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We are going to flip to the other side of
this break and it's hurt like so welcome back to
the show. Josh Joey of the Athletics slash New York
Times ready to talk to some Pittsburgh Penguins with us
how you doing today, Josh great?
Speaker 5: How are you great?
Speaker 6: Man?
Speaker 2: Great? We're ready to talk pens and I'm going to
try to be positive here. There's some negatives to say,
there's going to be some great positives to say too,
But I think overall, in terms of the team context,
they missed the playoffs for the third straight year, lower
in their division than end year since Sydney Crosby was
a rookie, The coach has gone, Some contributing veterans have
moved out, primarily more fringe roster depth players I would
say have been moved on to moved on from. That's
a lot of what Pittsburgh had surrounding a future Hall
of Fame corp coming into this season. Still have it
above average performing power play at least a middle of
the road offense, i'd say at this point, but the
goal prevention not so much. They allowed the fourth most
shots on goal six worth save percentage that resulted in
the third most goals against in the league. The top
ten seven scorers on the team are on the wrong
side of thirty. So we're going to discuss the players
who are theoretically going to be back in black and
gold this fall. But depends watchers see this as a
full Kyle Dubas reboot time now and can the Pens
embrace the tank? What do you make of this last season?
Speaker 7: Josh, Yeah, the Penguins are rebuilding. They don't like to
call it rebuilding. That's like a nasty word that you
don't use. The problem is they have so many salaries
that they can't get rid of. I don't doubt for
a second that Kyle Dubis would love to try of
getting Malkin and Crystal Tag and Eric Carlson at this point,
but the fact is they all have full no move clauses,
and I know for a fact that Malkin would use it.
I suspect Letang would. I think Carlson is tradable. I
think to the right team he would be willing to go.
But you just have all these logjam of salaries and
Tristan Jerry and Ryan Graves making way too much money
and nobody's gonna take those salaries. So I think Kyle
would have loved to have just completely torn it down
except for Crosby, but he's been hamstrung in that regard.
Speaker 5: There's only so much he's been able to do.
Speaker 7: So Yeah, it is a rebuild, but it might be
a bit of a methodical rebuild just because of that,
and they do have a ton of draft choices in
the first three rounds in the next two or three years.
That's where the rebuild will come. They're still going to
have probably an older than the most roster next season, though, Yeah.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 4: I speaking of some of those old guys. We're gonna
start with Sidney Crosby, of course, the captain, and another
ninety point season for Crosby. He's just, what can you
say at thirty seven, still one of the best players
in the league. He did this season without Jake Gonsel,
and so the last two more years on the contract,
you look at his underlying numbers, elite offensive production, his
defensive game maybe wasn't as amazing as we were used to.
He was only twenty ninth percentile for even strength defense,
but still overall a majorly impactful player. So I think
we all want to know, is he going to continue
to be a ninety plus point player at age thirty
eight or what do we think?
Speaker 7: I think he probably will put it this way until
he shows that he signs of slowing, and he will
at some point, yes, and maybe his Tom Brady.
Speaker 5: He's going to keep doing this into his forties.
Speaker 7: Like I don't know when I watched Crosby play, like physically,
he doesn't look a whole lot different than he ever did.
He may have lost a quarter of a step, but
it's not much of one, and every other facet of
the game is still there.
Speaker 5: You mentioned the defensive stuff.
Speaker 7: I think what happened the Penguins were such of a
one line team for most of the season, as Crosby
and Brian Russell, riccard Kel all three we'll get to
the other two. All three had great seasons, but I
think that line felt so much pressure to score at
all times for the Penguins that they probably cheated a
little bit on the defensive end more than they normally
would have because Crosby and Roster a good defensive players.
Raquel's not bad, but those guys cheated some because they
knew nobody else was going to provide any offense. But
sid is to me, he's still one of the ten
best players in the game, and you can rank him
wherever you want, but he's a marvel at his age
to be doing what he's doing. I really think he's
still going to be a point per game player for
at least a couple of more years.
Speaker 2: Brian Rust, he put up very nice scoring this year,
sixty four points in seventy one games, excellent peripheral stats
like blocks, hits, and shots. He missed some games early
in the season due to what I believe is a
knee injury, but he recovered nicely. He was pinned to
Crosby and Raquel. To your point about that line, the
Crosby Raquel Rust line was of one of the most
common lines in the NHL last year, and Rust was
fourth in minutes on the power play despite missing eleven games,
so he was out there a lot. The advanced stats
on defense you talked about how they're cheating a little bit,
they were not great. The Crosby's line was remarkably outscored
fifty one point four percent to forty eight point six percent,
so only forty eight point six percent of the goals
at five on five came from his side when he
was on the ice. Fifty one lines in the NHL
who skated at least two hundred and fifty minutes together,
this line was dead last in terms of goals against
per sixty. It was rough when they're out there. Like
you said, I think it makes sense that if they
were really pushing on the offensive end, that maybe some
things didn't go wrong. So anyway, Brian Rust, he talked
about no move clause. Some of that he The no
move clause for him disappears next year, and it looks
like the contract's relative friendly. Do you think Rust could
be moving in the future. Do you expect his performance
to remain somewhat similar to what it was this year?
Speaker 7: Real quick, on the last point that you made about
that line. Overall, I do have to throw out there
that the Penguins goaltending was horrendous this season, and that
top line was on the ice quite a bit. With
Eric Carlson, who was so bad defensively this season, I
don't even have words for what I saw from him.
So I do need to mention that. As for Rust,
one of my favorite players on the team. He's thirty two,
I believe now he literally keeps getting better every year.
Speaker 5: I think just turned thirty three. Maybe he's such of
a good player.
Speaker 7: So long as that he's in Pittsburgh, he will be
on Sidney Crosby's line, because that is Crosby's favorite line mate.
And after losing Jake Gonsel, they're not going to put
Brian Ross anywhere else in the lineup. Sid loves playing
with him, so that gives you, I think, some assurance
moving forward. I don't think they'll trade Ross this season.
Anything is possible. Of course, when you're right on July first,
that no trade clause lifts. I promise you there are
teams that want him. I know for a fact last
season the Columbus Blue Jackets called the Penguins and inquired
about him. Makes sense, right, a talented young team, why
wouldn't you want a veteran like him who's been a
big game player. It makes all the sense in the world.
But when if Gutni Malkin retires after this season, and
I think he will, Brian Russ is probably going to
have an a on a sweater and he's the kind
of guy they just want around young players moving forward.
So could they trade him? Sure, it's possible if somebody
really blew them away with an offer, But I think
ultimately they'd love to keep him moving forward. They think
the world of him.
Speaker 2: And we mentioned Ricard Brikel the third element on that.
He was surprised to me in that he was second
on the team in points and he was most in goals.
