Kach gets the first start of the game. He gets a three-point night. Brady gets two goals. And I can't wait to see what they do against Team Canada on Saturday. You saw Brady Kachuk say after the game that this is going to be the biggest game he's played in in nine years. And I want to make the joke about the Ottawa Senators. It's easy.

It's a layup. I'm not going to, but I easily could. But still, I can't wait for that game. But the way that the U.S. was able to roll in the third period, that is what this team is capable of.

I said it on Twitter last night. This is the best crop of talent this country has had in my lifetime. And it's nice seeing the players play up to. that standard. It's nice seeing the U.S. get this thing right after how wrong they got it nine years ago when they try to take a bunch of grinders and all that stuff and leave a lot of their best players at home to try and play Team Canada. They didn't make that mistake this time. And you saw just how talented this team was against Finland, the power play. I will say at the start, look like the Penguins Power Play of the last couple of seasons. But then after they got their feet wet,

got a little bit warmed out, the Power Play started looking a lot like the Penguins Power Play this year a lot more movement, a lot more of a shoot first mentality. You're not playing Patty Cake of the Blue Line. They were doing that at the start. And I was like, I don't want to see that because that's just going to lead to easy jokes at Mike Sullivan, which, I mean, hey, fair. The power play was legitimately awful last year in the year before that. But it was nice seeing them also make adjustments in that regard as well. So great win for Team USA. And as Pat loves to say people, Saturday is the main event against Canada. It sure is, man. Both teams. it wins, but USA leads the pack because they got their win in regulation, so they got the three

points. But let's talk about last night's game. Connor Hella Buck, listen, he stabilized last night, but he's going to have to beat the big game allegations on Saturday if he gets the net. Because that first goal and the only goal that Finland scored, I said it to you before we hit record. It wasn't a beautiful deflection. It got. tipped a little bit and it still beat them. And all of us as Americans kind of winced and went, uh-oh, are we going to get big game Connor Hellebuck here where he just melts down and lets his team, let's his team down in a big game.

And not really. He stabilized. He made the saves he needed to make. And after that opening Finland goal, the U.S. kind of got their feet under them and started to take over the game as the first period progressed. And then from the second period on, it was pretty much all team USA, the rest of the way out. And then there was the third period blitz where they just came out, Matthew Kachukh scores, and then 11 seconds later, Jake Gensel, Barry's one.

And then about two minutes later, Brady Kachuk scores, and we're off to the races. And you're right, though, this is the best crop of talent that the United States. has had at the international level since probably 1996. So this is a golden opportunity, no pun intended, for Team USA to go out and show that they are once again major players on the international stage, but they're going to have to do it against Team Canada because let's be honest here. We said it on the show. Don't sleep on Sweden.

And that still stands. That's still a very talented. hockey nation and that is still a very talented hockey team in the four nations face off and they got kind of lucky that that game got to overtime because outside of the second period it was all team Canada for the majority of that game and it needed overtime but you are going to go up against on Saturday night a team with an unbelievable forward group and underrated, I would say, to an extent, defense, and you have to take advantage of the fact that you likely have the advantage in gold. But back to last night, you'd just love to see that this is

when given the right crop of talent, the type of game that a Mike Sullivan team can play. They were fast, they were physical, they were opportunistic, and they did not let their foot off the gas once they started going. There was, well, okay, we got to defend the lead now. Let's back off. They took it to Finland for, I would say, 50 minutes. And it ended with the 6-1 victory. Play Freebird, baby.

That's, I love that they're bringing that back. I love that song. I love that band. And I'm just glad that they're continuing on with that tradition. You're right. They dominated Finland for the majority of that game. They were granted on the power play later in the game. They crushed them at five on five.

The Matthews line with Gensel was also really sound. I loved Gensel's snipe to extend the lead over UC Soros. Matthews. Really nice feed, by the way, to Jake Gensel. And I also really like the fit of Jack Hughes on that line. Him and Matthews works so well together. Hughes has that blazing speed. Great playmaker.

