HR 1 - Malkin, Bucco Round Up, Pierre McGuire

Tom in for Mark. Will the Pens bring back Geno? The Bucco Round Up. Pierre McGuire from Sweden.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Penguins getting bounced by the Flyers really still sucks.
You got that bad taste in your mouth, but that
taste is starting to get washed out a little bit
because the Carolina Hurricanes put the Philadelphia Flyers in an
O two hole last night, beating the Flyers in overtime,
falling down to nothing to Philly early in that game,

(00:25):
clawing their way back, and then as I said, disposing
of those Flyers in ot so Carolina up to oh
with that series going back to Philly. The captain of
the Hurricanes, of course, Jordan's stall. He's got Penguins DNA
just coursing through his body. So go, Hurricanes go. The
big debate in the Penguins world now though that they

(00:47):
are bounced, is what does the team do with Efgeni
Malkin And that's not going away anytime soon. That will
continue to rage on until something is reached as far
as the decision is concerned. Ashio saying earlier today that
if Guinny Malkins camp is going to reach out at
some point soon to schedule when the talks with Kyle

(01:07):
Dubis will take place, I think we all kind of
see where this is headed, right, he's gonna be a
penguin again. But is that the right decision? That is
very fertile ground for debate. I think there is pros
and cons to both sides of the arguments. So let's
just let's make that pros and cons list right now
off the top of our head's real click. I'll draw

(01:28):
a little, you know, a little t kind of shape
on my paper here. I'll put pros on the left
and cons on the right. Pros, he's a point per
game player. But also that's a pro with kind of
a shakiness to how I wrote it down on the paper.
I don't really believe it that much because although he
was a point per game player last year, do you
think that carries over the next year guaranteed? Like he

(01:51):
ain't sid he ain't done that every year of his
career and shown that consistency. So he gets another year older,
he's a point per game player again. But I think
you put that in the pro column. He's a point
per game player. He's a freaking legend. I mean, the
number three greatest Penguin of all time, without any question
that Jersey's going right up in the rafters one day.

(02:13):
They don't win the three Cups without if Gennymuck and
being a part of this team. I mean that's especially
the case in two thousand and nine as he won
the Consmith Trophy. So I mean that is probably the
biggest pro that you have going for you. But that
has literally nothing to do with the current product on
the ice. That is all nostalgia driven, and that's okay
to be in it for the nostalgia in it to

(02:35):
see Gino and Tanger and Crosby just continue to play
and stack onto that record in North American sports with
the longest tenured trio together. It's twenty years now, it's
twenty one and twenty two and twenty three. You know what,
if there are ever players that end up getting the
benefit of the doubt or clumsy way to phrase that,

(02:56):
if there is ever any player that deserves that kind
of treatment, it's someone that has the resume of n
f Guinny Malkin right, never left Pittsburgh, three time Cup champion,
going into the Hall of Fame one day, won the
Heart Trophy, won the Art Ross like Consmith. He's done
it all pretty much in this great National Hockey League.

(03:17):
So that's a guy that's kind of earned this, But
you can still not be okay with that. You can
recognize that, Okay, he's earned it. If you want to
go nostalgia driven with your decision, at least it's for
the right person, you know. At least it's not like
for Pekka. Remember they built a peca Rene statue in Nashville, Like,

(03:37):
what the hell is that like? At least not for
somebody like that, right who hasn't won a damn thing. Okay,
it's deserving the player that you're treating this way. It's
not a stretch, it's not a reach for a team
to act this way. For this he's a legitimate legend.
But you can also see that that sets the logo
back a little bit. You know, he can't completely turn

(03:58):
that page if you keep going with Gino and the
tang over and over again. Another pro I'll indulge the
mentorship side of things. Him and Chinikov really seem to
hit it off. He would also be a nice Russian
in the room for Miroshov. I know, completely different positions.

