Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Will we ever get a next season announcement?

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

There's not been a lot of news surrounding next season but Hunter brings on Josh Yohe to talk about the ramifications if the league and PA can't come to a agreement sooner rather than later. Will the fans go restless if something doesn't happen soon? How many games is Josh hearing that next season will be? How would he also like the Penguins in a new division? After they touch on that, Hunter asks Josh for his favorite reverse retro jerseys and his thoughts on Pittsburgh's. Is he a fan of Colorado's? What about the Hurricanes ones with the Whalers jerseys? After that, Hunter asks Josh about who he's most excited to watch next season from the new acquisitions. How does Kapanen fit on the first line? What about Mike Matheson? Finally, Josh tells everyone what he misses the most while covering the team each season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Honora Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Honora Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

Hope you all had a great end of your Thanksgiving weekend. Good Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I know I bought some stuff for my girlfriend and a couple of... other people in my family because of those awesome deals. But, you know, this is a hockey podcast. Sucks that we did not have the Steelers this weekend, though. I'm not going to touch on that just because I'll probably get fired if I really explain my true thoughts on that.

But joining us today is Josh Yoey of the Athletic. He hasn't been on here. I don't think since August, but it's great to have them back here as we start December. Josh, how you doing, man? I'm all right. I took advantage of some Cyber Monday deals as well. at some Christmas shopping for the kiddos and for the lady friend.

So, yeah, I'm in the same boat as you. When you don't have hockey to focus on, you have to have other things in life like, you know, going Christmas shopping or dealing with Rob Rossi or getting angry at the NFL. So, you know, just trying to stay busy like the rest of us. Yeah, I mean, the NFL is just something else right now. Like I said, I could touch on a whole episode on that. But, you know, I'll host the Locked-on Stewards podcast. That's Chris Carter.

So if you guys want to go listen to that, go listen to Lock Dawn Steelers because he does a great job over there. But, Josh, there's just been a little bit of rumors recently about the new season. Pierre LeBruns tweet this morning just got me even more mad. I mean, there's still hope to drop the puck in early January. I mean, that's just not going to happen. I don't think at this point, 30 days away. You'd have to bring the players in from everywhere across the world. I mean, they got a quarantine, get tested.

Then there was, I think, a report yesterday. I'm trying to find this on my Twitter right now. Basically, I think... Oh, geez. I just retweet so much garbage. It's just unreal. Basically, you know, there have been no serious negotiations

between NHL Commissioner Gary Badman and Donald Fair for more than a week, which is a playbook apparently that both sides used during the 2012-13 lockout. I mean, do they really expect the fans here to, like, accept this? I mean, the NBA is starting in three weeks now. If you don't have a deal done by then, I mean, you're going to have a lot of very upset people, I would think.

Yeah, Hunter. I mean, first things first, you're correct. The season is not going to start on January 1st. There's no way that's happening. It's already early December. That's a pipe dream at this point. I can tell you pretty much all of the penguins are back in Pittsburgh now. They were told when the season ended for them in August, they were told be ready by November 15th.

So, no, obviously that didn't happen. that was when they wanted to start training camp theoretically of course that didn't happen so i believe everybody except for a badey malkin is back in town um i know rob rossi's writing an article about that i don't know exactly when it's going to run i think at some point during the day on tuesday or wednesday it should be out i think malcon's the only penguin not in pittsburg right now i think he's still in moscow but i think he you know he'll be back soon so the team will be ready to go that's the good news uh the bank Bad news is, like you said, I don't think we're all that close to an agreement being made right now.

And it's frustrating, I think, for all of us who are hockey fans, because during May, June, July, the PA and the league worked so well together. Yeah. It literally took them a week, and they had everything ironed out, and they wanted to play, and they made it happen. Exactly. And I think it was about as successful as it could have been, given the circumstances. and they ironed out a new deal, which is great, a new CBA, all good news. But now this season, it's a mess. The fact that Fair and Bettman aren't speaking right now, it's kind of childish, really, given the circumstances.

Maybe that's just how they choose to negotiate, but it's frustrating. Given all that is going on in the world right now, when you see bickering over a CBA between billionaires and millionaires, it's just a bad look. no matter what side you're on, it's a bad look. And I tend to sympathize a little bit with the players on this one. The owners are trying to just really lowball them to the point that they're almost playing for nothing next season. And I understand that there might not be fans in the building, and it's hard for the owners to make money right now. I get that.

But they knew months ago that that was a possibility. Exactly. And players still have contracts. You still have to honor them to some extent. So I certainly feel myself siding with the players here. And I'm not going to say it's a big, fat mess yet. But we're a couple of weeks away from it being a very concerning situation. Yeah, you know, my thoughts on the owners versus players, you know,

thoughts and prayers to the owners who make millions of dollars and they have just so much more money than the players. It's like, I mean, you saw what happened with baseball this past summer, too. They basically both sides were negotiating through the media it looked like. And I mean, everyone sided with the players for obvious reasons because the owners were I think were just being cheap. I mean, there's going to be a whole bunch of discussions, I think, with that coming in the spring just because of they were just, they were bickering. Like, Rob Manfred was in a lot of hot water and he still kind of is. But yeah, I mean, the owners, I mean, they, I think it was what, a 10% cut of their salaries. And now they're asking for an additional 16%.