Also a great shot. Matthews. Underrated is his playmaking ability. Obviously has the great shot. Came really close to scoring a couple of times. But you saw his playmaking ability on that goal from Gensel. really nice, slick pass, and then Jake, he's going to finish that 10 out of 10 times. We've seen that so many times here in Pittsburgh before.

He obviously got traded into Carolina and then signed with Tampa Bay. But I really like that line. And if I'm Mike Sullivan, I'm also keeping together the Kachuk Brothers line. Like the way they played against Team Finland, I think they're really going to piss Canada off. And there's also a line today at Team Canada practice. They had Marchand and Sam Bennett on the same line. If that line goes out there against the Kachukh brothers line, that might be the radiest matchup in the history of radiest matchups for lines.

And sign me up for it, by the way. I'd be all for it. That is going to be the heat death of the universe because those two lines are just going to create so much destruction that it might just be the end of us all. But here's something that I think is an underrated thing we have seen from the first two days of the four nations face off. We know that this is a tryout essentially for. 26. A lot of guys are putting their markers in the ground and saying when we go to Italy for the

Olympics, I am going to be on this roster, but it's leading to some very serious, very physical play. I mean, you look at last night's game with U.S. and Finland. The U.S., we came into this tournament looking at them and going, there's speed, there's skill, there's talent up and down the lineup. And I know that this is an imperfect stat, but U.S. was credited with 32 hits. This team is fast. This team is skilled, but much like those Stanley Cup winning penguins teams,

they don't just wear you down with speed. They don't just wear you down with skill. They forecheck their asses off. Anytime the puck went into a Finland corner, a United States forward was there to throw a body check. and that is not just hitting to hit. It's hitting with a purpose. It is hitting to wear your opponent down throughout the game.

Because you can tell by the third period, as good as I think Finland has a very underrated defense in this tournament, but you can tell by the third period, their defensemen were like, I got to go retrieve a puck again. I am going to get hit. This sucks. And that is how you impose your will on a team is you make sure they know.

The minute the puck goes into their corner, you're coming and they're going to take a hit. And it's going to lead to hesitation. It's going to lead to fatigue. And you can see that happening throughout the game against the United States. So this is a fast team. This is a skilled team, but they are not afraid to play physical. And I look at Canada, and there's some players there who can do that, but not as many as the United States.

Yeah, Finland's defense really wore down as that game went on. I liked how their forwards were helping out their defense. why there really wasn't a lot of room in the first couple periods, at least from what I was watching. And then in the third period, you could tell they were kind of gassed and they were kind of leaving their defensive end up to dry. And then you saw the onslaught of goals. I think Finland's defensive injuries really started to catch up to them in the third period. And again, it just thinks that Merrow Haskin is not there. I will say this.

It is also kind of funny how we're in the golden generation of talent for both, you know, the U.S. hockey team and to make a comparison on another sport, the U.S. soccer team for men. this is the golden generation of that team as well. And I'm a soccer guy. I root for Arsenal. Not a lot of U.S. guys really play for Arsenal. There's a lot of U.S. guys play for a bunch of different teams over in Europe. But it's still funny how we're in the golden generation for not just hockey in terms of talent,

but also soccer. Now, soccer is going to be a bit harder for them to win the World Cup in a couple years. Well, next year it is, I can't believe I almost had two years. But it's going to be a bit harder for them to win the World Cup in 26, even though it's being hosted here because there's so many more countries with more talent than the U.S., but in terms of hockey, it's really, in my opinion, again, the U.S. and Canada, Sweden's also right there. The U.S. has as good a shot as anyone to win not just this tournament, but in the Olympics next year,

and in the World Cup in 2028. And one more point I want to make, Pat, before we get to our mailbag questions, the amount of people that said, oh, this is going to be a glorified all-star game, no one is going to try. I hope all of you are really eating your words after these two games. look at how much these two games mean to the players. They're playing for spots on the Olympic teams next year. They're playing for spots on the 2028 World Cup teams.