(04:21):
He's a goaltender, but I'm just saying, you know, the
Russian boys go out to dinner a couple of times
throughout the season. He shows him the ropes a little, but
he's a good sounding board. I buy the mentorship aspect too.
So that's some pros that I can think of. Here's
some cons. He's old, he's slow. He absolutely kills the

(04:44):
power play, I mean kills the power play. And I
think that's the thing that goes to the very top
of the conso list, at least for me, because what
Mark says about how he's gonna block somebody, it's all true.
But I think with him moving to wing, you really
avoid him blocking Kindle and then the other wings that
are coming up in the system of the M'groarty's right,

(05:06):
you can splash them in the lineup without Geno quote
unquote blocking them. But where the blockade happens is on
that first power play, and he is a black hole
when it comes to that first power play. Tim gave
you the stat yesterday when he was hosting four goals
on the power play between the last two years. It's
with Guinny Malkin, and quite frankly, I know he was

(05:27):
a point per game player this year. He was eating
apples like crazy. Not enough goals from off Guinny Malkin
funny enough leading goal scorer in the playoff series against
the Flyers, not enough goals from Gino in the regular season.
That's especially true when it comes to the power play.
If we could fast forward to October and Gino is

(05:50):
second line wing and second unit power play, maybe just
off the power play completely, I would really have very
little reservations with bring him back, because I want to
serve some of that nostalgia too. You know, I love
the Penguins. I love Sidney Crosby, f Genny Maukin, and
Crystal Tang. As a sports fan in this city, that's

(06:12):
like my identity. I've known nothing but that basically my
entire life. There's twelve years I've been on this earth
that that trio hasn't been playing in a Pittsburgh Penguin uniform.
It's part of who I am as far as an
identity with this city sports teams, with that sports team
in general, is though big three, that trio. So I'd

(06:32):
like to serve that. I like to see them keep going,
but it also has to give a little bit when
it comes to the direction of the team moving forward,
and you can't completely turn that page, but you gotta
move on from him on power Play one. You gotta
put Kindle up there. I could see Mark's face right

(06:53):
now yelling at me for talking about something that's just
not gonna happen. Because it's not gonna happen. He's gonna
be on power Play, won malklin Is. You know, he'll
block Chinnikov, He'll block Kindle, and the Penguin's power play
will suffer because of that. And I know all y'all
out there are gonna say, well, look at the power
play this year. It was pretty good, and Malcolm's on

(07:15):
that first unit. You don't know what you're talking about.
You're an idiot. Malcolm's greatest. You guys know deep down though,
that that's not true. You saw what you saw in
the playoff game, zuh in the playoff series, you saw
how it looked against the Flyers. Not good. And I'll

(07:36):
never be able to get this out of my Mind's
I at least for another few months. The one power
play that sees momentum that looked damn great when the
Penguins were struggling to gain traction in that series, and
maybe this helped them gain a little bit of traction
because I think in game three they started to wake
up a little bit, or maybe it was game four

(07:58):
actually when they actually won the game. It's in the
box and the Penguin still got a power play and
that thing was humming. They didn't score. That thing looked good.
So you got to take him off the power play.
But they're not gonna take him off the power play.
So there's your pros and cons eight through three, four

(08:19):
thirty nine, Bring Gino back, let him go. It kind
of feels stupid to be in the let him go camp,
though not from the sake of I think your arguments
would be stupid. I probably would end up agreeing with
a lot of your arguments to let him go. It
just isn't gonna happen. They're gonna bring him back. It
feels like there is a steady momentum down that track

(08:40):
that if Genny Maukin will be at Pittsburgh Penguin next year, now,
does that look like it can't be a two year deal?
That that maybe is the one thing where it gets
a little bit sticky as far as the negotiations is concerned.
Because now Malkin, if his camp is reading it correctly,
I mean, he's got so much momentum towards getting this
at least one year done. You know, maybe you get

(09:00):
a little greedy at that table and try to push
for two years now, and you can't do that. It's
got to just be one year at a time with him.
But it will be at the very least one year.
And I don't think the Dubis and the Pengals will
make a mistake and go beyond that. So Gino will
be back. You'll get your wish that if getting Malkins back.
But and I know this is hard to do as

(09:21):
a fan. Got to try to remember not to complain
if that power play starts to be sluggish throughout the
season and Gino is still on power play one. You know,
if you're sitting there in January and you're saying, god,
you know, we're in fourth place in the Metro and
it's just bouncing into third and out and into third
and out, and it's just like it's real tight and
we can't gain any traction. And if that power play

(09:43):
could just go from fifteenth to top ten in the
league or just get a little bit better or seis
momentum more, probably make the playoffs this year. Don't complain
about Geno being on that unit because that's part of
the deal, right There's no chance that this plays out,

(10:03):
and some of these cons that we went through right
now don't avail themselves throughout the season, and in fact,
they will probably dictate what the twenty twenty six twenty
seven af Guinea MalCon experience is more so than some
of the pros that he'll be able to bring to
the table. Eight three four, one thirty nine is the

