The Pittsburgh Penguins Are Giving Marc-Andre Fleury a Unique Sendoff Later this Month

The Pittsburgh Penguins are giving Mark Andre Flurry a unique sendoff. Hunter Hodis of Locked on Penguins is here to talk about that and the Penguins outlook for the upcoming season coming up next on today’s Locked on NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Gil Martin here. Welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Lockdown NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Lockdown NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe and uh hit the like button so you never miss an episode. I am thrilled to welcome back to the show Hunter Hodis, a familiar face and voice for Locked on NHL and Locked on Penguins listeners. Uh Hunter, got to say this, I give credit to the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. I’ve heard of people signing a one-day contract to end their careers with the team, but this is a little bit different. Talk to me about how the Penguins are honoring Mark Andre Flurry. They’re calling it a professional try out, Gil. What this is, it’s basically a two-day contract to officially retire as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is going to practice with the team on September 26th. That’s going to be like a there’s a morning skate and there’s going to be like an practice session after. He’ll just get to practice with his old buddies and then the next night he is going to play part of a preseason game on the 27th of September against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Gil, there are tickets going for this game for about 300 a pop on ticket master, StubHub, wherever else you look for tickets. game time of course and this is probably going to be one of the biggest crowds if not the biggest crowd of the season. Usually preseason games is not even half full. You’re lucky to get for here 40% 45%. This is going to be packed to the brim like standing room only just because it’s Mark Andre Flurry and it’s only right that the Penguins are doing something like this. Yeah, I know he’s been gone for the last eight years at this rate, but when you think of Mark Andre Flurry, you think of him as a Pittsburgh Penguin. He played here for 13 years. You know, he was the first one of the core four big four, whatever you want to call it. You know, then obviously came Crosby, Malin, and Latang. And, you know, they did a lot of winning together. They all became very close as teammates. It absolutely gutted them when Flurry left for the Vegas Golden Knights. But it made sense at the time just because Matt Murray just won two Stanley Cups and he looked like he was going to be a really good goalie for a long time. Didn’t work out that way. But I understood why they did it. I think everyone understood why they did it. But now that he, you know, he retired after this past season, you get to honor him this way. Bring him back for a preseason game. He can ride off into the sunset just as it was meant to be. He’s meant to retire as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s going to be in their Ring of Honor at some point. And Gil, I would not be surprised if his number is retired by the organization after 87,71 and 58 get the honor first. Yeah. Talk talk to me about what he’s meant to Penguin fans and to the Penguins organization. Everything honestly. You know, for me, I grew up watching him when he was in his prime. A lot of people around my age grew up watching him while he was in his prime. And both on and off the ice, he always had such a calm demeanor. Like, sure, he’d get upset when he’d allow a goal in a bad situation, but he always approached everything with such a positive attitude. He was one of the leaders in the locker room. Obviously, everyone also remembers him for his pranks. Those would be those would go viral on social media. I’m sure he’s going to try something else. One last big prank before he officially retires as a member of the Penguins. He’s probably going to do something to cross Valkan and Latang or hide their gear or something like that. But honestly, go again, he meant everything to this entire fan base. You know, he the entire city embraced him and he’s going to get one hell of an ovation during that. Even though it’s a preseason game, it’s going to be a crazy ovation. Like, it’s going to be bigger than the one he got when he was in Vegas the first time he came back to Pittsburgh where there were fans in the stands crying. He was crying while watching the video. He played his final game regular season wise with the Wild in Pittsburgh last year and he got the win and almost every fan stayed until the end to basically give him a standing ovation because they knew it was the final time they’d see him play a regular season game. So to get to see him get this chance to play with some of his longtime teammates even though the game doesn’t mean much, it’s going to be awesome. But he just means everything truly. Is there one moment that you think just sort of personifies Mark Andre Flurry to Penguins fans? See, I don’t want to know if there’s like one moment like, you know, obviously, you know, the save on Ovetchkin in 2009 to start game seven is up there. The save on Lidstrom the same year against the Red Wings in game seven in the final seconds. I still will say, you know, the save on Ovetchkin in 2017 was, you know, it it was just freaking awesome. like those two that I first mentioned, those were huge, too. But this one here, the Capitals were buzzing a little bit and Florida was able to get, you know, his paddle on the puck and then he’s just smiling after and he was he was locked in that game. He was locked in for the first two rounds before he was pulled for Matt Murray. So, you could honestly put a lot of moments in there for Flurry, to be honest. But, if I had to pick one, I’d probably go with that one. A lot of people have been talking about trade rumors centering around the Penguins. Not a lot did actually happen this off season in that respect. What are the next moves and when can we expect them? Well, the next moves I think are one of these three, Eric Carlson, Brian Russell to probably be traded before the trade deadline. It’s obvious that the Penguins did not get the value that they were looking for this off season. And Caladubus is preaching patience. He