Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Will the Penguins play at all next week?

Episode Date: December 25, 2021

Merry Christmas! Hunter recaps a small newsy Friday around the NHL as the league has paused for another day. That means that the Penguins game on Monday will be canceled and Hunter goes all into when that game will likely be made up. What's the road ahead like for Pittsburgh after? Will this help all of their injured players? He goes into that as well before touching on Mike Sullivan in the second segment. How hard is his system to play against? Does it speak volumes that the team still fully listens to him after all of these years? How much of his footprints are on this team? Finally, Hunter ends with some playoff talk and ponders the thought that most teams that are currently in it likely will be at the end of the season. Should we get a Carolina-Pittsburgh series for the return of Jordan Staal? All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.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.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/HOCKEY and use promo code HOCKEY for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. 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.

You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Well, basically Merry Christmas, everyone. Welcome to the Friday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can also follow the show's Twitter at L-O-Nsport Penguins. I hope everyone that listens to this show, and everyone around the world is a very safe, and a happy Merry Christmas. For me, you know, for those that follow me on Twitter and everything, you know, I'm Jewish, but, you know, I'm not going to not say Mary Christian and everyone. They probably sounded a little weird, but I hope you all get a ton of great stuff on this day, especially Penguins-related. If you get anything Penguins related, please, you know, tweet me at Hunter Hodey, Sweet the show at L.O. underscore Penguins.

Tonight, when I did some stuff with some of my steps of things, they got me some penguins, bourbon glasses that has some stuff around it, like basically a map of P. Peech Pins Arena, a map of the streets that take you to PPG, and just like the ice rink. And then at the bottom, you have the Penguins logo. That's probably one of the best gifts I've ever received, in my opinion. If you get something similar like that, you know, again, tweet at the show or tweet my personal account. I hope a lot of you potentially get some third jersey stuff. I was not able to get that for this holiday season. I'm going to have to, you know, pony up some of my own money and get whatever jersey I want.

It's probably going to happen, I would say. next month or something like that. But I do have to start on this episode after this announcement, of course, with a little bit of bad news. So the NHL PA and the NHL, they release a statement tonight. So the league will continue to be paused on Monday. So what does that mean? Penguins will not be playing their Monday game against Boston.

All games on December 27th have been postponed. And their official announcement says, NHL announced day that's regular season schedule will not resume prior to Tuesday, December 28th. The league had planned to resume the schedule on Monday, but in order to allow the league, an opportunity to analyze the league-wide testing results and to assess the club's readiness to play, the target date for resumption to play will be pushed back another day. The target to resume practice is still on track. December 26th, so Sunday, all teams can return to practice. That's when the facilities will open. And then the league also says that they're going to have

an update on its return to play plans by the end of the day on Sunday. The first thing when I thought when I heard this announcement, I really hope this is nothing like, you know, from a couple years ago where they went on pause just for a little bit and then, you know, it turned into a whole thing, you know, it just, you know, it went until July. Basically, we had a, you know, we had a four to five month pause. I'm hoping that's not going to be the case here. You saw what, in case people do not see what Adam Silver said of the NBA, he said he said he said he has no plans to pause the season because, you know, I mean, he's not totally wrong, but, you know, he's, I get what he's saying basically This virus is going to be here for a long time And we're going to have to live with it

So he sees no point in pausing the season You know there's there's pros and cons to it For whoever you talk to Some people are going to be on one side Some people are going to be on the other I assume at some point Gary Betman will probably Get to the opinion of Adam Silver Even though he's being a bit more cautious

Than the NBA is right now The NFL I mean They can postpone games but they also have their playoffs coming up. So they really have no choice but to keep chugging along. And the NFL had to been doing a really good job prior to these last couple of weeks with playing all their games as scheduled.

NHL did as well, basically, the NBA too, you know, until this new variant came out and everything. But, you know, it's just you can't compare all the leagues the same just because they're in different situations. Like I said, the NFL, the playoffs start. I believe the weekend of January 14th, these races are neck and neck right now for the divisions and the wildcard spots. You know, they can't afford to put their season on pies. That was never going to happen with Roger O'Dell.