So Raquel had himself a very nice seasons mentioned with
crossing most of the time, the seventh most time on
five minutes of any line in the NHL.
Speaker 3: They were.
Speaker 2: Raquel had some positive years as a young player on
those last versions of the Perry gets locked ducks and
then some foul periods. Arguably the best stretch of his career, though,
has come in the last three years, the full ones
he's had with the Penguin since he got traded over there.
What do you expect for Ricard Raquel's thirty two year
old season next year.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, He's just a talented hockey player. A guy can
really shoot the pocket. That's what you notice with him.
And he's another one. When he came to Pittsburgh, Like
I said, Crosby loves playing with Rust. There would be
the occasional game when Crosby would play with Raquel, and
I know that the analytics were off the charts when
those two were together. They're really good together, and it
took the Penguins a while to warm to the idea
of playing those two together, and then they realized it worked.
They decided to load up on one line, and the
beauty of Raquell is he is perfectly comfortable playing on
the left or right side, and he plays on the
left wing on that line. A lot of guys say
they can play the left or the right, but they
really can't. They could really only play one. Raquel's not
one of those guys. He gives you that versatility. He'll
be good again. Is he gonna score thirty four goals
again or whatever it was? I'm not so sure about that.
That's probably the peak season for him. If you're expecting
that again, I would expect twenty five plus for sure. Boy,
I don't know if he's going to pull that off again.
And I do think if the Penguins do move somebody
next season, if they are still in cell mode, which
is certainly possible, I'm not sure how good they'll be
next year. Raquel might be a guy who would be
a candidate. He was available at the trade deadline this
past March, but or February rather, but only for a
particular price, and basically you were going to have to
give up a top tier prospect and a first round
pick to get him, and maybe something else, which was
Kyle Dubas's way, I say, and I'm really not trading
him unless you're going to do something stupid, then I'll
trade him. But moving forward, is it possible that he
could go. I think he'd be more likely to go
than Russ put it that way. So something to keep
in mind. He'll be good next year. He's a really
good player. He'll probably play again with Crosby. But if
someone is to be traded during the season, it wouldn't
shock me if it were him.
Speaker 2: If Guinea Malkin, we're getting to him now and and
you already mentioned this might be his last year coming
up in terms of where contracts are and things in gosh,
his advanced stats and his surface stats were slipping a
bit last year. He rated out someone in the middle
of the road in terms of advanced stats on the team.
Even strength defense was not good. Actually, the only guy
who had a greater negative on even strength defense was
Brian Rust and Eric Carlson actually tied Malcoln for what
those stats are worth. Now, he did suffer injuries again
this past year. In the past, seems like Malcolm's either
great or he's hurt. Those are the two modes of
a Guinea malclin this year. He did suffer some injuries again,
missed a lot of multiple short stretches for ailments. I
don't know what does one expect from Guinea Malcoln this
coming year. Is you going to have a David Ortiz
coded to the career or is this just going downhill
at this point?
Speaker 7: I think it's probably going downhill. He'll be thirty nine
in July. It was funny with this season. There were
some nights when we'd be sitting there in the press
box and be like, yeah, he looks like Gino tonight.
This is like the Gino of old. He kind of
looks like the way a Hall of Famer's supposed to
look when he's almost forty. Like you still see flashes
of it, right, and they'll still put up some OK numbers,
But he's not the same. He's really lost a step,
or more than a step. It's Gino in his prime
would just escape to dangle through everyone through the neutral
zone and just be a one man breakout. He's not
that guy anymore. And the biggest thing I see with
Gino his shot is not what it was. His goal
scoring has really started to plummet. He used to stand
in that right wing circle and fire one timers. Doesn't
really have that shot anymore, and you saw that with
the goal scoring total starting to drop really the last
couple of years. Next season, could he put up twenty
goals and fifty points. Yeah, maybe something like that. But
if you're expecting a Geno Malkin point per game pacer,
now he's not that guy. And in fact, they didn't
even use him on the top power play in the
second half of the Easton, which we've never seen before
in Pittsburgh. But quite honestly, the power play was better
without him. So I could be wrong when I say
it's his final season, but he's going into the last
year of his contract, and he doesn't strike me as
the kind of guy who wants to embarrass himself playing
in his forties when he can't really play anymore. He's
in the Hall of Fame, he knows it. He's got
three rings. I have to think this is probably the
end for him.
Speaker 4: It sure look like it to me from what I
saw from Gino. Yeah, let's move on to some of
the youth. Maybe some room for optimism here. We're going
to give you a points pick on between Tommy Novak
and Ruckham McGroarty. Novak's production took a big step back
this season from his previous two seasons in Nashville, where
he was a round a fifty nine point pace. He
was only at thirty this season, although his expected goals
for it looked good, he just wasn't converting. Then he
played two games for Pittsburgh before getting hurt after the trade. McGroarty,
the top prospect on this team, played his first professional season,
had an excellent college career eight NHL games this season,
so it wasn't a whole lot of sample size, had
a pretty strong year for the Baby Pens, and wilkes
Berry scran thirty nine points in sixty games. Between these two,
who do you think is can have a bigger role
and potentially more points next season.
Speaker 7: That's actually a great question. I would suggest that Rocker
McGroarty might have a bigger role in that I bet
he starts the season on Crosby's left wing, or at
least he sees a significant amount of time there, and
you're going to see him in a top penalty killing
role and probably in the second power play unit. But
I might pick Novak just for more points. I wouldn't
be shocked if he slides into the top six at times,
and if they even move Malkom to the left wing
on the second line and let Novac play center or
put Novak on Malkin's left wing, that would not shock me.
And the thing about Rutger and I really Rocky McGroarty.
He's going to be a terrific NHL player, and he's
improved so much since the Penguin's got him a year ago.
But I don't know if the goal scoring touch is
quite there at the NHL level, like everything else is there.
You can see it, but that might be the last
part of the game to come for him, whereas no fact,
like he's got talent you could see. I saw it
in two games before he got hurt. The skill level
was there. He's a really intriguing guy who just probably
needed a change of scenery. So oh guess he puts
up more points even if Burgordy might play in a
more prominent role.
Speaker 5: But very good question. I like that one. I could
go either way.
Speaker 3: Love it, Yeah, I love the context. Thank you. Another
guy that's interesting. Billy coiven In.
Speaker 4: Philly Coivenen led the Wilkesbury Wilkesbury scrand Penguins and points,
earned a call up and put up points at the
end of the year. Seven assists in those eight games,
I had looked really good at times. And fifty six
points in sixty three games in the AHL is pretty
amazing production his in his limited sample size in the NHL,
he looked a little underwater in his expected goals against
the Penguins as a whole, weren't weren't defensively stout. So
I'm not sure you can read too much into that.
What do you think about coaven in next year? What
kind of role in production might he have?
Speaker 5: I like him a lot.