So that's basically a quarter of the player's salaries that they're asking them not to take next season. And it's just like, that's not fair to the players. And, you know, I understand why they would be upset about that. They're going to owners and the league will be going against the agreement that they made in the CBA over the summer. And it's just like, this is like right before you're expected to start the season. Now you're going to be pushing for that. I just, I don't really understand that at all. I don't like it.

And, you know, people have to understand. And I know these guys, even the players make the kind of money that most of us will never. seeing couldn't even dream of. Yeah. But you do have to remember, okay, let's say you make $5 million a season. Okay, you're a very wealthy person. But after taxes, you really only see about half of that. And now you're losing 10%. Then they want you to take another 16%, I think it is. Before you know it, you can understand where they're coming from. You really can. These are supposed to be guaranteed contracts. And the league is kind of, you kind of, you can't.

of playing dumb as if to say, oh, we didn't know the pandemic was going to be this bad still. And we thought there'd be people in arenas like, nobody knew how bad the pandemic was still going to be. Excuse me. But there was no guarantee that, you know, by Christmas we were all going to be 100% healthy, not have to worry about getting COVID. I mean, they knew this was a possibility. And these are, by and large billionaires. You are correct.

And they're not going to win any public opinion polls right now. way they're conducting business. And, you know, Betman and Fair, yes, they did work very well together during the summer, and that was great. But these are not best friends. These have been adversaries for a really long time. They both have enormous egos. You know, and I can understand Donald Fair being upset.

I can. This shouldn't be that difficult of a transition to make the NBA is apparently doing so seamlessly that they're having no. real issues. They did it within a week, I think, when they were negotiating for their 70 game season or whatever. It starts like the 22nd or 23rd. Yeah, three weeks. Yeah. So they can figure it out.

You know, I don't know. I know every sport is different and has its nuances with money, but this is a problem. And now you have to consider. And listen, I still think there's going to be a season. But the longer this goes on, there are going to be people who say, you know what, they should have shut out and start next season. season in October and just start all over again. And you can see why people would say that. But I also worry about financially how certain franchises are going to be able to survive. And what's a bigger hardship for, say, the Carolina Hurricanes? You know, paying their $60 million

payroll with no income or just shutting down the season. Both are bad things financially. I'm not sure which one is worse. I think it varies from team to team. But I worry about franchises like Carolina and Arizona and Florida, Dallas even. These are franchises that don't draw real well that don't make a lot of money. The league could look a lot different in a year from now if no hockey has been played. Yeah, and I was reading that report from Kevin McGrann yesterday. He was basically talking about, you know, it would probably cost each team at least on like 150 million to operate without fans for another season, factoring payrolls and all that.

Apparently he said it's believed that some owners had told Ben then that they would be financially just better off not playing the season and just going to next season. I mean, I understand that, you know, especially with no fans in the building. I mean, you're seeing, you know, some teams around the NFL right now, they're still not allowing fans, and the Steelers just, I mean, they're taking a hit as well because they're not allowing fans now in the building there. I don't think the Eagles are allowed fans in their building now as well. So it's just, this whole thing's a mess.

Do you have any realistic idea of how many games there would be in the season if they were to start in, like February or something, like 60? I would guess, here's one scenario I've heard. No, I don't know for sure. The number 56 has popped up a lot. That's because we could see a situation where you have four divisions with eight teams in each division, and teams might only play their divisional opponents. And we know if there's a Canadian division, which there's going to be,

and I always talk about this. I speak from experience. My kids live in Canada with my ex-wife. So I know what dealing with the border is like right now. I'm trying to make my way up Friday for Christmas. I don't know if it's going to happen because it's an incredible ordeal. So we know that the Canadian division, they're only going to play each other. And so it could be whatever division the Penguins end up playing,

and they only play those divisional opponents in the regular season. 56 is a number I've heard. There's eight teams in the division, eight times seven, like 56 times, something like that. In that ballpark, it'll be somewhere between 40 and 60 games, I think. if I had to guess. But I can tell you that the NHL literally has probably 10 different proposals that they're looking at right now. And they're all conceivable. And it's just a matter of what the COVID numbers do in the next few weeks, when an agreement is reached, what's going on with the border, you name it.

So it's a real mess. Yeah. And then, you know, I read on Rob's report on The Athletic, actually, I think it was about a week ago about Penguins maybe being in a new division. And I would be all four or something like that. I would love for them to play Detroit a lot more, reignite that old rivalry. Nashville would be fun. I haven't seen them beat Chicago too many times over the years

just because they struggle like heck up there. But seeing a bunch of them play a bunch of new teams in a division, I know it would suck for a lot of people not to see them play in Washington and Philadelphia and the two New York teams. And I get that. But, you know, I'm kind of tired of playing them every year in the playoffs anyway. And I feel like if you're just going to go rogue and do something new, why not? I think it's a great idea if they were to do something like that.

Well, I will say this, too. Just in terms of making the playoffs for the Penguins, I would rather be in a division with Chicago and Detroit and even Nashville. Because the Metropolitan Division, you know, as we know, it is absolutely loaded. And there is one proposal where it would essentially be the Metropolitan Division for the Penguins only Boston would be added. And I'm not sure what team would be removed. I think Carolina maybe.