doesn’t want to just move these players for the sake of it. He doesn’t want to get an underwhelming return where the fan base would come at him and rightfully so. Like these players, even though they’re a bit older now, they still hold value. And you know, Ricardo and Brian Rust are coming off career years. Eric Carlson may not be the player that he used to be, but I think on on a contending team, he definitely serves a purpose. I think he’s going to have a good year this year for the Penguins before he’s potentially traded. But you have to get these type of returns right. So, I think that’s kind of next. Like, you’re still assessing the market. I think at least one of these three is going to be moved before the deadline. And then some of these other players that you signed over the offseason and other pending UFAs as well like you know Danton Heinens’s a pending UFA, Kevin Hayes, Nola, you can keep going down the list honestly over just about half the roster if not more or pending free agents going into next off seasonason. There’s going to be even more change. So you have that Anthony Mantha, he signed a one-year contract. I think he’s going to be trade bait. So again, even outside of these big three names that I just put out there, you know, Carlson, Rustin, and Raquel, Ka Dubis is going to be pretty busy just trying to collect more assets to try and turn this team around as quickly as possible. I got to ask, even though I don’t think it’s going to happen, you don’t think it’s going to happen, but the Sydney Crosby rumors, I think it’s mostly wishful thinking on the part of fans of other teams, but where are we at with that? The only way this happens is is if he goes to management and just says, “Hey, I’m done. like I don’t want to be here during this rebuild. I would like to go to another situation where I feel like I can win right now, but I don’t see that happening. I think he wants to retire a member of the Penguins. Anything can change. If that somehow does happen, even though it’s unlikely, I’m sure the Penguins will grant him that wish just because that’s that’s they’re classy like that. And I don’t think they’re just going to piss off Cindy Crosby for the sake of it. But I don’t see this happening at all. I I agree with you. Talk to me about some of the younger players, the prospects, guys who either will have an impact this year or could have an impact in the very near future. Yeah, so I think Rucker McGordy and Billy Koven, the two players you saw at the end of the 24-2 season, I think they should make the team as long as they have good training camps. I think they are NHL ready. Quinnan was right around a point per game at the end of the season. Seven points in eight games. Rocker McGordy was a really good fit on Crosby’s line. and he looked like a different player compared to what we saw at the beginning of the season. Outside of those two, I think Owen Pickering on the left side has a good shot at making this team. I think he’s got to be licking his chops a little bit when he looks at the left side right now. Parker Weatherspoon is going to be obviously on the team and I think he should get the top pairing minutes. But outside of that, the rest of the options aren’t very good. Ryan Shay is a number seven defenseman. Ryan Graves has been a bust since he signed a couple of years ago. You have Alexander Alexia who you signed as a free agent and we’ll have to see if he can make the team. But there’s just not many options for that side. So I think Owen Pickering will have a very good opportunity to make this team. Archer Sheilovs is going to be battling Yo Blumquist for the backup goalie spot. I would lean she loves right now. And I like a lot of his recent work. We just have to see if it translates to the NHL on a consistent basis. And outside of those guys, some players in Wilsbury, maybe Tristan Bros. We have to see if he potentially gets in mid-season. Call up Avery Hayes as well. We always have to watch for Harrison Brun at training camp. He almost made the roster last year before being sent back to junior. The NHL and the CHL are trying to come to an agreement for the one CHL player per team Gil to go to the AHL for this year, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen in time. I think it’s probably going to be saved to next year. If it doesn’t happen, it’s going to be juniors or the NHL for Brunick, which kind of sucks because I think he’s ready for the AHL. I don’t want him going back to a junior team where that team is going to be awful this year. They are not good and I just don’t want him learning bad habits there. So, those are some of the young pieces though to watch for sure. All right. Well, Hunter, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media. Yeah, you can follow the Locked on Penguins podcast wherever you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, all that good stuff. And then you can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow my cohost Patrick Damp on all socials, send them for wet. And we’ll have another episode coming out on Monday now that we’re back to dailies. All right, Hunter. Thanks so much. Thank you. Today’s episode is brought to you by Indeed. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. But how can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed sponsored jobs puts your post at the top of the page and helps you reach the right candidates faster. I’ve been in that spot where you need the right hire like yesterday. The pressure is on and every day without the right person feels like a setback. That’s exactly where Indeed sponsored jobs come in handy. They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. 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The Pittsburgh Penguins came up with a unique way to honor goalie Marc-Andre Fleury as he announced his retirement from the NHL. He will play in a preseason game for the team later this month on a PTO.

Hunter Hodies of Locked On Penguins discusses Fleury’s legacy and what he’s meant to the Penguins fans and organization over the course of his career. Plus he breaks down some of the team’s top prospects and players that could be on the move between now and the NHL trade deadline.

All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.

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