Speaker 7: In fact, if you want to throw him into the
who has more points McGroarty or Novacker coyn and I
might pick I was that impressed with him. The Penguins
are that impressed with him. I would guess you will
probably see him on the second line to start next season,
and you're going to see him on the top power play.
The Penguins out of practice late in the season in
Dallas and they were tinkering with the power play. They
just brought coyvan it up and they put him on
a drill in the power play. Bang Crosby set him
up for a goal immediately. Next Yearal Crosby set him
up again for a goal immediately, and I'm watching and
it was clear to everybody whoa this guy just has
an incredible feel for the power play. Some guys, I
don't call him a power play specialist because that suggests
that he's not good even strength, which I don't think
is true. But he has a real knack where I
think playing the bumper on the power play. And you
might not see him score a ton of goals in
the NHL level. I think he can be probably a
twenty goal scorer, probably, but he's a gifted playmaker, Like
that's the single biggest thing with him, the way he
sees the ice, the way he can pass the puck.
He's going to be a twenty goal guy that maybe
puts up sixty five seventy points just because of the
way he can pass the puck. So I don't think
he's going to be a star at the NHL level,
but I think he's your classic talented middle six winger
who was really going to help on the power play.
Speaker 5: So he's he's a really intriguing kid.
Speaker 3: Awesome.
Speaker 4: I love to hear it, Let's move over to the
blue line. And I know you said you're at a
loss for words with Eric Carlson defensive play, but we're
gonna we're going to try to find some words to
give this a little context. Despite the improvement of the
Penguins of power play to six in the league, Carlson
had two fewer power play points due to reduction in
his power play time on ice by a minute. He
again managed to play all eighty two games, but could
not get anywhere close to the production that he had
when he was in San Jose back to back mid
fifty ish point pace seasons in Pittsburgh after the one
hundred and one point season, I don't think anyone really
expected him to repeat that, but being pretty far off
the pace was I'll admit disappointing point of effort and metrics.
He was third percentile for defense in the league according
to Evolving Hockey, and ninety fifth percentile for offense. You
also mentioned you wouldn't be surprised if he decided to
move or they moved him. Do you think he will
end the season in Pittsburgh and what do you think
we can expect from him if he does stick around.
Speaker 7: I think there's a real chance Kyle Doubis trades him
this summer. I've talked with people around the league, and
his cap hit is ten million. It's actually eleven and
a half million, but the Penguins are handling ten million
of it. And people around the league have told me,
if the Penguins are willing to retain maybe two and
a half million, somebody would take him at a seven
and a half million dollar cap hit for his final
two years on his contract.
Speaker 5: Don't be shocked if that happens. If he does stay
in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 7: You still see the brilliance five on five offensively at
times with him, the way he can see the ice
in the passes that he makes, like he's just different
than other players. He's such a genius with the pucket times,
but he was terrible in the power play. Let's put
it this way. The Penguins have two future Hall of
Fame defensemen and Carlson and Crystal Tang, and the power
play was much better with Mac Grizzlick quarterbacking it, which
is amazing to me. But it was, I mean, it
absolutely was. Carlson has never figured out what to do
on the power play with Crosby, and primarily because he
won't shoot the puck. He just refuses. Even when he shoots,
it's a shot pass every single time. Is really easy
to read on the powerplay. So there's still some brilliance
there five on five. Offensively, he'll still put up some points.
But if you're worried about defensive metrics at all or
defensive play, like when you're getting Eric Carlson, you're not
getting a shut down defenseman. He was just abysmal. And
if there were times in the press box he would
make mistakes. I would turn around and look at Kyle Dubas,
and Dubas would just have like his hand on his
forehead like that, you could tell he was thinking, like Eric,
what the hell are you doing? It's just and maybe
with a new coach and we don't know who it'll
be yet, maybe that will help.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I know he added a few of white hairs to
Mike Sullivan's head.
Speaker 2: Oh man, So let's talk about Matt Grizzlick. I know
you was sorely missed in Boston. We interviewed your colleague
flu Tou Schinzawa a couple of weeks ago, and he
had good things to say about Boston's opinion of Grizzly
and how they're missing him. He gave Pittsburgh a solid
eighty two games of performance at half a point per game.
He was top five on the team in power play
time on ice, he was tied for fourth in that metric,
and again recalling they had a very good power play
this team. That said, at five on five, the team's
offensive defense were each slightly worse with him on the
ice than not in terms of advanced metrics. Maybe that's
because of the situations he was deployed in. You'll have
to tell me that. That was surprising me because I
thought he was He was somewhat positive, but definitely I
don't know what to make of Grizzlick's first year and
what will be going forward. What do you expect his
role to be in in what kind of performance you expecting.
Speaker 7: I don't know that'll be back. He's a free agent
and they might bring him back. I thought he was fine.
He was good to the power play really good. And
the thing about Grizzlick when he played with Eric Carlson,
they were actually pretty good together. I felt like they
brought out the best in one another, and for reasons
that I still don't understand, the Penguins in the last
couple of months chose to play Grizzlick with Crystal Tang
bad idea. They were horrible together. Grizlick was not good
in his own zone. I wouldn't say he was a
problem to me. He's just an undersized guy. Against certain teams,
he was not a good matchup. And the Penguins were
such of a bad defensive team, and their goaltending was
also so bad.
Speaker 5: It's hard to gauge one in the other.
Speaker 7: Was the goaltending that bad, or maybe the defense in
front of them was so bad that you have to
consider that, or maybe the defense in front of them
really was that bad. Yeah, they were both bad, so
it's hard to gauge. So Grizzlick he was okay. He
was better in the offensive zone. He doesn't give you
any goal scoring, but his ability to distribute the puck
is really good. And I know the Penguins big guys
up front like being on the ice with him, so
he'll put up some assists. He will be good on
the power play. I didn't realize how good he was
at but he just makes good, smart decisions with the
puck on the power play. It really worked efficiently with
him on it. Somebody will pick him up if the
Penguins don't bring him back, and they may. I thought
the good outweighed the bad with him in general this season.
Speaker 2: Put it that way, and Sad's at point per game
was probably misstating it. He had thirty nine assists in
one goal, so he was half an assist per game
is what he was. But that speaks to what you
say about playmakers. So Chris Latank he played in seventy
four regular season games, and the bag on Chrys Latang
used to be he was he would be injury prone
or whatever. At least that's what I thought there for
a while. But fifth time in six years he's missed
under ten games in the season. That's pretty durable at
this point. I say that because I think for whatever
reason there, but the scoring is down thirty points in
those seventy four games, his worst scoring pace since two
thousand and twenty ten. Power play tom and has declined
ever since Carlson came in. But that was true last
season two. That wasn't bring new this year. He's got
three years remaining on that contract, which is going to
take him past age forty likely not something Kyle Dubas
is going to be looking for. But again, this is
one of those three Hall of famers left from the
glory days. What is changing in Latang's game in Could
he bounce back next year?