Oh, good gracious. The penguins don't need to be in a division with Boston and the Flyers and the Islanders and Columbus and Washington. My goodness. I mean, that would be a nightmare. So if you want to preserve the Penguins playoff streak, I would think having a division with maybe Detroit and Buffalo and Nashville is not bad.

but Chicago is kind of in a rebuilding phase now. That would probably be a lot better for the penguins. I'm not saying they won't make the playoffs in the standard metropolitan division. They might. But that division is an absolute nightmare. And you're right. I think for if it's just one season or you're in a completely different division, I think it'd be cool.

I do. I wouldn't want that to be a long-term thing because I think the rivalries the penguins have, especially with the Flyers, Capitals, Rangers. Like those aren't rivalries you want to give up. and they mean a lot to the fans. But just for one year, especially given the situation, I actually think it'd be kind of cool. And you know what else I would like to see?

Let's say there are 16 teams make the playoffs. And I don't know when the playoffs come in May or whenever. Who knows what will be going on with the border. But if they can play each other and if we're able to cross, I would love to see just one versus 16, two versus 15. I think hockey fans would absolutely go crazy for that. Did you agree? I would love that, man, do like a March Madness kind of thing.

another one that I think would maybe blow your brains off Josh have the top team pick who they play make it a live event please do it just please do it each conference or if you get the number two seed who do you want to play number three C who do you want to play

and that would just the teams that they would pick that would I think really light a fire in them and be like oh okay you want to play us we'll go out you and it would just it's something new and it's something creative in the league desperately needs new and creative things I think for the playoffs

No, I've always wanted to see that in the NFL even with what's going on with that. I would love for Mike Tomlin to be at a podium and say, we would like to play the Cleveland Browns. I would absolutely love that. So I'm all for that idea, but I've always thought just one versus 16, two versus 15. Like, I don't need to see, like, you know, Penguins Islanders again in a series or these teams that play each other all the time. I mean, I don't like the current format with the divisions anyway. I just think it's run its course. I would enjoy like Pittsburgh, Vegas in the first round or whatever.

It could be cool. I think fans would absolutely love it. I truly believe that. And who knows what the playoff format will be, but it wouldn't shock me if they do that for the season. But again, so much of it depends on the border, I think. If Canadian teams can't host American teams, and you're going to have to have playoffs in a bubble, they're going to have to be in American cities probably. So there's a lot to consider.

but hopefully by May or June, whenever there's a vaccine or the numbers have dwindled to the point that we can just cross the border and then host each team can host games in its arena with some fans. That would be ideal. Yeah, I think that's definitely, I think, the most ideal situation for the league, especially when they open up the Canadian border. And hopefully we can get, maybe a Canadian team can go to the Stanley Cup final. Hey, and also I was thinking about this, you know, if the Leafs come out of that Canadian division and they come out of their playoffs, you know, they would actually be able to make the final four for the first time. like since before I was born. This might be an NHL ploy to get a Canadian team in the final. You might be right.

You might have something. Although just off the top of my head, like an Edmonton Toronto series would be pretty awesome. So I wouldn't mind watching that, right? I wouldn't mind watching Matthews go up against McDavid. You know, I think McDavid would come out with like a house on fire or something like that. But before we get to our next segment, Josh, and we can talk to you all about jerseys.

I saw some of your takes about the jerseys last week and all that. Time to talk about. Bilt Bar, there's 18 amazing flavors, six new flavors. Few of them are the carrot cake, apple almond crisp, and the cookies and cream. 12 original flavors, raspberry, German chocolate, peanut butter, banana bread, or just a few. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They are soft and easy to chew. You can lose or maintain weight while indulging in a delicious treat.

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the Ann and shall finally release their reverse retro jerseys. I understand why some people are a bit mad about it with the Penguins one, just because, well, you know, they look like the Rangers ones, and you know what, I tell those people that they can just get lost because I think they're better than the Rangers ones. But I'm also just a soccer for the original retro one of Snoop Dogg riding his bike.

I think that's one of the best jerseys in the franchise's history. the more I look at this one, the more it grows on me. I'm hoping I can get it for the holidays. I'm actually trying to convince my girlfriend to get me this as I speak. But what do you think overall about the idea of the reverse retro jerseys, not just for the Penguins, but for like the league? Oh, I'm all for them. I think I'm not like a huge jersey person myself,

but I acknowledge that many people are. People just go crazy for it. And so why not? I'm all for it. I'm okay with the Penguins. jersey. I didn't love it. I thought I was okay. Something about the colors, like, don't pop

for me, but I'm a little colorblind, too. I think you had Rob, I don't know if you asked Rob about that. He's very colorblind. He said that, yes. Yeah, I am a little bit myself. I think I'm 25% of men are, so we're not a lot. But they're okay. The Snoop Dog jersey, that will always be my favorite penguin's jersey.

I actually know a guy where it goes to every home game and actually has gin and juice on the back of the Snoop Dog jersey. So that's just beautiful. It's why it's not their third sweater, I don't know. People will buy, how many people would buy like the Krosby Snoop Dog jersey? Siri, I got. I'm sure they're going to do it one of these years.