The NBA, you know, again, I just said what Adam Silver said. And then for the NHL, they still have a little ways to go. Hopefully, I think what their goal is during this stretch, they won't have as many players go into protocol. And they won't, they'll have most of the players that are in protocol, hopefully be close to, if not out of the protocol already, even though it's, I think it's a 10-day protocol. So I don't know how much total good it's going to do, but I think it's going to do some good. That's for sure. So there will not be a Penguins game on Monday.

Their next scheduled game after that, that's, you know, right now at least. Hopefully the season does not. Well, hopefully the Penguins will be able to play on Wednesday. We will see at least they will play the Toronto Maple East in Toronto. That will be the third and final meeting between the Penguins and the Maple Leaf this year. they will then play a Friday afternoon game 1 o'clock against the Ottawa Senators. That I think is a first. I think for as long as I've been covering this team and for as long as I've been watching

this team, I don't think I've ever seen them play a day game on New Year's Eve. Usually it's about a 5.30 start. I've seen games start at like 630 or 7. I have never seen them play a 1 o'clock game on New Year's Eve. Actually, I'm probably going to at some point look up. when the last time they did do a day game on your resume and I'm going to tweet that on the locked on penguins Twitter account and on my Twitter account because again that's just that's something you really do not see on a yearly basis for the penguins they will then if the schedule lines up right

they will play the San Jose sharks for the first time this year on a Sunday January 2nd they then will play the St. Louis Blues for the first time on January 5th and then they have a bunch of road games coming up this is this is a massive road trip they'll go to Philadelphia on the 6th They will go to Dallas on the 8th to play the stars. For the final time this season, they will again then do the California road trip, Anaheim, L.A. San Jose, then go to Vegas,

and then they will come home on January 20th to play the Ottawa Senator. So that is the look ahead right now for the Penguins schedule, but assume that the Penguins versus Bruins game will take place during that window in February. Remember, the league will not be going to the Olympics this year, and they said in their announcement

that they will be rescheduling all of their postpont games during that three-week window in early to mid-February. So that's probably when that game in Boston will take place. And again, we will have to see what happens overall with the league. Will they resume play on Tuesday? I mean, who knows at this point? I think Elliot Freeman has a great saying that he says on 32 thoughts podcast and on Hockey Night Canada.

You know, what's true right now can not be true in 15 minutes. That is how fast this stuff is moving, you know, just because, you know, we're in a freaking pandemic people. So, I mean, the details just change on a minute to potentially even a second by second basis. So I know that's probably some sad news for some of you already hear. You know, it's been, you know, it'll be about a week, you know, very soon since the Penguins last played their game in New Jersey. But overall, if the league does resume playing on Wednesday, I can.

still see this as a win for the penguins. I know some may think it's not just because they were rolling. They won seven in a row. What if they come out and then start losing? But, you know, this allows some of their injured players to get back healthy. And remember, excuse me, they're going to be back practicing on Sunday, bearing anything, you know, unforeseen. And that likely means Jake Hans will be back practicing. That likely means Brian Russ will be back practicing.

And that likely means of getting Malkin will be back practicing, hopefully in a full contact capacity. He is still not taking full contact yet until he does that last step. We truly don't know when he's going to come back. And, you know, I know that sounds weird because I did say in the next week or two just because he's been looking close, but, you know, he still hasn't taken that last final step. When he does, his return will be, I would say, a day or two away from that point. So we will see what happens with that. Again, Penguins are back practicing on Sunday, that's when their facilities open. And then the league will have a statement out that day to say if they're going to continue

the pause, if they're going to lift it for Tuesday's games. So that is where we are at right now with the Penguins. No game at least right now for at least another four to five days on Wednesday in Toronto. And then if they have to pause that one, their next game after that will be Friday against Ottawa. And that'll be the second time they've played the Senators on this year. So I wanted to spend my first segment touching on all of that. stuff just with league updates coming up in the next segment we're going to go into mike

sullivan a little bit and just go into you know something i noticed the other day just with how long he's been here and just his system overall and just you know it's going to be a big praising mike solven segment and then in the final segment we're going to go into the playoff picture currently it's not something i usually do this early i know it's not even january yet even though or about a week away from it being January. But I still wanted to talk about it. I'll tell you the reason once we get to it. But it's definitely valid, I would think. But before we do that, so this holiday season, you know, Christmas is tomorrow, of course, grab the protein bar that tastes like a candy bar or even better than candy bar, bill bar. It's still with so much holiday goodness, rich with decadent