Speaker 5: He could?
Speaker 7: But I will say this, this was the first season
in watching Latang that I thought his skating really took
a step backward. And that's what he's always had more
than anything else. Just a marvelous skater, just a powerful,
brilliant skater.
Speaker 5: And he still skates okay.
Speaker 7: But you could see when he would go get the
puck behind the net and circle around the net, he
could always pull away from anybody. Doesn't quite do it anymore,
and I don't think he's adapting very well to that.
He's never been a cerebral player. He's just been a
guy who's just more talented than pretty much everybody else.
Don't really feel great about his offensive numbers moving forward.
He was never a great quarterback on the power play.
He was always okay at it, and he happened to
play with Crosby and and Phil Castle's worked fine, But
I don't know that his numbers will improve at this point.
Speaker 5: I doubt they will. And also, Chris is health.
Speaker 7: You're right, he's been durable, but again, he had surgery
to replace the fill a hole in his heart at
the very end of the season, and that's what caused
the two strokes that he had early in his career.
If they say everything's fine, he's going to make a
full recovery, you always worry about that with him. You're
thirty eight years old, you've had two strokes, he had
heart surgery, You've had a career threatening next surgery. You
always wonder if one of these injuries he's going to
hang him up. He's just one of those guys who's
a rinkrat. He loves the game so much he doesn't
want to leave. But I wouldn't be expecting huge numbers
for him, And in fact, I think he would be
better served to have a more diminished role. I think
if they would cut his ice time a little bit,
he could be more effective. But you don't want him
out there twenty five minutes a night anymore.
Speaker 4: Fifteen to some of the newer players. Owen Pickering is
the next guy we're going to talk about. He had
professional season, didn't put up many points in either the
AHL or NHL, but did pretty well defensively. Looking at
Evolving Hockey, his defensive metrics, his course he against was
top seventy fifth percentile, his expected goals against was above average,
not bad for your first taste of NHL action, and
he did have thirteen points in forty seven HL games.
Speaker 3: I don't know the points.
Speaker 4: They're necessarily going to be his thing. But what did
you see from Pickering and what do you think we
can expect from him moving forward?
Speaker 7: Yeah, he's never going to be a guy who generates
a ton of offense. But what I think he is
and this isn't a knock on him. When it's when
a guy's the first round pick, you always want him
to be a star, right, But I think he's going
to be a solid number four, number five defenseman. And
that's okay that I think that's just who he is.
He's a big, tall kid, he's got the long reach.
He's going to be a good penalty killer and just
a nice guy to have with an offensive minded partner.
Speaker 5: I think he's just one of those guys.
Speaker 7: If you're the Penguins and looking at defenseman, they've had
in the past. Like if he would turn out to
be a Marcus Petterson or Brian Dumolin, that would be great.
I think that's the hope, but I think that's probably
his There's just not a tremendously high skill level there.
But a great kid, really works hard. He'll be on
the team next year. He's absolutely going to be on
the opening night roster. Maybe he can be a second
pairing guy. Who knows, maybe he'll be more than that.
I just don't see a whole lot of ability with
the puck to make you think that he's going to
be any kind of an offensive driver at all. I
don't think he is, But I just think he projects as,
like I said, a nice number four or five stay
at home defenseman.
Speaker 3: I was even thinking of Paul Martin back in the day.
Speaker 5: You would take that he was a pretty darn good
hockey player.
Speaker 3: Played with those offensive defensemen really well.
Speaker 5: Yes he did.
Speaker 3: All right, let's sift over to the goalies. Yes, we
do have to talk about the goalies.
Speaker 4: Goalies ranked twenty sixth overall and expected goals against for
sixty according to Involving Hockey, and they conceded the thirtieth
ranked actual goals, So there if you're scoring at home
a little bit worse than expected. The Delkovich and Jari
we're carrying the load here. We saw a Novelllkovich played
thirty eight games and had a negative three point seven
four goals save above expected, and Jarry had thirty six games,
negative four point six overall. Neither one of them is
super inspiring. You got Jarry on year three of a
five year deal five point three seven five difficult year
for him. He was hurly early in the season, then
later he passed through waivers HL time got called back
up forty seven percent quality star rate. Basically a coin flip.
What was going to happen there? Nadal Kovich last year
of a two year deal two and a half million.
He did split some starts with blum Quist while Jari
was injured. Blomquiz certainly seems potentially a goalie of the
future here or they have some other options as well.
What do you think about the goalie situation going forward?
Is their faith in Jari? What are they going to
do here?
Speaker 5: It's not good.
Speaker 7: They'll trade Jari this summer if anybody wants him. He
got sent to Wilkes Perry twice during the season, which
is all you need to know. To his credit, in
his last stint, which it went for about the last
five weeks of the season or so, he was very good.
His same percentage I think was nine ozho three, which
behind that defense. I assure you those weren't simple shots
from the point he was facing.
Speaker 5: He was good. He has talent.
Speaker 7: He's been to two All Star Games. The problem with
him is upstairs. It always has been to me. He's
the classic guy. If he could get a change of scenery,
he might really thrive somewhere. But I don't think the
Penguins have a whole lot of confidence in him anymore.
Speaker 5: Moving forward.
Speaker 7: I still think he's most likely to be their netminder
on opening night this season. I think that will be
the case. But I can't say he was good and
I can't say that they trust him. Nadakovich was really disappointing.
He was good the year before. He was a really
good backup option for them. He had a bad season.
They love him on a personal level, but he did
not play well at all. So both goalies really struggled.
Bloomquist is a kid who is going to be an
NHL goalie. I think he's a high floor, low ceiling
NHL future guy, probably more of a backup. But a
name to keep in mind about a year from now
is Sergei Miroshov, who is one of their best prospects.
He had a phenomenal season and both at the EHL
level and Wheeling and the HL level with Wilkesbury. In
all likelihood, he'll be the guy in Wilkesbury next season.
In the year after that, don't be shocked if the
net is his in Pittsburgh. He is an unbelievable athlete.
How he was available in the fourth round a couple
of years ago, I don't know. He is probably the
goalie the future in Pittsburgh though.
Speaker 4: Awesome, man, I'm glad you got there because if you hadn't,
I was going to ask you about Murshaw because that's.
Speaker 3: The sense that I got, was it.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, like you said, Jerry and Nadolkovich, bloom quiz
seems adequate at least for now. But yeah, in terms
of upside, if you wanted to pick the next starter
when hopefully the Pengles will be good again maybe in
two three years, and it's probably gonna be him. You
would endorse that, right, That's what they hope.
Speaker 7: And when you watch all the goalies play in training
camp and probably you just see his athleticisms a little different.