Do not tell me that this doesn't mean anything to these guys. Look at the way they're celebrating. Look at the way they're being physical. Look at the skirmishes. It means so much. Yeah, I know. It's a quick tournament. It's going to be over by the end of next week.

But do not tell these players that this is meaningless and that this is a glorified all-star game because it is not. When they put on their national jerseys, it's balls to the wall for 60 minutes, and I love it about international hockey. That's what I really wanted to say to end this segment. And now I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into your mailback questions. We have a whole bunch to get to to close out the show.

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And we're going to start with a fun one here. This comes from Comment Fast. He says, Hey, Hunter and Pat, I absolutely love the show. On the last mailback episode, Hunter mentioned my question at the end of the video to be answered next time. So here it is again, when did you guys get into hockey? So this is always for me a fun one to answer. I've told the story a couple times on the show.

It was actually during the 2003-04 season, which was obviously really bad for the Penguins because they were terrible that year. Dick Tarnstrom was their leading score, by the way. and I remember watching my first game, I was in the city, having dinner with all my family, and the game was on at the Georgetown Inn. It was a restaurant on Mount Washington.

Sadly, it is not there anymore. I wish it was because the food was really good. It's kind of, for those that live in Pittsburgh or lived in Pittsburgh, it was kind of right around near Lamont or Monterey Bay, like right in that same area. And I remember, like, just being so intrigued

by while I was watching on the screen and my mom was telling me like, oh, yeah, that's hockey. And she started to explain. to me the rules a little bit. She started telling me about the team. And from then I was hooked. Like that was the first game I ever watched. I was only in first grade at the time. So I loved it from then. And I started getting into it a bit more obviously, especially after Sid got here and all that stuff. But that was really the first year that I truly started watching the team, even though I was a little

kid. I don't remember as much, of course, since I was only six years old. But I do remember that moment. that's when I got into the sport. For me, it's been a lifetime of hockey. I was born into a hockey family. My dad, fun fact, actually, my dad was on the very first Penn Hills High School varsity hockey team. I was on the last. So that's a fun little fact there. But when I was born, my dad had been coaching high school hockey around the Pittsburgh area for a good few years.

he obviously like I said he played it growing up he covered it when I was a little kid he used to write for the now defunct penguins report that was a weekly newspaper that came out all about the penguins and he was one of their writers and I was just always around it I was always exposed to it and I ended up playing it from the time I was six years old competitively until I was 23 so I played all the way through college. I played for the Allegheny Badgers in Pittsburgh. I'm actually wearing a Badger's shirt today. Shout out to my old team.

And then I played at IUP. And the thing that's great about that is it was never forced on me. My dad was never like, you have to go play hockey. You have to like hockey. In fact, he didn't want me to play it because he didn't want a coach. And he knew he couldn't resist himself. He was going to have to coach if I played. and the way I got into playing it was I was five years old and I had done all the

learn to skate stuff. I had skates on and I knew how to skate, but I wasn't playing hockey yet. And I was at the Penn Hills YMCA playing soccer. And I don't remember doing this, but my dad, may rest in peace. My dad loved telling this story. I sat down in the middle of the pitch in the middle of a game and just quit. I just stopped playing. And eventually they coaxed me up and I, you know, jogged around for whatever time was left in the game.

And then on the drive home, my dad was like, hey, listen, kid, I work hard for my money. And if you're going to play a sport, you need to play it. You can't just sit down in the middle of the field in the middle of the game and stop playing. You have to play. And I said to him, dad, soccer's stupid. I can skate. I want to play hockey. And he was like, all right, we'll go get you hockey.

gear and we'll sign you up. So the rest is history. And then last quick thing is once I got out of college, I worked for the Wheeling Nailers, the ECHL affiliate for a couple of seasons. And then I did a season with the Utica Comets who at the time were the Vancouver Canucks affiliate. So and now obviously I do this show. So hockey's just for the 34 years I've been alive. It's always been a part of my life. And it's the one constant. And it's the one constant. And it's It's the thing that I'm the absolutely most passionate about. Same here. I played throughout my childhood a bit.

