Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Will Sidney Crosby crack the top 10 of the NHL's all-time points leaders this season?

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

Welcome to the dead zone! Hunter starts the show by discussing Ty Smith's contract and what it means for the Penguins this upcoming season. Is he going to be able to take a spot in the lineup every night? Is the battle against PO Joseph going to be that much more interesting? Hunter also looks at how the Penguins need to be careful with Smithy because he is no longer waivers exempt. He will now have to go through waivers in order to be sent down to WBS this upcoming season. He also dives into his numbers from this past season and analyzes what makes him stand out more than POJ and vice versa. After that, Hunter looks at how Sidney Crosby is looking at a couple of significant milestones this upcoming season. Hunter analyzes Sid's chances at getting into the NHL's all-time points leaders this season and how many points he needs, despite him about to be 36. He then looks at how he's approaching the 1,000-assist mark and how it's going to be a special night when he gets that milestone. Finally, he ends the show with a full list of games that should be must-watch/must-sees for fans this upcoming season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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.

Even though we have reached the quote unquote zombie portion of the NHL offseason, the Penguins did sign Ty Smith to a one-year deal over the weekend. What does that mean for the Penguins heading into the season? I'll have my answer on that coming up 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 your host, Hunter Hodes, and I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes follow the show's Twitter at L.N. Orsore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Before we get into the Tye Smith signing, I just want to say how thankful I am to be back in my own house, in my office with my beautiful mic, my better background, just recording a podcast episode free wall. I can only do so much on my work laptop with the graphics and just

backgrounds and stuff. I am so glad to be home. It's a nice vacation that I had with my family, but I'm going to be home for the foreseeable future. The next vacation that I have is not until late August into early September when I will go to the Barbados to celebrate my three-year anniversary with my girlfriend. So that will be a lot of fun. But diving into the first topic to discuss today, the Penguins signed Ty Smith to a one-year deal over the weekend, $775,000. He is basically the second to last player that the Penguins have to sign when it comes to their restricted free agents. Technically, Philip Lindberg and Philip Hollander are both restricted free agents,

but they're going to be playing overseas for this upcoming season, so they're not really going to matter that much. Drew O'Connor is the last of the restricted free agents that the Penguins need to sign, his arbitration date is coming up on August 4th, though. I do expect the Penguins to have a deal ironed out with him before that date when it comes to Smith, one-year deal, 775K, as I said, a one-way deal. So he will make the same amount of money in the NHL that he would in the AHL. And perhaps an even bigger thing when it comes to this deal,

he is no longer waiver exempt. So remember last year when he didn't have to pass through waivers, to be sent down to Wilkesbury after training camp in the preseason, even though he had a really good camp in preseason, well, that's not going to be the case anymore. If Smith does not make the team out of camp, assuming he is with the Penguins and he's not in the Carlson trade and all that stuff, he will have to go through waivers before he gets sent down to Wilkesbury. And that could be tricky for the Penguins because there could be teams out there who are looking for free help on the left side of their defensive groups.

In Smith, he's shown enough at the NHL level already that he could be a cheap ad for teams looking for help on the back end. So this battle with P.O. Joseph is going to be really fascinating heading into camp. It's time for Ty Smith to really show what he has in store. I mean, he only played in nine games this past season, one goal, four points. in those games. Stats-wise, when he was on the ice, the Penguins had 49% of the shot attempts, 63.6% of the actual goals.

That's solid. 48% of the expected goal share, 46% of the scoring chances, and 47% of the high danger chances. So only one stat where he was above break-even. I test lines when I went back and looked at the film when I did his season review.

I honestly liked what I saw, even though some of the numbers were really not up to par. I liked the way he was able to go from defense to all. offense with the puck on his stick. I also really liked the way he played on the top power play when Chris LaTang was hurt. The way he was able to move the puck along the blue line, get it to the big guns.

