Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Your Pittsburgh Penguins trade deadline primer with a special guest...

Episode Date: February 17, 2023

It's a special Thursday edition of the Locked On penguins podcast because it's time to talk trades! Hunter is joined by Jeff from Penguins Twitter (@LetangCult) to discuss everything trade-related regarding this team. They get into all of the third-line center targets the team has been connected to, plus others that the team hasn't been yet but could. They also look at the team's biggest need and if Ron Hextall can fix it in the next two weeks. Jeff then brings up an idea he thought about a couple of weeks ago regarding Jacob Chychrun. Do the Penguins have the pieces needed to get a deal done? Can they outbid a team like the Los Angeles Kings or Boston Bruins? Hunter then engages Jeff in a debate about if this team really needs another defenseman before the two move on to goaltenders. Do the Penguins need to do anything about their tandem at the deadline? Should they wait until the summer? The two also discuss Ron Hextall and if he's doing a good job waiting this out before ending the show with a small preview of Friday's game against the New York Islanders. Just how big of a game is it? Can they put the Islanders away for good in this stretch? What are the keys to getting it done? All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. Athletic Greens To make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK FanDuel Make Every Moment More. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get started FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) 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.

The trade deadline is right around the corner, 15 days to go, in fact, until, you know, the deadline hits. And for the Pittsburgh Penguins, still haven't done anything yet. But I have a special guest joining this show today to touch on everything Penguins related when it comes to the trade deadline. And yes, we'll do a small preview at the end when it comes to that massive game against the Islanders on Friday, then that huge game against the Devils on Saturday. But a lot of this episode is going to be trade-centric. So hope you all already get your trade proposals out. Go to cat-friendly, sit back, enjoy this one.

It's all coming up right after this truck. Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm of course your host, Hunter Hodes.

We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at Elmerst for Penguins. And of course, thank you so much for making this year first list in the day. we are free and available on all platforms. Joining me now is a very special guest. He's not been on the show for a little bit, but he is from Penguin's Twitter, Jeff, aka Atlatane Cult,

on Penn's Twitter to touch on everything trade-centric when it comes to this team to do some webcam difficulties. He will not be on the second half of the re-stream link for those that watch on YouTube, so it will just be his audio coming through. You'll still get to see my wonderful, gorgeous face. But Jeff, really appreciate you coming on. to talk everything penguins related is the deadline is two weeks away here.

Sure thing. Happy to be here. Yeah. So, Jeff, I wanted to get your thoughts on this. Obviously, you follow the penguins very religiously. You know, what would you say is their biggest need to come and going into the deadline? Some people will say third line center. Some people will argue goalie because Tristanjari is still out and we don't know if he's playing on Friday against the islanders.

He didn't practice today, but had some scheduled doctor's appointments. Some people will even say a defenseman is their biggest need. But when you look at this team right now on paper and you've been watching every game this season, what do you think is their biggest need? A roll-off dumpster so that they could put the bottom six in it. I think, again, you know, Brian Dimlins, he's trending up. But, I mean, like, to what extent? Is he going to have a complete resuscitation of his playing style or, you know, is there a ceiling there that wasn't as high as it was before?

And I think while you still don't know, you know, if you can capitalize, on his recent momentum and move him out of the deadline. That's probably what they should do. Will they do that? Probably not. Jeff Carter, I mean, everybody knows that Jeff Carter is an anchor at this point. You know, you talk about players taking a shift off. I can't tell you the last time Jeff Carter played a full shift.

And so Jeff Carter is a big factor. And so for that reason, I think they need to upgrade to the center position. You know, I think that a lot of the names out there could probably at least elevate the existing wingers, be it Casperry Caputin and Danton Hine and Brock McGinn to some extent, whereas, you know, Jeff Carter is quite literally just deadweight. Yeah, I think that's probably the best way to describe it, Jeff. He's not what he once was. He was great when he came over.

Ron Hextall nailed that trade. Great for the first half of the last regular season. But right when that extension kicked in, he just basically decided to stop playing. I feel like they need to have a Marian Hosa. type situation here where he gets allergic to his gear, which then forces his retirement. I mean, he's probably not going to get moved or even scratched. He's probably going to be moved to wing if they do get a third line center. And, you know, there are some options out there when it comes to centers.