(10:23):
number to call. We got the Bucco round up. Coming
up next will indulge our first Pirate talk of the day.
They're in Arizona tonight starting a three game set with
the Diamondbacks. Then they go to San Francisco for three games.
Gotta win, gotta win. We'll get to that next. It's
Tom Up from an infra mark Mann one oh five
ninety X Tom Up from an inframark Man Today. Eight

(10:51):
thirty nine is the number to call Pierre Maguire and
his segment yesterday with Tim Ben's coming up next. Usually
three point thirty on Tuesdays is when Pierre makes his appearance.
But he couldn't do it today, had to call it
quick audible yesterday. But if you were expecting Pierre in
his usual spot. You will still get Pierre in his
usual spot, so just keep it right here. But now

(11:14):
it is time for the Buco roundup. Pirates back in
action tonight against the Arizona Cardinals Cardinals. The Arizona Diamondbacks
first pitches at nine to forty. Bubba Chandler on the
mound for the Pirates. Pirates trying to build on a
three game win streak after sweeping the Reds at PNC

(11:36):
Park to end their homestand that started with getting swept
by the Saint Louis Cardinals in four games. You've got
Bubba Chandler on the bump. You've got Eduardo Rodriguez for
the Diamondbacks. He's two and ohero with a three point
h three e r A. On the season. Diamondbacks are
sixteen seventeen the right round. You know that contention point

(11:57):
for five hundred Giants up next, they're well under five hundred.
So the Bucks got to take care of business in
these next six games. They should win all six of them. There.
I say, I'd love to win seven of them if
I could, but no, seriously, they got to come away
with wins in both of these series. I saw a
stat that their schedule luck has been brutal. At the
beginning of the season. They've faced more above five hundred

(12:21):
competition than anybody in Major League Baseball to this point.
So schedule getting a little bit of a breather here.
I know the diamondbacksro on the game under five hundred,
but the Giants are pretty bad as well. I don't
want to focus this Bucko round Up though, on just
kind of, you know, going over the schedule in a long,
roundabout way like I'm doing. I want to focus on
Connor Griffin when it comes to today's Buco Roundup. Lots

(12:44):
of questions on this very program asked of mister young Griffin, right,
lots of questions, lots of hard questions that needed to
be asked. When do you pull that trigger on potentially
sending him down?

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Right?

Speaker 1 (12:57):
He keeps struggling like this, what do you do with
Connor Griffin? And you gotta put his development first. Well,
as it turns out, Connor Griffin has the answers for us,
and that answer is just keep my ass at the
major league level because I'm going to start raking and
he really has season average now is up to two

(13:18):
sixty two and one hundred and three at bats. He's
got two bombs. Looks see little bit more home runs,
but bakers can't be choosers. And the OPS is at
seven to twenty three. That's real solid. But let's split
it out to some of his more recent performance. Last
seven game splits ten hits, twenty seven at bats, five runs,

(13:39):
a homer, four RBI, three walks, and a stolen base.
That's a three to seventy average and an OPS over
one thousand. So that's Connor Griffin in the past week.
In the past half month, he's sitting two ninety three
with an OPS just to tick over eight hundred. He's
got the two bombs, he's got ten rbi in his
last fifteen games, five stolen bases, and he's drawn four walks.

(14:03):
Very impressed with the eye of Connor Griffin at the plate,
and he draws walks and that swing is extremely smooth,
and as I just laid out to you, over this
past half month, he's really hitting the cover off the ball.
He might be here already, but by the end of
the year he's going to be the Pirate's best hitter,
no question about it. He will be the best hitter

(14:23):
in the Pirates lineup. O'Hearn right now, I think has
that mantle, but the ceiling on Griffin is way higher
than O'Hearn, and it looks like Griffin is really starting
to get his feet underneath him when it comes to
big league pitching in the big league level, and boy,
the Pirates really need that. They really need that kind
of game breaking X factor bat in their lineup. Cruz

(14:45):
is doing that to a degree this year. That average
is starting to dip a little bit, but I'm still
very pleased with Cruz. Reynolds. He's up and down, but
you just can't trust the guy like Brian Reynolds. Connor Griffin,
it seems like things are about to really explode for him,
and as they just laid out over the past half month,
things kind of are exploding for Connor Griffin. Bubba Chandler

(15:06):
on the mound tonight. It hasn't been Paul skeinsish, if
you will. When it comes to Chandler. In the start
of his major league career, it's one in three and
a four point nine to seven ERA. This year, he's
five and four with a four point four eight er
in his career it's been a struggle for Chandler. He's
got twenty walks in his six games. That's way too many.