First point in chance is the way he was also able to fire pucks to the net a lot more often than LaTang would do this past season. I thought was pretty impressive. He honestly looked like a natural on that unit. And I want to see more of that if he's able to know. make the team this upcoming season. And I said this at the time last year. I would have preferred to have Smith on the team over Joseph, but that kind of backfired

a little bit on me because I really liked how Joseph played this past season before. He got a little bit gassed down the stretch. I liked how he played offensively. Defensively, at times it was pretty good, but it went down a little bit down the the stretch in that final month or so of the season. but this battle is going to be back and better than ever heading into camp and heading into the preseason. I do think he would have made the team if the penguins had the cap space available to keep him because he makes, well, at the time he made over a million in the penguins didn't even have

cap space to keep him on the team. Sure, Juan Hexton, Brian Burke could have found a trade to put him on the roster similar to what Jim Rutherford did when John Marino just impressed everyone at Penguins training camp at few years ago and it forced his hand to trade Eric Good Branson, but I guess Hextall really didn't want to do that with the other options on the blue line. But that spot with Peel Joseph, that's really the only spot open right now on the blue line. Marcus Pedersen, Ryan Graves, are going to man the top two spots on the left side. You can interchange them any way you want. Crystal Tang will obviously get the top pairing for right now. At least Jeff Petrie is still on the team. That could change

depending on what happens with Eric Carlson, if that trade is even made, which who knows if that's going to happen at this point. There continues to be a massive game of chicken in that regard. Then Yon Ruta is on the bottom pairing. And that final spot, E.OJ or Tye Smith. And I honestly think a defensive-minded partner would work good for Smith, someone who is very good at moving the puck up the ice, very good in the offensive zone.

Defense is not his strong suit. And someone like Ruta or Chow Riedel could help bail. him out if he does make mistakes in his own zone. Also took a little bit of a discount to come back. So that's also big there too. But I'm excited about him. I mean, I was higher on the trade than some other people were at the time when the Penguins shipped Marino out for Smith because I thought he was going to make the team

out of camp and I was disappointing when he didn't. But I know that he struggled in his second season with New Jersey, but there is still quite a bit of talent with this player. And he needs to be given a chance to show it in more than just nine to ten games. He's going to get the chance in training camp and especially the preseason. Hopefully the Penguins will have some salary cap flexibility, or more of it per se, because they're over the cap right now. They're going to have to figure out something.

But I think it would probably just be them sending down some players to Wilkesbury. But if it's between Joseph and Smith, may the best man win. when it comes to it. I personally think Smith has more to give offensively, and that's saying something because Joseph had a pretty decent offensive season this past year for the Penguins, his underlines were better than Joseph's. But in terms of raw ability to move the puck in the offensive zone, to walk the blue line on the power play,

to go from defense to offense, I like Smith a bit better than POJ in that regard. Defensively, I would still lean POJ, even though he got a bit gassed towards the end of the end of the, the season. But I think overall, I would go with Smith, especially offensively. But this is his time. If both them are on the team, it's going to be a really fun battle to look at. But that wraps up. This first time, diving into the Ty Smith signing, what it means for the Penguins heading in a training camp. Let me know what you think down in the comments on YouTube or you can send me a DM on social media.

Do you think Smith is going to be able to beat out P.O. Joseph, if both are on. on the team come training camp, or do you think he's going to have to potentially pass through waivers? And again, hey, there's a real chance they could lose. And especially if there are teams out there looking for defensemen for free on the waiver wire. Let me know your thoughts on that. Coming up in the second segment, will Sydney Crosby crack the top 10 for the NHL's all-time scoring leaders

this upcoming season? It looks a little daunting if you look at the numbers just for this season. But if anyone can do it, I think it is Crosby. before we dive into that topic, we do have to discuss Fandul. Take your first thing of betting MLB on Fandul and get 10 times your first spend amount and bonus bets up to $200. That's right. Just bet $20 and you'll weigh in $200 in bonus bets, win or lose.

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Follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Nancho Penguins. And 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. So Sydney Crosby right now is 15th on the all-time NHL scoring leaders list. 1,502 points hit the 1,500 point mark late this past season, 550 goals and 952 assists.