He's still a little raw. I think he just turned
twenty one, but they are hopeful about a year from
now that he will be merge as the guy. He
certainly has the highest ceiling of anyone in the organization,
no question.
Speaker 2: Awesome, Yes, indeed, thank you for this breakdown of the
Pittsburgh Penguins.
Speaker 5: Josh.
Speaker 2: How do people keep up with all the stuff you're
doing out there?
Speaker 7: That's my pleasure. I feel free to come to the
Athletic All the Penguins stuff is on there, and we've
got a coaching search going on that's gonna be wild.
I'm on my way to Sweden in a couple of
days to go to the World Championships for a week
to see Marc Andre Fleury play for the final time
with his old friend Sidney.
Speaker 5: Crosby for Team Canada.
Speaker 7: Told my bosses, come on, you got to send me
I can't pass up writing about that, and luckily they
agreed because they're very good about that kind of thing. So, yeah,
all kinds of coverage that will be coming. And the
Penguins aren't always good, but they're never boring. That's what
we always say, so that there will be something to
write about.
Speaker 2: Man, get you a boss that'll send you to Sweden
if you ask. That's some pretty good stuff.
Speaker 5: Send me to Stockholm.
Speaker 2: That is awesome, and nobody would miss your work there
at the New York Times, at the Athletic everybody, we
will all be keeping close tabs on that, because you're
the man when it comes to Pittsburgh Penguin coverage. Thanks
so much for coming on today, Josh, and have fun
in Sweden.
Speaker 5: You got it.
Speaker 7: Thanks, guys, will since then, that's good.
Speaker 1: Myers past off, Oh my goodness, long with a quick gram.
Speaker 2: Now it's your weekly goalie talk. But Kat Silverman, Kat's
instincts back.
Speaker 4: Again with Kat's Instincts with Kat Silverman of Ingold Mag,
we're talking Pittsburgh Penguin goalies, and we're gonna talk about
your lung Quist. Even though he did play a fair
number of NHL games this season, but he's twenty three
years old, sixty two hundred and three pounds. Drafted back
in twenty twenty, he split time HL and NHL this
past season. He did have some pretty solid numbers with
its Baryo Scranch Penguins the last couple of seasons actually,
and he had fifteen games in the NHL this season,
which were not great. The protection he was offered by
the Penguins was not great, but he drastically underperformed that actually,
so that wasn't too great either. At even strength on
the power on the penalty kill, he was actually quite
a bit better, a little bit more structure there, and
looking at hockey prospecting, he actually looks a lot like
Kapo Kakanen, who was replacement level not super great, but
maybe he has a little bit more upside than that.
Kat tell us your instincts about blown quists and where
you think his trajectory is going to go from here.
Speaker 8: I thought he looked really good in his AHL games.
I thought he looked reliable.
Speaker 3: I thought he did a.
Speaker 8: Really good job of staying facing the play. That is
something that when you see some of those slightly more
conservative positioning goaltenders, you can see them turning around to
watch the play going from side to side and behind them,
and he does a really good job of staying pretty
squared up to the center of the play, preventing some
of those cross ice passes from just absolutely demolishing him.
He didn't do super spectacularly with the big Penguins themselves,
the Pittsburgh Penguins, which is a little concerning, But the
Pittsburgh Penguins were not performing the way that we would
expect them to, so I think we can give him
a little bit of grace there. I think he still
looks like I would say, probably their best prospect. I
have been a fan of the philosophy that the Penguins
have had when it comes to their goaltending coaching and
their goaltending system in the past, but just looking at
the results this year because he underperformed, but Alexandalkovich and
Tristan Jari did not have a great year either, So
it was just a season of sadness for the goaltenders
in Pittsburgh in general. So I wonder if something maybe
needs to change there because things are going okay in Scranton.
Because I thought that Blomquist's most confident looking games were
in the AHL. He looked like when I saw some
of his games for WBS, I was like, this guy
should not be playing in the AHL. Then I saw
him playing in the NHL and I was like, I mean,
maybe he should be maybe he should be in the AHL,
And then he'd go back down and he'd look like
he was playing in the wrong league. So he was
right in between, and I'd love to see him take
that extra little step to get to where he needed
to be. I was a little disappointed that he didn't
hit Lucas Doshtall Dustin Wolf levels, but not everybody can,
so I think he's not worth writing off yet. But
I do think that Pittsburgh maybe needs to reevaluate what's
going on there.
Speaker 4: Indeed, and you were mentioning that Lumquist is probably their
top prospect, and not to disagree with you, but I
think Sergei Murshov would like a word about that.
Speaker 3: He's looking pretty good.
Speaker 4: Twenty one year old six two, one hundred and eighty
seven pounder twenty twenty two fourth round pick hunderneath theeen overall,
he did split time this season between the ECCHL and
the AHL. When he was in the HL, he was
looking pretty darn good there and ended up with a
pretty solid record of twelve and three and really good
save percentage nine thirteen two six four gaa first taste
of North American action. I think it's hard to argue
with the results there. Looking at his hockey prospecting, he's
at thirty, he's on that mid thirties percent chance of
being in NHL, or he doesn't have the best comps
in terms of that system. But there's an alex Lyon
comp here that might be reasonable. He certainly had his moments,
and he has looked really good at times, and he's
listed here as a replacement level goalie, and so maybe
that's his upside for MRSHEV. But what do your instincts
tell us about Murshav and where do you think he
fits in this pecking order in his trajectory.
Speaker 8: It's fun you bring him up that quickly like that,
because he is the reason that I say that Bonquist
is probably still their best prospect, and not just outright
their best prospect, because I think they looked similarly good
at the AHL level, which could say something about Mirshav
being the slightly better goaltender. They're pretty close in age.
Bonquist is a little older. He also had a little
more time facing slightly more challenging shots because they did
split the time in the AHL and then each of
them went off to a different league. One went down,
one went up. I think they play a really complimentary
style to one another. They don't look identical, which is
interesting to see that the Penguins still seemed to be
operating under this Grab a goalie from every style and
see what works best with our current team. Because Mirshav
definitely moves a lot more than Blankfist does. Blanquist is
a very positional based goaltender, likes to stay within the
blue paint, doesn't like to move himself around too much.
Mirshov really likes to keep himself fluid and moving, and
he looked pretty great. I don't want to discount Blanquist yet,
because he didn't underperform the two clear NHL goaltenders in
their system by enough for me to worry that he
is nowhere near ready. I think he did a good
job of holding his own behind a bad team. But
I do think that between Myrshov and Blankfusts, we're probably
going to figure out which one is the clear number
one within the next probably year.
Speaker 3: Honestly, Yeah, for sure, I really like him.
Speaker 4: He's definitely an up and comer, and we'll see how
it works out between those two.
Speaker 3: It is good to have I think.