(15:30):
His whip is one point four to eight. Doesn't have
twenty seven strikeouts in nine twenty nine innings pitch. But
the control burbond of the microphone, that's very professional. The control,
it's just not where it needs to be. And he
hasn't been the pitcher that you'd hoped he'd be. But
I think people got expectations a little askew, a little

(15:51):
out of whack when it came to Bubba Chandler, because
while he was a top tier prospect, one of the
best pitching prospects in baseball. If I'm not mistaken, when
the Pirates called him up and this will be his
rookie year, technically he ain't skeens right. He wasn't a
phenom level type of player. He can gass it up.

(16:13):
He's got six stuff. I think he's going to be
a very good pitcher at that major league level. Maybe
he has a very good start for the Pirates tonight
against the Diamondbacks. They need him to. But if you
thought that he was going to come in and then
you know, backpack Rookie of the Year after Skiens and
have one of the most historic seasons that you've seen,
just like Paul Skeens has done for two straight years. Now,

(16:34):
that was foolish. You know, Skeins is a unicorn. What
Chandler's going through right now, it's very common for a
young pitcher to go through at the big league level.
He'll figure it out. I think this rotation is insulated
enough that he will figure it out. Although that leads
me to another point. I wasn't planning about talking about
this in this now very long Bucko roundup, but Mjinski

(16:55):
and maybe this is coming right. Maybe that since they
had the off day, they skip them in the rotation.
I believe this time. Maybe that's such a trend for
them moving forward. He just ain't a starter, and I
saw over his last start they were talking to him about, well,
what's going on with you? You know, the third time
through the order, you're having a lot of problems. It's
because he's not a starter. He belongs in the bullpen.

(17:16):
He's a very good bullpen piece, extremely helpful for this team,
and I like him making a spot start from now
and now and then. But as far as a rotational
piece every five days up on the mound. It ain't
his job, and to be fair, he was nothing more
than a placeholder anyway, until Jerry Jones came back, until
Ebarco was ready, until another option availed itself. But it's

(17:38):
starting to get to be that time where that other
option needs to start availing himself, because I think you
need to move him back to that role that best
suits him. Eight through three four thirty nine is the
number to call Pierre Maguire. He's going to join us next. Well,
joined Tim Benz yesterday next but we'll hear that conversation
with Pierre in his usual time slot three thirties on

(17:59):
two days right here on the Mark Manninshow on one
O five ninety x three thirties on Tuesdays, has been
a staple of the Mark Madden Show. For god, it's
been almost two years now. Pierre Maguire, usually joining at
this time, had a bit of a conflict this week,
as you will hear in this interview in just a second,
so he had to join us late in the show
yesterday instead. But since I know people enjoy Pierre so much,

(18:22):
especially at this three thirty spot, we'll play back his
conversation with Tim Benz yesterday on the Mark Madden Show.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Pierre is joining us from Sweden today. Pierre, what are
you doing in Sweden.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
I'm doing a lot of hockey work. Tim, really nice
to talk to you. I'm actually in Stockholm right now
and doing some TV work here, and then I'll be
doing some work with the NHL Players Association and also
a company called the Lead Prospects, both in Stockholm and
in angle Home, which is on the west coast of Sweden.
I'll be here for three weeks and then head down

(18:54):
to Zurich for the World Hockey Championships the last week there.
So looking forward to it, and I'm watching all the
NHL playoff games. The only problem is my nights don't
end until four o'clock in the morning. But all that
is pretty good and I'm really really happy to be
here on behalf of Eleau Prospects.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Okay, aside from hockey, Pierre, sell me on Sweden or Scandinavia.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
What do you think about Sweden?

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Scanning Like, if I wanted to take a vacation, can
you give me like a chamber of commerce hitch on Scandinavia?

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Absolutely, this is probably my thirty fifth or fortieth time
into this part of the world. I've been coming here
since nineteen eighty eight. What I can tell you is
the country is amazingly civilized. It's amazingly clean. The food
is outstanding, the hospitality is overwhelming, the people are so
polite and kind. Mass transit is very apparent and very

(19:46):
very safe and clean. To take the it's called the
Arlanda Express from the airport to downtown Stockholm is just
an amazing experience. It's eighteen minutes on a high speed train,
which you would think you were sitting in your living
room as you're going past all its beautiful countryside from
our land of which is International Airport in Stockholm, down
to downtown. Once you get to downtown, it's just so walkable.