I didn't really want to play for my high school team. Well, that's mainly because I didn't really like anyone in my high school, to be honest. I just, I really only talked to a couple of kids from my high school to this day, just because, again, I really did not like anyone from my high school. That's just how I was. And I just didn't really want to try out for the team. But my mom grew up a massive Penguins fan. She is the reason why I got into this team.

She is the reason, honestly, why I got into this. this show because she knew that I loved this sport so much the second I watched my first game during that 0304 season. So I really have my mom to thank for getting me into this sport. And for those that don't know, her favorite player is Paul Coffee. So Mom, if you're ever listening to this, there's your Paul Coffee shout out. There's your shout out, by the way, as well. Next question, this comes from Penn 68. Do you think next year is the last year for Evgeny Malkin? I do. I do think last year is probably his final year in the league unless he wants to sign maybe a one-year deal for a little bit less money if he wants to.

I know he wants to try and get this team back to the playoffs one more time. Not sure it's going to be in the cards before he retires, but I do think once his contract is up, I think that's going to be it for him. And again, unless he wants to sign another one-year deal and maybe go out together with Sid because after next season, Pat, Sid still has another year left on his contract. So I maybe could see him signing for one more year. But by all intents and purposes, I think that's probably it. And this actually goes together with another question from the mailbag as well.

When this comes from Gulf Legend 69? When is the next time you see the Penguins making the playoffs? It's probably 26, 27. I think next year, unless they're really, and I mean really aggressive this off season to really speed this thing along, I think next year you're kind of looking at a little bit more of the same. At least that's what I'm leaning towards. They'll have an opportunity if they want to, again,

to be aggressive this off season, speed this thing up, try to make the playoffs one more time next year. I'm kind of leaning towards them doing a same thing that they did this year. While they're just kind of in the hunt, but they're still kind of restocking, rebuilding this thing on the fly. But I think 26, 27, when they have a lot more, even more cap space, I think that's going to be the year that they make it. So kind of goes hand in hand.

I think next year is the last one for Gino, but I don't think he's going to see the playoffs again, which is really unfortunate considering everything he's accomplished. I'm with you on the Gino stuff. I do think next year is probably it for him. him. It'll be his 20th NHL season. It can be sort of a farewell tour for

Evgeny Malkin. And maybe it isn't. Maybe he comes back from the Four Nations break rejuvenated. He has a good stretch. He's healthy again. And maybe he plays well going in. He has a good summer of training. Feels good.

Maybe decides after another year he wants to do one more. We don't know. But I do think all signs kind of point to him calling it a career. after next year. As for the playoffs, it's a coin flip to me. I think we can say with some certainty that they should make the playoffs in 2027 between the fact that they're going to have a lot of these young talented players much further along in their development. And then you add in what Josh was telling us about how that's likely going to be the year after Gino retires. So they're

going to have a need at second line center. They're going to have an obscene amount of cap space to go get aggressive. But I also think next year, if some of these guys in Wilkes-Bair come up and are able to make a difference, the Eastern Conference isn't going to be all that much better next year. It's not like there's going to suddenly be a lot of teams that are all vying for it. I think Ottawa is going to take a step. because they've kind of been doing that already. Detroit's going to take a step.

But then on the other side of it, I don't know how sustainable what Washington is doing is. I don't think they're going to suddenly suck, but I don't think we're going to see what we're seeing from them this year. Detroit will take a step. The Rangers are going to take a step back. I think the islanders are going to take a step back. And there's going to be an opening for them next year.

