Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins

Happy Thursday! Hunter starts out the episode by touching on some of the latest news surrounding the team, which includes Juuso Riikola leaving to go overseas. Hunter gets into why it was probably the right move for him considering that he doesn't belong in the AHL with how talented he is. Hunter also brings up the point that it made no sense how the Penguins treated him when he got there, especially when Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz were getting ice time over him. Should he have been in the lineup a lot more? Why was he then pushed out forever? Could he have been in other lineups around the league? Hunter answers those questions before reviewing Sidney Crosby's season and why it was one of the best of his career. Is it fair to expect this level of production from him next year? How special was his short playoff run? What should we expect from his line next season? After that, Hunter gets into an answer from Josh Yohe's mailbag about Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and what that could mean moving forward. He dives a bit more into Malkin's stats from this past season to debunk some wild theories about him before ending the show with some defense of Evan Rodrigues after some people had some wild takes about him too.

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It's a special Tuesday episode of Locked On Penguins as Hunter brings Danny Shirey of DKPittsburghSports back onto the show to touch on a multitude of topics surrounding the team. The two first start with Ron Hextall's press conference and what Danny's main takeaways were from that. What are Danny's thoughts about bringing back Evgeni Malkin? He gives some stats to show the anti-Malkin crowd just how good he is. They also touch on Kris Letang before getting to an interesting comment about Kasperi Kapanen from Ron Hextall. What are the chances that Kapanen returns to the team? Should he get another shot after a rough season? The two then discuss Hextall's comments about cap space and what that could mean. IS a defenseman going to be on his way out? Is POJ ready to come up full-time? Hunter also brings up how the Penguins can potentially get more youth and skill into the lineup next year and Danny throws out some names from Wilkes-Barre that would have the chance to make an impact heading into the 2022-23 season. Finally, Danny pleads for the team to bring back Evan Rodrigues, plus discusses what the Bryan Rust contract means for the rest of the offseason. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.

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BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

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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.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins always surprise us! Hunter starts out the show by touching on the Bryan Rust contract and how the Penguins stole that one. How shocked was Hunter to read that tweet on Saturday night? How many good years will the team get out of Rust on this contract? He answers those questions, plus goes into why it doesn't matter if he's not as good during those final two years since the team likely won't be good. He then debunks some theories that Rakell is better than Rust even though the former did play well after he came over from Anaheim. He also brings up the point that this can really help the Penguins with their cap situation and what it means for paying their stars. After that, he reacts to Ron Hextall's press conference on Monday and analyzes what some of his comments mean. Is it the right call to potentially bring Kasperi Kapanen back? What did Hextall think of the hit on Crosby and Guentzel? Are the sides close with contracts for both Letang and Malkin? Is this team going all-in again? Finally, Hunter brings up some Elliotte Friedman comments about the team and what they could mean moving forward.

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BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

Rock Auto

Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.

Athletic Greens

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.

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Happy Friday! Hunter does have a bit of a groggy voice but that's not stopping him from recording this episode. Hunter starts the show by touching on the John Klingberg rumors as some fans think that he can replace Kris Letang pretty easily. But...can he actually? Hunter digs into the data from the playoffs and regular season from Klingberg and it's not pretty compared to last season. He then compares those numbers to what Kris Letang did in the playoffs for the Penguins and makes his verdict. After that, Hunter gets into the backup goaltender conversation since both Casey DeSmith and Louis Domingue are free agents. He goes into the MAF talk and why it would make sense for only ONE reason. Outside of that, the Penguins would have to steer clear. Could Braden Holtby be an option? What about Scott Wedgewood? Could DeSmith still be an option, despite the injury concerns the last two seasons? Finally, Hunter ends the show by taking your mailbag questions and there are definitely some good ones in here.

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Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

Rock Auto

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Happy Thursday! Despite there not being any big news, there are always things to talk about in Penguins' land. Hunter starts the show by hammering the Jack Adams finalists and why it's been time for this award to change. Hunter touches on why it's all about who has the best goaltender during the season (cough, Gerard Gallant) and how it's never about what coaches are able to do when injuries hit or when a coach takes over a team that doesn't have playoff aspirations, but still does well. He advocates for both Mike Sullivan and Todd McLellan after their jobs and even touches on Jay Woodcroft for how good of a job he did. After that, Hunter goes into this awful rumor about Kris Letang from 93.7 The Fan and why he's NOT asking for a seven-year term before evaluating the penalty kill this season. What does Hunter want to see differently from the unit in 2022-23? Should there be different players killing the penalties? Is it time to go back to being aggressive? He answers all of those questions before ending the show by reviewing Rickard Rakell's season and why Hunter would pick him over Bryan Rust to re-sign.