You know, I've discussed at length on this show. Max Domi, Ryan O'Reilly, Adam Henrique, Nick Schmaltz, Jonathan Taves, you know, you can even throw in Nick Benino. And that's one I haven't really discussed as much as much as I've wanted to yet, Jeff, and I wanted to get your thoughts on him. Do you think he would be an upgrade over Carter at this point, nine goals, 18 points this season? You know, old friend, of course, helped them win two Cups in 2016-17, but, you know, he's a lot older. At this point, you can probably get him a lot cheaper. What do you think of potential, you know, potentially Nick Benino coming back to the Penguins

and, you know, being the referred line center? Do you think he gives that line much more offensive umph than Carter would? Sure, if Timo Myers coming with him, but outside of that, I don't know that I have that much faith in a 34-year-old Benito. Again, part of the reason that he was able to do his magic on the famed HBK line was because of the K on that line. A lot of teams, I'm sure the defenses were dialed in on Phil Kessel and what he was doing, and Carl Haglin had speed to burn. And so it kind of allowed Benito to be more creative in that situation. And so again, Benito was much younger then. I don't know at 34 years of age, especially with the hard-nosed play style that he has,

what he would have to offer the penguins. If he comes cheap enough, certainly. But, you know, you might want to look into acquiring a winger capable of putting a couple of pucks in the net because Benino's not exactly lighting the lamp as far as some of these center candidates would be. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. And honestly, I don't think you can probably. get him for that. Well, I do, I think I screwed that up.

I do think you can get him for relatively cheap. I don't think that sharks are going to ask for a second or a third round pick, anything like that. I think maybe a fourth would probably do it. You know, he's, again, had okay numbers this year. But, you know, as you said, he's a lot older at this, at the stage, and he's not nearly as good as he used to be. So it would make sense.

But again, I don't know if he provides enough offense. Someone who I do think would make a lot of sense. And Jeff, I touched on him this early this week. I wanted to get your thoughts on this. here is Ryan O'Reilly. In his 30s, yes, but finished fourth in the Selke voting last season, has put up great offensive numbers again this season. Yeah, he's probably maybe leaning towards staying in St. Louis just because he's been there

for so long. But in terms of a natural third-line center, Jeff, that is a slam dunk for me. All of his underlines are great. Contract, you can probably make it work. I don't want to hear anything about the captain. The Rangers didn't have that much space when they were. taken on Vladimir Tarasanko's massive contract and the blue is still ate half of it. So I'm sure the Penguins could make that work.

Do you think O'Reilly is probably the best fit third line center-wise? Yeah, I think he might be what they need. I mean, you've got to also consider, again, the team's defense is a little bit suspect right now. What really concerns me about that is one of the key players in why our defense wasn't that great, Jan Ruta. You know, he just didn't bring much to the table. And now he's been out. Dumlin's playing a little bit better.

And so where are these defensive breakdowns happening? Is it a systemic thing? Is it, you know, the centers and the forwards aren't, you know, doing their part? And so the defense is trying to overcompensate. So whichever guy the penguins bring in, he's got to be of a unique skill set that he brings some scoring to the table, but also to solid defensively. If they could find a third line center in somewhat of the Zucker mold, where it's a very solid, well-rounded, 200-foot player. I believe that's going to benefit them the most.

O'Reilly fits that bill. I mentioned Boone Jenner before. I think it would take a lot to pry him out of Columbus. I mean, there's a number of options they could choose. But again, and I think that's probably the reason they haven't made this move yet is because the penguins are doing their due diligence in finding the right fit. I mean, if you look at what Carter brought to the table when Hextel acquired him, as you said, it was great. Carter came and, I mean, essentially shocked everybody with a revival of his career for that, what, half a year. And, I mean, if you look at how naturally Ricard Raquel fit, I mean, it takes a heck of a player to bump Brian Rust off of Sidney Crosby's line.