(20:09):
You know, the beautiful islands around the city. It's a
real water ocean type city and there's just so many
things to see. It never gets boring. You walk through
old Stockholm and you're blown away by just the history
and the relevance of their society and so yeah, now
it's beautiful. I've been in the Norway, I've been to Denmark,

(20:29):
I've been to Sweden, I've been to Helsinki a lot,
Finland a lot. I love it here. I think the
people are amazing. I always look forward to coming back.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
All the Scandinavian influence being the draft this year.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Actually good. They might have one of the first picks
in the draft in Denmark, so we'll see. You know,
they just won the World junior and they just won
the World under eighteen. It's pretty amazing the depth of
hockey and Sweden right now. And they've become this let's
put this, and they've become this country that's produced a lot.

(21:03):
Like Penn State used to produce linebackers, they produce amazing
defenseman here in Sweden. Unbelievable defenseman Sweden.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Pierre Maguire with US Okay Pierre. The season ends for
the Penguins. Now the tough part begins in the offseason.
What would you do with a guinea Malkin? If you're
Kyle Dubis, I have to have a.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Long talk with him. I'd like to see exactly where
his head is right now, whereas he is physically, and
then I would offer if I liked his answers, I'd
offer him no more than a one year contract. And
that's just how it has to be and if he's
not happy with that, then I probably am not bringing
him back.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
I tend to agree on the one year contract part.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
I would imagine that the number that he would play
for would be somewhere around what he made this year
at six point one. But you know the answers like
you just talked about Pierre. I'm sure Gino would say
what Kyle wants to hear. It's just a matter of
does he believe him? And I don't know. I can't
see a scenario where Gino isn't on the first power
play and he wasn't that good on the power play

(22:04):
this year, just four power play goals, And at this point,
isn't he blocking Chinikov or Kindle?

Speaker 2 (22:11):
He is and he is, yes, So we agree on
all those fronts. That would be part of my discussion.
And I'm going to try to bring our listeners in
Tim to some of those meetings because I've been privy
to those meetings earlier in my career. That you got
to be fourth right, as uncomfortable as it may be,
and you've got to eyeball the person and tell them

(22:31):
exactly what your plan is and your mission is for
the player, and if they can't accept that, then yet's
say we respect you and admire everything you've done with
your career in our town. You are a legacy player here.
But if you can't see what our vision is for
the team going forward and for you, it's probably better

(22:52):
if you move along. It's not a mean, nasty discussion,
but you have to be fourth right about it. You
see him not being able to produce in the power
play or taking time away from younger players that have
a chance to really evolve. If he doesn't see it
that way, then you may just have to move along.
I know it sounds terrible and mean, but it's the

(23:14):
reality of the business. I personally would like to see
him finish his career in Pittsburgh, and I think he
has another year to.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Give him if Malkin goes.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
How do you think that affects the potential extension of
Sidney Crosby's contract.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Well, I don't think. I don't think they're mutually tied together.
I really don't. I think sid will see what the
organization is trying to do. I think he respects Gino
a lot, but I don't and I haven't spoken to
Sydney about this ever, so I personally, don't think it
would be involved in any decisions he may make. I
think he wants to see what's going on with the
young players in their development. I think he careish the

(23:49):
fact that most people thought he would have finished this
season in Colorado or maybe Montreal or Park sun No.
And they didn't think he'd finished the season in Pittsburgh
because most people thought the season was going to be
a disaster. Everything that people thought was wrong. The season
was great. He didn't finish it somewhere else, and they
actually made the playoffs. So I think Sid sees, you know,

(24:10):
a lot of positive things after missing the playoffs three
straight years, for them to have gone into this series
and you know, I think did relatively well considering what
they had a fight there to get to even force
the game six. Yeah, I have a lot of respect
for Sid and I make sure he'll do the right
things when it comes to him and for the Pittsburgh
Penguin franchise.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Pierre, do you expect pat person to sort of saber
rattle and you know position as he did in September
of last year, after some moves were made to make
it public that he wants to see more talent around
sid and not just have it be a rebuilding project
while he's here at the end.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Of his career.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
That's a fair question. It's a fair point too. That
was that probably was the most animated I've seen, you know,
Patty grisaw ever, and you know other time I'd ever
seen him at demonstrative. I was doing the World Junior
in two thousand and five in Grand Forks, North Dakota,
and he actually called one of the reporters on the
team bus and I happen to be sitting there because