I don't know why they haven't yet. It's the greatest jersey in franchise history. One of the best jerseys in hockey history, in my opinion. But I'm all for the retro jerseys. My favorite one was the Colorado slash Quebec jersey. That one was sweet. Fabulous. And it's funny, a little personal story.

I mentioned my kids and my ass wife. My ex-wife is actually friends with Philip Gruber. So she's kind of like turned my kids into Avalanche fans, which is fine. I like the apps. And so like now everybody wants the retro jersey for Christmas, which might stack of it. But I said, you know what? Those bad boys are spectacular. And her oldest son actually said.

to me. Think he can get me a sack of jersey in that abs retro? I said, I don't know. I'll see what I can do. That sounds pretty sweet, actually. Yeah, I would love to get one for Forsberg. He was my favorite player going up to watch. Really? I am a big Peter Forsberg saying. So if they had a jersey like hit with him with that, I'd get that. I don't care how much money it would be, to be, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, those were my favorites. They are just spectacular. I like that they pay homage to the Nordiques. And I wish we still had Nord Deaks and come to think of it, you know, if the league does go into some kind of shutdown, we might have the Nord Deeks in a year or so. They do have a fabulous arena in Quebec City just waiting for an NHL team.

In fact, the Penguins, you might recall, played a preseason game there, I think, in 2015 against the Canadians. And I was there, I can tell you, that is the most spectacular hockey arena I have ever witnessed. So that would actually be really cool if they got a team again at some point. But I love that one. I enjoy the L.A. King's retro jersey. great deal. There were a couple. I don't know if you had any preferences. The

Capitals one I thought was okay too. That was a sweet one. I didn't mind that one at all. A couple of my friends who were Capitals fans were pretty big on it. The Minnesota North Stars one, there was like a throwback to it? That was pretty sweet. Yeah, I like that one too a lot. Were there any that you didn't like? Oh yeah. The Red Wings one, it looked like you just handed in a homework assignment and a homeroom as Chad wants it on his podcast. I was listening to his and I never forget how he just described it. That's just perfect.

It literally just literally what it looked like. It was just so bad. And then... I thought the Islanders was kind of lame. It looked like Lou didn't want to get too excited with that one now. It's the same jersey. It's their home jersey. You just bring back the fisherman one.

Right. Yeah. Right. And then the Rangers one was kind of... Eh. Right. Yeah. Some of them...

I don't know. The Sharks one was kind of weird. I wasn't really wasn't a big fan of that. The Flyers one kind of stinks, too. Carolina's the Hartford Whalers I mean come on you can't go wrong with Hart for Whalers right there I start singing brass bonanza in a minute

Yes I mean that one I forgot about that one That one was really sweet You know the sharks it's tough for the sharks Because they have such a famous logo I was I was growing up in the 90s And in Pittsburgh so obviously The Penguins were wildly popular then

You would be amazed How many kids like in 1993 at the Peters Township Middle School were wearing San Jose Shark shirts just because everyone was in love with that logo. I mean, everyone. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing the Sharks logo. So they don't really have to change their uniform

all that much, I guess. Yeah, I don't think so as well. You know, I did have Rob on here a couple weeks ago. I did bring up the jerseys to him, and, you know, he said something that got me really excited that apparently at some point the Robo Penguin could be making its return, potentially. I think a lot of fans,

A lot of, I think of the fan base is split on that one just because of what happened during those years. But ideal for the Robo Penguin coming back, because I think that logo is just sweet. I like it. I'm all for all of them coming back, you know, sporadically. I think that's the way to do it. And the Penguins, you know, Sean John Tilly wrote a great article for us a few months ago about the Penguins logo. And, I mean, for a franchise that historically speaking, it isn't that old, it's over 50 years old now. but it's amazing how many different looks they've had from the blue and white to the black and gold to the Vegas gold,

all of the different wild logos. No, the Penguins sweater is certainly part of franchise lore. And I will say, like I go to all arenas, so I feel like I'm pretty qualified to speak of this. I think Penguins fans wear jerseys to games probably about as much as any fan base I've ever seen. It's incredible how many penguin sweaters I see at home games. Oh, yeah. It's not that they don't wear them in other arenas. Some do it more than others, but it always blows me away.

That's just like a Pittsburgh thing, I guess. If you go like Montreal, nobody wears a jersey to games in Montreal, especially like the Saturday night games. Like everybody kind of dresses up. Like that's the big social event. That's the hockey game. So everyone's got their suit jackets and their fancy dresses on. It's so different.

Then you go to like the Inzer crowd and it's like, there's a Phil Kessel jersey. It sounds like Madison Square Garden, too. You look at the MSG games. All a bunch of guys wearing seats just because it's a bunch of corporate seats in there. Same with Toronto. I always tell people, watch a game in Toronto.

Look in the first five rows behind the Leafs bench. All you see is suits and ties. That just tells you how expensive tickets are in the greater Toronto area. It's even compared to MSG. It's unreal how expensive a game in Toronto is. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. That's probably out there top three most expensive games

to go to, I think, in a season, probably up there with Montreal, I would guess, to be honest. Toronto's the most expensive. They even more than Montreal. I know so many people who literally can't afford to go to Leafs game, so they just go see the Leafs in Buffalo or Ottawa or whatever. Hell, they come down to Pittsburgh. I see a lot of Leafs fans come to Pittsburgh.