And Ricard Raquel was exactly with the doctor order. So in that regard, I have trust for what Ron Hextall is going to do because he's shown an excellent eye in midseason for what piece the Penguins need. And I think a lot of fans are frustrated about, you know, that it's taking so long, myself included. I mean, this team has been middling for so, so long this season. And Hextel hasn't made a single move. And now there's the Metro Arms race going on. Penguins fans are used to a lot of transactions happening. really going on in the penguins front right now.

In fact, I haven't even seen scouts out for the penguins in the last couple of days. Last week, a couple of the Blackhawks games, there were two penguin scouts, and essentially nothing since. And so maybe they've dialed in on somebody, whether that be Taves, Domi, even, you know, we saw them connected to Jake McCabe. And so whoever it is, you know, I think Hextall is waiting for the right move rather than, you know, just going out and getting a guy because he's a third line center. Does O'Reilly fit that bill? Sure. But I think it's more about the right guy rather than just whatever you can find.

And that's like very anti-Gim Rutherford in a way because, you know, Rutherford would always just, you know, he had some decent trades, but a lot of times he would also just throw something at the wall, hope it sticks. And, you know, Ron Hextall is the complete opposite of that. He's probably one of the most passive GMs I've ever seen. And that is also the saving grace that I have, Jeff. You know, he has nailed the past two days. deadlines. Carter deal, very solid. Ricardo Raquel didn't really give up much in futures, gave up a couple bottom six forwards. You got a top six, top line forward in return for really not that much. You need to give up your first round pick. So that is a little bit of my saving grace going into this deadline real quick.

Before we do head to a commercial here, you brought up Max Domey from the Chicago Blackhawks, another option there. I did read in Elliott Freeman's 32 thoughts that sounds like he might want to stay with the Blackhawks. Sounds like he's liking it there. I'm not really sure how much. believe that because I'm sure, you know, contenders are going to want him. You know, do you think, you know, he makes sense as maybe a cheaper option compared to O'Reilly

if the Blues asked for too much in return if the Penguins want to go down that road? Oh, I think Domi would be a brilliant option. Even though he doesn't bring so much of the defensive aspect to the team, you know, if you get, I don't know how many moves we're on Hextall's planning on making, but if you have winners that are a little more defensively responsible or if you utilize Domney in the right place, I mean, Domi's scoring is probably among the best among all of the trade deadline rumored to be available centers. And yet he comes at one of the lower cap hits. And it's thought that you're not going to need to spend much to acquire his services.

Just a couple years ago with Columbus, I mean, his statistics were amazing. And I mean, he's only 27 years old. He's not ancient. I think he could be a really good piece with the team if they acquired him. Defensively, yeah, there's a little bit to be desired, but here's a guy that as of the time that I made my chart here, he had 14 goals, 21 assists, 35 points, $3 million cap it. I mean, if you acquire Ryan O'Reilly at half of his cap it,

it's going to be more than that. So, I mean, Domi is kind of a guy that I've got penciled in, but I'm sure a lot of teams do. No, I definitely agree with that. I think it also comes down to Domi with the asking price. I probably wouldn't give up my first for him because I don't know if he's worth that. Second and something else, maybe another thing, I would potentially be down for that. You know, if it's a second plus a prospect plus a roster player or second plus a roster player

to make the money work for the payment's perspective, just because they really have no cap space right now. I would definitely be down to do that, but I just can't see Hextall really trading his first for Domey. I think he would maybe do it for someone like O'Reilly or someone even better than that. but he also does make sense too. That does it for this first segment coming up in a second segment and to go into some other targets that are out there, including a top defensive option that Jeff actually really had Circle

just a week or two ago, and I'm going to get his thoughts on that. He's out of the lineup this week, so that's your only hint when it comes to that. But before we get into all that, midway point of the NBA season is here, and now is the perfect time to download Fan Duel, America's number one sportsbook. because new customers, when you download it, you all get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's bonus bets back if your first bet does not win. Just download the app right now.

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All right. We're back here in this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes. That is Jeff. Atlatan, Colt from Penguins Twitter. So, Jeff, you kind of, once I say he caused a frenzy on Penn's Twitter

about a week or two ago, but you put out a very, you know, I should say, intriguing, fascinating. One of those two words work. When you said the Penguins, should trade for Jacob Trickren. And, you know, the Penguins really haven't been in on those talks. For most of the reports that I've seen, it looks like the Kings have really been serious about it.