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That is stathero.com slash hockey promo code hockey for a 100% match. One more time, stathero.com slash hockey, promo code hockey, terms and conditions apply. All right, welcome back to this episode, ugly locked on on pagan ones podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodeys. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter at L.O.N.S. Penguins. So, you know, something occurred to me, you know, just this past week when Paul Maurice resigned, Mike Sullivan is one of the top two to three most, you know, tenured coaches now in NHL. Outside of Jeff Blasheel and John Cooper, it's Mike Sullivan. He's the third most

tenured coach, third longest tenured coach, excuse me, in the league. And it's just crazy to me to say that just because of how much of a short shelf life there is for NHL coaches. And I think that just speaks volumes, you know, to the Penguins organization, the upper management as a whole. You know, he survived Jim Rutherford's, you know, resignation. And, you know, sometimes when new management comes in, they like to bring their own head coach and all that stuff. Not Brian Burke and Ron Hextall. And, you know, they've said this multiple times to the Penguins media, you know, and multiple articles that I've read, you know. They've said, you know, we didn't really know much about Mike when we first came in, didn't really know how much of a coach.

But as we've gotten to know him, we've gotten to see just how. great of a person and a coach he is. And we think he's arguably, they usually say, you know, the best coach in the league. You can certainly make the argument, but, you know, they have him up there as their best coach of the league.

And that just goes to show how highly regarded he is. Not just on the team, but, you know, from people outside the organization coming into the organization as a whole. Because, you know, what if Ron Hextall wanted to bring in his own coach after what happened this?

season, right? You know, the Penguins, they lost in the first round for the third consecutive year in a row. There were people clamming for him to be fired, which is just ridiculous because there was only one player that lost to the Penguins that series. I've said him multiple times on this podcast. I'm sure you all can figure that out if you watch that series. But no, Ron, he kept him. He basically even said after the, you know, the season ended, there was never a thought about, you know, taking away Mike Sullivan's job. And there never should have been just because of how that series unfolded, you know, there's a lot of, you know, fans. And this is, This doesn't go for Penguins fans.

This goes for sports fans as a whole. There are a lot of sports fans for any team out there that are very reactionary. When something bad happens, it's always the coach is all. I see it all the time with the Pittsburgh's dealers. Well, you know, and just because Mike Tomlin's been there for a long time, well, he should be candid. It's a crime that he hasn't won a Super Bowl, you know, another one with Big Ben. And people don't realize in, you know, the same could be said with Mike Selden,

not the Penguins since he last one in 2017. People don't realize how hard it is to win a championship, you know, let alone too as a head coach. And just how many things need to go your way in order for that to happen. And you need quite a bit of luck. You know, people, you know, will say, well, you know, you don't need a lot of luck. It's all the skill and all that. And it's like, go back through all of the past Stanley Cup champions, right? Pittsburgh twice.

Washington. Remember that save in game two when Vegas was up 1-0 in that series? Braden Holpey, they called that the save of the playoffs. If he doesn't make that save, Vegas is probably up to nothing. Remember, another one from that cap rolls run, and they definitely deserve that stand-like cop. Don't get me wrong. They're down 0-2 to Columbus, right? And late in the third period in overtime, Columbus hits the post-slash crossbar. They were one bounce away from going up 3-0 on Washington. And the series basically would have been over. I mean, that's the line sometimes.

And, you know, you have to get lucky and you have to be good in order to go on a championship run. And that's true in any sport. So I've never understood why, you know, just people are always clamoring for Mike Seldon vire. Because the first thing I would say to some of these people is, who are you getting to replace him? I mean, I've seen Bruce Boudreau before he landed in Vancouver floated around. And, you know, I think Bruce has done a really good job with the Canucks. you know he deserves to be a coach in the NFL every year but is he Mike Sullivan no he's never even been to his Stanley Cup final he's been to a Western he's been to a conference final

once or twice as a coach I mean sorry I mean he lost all those times in the second with the capitals I would not hire that guy over Mike Sullivan just a few other coaches excuse me that's all there as well I was choked on myself for a second you know Claude Julian you know etc etc it's just ridiculous and you know you see how hard the Penguins play for Solomon. It's actually crazy, to be honest with you all. Because sometimes by now, you know, for a coach that has been here for as long as he has, sometimes players tune them out. You know, I know Paul Maurice said that he didn't think his players quit on him. But by watching a few of those Jets games, you can see that the level that they were playing at was not on the level that we saw last year and the year before that.