(25:12):
a reporter had reported something about sid that wasn't accurate,
and Patty gave it to him pretty good and the
reporter had to apologize. But I would say this is
that Pat's got a responsibility to take care of Sidney
Crosby's hockey related and other related businesses, and I think
he's done a magnificent job of that. And if he

(25:34):
thinks he has got to do something to make sure
the Penguins continue to evolve and get better, it's a
good thing, not a bad thing. But I don't think
it will have to go to that point. I really don't.
I think Kyle do this in sid and Patty all
kind of understand where they want the team to go
and how they envisioned sid being a big part of
it going forward.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
This is hypothetical again. Peter MacGuire joining us here on
the Mark Madden Show. Tim Ben's in for Mark. But
if we don't see Malkin back, okay, that opens up
six point one million in calf space that they didn't
have last year, and Kindall is probably then elevated to
the second line center role. Does he play with Chetahkov

(26:14):
And how do they sort of backfill for not having Mulkin?
How do they use that money? Or is it with
the prospects that they've got Pierre that get elevated in
some high leverage roles.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Or there's some trades that are made which we really
can't speak to because we don't know which players would
be made available for trade. But here's one thing I
would tell you if Jason Robertson and I'm not involved
with the team, so I can speak about players on
any team in the league, but if Jason Robertson becomes
available in USA terms and you signed him to a

(26:45):
pretty substantial deal, I think not only does that invigorate
Sydney Crosby, that invigorates your entire franchise. You're talking about
one of the marquee scoring players in the league. And
I can tell you right now I haven't been a
member of the Pittsburgh Pengalins organization. He is a player
that Penguin fans would love. He's they love offensive catalysts,
played players who play with consistency, and that's what Jason

(27:08):
Robertson is. I would think that if they could ever
spend a little money and get him. Of all, I
think they're forty five million, then they could spend the summer.
I'm not saying they're going to do it, but I
think they have forty five million they can spend wards
of that, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Because he would be an acquisition who's for the now
and for the future at the same time.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
So I hear that.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Stimulate the fan base. It would stimulate the fan base.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
I just don't know how he becomes available, how they
swing it, because you know, if he's an RFA at
the tender, that he would get to be like four
first round picks, right yeah, yeah, So I mean, like
that's a tough put, but I mean he was.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
On my radar.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
I think Pierre we talked about him when those rumors
first came up before the Olympics.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
I would love for that to be the case, but
you know, I've.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
Got wishful thinking, and that was going to be a
real difficult dance for Kyle Dubis to kind of keep
living in two worlds at once. Here get him younger,
get better, but at the same time keep them competitive
for the now, the blue line, there's a lot of
guys who are already on the books coming back. I
don't know how much flexibility there is on the blue
line to move parts around. Maybe one spot for Brunick

(28:13):
to get him in, but if not him, I'm not
sure what they do with it.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
They've got some They must have a big group of
people going down to watch Wisbury because obviously you got
one pickering there till you got Brunick there. I thought
it would have been an amazing opportunity for Brunick to
go play there, and especially in the playoffs, which is
getting a cancer do now they I think that's one

(28:39):
of the areas they need to look at long term.
They've got I think the left side's pretty good. You know,
you look at Parker Wallas, but I think Ryan Kay
is the most improved player they got. I know, Sammy
Gerard's there right now. I think he could be bumped
deeper in the lineup as they go forward. So the
right side maybe needs a little bit more attention. Latank's
not getting any younger, Carlson's not getting it younger, so

(29:01):
the right side to use some attention. But I still
think long term, the Penguins are kind of set up
to continue to evolve on defense, which is a good thing,
not a bad thing, because of some of the guys
they had Donald Wilkesbury, namely you know brunic and Pickering.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Do you extend Carlson or do you just let it
play out? I asked Borky this when he was in
the what do you do? He said, let it play
He said, let it play out. He said, don't extend him.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Let the same team. Okay, we're on the same Yeah.
I'd let it play out. And that's not a knock
on hurt. I thought, very locked down like him very
much as a game, but I would, I would. I
would let that one play out.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
I tend to agree because even though he really flourished
under muse as opposed to how it went under Sullivan,
if things don't go great as a team next year.
I don't know how he's still if he still has
that same opinion after eighty two games next year.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
If you follow my drift.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
I do not. You follow your drift one hundred percent.
And I don't think they're wronged him. But but here's
the one thing that's I know Penguins fans were disappointed.
You know that the team lost in a very tough
game six and overtime. I look at the positives like
I look at the Montreal and means right now, they
won a series last year, they went into Washington, they
got crushed in five games, and they didn't just get