Speaker 4: A little bit varying style the two, so we'll see
how that works for them. I want to ask you
about one more guy, Philip Larson, a little bit on
the older side, twenty six years old, sixty one hundred
ninety four pounds. He was drafted by the Red Wings
back in twenty sixteen. He came over to the AHL
after two excellent seasons in Sweden after kind of being
on loan there and then trying to work his way
back into a contract. But he was also with the
Wilkes Bary's Grand Penguins and had pretty great numbers nine
ten to s eight percentage to eight FOURJA and throughout
his career in the hockey prospecting model, he was looking
at a really low percentage chance of being a starter,
and as I said, as a bust in their system.
But I'm wondering if maybe he's resurrected his potential a
little bit. What do you think about Philip Larson.
Speaker 8: I didn't love watching him play, and I can't quite
put my finger on why. His reads were just a
little off and wonky at times. Yeah, I don't think
he's a bust. I do think that if it's taken
him this long to get his shot, we might almost
have reached like an Alex Lyon type situation, which is
not a bad thing at all. I do think that
there is nothing wrong with being a thirty year old
NHL rookie, which is probably what would happen if Philip
Larsan did end up reaching the NHL full time. But
I think that having at least someone who isn't dealing
with that sort of frantic desperation of being a twenty
one to twenty two year old goaltender who is really
just trying to get their shot with a team whose
NHL goaltenders are really struggling, and both technically, I think
both slots at the NHL level could be open for
Pittsburgh in the next year or two. Here he didn't
seem to have that same desperation that the other two did,
which isn't a bad thing to have within the system.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I thought.
Speaker 8: I watched some of his games, I watched some of
his clips of his saves, and I couldn't quite put
my finger on what it was that I didn't love
about his game, which might be why he spent so
long not getting his shot in North America after his
first tiny little stint right after Denver. It might just
be that he's got that sort of lethargic, stilent positioning
that just prevents coaches from being enamored with him. But
that might be also what Pittsburgh needs once again, looking
at how all of Pittsburgh's goaltenders play a drastically different
style from one another, I think he fits in with
that trifecta really nicely.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 8: They wrote down a little bit about him, and most
of it was just shrugs. I was like, Yeah, he's
a goalie. He's there.
Speaker 4: That's awesome. I love that evaluation emoji shrug. That's good.
So thanks for giving us your instincts on the Pittsburgh
Penguin goalies, Cat, you are welcome.
Speaker 2: Will be back right after this dig the Dynasty Day
or English Nation Victor. This is a system that is
not necessarily turned heads in the past, but there are
reinforcements here and it starts with our no brainer. Who
is it?
Speaker 3: No brainer?
Speaker 4: Is Rutger McGroarty fourteenth overall pick in twenty twenty two
by the Winnipeg Jets and was part of that trade
that went down, and so he's now part of the
Pittsburgh organization. Left shot center wing. This was his first
professional season. Part of the reason he wanted out of
Winnipeg was to get a little bit of professional NHL
time a little bit sooner, which he was able to do.
He did get eight games with the Penguins, three points overall,
he was His rampam charge shows that he was actually
pretty good defensively. He was able to hold his own
in terms of the expected goals against Coursey against. His
offensive generation wasn't great, but overall it wasn't completely underwater
as you might expect from a new player.
Speaker 3: In the league.
Speaker 4: But they ended up sending him down to the HL
anyways to get a little bit more experience. He ended
up with thirty nine points in sixty games did mcgroty
for the wilkes Bury Scranton Penguins. Not a bad first
professional season for the twenty mostly twenty one year old.
At the end of the season, looking at the FHL
player card to have mcgrody at seven point three to
four thirty four percent chance of being a seven. That's
pretty solid. Most of his points scoring is from assists,
he does have a seventieth percentile for shooting, fiftieth for hits,
and sixtieth for blocks, so overall his.
Speaker 3: Bash is just more average.
Speaker 4: But there is a little bit more broad category coverage
there than there are for some guys who just tend
to shoot more and don't do other things. So overall,
pretty solid first professional season for McGroarty, But let's hear
a little bit more about him from OURFHL scout.
Speaker 2: Rutger McGroarty and our scout James has piped in to
give us a little bit of information about him. Skating
a work in progress. Straight line speed is fine, but
the stride remains somewhat awkward. Passing and handling strong puck skills,
makes frequent plays in tight spaces. Good vision allows them
to find teammates, especially in the offensive zone. The shooting big,
powerful and accurate shot. His ability to find open eyes,
combined with his quick release, should provide plenty of goals.
The IQ high makes smart decisions under pressure, anticipates plays
both offensively and defensively, which make up for subpar skating.
The Ford checking is aggressive, uses size and anticipation to
pressure opponents and create turnovers. Defense responsible in his own end,
back checks and positions himself well, which leads to breaking
up opposition, passes, the biggest asset, very competitive, good offensive instincts,
the biggest concern skating, and so the top tier outcome here.
He thinks he's just going to be a middle six
player who could get time on special teams. Likely forty
to fifty point score with average Bash just falls in
that area. Stylistic comparable probably somebody who ended up a
little bit higher than that in real life, but stylistically
thinks Tjoshi might be something that Rutger would resemble. And
now our NHL ranking poll, our NHL Fantasy Tidy champion
Mason Black put out the poll of Rutger McGroarty versus
Saint Louis throw Now Jimmy Snugger Rud and Jimmy Snuggs
comes out big, seventy percent to thirty percent over Rutger mcgrarty.
Speaker 5: Victor.
Speaker 2: Is Snugger Ruod that much better than McGroarty.
Speaker 4: The word I would say, yes, I do, it's not
word a lot better. I think both of these guys
are pretty good. They're both US players back at the
NTDP together, so good comparison here. I think Snuggerud just
has a lot more offensive upside, I think is what
it comes down to. He famously went back for a
third season at the University of Minnesota captain them fifty
one points in forty games. He had gone up near
that level fifty points in forty games in his first season.
Last season he had a step back thirty four points
and thirty nine games, But it was good to see
him have a dominant NCAA season as a junior. You
would expect that, but then he stepped into the NHL.
Had four points in seven games for Saint Louis while
they were on that run to the playoffs, and in
the playoffs he was also pretty good, although I think
that Jim Montgomery had a little bit of an issue
with him sometimes being a little too offensively flamboyant. But
what can you say. The kids got skills and he's
trying to show him off. So four points in seven
games as they nearly knocked off the number one seed
Winni Big Jets and who made that insane comeback, but
pretty solid playoff performance. I think you gotta love Snuggie
here for the points. I think if you're in more
of a Banger's setup where it really rewards those perferles.
You may consider leaning a little bit more towards McGroarty,
but quite frankly, I think you should just stick with
the points up side. For what that you have with,
I think you're going to be missing too much in
terms of bash. So I really like Jimmy Snugrud. I
think he's got a ton of offense. I think he's
gonna fit in with that top six. He's going to
push his way to the top of what's looking like
a really solid Saint Louis team for years to come.
