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Matt Vensel's Penguins chat: 05.16.25
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Matt Vensel
10:41
Good afternoon, Penguins. Been a while. Look forward to chatting with you this afternoon. We'll get started at noon. You can submit questions at any time. There's several in the queue already. Talk soon!
11:59
Let's get started. I plan to go for 30-40 minutes today, but I will need more questions for sure. What's on your mind today, folks?
Itchy Back
12:00
Hit us with the inside scoop...who are the Penguins hiring as head coach? Break the news here first, we won't tell.
Matt Vensel
12:04
To be honest, the Penguins are in no rush to make a hire. Kyle Dubas said he hoped to have a new coach in place by early June and it sure seems like that timeline will end up being pretty accurate. He has been over in Europe as the GM for Canada at the IIHF World Championships and has talked to a bunch of candidates via Zoom. I am not sure if the Penguins are on to the second round of interviews yet. Some of the names that have been linked to the Penguins are Mitch Love, Jay Leach, D.J. Smith and Jay Woodcroft. They would be first-time NHL head coaches or relatively inexperienced retreads. David Quinn, an assistant under Mike Sullivan, is also one of the many candidates. Anyway, hang in there. This should go on for another couple of weeks.
Southside Jimmy
12:04
Hey Matt, do you know if the Pens had any interest in hiring Tocchet?  Did he have any interest in coaching in the ‘burgh?  Thanks.
Matt Vensel
12:07
Hey, Jimmy. That suggestion never really made much sense to me. No doubt Rick Tocchet is a good coach, but he does not strike me as someone who would want to sign up for a longer-term rebuild, especially when he would be replacing a friend in Mike Sullivan. Dubas wants a coach who excels in player development and who seemingly is an up-and-coming. Tocchet is a much better fit in Philly.
Bud
12:07
Matt, Washington got a lot of praise for its season but is heading home after the second round. How much better off are the Caps than the Pens right now?
Matt Vensel
12:11
The Capitals had an awesome regular season and there is no doubt their NHL roster is much better than the Penguins, especially in terms of quality players in their 20s. Spencer Carbery is a great coach. You wonder if Dubas is kicking himself for not moving on from Sullivan last summer and hiring that guy instead. Zooming out, are their odds of winning a Stanley Cup within the next 3-5 years any better than the Penguins? Probably a little bit, yeah. But to your point, as good as the Caps were this year, they're not built to win a championship, IMO. This very well might have been their best shot in a while.
Tom
12:15
Looking back I have a hard time understanding why the Pens kept Sullivan around at least the past 3 years or so. He went through a plethora of players year after year with the exact same results, refusing to adapt to any of them. Even going back to when they were getting bullied in the playoffs and Rutherford brought in toughness he refused to play them or adapt his system. They never had a chance from then on no matter what team was on the ice. Do you believe a coaching change, like how Sullivan came in the first place, led to another solid cup run in the '18-'22 years?
Matt Vensel
12:17
Winning a Cup is hard, Tom. Let's not forget that. After they went back-to-back, they couldn't keep everyone. Management, including Jim Rutherford, made some missteps along the way. And there were 2-3 early exits in there that can't be pinned on Sullivan. There was the weird COVID bubble tournament. There was the Islanders series that Tristan Jarry gave away. The Rangers series where they blew a 3-1 lead is worth debating. So, to answer your question, it's impossible to know if one of those postseasons would have played out differently with another coach. But I'm not going to place all the blame on Sullivan.
Tom
12:18
Sitting at the number 11 pick would your rather see a Center like Brady Martin who is more pro ready but projects as a solid two way 3rd line center or a D-man like Jackson Smith who could have a ceiling as maybe a top 4 defenseman?
Matt Vensel
12:19
You pick the best prospect on the board, not who gets to the NHL first.
Sam's dog
12:20
I keep hearing that the Pens have a ton of picks, but so do a few other teams. Also while the may have many picks they still only have 1 pick in the top 60, unlike those other teams with multiple 1st/2nd rounders. Can they rely solely on these drafts to close the talent gap that they have or should they trade their top picks for players?
Matt Vensel
12:23
Sam, the Penguins have the 11th overall pick and the 59th overall pick, plus there is a chance the Rangers could send them the 12th pick, as well. Zooming out, the Pens have 30 picks over the next three drafts, including four first-rounders, six seconds and seven thirds. That's a lot of draft capital. Dubas will use those many, many picks in a variety of ways, obviously. That could be for trade-ups in the draft, player trades, salary dumps, etc. They need to restock their farm system but it's unrealistic to expect them to add 30 teenagers to the mix.
Your Name
12:25
Were you disappointed in the draft slot the Penguins ended up at? Going from a near top 5 to now out of the top 10 could affect our future.
Matt Vensel
12:29
Respectfully, I think folks are making too big a deal out of this. Sure, you want as high of a pick as possible so you can target the player you want, but will the caliber of prospect between pick No. 7 and No. 11 be meaningfully different? Probably not. And had they actually won another game or two, they would have finished the season in the position the Islanders were in. They won the draft lottery.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
12:30
Happy Friday Matt! Is there any way the penguins can get rid of Karlsson and Jarry’s  contracts this summer?
Ron from J-town
12:30
If there is no takers in trade for Jarry & if Karlsson wouldn’t agree to a trade anyhow can the Pens save any money on their contracts by releasing them at a certain time.
Matt Vensel
12:33
Erik Karlsson does have trade value. The Penguins might need to retain some salary to get back something good in a trade, and of course Karlsson would have to approve any trade. But I do think there will be a small handful of teams that will kick the tires on him. As for Jarry, I still think he has negative trade value despite his strong finish. If I were the Penguins, I would not give up one of my draft picks to unload his salary. Think of it this way... Dubas has signaled with his words and the dismissal of Sullivan that he doesn't plan to push for the playoffs next year. If that's the case, what's the harm in keeping Jarry around? If he plays well, then maybe his trade value returns. And if he struggles, that helps you get a better draft pick next year.
Chief Powhatan
12:33
Do you think Jarry and Ned are both wearing Penguin sweaters at the end of training camp?
Matt Vensel
12:35
It's definitely possible. Joel Blomqvist took a step back in the second half of this season and can't be seen as a sure thing heading into next season. And Sergei Murashov had a fine first season in the U.S., but I believe he has just 17 AHL games under his belt. So I would not be surprised if the Pens run it back with the same group of goalies.
SDWC
12:35
It seems like a few of the playoff teams have a fairly strong goaltending tandems. Caps, Leafs, Golden Knights come to mind. Perhaps one of those guys might want to be “the guy” somewhere else. Any chance the Pens swing a trade or stick with what they have?
Matt Vensel
12:36
As I've said a few times, the Penguins are not expected to hit the gas pedal on contention. They are rebuilding for at least one more year. So I would be stunned if they made a splash in net. That said, you really think this team is a goalie or two away from playing hockey in mid May?
JVPG
12:38
Evgeni Malkin takes what I consider unfair criticism. He may have lost a step, and his give aways and penalties are frustrating, but that has been his calling card his entire career. He still sees the ice better than most and his anticipation and play vision is far and away higher than practically everyone around him. I still think he is one of the top 15 or 20 centersd in the league. His problem, IMO is that he hasn't had a decent pair of wingers in 7 or 8 years. Wouldn't it benefit the Pens to get a solid winger to play with him on a regular basis? When was the last time there was a 25 goal scorer on his line?
Matt Vensel
12:43
You make good points about Evgeni Malkin getting a raw deal at times with the quality of wingers compared to what Sidney Crosby gets. But I disagree with your assessment of Geno's recent play. He's not that caliber of player anymore. Which, of course. Dude is 38. This is what happens to NHL players, especially ones who are so reliant on open-ice explosiveness. I'm not going to tear him down as a player because he was mostly fine last season when you put the age and mileage into perspective. But Malkin is clearly no longer an elite center.
TVC15
12:43
Hi Matt, Pittsburgh is very lucky to have had the core 3 all these years.  Is there any way at all Dubas can squeeze 1 more Stanley Cup out of them?
Matt Vensel
12:46
I don't see it happening. Sorry. That timeline is a difficult needle to thread and I believe Dubas made it pretty clear last month that he isn't all that interested in rushing things to simply squeak into the playoffs. I expect another rebuilding year in 2025-26. And Crosby will be 39 when the following season begins. So it's incredibly unlikely that everything will line up before Sid moves on, Sid's enduing greatness aside.
12:48
That will do it for today's chat. Some great questions today. Thanks! Sorry I couldn't get to all of them. You can always shoot me a note at mvensel@post-gazette if you have something on your mind.
Have a good weekend, everyone, and enjoy the rest of the playoffs.
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