He is 17 points clear of Alex Ovechkin and almost 250 less games played. That is just how crazy Sid has been during his career. And he's definitely set to pass two Penguin Legends this upcoming season. he needs 30 points to pass Paul Coffey at 14th all time. Coffee finished a square with 1,531 points. After that, Mark Recky is at 1,533 points, so Crosby needs 32 points to pass him. After that, long time San Jose Sharks legend in Boston Bruins legend,

Joe Thornton at 430 goals and 1,539 points. So assuming Crosby stays healthy, he will at least get up to 12th on the all-time NHL scoring leaders list. After that, you have Ray Bork, who finished his grade with 1,579 points, and then Phil Esposito at 1,590 points. He holds the number 10 spot in terms of all-time scoring leaders in NHL history. Right now, if Sid were to stay healthy, he would need 89 points to pass Esposito and get into the top 10 this upcoming season.

He's definitely going to do it at some point during his career. But can he do it this season? my answer, I would say yes, this past season, Crosby had 33 goals and 93 points in 82 games. He's continued to have a point per game pace or better over the last 15 plus years. That is just how consistent he has been at the NHL level. And yes, he may have to miss a little bit of time next season, but despite that, he has still finished at a point per game or better in most of his NHL season. Look, 2021, 2022, right?

He played in 69 games. That was a full 82 game season. He still had 31 goals, 84 points in 69 games. Before that, in the shortened season, played in 55 of the 56 games, 24 goals, 62 points in 55 games. Before the COVID shortened year, which had to be paused because of the outbreak. He played in 79 games, 82 games, 80 games, 75 games. He barely had to miss time. there's only a few games had 85 points respectively 89 points 89 points again and then 100 points

that was during the 2018 2019 season i understand that sid was a bit younger at the time but he is still producing despite being in his mid to upper 30s is going to be 36 for this upcoming season i say he does it with the way that he trains during the off season the way that he wants to continue proving people wrong even though he's a top five player of all time, he is going to do this. And I think it's going to be awesome once he hits it. I mean, again, head over 90 plus points this upcoming season. If he has another fully healthy season, and I'm not going to put it past him to have that considering how he's always in peak conditioning form, how serious he takes everything, I think he's going to do it. Once he does hit the top 10

Mark, and I think he does it this season. After that, it's really only a matter of how high up this list is he going to go. Because after Esposito, there's Joe Sackick at 1,641 points. I do think Sid eventually gets there probably after the 2024, 2025 season, if I had to guess. Mary Lemieux, who has the all-time Penguins record in terms of points at 1,723. Right now, Sid means about 225 points to pass. and if you're looking at exact numbers, he needs 222 points. I do think Sid will eventually pass Mario as the franchise's all-time points leader,

and he'll be number eight on that list. Steve Iserman after that, at 1,755. If he plays into his 40s, Sid, that is, I think Sid is able to take down his childhood hero. Remember, Sid grew up idolizing Eisenman. After that, Marcel Dion at 1771 points. Ron Franzen says at 1,798. I don't think he's going to touch.

Francis, I think that's maybe a little bit of wishful thinking. I do think, though, he gets past Mirio, he gets past Iserman. I just don't know if he's going to pass Dion and Francis. I wouldn't put it past him considering it's Sydney freaking Crosby, but that's just really tough. Considering right now he needs 300 more points basically to pass Francis, that's going to be pretty tough. I don't think he's going to touch Cordy Howell or Yager or Messier or obviously Wayne Gransky, no one's ever going to touch that record. But by the end of his career, per se, I do think he will see Sid very close to the top five in all-time scoring, if not in that number five spot. But it would definitely be inside the top 10. And I do think he hits that number 10 spot this

upcoming season. Another all-time record that I think he's going to close in on very soon as well is a thousand assists. He's only 48 assists away from hitting the 1,000 assist mark. And once he does that, he'll be 14th all time in assists in initial history. Right now, he is 16th all time for that record, only needs five assists to pass Mark Recky. So he's probably going to pass Mark Recky with two records this season. After that, he has to pass Doug Gilmore, who finished his career with 964 assists. And then it's Joe Sackick, Mary Lemieux, who has 1,033. Sid, I don't think he's going to touch Mario's record this season

because right now he would need to have 81 assists to tie at 82 to pass it. But I think next season for sure, he is going to pass Mario when it comes to that record and get up to 12 all-time. Marcel Dionne, Gordy Howe. Sid is definitely coming for a top 10 spot when it comes to the all-time assists records. Gordy Howe finished through with 1,049 assists. Marcel Dion at 140, Steve Byersman,

1,063, Adam Oates, 1079. Sit it right now, sitting at 952, I say he definitely cracks the top 10, and maybe he even goes upwards of fifth all-time at Yari Yager when he finished with 1,155. Said right now, it means a couple hundred to pass Yagra. We'll over a couple hundred, but he's definitely going to finish top 10 when it comes to assist as well as points.