And if some of these guys are ahead of schedule, I think they could surprise and make the playoffs next year. But if we're talking about when we think it could be a certainty, 2027 is probably it. Yeah, I think if we're talking the next couple of years, 26, 27 is their best shot at getting in. They just, again, they have to get that second line center spot right. I think that's going to be one of Kyle Dubus's biggest test, especially after Evgeny Malkin potentially retires after next season, since he's held down the fort there for so long. You got to get that position, right?

The moving right along. This comes our next question. Hawk Noga 6772. Do you guys think Kyle Dubas should give Buffalo a call and see what it would take to get Bowen Byram? Also, what are your thoughts on offer shooting Mason McTavish this summer? Or do you think the Ducks are going to keep them no matter what? Always love listening. So yeah, as for Bowen Byram, I would be all for that.

He's someone that can play top four minutes. I'll eat those up for breakfast. I do want to say, I want to shout out Adam Gretz. He actually wrote about this last week for Pensburg. Pat, you read that article too. I really enjoyed that one. want to give him his due credit because he brought Byram up first. I would be all for it if they want to go out and try to go get Bill and Byram.

That's someone that you could easily flip that first round pick for. So I'm glad that the listener asked about that. He's had really strong numbers on this Buffalo team, even though they're not good. He's had really strong underlying start his career. I would be down for that. And also, as for your question about offer sheets, I will be curious to see if Kyle Dubas decided to send out an offer sheet this summer. Taylor Haas wrote about that in our Friday Insider last week.

I do think it's a really good idea considering how many picks they have these next few years in these drafts. Solnigmation McTavish, I mean, if you want to do it, I'd be all for it. I really would. Absolutely. And to the original question, I'd call Buffalo no matter what. Kevin Adams is a bad GM. We know the meme. Identify the bad GMs, call them every single day because they're either itching to make moves or you can sucker them into making a bad move.

you have i would call kevin adams as much as possible because he's not a very good general manager and taylor was absolutely right when it comes to offer sheets i don't know if it'll be mctavish or somebody like that but the penguins now have the draft capital available to offer sheet players i know people in the past however many years have wondered why the penguins haven't they haven't had the draft capital to do it because if you go after an rfa and you offer sheet them and you are successful, you have to compensate the team that you pulled them away from. And the Penguins just didn't have the assets to successfully offer sheet someone.

Now they do. And it gets into something I said on the show last week and to Josh and just in general. The Penguins and Kyle Dubus, whether they did it purposefully or if the stars aligned or if it's a little bit of both, have put themselves in a position where they can go a multiple different direction. in this rebuild retooling because of a rising cap, because of the amount of draft picks they have, and because of the amount of now prospects that they have. They can take the easy road.

And it wouldn't be the worst one. Hold on to your prospects. Hold on to your draft capital. Develop the prospects. Draft more prospects. See if they develop and see what happens. Or you can use the draft capital to offer sheet some young players, get an influx of young talent, not a bad option. Or then there's the third option. You have a rising salary cap.

You can get aggressive both in the free agent market and in the trade market to say, hey, we've got a ton of cap space. We want this young guy. We'll also take your bad expiring contract as well as a sweetener and we'll send you back a first round pick and a prospect. So they're in very good position. I know it's bleak right now in the in the present with where the team is. But they're set up to get right back on track in the next three to four years, should they make the correct moves. Right. And I think you're going to see a combination of those three things. You're going to see them obviously take the best player available when they do have a pick in the draft. I think you're going to see them flip a couple of these picks to try and go get a younger player that can help right

now. And I would not be surprised if they do try and send out an offer sheet this off season. I think it makes a lot of sense, especially with how many draft capital they have. Again, at the very least, it makes another GM man. That's what I'm here for. We need more offer sheets in the NHL. They're a lot of fun. They get a little bit of rivalries with some GM sometimes. You get some really good comments out of them. And it helps your team be better. Like, that's the biggest thing right there. So I do think you're going to see a combination of these three things throughout these next few years as Caldibis tries to get this team back to being a contender. One more question, though, before we had to break. If you were an NHL player, what would you pick for your goal song? This comes from