They got a lot of really good young pieces. They
got a couple older guys, but they got some really
good young pieces, and so I'm definitely taking snuggrud. If
you look at the Pinach League between the two, it
definitely leans snugrued. If you're looking at the hockey prospecting
between the two, McGroarty actually finished this last season or
this season with a little bit more of a star
potential thirty one percent. Snugrued nineteen percent. Part of that though,
even though his equivalency was higher. The model just doesn't
reward you if you're in the same league and don't
increase it by just an insane amount, which he did
increase it, but maybe not by the insane the insanity
that it required.
Speaker 3: Looking a little.
Speaker 4: Bit more leaning towards mcgrarty. Looking at McGroarty and some
other reasonable comps, I think Tamash Hurtle is someone who
he probably looks a lot alike, but there's definitely a
little bit more perperal coverage there. The scoring upside I
think is reasonable. It's not point per game, although I
think Hurdle could touch that and McGroarty probably could, but
most likely he's going to be in that sixty five
to seventy five point range where Hurdle has mostly lived.
Looking at the top down hockey model, you've got McGroarty
at a fifteen percent chance of being start eighty percent
chance of being an nhller. So that's pretty decent for
this model and overall solid player, and Pittsburgh definitely needs
to start leaning on their vets. Although who knows what
the new team infrastructure, what's going to happen, if they're
going to bring in some younger players or tear it down.
I don't think it's going to be interesting to see.
Mcgroty should be part of that though Jesse all Right.
Speaker 2: Next up, who is our need to know prospect.
Speaker 4: Need to know is Villy Coiven in twenty twenty one
fifty first overall pick, six foote hundred and seventywo pounds
left shot, left wing center, part of the return in
the Jake Getzl trade.
Speaker 3: He led the AHL this past season.
Speaker 4: For the wilkes Bury scrant And Penguins and points and
finished the year on the top line and top power play.
Speaker 3: In Pittsburgh, which is pretty solid he has.
Speaker 4: He had eight NHL games, seven assists, fifty six points
and sixty three AHL games, including two assists in the playoffs,
so overall pretty solid season. This was his first real
taste of consistent AHL action. Last season he was in
the LIGA, putting up nearly a point per game.
Speaker 3: This season.
Speaker 4: Before that he split it between the LEAGUA and the AHL,
and so this was his first consistent time. Good to
get all that time in one league. Looking at his
rampam chart, his expected goals against was not great in
the NHL, even though he did have some decent production.
It looks to me like the expected numbers weren't really
aligned with the actual goals for. He even maybe expected
a little bit more or we should have expected more
from him. Right now, my rankings is pretty pessimistic on him.
I have him at a three point five h fifty
percent chance of being a three. That's partly because he's
a bit on the older side and he's just now
getting his break in. Although he's going to be twenty
two this summer, I think there's still time. But he
just hasn't shown a lot of high end production at
any league. But we have seen a really strong HL
season from him, so maybe it's time to reevaluate. We're
gonna let our FHL scout help us figure that out.
Speaker 2: Just and on vill Akivenan, here's what James has to say.
He's a smooth skater, good on his edges, not exactly fast,
but can navigate tight spaces. Highly skilled with the puck,
creates scoring opportunities with accurate passing and puck handling. The shooting,
he has a decent shot and can score when given space.
IQ high. IQ reads the game well, anticipates plays before
they develop for checking. Not so much a physical player,
but he uses his smarts to apply pressure and force turnovers.
Defense needs work defensively, will backcheck and play his position
though the best asset then definitely play making in hockey
IQ biggest concern, not the biggest or strongest, so interested
to see how his game transfers to the NHL again
puts him down in a Tier three type range forty
plus point player in the right situation with his average bash. Stylistically,
he compares him to Nikolai Eilers, who's a whole lot
better than that. But maybe in terms of game that's
where James sees him falling out and Mason Black the
NHL Rank Kings poll goes out. Gavin Brindley is the
competition for vill A coven In, and round two, the
Penguins go down again because Brindley wins fifty three to
forty seven percent. Victor, is that your decision too?
Speaker 3: Oh? This is so hard.
Speaker 4: I really want to love Gavin brindle even though he's
a little guy. But he's so feisty, he so skilled.
He did have his first taste of professional hockey this season,
which as he was twenty back in October, so a
young twenty year old in a professional league. Seventeen points
and fifty two games not super great.
Speaker 3: At this point, I think.
Speaker 4: I probably would lead Lean coven in actually because of
his strong HL production and he doesn't really have the
size or other limitations. So as much as I like Brinley,
I'm just not sure that's all going to translate to
the professional ranks. So I think that's a tough decision,
but I'm gonna go coaven In here. Looking at the
PNH league between the two, it definitely leads coven In,
which is at sixty. For Brinley, it's down in the
twenties based on his AHL season. Looking at the hockey
prospecting between the two, coven In is at three percent
or graduated at three percent, Britley at six percent. So
lean's a little big Brindley, but I'm still not sure
that he can bring that number up to the when
he's in the NHL. Looking at some other comps for
coiven In, I think Radim Verbada is probably a decent one.
He's more of an average producer, definitely had some seasons
where he's a little bit more relevant than others, and
I think coaven In could be that in the right
deployment in situation. Looking at the top down hockey model,
you have coven In at ten percent chance of being
a star and seventy nine percent chance of being in
NHL or so pretty optimistic in terms of the NHL.
Speaker 3: A probability there. But that's it for Billy coven in Jesse.
Speaker 2: And they keep your eye on prospect whose name I
am very glad to have. You have to say out loud.
Speaker 3: First, Oh, come on, MLP and the EMI is not
that hard. Come on, man, I think we all get
joy out of hearing you pronounce these names. Jesse.
Speaker 2: I hope it's yeah. I'm here to spark joy, not
convince you of ignorance.
Speaker 3: But you do both so great.
Speaker 5: You win me.
Speaker 2: You wounded me, Victor. Let's hear about to keep your
eye on prospect.
Speaker 4: So will pe a Emmy twenty twenty three to ninety
first overall pick six and seventy six shot seventy six
pounds left shot d This season was his first coming
over from the LIGA, where he had six points and
thirty eight games last season, and he popped off sixty
points in sixty games for the Kingston Frontnecks of the OHL.
I know our good buddy Pete Harlang mentioned him back
in our days when we were drafting for the World
Junior Championship, and I really hadn't heard too much of
this guy, and wow, he really turned some heads there.
He ended up with three points in six games and
looked really solid doing it as the Finns had a
really strong showing. And yeah, overall the OHL looking at
Mitch Brown's tracking data fifty seven overall, fifty five transition,
forty nine for defense, so it doesn't have the biggest
offensive numbers, but was able to put up some pretty
decent points point per game. His defense just about average too.