(30:17):
beat they got beat up. They really did. Those kids
learned so much, and I think the same thing's gonna
hold true for Pittsburgh. A lot of those guys they
haven't been in the playoffs in three years. They learned
so much this year in that show down with Philadelphia,
especially with the exposure that it got, I think it
only helps the team long term. I'm really excited for
the group going forward. I really am.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Since you brought them up. How weird of a day
was that yesterday?

Speaker 3 (30:42):
The dichotomy between the Canadians winning with nine shots and
the Avalanche winning nine to six over Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Always really wacko, you know. And like you said, I'm
over in Sweden right now. That's a pretty late night
and to earning morning. When I went to sleep last night,
the sun was coming up. I'm not kidding you. I
was doing the post shows in Montreal and I can
tell you, yeah, that was really strange. I have never
seen the Canadians, not in my lifetime. I've been following
the Montreal Canade since nineteen sixty five. My first game

(31:12):
was at Old Madison Square Garden. My grandfather drove me
from Montreal to or to New York to go watch
the Rangers play the Canaans and I was fucked at
not New Madison Square Garden, Old Madison Square Garden, and
I was fucked. I had never seen the Cannes in
my lifetime, whether it was coaching against them, broadcasting their games,
or just being a fan. I've never seen them not

(31:33):
have a shot on goal in a period, and that
happened last night in the game seven of the Stanley
Cup Playoffs, had no shots on goal in the second
period and they still won the game. I couldn't believe it.
I was like, whoa, this is crazy.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
Can they upset the Sabers And what happens in Carolina
versus Philly.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
I think Philly's in too deep. I don't think Philly
can beat Carolina. I didn't think so before the series started,
and then I saw a game one and I was like,
oh boy, they're They're not ready for that. That's okay.
They may end up winning the series. I don't know
whether they will all but I personally don't think they will.
Caroline has become very professional in a short period of time,
and they got tested. Even though they swept Ottawa, they

(32:14):
got tested in that series. A lot of those games
are way tighter than what the series record says, so
that was really good training for them in Carolina. So
I don't think Philadelphia will beat them. In terms of Montreal,
I do think they can beat Buffalo. They're gonna have
to have a presence on Tates Thompson. They're gonna have
to have a presidence on Alex Tuck and they got
to really be hard and they did a good job

(32:35):
of it being hard on Ryan mcdonn and the Tampa series.
They're gonna have to be really hard on Rasmus Dallen,
who's had such an amazing year on defense for Buffalo.
I think Montreal's way under value team right now. I
don't think people realize the skill level. If you haven't
watched Montreal all season a lot, you just don't realize
how good their young players are and how much skill
they have. They really do have a lot of it.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Pierre, Thanks a bunch. Enjoy Sweden, and we appreciate you
checking in from over there.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Oh my gosh, Tim, any time for you and Mark
and I can't thank Tom enough. This is just for
the people that Tom works for, the excellent producer. This
guy is a home run hitter. I can't believe he
is able to find me and I will always come
on this show and Tom's a big reason why. So
thank you everybody there. Appreciate everything.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Thanks Pierre, Enjoy it and we'll talk again soon.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
Okay, I can't wait. Tim, thanks a lot. I'll buye.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
How did that last part get in there on the replay?
I was supposed to cut that out. That's crazy. I'm
a home run hitter. How about that funny story? Played?

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Like? What?

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Five years in my career of little league baseball suck?
At baseball. Love baseball to death, can't play it worth
a damn Never hit a single home run, so at
least I'm hitting home runs when it comes to the
field of production. That's Peter maguire. Always great having him
on three thirties on Tuesday. Right here on the Mark
Madden Show. Got some more Penguins talk that I want
to get into on the other side of the break,

(34:02):
and Seth Roorbach from the Trip is going to join
us at four o'clock. So we got a lot of
Penguins over this next half hour plus. So if Penguins
talk is your thing, keep it right here on one
of five niney X, we got hockey talk with Seth
Ararbaugh right around the corner about six minutes away here
on one O five to nine the X, Tom Aferman
sitting in for Mark Madden today. Let's just get started