At Elliot Freeman, I think it said the Oilers have been there, the Bruins have been there. But, you know, you made a pretty curious case as to why the penguins should do it. I'm going to let you expand on that right now. Why do you think the Penguins should enter that race? Well, the coyotes have caps based to burn. And I really think that's exactly where the penguins need to look in terms of, of what they should be acquiring. And if we're thinking about who the coyotes are,

they've taken on the contracts of Derek Stefan. They've taken upon, I think they still are eating Marion Hosa's contract, if I'm not mistaken. They love these old guys at the end of their careers that, you know, they could still offer something to a NHL team, but, you know, they're kind of done. And so that got me thinking, okay, the penguins have a cap issue.

they need to resolve the cap issue. They'd be willing to burn a first round pick for a player with term. Hextel is not going to use the first to dump salary. And the coyotes want like three or four good assets for Chickren. And here's what got me thinking because David Pagnoda had the teams reportedly linked to Chikrin and Pittsburgh was one of them. And so if we're going to use, we being the Pittsburgh penguins, are going to use the first round pick on a player.

It's got to be a player with turn. Okay. And if you're going to replace, for example, a defenseman, you know, okay, so Brian Dumlin, you know, he's at the end of his career. He's expiring on a contract. And, you know, he's not the player that he used to be, right? He doesn't offer what he used to offer. And so it would be most prudent to move. Again, as we said earlier on, it probably won't happen because, you know, he is a legacy Pittsburgh penguin won cups with the penguins. But a prudent general manager would recognize. that the time has come and even another team might be interested in saying to the Arizona Coyotes, hey, what do you want for Brian Dumlin? Because they might think that he still has a little bit left in the tank. So with that in mind, you know, they definitely want a first round pick to start the conversation with Chickren. Sure. They want, you know, a couple of younger players. If you offer them either one of Pierre-A-Livier-Josef back or Ty Smith, again, those are two very young, very high pedigree

defensemen that we could offer. And again, that opens the position for Checker in and still keeps the other in the Penguins lineup. And, you know, a prospect, whether it be Sam Pullen, whether it be

Valteri Pustin, Alex Niedlander, or even if they're willing to take on Casperi Kappan as a young project player that could be flippable, similar to the mold of what Chicago has done with Andreas Athanasio and Max Domi. Now, again, that has me intrigued because it does make sense from a standpoint of, okay, Arizona

likes to take on these players with this kind of like, okay, Duman's on the expiring contract, he's older. They've done that before. That's not new to them. It opens up cap space for the penguins. And it lands the penguins, a very young, very highly talented defenseman that would allow minutes to be easier for Tang and Petrie who are getting up an age. And also, you know, if you're giving up the first, I mean, granted that Chickren is, what, 24, 25,

he's still young enough that, you know, the next generation after Crosby's gone, he's still going to be pretty good. And even if you flip him at that point, you're still going to get something for him as he's an excellent player. Now, can the penguins outbid the likes of the Kings or the Bruins? I don't think so. You know, I think that they have a lot more to offer, and especially if, If Chikrin is their number one target, they could afford to go all in on Chikrin, and he'd be a huge difference to make it for them as he would for the penguins,

but it might push them from, you know, contender to Cup favorite. And that said, you know, I can't stop thinking about the notion of it because, you know, I take what David Pagnotas says to heart as he was the only one last year who, ahead of the trade deadline, had Ricard Raquel connected to the penguins. nobody had ever connected the two of those and then Raquel ended up going to the penance. So even though whatever is going on between Los Angeles in Arizona right now where Chickren is not materializing,

I wouldn't, I mean, you can't. You simply can't roll out Ron Hextall stepping in and saying, hey, look, if you can't make that work with Los Angeles or Boston, you know, we might be able to do some business. Yeah, and a lot of these deals got me thinking as well. when I saw the Vladimir Tarasenko deal and the Rangers have him on their top line now. I know different position,

but it's still kind of almost the same thing. Well, one's rental, but one's not. You know, a lot of these bad teams, they take features and they take some bad players. Like, for example,