Angela. Honestly, for me, this is going to be a rock song. It's you shook me all night long by ACDC. I think that's a great song when you score a goal. I could have done a Guns and Roses song. I could have done another Motley Cruz song, Def Leopard. I know people. I'm big into my 80s rock, but I'm going ACDC for this one. I think it's a pretty slam dunk pick for me, in my opinion. I am going to be such a cliche white guy rock song, but it's based on the belief that it's

got to have something with some crowd interaction. So everybody gets into it. I am going to go with crowd chant by Joe Satriani because that oh, like getting everybody to do that after you score. Oh, that would rule. That would absolutely rule. That's a good one too. I like that.

I was trying to think of a way to come up with, you know, one for, you know, welcome to the jungle, sweet child of mine. But I don't know, I think you shook me all night long by ACDC would be. That's a winner in my book, in my opinion. But that's going to do it for the first part of questions coming up in the. the final segment, we're going to continue answering your questions. And that's coming up right after this. All right. We're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick. So Pat, this one is for you, man. Comes from

Christopher Hart. It's a wrestling question. Do you think AEW has become worse than 2000, 2001? What is that acronym, Pat? Because I'm sorry, I don't know anything about wrestling. Like WCW, it was the main competitor of WWF at the time, now WWE in the early 2000s. Now, I'm going to start by saying this. I'm somewhere between a casual wrestling fan and a hardcore wrestling fan. Like I watch the shows. I watch Monday Night Raw. I watch Friday night Smackdown.

I'll watch the pay-per-views. Well, they're called PLEs now, premium live events because you just have to have a peacock subscription rather than having to buy the event, I digress. So I'm not all the way in on this. I watch it. I enjoy it. It's essentially a television show for me because that's what it is. I'll watch it on Monday.

I'll watch it on Friday. And when it ends, I'll go, oh, I like that or not their best. And then I move on with my life. I will say this and you'll enjoy this, Hunter. If you think the internet hockey community is miserable, Meet the internet wrestling community. They hate everything. And I mean everything.

So I don't watch AEW. I just, one, I don't have the time in the day to watch like five wrestling shows a week and a bunch of different premium live events. And WWE is something I've known about pretty much all my life. The thing I'll say about it is this. And I could be completely off base. If you're an AEW fan, Chris, I'm not going to. fault you for it. I'm a big let people enjoy what they enjoy kind of person. The thing I've

kind of noticed is when AEW came on the scene in the early 2020s, it was the new fun thing. They were being innovative. They were taking advantage of the fact that WWE was stuck in the mud. They kind of were spinning their tires. So it was something new. It was something fresh. It was innovative. WWE found it stride again. And now a bunch of guys are leaving AEW to go to WWE. And the parallel I can draw from WCW to WWE is now it feels kind of in the in the similar way that WCW when it started to fall off was chasing WWE and trying to do everything they were doing or trying to respond to everything they were doing rather than continuing to do their own thing. And that kind of feels like what we're at now, where AEW is chasing WWE and trying to

respond to everything they do rather than just being their own thing. So again, I'm, I'm not a totally casual wrestling fan, but I'm also not a diehard who does every, who listens to every podcast, reads every dirt sheet and does all that. But if I could be completely off base on that, but at the very least as a casual fan, that's my reading on it. You mentioned wrestling Twitter. That's kind of how I feel about soccer Twitter. Like hockey Twitter can get pretty nuts.

You should see soccer Twitter, man. I mean, especially when, you know, again, I'm an Arsenal fan. You should see when they play someone like Man City, Liverpool, soccer's Twitter just goes. That's just European soccer, man. They're crazy. The memes are insane.

Some of this stuff I see on social media, I'm like, how do people, A, find this, and B, have the time to make stuff like this. It's, it is nuts. And the chance are just crazy. I've gotten more into it over the last year and a half. But again, soccer Twitter, man, it is nuts. Moving along, we have a few more questions to get to.