So a couple big milestones coming up for Crosby. obviously he's won his championships, he's won his hearts, he's one of the R. Rosses, he's one of the Ted Lindsay, he's one the cons mites, but when it comes to all-time NHL records, I think he's going to hit a couple of big ones this upcoming season when it comes to top 10 all-time and scoring and later on top 10 all-time and assists,

and especially for this year, 1,000 assists if he stays healthy. That's going to be quite the night, whether it's on the road or whether it's in Pittsburgh. I'll have a segment dedicated to Evgen Malkin with the players that he will pass points-wise and assist-wise a bit later on this off-season,

but I thought this would be a really cool topic to dive into because Sid is closing in on some absolute legends for all-time points and all-time assists. So that wraps up this second segment. Let me know if you think Crosby is going to hit the top 10 of the NHL's all-time points leaders this upcoming season, or if that's going to have to wait until next season. Also let me know how high do you think he can go? Do you think he can get

to number five all time when it comes to Ron Francis at 1,798? Or do you think he's going to fall just short of that and not get upwards of 300 more points to end his career? Coming up to end the show, I discussed this topic a little bit with Patrick Damp on my Friday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast, but I'm going to dive into more of the games that are going be must watches and must see games, whether it's at home or on the road for the Penguins this upcoming season. I dove into a couple of those on my episode, but I didn't dive into all of the games. Then I think are going to have to be must watches or must go sees. That's coming up right after this. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins

podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You know to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter, Ellen on top penguins. And 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. So as I discussed on my Friday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, opening night against Chicago is going to be an amazing game to go see and watch. Honestly, Connor Bedard against Cindy Crosby, Penguins going up against the team that eliminated them from playoff contention this past season.

A lot of high stakes in that one. And then right after that game, 10-13 against the Washington Capitals in D.C., that's the Caps home opener. It's honestly pretty rare to see these two teams square off against each other this early in the season, but that one's going to be a ton of fun as well. I will never get tired of seeing Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby go at it, despite them being a bit older now. I know the rivalry is not what it used to be back in, say, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018,

but it's still a pretty big rivalry. Tom Wilson obviously makes a lot of Penguins fans mad. Cap's fans still don't like Sidney Crosby. I think I know some Penguins fans that still don't like Alex of Etchen, though I think it should be a thing where we don't have to like them, but you have to respect them for how good they are. But these matchups are still a lot of fun to watch, and I'm really looking forward to that one as well.

You have the Avalanche game at home on 10-26, so right before Halloween. Nathan McKinnon versus Sidney Crosby is always, and I mean always, a popcorn matchup. you have to tune in whether you're watching it or you're seeing it live. The Penguins Avalanche game in Pittsburgh this past season was awesome. I thought the Penguins were outplayed in that game. They got to go late in the third period before they won it in overtime. It was probably one of the games of the year, to be honest,

it was that 2-1 final where they won an OT. And seeing those two teams go at it, always a fun time. Obviously, McKinnon going up against his childhood idol in Crosby. doesn't get that much better than that. After that, you have the California trip in early November from the 4th until the 9th. I am always a sucker for late-night hockey. I'll even throw in the Western Canada trip in there from February 27th to March 3rd. I love when the games start at 9 p.m. Eastern, 10 o'clock, 10.30.