Teresanko, you know, the Rangers sent back two picks, a MET prospect who's in the ECHL and Sammy Blay, who was barely getting any time. And that's for a top line winger. And I deal like this with the coyotes,

you know, sure you're going to have to probably give up a little bit more, but I don't think the return is maybe going to be as big as some people think it's going to be. As you said, he is young. He's cost control. I think he's making 4.6 for the next couple seasons. If I looked at my cap-friendly right, that's a wonderful deal for a number one defender on probably at least two-thirds of the NHL teams.

So it makes sense for that because, you know, Duman's walking, especially after this season, we can trade one of the two defensemen. in the system, you know, maybe Jan Ruder gets moved during the offseason because, you know, maybe he's expendable. It does make sense for a lot of those reasons. But again, as you said, Jeff, you know, I don't know if they can even outbid the Kings because the Kings won't even include, I think the number rate overall pick from the 2021 initial draft because they really believe in him.

And they also won't even include Quentin Bifield, who is probably better than most players in the Penguin system, but he also is playing regular minutes now. But that's definitely something that would be a lot of fun. It would be very unlikely, just like it looked like Ricardo Raquel was, because you're right. I don't think anyone had them connected to Raquel last year except David Pagnotta. So maybe he is on to something here. That would be very awesome, very Ron Hextal like to kind of sweep in from the shadows. Overall, though, do you see the need for adding a defenseman as big as a forward or a goalie?

Or either way, do you think, you know, I guess I could refer. phrases. Do you think as is the defense is good enough heading into really the home stretch of the season and potentially into the playoffs? I mean, the penguins still give up a ton of shots. I mean, their defensemen seem to all, I mean, when you see Jay Fresh's player cards or Andy and Rona's player cards, they all seem to be painting a rosy picture. Granted, you know, Doomlin has not been fantastic by any means. But yeah, I mean, there's always room for improvement. And to harken back to what Jim Rutherford used to say, you know, if it makes sense to make our team better, you know, I will look into it. And so Ron Hextall absolutely has to have that attitude.

You know, everybody has pointed out that he went all in in the summertime, you know, basically saying, hey, we're going to still contend for Stanley Cups. We're resigning everybody, bringing the band back together. And so, you know, I think the trade deadline has to back that up. You know, I really think it's going to be fun regardless to see how Ron Hextall resists. responds to a Metro Division arms race with the Sydney Crosby Penguins. That's going to be very intriguing because Carolina and New Jersey, they're all over Tim O'Meyer. And if I were on Hextel, I'd be all over him, too, because he is a player like this does not become available very often.

You know that too. He has over 30 goals a season, well over a point per game. He is very close to being, I think, a superstar in this league. The Sharks are going to get a good package back for him, but, you know, why not the He would make them better. The top six would be even more loaded. It would sign someone like, I don't know, Brian Russ down to the third line, Jason Zucker down there.

It would make a lot of sense if you ask me. Speaking of those defensive numbers, Jeff, just go back to what you were saying when they give up a lot of shots. Yeah, since January 1st, this team has played 17 games. Their expected goals against per 60 minutes is 30th in the league at 2.98. There are scoring chances against our 22nd in the league. High danger scoring chances against 30th in the league. with 15,

it's their defensive play has gotten way worse over, ever since the New Year hit. And, you know, Jake McCabe is out there. Jacob Tricken, as you already said. I wouldn't go after Gabbercott, because I think that's just going to be a total Ben Sharrot-like move

for whoever gets him. Remember last year where the Panthers trade for him and they gave up way too much. I understand they were going all that, but that was ridiculous. But I can understand why people would want. a defenseman on there. Yeah. I think Dimitri Kulakov has been thrown out there as well, Jeff. I think by Paganana and I think Elliot Freeman put him on there in his 32 thoughts. Do you think that makes any sense for the Penguins go after him?

