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Matt Vensel's Penguins chat: 05.02.24
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Matt Vensel
10:18
Good morning, Penguins fans. Looking forward to talking hockey with you all today. We will start chatting at 11 a.m. In the meantime, get your question in the queue. I will answer as many as I can until 11:45.
Tom
11:01
Not sure I get the keeping Sullivan thing. He's a great coach that isn't winning. Ok, so if he is a great coach but can't win with these players and we are going to have these players, he is going to lose again as a great coach? Why not find a coach who can win with the team that you have? Not naive that you will definitely find one, but isn't it better than a sure thing in losing with Sullivan. He can then find his team to win with.
Matt Vensel
11:02
Tom, after the season, all indications were that the Penguins would be bringing back Mike Sullivan. Kyle Dubas has repeatedly endorsed him as his coach, even when the Penguins stopped playing right before the trade deadline. And Sullivan's latest contract extension hasn't even kicked in yet. But in the last few days, there has been a lot of smoke around Sullivan's future with the team. There was a published rumor by a Toronto writer about Sullivan potentially trying to angle his way to New Jersey. And both Sullivan and Dubas have been given opportunities by our paper and other outlets to shoot down the speculation, and neither has done that. So stay tuned here. Anyway, to answer your question, I think if Pittsburgh is keeping Sullivan and the same core players, there needs to first be an agreement about Sullivan tweaking his staff and/or his strategies. He is maybe the best coach in team history, but the Pens haven't won a playoff series in six years.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
11:03
I know they can’t consider trading Crosby Letang and Malkin but I would try to entice Malkin and Letang to go to a playoff contender and waive their non trade clauses. Have the parents try to run back the same team they’re gonna have the same result so I would think they would at least consider that possibility.
Matt Vensel
11:07
Sorry to lash out at you a bit here, Sunner, but I just don't understand why so many fans think Malkin and Letang can just be shipped out of town without issue. They received full no-trade clauses in exchange for taking team-friendly salaries a couple of summers ago. They wanted the right to veto a trade because they want to be here and try to go on one more run here. And Fenway Sports Group wants them to be here, too. That's why they pushed to have them re-signed two summers ago. Maybe things change in the future if things start to get really ugly around here. But it's incredibly unlikely that any of them will be traded this offseason. Dubas will have to operate accordingly.
Tom
11:07
No way Malkin is second line center next year, right? You don't have to cut him loose, but you do have to cut his minutes at some point.
Matt Vensel
11:09
What's the alternative, Tom? That player is not on the roster and it will be quite a challenge for Dubas to create the cap space and lure a better player here in free agency. The hope has to be that someone like top prospect Brayden Yager takes a big leap and is able to fill that role in 2025-26. But in the short term, they are stuck with Malkin as the 2C. They just have to hope he more consistently brings it next season.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
11:10
Good morning Matt! Any chance the Pens move on from Jarry and Karlsson’s contracts? They are both not worth the money they are being paid and it is hurting the Pen’s ability to sign other free agents.
Matt Vensel
11:12
Tristan Jarry possibly, though FWIW, Dubas endorsed him after the season. And Jarry's trade value isn't exactly high right now. He rode the pine in the final 13 games. But if the Penguins are indeed trying to win now, there is a pretty large body of work that suggests they can't count on Jarry to elevate them. It's a tough situation for Dubas, one he put himself into by re-signing Jarry last summer. As for Erik Karlsson, he's another guy with a full no-trade clause and he says he's happy here (and his massive salary is also prohibitive).
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
11:13
Wouldn’t the goalie room be better off next year with Ned and Blomqvist vs Jarry and anyone else?
Matt Vensel
11:16
Joel Blomqvist is a good goalie prospect and his stock definitely rose in his first season in the U.S. But the Penguins can't bank on the 22-year-old being ready to be an NHL regular. They need to have an insurance policy in case he is not. Don't want to rush him. That might still be Alex Nedeljkovic, depending on his price. Ned wants to stay after getting his career back on track with the help of goalie coach Andy Chiodo. But can the Penguins and he find financial middle ground? I think two years at $2 million AVV (or slightly more) seems like a fair compromise.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
11:16
They are talking about Sid signing an extension this summer. If you were Sid,  would you wanna come back to this team if they don’t make significant changes?
Matt Vensel
11:17
I'm not Sid. But the real Sid has indicated he wants to stay.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
11:17
How many players down on the farm will make the team next year with some of our backend players moving on and retiring? They definitely need to get younger and faster. I’m watching all the playoff teams still in contention and they are a lot faster and younger than the pens right now.
Matt Vensel
11:18
There will only be a few openings on the opening roster but youngsters should get more opportunity this year. I recently ranked the prospects most likely to play in Pittsburgh before the end of the 2024 calendar year. Here's a link: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2024/04/30/nhl-prospects-...
Geno
11:18
Matt, can I really extend my career by working out a la Sid and Tanger this off season?  Or is a little bit late for me to become a fitness hound?  I can't see myself doing one of those Letang workouts, to be brutally honest....
Matt Vensel
11:19
I don't blame you, Geno. I did one of Letang's workouts nine months ago and my hamstrings are still sore: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2023/08/21/kris-letang-jo...