It's like, wow, I didn't think they would make the drive there. That's only five hours, and that is actually done by design. I've actually spoken with people about this. You may notice, if you go back and look at prior schedules, notice the Leafs always have a Saturday game in Pittsburgh, like at some point in late November or December. There's a reason for that because all the Canadians like to drive down to go to Pittsburgh and do their Christmas shopping

because they like our shopping a lot better. That's exactly what they do. There's a couple of thousands of them that do it every December. That's why you see that quirk in the schedule. That's a real thing. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's actually, it makes a ton of sense. And then, of course, how many Leafs fans are there?

Some people always make to make the make the call. but why did they invade Pittsburgh so much? Well, it's a Saturday night, and what are you doing on a weekend? Not working, so. Right. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, overall, I do like most of the jerseys, though.

You know, like I said, there were some that they should have just tried something else or brought back a different kind of jersey, I would think. Josh switching gears to a different topic, you know. General Rutherford obviously made a lot of moves this offseason, probably more than almost any general manager, but that's expected of them just because they're. That's just who he is. Who's the player that you're most excited to see play with the penguins just in terms of,

like, fit-wise that he acquired? Well, you know, there's a couple. I guess I will start with the obvious in Casbury Capitan. He should fit in. The way he plays the game, he just does everything at hyper speed. I mean, he is a really fast player. He's got some skill. And we've seen him briefly with the.

England's. I still remember the preseason game he scored a goal in Pittsburgh on a Saturday afternoon when he was 18 years old. And you can see the talent. I mean, it was quite evident. And I can tell you right now, he's going to be in the top six. They did not give up what they gave up for him to be a third or fourth line player. Oh, yeah. He's going to play on Sidney Crosby's right wing. That is the plan right now. They really love Russ with Malkin and Zucker. That's going to be the second line. And Crosby, Gensel, Capiton, is going to be the top line. And I'm curious to see how Capitan fits in. I'm also curious to see if he can play on the power play.

I don't think that will be the initial plan, but Jim Rutherford has told me that he's a guy that might get a look because he's right-handed and put him in that left circle. They've never really replaced Phil Kessel in that spot on the ice, although I think Brian Russ might get a look there as well. So Capitin is a guy. He's just an exciting player. And Crosby loves playing with fast wingers.

That's exactly what Caponin is. I'm just curious to see if there's chemistry there. Sid's not always the easiest guy to play with. We will see. And, you know, Penguins fans might snicker at this, but I want to see Matheson play. I do because, I mean, I've certainly noticed him before over the years. The guy can skate.

I mean, there is no question in the wheels that this guy has. And I know it's a bad contract. I'm fully acknowledging I don't like his contract. I don't think the Penguins like his contract. Let's be honest. But it's not like there isn't. some talent there. There is.

I don't know what happened to him in Florida the last two years. Clearly, things went off the rails for him. But I want to see how he looks. If the Penguins can kind of resuscitate his career, if Todd Reardon can work some of his magic on him, the Penguins could have a really good blue line. Listen, Dumlin and Latang, that's an excellent pairing.

We know this. John Marino, man, if he gets any better, we know how good he is. Marcus Pedersen, you know, steady partner for him on the second. pairing. If you have Matheson playing at a fairly high level on the third pairing. Cody Cici, though. And he might not even play. You're right. I'm not wild about Cody Cici. I wasn't really insulted by the signing because it was one year. It's not going to hurt them

long. Yeah, I just don't think he's any good. And he's just, yeah. I don't either. Honestly, I've told this story many times. I'll tell it again. I didn't say the name before, but he's not with the franchise anymore. So I think it's cool. Right before the season ended, the Penguins had that awful road trip in San Jose or in California rather and it ended in San Jose. I'm having dinner like two hours before the game in the media lounge.

Jacques Martan walks into the media lounge, sits down besides me, has dinner with me and we're just kind of chatting. And he looks right at me and he says, you know, he says, Chad Ruehdle's been our best defenseman the last two months. You know, he's not wrong. Like Rewito played great,

but that was also rather telling of how poorly the Blue Line played That's why I hope he wins that number six job over C.C. I think he actually has a legit shot to do it, too. Oh, sure he does. The coach is like him. And that tells you how much the blue line was struggling with Marino and Dublin out, of course. But Ruehdle is, like, perfectly capable.

I know there's nothing fancy about his game. But if he's your number six defenseman, I would trust him more than Cici. Cici might have a higher ceiling. But if Rueedle, you know, can just hold down the 40s, a pretty good penalty killer, He doesn't hurt you. If Matheson can provide some offense, that third pairing, some skating, kind of play a safer brand of hockey and not make the bad decisions with the puck that he did in Florida, theoretically, that's an okay third pairing.

Certainly better than what we saw was Schultz and Johnson, which pretty much derailed the season. So there's some potential there in the blue line. If at least one of those guys can maybe exceed expectations on the third pairing. Yeah, I mean, Mathis and C.C. your best silver lining of it. Yeah, it's not Johnson-Schultz. No, I mean, it's not.