Yeah, we're just spitball in here because in my opinion, I see him as just a left-handed version of Jan Ruda. I mean, it depends on what you're paying for him and what it gets you. If it nets you any, additional cap space. I think it could make sense, especially if you're willing to move Brian Dumlin out in exchange for him. Maybe, again, the, you know,

Anaheim sees something in Brian Dumlin that the penguins, you know, I don't know, the penguins think he's cooked or whatever. But again, I think all this hinges on Brian Dumlin. With Jan Ruta on LTIR, he looks poised to come back,

but that has not happened yet. And so I know that a couple of people have connected Jan Ruta to, hey, you know, here's a player that is, we like him, but he's expendable. And so if Jan Ruta is not the trade chip, would the penguin circle back to Dumlin? And, you know, Kulukov, while not, you know, Jacob Chikrin or Jake McKay by any means, if he saves you some cap space and he doesn't play terribly, why not? Yeah, I think it would all have to just have to depend on what's going back. Again, you know, he's, you know, I feel like the penguins have a decent amount of defensemen like him right now.

But, you know, as you said, why not? So, you know, I don't think it's going to happen. I think he probably goes somewhere else. But, you know, it's always cool to think about that's for sure. That wraps up this second segment coming up on the final segment. We're going to get Jeff's thoughts on who he would have available penguins related in terms of going back to teams. We'll also get into if he thinks a team needs to trade for a goaltender with Trist In Jari still out.

Maybe he returns tomorrow. Who knows with Casey to dismiss any consistent play. And finally, we're going to preview that game against the Islanders, as this is a massive stretch coming up for the Penguins. Stick around for that coming up after this commercial break. All right. We're back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm, of course, on Trujodes.

I have Jeff Atlatan Colt from Penguin's Twitter here to help me. So, Jeff, if you were running the Penguins and you were Ron Hextall, deadlines in two weeks, obviously. You know, he traded a couple roster players. often the record Raquel trade last year, Zach Astnery's Tomic-Smone. Who would you have available in terms of returns to other teams for some of these players that we have discussed? Oh, goodness. Well, that's kind of a loaded question.

First thing I would be thinking of is cap space because I think with this logjam of, okay, right now, everybody's kind of waiting on what's the next move. Is it going to be Chickren? Is it going to be better? Is it going to be Meyer? who's it going to be? And as we're waiting, I think what we're going to see is a number of teams, especially the deadline, not necessarily panic, but I think we're going to see prices drop drastically as everybody's pursuing cap space. And so my biggest priority right now, regardless of

who or what would have to be clearing some cap. Now, ideally moving Casperi cap in and out would be great. You know, he makes a very bloated, what, $3.5 million a year. to 3.2. Yeah, basically. 3.25 to basically skate around the ice really quickly and not offer much else. Brockham again, he doesn't carry a huge cap hit, but I mean, opening up that $2 million would be pretty significant. Jeff Carter takes up, you know, 3.25 as well, and he's kind of, again, just he exists. Josh Archibald, Ryan Palin, Venn don't bother me so much. I wouldn't try to trade, Ryan Paling. Teddy Blueger is a name that's been out there lately. And I guess that teams, you know, are more interested from what I'm reading in Teddy Blueger services. But I can't imagine he's going to bring back a huge return. You don't need a huge return. You just need the cap space. So if you could trade him somewhere to a team that has cap, Chicago, Arizona, somewhere to that effect. And even if they flip him, you know, that still benefits you and puts you in a position. I think of that Carolina Hurricanes this summer when Max Patrick

ready became available and the Vegas Knights basically had to trade him for nothing, right? And so if I were Ron Hextall, I would just set myself up for these dropping prices and teams looking to desperately clear cap, be it whoever it is, you know, you might get somebody like Jacob Verona dirt cheap, right? That would be a huge asset to the penguins. So that's basically my number one goal. Teddy Bluger is somebody I'd move anybody in the bottom six, I would be hard pressed to maybe trade paling or Archibald because they're both on very fair contracts and bring, you know, decent value. But as far as defensemen go, Jan Ruda, Brian Dumlin, I would hesitate to trade Pierre Olivier Joseph. I really like his game. That's

personal to me, but maybe not the Penguins. And if somebody overwhelmed me for an offer for Ty Smith, I would take that. But I would like to get Ty Smith and Pierre Olivier Joseph both in the NHL lineup because, I mean, those two very, very low cap hits, I mean, would enable a lot of different things, especially when we can clear away Brian Duhlin and his four million. Yeah, no, I definitely agree with that. I do want to see both of them. And if neither of them are traded by the deadline and during the summer in Dumlin walks, I do think you're probably going to see next season in the left side, Pedersen, P.O.J and probably