This comes from S33850. Kind of a random question from my mom. We watch your episodes together. By the way, thank you very much. Hunter, you previously said Patrick is five foot four. Is that true? Or are you just busting his chops? No, it is true.

Pat is a short king people. He's taller than Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings, but he is a short king, and that's okay. We love short kings here. I'm obviously a bit taller. I mean, I'm 6'1, but it's okay. Pat's a short king. We love him for it. Don't lie on this show, Hunter.

I'm not 5'4. I'm 5 too, man. I am not a tall person. I joke about it all the time, though. Too short, before I met my girlfriend when I was on dating apps, one of my, self-loathing, I guess you could call it. I don't know if that's the right word, but I would always say,

listen, I know I'm short. There's plenty of other things that you might not like that I can actually control. I can't help that two short people fell in love in the 80s and decided to start a family. Just out of my hands. But listen, it's been 30 plus years. At this point,

I'm aware. Like, people think they can still make fun of me for it. I'm like, Guys, it's been 30 years. I'm well aware. I know I'm short. Pass the short king, guys, as I said. But two more questions to get to before we wrap up today's episode. This comes from Christian. Rank your favorite penguins color commentator. So for me, Phil Bork is at the top. I think he's the best of the best. At least from my generation, like that's like expertise I'm speaking of. Phil Bork is my favorite. I would probably go Colby Armstrong number two. I really like his color commentary.

Number three, probably Mike Rupp, if I had to pick another one. And I hate saying this. Some people are going to disagree. I get it. I have Bob Erie a bit towards the bottom. I think his last few years just kind of soured on me as a caller commentator. I think it was just too homerish for me on the broadcast. Again, maybe that's a hot take to some people, but I kind of have Erie a bit at the bottom.

I know he did a lot of great work for this organization. he was with the penguins, excuse me, for so long, but just I like his commentary the least out of some of these more recent commentators, especially on sports at Pittsburgh. I can't tell if absence is just making the heart grow fonder for me, but I kind of agree. I think Erie fell off late in his late in his tenure with the team, but I always enjoyed him. You could tell he was somebody who loved what he did. He was a little ridiculous. I always made the joke that Ari's solution to everything was just to throw more hits and maybe fight, which was always funny to me. But yeah, I mean, I think I would agree with most of that list.

I think the jury's still a little bit out on Ruppin' Colby. I like them both. I think they're both good. I just need to spend a little bit more time with them as color commentators and see how they go. I will say, and this is my hot take, if Paul Stigerwald would have just remained a color commentator, he probably would have been among the best because he was a very good color commentator because his strength was painting a picture and telling you a story. And that's the job of a color commentator, not a play by play guy. Play by play guy has to call the action. And that's it. And

Stigerwald is not a call the action guy. He's a guy who tells you what's going on. He's a guy who tells you what the meaning of what's going on is and puts it in a perspective. And when he does his radio features, when he does his interviews with players, and when he's on Penguins documentaries, he can tell you everything you need to know. And he can do it in a way not many can. So if he would have remained a color commentator and not a play-by-play guy, he would have been among the best. Heck, just listen to his speech when he was,

kind of hosting Yarmu Yager's retirement ceremony, just listen to that. Like, that's all you need to say. The way that he was able to tell so many stories on that day, no one else could have done that. Like, that is his bread and butter. He kind of got a little bit worse towards the end of his play-by-play tenure, in my opinion, but when he's able to tell a story, there's not many better. Like, I felt like he was fabulous in that role. And anytime he had a chance to do something like that, he was always great.