And I, listen, I know that was kind of the bottom of the barrel. Not only were those two guys not very good NHL players anymore, but they just brought out the worst in each other for whatever reason. I mean, why they stayed together in that series against Montreal, I will never know. I think Mike Sullivan's a great coach. I think he had a really bad series. And that was certainly, especially when, you know,

I knew the guy who coached the defenseman at the time told me in March, you know, Chad Rweedles, but our best defenseman, then you don't play him in the playoffs. Yeah, Mike Sullivan's had a couple very odd last two postseason series with some of his decisions. I think it's actually starting to weigh

weighing on the fan base just a bit. You know, I'm not ready for him to be fired or anything. I think he's a top five coach of the league. But, you know, if the team kind of stumbles out of the gate or if, you know, he's making some decisions, I could see the smoke on his seat getting a little, just a tad bit warmer than, you know, it was after.

Yeah, I mean, he's not going to get fired this season for a lot of reasons. I think the first of which is financial. Yeah. They have to be a little careful with their money right now. I think Mike Sullivan's a great coach. I do. But there were some decisions in that series, obviously leaving those two together, leaving Patrick Marlowe in the lineup.

And I can tell you, I was one of about 10 members of the media who was allowed to attend practice every day in that little two-week training camp they had. And here's what I can tell you. Tristan Jari was better than Matt Murray every single day of practice. Everybody there knew it. It wasn't even a contest. Two best forwards, not named Crosby and Malkin,

every single day of practice were Evan Rodriguez and Sam Lafferty. Every day. Then play. Everybody hit the play, Lafferty got five minutes, I think, in game three. So there were just some really puzzling decisions that Sullivan made. I think he just went with the veterans, went with the guys who had helped him win before,

get it. I don't like questioning him because I think he's a legitimately great coach, but he made a lot of bad lineup decisions last summer. Yeah, I think that's probably the best way to put it. Yeah, I mean, I remember, I think Sean wrote that article after game three about, like, the defensive pairing, too. It's not like

that they're just like on the ice for the goals, like they're actively causing them to happen. And, you know, you have Matt Murray. I understood going to Matt just because of his playoff experience, but, you know, when I don't know, hindsight with that one in 2020, I I was high on the Matt Murray train for that one just because I think some of the way some of the fan base treated Matt Murray was pretty disgusting.

And I was, I agree. I just wanted him to really prove them wrong. But, you know, when you tell that story, you know, it does make me wish that Jari started a bit more. Though we'll get our wish this year now with him. Yeah, you sure will. And no, I'm glad you brought that up because Matt Murray is a really good human being. And being the guy who replaced Mark Andre Fleury was never going to be any fun. and I don't think he was always treated all that great by the fan base.

I do feel for him, and I certainly wish in luck in Ottawa. But yeah, there were decisions made that were curious. And regarding Sullivan, not so much his job status, but just his public approval rating in Pittsburgh, I think the first month of this season, whenever it does happen, is going to be very interesting. If they wouldn't stumble out of the gates. If they're, you know, four, eight and two after ten games or whatever,

he's going to be under some heat. I mean, there's no doubt about that. And I think this whole team and this whole organization will be, I don't know that anybody was thrilled with the moves they made this summer. I don't know that it was disastrous, really, but there were some curious moves made. Yeah, it was interesting. So it's going to be interesting. Yeah, and then, you know, there's a couple of things floating in my mind, you know, with, like, the front office changes, you know. I mean, my couple of my buddies were thinking, like, is ownership, like, looking at this, like, sending a message or something like that?

I'm not really sure. I don't know that for a fact. But, you know, it was just curious of how, you know, like, you know, Carmanos got let go. And it's like, you know, he's being very tight-lipped about that situation. And it's like, wow, it's something like, did he get forced out or something like that? And then, you know, you have, I mean, the good, I mean, honestly, the best we might have been promoting San Ventura, you know, that's like. No, Sam knows what he's doing.

That, no doubt about that. And, yeah, but it's been a strange summer. The Carmanos thing, I didn't see that coming. nobody did there's really been no explanation given perhaps it was just financial yeah i know he made a good amount of money and they have to be careful right now listen they furloughed some employees some of those employees have come back some haven't um so that that's something we we do need to consider that they're under some financial heat i know people say well ron burkle's a billionaire like well yes ron burkle owns a lot of other businesses too he he's not just going to pour all of his money into the penguins

that that's unfortunately not the way it works even though he will pour some of it in. So there's just a lot to consider that it that that was that was one that that got my attention though. The Carmanos thing nobody saw that coming. It was it was a curious move because I know how close he is with Jim Rutherford. They had really kind of a father-son relationship. So to see him go a little odd. Yeah. It was definitely I think a bit suspicious. And then you know in terms of you know going back to our conversation about the team going in next year. I think for like a bounce back guy that I was thinking of, I wrote

about this earlier today. I mean, Jared McCann. Hopefully they give him two linemates that stick with him for a long time. They keep like bouncing them in and out. It's like, just give them the center position and let him ride with it with two competent linemates. I mean, I know he scored only one goal in his last, I think

it's actually 23 games in the year. Did not look good in the postseason, but you know, he had Patrick Marlow stable to his left wing. So it's just they got to like give him to line mates that will help him offensively, I think, is the big thing. I think they just need to figure out what he is. Is he a center?