In terms of his exits were good, some of his
entries were good, but some of his transition data not great.
His course he against wasn't great, but he does do
some things really well. He does create some advantages. He
does have some good boards battle, the physicality, the passing,
the shooting's all pretty good. Some of the puck handling
not so good. And so yeah, just a little bit
of concerns maybe with some translatability, but overall really solid prospect.
Tell us a little bit more from our HL scout, Jesse.
Speaker 2: James says of n penn Niemi that he's a strong,
smooth skater, solid gap control, good transitions, moves the puck
efficiently and makes smart simple plays good facilitator, especially in transition.
He has a heavy shot, he gets to the goal,
creates rebounds and scoring chances of hockey. IQ seems to
keep composure under pressure and makes the correct decisions under stress.
Defense Strong uses his size and IQ to disrupt plays
strong around his own goal too, rarely caught out a
position the best asset then the defensive awareness and breakout passing.
The biggest concern the ceiling. Probably limited offensively in the
National Hockey League. So a tier three player twenty to
thirty point player with average bash stylistic comparable Jonas Brodean.
So James not that enthused here. Let's see what the
people have to say. Mason Black, the NHL rankking goes
a meal Piani Nami versus Cameron Allen, and finally the
Pens get a win because Cam Allen goes down Pianni
namy of sixty four to thirty six percent. What do
you say, Victor?
Speaker 4: Oh definitely, and I loved hearing you say it, so
thank you.
Speaker 2: What's that close?
Speaker 3: What's like? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, if nothing else, you can mimic how other people
say it. So that's yeah, Yeah, That's all I'm trying
to do.
Speaker 5: Here.
Speaker 2: That's I'm hanging on for dear life.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting. I definitely would take pnemy here Cam Allen.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: It's so interesting because I remember back in that twenty
twenty three draft we were talking about early in the
season talking about Cam Allen and how he's this right
shot defenseman. He's got all the physical tools, two way,
looks really solid, probably has more offense, and it just
never happened with him. He ended up that season with
twenty five points in sixty two games, then he had
a little bit of an injury riddled season the following
year nine points and twenty five games, and this season
he's also been.
Speaker 3: Under a point per game.
Speaker 4: And you would think as a now twenty year old
that he would be able to be a little bit
more dominant, but it just hasn't really happened. He ended
up falling all the way to the fifth round of
the Capitals, and so this kinded up looking like a
really smart pick for the Capitals as they've been drafting
really well lately. So I'm not riding off Cam Allen
by any means, but I would definitely take MLP and
EM here. I think he's got a little bit more upside.
Speaker 3: I think he's shown a.
Speaker 4: Little bit more at the level that he's been at,
and I'm a little bit more confident in his ability
to translate that at least to fantasy, So I'm definitely
taking him so far. The Hockey Prospect team between the
two is pretty pessimistic on both P Andmy just one
percent chance of being a star, Cam Allen three percent,
both under forty percent or forty percent or under as
NHLer probability.
Speaker 3: Looking at P and em me.
Speaker 4: In terms of his other comps, there aren't really a
whole lot of good ones. Ron Hainsey is probably the
best one, which looks like an average producer. He definitely
wasn't Nhller, but wasn't super exciting in terms of fantasy,
and the pnhile between the two is pretty similar with
a slight not to P andm ME, but his trajectory
is upward trending, whereas Cam Allens looked like a bit
of a U and so that's not as exciting. The
top down hockey model with j Fresh zero percent chance
of being a star, one percent chance of being an
NHL Air five hundred and nineteenth in the data set
is pretty awful. It doesn't have a whole lot of
optimism there, so it seems unlikely to be a star,
but you never know. And sometimes these guys that come
from the finished league, as we heard in the past,
that there really isn't a whole lot of scoring. There
can be wide variability in terms of the data. When
you just have a few points one way or the
other can really skew the data. So maybe there's still
more to come here. We'll have to see. Pittsburgh could
certainly use it. And that's it for this dig. If
you're a patron, you can listen to my top ten
prospect recap that we'll start after the draft, and if
you're doing any scouting, you can shoot me a DM
on Twitter, discord, or email us.
Speaker 2: We will be right back to both of.
Speaker 6: Hey, everybody appreciates everybody listening to this yere episode. And
I I would recommend that if you're into fantasy hockey,
you go to fantracks dot com if you haven't already.
They got the most settings, they got the most options.
You want to score with Fenwick like we do, sometimes
you can do it. You want to use penalty minutes,
you want to use penalty minutes that are just minor penalties.
You want to have them count negatively instead of positively.
Speaker 2: Everything that you could want in terms of scoring is
probably there, and they've been known to add categories if
people ask them very politely sometimes. And you can also
get articles and different content over there. Fhl's's team, and
I never want to neglect the folks who help us out.
The commissioner team of Tim, Simon, Ryan and Crafts are
prepping' are tidy legs. They're already hard at work. They're
like the keepler elves in the tree getting next year's
tidy leagues together and starting to look at that. If
you were in the tidy league last year, I bet
you those already reaching out to you saying you're coming back.
You sure you're coming back, because we want to get
things set up here. Tony is our lead scout, and
you heard our scouting reports on this episode of many
others and Tony, thank goodness for him trying to get
guys in line, guys and gals scouting different hockey prospects
and giving the reports so that we can present them
here in the Dynasty Dig. Mike, Steven and Matt help
with the show prep for these episodes. They're doing great
work in terms of getting the you know, some of
the basic stats, pulled some of the fleshing out of
these episodes to really take a little bit of the
burden off Victor and I to get all thirty two
of these out. Brandon helps with the website, prospect ranks
and visualizations, and we thank him for all of that.
If you've got skills you'd like to lend the show,
we'd love to have you on the team. Victor would
love to hear from me on the discord, on email
or on social media. We also are brought to you
by the Dauber Hockey and Dauber Prospects family. Victor is
an editor for DAB prospect and you can see some
of his work over there. I do a solo show
called Dynasty Sports Life. I talk about four different dynasty
sports there, basketball, baseball, football, and hockey. Sometimes I do
crossover episodes that help hockey players just like they do others.
You might find yourself a recent episode that has to
do with the history of fantasy sports, which touches on hockey,
but hockey is actually one of the oldest fantasy sports.
But a little bit of an interview with an author
who primarily is baseball and football related, But fantasy is
fantasy as far as I'm concerned. Social media, follow on
x Victor Nuno twelve or fan Hockey Life to see
when our new episodes go up and see some of
Victor's scouting reports that go in there once in a
while with.
Speaker 3: Some nice video.
Speaker 2: Or you can follow us on Blue Sky, Jesse Severe
or the One Victor with the number one representing the
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We thank you for listening to this year episode, this preview,
and until next time, keep living that fantasy hockey like