Ty Smith, I think they, you know, once they signed Ruta, they probably, you know, they realized like, oh crap, you know, we have too many defensemen at this point. And, you know, they couldn't even also put Ty Smith up because of their salary cap situation. And I'm glad you brought up Teddy Blugier as well, Jeff, because Danny Shirey of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports were a really great article that came out on Thursday morning where he said, you know, he probably would not be in the camp to re-sign Bluger after the season. That got me thinking, Jeff, as well, you know, why not have him available at the deadline? What has he done this season to warrant being in the lineup on an every night basis?

I had so many people say, oh, yeah, the PK is going to get even better when he comes back. It's gotten worse. It did for a game or two. What was that, sorry? PK got better for a game or two, but then it just kind of trickled straight down work from there. Yeah, I mean, you're 100% right. I mean, Danny even, I think, included some of the stats, I think, from HockeyViz.com, which is a very great website with, you know, if you want to subscribe to it, pay the

$5 a month, I very much suggest you do. And the PK is better when Bluger is not on the ice. And everyone kept saying like, oh, yeah, that's what he does best. But, you know, his offensive game is also tanked, has one goal this season, seven assists. Three of those assists were in one game. So you take that game against the Flyers out. He has five points this season. You know, fourth, fourth and fourth and second, you're like, you're probably thinking, okay, not a big deal.

But five points, Eric Ferrer put up more than five points in 2016 when the pay. Penguins won the cup that season. So, you know, I'm assuming you would have him out there as trade bait as well because, you know, I think teams would still value so in my league or despite him not being that good offensively this season. And Jeff, you can slide Ryan Paling into that role as fourth line center. And you're probably going to get decent results because before he went down again, he was playing some fine hockey. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, just, you know, I just can't believe what the heck happened.

there. Moving gears a little bit. Jeff, so Tristan Jari, still not back yet. He did not practice on Thursday before the team, the team traveled up

to Long Island to play the Islanders. His status remains uncertain for this weekend. I'm sure he's probably going to take the morning skate. Mike Sullivan went down to the starter is right after. Do you see goalie as a pressing need going into this deadline? I mean, no, no, I really don't.

I mean, I think, you know, yeah, you're going to get your share of, games that you wish you had a different goalie with Casey DeSmith, but overall, you know, there aren't many backup goalies out there with a better overall, say, percentage than Casey the Smith and at his value especially, you know, for every game that is a dud that he lays, he lays two that are just, you know, you're left thinking, oh my gosh, that's a backup goaltender.

And so I wouldn't press for a goalie if you could get, you know, Cam Talbot or something, dirt cheap, why not? But outside of that, I wouldn't make goalie at priority. Now, on X-Dle might, but I just don't see it that way. Yeah, I also don't know just like how many true goalies are going to be available. At the deadline, James Reimer, maybe that could make sense from the sharks. You said Cam Talbot, but I don't really think he's going to get, I think the senators, if anything, they might add a little bit. I don't think they want to sell because I don't think that's the message they want to send up the fan base, even though they're not going to like playoffs this season. So I definitely, I think the time to maybe make a goalie switch is going to be

this summer. I don't know if they're going to be fully committed to signing Jari. DeSmith, I think, still has another Udoloft on his contract, but maybe something happens there. I think if they do decide to make a move at the position, it's probably going to be over the summer. But real quick, before I let you go here, outside the trade stuff, massive few games coming up here for this hockey team. They get the Islanders on Friday, devil Saturday, and then the Islanders come back on Monday. I tweeted this today. Penguins have a real massive opportunity

in front of them here to really separate themselves on the Islanders. There are two points up on them right now. You win both of those games. You got four games in hand on them. You're what? Six points up, if my math is right, right there at least six points up.