Built Bar

Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

Rock Auto

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Happy Wednesday! We're still chugging along here and Hunter starts out this episode with an interesting blurb from Josh Yohe's article about the Penguins on Wednesday. He touches on how Fenway wants to know what Hextall's plan is moving forward and how his initial answer may not bode well for him as future of being general manager. Hunter gets into how Fenway may want their own GM and President of Hockey Ops since they're very big on data & analytics when Hextall and Burke likely aren't. After that, Hunter reviews the power play from this season and looks at what he wants to see from that unit heading into the 2022-23 season. He breaks down what went wrong for it in the playoffs, especially the 5-on-3's when the Penguins looked like they were the team down two men. He also looks at how the zone entries did the team no favors, plus how the Penguins did too many "east-west" plays when sometimes less is more. Finally, Hunter ends the show by going back to Josh's article and looking at how some people inside the Penguins organization view some of the players heading into the summer.

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Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

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The Penguins had their annual locker room cleanout day after a season where the players speak to the media one more time before departing for the offseason. Hunter starts the show with comments from Evgeni Malkin and how he seems prepared to leave if he doesn't get a fair offer from the team. Hunter touches on how this shouldn't be difficult at all as Malkin has already said he's willing to take a discount. Hunter gives his perfect Geno contract proposal and ponders if he would take it after the comments he made. After that, Hunter dives into Kris Letang's comments and also what Elliotte Friedman reported on Tuesday with where it stands on his talks. The Penguins are close on term (it sounds like), but not AAV. What's the likely sweet spot for Letang? How much of a raise does he likely want? Hunter goes into that and again why he should be the team's top priority heading into the summer. After that, Hunter gives his two players who also need to be kept at all costs and gives his guesses on what those contracts could look like. He also gives some updates on some injuries and even has a small scoop about Jason Zucker's injury that he was dealing with. Hunter finishes the show with a thought about the new ownership group conducting a thorough review of the team and why it shouldn't be a shock if they make some front-office changes.

Built Bar

Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

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Well, it's now offseason time, Pens fans. Hunter starts the show off by going into how gutted he was for the core after the Penguins fell to the Rangers on Sunday. He also talks about what they've meant to him over the years and how they even inspired him to do many things with this sport (including this show). After that, he touches on everything about that Game 7 performance and where it all went wrong. He goes into the penalty that should've been with Alexis Lafreniere at the end of the third period, but also slams John Marino for making a terrible defensive play. What should Marino have done in that situation? He then praises Tristan Jarry for one heck of a performance, even though he was obviously playing hurt. He shouts out Jake Guentzel for one of the best performances he's ever seen in a series and why a national audience got to see just how good he is. After that, he slams Brock McGinn for trying to be too cute with the puck in overtime and how he, plus the penalty kill cost them when they were needed most. Finally, Hunter gives some quick offseason thoughts on where the team should go from here, and why Mike Sullivan shouldn't be fired. what to do with Letang and Malkin, will Burke and Hextall survive this, and so much more. THANK YOU LISTENERS FOR THE BEST SEASON IN THE SHOW'S HISTORY!

Built Bar

Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

Rock Auto

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It's as simple as this: Tristan Jarry HAS to start Game 7 back in New York on Sunday. Hunter starts the show by feeling gutted about the Penguins as they dropped another game against the New York Rangers on Friday night. He touches on what went wrong for the team starting in the second period with the Evan Rodrigues taking a retaliatory penalty and then the special teams vomiting all over themselves. He then gets into how goaltending has continued to cost the Penguins a series (As well as special teams) and how Louis Domingue messed up big-time on two of the four Rangers goals. Do the Penguins win if Rodrigues doesn't take that penalty? Hunter also discusses that topic, as well as the continued good 5v5 play by the Penguins in this series. To wrap up the show, Hunter discusses what the Penguins NEED TO DO in order to win Game 7 on Sunday, and again, they have to have Tristan Jarry start. He then ends the show with a message to the fans to enjoy the ride on Sunday as that could be the final game in the Big 3 era.

Built Bar

Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

Rock Auto

Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.

Athletic Greens

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are set to play in another elimination game on Friday as they look to take down the New York Rangers. That said, they're going to likely be without Sidney Crosby and Hunter spends the first segment talking about how special of an opportunity this is for the Penguins. He goes into how the team is at home and how both Letang and Malkin have the opportunity to "Win for Sid." Crosby has done everything he can to will the Penguins to win this series and with him likely out, it may be time for the rest of his teammates to repay him. After that, Hunter touches on what he would do with the lines if Crosby is indeed out. Who should center the second line? Which wingers should move up and which should move down? What adjustment do the Penguins need to make to ensure that they win this game? Finally, Hunter pleads for the PPG crowd to be electric and to be that 7th man for the Penguins as it needs to be like a Mellon Arena crowd.

Built Bar

Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.

BetOnline

BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!

Rock Auto

Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.

Athletic Greens

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.

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.