Is he a wing? Do you want him to be your third line center? Is he a top six guy? What is his role supposed to be? I think he's just one of those players who needs a little bit of a defined idea of who he is supposed to be. He's a talented guy. He can be a number of different things for you.

But I think it just got on his head. a little bit last year, and he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, and you're right, the linemates, he was on a different line every night, and hockey coaches like to say, yeah, that's no big deal. They're professionals. Yeah, some people it is a big deal. Some people can, yeah, Sidney Crosby can have a different linemate every night and get away with it.

That's because he's one of the five best players who's ever played. Like, yeah, he can pull that off, but Jared McCann might need more than that. McCann, I think it's just a mental thing with him. He's still a pretty young guy's just turned 24, I think. he's already played for a couple of different teams. He entered the league as a first round pick with a lot of expectations. I think it just gets in his head sometimes, and I think that's what happened during his slump. He did not play well in the playoffs.

I would not count him out. I think he's a good hockey player. I really, I like him on a personal level. I see how hard he works. He's a good kid. He's got talents, but you're right. They need someone like him to really be a factor. This team, as it currently looks, is very top.

heavy. First and second lines, yeah, that they should be quite good. We know on paper how gifted those top two lines are. The bottom six isn't real good on paper. We know that fourth line went healthy can be pretty good. The third line, however, boy, that's a real concern, especially without Hornquist. Obviously, McAmpompson. It's a big risk what he did. It's a big risk what he did, I think. Yeah, no, it is. It is. Absolutely it is. So I worry about their bottom six a lot. That To me, that's the most glaring issue with this team. But in effect of Jared McCann, if Jared McCann scores 20 goals and plays good two-way hockey, that goes a long way toward making that bottom six pretty decent.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, they just, they got to get him to be more consistent. I mean, I think a lot of his last year, you know, I was just looking at someone like the data. And, like, he just, like, the puck wasn't really going in for him. He was just like his shooting percentage, like, plummeted. again moving him up and down the lineup just yeah figure out what he is i think he's probably better at center than he is winning that's just my opinion after just watching him of the two different

positions and just give him two linemates that just you know will elevate his game i mean you know i was a big proponent of signing someone like yes per voss to help him but i guess they won a marchankowski who's coming off of not that good of a season but he was i think a almost a 15 i think was a 15 goal guy the season before that or something they're hoping he can get back to that And then you have Evan Rodriguez who, you know, we got to actually see this guy play because we really have no idea what the penguins have him at all, to be honest.

Yesper Fast was on my list as well. I really liked him. I thought he would have been a nice addition. And I know the penguins liked him too, but that didn't work out. Jankowski, he's got some talent. He's a big guy. He's had a couple of good years.

He was not good at all last year. He's a mystery to me. And don't forget this name. I know he's not a guy who will score a lot of goals. but Sam Lafferty is a guy they really like and I'm telling you in training camp I'm one of the only people who got to see it I know but in training camp in July

I guess it was July yeah he was awesome I mean he was one of the best players on the eyes he looked twice as fast as he was the year before he's going to make this team and I wouldn't be shocked if you see him on the fourth line and maybe Tannup gets bumped up to the third line as effective as he was last year wouldn't shock me if you see something like that.

I got to be honest, I don't mean to be critical of him because I like him a lot on a personal level, but I'm not a huge Zach Ashen or East fan. He doesn't do that much for me. He's okay. I know his defensive numbers were really good last year. Yeah, he's elite at suppressing shots, I would say.

Yes, he is, but I just don't see enough tenacity out of him. It drives me nuts. I would love to see a fourth line, just experimentally, a fourth line that would include Brandon Tannav on the left wing and Sam Lafferty on the right wing. with Teddy Blugher. That'd be an incredibly fast fourth line, a physical fourth line.

I would love to see that. But still, all questions go back to the third line. Yeah. And McCann, what do you do? That's a concern for the Penguins. It really is. I just worry that he'll be in that third line and won't have a whole lot to play with.

Unless Rodriguez, you know, he showed flashes. He did. He has some talent. He was, when they had that horrible stretch right before COVID, which shut down the season. He was probably their best player for a four games. I think he scored against New Jersey, too,

if I'm not mistaken. He did. I mean, oh, you can see the talent the guy has. So maybe he and McCann on the third line could have something that wouldn't shock me.

Yeah, and then, you know, you also have the very, I think, likely possibility that Jim may go out and get someone to play with McCann

at the trade deadline or something just because, you know, these last couple years are probably their last too big all-in years until, you know, they have to start retooling a little bit and prepare for the long.

He's got another first-round pick you can use it now. a trade so i yeah i mean seriously oh they look pretty deep on the blue line right now especially with p o joseph presumably very close to play you know we should mention you know samuel pull it yeah i was just going to look they they love him and i only got to see him a couple of times in training camp because he was on the covid list where he to sit out the first week of camp because he had been you know around somebody who had it i mean he looks like an nchal player just just he did not look 19-year-old kid who did not what he's doing.