And don't get me wrong people. I am still very glad that he is remaining with the Penguins organization. He's still doing stuff with the Penguins Radio Network with Brian Metzer. Also a really fun friend of the show we got to have him on at some point. But I'm just glad that he's remaining with the Penguins forever. Last question, though, before we head out of here, this comes from Tony P. I want to know your top two lines all time for the NHL. If you had to choose players for two lines for an all-time NHL all-star team,

including defensemen and goalie, who you got. Who, man. I mean, we've been coming, we've been trying to come up with an answer for this. for a while this morning. In goal, I have Patrick Waugh. I think he's the best goaltender of all time, in my opinion. That might be a hot take to some. I know some others go with Haschik.

I know some others go with Marty Broder. I go with Patrick Waugh. That's my opinion. Ford-wise, I think I'm going Crosby with Mario and Ovechkin. I think that would be a disgusting line. Gretzky with Yager and Rocket Richard, I think would also be nasty. defensively, this is where it gets tough. Like Paul Coffey, Nick Lidstrom, Bobby Orr, it's really tough, honestly, man.

Like, truly, this is a really tough call defensively. I'm going to agree with you on that top line. I'm going to keep that one together. I think if you can take, because if we remember the end of Mary Alamu's career, he was playing wing and he was still very much, Mary Alamu. I'm disagreeing with you in net. I'm putting the dominator in that. I think because it didn't last as long as Patrick Waugh, it doesn't get as appreciated.

But for those four to five years where Dominic Hasick was on top of the goaltending world, he was unbelievable. And it was, imagine if you took Flurie's athleticism and mixed it with Martam Brodor's positioning, that was what you got because he could square up to a shot like none other. But if he was out on an island, wasn't a guarantee that you were going to hit that open net because he could make some acrobatic saves. He was unbelievable. Second line, I know this might be a little bit of a Homerish take, but I'm putting Ron Francis in the middle because here's the thing I think people forget about Francis

because he gets lauded for his two-way play because he was genuinely great at it. He's fifth all time and points. Yeah. He was a great two-way center, but he could score. So I would put him as my second line center. I would put him with Marcel Dion and Stevie Y. I like that. That second line would absolutely cook.

Defense, I think you've got to go definitely Paul Coffey. Yes. You reinvented the position. And this will be a hot take, and I don't mean it. is in a level of disrespect. I think his career just didn't last as long as it should have. I'm not going to put Bobby Orr there just because I think Paul Coffey kind of took the ball from Bobby Orr and ran further with it. I think raw talent, Bobby Orr was better.

But the career just didn't last as long as it should have because medical science wasn't as far long as it was. If Bobby Orr would have played in even the 80s, they could have replaced his knee and he would have played forever and ever, Amen. but we just weren't at that point in time yet. And then I'm going to put Lidstrom with them because while Lidstrom may not have put up the amount of points for as good as Lidstrom was as a two-way defender, Lidstrom had the one thing you can't quantify, and that's the clutch gene. He was a great two-way defender, but you go back and look at his career in the biggest moments, he would score.

He's the best defensive of my generation. Like I grew up watching him. He was just awesome. Yeah, I would, because I mentioned all three of them in my answer because honestly, I couldn't pick two out of those three. They're all so good. But if you're telling me, you got to do it, I would probably go Lydstrom and coffee. I would, Bobby Orr's right there. That's just my personal preference.

But you can't go wrong with any of those three. They're three of the best to ever do it. Paul Coffey brings all that offense. Lidstrom, he brings you that two-way play that's especially needed. And again, I'm going Patrick Waugh and net. And I think that will do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I know we went a little bit long today. I will say, someone also did ask us who are your top three prospects in the draftor. If you have a top three, which one do you think they could get? I'll give you three right now. Benjamin Kindle, Michael Mesa, Victor Nand. Those are three that I'm

really watching. Their film is a lot of fun. And I think the Penguins will be able to finish in a spot where they could get one of those three in the 2025 NHL draft. But that would do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. As usual, thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this podcast and taking the time to send us all of your questions. We hope we answered every single one of them. If not, we're going to try to do a part two of this at some point down the line. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes.

Thank you so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday.