The Pittsburgh Penguins’ bottom six needs some life, Dakota Joshua has it

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ bottom six needs some life, Dakota Joshua has it

with five weeks to go until free agency there’s one player that the Penguins should Target should he get there you’re locked on Penguins your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguin part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello and welcome back to another episode of the locked on Penguins podcast I am one of your hosts Hunter hodies you can follow me on Twitter Hunter joined by my co-host Patrick damp you can follow him on Twitter cinam for wet and you can follow the show’s Twitter _ penguins of course thank you all so much for making this your first listen slatch the day we are free and available on all platforms and finally today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com lockon to get started so I can’t believe that free agency is only five weeks away at this point and it’s going to be here before I know it before you know it before anyone that’s listening tow watching the show knows it and we’ve done some free agent profiles on some players who are going to be hitting the market that the Penguins should consider going after and we’re going to continue that Series today with one from the Vancouver Canucks this is a player that I think would fit the Penguins bottom six beautifully and that is Dakota Joshua he had the best season of his career in 2023 2024 18 goals 32 points and then he was great in the playoffs for the Canucks four goals eight points in 13 games he only made $ 825,000 for this year so you know he’s going to be looking for a pretty big raise on the open market but this is a player that can score he can skate he also brings that ratty element that the Penguins also need outside of Michael bunting he would become a fan favorite in probably 15 minutes if you ask me he is the exact type of player that the Penguins should be targeting for their bottom six and yes I understand that he shot 21.4% this year that is a career high from him but last year he still shot 15.4% and he had a pretty sound sound year so if you can get him to shoot in that maybe 17 to 18 to 19% range so somewhere in the middle of these last two years you should be able to get 14 15 16 maybe even more goals from him for the Penguins he’s also only 28 years old right now so you don’t even really need to give him that much term if you sign him to a three to fouryear contract that would work with me I’m going to get into the data in just a second but Pat we discussed this before we started recording today that is a slam dunk move if you can get him to sign once free agcy starts he really is and I’ll be honest uh I fell in love with the guy during the Vancouver Canucks run in the postseason hadn’t really heard of him up until the playoffs and the way he was performing for the Vancouver Canucks especially in the playoffs I was under the impression that he was going to be with them for at least another year it didn’t feel like a player that was going to be headed to Market and then the other thing is and I know this is basically at this point a subjective stat but he led all forwards and hits up to the point of the Canucks being eliminated in the postseason and you can see that and I know a lot of times people say oh hits mean you don’t have the puck but you already talked about his Top Line statistics in the playoffs solid bottom six contributor and as for the shooting percentage thing I mean I wouldn’t be too worried about this guy in his shooting percentage because he only really became a consistent NHL player in the 2223 season when he played 79 games for the Canucks That season he scores 11 goals but shoots 15% and then this year he increases to 18 goals in his shooting percentage goes up to 21.4% now I don’t think he’ll shoot it that level consistently but like you said 14 15 16% I mean the way this guy plays the game not afraid to go to the dirty areas not afraid to shoot the puck not afraid to get physical players like that often do have a solid shooting percentage simply because they don’t shoot a lot they take the chances they get and when they get them they bury them think Michael bunting think Patrick hornquist think this is going to be a bit of a stretch but hear me out Chris kunet like Chris kunet had the added advantage of playing with a guy like Sydney Crosby but you think about Chris kunet he wasn’t a guy who just crossed the Blue Line fired at the net got himself to scoring places and scored so this guy is going to be a hot commodity if Vancouver can’t resign him but if he makes it to July 1 he should be high on the Penguin’s priority list yeah again if you can get 14 to 16 goals while he shoots anywhere in that 16 to 18% just because I don’t think he’s going to shoot 21% again next season I will gladly take that considering how the penguin bottom six performed for the most part outside of dreo Conor and lar Zeller this past season the Penguins badly need someone like that that can give them some more scoring in their bottom two lines and he has a really good knack for going to the net I think back to game one against the Predators where I was watching that Canuck series and the Canucks were down two1 in the third period they get that t goal but then just 10 to 20 seconds later Dakota Joshua is the one that breaks the tie and you know know where he is 5 to 10 feet out fires one top cheese pass UC Soros the Penguins need more players like that that can go to those areas outside of Bunting and can just get greasy goals and he would fit them like a glove he would and I our listeners know I’ve been saying this all postseason and I’m going to keep saying it into the offseason the pendulum and hockey is swinging back to it being more of a physical game again to reiterate not going back to the 80s and 90s where it’s big guys who are big for no reason it’s big guys who can skate big guys who have skill but big guys who are not afraid to get nasty and Dakota Joshua is all that and again I don’t want to hype this guy up like he’s the second coming but for somebody to get in your bottom six he’s gonna need he’s gonna need a raise because he’s making less than a million and in the last two years he has scored almost 30 goals so he’s gonna figure to probably make somewhere between two three four million just because and that all depends on term too if it’s shorter term it’s probably going to be on the higher end for aav if it’s long term it’s going to be a little bit lower but this is a guy who is going to be in demand this off season because you look at the four teams that are left in the Stanley Cup Playoffs they are teams that yeah they have skill out the Wazoo but they are not afraid to play a greasy brand of hockey he will very much bring that physical element to the Penguins he’ll lay some big hits if one of the Stars also maybe is getting pushed around a little bit I think he would jump right in there just like you saw bunting did towards the late stages of last season as well again I’m not someone that is massive on this whole physical train but I do think the Penguins need at least a little more of it heading into next season as long as that player can actually play and Joshua definitely I mean you look at his data for this past season as well Pat 63 games almost 750 minutes of five on five ice time when he was on the ice the Canucks had 51% of the shot attempts 35 goals for 19 goals against I know I’m not that big on plus minus but plus 16 at five on five you’re doing something right in that case also a 56% expected goals rate 53% of the scoring in chances and a whopping 59% of the high danger chances when he was on the ice underlyings mostly very very good this year and yeah I mean I can’t say enough good things about this player if he gets to market the Pittsburgh Penguins better be calling his Representatives absolutely and I mean I also think we should say this too that’s the archetype of player that they need to go after and there’s going to be a handful of them that make it to Market or available via trade so if they miss out on Dakota Joshua you got to go for for a guy like that you look at you look at a team you know game two is is tonight of Rangers Panthers and the Panthers got the win despite it being three nothing because they hemmed the Rangers in their own end they had a heavy for check they weren’t afraid to be physical they clogged up the neutral zone with good physicality not a neutral zone trap they met you at the point of attack and were able to disrupt their transition game you need those kind of players in today’s NHL if you want to be a successful team so if they can get another good bottom six piece who plays that kind of game with a little bit of speed a little bit of grit a little bit of nastiness I still like this team’s chances to get back to the postseason should they make those moves this off season I agree with you and you’ve said they need more bastards on this team well I’ll take that a step further they need more Rats on this team I I think they really need that heading into next season and they will have an opportunity to get one if he does get to Market but I think that’ll do it for this first segment coming up in the second segment Pat and I are going to continue our season in review series with forward yesie povi and what we expect from him heading into the 2024 2025 season but before we get to that we have to tell you about our first sponsor and that is indeed there is no I in team but there is one in indeed and that’s the hiring platform you need to build yours when you’re hiring you need indeed it’s the hiring platform where you can attract interview and hire all in one place instead of spending hours on multiple job websites searching for your candidates with the right skills ineds a powerful hiring platform can help you do it all they streamline hiring with powerful tools that find you match candidates and 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this point we only have a few more to go but we’re going to do yesie poar V4 today only played 22 games for the Penguins this year three goals four total points in those games so you look at the counting stats there’s not too too much there but his underline playings were still fairly decent this season played 200 minutes of five on five ice time when he was on the ice the Penguins had 51% of the shot attempts nine goals for seven goals against 51% of the expected goals rate 52% of the scoring chances and 51% of the high danger chances so mostly decent underlyings the biggest thing with pvi I just want to see Mike Sullivan play him more I mean he heading into next season as of right now he’s easily one of their better bottom six options he has a nice shot he has shown an ability to go to the net when I was watching some of his highlights from the World Championships you know one of the goals that really stood out to me was him standing right in front of the net and getting a nice deflection goal in the round robin games and he h honestly had a really good world championship for Finland before they were eliminated in eight games three goals Five Points so he equaled the amount of goals that he scored with the penguins in plenty fewer games games I know it’s a different circumstance but he still played fairly well for Finland overseas and he should be very much pencil into the bottom six for next season I think if he is fully healthy this team can definitely get 10 to 12 maybe 13 goals out of him for next season you know you think for this season he’s was still making his way back from that massive double hip surgery now he has a full offseason to train I think you’re going to see a much better version from p y next year I’m gonna start here with pu Arvy because this I don’t want this to come off as me being anti- analytics because you guys who listen know that I’m not but he’s one of those classic players to me where the good analytics eventually have to start leading to results I like his game I like the way he plays I I said it after he played really well in one of those wins against the Hurricanes that he should have and it ended up being the case never be taken out of the lineup but you look at the way he has trended for most of his career good Puck possession player good expected goals player counting stats aren’t that great and it’s kind of a microcosm of the last few years of the Pittsburgh Penguins all of their analytics say they should be one of the better teams in the NHL but then you get to the end of the season and they’re either just squeaking into the playoffs or for the last two years they’ve missed eventually pvi has to take that next step he’s 26 he had major surgery so he’s on the recovery table eventually he’s got to take a step here I’m not saying he’s got to become a 30 35 goal scorer but 15 to 20 eventually that step has to come because again I like the way he plays I like that he goes to the net I like that he plays fast he has a very sneaky good shot but eventually that has to turn into goals and I think should Kyle dubis retool this bottom six the way he needs to and Mike Sullivan finally starts to consistently use pu Arvy we will see a good season out of him but until he does that I’m still a tad skeptical of him to play that role so we will see but overall he’s on a very affordable deal he’s a good bottom six option and if it doesn’t work this year you can move on right and you said it about Mike suvin as well he’s got to stop benching him after the smallest of mistakes that’s been another one of my gripes when it comes to Sullivan over the last year year and a half is when one of the younger players makes a mistake he Staples them to the bench but yet one of the veterans makes a mistake that’s not one of the core players I should say or someone that’s not in the top six that player keeps playing so I just want to see him treat that type of player the way he treats veterans overall he just needs more playing time and another thing I think pvi also needs he needs a third line Center that can get him the puck I think you know he’s not someone I feel like that’s gonna create a lot of his offense on his own I think he needs someone that can you know be a good playmaker on his line to get him the puck where he can use his shot we all know paari down low is a good for Checker but off the rush that’s not really his game per se so I also think he needs a little bit of help for whatever line he’s on I mean right now looking at this lineup as we stand today I see him as someone who can play on the third line yeah in Sparks you can put him into your top six for a few games if injuries arise but he serves this team better as a third as a third liner or even maybe as a fourth ler but that’s the biggest thing I think povi needs heading into next season and what you said it’s not that he can’t score off the rush but and again I’m not comparing him to this player he’s not like a Phil kessle kind of player who can just skate it down the wing and fire one past the goalie he can score off the rush if he’s the guy riding shotgun if he’s the guy who pulls the defenseman back closer to the net to open up that space or if he’s the guy doing the center Lane Drive and gets the tap in but like you said he needs a another Center or another player on his line to drive said possession and make said pass so that’s how you have to utilize him if you’re expecting him because I think he had one goal off the rush this year of the three he scored and it was more or less a broken play the Penguins turned something quick in the neutral zone and he was able to take advantage of a numbers game but that’s not something that’s going to happen consistently with him so if you can get a good a a good or better third line Center for him or at the very least another playmaker on that line and he’s riding shotgun with them you’re going to see more production out of them but you can’t depend upon him to run the third line himself otherwise you’re gonna get this same kind of outcome you got this year where he only scores a handful of points yeah if he’s the one running the show on the third line you have bigger problems in your bottom six overall you need to get him some help if you want this experiment to work but for my overall grade I’ve been kind of going back and forth on this it’s hard to fully grade him just because he only played in a little over 20 games this year so you know B minus C somewhere in there I’m not going to give him an F or a d I don’t really think that’s fair but I think a B minus to a c is a fine range for his grade I mean I’m gonna go incomplete just because one he was in and out of the lineup so much that he never really got any kind of consistency and that kind of leads into my last point about him I think next year we’re going to see more from him regardless of what happens around him because he will be more comfortable he’ll be with the team from training camp all the way through barring some kind of trade and you could kind of tell there was a little bit of uncomfortability this season strictly because he joins late he took the majority of the first half of the season to recover from a massive surgery and then he’s in and out of the lineup so I think if you can give him a little bit more consistency just strictly through the fact that he’s going to be with the team for a full season he’s going to do a little bit better and we can get a better feel for his game agreed yeah I don’t disagree with you there but I think that’ll do it for this second segment of today’s episode coming up to end the show Bry AER will be playing in the Memorial Cup for moose Shaw tonight against Sagen Pat and I are going look at the Memorial Cup and just do a small preview to end the show but before we get to that we have to tell you all about our next sponsor which is FanDuel it’s win or take all time in the NBA and NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks to bet on spreads money lines player props and so much more all you have to do is visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count that’s FanDuel America’s number one sports book all right we’re back here on this episode of the locked on Penguins podcast I’m one of your hosts Hunter hodies joined by my host Patrick damp so the Memorial Cup gets all underway on Friday night with Moosejaw going up against the Sagen all Spirit I’m really excited for this game if you look at these four teams overall Saga is quote unquote the worst team of the four but they are still very very good they’re deep I’m gonna have you get into the goalie situation in just a second because the goalie they have is very good but you look at this roster and this team won 50 games they won their division they had the second most points in the OHL they went to their conference Championship this is not going to be an easy game for musaw if you again if you look at these two teams I think musaw is more topheavy than Saga Saga is the deeper team overall with players like Joey Willis Josh Bloom Owen Beck Etc but I want to have you discuss the goalie because he is going to be really hard to beat for moose cha in this one yeah so Sagen as Hunter said is the host team this year so they get their automatic bid to the Memorial Cup tournament for those who don’t know the Canadian Junior Hockey League the CHL this is their Premier tournament this is basically their for lack of a better term to americanize it their college football playoff but it’s a little bit different this isn’t an actual playoff it’s round robin tournament where you play each team and then whoever had the two best teams from that round robin go on to play or they have a semi-final and then a final based on points percent or points and then there’s a tiebreaker if necessary so that’s how that all works and you look at sagona goalie this is a wild thing to talk about because this kid is Andrew Oak I hope I’m pronouncing that correctly he had a very inauspicious season for Sagen 291 and one record 289 goals against average and an 890 save percentage but then came the OHL playoffs for Sagen and he turned into a monster he won five games he had a 1.83 GAA and a 938 save percentage so when the lights came on for this kid he showed up and at this point I agree with what you’re saying about this matchup tonight I would say the best way to put it musja has the better top end Talent Sagen is the deeper team so this is the kind of game where all the guys we’ve talked about on Moosejaw including Braden joerger have to impose their will on Sagen or they could be in for a rough game and again with Oaken net for Sagen that is what I always call the great X Factor we have seen it as Penguins fans forever a hot goenda the hopes of a really good team this just means we got to have Jer and fcus cook a lot more in this game they’re gonna have to be at their very best if moose jaaw wants to win this one against Sagen all so I’m looking forward to watching it and this is the type of game again we’ve talked about this on the show a couple of times that can really help young players with their development before they get to the NHL playing in this type of environment is only going to make you better in the Long Haul and with how joerger played in the WHL playoffs I don’t think this moment is too big for him it’s not he he has shown that when the games get bigger he he elevates his game and there’s no bigger stage in juniors than the Memorial Cup and the game that I’m as much as I am looking forward to tonight’s game the game that I’ve got circled in red Sharpie underlined four times is Monday night at 7:30 when Moosejaw takes on the London nights and if you know anything about Junior Hockey the London Knights again to americanize this they are the New York Yankees of Junior Hockey they are always one of the best teams and I want to see how joerger responds to playing a team like that on this big of a stage it also kind of sounds like Alabama of college football especially when Nick Sabin was there and winning all those national championships so yeah back Mark Hunter has the London Knights as one of the best junior teams they