Still got three to four games in hand. You can really almost make it impossible for them to pass you. Just how big is this upcoming stretch of games to you? Oh, it's huge. I mean, anytime you were playing against Metro Division opponents, I mean, every point is precious. And it's not just enough, I think, to win these games. They've got to win them in regulation.

These are the kind of games that you just can't let slip away from you or let somebody like the Islanders escape with a point or two and then gain, you know, any sort of momentum because then that could come back to bite you. Again, that wild card, I mean, could or could not. I mean, we've seen, again, the penguins do really well, Penguins do really poor. Again, they're kind of middling as is. So you've got to take every point you can get. Yeah. And I especially agree with the regulation. You do not want to take these teams into overtime and give them free loser points. It's just, it's not, that's obviously not good for business.

The Penguins, they'll want to get the revenge from what happened last time on Long Island. They got blown up by the Islanders 5 to 1. But the Islanders come into this reeling a little bit. They just played three games against the Canadians, centers in the Canucks. six points on the line, they got two of them. They're only on an 87 point pace right now. That will put them well out of the playoff picture. They played a lot of games. They kept talking a big game during practice today. They're going to load up their top line with Anders Lee, Beau Horvatt and Matt Barzell,

Zach Perise, Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmerit, a round other second line. Penguin Killer, Josh Bailey, is on their third line with Casey Seseekis and Simone Holmstrom. Pelich and Pooleck is their top pairing. And then, of course, you know what you're going to get with Ilya Syroken when he starts one of the best goaltenders in the league. Jeff, real quick, do you have any keys for the penguins to win a tough one on the road, especially in a hostile environment here?

I think they just need to understand that they're, you know, pound for pound the better team. They really just, they need to say, okay, you know, it doesn't have to be beautiful. We don't have to blow out the Islanders. We just have to get a solid win. Play the solid 60 minutes. Do not let up that first goal because you know that if you're letting up the first goal, Soroquin's going to dial in. You get a goal early on them.

Soroken might be a little shaky. I mean, playing a full 60 minutes has been the key all season. Yeah, I mean, that's obviously a big one. I mean, I want the special teams to be a bit better. The power play looked horrendous against the sharks. I know the sharks have a top 5 PK in the league, but the zone entries on it are horrendous. That needs to be a lot better with all the talent that they can put out there.

The slow starts, you know, as you said, play a full 60 minutes. Slow starts got to stop. And in that game, again, the sharks, they're giving up odd man rushes 15, 20 seconds in, and the sharks are taking it to them for a lot of that first period. That can't happen, especially against a team like the Islanders who, you know, they will make you pay. They have loaded up their top line going into this one, but Horvats been awesome all year. Matt Barzell's been good. Anders Lee is a Penguins killer at times. You know, they got players on the second line that can produce. I know they're not playing that

well right now, but they can still definitely do some damage. So really curious to see how this one does. get traffic in front of Ilya Sorokin. That is one of the main ways to beat him. And they can do all those things, you know, limit the scoring chances and high danger chances against because the trend has not been pretty as of late. They rank in the bottom third of the league in expected goals against high danger chances against, scoring chances against, all that stuff. They can hopefully come out on the winning side of this one.

And we'll see if Tristan Jari does play. I'm sure he'll take the morning skate, as I said. And so that'll be big. And I think Ryan Pailing and Mark Friedman, they will probably be out for this one. they did not practice. I think we're out of time for this one, Jeff, but I really appreciate you coming on. Talking full trade deadline stuff with two weeks to go,

there's going to be a lot more trade talk coming up in the next week of the podcast. But Jeff, in case the people do not follow you on social media, where can they find your outstanding Penguins takes during games? On Twitter at Lutan Colt. There you go. So, yeah, he puts out great content during games, scours the trade market like it's no one's business and just a great follow for everyone out there.

So really appreciate you coming on, Jeff. I'll have another episode for you all tomorrow after the Islanders game. We'll be recapping it, seeing if the Penguins can get those two crucial points. So that's it for this one. Hope you all have a great rest of your Thursday. I'll talk to you all on Friday.