And something I think definitely changed. And, you know, good. on Paul Maurice for realizing that and dipping out. That's probably one of the hardest things you could do as a coach, but he even said he thinks they needed a new voice. But, you know, the Penguins, they have not needed a new voice, you know, ever since Mike came in. And I understand that the penguin system is really hard to play. A, it's also really fun to watch. But, you know, the fact that the team hasn't quit on him, despite that system being really tough just because it requires 100% maximum effort, every single shift, every single week. Every single week. game during the seven game winning streak.

I know the penguins level of play is dipped down a little bit, but that said, I mean, they're still playing at a decent level every game. I mean, they haven't brought their A game, you know, every game during the seven game winning streak. I mean, you can't ask the team to continue to play at that high level every game during 82 game regular season, but they're getting the job done when it matters. And that's all that matters to me. And you saw that same system working to perfection in the playoffs against the Islanders.

It's still there. You know, Mike Sullivan's blueprint is 100% all over this team. They were skating the Islanders off the rank in that series. They had all of the underlying numbers on their side. Again, we all know what happened. One team got good goaltending. The other did not. And sometimes that's your greatest equalizer.

And that's also your greatest downfall. But, you know, he now this year, he's gotten the goaltending in with the team. playing at this high level. It just goes to show how dangerous of a team the penguins can be. I mean, and if, if they get healthy, I mean, this is a team that can run four lines with anyone. And I mean anyone. Tampa Bay, Carolina, which I'm going to, that's a small feat.

We're going to get to Carolina a little bit in the last segment here. Washington, I think they would take down the caps in a seven-game series. New York, I think they have much better depth than the Rangers do, even though they have some really nice high-end talent. you know, Toronto, Florida. I mean, those two games that they played against the Panthers this year have been fun as heck.

But, you know, this is a dynamite team, and I just wanted to really take the segment to shout out Mike Sullivan because of the way that he has coached this team this year. It's never wavered. It's not boring to watch. The system is still intact with how they're forechecking relentlessly

in the offensive zone on the penalty kill. I know Mike Volucci, coaches that unit, but that has Mike Sullivan's footprints all over it as well. Look how aggressive the top gag is on the PK. It goes all the way into the opposition's defensive zone. And it's making the other teams, it's a living hell out there for them because they can't keep anything, you know, they can't get anything going, excuse me. And when they do get chances, it's all towards the outside.

That's where their credit has to go with Sullivan. and he has done a magnificent job with his team this year. I mean, I really can't say anything less. And now, I feel like I've said this the last couple of years now. If he's not getting Jack Adams consideration at the end of the year, throw this award in the trash. I understand that, you know, it's a what have you done for me lately. It's very goaltending driven.

But, you know, look at what he's dealt with this year with all the COVID positives and all the injuries and stuff. And there are only four points out of freaking first place right now. I mean, that's the line for getting whole nice in the first time of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And this team will be getting into the playoffs unless they have a monumental collapse at the end of the season. But I wanted to shout out Sullivan for this second segment just to say why he has done such a great job this year and how the system has not changed at all this year. And they're just, they're continuing to listen to him on a nightly basis.

That is the sign of players listening to an elite coach in this league. And there will be a day where a lot of fans and media like will be missing Sullivan on this team. But before we get to our second segment with the playoff picture, Ben Aline has you covered this holiday season with more props, odds, and lines that ever before. As football continues its march through the college bowls and the pro football playoffs. That online remains a number one spot for all the sports action this season. You can head to the website or use your mobile device to sign up today and receive for your 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit. Just use our promo code locked on two.

receive that bonus. Beninline is the fastest, easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports. So don't want to take advantage of all the new amazing offers available. That has been online where the game starts. All right. So we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Honour Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins.

So I saw this tweet today from the NHL's Twitter account. And again, I don't usually like to bring this up to quick. just because, I mean, come on, it's still, it's not even January yet. That said, I like looking at, I almost typed in on January on Twitter as I was looking to find this week. That just goes to show how out of it I am sometimes. So I can just find this here. I know this is probably great radio for you all.