He's a big physical kid. He can really skate. Stranger things have happened. I would not be shocked at all to see him make the team at some point this season. And Nathan LaGarrier, for that matter, I was actually more impressed with him in the full training camp last fall. I was actually more impressed with him than fooling. Just the way he can shoot the puck, man, he's just a natural goal score.

So we do consider those two are not far away from being ready. I think so, too. I mean, I'm basically on the fence right now. I think, honestly, Poole and may make the team out of camp. I'm just about there just because, you know, he's playing the role of juniors coming up. I think that's this month now. He's probably going to kill. I think he was playing on the top line with quitting byfield at training camp.

We'll see. Hopefully they do. I think they were doing it at a training camp a couple weeks ago. I was sent back by my buddy. But, I mean, I don't know. I think he will make it just because of some of the injuries they have. And you remember, Aston Rees is going to be out until February, I think. He may not miss any time if the NHEL doesn't start negotiating.

Oh, might not. And I don't mean to put Assy and Reese down. He's a perfectly effective player. I just, I don't think he's ever going to be the goal score. They were hoping he would be when they signed him three years ago. Yeah. Yeah, I can definitely see that. He's just, he's much more of a bottom six player.

He'll chip in at times, but he's more better, you know, just suppressing shots and an elite level. A good penalty killer. He's effective. But I just want to, I just feel like there's something lacking in that. bottom six. They just, they need something that's not there right now. Yeah, I mean, another guy before we move on to the last topic, Joshua, I wanted, Craig Smith went to Boston, I think signed for $3 million per for that, I mean, and that, that's a steal because he probably should have gotten like $4.5 or $5 million in a regular

year. He is someone that I very much wish the penguins had money for because he is great. You're right, in a normal season, he's a $5 million player. I have always liked him. I've always thought he'd be a good fit with the penguins. Reminds me of Brian Ross a lot. Just a guy who can create his own offense, gets a ton of shots on net, it's fast. Yeah, the Bruins, they're not dumb. They know which players

can help them. I suspect he'll be a good fit there. So we'll see. I mean, the penguins still have a lot of talent, a lot of good hockey players. I'm just the lineup, at least up front, the lineup and that bottom six feels a lot more uncertain now than it does in your normal season. Yeah, exactly. It's just

it's going to be interesting to see what happens, especially if they have these these new divisions. But, Josh, before I let you go, I did want to ask you, you know, since there's really just been no hockey right now, if there's one thing that you really, if there's one thing that you really miss about, like, you know, with the job right now, what would it be? Just like being on the road, basically? Well, that's a great question.

You know, a colleague of mine, Mark Lazarus wrote an article in Chicago recently, like the 100 things he misses about hockey. He totally stole my eye. We didn't steal it, but I was thinking about writing something similar. or now I haven't written it because I don't want to look like I'm stealing from him. Maybe I'll do it anyway. What the hell? But I miss, I mean, yes, I do miss being on the road.

It's funny. When you're on the road all the time, you complain about it because you miss home. And now that I'm home all the time, I'm like, yeah, I could be in Fort Lauderdale right now watching a hockey game. That wasn't such of a bad life. So I do miss that aspect of it. But for me, the biggest thing, God, this is going to sound phony, and I swear it's not. I really just miss the people with PPG Paints Arena. We're kind of a big family there, whether it be fellow media members or arena workers

or people who serve the food in the press box. I see those people more than I see my family. I really do. And everybody who covers the NHO will tell you that people in Pittsburgh are just the greatest there, the friendliest people in that arena. I haven't seen them in almost a year now. And don't know what I'm going to. And I really miss them a lot.

that's kind of my extended family i just man i miss saturday night home game is just seeing everybody and uh it's uh it's not the same right now it really isn't yeah that's actually that that's a helping answer to be honest with you i mean i i definitely miss all of it right now i mean we should be watching games you know i think i think i saw a tweet from my friend the other day you know this would be a perfect night to watch them play the capitals on like a wednesday night rivalry game or something it's like right yeah it just it feels weird you know i've been going going on YouTube and watching some of these old Penguin games just because I get bored. And, you know, it's just like I wanted to come back as soon as it can and, you know,

hopefully they can come to your agreement. But I just wanted to ask you. Yeah, we could have had a Steelers, uh, Penguins double header on a Wednesday. That would have been amazing. Imagine the traffic getting into downtown Pittsburgh that day. During rush hour, yeah. Yeah, I probably have to leave now. But, um, yeah, I wanted to ask you that before I go.

But Josh, um, thank you. Thank you so much for coming on, man. This was really great stuff. I really appreciate it. And, you know, hopefully the next time you come on, we'll actually have some games to talk about or, you know, do a full season preview or something. As you know, I will come on at any time.

But my God, I hope we have hockey to talk about the next time I'm on. That would certainly be nice, wouldn't it? Yeah, I'm hoping. Hopefully there's an update coming from the Bobfather, Elliot Friedman. Someone, just someone put out an update or something like that. But, yeah, guys, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. We'll have another episode coming tomorrow. and then another episode on Thursday or Friday to round out the week.

So stay tuned for that, and I hope you all have a great rest of your day.