I'm always up late regardless, but I always love watching as much hockey as I can so I can keep up with the league overall. And I know that California trip isn't as daunting as it used to be because some of the teams that are not that good, especially the ducks and the sharks. They're not going to be good this upcoming season, but the games against the Kings are usually fun. The Kings are pretty decent team now. But overall, I love staying up for those games, and I hope that there are more late-night hockey addicts

like me out there than they're not. The Rangers game on November 22nd, the day before Thanksgiving, sign me up for that. That game is always packed at PBG Paints Arena. Not sure I'm going to be able to go to that game live is usually I go to my family's Thanksgiving, whether it's in Richmond, Virginia or Northern Virginia, because my uncle lives in Richmond,

and my mom and dad lived in Northern Virginia. But with where that Penguins Rangers rivalry is right now, oh, that game is going to probably be a bloodbath, as is every Penguins Rangers game at this point. I always love how these rivalies go in cycles, right? Penn's Caps was at the top from 2009, you know, 2016 to 2018. Now it's gone down a little bit. The Flyers won 2012.

especially a little after that, that's gone down a little bit. Rangers one was kind of put on the back burner. Now, especially after that playoff series in 2022, that's gone up. Islanders, they're still always there just because they're the Peng's nemesis. But these Ranger games are always must-see slash must-watches. Something crazy is going to happen in that game. You're going to hear the Igor chance. Jacob Trub is going to get booed.

A whole bunch of other stuff. I'm looking forward to watching that game. And potentially being there for that game. very much as well. December 16th against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Kyle Dubus's revenge game, he is going to get booed a lot. I'm going to be here for it, injected into my veins.

You know the Leafs fans, and especially the Leafs media members, are going to continue to try to make this rivalry, even though I will continue to argue that it is not. Just because an executive left from that team to go to the Penguins does not make it a rivalry. I would continue to die on that hill. I know people are going to disagree with me on that.

But still, that's going to be awesome. The Penn's Leaves games, no matter they're in Pittsburgh or Toronto, are always a lot of fun to watch, especially with all that skill on the ice. And now with Dubus going back to Toronto for the first time since joining the Penguins as pressing hockey operations, that one is going to be a lot of fun. The Islanders game on New Year's Eve at home.

I always love the New Year's Eve games, just because they start a little earlier than expected. They ended up 830, 845. After that, you can go out party with your friends for your drinks and beverages, just have something at home maybe. But that's going to be fun. It's going to be an important game for the Penguins

because they need to be the Islanders this upcoming season. You can't get swept by that team for a second straight season, especially after how those losses directly cost the Penguins a playoff. If they had just won one of those games, especially the one where the Penguins had a 3-1 lead late in the third period, this past season, remember there was less than six minutes left

and they blew that lead, that can't happen. So that one is going to be a very important game. January 15th against Seattle, seeing Brian Dumont come back will be awesome. He's going to get a standing ovation and rightfully so. And then after that, all of the games in April,

I think, are going to be massive. Whether it's playing the Rangers, the Devils, the Capitals, the Lightning, the Leifes, the Red Wings, the Bruins, the Islanders, Reditors, heck, the Penguins end their season with the game against the Islanders. There's no doubt there. That's probably going to have major implications for a playoffs.

That's going to have to be a must-win game, I think, for the Penguins at the end. But April, that's going to be a lot of fun. I always love that time of year just because the playoffs are coming up and the games are getting that much more important. But those are the games that I have circled for this upcoming season as games that I would either love to, A, go and see live at PPG, or be just watch them. and I'm going to watch every game no matter what, just because I cover the team for the show,

and I absolutely love doing what I do here. But in terms of fans out there that may not get a chance to watch every game, these are the ones that I would circle, and I would say to you all, hey, make sure you're not doing anything or have any plans when these games are going on. But that would do it for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode of the podcast.

I'll have another episode for you all later on in the week. Remember, we're not at five episodes a week right now, or three episodes a week for the next couple of months until training camps. I'll have another episode. I'm going to try to have another one out on Wednesday. If not Wednesday, I'll definitely do it Thursday and another episode on Friday. Either way this week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Monday, Thursday, Friday, but overall, I'm going to try to do Monday, Wednesday, Friday for the entire summer.

But again, thank you all so much for tuning into this episode. Really, really appreciate it. I'll be back with another episode. episode for you all on Wednesday or Thursday.