Sully
11:19
Matt, my seat will start out on the warm side, depending somewhat on the caliber of coach in WB, no?
Matt Vensel
11:20
This is definitely something to watch if the smoke I referenced earlier clears and Sullivan is still the coach here. I can definitely see Dubas installing a potential replacement either as an NHL assistant or the AHL coach. The most obvious name is Sheldon Keefe, should he be fired after another first-round exit for the Leafs.
Ice Man
11:21
Matt, do the Hurricanes reach the Stanley Cup finals and give the Pens a No. 1 pick? Lots of tough competition ahead for them.
Matt Vensel
11:22
They were my preseason pick to win the Cup and I'm not certainly not backing off that now. However, the Rangers are a heck of a team, too. Their second-round series is going to be highly entertaining.
Stash
11:22
Matt, any chance management would spring for getting Geno's parents a nice condo in the 'burgh?  Got to beat the Motherland at this point......
Matt Vensel
11:23
Geno said late in the season that he was trying to get them to move here for next season. We'll see if he's successful. Heck, the Penguins might need them to be his linemates if they don't create some cap space by trading someone like Rickard Rakell or Reilly Smith.
Ryan
11:24
Matt What do you Think About The Season Bryan Rust had i think he had a Great Season When we was Healthy
Matt Vensel
11:25
Bryan Rust is an awesome player and a tone-setter for the team. And, really, it's just a success story that you can't help but be inspired by. He was a fourth-round pick who could hardly score goals in college and he has turned himself into a 30-goal type player.
Guest
11:25
I know the pens only have themselves to blame for not making the playoffs , but do you think if they made it they would have been a tougher out than islanders and wash ?  I truly wonder if the way Boston played  pens versus how they played wash at end of year had a little bit of strategy
Matt Vensel
11:26
I recently chatted with former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau and he told me he felt the Penguins would have put up a good fight against the Rangers. He felt they would have been more of a stylistic challenge to the Rangers than the Capitals, one of his former teams.
Ben Solomonov
11:27
What free agents should the Penguins resign and who should they let walk?
Matt Vensel
11:27
Ben, setting aside the restricted free agents, the only one of note is Alex Nedeljkovic. I shared my thoughts on him earlier in the chat.
Justin
11:27
It seems as though the words from the front office indicate theyre going to try to be good next year.   What does that offseason ideally look like?   Between good reports on the readyish prospects (Poulin, Blomqvist, Pickering, Koivunen, Ponomaryov, etc), and the available/repurposeable cap, could they pull it off?
Matt Vensel
11:29
Justin, my best guess at the plan is that they will indeed keep the core guys (including Karlsson and Rust) around. They will look to trade Smith or Rakell to create cap space and split that salary up between 2-3 players in an attempt to become deeper. They will give a bunch of young guys, including Sam Poulin and Vasily Ponomarev and Jack St. Ivany, a real chance to earn a regular role. The wild card, IMO, will be the goalie decision. I don't think it will be as splashy as last summer.
Ice Man
11:30
Hi Matt, thanks for the chat. Assuming Crosby resigns and Rust stays on one wing, is the other No. 1 line wing currently on the Pens roster?
Matt Vensel
11:32
It could be Drew O'Connor. But ideally they would have a better option and could utilize DOC up and down the lineup. What a player he has become, though. This past season, he was so disruptive without the puck and more confident and skilled with it.
Guest
11:32
Do you think Dubas tries to trade Graves even if they have to keep salary ?  You think there is any way he improves next year playing in the pens system ?
Matt Vensel
11:32
Who is going to trade for Ryan Graves right now?
Mister Ed
11:33
Any ideas on the nature of Kris Letang’s injury? Kinda strange that Dubas said it was a serious injury and surgery was an option and yet this week there are tweets of him working out doing some strenuous reps with weights.
Matt Vensel
11:34
I am not sure but I did see (and share) an image of Kris working out with his trainer in Montreal. I would think that suggests he will not have surgery but that's just an assumption on my part. I'm not a doctor. I majored in beer and pickup hockey at Penn State.
Justin
11:34
Does it get frustrating to cover a sport where so much is based on people's eyeballs and opinions?  the analytics have come a long way in 10 years but 1) its still nothing like baseball's quality, and 2) it's still pretty niche.  Like, you ask 100 people what they think of, idk, Karlsson, and youll get like 70 different answers.  idk, that'd get frustrating for me.
Matt Vensel
11:37
Justin, I absolutely love covering hockey but I understand your point. I utilize analytics a good amount and I have two purposes for doing so. One is to confirm what I'm seeing with my own eyes or to make me rethink things if there is a disconnect. And two, we get some really cool stats from Sportslogiq that help illustrate how the game is being played, such as the number of cycle chances or shots allowed from the inner slot. But this season I pulled away from the numbers a little bit, especially when it came to Karlsson. I know his advanced stats were outstanding, but there is no way to quantify how bad some of his turnovers and lapses and effort were. Still think he was pretty good overall but not the big difference-maker he was billed as. I do believe he will be better next season based on his play down the stretch.
Lisa
11:38
I know Carolina has a lot of playoff left but what is your guess for where guentzel signs in offseason ?   Will the pens at least make him an offer ?
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