So when I've started today, if you look at these matchups, almost every single matchup is probably almost, well, let me phrase that. I shouldn't say it's locked in. I think we probably have every playoff team for the most part that's going to be in. Winnipeg, I mean, not Winnipeg, Minnesota versus Edmonton, those two teams, I think, will 100% get in. I know the Oilers have struggled a little bit recently, but I'm sure McDavid and Drysthana will find a way to get those two teams in the playoffs. Minnesota, they've been one of the best

teams this year. Nashville versus St. Louis. The Predators have really surprised me this year. That was a team that I did not expect to get in just because I don't really like a lot of their high-end talent the way they've been playing. But UC Soros has been ridiculous for them. You go to some others, Vegas versus Colorado. They're both, those two teams are going to get in. Calgary is likely going to get in. I think at this point, it's highly likely the ducks get in bearing a collapse. They've been a pretty big story this year around the NHL just because of how much young talent they have. And that young talent has been awesome. Now, if you go to the east,

in the metro. Right now it'll be Carolina versus Pittsburgh. I would love to see that as a playoff series. We haven't gotten Carolina of Pittsburgh since 2009, the Eastern Conference Final, where the Penguins just blitz them in four games. It was a nice sweep for Pittsburgh. But that's, I think,

I can't call it a rivalry because it's not. But I think it will be a series between two teams that, you know, they've only played during the regular season in the last 12 years. And I think we need to see what a playoff series would produce because, you know, I love watching Rod Brindamore coach that team. They have a lot of high-end talent. Jordan Stahl versus his old team.

You know, Sebastian Ahho, Terlow, Tara Vinen, Brett Pesci, Jacob Slavin, Frederick Anderson, and Nett. Just, I mean, that team is, you know, they have cockyami, of course. It's just that would be such a fun matchup just because it's two very high-scoring teams and two really fun teams to watch as well. I would be down for that 100%. Washington versus the Rangers. Sign me out for that kind of series every day,

just because those two fan bases cannot see in each other. They could not see in each other about a decade ago and they used to play almost every year in the playoffs. That's a rivalry that's ready to be reignited again, especially what happened with Tom Wilson and Archimic Panera in last year. Then you go to the Atlantic, Toronto versus Florida. No one will be surprised if that's a series. And then Tampa Bay versus Detroit,

I happen to think Boston is probably going to get in. I know they still don't have to get harassed. They've been battling some COVID problems, some injuries. But, you know, if this is still, it's a really good team. I know they're not as deep as normal. But, you know, they have a lot of good high-end talent. They have arguably the best defenseman in the league. Well, I would probably take Victor Hedman and Cal McCart.

I don't box over him. So let me rephrase that. They have definitely a top five defenseman in this league in Troy McAvoy. And Linus O'mark has been pretty decent for them this season filling in for Ducco Rask. I know we don't really know when he's coming back if he is. But if he does, I mean, hello, because that team will be scary. But, you know, it's pretty crazy that we have almost the entire playoff picture locked up. It's just, well, and again, I should face it.

It's not locked up, but it's as close as you can get. Because I don't know how many other teams are going to squeeze into the race with 50 games remaining, just because a lot of these teams made the playoffs last year. You had, you know, seen Lewis get in. You had Edmonton get in. You had Minnesota get in.

You had Vegas get in. You had Colorado get in. You had Washington get in. Pittsburgh, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. Heck, even, you know, National got in against Carolina. The only two teams that are on this list that did not get in last year are Detroit, Anaheim, and Calgary.

I mean, there's a lot of parity in this league for a reason. You know, it's a lot of the same teams every year. But that just goes to show that, you know, the matchups that we have right now, while they're not set in stone, you know, most of the teams that are in it are probably going to be still in it at the end of the season. And that is how I will end this episode of the Lockedown Penguins podcast. Again, I hope you all have a very safe and Merry Christmas. Hope you all get all the great Penguins things in the world from your families.

And I just hope you have a wonderful time spending. the day and the weekend with your families. We'll be back next week with five more episodes for this podcast. Hopefully the team is back playing meaningful games. Remember, their next scheduled one as of this moment. And again, things can change every second at this point. We'll be in Ottawa. Not Ottawa, excuse me.

We'll be in Toronto on Wednesday before they will travel to Ottawa on Friday. Then they'll have a couple more home games. So thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Lockton, England's podcast. And I hope you all have a very great weekend. and I will be back on Monday.