(34:27):
on that hockey talk right now. We did a ton
of Gino already on the show. That's the number one
Penguins topic this offseason until Penn has put the paper
and he signs on the dotted line. But until then
it'll be should you keep Gino? Shouldn't you keep Gineau?
Pros and cons blah blah blah blah blah. But there's
some other interesting storylines when it comes to the Penguins
this offseason two. Just a couple of them to kick

(34:49):
around right now before we get to seth. Eric Carlson
finally played like Eric Carlson this year, in his third
year as a Pittsburgh Penguin. I think it is as
clear as day that there was a disconnect between him
and Mike Sullivan. They didn't see eye to eye. I

(35:11):
don't know if it was, you know, a personal thing
he didn't like him as a person, or necessarily the
way he coached Carlson personally is what I'm trying to
get at. But I just don't think Carlson really respected
how Mike Sullivan treated that kind of one size fits
all with my decor and everybody activates and we're always pinching,
and I didn't jive with e K's game. This year

(35:34):
with Dan Muse, you really saw Carlson tap back into
that kind of Norris Trophy form of old so outstanding
year from him. He wins the team's MVP and rightfully
so kicked it into another gear after the Olympic break
and when Sidney Crosby was out and really drove the
bus for this team to get them into the playoffs.

(35:57):
People remember, the big debate was was Carlson turning this
on because of Sweden and the Olympics and what's going
to happen afterwards? He was even better afterwards, So I
think it's clear it was a disconnect with Sullivan, as
we just talked about. But the topic that has to
do with Carlson is this is now going to be
his last year under contract this coming season, which would
make him a candidate for an extension. Do you approach

(36:20):
an extension with Carlson? I gotta be honest with you,
he seems to be aging pretty gracefully. I'd be pretty
tempted to do so. But you just can't ignore that
number under that age column when you look at the
team's roster and next to Eric Carlson's name. You gotta
just take it, I think a year at a time,

(36:42):
just like you'll probably be doing with Malkin when you
give him a one year deal this year. Carlson's got
a year already left on his contract. You just play
that out, see where you're at next year, reassess, But
out of the four superstars. You know what, the Penguins

(37:04):
have Sid, Gino let Tang the original Big three, and
then Carlson's a superstar as well. It's been added on
here in the past three years. Carlson's the closest to
Sid as far as aging gracefully and still being an
extremely effective player. He illustrated that this last year. So
it's an interesting debate. I'm interested to see what Seth

(37:26):
says about that if you approach a contract extension with
Carlson or not. The other thing that I'm interested in
with the Penguins in this offseason, and it's not necessarily
such an offseason thing, but more so once training camp starts,
is the plans with the goaltenders moving forward. Mershov should
very clearly be the number one. She loves by his

(37:47):
backup and the one thing that you can keep an
eye on, I guess in the offseason is what happens
with Stuart Skinner. I don't think you even pick up
the phone and talk to him, honestly, don't even tell
him goodbye, just just ghost them Irish goodbye.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
No.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
I mean you can call him if you like him.
All counts. He's a great guy. But I don't sit
down at a serious negotiating table with him or his
agent whatsoever. And I think that was always the plan
because it's Mushov's turn now to take on the net
next year, and what she loves proved you in this
playoff series is not so much that he can be

(38:25):
a guy as well, but he can certainly be a
top tier backup and someone that if Mushov gets hurt
for a little bit of a stretch, he can come
in and really carry things. Clumes the way of putting
that he can carry the load well enough to get
you by. So I think your tandem is very clear

(38:47):
next year as far as the goaltending position is concerned.
And when it comes to the Penguins in their future,
you know, they don't really have that blue chip prospect
per se as far as a forward is concerned, but
they do have that at the goaltender position with Sergei Mahrishchoff,
and it's time to tap into that next year for

(39:08):
the Pittsburgh Penguins. So I expect him to be number one,
and I'm excited to see how that plays out and
excited to see how he goes in training camp, hopefully
earning that job. His ceiling is just out of control
on what I was going with that. As far as
him being a blue chip prospect, got a little distracted
here by the TV. It's no wonder markets distracted all

(39:29):
the time. Now the Penguins have been built on that
star power at forward all the time. Maybe you shift
your identity for this next era to being built on
that star power a goaltender and you build it around Mershoff.
We'll get seth warboss thoughts on all of that stuff
when he joins us in just about thirty seconds. It's
Tom Off from an inframark Mann and one oh five

(39:50):
ninety x