are incredibly well-run they get some of the best talent to come through the CHL and if you don’t have them penc in as a favorite every year I don’t know what hockey you’re watching man I think if you look at the four teams right now it’s hard to not say that the London Knights are the favorite I because I think they should be when you look at up and down that team with how much skill they have they’re gonna be really hard to beat in this tournament and you brought up Mark Hunter there I wonder when he’s gonna get his next NHL game because I feel like that’s coming right it has to I mean he he has such a good track record and if you see him getting back to the NHL I would imagine it’s more in a front office capacity than a coaching capacity just because he has an unbelievable Talent of developing guys into not just good NHL players but great NHL players I mean you look at some of the alumni to come out of London I mean it’s just star after star after star Patrick Kane Mitch Marner going even further back Brendan Shanahan these are guys who went on to have some of the best NHL careers and you can talk about their perceived lack of success when you talk about a guy like Marner but all the grief he’s taking you telling me you wouldn’t take a guy who scores like that on your team I sure would oh I agree with you I 100% would as well but if you want to watch Moosejaw up against zaga on Friday that game starts out 7:30 p.m. Eastern so that’s going to be a lot of fun can’t wait to see how joerger performs in the Memorial Cup one more thing before we end Today’s Show Conference Finals have gotten underway in the NHL I was really impressed with the way the Panthers played in game one I haven’t seen the Rangers limited like that in a very long time the Panthers are so stingy In Their Own Zone but Browski also played a great game and N the Panthers are getting contributions from everyone in their lineup game two is set for Friday night at 8:00 at the Garden and it’s basically a must-win for the Rangers I don’t think they want to go back to Sunrise down 02 in this series and then Edmonton Dallas you know the Oilers showed me something in game one the way they were defending the Stars was very impressive it’s a very un Oilers likee win it’s because when you think of the Oilers you think high flying offense but they were defending with a purpose in that game one against the stars and the Stars had plenty of chances to win it in overtime especially on that four-minute power play Robertson hit a post he also hit a crossbar and the stars I like how they’re committed to the bit of losing every single game one known to man but I still think that’s going to go six to seven games but these two Conference Finals so far lot of fun to watch oh for sure I mean I kind of hinted at it earlier uh with the Rangers I liked their game that was the score was not indicative of the result I think that was is a very evenly played game and the Rangers don’t have to change a lot I know that there’s been a lot of discourse amongst a lot of people about whether they should bring in Ry or not I don’t think he makes a difference they just got to stick to what they’re doing and you think about it the one of the goals they SC they had an empty net goal they had a goal that uh shesterkin rarely ever gives up and then the second goal was tipped in by laf reier on a broken play like you look at that game if you’re the Rangers and you think hey we’re right with them we don’t got to change a whole lot we just got to make some changes on the margins and as for the Oilers man we said it on the show sneakily good defensive team you don’t think of Defense when you think of the Edmonton Oilers especially with the Conor McDavid ER in the Conor McDavid era but they hung right with Dallas and that is going to be another phenomenal series because if there’s one thing Dallas has shown throughout this postseason they bounce back like none other that is a team that can take a punch and give it right back in the next game yeah I mean they were down 02 to Vegas in the first round they come back and win for the next five in that series they lost game one against Avalanche they come back and win that Series in six games so the stars are no strangers to starting slow in a bunch they’re just pulling a 1991 Penguins they’re gonna lose every game one on route to the Stanley Cup they they really do love losing all these game ones it is quite funny but that’ll do it for today’s episode of the locked on Penguins podcast thank you all so much for taking the time to listen towatch this one Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Monday so hope you all have a very good holiday weekend we will talk with you all on Monday

NHL free agency is 5 weeks away and that means it’s time for another free agent profile. Hunter and Pat discuss how Dakota Joshua would be a perfect fit for the Pittsburgh Penguins if he makes it to market. They analyze how he’s everything this bottom six needs, and highlight the different skills that he has in his game. They discuss what his asking price might be before moving on to Jesse Puljujarvi’s season in review. Hunter and Pat look back at how he played and discuss what realistic expectations for him could be heading into the 2024-25 season. They also implore Mike Sullivan to actually use him more since he was benched at times for part of his games this past season. Finally, the two discuss the Memorial Cup and preview Brayden Yager’s first game on Friday night.

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